"If you don't have money to buy seeds by then, I can spare you some. Since we live together, we should help each other out."
"Thank you, Auntie!"
"No need for thanks, it's not much help anyway." The old woman smiled at her. "Now that you've recovered, sitting here talking with you makes me indescribably happy. Forgive me for saying this, but I never thought you'd get better. I only just realized you actually have such a gentle temperament—it seems that unpleasant temper before was all because of your illness."
Zhou Qiong smiled sheepishly. "Auntie, was I especially irritable before? Yesterday I saw the scars on Xiao Shu and Xiao Miao—I'm afraid I caused them all, didn't I? Thinking about it makes me feel terrible."
"That was when you were sick, there was nothing you could do. Fortunately, the children are fine. They won't blame you. Now that you're better, just be more loving toward them in the future."
"Are there only our two families living here?" She had already asked the children this question yesterday, but today she still wanted to learn more from Feng Shi, since as an adult, she would know more comprehensively.
"Yes, just our two households here. But the village isn't far down the road. Everyone says this area is remote, the land is poor, and even vegetables won't grow well. After living here so many years, I've gotten used to it. Being remote has its advantages—you don't have all the neighborly squabbles and commotion like in the village."
"Do you have relatives in the village?"
"No, we were outsiders to begin with. We lost contact with relatives from elsewhere long ago. Usually we only interact with a few aunties in the village we can talk to. Our family is just like yours—otherwise we wouldn't have lived together all these years."
"Do you have any land?"
"Just one mu. Gui Bao and I can barely manage."
The two chatted like this, and Zhou Qiong soon finished washing her own basin of clothes. She then started washing Feng Shi's clothes, but as she washed, her stomach began to feel uncomfortable, followed by loud rumbling.
Embarrassed, she rubbed it.
"You're hungry—rubbing won't help." Feng Shi sighed. "When we go back later, we'll see if they can gather some wild vegetables today. If there are any, I'll make some wild vegetable paste with soybean flour. It'll fill our stomachs. We'll all make do with a bowl each."
"Auntie, I'm sorry to be using up your family's food again. I feel terrible about it."
"There's no other way. We can't just watch you starve. Hard times have to be endured day by day. Oh, I should remind you of something—now that you're better, tell the children not to mention it in the village for now."
"Why?"
"Even though you're better now, you still can't support yourself. If Gong Cai finds out you've recovered, he might stop letting Xiao Shu and the others work. I can only help your family of three occasionally—you still need them to provide a bit. Their family is struggling too, so don't cut off the children's food supply at this critical time."
Zhou Qiong nodded silently.
The clothes were soon washed, and the two each carried their basins home.
"You're still going to wash? Do you still have the energy?"
"I have to wash even if I don't have the energy. The house was never cleaned before. If the quilts aren't washed and aired, they might get lice, and then the children will be bitten. While the sun is strong, we should wash what needs washing and air what needs airing. Once everything's tidied up, my mind will be at ease."
Actually, biting the child was secondary; what really bothered her was thinking about those quilts. If she hadn’t been short on money to buy new ones, she would have definitely thrown them away. Since she couldn’t throw them away now, the only option was to clean them thoroughly.
After returning home and hanging all the clothes to dry, she flipped the quilts over on the table. Then, she took the quilt covers, bedsheets, and the thin winter jackets back to the riverside.
This time, as she washed, the sun gradually rose, making her feel a bit dizzy from the heat. But she didn’t want to stop, determined to finish the task in one go. However, as she continued washing, she nearly fainted and almost fell into the river.
She didn't dare take it lightly and quickly found a shady spot under a tree to sit and rest against. This body was truly too weak. Thinking of how strong her martial arts foundation had been in the past—forget about being in the sun for just this short while, even holding a horse stance under the blazing sun for an hour would have been no trouble at all. Ah, if she was going to swap lives, why couldn't the body have been swapped too? At least it would have been younger. If only she hadn't gone on that trip with the people from the martial arts school—regret was useless now.
After enduring the discomfort and finally washing everything, the sun was already high in the sky.
She carried the things back home, first drinking a bowl of water, then sitting by the door for a while. Only when the dizziness had mostly subsided did she begin hanging the quilts to dry in the courtyard.
Just as she was hanging them, the three children returned happily.
"Mother, mother, today we found edible wild vegetables! Brother and Gui Bao also picked lots of Wuhuanzi. There's more in the woods over there."
"Auntie, look, we picked so much! We each have half a basketful, enough to last several days."
"Gui Bao, Xiao Shu, bring the wild vegetables over. Grandma will cook soybean and vegetable paste for lunch. Hurry, your mother has been working all morning and must be hungry by now."
Feng Shi waved to them from next door. "Come over and help me wash the vegetables."
Hearing this, the three children happily ran to the neighboring house.
"Grandma, Xiao Shu and Xiao Miao washed themselves with fruit water by the river yesterday. Today Xiao Miao said I smell, so I want to go wash by the river today too, and… and wash my hair."
"Alright, you can wash. My back isn't feeling well today, otherwise I'd tidy up the house too."
Hearing that Grandma was unwell, Gui Bao immediately dropped the basket and ran to her side. "Grandma, you said your back hurt yesterday too. Is it still not better today?"
"It's fine. Your auntie even helped wash our family's clothes today. Look how clean they are."
"Grandma, why don't you rest? We know how to cook—we'll do it." The two children ran forward with their baskets.
Zhou Qiong listened to the voices from next door and soon followed them over. Seeing that the water vat in Feng Shi's house was empty, she picked up a bucket to fetch water.
"You've been working all morning and must be hungry. How will you have the strength to carry water?" She looked at Xiao Shu. "Xiao Shu, fetch a bucket of water from home for cooking."
Xiao Shu took the bucket from Zhou Qiong and ran off.
This was Zhou Qiong's first time in Feng Shi's house. The courtyard was just like theirs—small and rundown.
"Come, come inside and sit. The sun outside is strong and will make you dizzy."
She followed Feng Shi into the house. Besides tables and chairs, the main room held a hoe, a few burlap sacks, and some miscellaneous items. Glancing toward the bedroom, she saw it was piled with many things but looked tidy and orderly—much cleaner than their own place had been before.
"Auntie, what crops are planted in the fields? Do you need to tend to them every day?" She didn't know much about farm work. Although she had grown up in the countryside as a child, at most she had wandered around the fields with the family dog—the adults had always handled the farm chores.
"Just an acre of wheat, with some beans planted along the edges. They should be ready for harvest after July. The closer it gets to harvest time, the more you have to go every day."
"What do you plant after the harvest?"
"Let the land rest and recover a bit, then plant wheat again. Everyone around here plants wheat."
Zhou Qiong silently took note. To live here, farming was likely unavoidable. She would have to learn properly.