Chapter 76: Raising the Beam

When Hua Qi came down from the mountain carrying the soundly sleeping Yun Shan, Xiu Niang had already made breakfast.

After not seeing Yun Shan for most of the day, Xiu Niang missed him too. She took Yun Shan from Hua Qi’s arms, carried him around for two laps, and only then put him into the cradle.

Xiu Niang asked, “Why is Yun Shan still sleeping so early in the morning today?” Usually, once Huaniang got up, Yun Shan got up with him. In the morning, Yun Shan generally only went to sleep after they finished breakfast.

“I took him up the mountain to play for a while last night, so he slept late. He still hasn’t woken up this morning.” Hua Qi touched Yun Shan’s little face, rosy from sleep. It was fair, tender, soft, and smooth.

He could not help gently poking it. Seeing Yun Shan’s cheek bounce back like a steamed bun, the corners of Hua Qi’s mouth could not help curving up.

“Did the masters at Yunling Temple like the fried meatballs I made?” Xiu Niang asked Hua Qi, trying to find out.

“They liked them. They all liked them. The whole back-basket of meatballs we brought yesterday was eaten clean.” The little demons really did love eating meatballs.

Xiu Niang said happily, “As long as they liked them. As long as they liked them.”

Tuo Tuo and Xiao Cong ran in one after the other, each carrying a big back-basket. Inside the baskets were two bunches of wild mountain grapes.

The grapes were not large, but they were very sweet. The monkey spirit had specially picked them that morning for them to bring back to eat.

Xiao Cong took the grapes out of the basket and handed them to Xiu Niang. “Grapes picked this morning. They’re really sweet.”

Xiu Niang plucked off a grape, peeled it, and bit into it. Sweet, fragrant juice immediately burst in her mouth. They really were just as sweet as Xiao Cong had said.

“We’ll save the rest to eat together after Dou Ming and Xi Jue come back.” Xiu Niang set the grapes aside. Xiao Cong and Tuo Tuo washed their hands, then consciously sat down at the table.

Qiu Sheng came back from the fields. When he saw Tuo Tuo and Xiao Cong, he said cheerfully, “Xiao Cong and Tuo Tuo are back. Did you sleep well on the mountain yesterday?”

“Well.” Tuo Tuo nodded.

Xiao Cong nodded along too.

Before Xi Jue and Dou Ming returned, Yun Shan woke up first. He opened his eyes and looked left and right. Seeing that everyone around him was familiar, he did not fuss. He quietly lay in the cradle by himself, looking at the leaves overhead.

Xiu Niang doted on him. She lifted him out of the cradle and asked him, “Is Yun Shan hungry? Shall Auntie feed Yun Shan some milk?”

Yun Shan was basically only in Xiu Niang’s arms when he was drinking milk. He recognized Xiu Niang very well and burrowed into her chest on his own.

“Oh my, you really are hungry.” Xiu Niang loosened her clothing. Hua Qi, Tuo Tuo, and Xiao Cong, the three demons, quickly turned their backs.

“Do you have copper coins on hand? When we scatter the peanuts, just put twenty copper coins in with them,” Xiu Niang said to Hua Qi as she fed Yun Shan.

“I do. I have twenty copper coins,” Hua Qi agreed.

By the time Yun Shan had drunk his fill, Xi Jue and Dou Ming happened to return.

Today was a good day, the day the beam would be raised on their new house. To bring good luck, Hua Qi and Xi Jue had discussed it last night. They would still sell meat in the village today, and for every catty sold, they would cut a small extra piece. They would let everyone share in the happiness.

After Tuo Tuo and Xiao Cong finished eating, Hua Qi had the two of them go into the village to spread the news that meat would still be sold in the village today.

Tuo Tuo brought Yun Shan with him too. They made one round through the village, and several villagers who had brought money to buy meat followed behind them.

“Yun Shan, look. This is Tuo Tuo.” Tuo Tuo sat under the tree outside the courtyard holding Yun Shan. In his hand, he held a little ginseng made out of mud for Yun Shan to see. In a small voice, he said, “Little Temple Master, this is my true form. You have to recognize it.”

Seeing Tuo Tuo so seriously teaching Yun Shan to recognize ginseng, Xiao Cong could not help saying, “You’ve never shown your real true form in front of Little Temple Master before, so of course he doesn’t know it. You have to turn into your true form in front of him often, and then Little Temple Master will recognize you.”

Tuo Tuo raised his head and said excitedly, “Xiao Cong, you’re right! I’ll go show Little Temple Master my true form right now.”

Holding Yun Shan, he rushed into the West Room like a gust of wind.

After putting Yun Shan on the heated kang bed, Tuo Tuo kicked off his shoes and climbed up onto the kang. He said to Yun Shan, “Watch me.”

Under Yun Shan’s gaze, Tuo Tuo turned into a ginseng as thick as Yun Shan’s arm.

The ginseng spirit twisted this way and that as he said, “Yun Shan, look carefully. This is Tuo Tuo.”

“Ah—” Yun Shan moved his little hand, grabbed one of the whiskers on Tuo Tuo’s body, and pulled it toward his own arms.

Tuo Tuo felt sorry for his Ginseng Whiskers. Several other long whiskers turned into a pair of human hands, trying to pry open Yun Shan’s little hand and rescue the whisker clutched in his grip.

“Ah—”

Yun Shan would not let him. Holding the whisker, he suddenly yanked backward.

“My Ginseng Whiskers!” Tuo Tuo let out a miserable cry, turned back into human form, and lay beside Yun Shan’s hand, pouting. “I don’t have many Ginseng Whiskers.”

“Yaya.” Yun Shan moved his little hand.

“Then give it to me. Tomorrow I’ll go to town with Dou Ming and Xi Jue and sell the whisker. It can be exchanged for two hundred wen.” As Tuo Tuo spoke, he went to pry Yun Shan’s little hand open.

“Mm, ah, ya, ya!” Yun Shan clenched his little hand and would not let Tuo Tuo take it.

Tuo Tuo only used the slightest bit of force, and Yun Shan burst into tears with a “Waa—”

This cry was different from the sounds he usually made when his diaper was wet or when he was hungry and wanted to eat. There was a trace of grievance in it.

Hua Qi heard that trace of grievance at once. He rushed into the room and opened the door. Tuo Tuo was still lying beside Yun Shan, prying at his little hand.

“Tuo Tuo, what are you doing?” Hua Qi hurried over.

The moment Yun Shan heard Hua Qi’s voice, his crying immediately shot higher, rising several pitches at once and scaring Tuo Tuo so much that he shrank backward.

Hua Qi picked Yun Shan up, soothing him while asking Tuo Tuo, “How did you manage to make Yun Shan cry?”

“He pulled my Ginseng Whiskers.” Tuo Tuo touched his own head and said, “I wanted to take the whisker back. Tomorrow I’ll go to town and sell it. My Ginseng Whiskers can sell for…”

Thinking of how a hundred-year-old ginseng’s whisker could only sell for two hundred wen, not even as much as a twenty-year-old ginseng, Tuo Tuo immediately fell silent. It was better not to go around talking about such an embarrassing thing for a demon.

“Ya.” Yun Shan held out the ginseng whisker in his little hand toward Hua Qi.

Tuo Tuo, watching from the side, turned red-eyed with envy. “No, Little Temple Master, that’s my Ginseng Whiskers.”

Hua Qi rolled his eyes at Tuo Tuo and snorted. “The entire Yunling Mountain belongs to Yun Shan. Your Ginseng Whiskers belong to him too.”

“Hmph.” Tuo Tuo was unconvinced. How could even his Ginseng Whiskers not be his own anymore?

Right in front of Tuo Tuo, Hua Qi put the ginseng whisker Yun Shan gave him into his own qiankun pouch. With slight disdain, he said, “If Yun Shan hadn’t given it to me, what would I want one ginseng whisker for?”

“Hmph.” Tuo Tuo jumped down from the bed and ran out of the room, only to collide head-on with Zhang Mancang, who was running in.

“Ow.” Zhang Mancang held his head and backed up two steps. “Tuo Tuo.”

“Mancang, why are you here again?” Tuo Tuo rubbed his forehead and pulled Zhang Mancang out of the room.

Landlord Zhang had indeed come too, and he had brought several people carrying hoes. Hua Qi said that this was a human who was very generous with offerings. Why did he not have any humans making offerings to him? It would be great if he also had a generous human to give him offerings. He wanted red cloth, lots and lots of red cloth.

“Tuo Tuo, what are you thinking about?” Zhang Mancang touched his shoulder and asked.

There was no generous human, but there was a rich human here.

Tuo Tuo looked at Zhang Mancang with a beaming smile. “Make offerings to me.”

“Why, why should I make offerings to you?” Zhang Mancang burst out laughing. “Only gods need offerings. Tuo Tuo, you’re a little kid too. Why would I make offerings to you?”

Tuo Tuo said, “If you make offerings to me, next time something happens to you, I’ll go save you again.”

“Tuo Tuo, you really are loyal.” Zhang Mancang was terribly moved. After praising Tuo Tuo a few times, he asked, “Then how do I make offerings?”

“Buy me hairpins to wear, and cloth, and pastries. I want bright red cloth.” Tuo Tuo told Zhang Mancang about the offerings Hua Qi had received. His own offerings should not be much worse than Hua Qi’s, right?

Zhang Mancang frowned like a little adult. “But only girls want hairpins to wear. You’re a boy. What do you need hairpins for?”

One of Hua Qi’s hairpins had been given to Xiu Niang, and the other one would be taken to the market tomorrow to sell.

Tuo Tuo said, “I’ll sell them for money.”

“Then wouldn’t it be fine if I just gave you money directly?” Mancang looked at Tuo Tuo, showing a trace of confusion.

“Mm?” Before Tuo Tuo had time to speak, Hua Qi interrupted, “Tuo Tuo! You have to keep your feet on the ground. You can’t do this.”

“Why can you do it but I can’t?” Tuo Tuo said. “Mancang is willing to make offerings to me.”

Zhang Mancang nodded from the side.

“What you’re doing is asking for it. It’s not the same as someone giving offerings sincerely and of their own will,” Hua Qi explained to him.

Tuo Tuo pouted. “What’s different? Mancang is willing too.”

Zhang Mancang nodded.

“Xiao Cong, you come explain it to him.” Hua Qi simply ignored Tuo Tuo and carried Yun Shan back to the cradle under the tree.

“Huaniang.” The moment Landlord Zhang saw Hua Qi, his face bloomed into a smile, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes all lifted upward.

“Landlord Zhang.”

“I heard your family is opening up wasteland. You have shown kindness to our Mancang, so today I brought several people to help you open up the wasteland together.” Landlord Zhang pointed at the row of manservants standing at the courtyard gate. “They’re all people from the manor who were picked out because they know how to tend the land.”

“Good, good.” Hua Qi happily agreed and led Landlord Zhang and the manservants to the wasteland.

Pointing at the wasteland that stretched all the way to the foot of the mountain, Hua Qi said, “We’ll open up this stretch of land. This year, we’ll open up as much as we can. It would be best if we could open it all the way to the foot of the mountain.”

Landlord Zhang gazed into the distance. “Opening it all the way to the foot of the mountain will be a bit difficult. Tomorrow, I’ll bring all the manservants from the manor.”

“Good!” Hua Qi looked at Landlord Zhang admiringly. “You are a good one. So generous.” A human this generous with offerings could even help open up wasteland. Where else could one find such a human?

After receiving Hua Qi’s praise, Landlord Zhang felt as if he were floating on air. Smiling at the corners of his mouth, he agreed at once. “I’ll make sure the wasteland is opened all the way to the foot of the mountain for you.”

“I’ll be counting on you.” Hearing Landlord Zhang’s guarantee, Hua Qi felt even happier. The more he looked at Landlord Zhang, the more pleasing he found him.

His divine sense swept through his qiankun pouch. There were only a few little odds and ends inside. The small flower Yun Shan had given him last time and the Ginseng Whiskers were both there, but there was nothing presentable.

Since there was nothing presentable, Hua Qi dismissed the idea of rewarding Landlord Zhang with anything and only said, “In the future, if you encounter any danger, you may come find me. I can protect you for a lifetime.”

Heavens! What kind of words were those? Was Huaniang speaking words of love to him? She, a woman, actually wanted to protect him for a lifetime? How touching!

Landlord Zhang looked at Hua Qi with tender affection, abruptly closed his eyes, and told himself to stay calm! Calm!

When he opened his eyes again, a few traces of clarity had returned. “Huaniang, you must not say such things. You and I… unless you…”

“Hua Qi, we’re getting ready to raise the beam,” Dou Ming called from the doorway of the new house.

Hua Qi turned and went back to the courtyard.

Only Landlord Zhang remained, murmuring, “Hua Qi, Hua Qi, Hua Qi… A name as valiant as the person.”

Seeing a manservant beside him sneaking glances at him, Landlord Zhang’s face reddened, and he scolded, “What are you looking at? Hurry up and work. Whoever does the most today will get a reward when we go back.”

The manservant hurriedly lowered his head and continued digging.

Xiao Cong was born on Yunling Mountain and grew up on Yunling Mountain. He had always been timid. If not for raising Little Temple Master, he likely would not have come down the mountain in his entire demon life. Hua Qi had told him to persuade Tuo Tuo, but Xiao Cong also did not know why, when Mancang had agreed to give offerings, they still could not accept them.

Xiao Cong and Tuo Tuo, the two little demons, huddled together and discussed it for a long while, but they could not come up with any reasoning. Adding in Zhang Mancang, who was completely confused, the three little ones gathered together and muttered for a while. In the end, they decided to have Zhang Mancang make offerings to both Tuo Tuo and Xiao Cong.

“I want bright red cloth,” Tuo Tuo said excitedly. “Both bolts have to be bright red.”

Zhang Mancang turned to look at Xiao Cong. “What kind of cloth do you want?”

“I want the kind you’re wearing.” Xiao Cong looked at Zhang Mancang’s emerald-green little shirt and spoke.

Zhang Mancang said, “Then fine. Two bolts of cloth for each person, two taels of silver, and two packages of pastries. I’ll bring them tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow we’re going to watch the beheadings. Bring them the day after tomorrow,” Tuo Tuo said, still thinking about this matter. He wanted to go watch Ma Daming and that madwoman who had beaten him be beheaded.

“Do you know? I heard my second uncle say…” Zhang Mancang warily glanced at the courtyard gate. After confirming that his father was not there, he said quietly, “Those four bad people kidnapped us because they wanted to bring us to Li City for some young master to eat our hearts and livers.”

Xiao Cong’s mouth opened wide in fright, and he asked softly, “Humans eat human hearts and livers?”

“Who would eat that?” Zhang Mancang said in disgust. “My second uncle said this isn’t something people do. This is something only beasts could do.”

“Not human?” Tuo Tuo and Xiao Cong looked at each other. Could it be a demon? A great demon from the north?

“He’s human. But what he does isn’t human,” Zhang Mancang explained very seriously. “My second uncle said that after they’re beheaded, their bodies will also be hung on the city wall for three months. I heard twenty or thirty children have already been stolen by them and had their hearts and livers fed to someone!”

“Ah.” Tuo Tuo smacked his lips. So it turned out that pretending to be caught by Ma Daming and the others back then had been such a dangerous thing!

“Is Huaniang’s house here?” A man outside the gate poked his head in.

Seeing that this man was not from their village, and that a group of people followed behind him, each carrying things in hand, Xiu Niang pressed Hua Qi back and asked warily, “What are you looking for Huaniang for?”

“The female hero saved my family’s child. We came today to thank her.” The man had already recognized Hua Qi. He walked into the courtyard and rubbed his hands. “We brought the child here to thank you. If not for the female hero, how could our family have gotten through this Reunion Festival?”

“Isn’t that right?” The woman behind the man walked in with a child. She pushed her child forward. “Da Ya, go kowtow three times to the female hero. She is your lifesaving benefactor.”

The child obediently knelt on the ground and, facing Hua Qi, firmly kowtowed three times with audible thuds.

Hua Qi raised an eyebrow. “Get up quickly. There’s no need for this. You should go—”

“Our family doesn’t have anything good. This basket of eggs is for the female hero.” The man handed over the basket in his hands.

Well now, another human had come to make offerings!

Hua Qi smiled gently. “Eggs are already very good.”

“My family has a basket of duck eggs.”

“My family has a piece of meat.”

“I brought three chi of cloth.”

“I brought five hundred copper coins.”

Offerings, offerings, all of them were offerings! Tuo Tuo looked at smiling Hua Qi with jealousy, his heart filled with mixed feelings. Clearly, he had been the one who exerted the most effort and had even been beaten, yet the humans actually came to make offerings to Hua Qi. Humans really were not as sensible as demons!

“Are you raising the beam?” After giving their things, a woman saw Xiu Niang mixing copper coins into the peanuts and asked curiously, “Whose house is raising the beam? We can join in the happy occasion too.”

“The female hero’s family, of course.” Xiu Niang glanced at Hua Qi and teased with a smile.

“Perfect. We’ll come share in the good fortune.” The people who had come were very happy and followed Hua Qi and Xiu Niang toward the new house in the back.

Tuo Tuo and Xiao Cong each carried a child and followed along to watch the excitement.

Seeing Tuo Tuo holding Yun Shan, Zhang Mancang wanted to hold him too, so he begged Tuo Tuo to let him hold little brother for a bit.

“Tuo Tuo definitely won’t let you hold little brother Yun Shan,” Da Mao and Er Mao said as they ran over. They knew Huaniang’s family was raising the beam today and had specially come to snatch peanuts and copper coins.

“Why not?” Zhang Mancang looked at Tuo Tuo. “Not even just for a moment?”

“No.” Tuo Tuo refused decisively. “If you hurt Yun Shan, I’ll hit you.”

“I won’t hurt him.” Zhang Mancang shook his head again and again. “I promise I won’t hurt little brother.”

“Still no.” Tuo Tuo proudly held Yun Shan and ran off.

Xi Jue had already taken up the basket, climbed the ladder, and stood on top of the wall.

Xiao Cong and Tuo Tuo were holding children and had no way to snatch peanuts, so they honestly stood to the side and watched the excitement.

Dou Ming, however, was in the crowd, holding a bag in his hand and rubbing his palms together as he waited for Xi Jue to throw the peanuts.

Xi Jue grabbed a handful of peanuts from the basket and, amid the ruckus of the crowd, raised his hand and scattered them.

Dou Ming easily saw a copper coin mixed in among the peanuts. Without thinking about it in the slightest, he estimated the trajectory of the falling peanuts and considered how he could snatch more peanuts.

Just as the peanuts were about to fall into the hands of the reaching crowd, Dou Ming moved. He squeezed backward through the crowd, reached upward, and several peanuts were caught steadily in his hand.

As for that copper coin, after several people fought over it, it fell to the ground.

Someone crouched down to pick up the coin. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Dou Ming crouched and searched everywhere on the ground for peanuts.

By the time Xi Jue finished scattering a whole basket of peanuts, Dou Ming had already accumulated half a small bag. He happily carried the bag back to Xiu Niang’s home, sat under the tree, and leisurely shelled peanuts.

After sharing in the good fortune of raising the beam, the people who had come to give thanks saw Landlord Zhang leading manservants to work in the wasteland. After asking about it, they learned he was actually helping the female hero’s family open up wasteland.

Everyone said one after another, “We’ll come too. We all farm at home, so we’ll help open up the wasteland too.”

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