Chapter 61: Tuo Tuo Takes a Task

After the rooster crowed three times, Xiu Niang climbed over Qiu Sheng and got off the heated brick bed.

She was still worried about the monkey disturbance from last night, so once she dressed, she hurried to check her family’s chicken coop first. The three chickens at home were all obediently crouched in their nest. Not a single one was missing.

Xiu Niang relaxed and, emboldened, went to the back house to take a look. The bricks and tiles were all stacked properly, without the slightest sign of having been ruined.

She muttered, “Last night’s commotion wasn’t small. Good thing it didn’t ruin anyone’s things. Bricks and roof tiles all cost money. If monkeys ruined them, there’d be nowhere to even complain.”

Still feeling fortunate, she walked back home and saw a group of people hurrying past. Most of the women among them looked sorrowful, and the men were frowning too. Judging from the direction they were walking, they were probably headed toward Yunling Mountain. She stood there and watched for a while. Sure enough, they really were going up the mountain.

“Xiu Niang, you’re up so early.” Fifth Auntie leaned closer and said, “No wild beasts came last night. I specially went to look this morning. Your eldest brother and sister-in-law’s place and your sister-in-law’s maiden family are all fine.”

“That’s good.” Xiu Niang answered flatly.

“It really is strange. The day before yesterday, even after your mother-in-law apologized to half the village, it didn’t work. Not only did the wild beasts go to her house, they even followed your sister-in-law to her maiden family, like they’d marked those two out. Yesterday Qin Niang went around the village apologizing to people, and today the wild beasts really didn’t come.” Fifth Auntie lowered her voice. “Xiu Niang, tell me, among those dozen or so households yesterday, was there someone they really couldn’t afford to offend? Otherwise, why would the wild beasts stop coming only after they apologized to those dozen households?”

Xiu Niang said, “Probably not. I heard you have to apologize to everyone before the bad luck can be cleared. Maybe once they apologized to each household one by one, the bad luck was gone.”

“I’m not saying this just to be nasty, but with those mouths of your sister-in-law and your mother-in-law, they deserved it!”

Fifth Auntie could speak ill of Xia Sheng’s mother and Qin Niang, but Xiu Niang could not, so she only stood quietly to the side and listened.

“It really is strange. After Qin Niang ran to a few homes yesterday, the wild beasts really didn’t come anymore. The masters up on Yunling Mountain are truly divine,” Fifth Auntie said. “In the future, if anything happens, I’ll have to go up Yunling Mountain too and ask the masters.”

“I saw a group of people just now heading up the mountain too. I don’t know what they’re asking for. From the look of them, it seems like they’ve run into trouble.” Xiu Niang smoothly shifted the topic to Yunling Mountain, not wanting to hear Fifth Auntie talk about her mother-in-law and sister-in-law anymore.

“Who knows. I just came back from the village and saw that group of people. They must’ve heard our Yunling Temple is efficacious, so they came to ask for help.”

Xi Jue had just stepped out of the courtyard gate carrying an axe when Fifth Auntie spotted him. She smiled at Xi Jue and greeted him. “Going up the mountain again today?”

“Mm,” Xi Jue replied.

“Save a jin of meat for me today. My eldest brother from my maiden family is coming over to visit. A wild rabbit would be best. Braising a whole one would smell wonderful too,” Fifth Auntie said.

“Sure,” Dou Ming agreed at once. “I’ll catch you a rabbit.”

With that, the two of them went up the mountain.

Chuyi led the little lambs out the door. Fifth Auntie watched enviously and said, “How does their family raise sheep? I’ve never seen them tied up. Even when they graze, the big sheep leads the little lambs. And they grow so well too. Is their family slaughtering sheep this year? When they do, they’d better tell me. I’ll buy a piece of meat to take home and stew into soup.”

“Baa! Baa! Baa!” Chuyi bleated three times in anger, expressing her dissatisfaction with Fifth Auntie. They would never slaughter sheep! She actually wanted to eat her meat. This detestable human!

“What’s wrong?” Fifth Auntie glanced at Chuyi’s furious horizontal pupils, and her heart went faintly cold. “Sheep eyes are horizontal. They look strangely creepy.”

“Whose sheep don’t have horizontal pupils?” Xiu Niang laughed. “Their family’s Chuyi is very gentle. Usually she’s either eating grass outside or sleeping under a tree. She never poops in the courtyard, and even the little lambs don’t poop or pee in the courtyard either.”

“That’s really nice. No wonder your courtyard is so clean and never smells.” As Fifth Auntie spoke, she saw the water buffalo from Xiu Niang’s house go out on its own and grew even more envious.

Xi Jue was chopping a tree when the little sparrow landed on a nearby treetop and chirped, “Xi Jue, Xi Jue, people have come up the mountain asking for help. They said more than a dozen children disappeared from town and came to beg us to help bring the children back.”

Xi Jue knew about this. It was the madwoman who had stolen the children. He told the little sparrow to go look for the madwoman who had appeared in town.

The little sparrow flapped its wings and flew away. After returning to Yunling Mountain, it mobilized all the birds in the mountain to go out and gather information.

The birds spread their wings in flocks and rose from the mountain forest with a great whoosh, heading straight for town.

When Xi Jue and Dou Ming each dragged a thick, sturdy tree back to the courtyard, Xiu Niang was teaching Xiao Cong how to cut cloth for clothes. The cloth they were using was precisely the red fabric Hua Qi had spent one tael of silver on a few days ago.

Tuo Tuo stood to the side, smiling as he carefully gathered together the little scraps Xiu Niang had cut off.

Hua Qi held Yun Shan and stood by the vegetable garden, watching Qiu Sheng thin the scallions in the vegetable patch. The scallions he pulled out would be peeled in a moment, chopped fine, and sprinkled into the soup when they ate wontons. That would be the most fragrant.

“Xiao Cong, put the things away. We’re eating.” Xiu Niang entered the kitchen, while Xi Jue and Dou Ming consciously went to the wooden basin by the wall to wash their hands.

Hua Qi assigned Dou Ming a task. “Dou Ming, after you wash your hands, peel the scallions.”

When it came to food, Dou Ming was not the least bit careless. After washing his hands, he squatted by the vegetable garden, pulled on the scallion leaves, stripped off the outer layer of white skin, then cut into the scallion head with his fingernail and used a little strength to remove the root end.

Dou Ming had a strong palate and loved scallions, garlic, and chili peppers. Usually, the amount needed for stir-frying was too much, and Hua Qi was unwilling to do it himself, so he always made Dou Ming peel the scallions and garlic. Dou Ming had done it many times and was very practiced.

After peeling five scallions in a row, Dou Ming carried them to the well, washed them clean, entered the kitchen, picked up a knife, and skillfully chopped them into scallion flowers.

Xiu Niang laughed. “You don’t need to chop all five. We won’t use that much. Two are enough.”

Dou Ming did not stop working as he answered Xiu Niang, “I’ll chop more. If there’s extra, I’ll keep it to eat raw.”

Xiu Niang lifted the pot lid. The little wontons floated one by one on the surface of the water, rolling over and over in the bubbling hot water. She ladled out two bowls, grabbed some of the scallion flowers Dou Ming had just cut, sprinkled them into the bowls, and called into the courtyard, “Qiu Sheng, come carry the food.”

The moment her voice fell, Tuo Tuo and Xiao Cong raced into the kitchen, and with Dou Ming there too, the room instantly became packed full. Qiu Sheng, standing by the door, had no place to set foot.

“I don’t need you two to carry the food. I told your Uncle Qiu Sheng to carry it. The bowls are hot. Careful you don’t burn yourselves.” Xiu Niang patted Tuo Tuo’s head and shooed him and Xiao Cong out.

The two little ones ran out of the kitchen again and returned to sit beneath the tree. Tuo Tuo smiled slightly and ingratiatingly discussed with Xiao Cong, “Can you sew me something with the red cloth scraps?”

“What do you want?” Xiao Cong turned to look at him.

“Anything is fine. As long as it’s made of red cloth,” Tuo Tuo said indifferently.

“I’ll ask Xiu Niang and see what the scraps can be made into.” Xiao Cong had only ever embroidered handkerchiefs and clothes so far. The cloth scraps were not big enough for clothes, nor were they enough for a handkerchief.

Qiu Sheng carried a bowl of wontons and trotted out of the kitchen. After placing it on the small table under the tree, he immediately shook his hands and cried, “Hot! Hot! Hot!”

Yun Shan, in Hua Qi’s arms, cried along with him, “Ah! Ah!”

Chun Hua in the cradle went, “Ya?”

Xiu Niang carried a wooden tray out of the kitchen, both distressed and annoyed. “I told you to use the wooden tray, but you wouldn’t. Serves you right for getting burned. Even Chun Hua and Yun Shan are laughing at you.” Four bowls of little wontons sat on the wooden tray she was carrying.

“What do those two understand?” Qiu Sheng took the bowls from the wooden tray one by one and set them on the table, then pulled out the tray and returned to the kitchen.

Dou Ming knew they were hot and had not dared to touch them. Only when he saw Qiu Sheng return with the wooden tray did he touch the rim of a bowl and place the last bowl on the tray.

Qiu Sheng muttered, “You’re pretty clever, aren’t you?”

Hua Qi was about to put Yun Shan down so he could eat breakfast, but who knew Yun Shan would be unwilling? The moment he was set down, his little brows wrinkled. After this happened several times, Hua Qi simply held him while eating.

Whenever Hua Qi ate a little wonton, Yun Shan, who was staring at him, would move his little mouth along with him, as if he had eaten something too.

Hua Qi could not help laughing aloud and said to Xiu Niang, “Look at Yun Shan. So silly.”

“When adults eat, he has to move his mouth along with them.” Xiu Niang pinched Yun Shan’s little hand and asked him, “Tell Auntie, what tasty thing did you eat?”

Yun Shan glanced at her, then turned his head back and continued staring at Hua Qi.

“Look at the little dimples in his hands. Our Yun Shan really hasn’t been drinking any less milk.” Xiu Niang unfolded Yun Shan’s little hand. There were five deep little flesh dimples at his knuckles. “Your mother really knows how to feed you.”

Hua Qi gave a snort of laughter. “How is it that I know how to feed him? He’s the one who wants to eat. He drinks milk two more times a day than Chun Hua. How could he not grow plump?”

Before breakfast was finished, the little sparrow landed in the tree in the courtyard. It chirped noisily, “Found them, found them. The human children are locked in a ruined temple. The three people who stole the children are hiding deep in the mountains now. They’re waiting for a cart so they can transport the children away. I heard they still lack one boy before they can make up eight boys and eight girls.”

Hua Qi looked toward Xi Jue, and Xi Jue secretly sent him a voice transmission. “People came to Yunling Temple this morning asking for help finding the children.”

Qiu Sheng found the noise irritating. He put down his chopsticks, found a slender bamboo pole in the courtyard, and went to chase away the little sparrow perched in the tree. “Chirp, chirp, chirp, all that noise is giving me a headache. Go to some other tree. Don’t come to my family’s courtyard.”

The demons under the tree raised their heads and looked sympathetically at the little sparrow in the tree, who was flapping its wings and crying out in anger. “When was I noisy? I came to deliver a message. How am I supposed to deliver a message without talking? It’s just that you humans don’t understand. I wasn’t shouting nonsense!”

The little sparrow flapped its wings and flew away in a huff. The great demons on the mountain said Qiu Sheng was a good person, but it felt Qiu Sheng did not seem like a good person at all. He was clearly a bad person who disliked birds!

After driving away the little sparrow, Qiu Sheng put down the bamboo pole and said in puzzlement, “Why does this tree in our house love attracting sparrows so much?”

The demons turned to look at him. Qiu Sheng picked up his spoon and only after eating a wonton did he belatedly ask, “What is it?”

“Nothing.” Xiao Cong lowered his head and ate his own food. He only felt that the little sparrow was a bit wronged.

After breakfast, before Xiu Niang had even finished clearing the bowls and chopsticks, Fifth Auntie came through the door and immediately asked, “Did Xi Jue catch a rabbit this morning? I came to get the rabbit.”

“Yes.” Dou Ming picked out the fattest rabbit from beneath the tree and handed it to Fifth Auntie.

Fifth Auntie took the rabbit, then looked over each rabbit lying on the ground one by one. After confirming that the one in her hands was the fattest, she finally paid the money and left happily.

Xiao Cong and Tuo Tuo carried small hoes on their shoulders and waited by the door. Once Xi Jue and Dou Ming had taken their hoes, the two of them led the way in front, and they all went together to open up wasteland. Hua Qi followed as well, holding Yun Shan.

Xiu Niang reminded him, “Don’t hold Yun Shan while standing in the sun. When little children get hot, they easily break out in heat rash from being covered up.”

Hua Qi turned back, took the straw hat Xiu Niang had given him yesterday, and half-covered Yun Shan’s head with it.

Dou Ming said carelessly, “The little sparrow has already found the children. We just need to go bring the little children back. This is simple. I can go.”

Xiao Cong tugged Dou Ming’s sleeve and said softly, “We can’t do that. If Xiu Niang and Uncle Qiu Sheng ask how we knew where the children were, what would we say? Humans would suspect our identities that way.”

Tuo Tuo nodded in agreement. “We have to think of a good method.”

“What method?” Dou Ming asked when he did not understand.

Tuo Tuo frowned and said, “Let’s think together. We’ll definitely be able to come up with a good idea that won’t make the humans suspect us and can still save the children.”

Looking at the little ginseng spirit still vainly pondering, Hua Qi had an idea and ordered, “You go.”

“Where am I going?” Tuo Tuo did not understand and looked at Hua Qi strangely. “Where are you telling me to go?”

“You pretend to get stolen and leave things along the road. When the time comes, we’ll go find you. As long as we find you, we can find the children. The humans won’t think we’re strange, and then they won’t suspect us.” Hua Qi explained the whole plan to Tuo Tuo. The little ginseng spirit ought to do something for Yun Shan and Yunling Temple.

“Let Xiao Cong go,” Tuo Tuo said. “I have to wait for Uncle Qiu Sheng to make the loom. Once there’s a loom, I’ll weave cloth to make clothes for Yun Shan.”

Hua Qi refused flatly. “No. Xiao Cong has to stay home and watch Yun Shan. It’ll be cold soon, and he has to make clothes for Yun Shan.”

Xi Jue followed up, “The loom will take quite a few days to finish. There’s no rush.”

At the mention of clothes, Tuo Tuo’s eyes immediately shifted, and he began raising conditions. “It’s going to be cold soon, and I have to wear clothes too. Otherwise, Xiu Niang and the others will suspect something. If I go and let them trick me, you, you have to buy red cloth to make clothes for me.”

Hua Qi’s face suddenly chilled. A lazy little ginseng spirit actually dared to raise conditions? It seemed Tuo Tuo really needed to be taught a proper lesson.

“All right,” Hua Qi said.

Amid his unease, Tuo Tuo heard Hua Qi’s affirmative answer. At the thought that he was about to own red cloth, a smile unconsciously appeared on his chubby face.

“You have to do the task properly and must not expose your identity. You absolutely have to pretend to be a human child and wait for us to bring humans to save you. If you mess it up, make the humans suspect our identities, and ruin our plan to learn farming, I’ll slice you into pieces, one slice at a time, and sell you for money to buy clothes for Yun Shan.” Hua Qi’s tone was chilling.

Tuo Tuo’s smile froze on his chubby face. Frightened, he hid behind Xi Jue and gave Hua Qi an ingratiating smile. “I can definitely do it well. I definitely won’t expose my identity.”

“As long as you handle the matter well, I’ll buy you red cloth,” Hua Qi said readily.

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