She led the girl around the house, front and back.
This home was truly too poor—besides poverty, it was also dirty and messy, and likely couldn’t be changed overnight. But since they were going to live here, even if they had nothing, at least the house should be clean. It seemed she would have to tidy up and clean thoroughly. Fortunately, the river from last time wasn’t too far away.
Suppressing her discomfort, she returned to the room where they lived and rummaged through the things piled around.
"Xiao Miao, Mother wants to take some time to tidy up the house. What are all these things for? Tell me, and we’ll throw away what we don’t need. Piling them up in the house like this makes the smell unbearable in this hot weather."
Yang Miao looked at her curiously. "Mother, all these things were picked up by you from outside. You wouldn’t let us touch them."
Zhou Qiong felt embarrassed, then awkwardly smiled. "Is that so? Well, Mother understands now."
Yang Miao looked at her, tilting her head. "Mother, you seem different today, and your smile is different too."
"Mother feels like her mind has cleared up a bit. I don’t know if my madness has healed, but I used to have no impression of people, and today it seems particularly vivid."
"Really?" The girl rushed to her side. "Mother, your madness is cured? But Grandma Feng next door said your illness couldn’t be cured, that you were already sick when you married our father. Mother, do you really think you’re better?"
Before she could reply, the girl heard a noise at the door and immediately dashed out.
"Brother, brother, Mother says her madness is cured. Come quickly and see."
Not long after, the boy was pulled into the room by the girl.
The boy’s expression was a mix of joy and doubt. He looked at Zhou Qiong, remained silent for a long time, and finally called out, "Mother."
He was only a ten-year-old child. Zhou Qiong walked over and hugged them both, her heart aching. "Mother doesn’t know if she’s completely better, but she feels much better than before. Both of you have suffered."
Tears welled up in the boy’s eyes. Hearing Zhou Qiong’s words, he couldn’t hold back and called out "Mother" again. The three of them held each other and cried softly.
"Alright, don’t cry anymore. Mother wants to tidy up the house and also wash her hair and take a bath. Do we have anything for bathing in the house?"
The smell in the room was truly nauseating. If it wasn’t cleaned up, it would be impossible to stay.
The two children looked around the room, not understanding what she meant by "things for bathing."
Yang Miao pulled out a set of clothes from the bed. "Mother, this is your change of clothes."
Zhou Qiong took the clothes, shook them out, and spread them in her hands to look. She couldn’t help but frown—why did they also look dirty?
"Are these washed?" she asked suspiciously, bringing them to her nose to smell. Aside from an unpleasant odor, she couldn’t detect any sweat smell. They must have been washed, but why did they still look dirty? Probably because they had never been properly cleaned.
"What about your clothes?"
The two of them brought their own clothes from the bed.
Sure enough, they were all the same. "Is there only one set each?" It seemed they would all need to be washed thoroughly with soap.
"These are all we have. Two sets to change into."
Only then did she notice that the children’s clothes seemed too small for them. No wonder they looked odd—it was because the clothes were too tight.
"What about the soap for washing clothes?"
"What’s soap?" the girl asked curiously.
Zhou Qiong then realized there was no laundry detergent here, and probably no soap either. She smiled, "I misspoke. I meant to ask what you usually use to wash clothes?"
The boy led her to the kitchen and pointed at the grass inside, "Burn this grass and use the ashes to wash."
“No, it won’t get dirty. It can be washed clean.”
Zhou Qiong was utterly baffled, unable to understand why clothes had to be washed with ash. Even without soap, couldn’t Wuhuanzi be used as a cleaning agent? She had spotted a Wuhuanzi tree on her way back earlier.
“Alright, I know what to use for washing. I’ll go make some cleaning solution in a bit.”
Yang Shu looked at her. Though he didn’t understand her ramblings, today his mother did seem different from before. At the very least, she was willing to clean the house on her own. Perhaps she really was getting better. Thinking this, he glanced happily at Yang Miao. “I’m going to help Third Aunt carry water in the field. Xiao Miao, you stay home and keep Mother company.”
“Don’t worry, Brother. I’ll watch over Mother at home.”
Yang Shu left quickly.
Zhou Qiong couldn’t stand the state of the house any longer. After the boy left, she began tidying up. Naturally, the first step was to prepare the cleaning supplies.
“Xiao Miao, do we have a basket at home? Come with me to pick something.”
“Yes, there’s a bamboo basket in the back. I’ll go get it.” Yang Miao soon returned with the basket. “Mother, what are we picking?”
“I don’t know what it’s called, but it can make things clean.”
Just as they stepped outside, the fence gate of the neighboring house swung open, and Gui Bao dashed out. “Xiao Miao, where are you going?”
“I’m going with my mother to pick something. Do you want to come?”
“Yes, yes! Wait for me.”
Gui Bao ran over, panting. “Why didn’t you call me when you went out?”
Yang Miao smiled at Zhou Qiong. “He’s such a tagalong. He follows me everywhere.” She turned to Gui Bao. “Did you tell your grandmother before coming out? Be careful she doesn’t come looking for you.”
“She’s in the fields. She doesn’t have time to watch me.”
Gui Bao looked about the same age as Yang Miao. Zhou Qiong studied him curiously. From what they said, he seemed to live with his grandmother. Was he also a child without parents?
“Why did you bring your mother out today? Aren’t you afraid Auntie might…” He started to say something but, noticing Zhou Qiong staring at him, quickly swallowed the rest of his words. Then he flashed a smile at Zhou Qiong. “Auntie!”
“I’ll tell you some good news. My mother is better.”
“Really?” The boy looked surprised and stared curiously at Zhou Qiong. “When we found her earlier, she didn’t even recognize you. How is she better now?”
Yang Miao immediately frowned at his words. “When did she not recognize us? She just didn’t recognize you. Aren’t you happy my mother is better?”
“Of course I’m happy. What are you going to pick?”
Yang Miao also looked curiously at Zhou Qiong.
“We’re going to pick Wuhuanzi. We’ll need it for cleaning later.”
“What’s Wuhuanzi?”
“Oh, why do you have so many questions? Just follow my mother, and you’ll find out soon enough.”
The three of them walked down the slope for a while, and Zhou Qiong soon spotted the Wuhuanzi tree she had seen earlier. It wasn’t very large, and it bore plenty of fruit. She pointed at it. “I want to pick the fruit from that tree.”
Gui Bao tugged Xiao Miao and ran over. “Auntie Zhou, you want to pick that? I’ll help you.” With that, he started to climb the tree.
Zhou Qiong quickly pulled him down. “Don’t climb. It’s dangerous.”
She pulled the two children aside and gave the tree a kick, causing fruit to fall down immediately. "We can just pick up what's already fallen—no need to climb the tree." She didn't need much at the moment anyway.
The two children then crouched on the ground and began gathering Wuhuanzi fruit.