Chapter 35: Is That Person Xi Jue?

After the little sparrow left the courtyard of Boss Wan’s home, it did not return straight to the mountain. It made a special trip to Dongwang Village and perched on the big tree in Xiu Niang’s courtyard.

Beneath the tree, Hua Qi had rolled up his sleeves and was washing vegetables with Xiu Niang.

He heard Xiu Niang say they had to start drying vegetables now so they could store them away to eat in winter.

Listening to the little sparrow chirp about what had happened that morning, Hua Qi felt delighted inside, and the corners of his mouth could not help curling into a wicked grin. Xiu Niang found it strange when she saw him. “Huaniang, why are you suddenly smiling like that? Is something wrong with the vegetables?”

After reporting the situation to Hua Qi, the little sparrow flapped its wings and flew away. It still had to tell Little Temple Master about today’s events.

Hearing Xiu Niang’s question, Hua Qi quickly pulled back the corners of his mouth and widened his eyes slightly. “Mm, there’s nothing wrong with the vegetables. Oh, I, I just remembered that when Yun Shan was sleeping last night, he stuffed his foot into Tuo Tuo’s mouth.”

“Huh? Hahaha.” Xiu Niang could not help laughing. “How was he sleeping?”

Hua Qi laughed along with her. What he was laughing at was the nasty trick the little sparrow had come up with.

At night, Yun Shan always slept circled in Hua Qi’s arms, so there was no way Tuo Tuo could get close to Yun Shan. Yun Shan also could not possibly stuff his foot into Tuo Tuo’s mouth. It was just a lie Hua Qi had made up on the spot. But Xiu Niang took it seriously. The more she imagined that scene, the funnier she found it. She put down the vegetables in her hands and laughed nonstop. “Our Tuo Tuo really doesn’t mind Yun Shan at all, hahaha.”

“He really doesn’t mind him.” Hua Qi thought about how affectionate Tuo Tuo was toward Yun Shan. “Tuo Tuo always likes holding Yun Shan.”

He narrowed his eyes, recalling Tuo Tuo’s behavior over the past few days, then frowned slightly and said, “It’s just that lately, whenever he holds Yun Shan, he hasn’t really been willing to let me touch Yun Shan. Sigh, Xiu Niang, do you think he’s been a little off lately?” Hua Qi had been thinking all along about how to win Tuo Tuo over from Hong Shan’s side. Now that he had brought this up, he also wanted Xiu Niang to help him think of an idea.

“Don’t let your imagination run wild. What could be off? From what I see, Tuo Tuo is just a good older brother. Every day, he helps you look after the child perfectly. How relaxed you are.” Xiu Niang felt Hua Qi simply did not know how lucky he was. She wanted someone to help her look after her child, but there was no one to do it.

“You really haven’t felt that Tuo Tuo is off? I feel like even Xiao Cong has been a bit different from usual these past few days.”

When Hua Qi said again that something was off, Xiu Niang slowly began to take the matter seriously. She thought it over carefully. In order to take care of Yun Shan, Tuo Tuo had not only stopped going outside to run wild with the other children lately, he even brought Yun Shan with him when he went to Bailing’s place to learn how to weave cloth. Compared to before, it was indeed unusual.

Xiu Niang pondered for a long time. “Now that you put it that way, it really is off. But children’s thoughts aren’t the same as us adults’. They change every few days. Today they’re like this, tomorrow they’re like that. Maybe tomorrow Tuo Tuo won’t want to stay with Yun Shan anymore.”

But Tuo Tuo was not a child. He was a hundred-year-old ginseng spirit. He must have thoughts of his own. “Then tell me, suppose someone said something in front of Tuo Tuo. How do I get Tuo Tuo onto my side?”

As soon as Hua Qi said this, Xiu Niang spoke with an expression of understanding. “Is that person Xi Jue? You think Xi Jue said something in front of Tuo Tuo?”

Hua Qi froze. He did not know how Xiu Niang had thought of Xi Jue. He was not talking about Xi Jue. He was talking about Hong Shan. But then he thought about it again. They had disguised themselves as a family and stayed in Dongwang Village. Aside from being familiar with Xiu Niang and Qiu Sheng, they were not close to anyone else. It seemed reasonable enough that Xiu Niang would think of Xi Jue.

He gave a light cough. “Ah, I, I just wanted to ask how to get Tuo Tuo on my side. Xi Jue, he, mm, you know, he is the children’s father, after all. I’m alone, and Yun Shan is still so small. In the end, they’re one family.”

“Don’t worry. Xi Jue doesn’t talk much, but I can tell he’s a good person. He treats you well, and he treats the children well too. Even if he says something in front of Tuo Tuo, it’s definitely to have Tuo Tuo take good care of Yun Shan. Qiu Sheng has told me several times that Xi Jue is especially biased toward Yun Shan. Dou Ming, Xiao Cong, and Tuo Tuo all protect Yun Shan too.”

Xiu Niang said, “You really are blessed.”

Hua Qi smiled in a way that tried to cover things up. Blessed, what blessed? Originally, he had been staying perfectly well on the mountain, but that ox-nosed Ling Yin had forced him down the mountain to raise a human cub. If he were truly blessed, he should be sleeping in a cave right now.

“If you want a good relationship with Tuo Tuo, that’s simple.” Xiu Niang picked up an eggplant from the ground and put it into the basin, then continued, “Children are all easy to coax. Tuo Tuo has a cheerful personality. He loves to smile and make trouble. A child like that is even easier to coax. You need to talk to Tuo Tuo the same way you treat Yun Shan. You have to treat him like your own child.”

“If Tuo Tuo were a little snake spirit, maybe I could treat him like my own child. Too bad he’s a little ginseng,” Hua Qi muttered quietly.

Xiu Niang said with concern, “There’s also Dou Ming. I mentioned this to you before. Dou Ming is an older child, and his thoughts are heavier than Tuo Tuo’s. You have to be even more careful and pay attention. A child that age not only understands things, he remembers them too.”

Hua Qi could not help laughing. How could Xiu Niang think Dou Ming’s thoughts were heavier than Tuo Tuo’s? The little ginseng spirit still had some ideas. The little tiger was the one who truly had no thoughts.

Xiu Niang turned her head and met Hua Qi’s smiling face. She could not help smiling along with him. “What are you laughing at now?”

“Nothing. Didn’t you say you still had to go into the mountain to dig wild vegetables? When are we going?”

“Just the two of us can’t go up the mountain.” Xiu Niang smiled. “We’ll wait until Dou Ming is free. I feel at ease going up the mountain with Dou Ming.”

The little sparrow flew excitedly to Bailing’s house and landed on the windowsill.

Tuo Tuo stood chubbily behind the loom, holding up a bundle of thread with both hands. Bailing was holding the end of the thread and arranging it onto the loom. Xiao Cong stood at the side, holding Yun Shan and watching.

“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp.”

The little sparrow proudly told Little Temple Master how the birds on Yunling Mountain had helped him vent his anger.

Tuo Tuo listened with rapt attention. When Bailing tugged the thread, he did not react at all.

Bailing gripped the end of the thread, crouched on the ground, and shouted loudly at him, “Tuo Tuo!”

Tuo Tuo jolted. His two chubby arms instinctively dropped downward. By the time he realized there was still thread in his hands, it was already too late. The thread Bailing had spent an hour arranging was now tangled together again.

Bailing wailed, “Ah—now I have to arrange it all over again. Tuo Tuo, you have to help me.”

“Help, help, help.” Tuo Tuo crouched down and reached out to rake back and forth over the ground a few times. The tangled thread became even more tangled.

Bailing’s head hurt. She grabbed his chubby hand and stopped him. “Let me find the ends first, then you can help me.”

“Oh.” Tuo Tuo nodded, stood up, and ran over to the window. Xiao Cong, holding Yun Shan, also stood by the window with him.

The little sparrow hopped back and forth on the window lattice. “Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp.”

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.” Yun Shan, who was in Xiao Cong’s arms, suddenly made a sound.

Tuo Tuo and Xiao Cong both fixed their gazes on Yun Shan.

“Little Temple Master, can you understand what the little sparrow is saying?” Tuo Tuo asked curiously in a low voice.

“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp.” Little Temple Master definitely understood. The little sparrow grew even more excited and flew into the room, flapping its wings right in front of Yun Shan’s eyes.

“Then do you understand what Little Temple Master is saying?” Tuo Tuo heard this and looked at the little sparrow.

The little sparrow: “...Chirp chirp chirp.” I don’t understand.

Xiao Cong said, “Xiu Niang said that no one can understand the cries of human cubs. They only learn to speak after they grow up.”

“Eh? Where did this little sparrow come from?” Bailing raised her head from the tangled thread and walked over cheerfully. “This little sparrow doesn’t avoid people.”

“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp.” There’s a human here. I’ll go back up the mountain first. The little sparrow flapped its little wings and flew out the window.

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.” Yun Shan seemed a little excited, lying in Xiao Cong’s arms and waving his little arms up and down.

Bailing stood at the window and muttered, “So it does avoid people after all. I knew it. How could there be a little sparrow that doesn’t know to avoid people? Wouldn’t that be a stupid sparrow?”

She lowered her head to look at Yun Shan, who was excited for some unknown reason, and immediately became interested. “Xiao Cong, let me hold Yun Shan. I haven’t held him before.”

Bailing bent down to take Yun Shan.

Xiao Cong hesitated a little. Demons did not casually hand their cubs over to others.

“What’s wrong? You don’t want me to hold him?” Bailing smiled. “So Xiao Cong protects Yun Shan this much.”

Bailing did not force it. She pulled Tuo Tuo back to the loom, and the two of them crouched on the ground together to keep arranging the thread.

More than two hours passed, and Boss Wan still had not gone out.

Instead, a few villagers came back carrying nets and wandered back and forth beneath the tree.

Dou Ming knew these people must be the ones who had brought nets to catch birds.

The villagers stood beneath the tree and looked up. “There are no birds. They’ve all flown away. We brought the nets for nothing.”

Seeing the people who had shouted for half the afternoon yesterday sitting beneath the tree, some villagers with nothing to do struck up a conversation. “Which village are you from?”

Qiu Sheng smiled and replied, “Dongwang Village.”

“Wan San really mixed broken tiles in for you?” One villager obviously did not believe it. “He’s been selling tiles for more than ten years. I’ve never heard of him mixing broken tiles in to sell. Most of the houses built around here use his family’s tiles. I’ve never heard anyone say his tiles weren’t good.”

“Otherwise, why would I have told this brother of mine to come buy tiles from Boss Wan?” Qiu Sheng shook his head. “My family’s house also uses tiles from Boss Wan’s family. I thought the tiles were good and cheap, so I told my brother to come here to buy them.”

“Who knew Boss Wan would actually mix bad tiles in to sell?” Qiu Sheng sighed. “I was the one who inspected the tiles. When they first started unloading the goods, I only looked at the top two layers, and they were all perfectly good tiles. After they were hauled to the site and we opened them up for another look, the tiles were either cracked or broken in half. And those tiles didn’t look like they’d been damaged from being knocked around at all. My guess is... they were damaged in the kiln.”

“That can’t be right.” The villager’s tone carried doubt. “Wouldn’t that just be cheating people?” Simple farming folk did not believe someone would really deliberately cheat others.

“Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here. It’s all money saved through bitter, hard work. If the tiles are gone, there’s no money to buy more. A house can’t just go without a roof, can it?” Qiu Sheng’s face wrinkled with worry. “If he doesn’t return the money, we’ll come keep watch every day. We’ll leave whenever he gives the money back.”

They waited for about another hour, but Boss Wan still did not go out. The villagers who wanted to catch birds had already gone home. Sitting beneath the tree was truly boring, so Dou Ming said, “Let’s go back.”

The sun was already hanging due south, and the three of them walked back quickly.

Dou Ming did not even enter the door. With hurried steps, he ran straight toward the mountain.

“Eh? Is Dou Ming not eating?” Xiu Niang stood in the doorway, watching Dou Ming’s retreating back. Usually, Dou Ming was the most enthusiastic whenever it was time to eat. Why had he gone to Boss Wan’s place and come back without even eating?

Hua Qi said unconcernedly, “No need to worry about him. He can find food up on the mountain. He won’t go hungry.”

The animals on the mountain had already learned that the birds had properly taught Boss Wan, the tile seller who had deceived demons, a lesson. They gathered together to discuss the next step of their plan.

The monkey spirit sat on a branch, holding a peach and chattering, “Boss Wan cheated us out of our money. We have to make him return it!”

“How do we make him return it?” The little deer raised its head to look at the monkey spirit.

“Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp.” Boss Wan said he was coming to our Yunling Mountain to pray.

The little squirrel jumped down from the tree trunk and landed accurately on the little deer’s back. “We’ll wait for him on the mountain.”

“Wait for who?” Dou Ming approached silently with small steps.

The monkey was so startled that it dropped its peach and immediately shot up to the top of the tree. The little deer carried the little squirrel and fled into the forest, with a quickly hopping rabbit following behind.

“Who are you waiting for?” Dou Ming sprawled comfortably beneath the tree and propped up his big head as he asked the little sparrow in the sky.

“The black-hearted Boss Wan.” The little sparrow perched on the treetop.

Dou Ming reminded it, “Someone brought nets to catch birds. Don’t go down the mountain.”

The little sparrow said it would not go down the mountain again, then asked, “Lord Dou Ming, how much more money do we need to build the house?”

How much were they short? Dou Ming remembered Xiao Cong had told him yesterday morning. Why couldn’t he remember anything at all?

The tiger tilted his head in distress and tried to recall. But his completely blank mind left him unable to remember anything. Forget it. Why make things hard for himself? Dou Ming casually brushed it off. “A whole lot.”

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