Chapter 16
"Wang Wang Wang."
"Lonely lonely."
There was the sound of a dog barking in the village.
There was the croaking sound of old frogs.
It was not lively, but rather gave people a feeling of tranquility.
The mountain village at night was very dark.
Occasionally there were some faint stars, also very weak, blinking on and off.
The lights of the village seemed not as bright as the fireflies in front of them.
At this time there were no street lights.
Ordinary families would not leave candles burning all the time, it would be wasteful.
Fortunately after the rain, the sky was very clean, the clouds had all been washed away by the heavy rain.
The obedient moon hung in the sky.
It was not very round, but close to being full.
This was Jiang Mianmian's first time staying outside in the yard at night.
In fact, there was no high wall around her family's yard, just a small low wall surrounding it, with a gap in one place that would be easy to climb over.
The big tree happened to be planted right in front of the corner of the wall where there was a gap, giving the feeling that it was making up for the lack of wall.
Under the big tree.
Mother brought over another stone stool.
Around the stone stool, she placed several small horse mats.
And some bamboo chairs.
Elder brother Jiang Feng lay on the bamboo chair.
Jiang Yu poured water for everyone.
They were drinking warm water, with no herbs added.
Dinner had been bitter enough, plain water was good.
The cups were also made of bamboo tubes, very natural.
Father also sat on a small horse mat and drank water.
Mother held her.
Except for elder brother, everyone else sat on small horse mats, and Father looked particularly upright and beautiful.
Especially when the night breeze blew up Father's long hair, he looked even more handsome.
Jiang Mianmian looked at Father, then stared curiously at the village again, relying on the moonlight she could still vaguely see some houses.
The village was in the shape of a basin, with quite a large house compound in the very center, several buildings connected together.
The other houses were sparse, dotted around.
Some were just small thatched huts, it was unclear if they were lived in, or just temporarily built?
Her family's location was relatively high, with houses not far away but not clustered together either.
That side had several concentrated houses, her family's side was separate.
With a tree planted at the door, it seemed to have carved out more ground, occupying a larger area, giving a strange sense of pleasure.
On a summer night, even after the rain, it was still warm.
Under the big tree, there were occasional flying insects and mosquitoes too.
Jiang Yu diligently sprinkled some mugwort powder, and the air had a faint scent of mugwort, there were still insects but they didn't seem to bite people.
Elder brother Jiang Feng lay there without idling, peeling the skin of the little red fruit in his hand.
Just now Father had boiled this fruit in a pot and scooped it out.
Now everyone gathered around the stone stool, peeling the skin by hand.
"This is so bitter, what can you make to eat with it?" Jiang Feng asked while peeling.
"If you didn't always sneak out, and came to help me, you would know - this is red crow fruit, the fruit grows like the mouth of a red-billed crow, the peel is bitter, the seeds can be used medicinally, mainly to treat spleen deficiency and stagnation, the flesh is sweet and has diuretic and urinary tract clearing effects," Father slowly explained as he worked.
This was the first time Jiang Mianmian felt that her father seemed quite knowledgeable.
This was Chinese medicine, which she didn't really understand.
In ancient times with limited access to knowledge, just looking at a fruit and knowing all this was not easy.
But for nimble work, still have to look at Mother.
In the time Father peeled one fruit, Mother could peel five.
Sister could peel three.
Elder brother was not peeling carefully, but could still peel two.
Jiang Mianmian...could not peel a single one.
She held a fruit in her hand, afraid of dropping it she waved her arm tightly holding on.
As a result she held too tightly, with a pop, it broke.
Fruit juice splattered everywhere.
She still couldn't help but curiously licked her hand.
"Ah ah ah ah!"
A clear cry rang out.
There was no sweetness, so bitter, terribly bitter, not just bitter but a mix of five flavors, the bitterness made her liver, stomach and toes hurt...
Seeing her sister like this, Jiang Yu who had kept a bitter face all evening could finally not help laughing.
Laughing loudly.
Everyone else also could not help laughing.
...
Time passed, wind shook the grass.
The mugwort ash also blew away.
A new day.
Elder brother with a diaper tied around his head was still going out, and left very early, before dawn, carrying that bundle.
Father also left for work before dawn.
The father and son left together.
Early in the morning, sister Jiang Yu carried her standing under the big tree, seeing elder brother and Father off.
Stood for a good while.
Jiang Mianmian's head rested on sister's shoulder, she also watched for a good while.
Elder brother and Father's figures gradually grew smaller and disappeared.
Sister still did not go back indoors.
She didn't know if sister was reluctant to part with Father and elder brother, or reluctant to part with the clothes and embroidered shoes bundle.
The morning wind was quite strong.
It blew sister's hair flying messily.
Brushing Jiang Mianmian's face very tickly.
So she bravely peed.
Jiang Yu felt the back of her clothes grow warm and wet, and hurried back to the house.
"Mother, mother..."
Jiang Mianmian also happened to pull a healthy poop.
Then drank another meal of milk.
Mother then wanted to put her in her wooden potty.
But just as she lowered her down, Jiang Mianmian saw a big ant poking its head out of the bottom of the wooden potty, its head even bigger...
Wah wah ┭┮_┭┮
She clutched mother's clothes tightly.
Mother's hands went slack, she was actually hanging on mother's clothes, refusing to get in the potty.
Who knew that she was so scared of the pet she raised herself...
Qin Luoxia had no choice, thinking that she was more clingy to her today after being away from home yesterday, simply carried her on her back.
Today she wanted to go deeper into the mountains to see if she could hunt something.
Jiang Feng's forehead was bleeding so much, and that girl Jiang Yu, her ankle was rubbed raw such a big patch, yet she didn't make a sound.
If she hadn't gotten up at night to check on her daughter and cover her with a quilt, she wouldn't have discovered it at all, the flesh would have simply rubbed off.
Those embroidered shoes were small to begin with, and specially custom made to fit Jiang Wan's tiny feet, with a mold, forcing them on definitely wouldn't work.
Eat this to supplement that, supplement form with form, flesh and blood must certainly be supplemented with flesh and blood.
Qin Luoxia waited until her husband and Jiang Feng left before rummaging under the bed and taking out a spearhead.
Covered all over in rust stains, hadn't been used in a long time.
She placed the spearhead on the stone slab in the yard and sharpened it.
"Shua shua shua..."
"Ya ya ya..."
The iron and stone collided, making clanging sounds.
Mother was always very powerful and rhythmic in her work.
Even something like sharpening a spear, the rhythm and tempo were extremely good, even making Jiang Mianmian on her back start to doze off.
She was a little curious what Mother's maiden family did.
The rust-stained spearhead quickly became shiny under Qin Luoxia's hands, giving off a faint glow.
Jiang Yu squatted in front of Mother, helping by adding water from time to time.
She knew Mother was secretly hunting without Father knowing.
Jiang Feng going hunting would get scolded by Father, Father felt it was dangerous.
"Mother, can I also go into the mountains with you?"
"No, you stay home and watch the baby." Qin Luoxia flatly refused.
"It's dangerous in the mountains, if something happens I won't be able to look after you."
Girls this age were still a bit rebellious, the more Mother refused, the more Jiang Yu wanted to go.
Seeing sister still sulking, Jiang Mianmian heard Mother say:
"A lady's beauty lies in her tiny feet, following me to work you already have big feet, going climbing mountains, not only will your feet be big but thick too, hard to find a good match in the future."
Jiang Yu curled her feet.
She unconvinced said: "But didn't Mother still marry Father."
Yet she did not mention wanting to go up the mountain again.
Jiang Mianmian felt Mother was quite formidable, looking rough and tough, but speaking she grasped the key points very well.
Qin Luoxia sharpened the spearhead, put it in the frame, ready to assemble the spear when in the mountains.
Jiang Mianmian drank another meal of milk in Mother's arms before reluctantly changing to sister's embrace.
Watching Mother buckle the clasps, nimbly strap on the frame, spear rod in hand walk out the door.
As soon as she stepped out the door Mother ran into villagers, exchanging greetings.
"Sister-in-law Luoxia going to work ah."
Mother waved the rod in her hand.
"When you have nothing better to do, go pick some grass."