Chapter 60: The Little Demons Clearing the Land

Night fell. Qin Niang lay anxiously in bed, uneasy as she asked Xia Sheng beside her, “The wild beasts won’t come tonight, right?”

Xia Sheng gave a scoffing laugh. “Who knows? That’s what you get for doing so many wicked things.”

Qin Niang was silent in the darkness for a long while before she said quietly, “Your mother has done plenty of wicked things too. It’s not just me. And she still had the nerve to hit me. If we don’t pay the money back, our whole family will suffer for it.”

“So you do know the whole family will suffer because of you?” Xia Sheng was so angry his voice rose much louder. “All the money our family saved over the years was squandered by you!”

“Why are you taking that tone with me? It’s not like I meant to do it.” Qin Niang defended herself. “It’s not like I ordered Er Gou to hurt Yun Shan. I only told him to go to his second uncle’s house to eat meat. Children don’t know any better, and Huaniang doesn’t know any better either. Making such a fuss over such a tiny thing and insisting on five taels of silver. If I hadn’t been afraid of the wild beasts, I never would have given her five taels of silver.”

“That family is no good either. And your mother too. It wasn’t me who first said Xiu Niang was a jinx. Wasn’t it your mother? Xiu Niang couldn’t give birth to a son, so your mother kept nagging in front of me that Xiu Niang was a jinx, that not only could she not have sons, she even made Qiu Sheng drift away from her.”

“Just hearing you talk makes me angry!” Xia Sheng turned his back to her and ignored Qin Niang. “From now on, you’d better keep that mouth of yours under control. Don’t just blurt out anything that comes to mind.”

Qin Niang muttered under her breath, “Hearing me talk makes you angry? Hearing you talk makes me angry too!”

After this incident, even without Xia Sheng saying it, she would definitely find a way to control her mouth. That was five taels of silver. Their family could not earn that much in two years.

Qin Niang lay with her eyes open, one moment aching over the five taels of silver she had handed over during the day, the next worrying that the wild beasts would come. She tossed and turned in bed, then unknowingly fell asleep.

On Qin Niang’s side, she heard no movement before falling asleep, but after Xiu Niang closed her eyes, she kept hearing squeaking and chirping sounds coming from outside every now and then.

Xiu Niang pushed Qiu Sheng awake and said, “Did you hear that noise? Did a big rat get into our house?”

Qiu Sheng struggled to open his eyes, tilted his head, and listened quietly for a moment. “What noise? I don’t hear anything. We don’t have big rats here. All the households around us have cats. Doesn’t Fifth Auntie’s big tabby come wandering around our house all the time? There won’t be any big rats.”

“Do you think the wild beasts will come again tonight? The village chief didn’t organize anyone to keep watch tonight. I heard it was like he got so angry at Eldest Brother and Eldest Sister-in-law’s family that he gave up,” Xiu Niang said.

Half-asleep, Qiu Sheng mumbled, “There is something like that. Today, when I went to Bailing’s house to look at the loom, Mao Shan told me that the wild beast might be something even bigger than a tiger. It knocked down Eldest Sister-in-law’s maternal family’s courtyard wall all at once. Even if all the young and strong men in our village kept watch, they probably couldn’t do anything to that giant thing.”

“It’s that powerful?” Xiu Niang pondered it by herself, while Qiu Sheng beside her soon fell asleep again.

Cool moonlight spilled over the foot of Yunling Mountain. The little animals on the mountain ran down the slopes in strings and clusters.

The monkey spirit was leading dozens of monkeys as they picked up pebbles in the wasteland behind the house.

The rabbit spirit led little rabbits from several mountaintops as they hopped over. “Is this our field?”

“The little sparrow said it was this plot.” The monkey spirit pointed to the house ahead, which already had several wall sections built. “That’s our Little Temple Master’s new house.”

The little squirrel standing on the sika deer’s back commented, “This place isn’t as big as the house on Yunling Mountain.”

“Of course it isn’t as big as the house on Yunling Mountain.” The little sparrow landed on the sika deer’s head and said, “This is only a branch temple of our Yunling Temple, so it definitely isn’t as big as the one on our mountain. There isn’t even a deity statue here. It’s just the place where the Little Temple Master lives.”

All the animals nodded in agreement, feeling that the little sparrow made a great deal of sense. This place was only a branch temple.

“Let’s go see how the branch temple is coming along,” the little rabbit suggested.

The little demons were full of excitement. In groups and clusters, they ran from the wasteland over to the new house.

Touching the newly built wall, the monkey spirit said, “This wall feels sturdier than the walls on Yunling Mountain.”

“Look at these tiles.” The little sparrow flapped his wings and landed on a roof tile, proudly saying, “These are the tiles Boss Wan sent over later. Take a look. Every single tile is good. Not one of them has even the slightest crack.”

Many animals on the mountain had participated in that incident. Everyone picked up a tile, one here and one there, and carefully examined them. The monkey spirit said, “If he tries to trick us with broken tiles again, next time I’ll use a thick branch to smash that black-hearted boss.”

“I’ll switch to a big chestnut,” the little squirrel said, clenching a fist.

Xiu Niang, half-asleep and half-awake, was woken up by the noise again. She pushed Qiu Sheng beside her hard. “Qiu Sheng, why does the noise outside sound like it’s getting louder and louder? Listen. It sounds like a whole swarm of rats. Like they’re right behind our house.”

After being woken back and forth twice, Qiu Sheng was just about to speak impatiently when he suddenly heard squeak, squeak, squeak. It really did sound like the cries of rats. But with such a loud commotion, how could it be rats making all that noise? He feared some other wild beast had come down from the mountain.

Qiu Sheng instantly came fully awake. He hurriedly sat up and instructed Xiu Niang, “Stay in the room and watch Chun Hua. I’ll call Xi Jue and go out with him to take a look.”

“It’s just rats. Why are you calling Xi Jue?” Xiu Niang was puzzled. She had never heard that Qiu Sheng was afraid of rats.

“How is that noise rats?” In the darkness, Qiu Sheng felt around for his clothes and put them on. Still worried, he said, “You and Chun Hua stay on the bed. Don’t go anywhere. No matter what you hear, don’t open the door.”

Xiu Niang pulled the sleeping Chun Hua into her arms. There was a trace of fear in her voice. “Qiu Sheng, don’t scare me. Our family hasn’t done anything wicked. Be careful yourself. The hoes Xi Jue brought back today are by the wall near the courtyard gate. You and Xi Jue should each take one when you go out.”

Qiu Sheng had just fastened his buttons when he heard the door to the west room open. He quickly opened his door and saw that Xi Jue and Hua Qi had both come out. “Huaniang, what are you coming out for? Stay in the room and watch Yun Shan.”

Qiu Sheng said to Xi Jue, “I don’t know what’s outside, but it’s making a pretty big racket. Maybe something from the mountain came down. Let’s go take a look together.”

“It’s fine,” Xi Jue said. “Don’t go. We’ll just go take a look. Nothing big on the mountain would dare come down.”

Qiu Sheng said, “Weren’t there big wild beasts causing trouble in our village two nights in a row? No, I have to go with you. I’ll go help you.”

Hua Qi was helpless. With them here, there really was nothing big that would dare come down the mountain. The wild beasts from the past two days had only appeared because they had personally dealt with Qin Niang themselves.

“Qiu Sheng, go back to your room and don’t come out. It’s nothing,” Hua Qi said lightly. “I’ll go take a look with Xi Jue. It doesn’t sound like something big to me either.”

“You should be the one going back inside,” Qiu Sheng said. “No matter what, I can’t let you, a wom—”

Before he could finish, Xi Jue pushed him back into the east room and shut the door behind him.

Xi Jue’s voice came through the door. “Don’t come out. Nothing’s wrong. We’ll be back soon.”

Qiu Sheng suddenly remembered that the wild beasts of the past two days had liked eating chickens, so he hurriedly reminded them, “Then check on the chickens at home. Don’t let the wild beasts ruin them.”

“Xi Jue and Dou Ming went out?” Xiu Niang was startled by the sound of the door closing.

“Not Dou Ming. Hua Qi. The two of them went out together,” Qiu Sheng said gloomily. “I’m a man. If we run into wild beasts, I’d definitely be far more useful than Hua Qi, a woman. Why does she need to go? She won’t be able to help at all.”

Xiu Niang laughed at him. “They’re husband and wife. If they said not to let you go, then don’t meddle blindly. Xi Jue is an old hand at hunting, so he definitely understands more than we do. If he says it’s fine, then it should be fine. Besides, Xi Jue can even subdue a wild boar that weighs over three hundred catties.”

After the little squirrel finished looking at the tiles, he still wanted to go to the front house to see Little Temple Master Yunshan. But he was also afraid of disturbing the great demons’ sleep and making the great demons unhappy.

He planned to return to the wasteland and continue picking up small stones, but the moment he turned his head, he came face-to-face with a black snake’s head hanging down by the wall. The little squirrel screamed and shot backward, hiding under a roof tile and trembling. “L-Lord Hua Qi.”

Xi Jue transformed into a leopard and, under the moonlight, walked unhurriedly to the back of the group of little demons.

Hua Qi hissed and flicked his snake tongue. His tone was unhappy. “What are you making such a racket for after coming down the mountain?”

The little demons shrank back. The monkey spirit slowly said, “We came to clear the land for the Little Temple Master.”

“Oh, clear the land.” Hua Qi repeated it once. His icy snake eyes stared at the little demons until all they wanted to do now was flee back up the mountain and get as far from this black snake as possible.

“If you’re clearing land, then go clear the land in the back. Work properly.” Hua Qi jerked his snake head toward the wasteland, and the little demons immediately understood the situation and swarmed off toward the wasteland. The little squirrel hiding under the tile took advantage of the chaos to hurry out, leaping onto the little rabbit’s back in a few bounds and following them to the wasteland.

Hua Qi slithered over to the wasteland and instructed them, “Don’t do too much, or the humans will get suspicious. Pull out this patch of grass, then go back up the mountain. From now on, when you come down at night, don’t get too close to the humans’ house.” He frightened them by saying, “I even heard a human just now say they wanted to catch you and sell you for money.”

The little demons grew even more afraid. They sent out the monkey spirit as their representative, and he promised, “We won’t go near the humans’ house.”

The monkey spirit smiled ingratiatingly and said, “We’ll get to work right away and definitely won’t make the humans suspicious. We’ll definitely satisfy Lord Hua Qi.”

Hua Qi was satisfied. He had never discovered before that the little demons on the mountain were actually so tactful. After watching the little demons work for a while, Hua Qi and Xi Jue soon returned to the courtyard.

Qiu Sheng did not dare sleep. When he heard sounds in the courtyard, he did not dare open the door. He stood carefully by the door and asked, “Is that Xi Jue and Huaniang back?”

“It’s us,” Xi Jue said.

Qiu Sheng asked, “What was making all that noise?”

“A group of wild monkeys came down from the mountain. We’ve already chased them off. It’s fine. Go to sleep,” Xi Jue said, then opened the door and went back to the west room.

“Why would perfectly good wild monkeys come down the mountain?” Qiu Sheng muttered as he walked back to the heated brick bed. After lying down, he let out a comfortable sigh. “Tonight was really troublesome. Hurry and sleep.”

Hua Qi walked into the room. Dou Ming, who had been lying beside Yun Shan, immediately opened his eyes, and Xiao Cong jumped off the heated brick bed after him.

By the moonlight, Hua Qi saw Yun Shan waving his little hands and feet, happily playing by himself.

Hua Qi picked him up and asked softly, “You woke up? Do you want milk?”

Dou Ming said, “His diaper’s been changed, and he’s been fed.”

Hua Qi gave an oblique glance at Tuo Tuo, who lay sprawled out in a starfish shape on the heated brick bed, fast asleep. All the demons in the room had gotten up, even the little goat had woken up, except for this little ginseng spirit. He was not even as diligent as the little demons on the mountain.

After turning back into a black snake, Hua Qi coiled himself in two circles beside Yun Shan, enclosing the human cub in the center. His snake tail gently brushed against Yun Shan’s little hand again and again.

Yun Shan grabbed this way and that, but he just could not catch that annoying snake tail. “Ya!” he cried out in a tiny voice. Hua Qi lifted his head to look at him. Seeing the human cub turn his head back and forth after his tail, he could not help laughing inwardly. Silly little cub.

Dou Ming heard the sound and lifted his head for a glance. Seeing that there was no unusual movement on the bed, he lowered his big head and went back to sleep.

In the wasteland, the little rabbit finished the grass in his mouth and complained to the little squirrel, “I really can’t eat anymore.”

The little squirrel lay on a grass root, set his teeth against it, and ground them back and forth twice. A stalk of grass toppled over. He spat out the grass juice that had gotten into his mouth and said to the little rabbit two stalks away, “Lord Hua Qi told us to come pull grass, not eat grass! There’s so much grass here. Even if dozens of you rabbits came, you still couldn’t finish eating it.”

The monkey spirit laboriously pulled up a clump of grass by the roots and casually threw it behind him. “Hurry up and stop eating. Just bite the grass off.”

“Who threw something at me?” The little sparrow, who was standing in the grass and diligently stabbing at grass roots with his little beak, cried out and flew into the air. “Who threw that at me?”

The monkey spirit smiled in embarrassment. “I’ll pay attention next time. You’re just a little bird. Why are you pecking grass? There’s no work here that you can do. Hurry back up the mountain and sleep.”

“I’m not going back,” the little sparrow said stubbornly. “I want to clear the land with you.”

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