Chapter 30: A Leisurely Rainy Day

When the moon could not be seen at night, the next day would either be overcast or raining.

Sure enough, when Hua Qi woke up, he heard the pattering rush of rain. Once it rained, the weather turned slightly cooler. Yun Shan had tucked his little hands and feet together, his eyes closed, looking so well-behaved it was almost unbearable.

Hua Qi transformed into human form and found the cotton cloth left over from cutting clothes in the cabinet. He folded it into several layers and covered Yun Shan with it.

Xi Jue twitched his ears and opened his eyes, then leaped onto the bed and circled Yun Shan in his embrace. With a yawn, the leopard rested his head on his front paws, lay down, and went back to sleep.

Beside them, Tuo Tuo seemed to sense the warmth. Without opening his eyes, he consciously shifted closer to Xi Jue and stopped once he was pressed against him.

Hua Qi quietly left the room and found an umbrella in the main room. He opened it and headed straight for the kitchen.

In the corner of the yard, the cowshed Qiu Sheng had only finished building last night came in handy today. The water buffalo was lying under the shed. When it saw someone, it gave a moo.

Hua Qi stood in the kitchen doorway and folded the umbrella, then cursed at the water buffalo, “What are you mooing for? Moo all you want, I’m still not cutting grass for you. When Dou Ming is here, you don’t make a sound. The moment Dou Ming isn’t here, you know how to speak up? You bully-the-weak-and-fear-the-strong cow!”

The water buffalo answered Hua Qi with an even higher-pitched, “Moo—” It seemed extremely dissatisfied with Hua Qi’s scolding.

“Everyone else is sleeping, so what are you mooing for? Do you think I, Hua Qi, am easy to bully too?” Hua Qi was just about to frighten this bully-the-weak-and-fear-the-strong water buffalo when he suddenly heard Xiu Niang’s voice. “Huaniang, you’re up so early?” Xiu Niang stood at the main room doorway holding Chun Hua, smiling as she spoke to Hua Qi.

“I woke up, so I got up. Are we cooking plain congee today? I’ll do it. The rain is so heavy, don’t come over.” Hua Qi glared at the water buffalo, then turned and went into the kitchen.

He had spent some days learning from Xiu Niang, so making something as simple as plain congee was easy for him. First, he scooped rice into a basin and rinsed it three times. Once it was about done, he poured the rice and water together into the large iron pot.

Hua Qi grabbed a handful of straw from a basket in the kitchen, sat back in front of the stove, took out the fire striker, and gently blew on it. He lit the straw and tossed it into the stove. Immediately afterward, he pulled firewood from behind him and casually threw a few pieces into the stove.

Xiu Niang came into the kitchen carrying another umbrella.

“I told you not to come out. Why did you still come?” Hua Qi lifted the pot lid for Xiu Niang to see. “Look, it’s already cooking.”

“I need to feed the chickens.” Xiu Niang scooped a handful of bran from a sack in the kitchen corner, added half a ladle of water, mixed it with the chopsticks kept for that purpose, and then headed toward the chicken coop under the umbrella.

Tuo Tuo pushed open the window, and wind carrying rain blew a wash of dampness into his face.

Xiu Niang quickly called, “Tuo Tuo, close the window. If rain splashes onto the kang, we won’t be able to sleep there tonight.”

Tuo Tuo obediently closed the window. Seeing that the Little Temple Master was still asleep, he jumped down from the kang and ran to the main room with Xiao Cong. When he saw Chun Hua lying in the cradle, Tuo Tuo pinched Chun Hua’s little hand and said happily, “Morning, Chun Hua.”

“Yi.” Chun Hua gave a thin, delicate cry.

After Xiu Niang finished feeding the chickens and returned to the room, she saw two obvious bloody scratches on Tuo Tuo’s fair, tender face. Her heart immediately ached as she asked, “Tuo Tuo’s face was perfectly fine before sleep last night. How did this happen?”

Tuo Tuo sat on a small stool. The red bellyband made the fair, chubby child look even fairer. He lifted his head, opened his big eyes, and looked at Xiu Niang, answering obediently, “Yun Shan scratched me.”

Xiu Niang touched his head and said, “In a bit, I’ll trim his nails and Chun Hua’s too. Chun Hua’s nails have grown as well.”

Hearing Xiu Niang say this, Tuo Tuo and Xiao Cong ran together to Chun Hua’s cradle and held her little hands to look. Sure enough, just like the Little Temple Master, her claws had grown sharp.

Xiao Cong put both hands behind his back and looked at Xiu Niang with some fear, then immediately lowered his head. Claws could be cut too?

After a hot breakfast, the bowls and chopsticks were piled in a wooden basin. Xiu Niang planned to wait until the rain stopped before going out to wash them.

Because of the rain, Xi Jue and Dou Ming did not go up the mountain. Each of them moved over a stool and sat at the entrance of the main room, watching rain fall from the sky in strand after strand.

Xiao Cong held the pangolin he had embroidered and showed it to Tuo Tuo. He asked, “Does it look like one this time?”

“Mm. It does.” Tuo Tuo poked his head over to glance at it, then said softly, “It looks exactly like you.”

Xiu Niang brought the scissors over. Seeing the two little ones with their heads together over the scrap of cloth, occasionally covering their mouths as they whispered little things to each other, she smiled and said, “Xiao Cong, let me see what you embroidered.”

On the scrap of cloth, a little brown animal looked adorably simple and charming. Its whole body was covered in armor, its head was small, its four limbs thick and short, and its tail flat and long.

“What animal is this?” Xiu Niang asked Xiao Cong. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before.”

“It’s a pangolin.”

Xiu Niang picked up the scrap of cloth and looked at it carefully, then praised, “This little animal is quite cute. Why are its nails so long?”

Xiao Cong looked at the scissors in Xiu Niang’s hand, paused, and then trotted behind Dou Ming to hide.

“Xiao Cong, what’s wrong?” Qiu Sheng, who had been watching the fun all along, asked curiously toward Xiao Cong behind Dou Ming.

Xiao Cong said in a muffled voice, “No, nothing.”

Qiu Sheng felt stifled sitting in the house, so he braved the rain and ran under the tree in the yard to bring the set of tools he used for carpentry into the house. He set them up on the other side of the main room doorway. As he planed wood, he asked Xi Jue, “Your family still needs cabinets, right? Go up the mountain and get some wood. If I don’t have work on hand, I’ll help you make them. Before the house is finished, we should be able to scrape together a full set.”

Neither Hua Qi nor Xi Jue had thought of this. They had assumed that once the house was built, they could simply move in. Now that Qiu Sheng brought it up, Hua Qi thought of how many things Xiu Niang’s family had, and realized their own family would need to prepare them in the future too. Pots, bowls, ladles, and basins were all needed, as well as a dining table, stools, and wardrobes. Once he calculated it all, every single thing cost money. He had thought that after the house was built, they would be able to farm in peace, but he had not expected so many things to come afterward.

“When the weather clears, we’ll have Xi Jue go up the mountain to look for wood,” Hua Qi said. “Qiu Sheng, help us think about it. What else do we need to prepare?”

Qiu Sheng laughed twice. “You’ll have to ask Xiu Niang that. Everything bought for our home is decided by Xiu Niang.”

“How is it decided by me?” Xiu Niang glanced at Qiu Sheng. “Those big clay jars in the east room—I said not to buy them, didn’t you still buy two and bring them home?”

Qiu Sheng chuckled and immediately changed the topic, not letting Xiu Niang latch onto what he had just said. “The ox cart is coming along fast. Three days at most, and we won’t need to borrow a cart from next door anymore.”

“It’ll be so convenient to go to town from now on,” Xiu Niang said happily. Though they had taken on debt, adding a large item to the household was still something to be happy about.

She first took Yun Shan’s little hand and checked each of his tiny fingernails. “Yun Shan’s nails really grow fast. When he first came to our house, his fingernails were still short. It’s only been a few days, and such a wide white edge has already grown out. No wonder he scratched Tuo Tuo’s face all over.”

Hua Qi and Tuo Tuo leaned in to look. Xiao Cong did not dare. He still hid behind Dou Ming, revealing only a pair of eyes as he cautiously watched Xiu Niang’s movements.

Xiu Niang pinched Yun Shan’s thumb, held the scissors, and carefully snipped off the white edge with a click. Yun Shan turned his head sideways, trying hard to see clearly what the person beside him was doing.

The clicking sounded more than a dozen times in a row. Xiu Niang blew on Yun Shan’s little hand and said, “All done.” She turned around, pinched Chun Hua’s little hand, and another round of clicks followed.

Only after Xiu Niang stood up and put the scissors away did Xiao Cong dare to run out from behind Dou Ming.

Tuo Tuo picked up Yun Shan’s little hand to show Xiao Cong. “Look, Yun Shan’s claws aren’t sharp anymore. Xiu Niang cut them short.”

Xiao Cong stared carefully at Yun Shan’s little hand. The little black hand that had once been dry and shriveled had recently become fair and plump. Five small dimples were faintly appearing on the back of his hand. This morning, the long white nails on his fingers could still be seen, but now Xiu Niang had trimmed them flat and neat.

Xiao Cong tried touching Yun Shan’s nails. They were no longer as sharp as in the morning. They were just a little rough and prickly.

Near noon, the pouring rain finally lessened. The sound of rain could no longer be heard; only the puddles on the ground could be seen rippling continuously. Xiu Niang carried the bowls and chopsticks outside, originally planning to quickly wash them while the rain was light. But once the wind blew, the fine drizzle swept straight onto her body. In the time it took to wash the dishes, her clothes were completely dampened.

Xiu Niang ran back to the main room, tidied the stray hairs before her forehead, and muttered, “It looked like it wasn’t raining, but after going out once, my clothes are almost soaked through.”

Qiu Sheng urged her, “Hurry and go inside to change. Be careful not to catch cold.”

Only after the midday rest did the rain truly stop. The sun soon leaped out from the clouds, and the cicadas that had rested all morning began crying from the trees again, rising and falling in waves.

Tuo Tuo dragged Yun Shan’s cradle under the tree.

A woman carrying a basket came into the yard, with two boys following beside her. All three of them had large patches on their clothes. The shorter boy’s shoes were torn, and his toes showed brazenly outside.

“Sister-in-law.” Xiu Niang walked out of the main room and pulled her sister-in-law, Wan Niang, to sit under the tree. The two boys followed beside Wan Niang and called to Xiu Niang, “Auntie.”

“Da Mao, Er Mao, go play with Tuo Tuo in the yard.” Xiu Niang patted Er Mao on the shoulder. “How did your shoe tear? Take it off. Auntie will mend it for you.”

“Don’t fuss over him.” Wan Niang held Xiu Niang’s hand and would not let her move. “Er Mao is tough. His shoe broke a couple days ago, and I had only just mended it for him. It didn’t even last two days before it broke again. Look at this rainy weather. His feet get covered in mud, and before long, his pants can smear on plenty of mud too. I’ll scrub and mend it properly for him tomorrow.”

Wan Niang looked at Hua Qi off to the side and asked Xiu Niang, “This is Hua Qi, right? A famous person in our village.”

“What famous person?” Hua Qi said with a smile.

“The one who helped Qiaozi discipline her man until he’s perfectly obedient. The young girls in our village have even been saying that if the man they marry in the future is no good, they’ll have to come ask you for help.”

“You really know how to put things wittily,” Xiu Niang said.

Wan Niang took a string of coins from her basket and handed it to Xiu Niang. “After you left yesterday, your older brother and our parents thought about it all night. They originally wanted to send you another tael of silver this morning. But the rain was heavy this morning. You wouldn’t even need to go far outside before your clothes would definitely be soaked through. So I waited until the rain stopped and hurried over.”

Xiu Niang fiddled with the copper coins, warmth filling her heart. She had not expected her sister-in-law to bring money over to her again today. The family was not rich to begin with, yet they could still send her another tael of silver. How could she not feel comforted?

Wan Niang shared the news she had just heard. “On my way over, I heard Uncle Dayun and his eldest daughter-in-law were arguing.”

The five demons all perked up their ears. Last night, Hua Qi and Xi Jue had slipped into Uncle Dayun’s dream to help him fulfill his wish, so why were Uncle Dayun and his eldest daughter-in-law arguing this morning?

“What happened?” Xiu Niang blinked and asked, “What was it about? How did he end up arguing with his daughter-in-law?”

Wan Niang said, “Uncle Dayun dreamed of Auntie Dayun last night. I heard he only went to Yunling Temple yesterday morning to make his wish, and when he came back that night, it came true. Tell me, isn’t Yunling Temple miraculous?”

“Isn’t it just? Before, wasn’t there a family from the neighboring village whose well didn’t produce water? They went to Yunling Temple to make a wish. The next morning, the well was full of water.” Xiu Niang told the story she had heard last time, then asked curiously, “What does that have to do with them arguing?”

“His eldest daughter-in-law said she sleeps lightly at night because she brings the child to bed. She heard the sound of a door opening and saw a ghost standing by the bed with eyes glowing green. Uncle Dayun said that wasn’t some other ghost. It was Auntie Dayun. It was Auntie Dayun coming back to see her family before reincarnating. His eldest daughter-in-law insisted that normal ghosts don’t have green eyes. So the two of them started arguing just like that.”

Tuo Tuo, Xiao Cong, and Dou Ming looked back and forth between Hua Qi and Xi Jue curiously. Seeing Hua Qi glare at Xi Jue, they immediately realized the problem lay with Xi Jue.

Xi Jue scratched his head. It wasn’t as if he had done it on purpose.

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