After finishing feeding the baby, Xia Wanyue came out of her space.
She quietly “smuggled” a bowl out with her, then sat down in the courtyard and settled the little infant on her lap.
Seeing his mother come out, Li Ning hurriedly filled a bowl with chicken soup and handed it to her. Xia Wanyue took it and drank slowly.
With the baby in her arms, she instinctively rocked him gently.
The well-fed little one soon fell asleep.
“Mom, it smells so good! I’ve never eaten anything this fragrant before. Mom, hurry and eat.”
Third Girl lifted her head from her bowl when she saw her mother sit down. Carefully, she picked out the largest piece of chicken she’d saved and placed it into Xia Wanyue’s bowl.
“Mom, you eat…”
She forced a small smile as she looked at Xia Wanyue. Today was the happiest day of her life—she could finally eat her fill, and even eat so much meat.
“Third Girl is such a good child. Hurry and eat—there’s more in the pot.”
“By the way, Third Girl, let Mom give you a new name. ‘Third Girl’ is too ordinary. In this village, you could hit several people with that name just by swinging a stick.”
“Okay! Mom, then what will my name be?”
“Mom, what about little brother? He doesn’t have a name yet!”
Li Ning glanced at his already sleeping younger brother and quickly reminded her.
“That’s right—there’s still this little guy. Let me think…”
Xia Wanyue put down her bowl and chopsticks and focused. Suddenly, a cicada chirped in the darkness. It came from a large tree outside the courtyard wall—no one knew why it had started calling.
Frogs croaked one after another. Summer nights were already hot, and sitting by the fire made sweat stream down Xia Wanyue’s face.
“Got it—let’s call you Zhixia. ‘Even continuous rain doesn’t tell when spring has gone; only after it clears do you know how deep summer is.’ How about it? Do you like it?”
“Li Zhixia—sounds so nice!”
“Then my name will be Li Zhixia from now on. It sounds so good.”
“Brother, my name is Li Zhixia now. I’m not Third Girl anymore. Don’t call me that again.”
“Okay, okay. Brother remembers.”
Li Ning looked at his sister indulgently and agreed again and again.
The children liked it, and Xia Wanyue was happy too. Seeing a hint of disappointment in Li Ning’s eyes, she thought for a moment and added:
“Since we’re changing names, let’s change them all. Big brother will be called Wenyan—‘a gentleman thoughtful and gentle, warm as polished jade.’
“And little brother will be called Yibai—meaning joy and clarity, like a bright moon and a clear breeze. How does that sound?”
“Yay! I have a new name too!”
Hearing that he also had a new name, Li Ning—no, Li Wenyan—jumped up happily.
The brother and sister held hands, laughing and jumping around the courtyard.
After the meal, the two children took on the task of washing the bowls.
There was no water in the kitchen, so they wiped them clean with a piece of cloth.
Xia Wanyue carried the baby into the room. The bed was covered with dry straw.
She took a cotton quilt and a bamboo mat out of her space and spread them out.
There was no helping it—she really didn’t want to sleep on straw.
After wiping the bowls, the two children came in.
“Mom, this is…?”
“Mom bought this earlier. This afternoon I ran into some rabbits in the mountains and traded them with someone for these.”
It was a bit far-fetched, but Xia Wanyue couldn’t think of a better excuse.
Fortunately, the children were still young and easy to fool.
The mother and children lay on the bed together. In the height of summer, the two kids tossed and turned from the heat.
It took nearly an hour before they finally fell asleep.
Once they were asleep, Xia Wanyue took out a fan from her space and placed it at the corner of the bed, letting it blow gently toward them.
It was a battery-powered fan she’d bought specifically for camping. She’d purchased four of them—small, but more than enough to bring comfort at night.
With the faint cool breeze from the fan, Xia Wanyue finally drifted off to sleep.
..
The Next Day
Xia Wanyue got up early and took out the chicken soup she’d secretly stored in her space the night before.
She also dug out the beggar’s chicken she’d forgotten in the firepit.
“Good thing, good thing—it was too hot last night for the fire to burn long. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be edible anymore.”
She lit the fire to warm everything up, then took the bowls the children had wiped into her space and washed them properly.
There was no other grain left at home, and there wasn’t much chicken soup either.
She decided to save the beggar’s chicken for the children to eat at noon.
Xia Wanyue ate her fill in the space first, then woke the two children.
“Wenyan, Xiaxia, Mom needs to go to town. Can you two be good and watch the house?”
“The chicken soup in the pot is your breakfast. There’s still a chicken buried in the firepit—if you get hungry at noon, take it out and eat it.”
“Mom—”
“Mom, are you taking little brother with you? Then go early and come back soon. I’ll take good care of my sister.”
Li Zhixia looked at Xia Wanyue reluctantly. She wanted to go too, but Mom would already be carrying the baby—bringing her along as well would be too tiring.
And if she went, her brother would be left alone at home, which she couldn’t bear either.
She looked at her mother, then at her brother, and finally loosened her grip and stood beside him.
Xia Wanyue rubbed both of their heads.
“Don’t worry. Mom will be back soon. Little brother is still small—I’ll take him with me.”
“I’m just going to town to buy some things. You two stay home and watch the house carefully.
“After Mom leaves, close the courtyard gate. No matter who comes, don’t open it. Do you hear me?”
“And be careful when lighting the fire, okay?
“When Mom comes back, I’ll bring you something tasty.”
She repeated her instructions again and again.
Leaving two children this young alone made her uneasy, but she had no other choice.
She still had many things to do. The baby could stay in her space, but the older children couldn’t be taken in so easily.
The space was her secret. She would never tell anyone.
After settling everything, Xia Wanyue shouldered her basket and left.
At the village entrance, she saw the ox cart parked there. She hesitated for a moment, then walked straight up to the driver, Liu Datou.
“Uncle, I don’t have any money right now. Can I pay you together when we come back?”
Liu Datou was from nearby Dahe Village. His family was fairly well-off. When he had no farm work, he would drive his ox cart to take passengers to town. People from several nearby villages all rode with him.
This main road connected the junctions of three villages, and Liu Datou usually parked his cart here to wait for passengers.
He sized Xia Wanyue up. Her clothes were clean, her eyes clear—she looked like someone honest, not the type to skip out on payment. He nodded.
“Alright. Get on.”
There were already several people on the cart—from Rice Field Village, Dahe Village, and Chenjia Village.
“Well, isn’t this the woman who got kicked out right after her husband died? You have money to ride now? I heard you left with nothing.”
“Uncle Liu, you dare let someone like her ride? Be careful—she might not pay.”
A sharp-faced woman glanced sideways at Xia Wanyue.
Xia Wanyue lifted her eyes and glanced back. She didn’t remember the woman very clearly—only that she seemed to be Tian Youfu’s wife.
They rarely interacted, but judging from the woman’s sour, mean expression, she was clearly not someone easy to get along with.