After a while, Shen Xuanqing came out the back door, carrying a bamboo tube.
“It’s hot, drink more water,” he said, handing the bamboo tube to Lu Gu. He then fetched a clean white stone from the riverbank, and the two sat side by side.
Few people came to the river at noon, and even those who did were far away. After drinking the water, Lu Gu sealed the bamboo tube. Shen Xuanqing fanned them both with the palm-leaf fan, and their hands, resting close together, naturally intertwined.
“When the calf gets bigger and isn’t at risk of being taken away, it will know its way home. Then we won’t have to wait here for it to finish soaking,” Shen Xuanqing said, giving Lu Gu’s hand a gentle squeeze.
The wind had died down, and the sun was scorching. Summer days were long, and while the wealthy or scholars might take a nap, farmers were never idle. Few families took a midday rest unless there was truly nothing to do.
Dappled shadows from the trees fell around them as the dog dozed at their feet. Lu Gu had slept well the night before and didn’t feel tired. The two of them held hands and whispered sweet nothings. When their eyes met, they smiled.
---
Because of the ducklings, they couldn’t swim in the water for too long, so Wei Lanxiang let the ducks out in the afternoon.
As the sun moved westward, the heat lessened. Ji Qiuyue felt suffocated staying at home and could not sit still, so she called Lu Gu and Shen Yan to accompany her for a walk.
Shen Yan took a bite of the apricot in her hand, her face scrunching up. She turned to Ji Qiuyue, who was eating hers with relish, and asked with a frown, “Sister-in-law, don’t you find it sour?”
As they strolled around to relax, each of them carried three or four apricots. It wasn’t good to eat too many of these.
“How is it sour? It’s just right,” Ji Qiuyue said when she saw Shen Yan take a bite and hesitate to eat more. “If you don’t want it, give it to me.”
Shen Yan had only taken a small bite. The apricots had been bought by Shen Yaoqing at Liangzhang Bridge, and since they had cost money, it would be a pity to throw them away. So she handed hers over.
“If you pick the softer ones, they’ll be sweeter,” Lu Gu said, noticing Shen Yan had nothing to eat. He handed her a slightly softer apricot from his own hand.
“I just grabbed a couple and came out without paying much attention,” Shen Yan said, taking a bite. It was still sour, but better than the previous one.
“I saw Big Brother also bought some pickled green plums,” Shen Yan mentioned as they walked.
Ji Qiuyue nodded. “Yes, you should try them when we get back. They’re both sour and sweet, and very crisp.”
Shen Yan wasn’t entirely convinced by Ji Qiuyue’s description of “sweet.” She quickly waved her hand. “No, thanks. My teeth aren’t as strong as yours. If they’re too sour, I won’t even be able to eat my meals.”
“I heard from Third Aunt that the peaches from Ge Chuan’s family in the neighboring village are almost ripe. I’ll have Daqing buy some when he gets back. They have both fuzzy peaches and nectarines,” Ji Qiuyue said, finishing her apricot. Perhaps because of her pregnancy, she had been craving all sorts of fruits lately, even though she hadn’t eaten much fruit before.
Her words reminded Lu Gu of the wild peach trees he had seen on the mountain. He had been at home for a while now and wondered if the wild peaches were ripe yet.
The purchase of apricots and green plums had delighted Wei Lanxiang the most. There was a saying that craving sour foods meant a boy was on the way, while craving spicy foods meant a girl. She was hopeful that her first grandchild would be a chubby little boy, so she even took out her own money and urged Shen Yaoqing to buy the fruits quickly.
Taking advantage of the cool of the evening, the three of them wandered to the edge of the paddy fields. Shen Yaoqing and Shen Xuanqing were bending over to pull weeds in it. Their feet were submerged in the water, and their legs and pants were splattered with mud.
Shen Yaoqing straightened up. He wasn’t far from the edge of the field and smiled when he saw his wife. Ji Qiuyue’s belly had grown noticeably bigger, and sometimes she had to support her back while walking. After exchanging a few words, he said, “It’s all muddy here. Be careful not to dirty your clothes.”
In truth, he was worried she might slip and fall in the mud, but it wasn’t appropriate to say such an ominous thing outright.
Ji Qiuyue, preoccupied with thoughts of peaches, didn’t catch the underlying meaning of his words. However, the pungent smell of the water near the river made her feel nauseous. After reminding him to buy peaches from Ge Chuan’s family in a couple of days, she continued walking with Lu Gu and Shen Yan.
In the dry fields, many families had set up scarecrows to scare away birds. When Lu Gu reached their field, he noticed sparrows still hopping around. He asked Shen Yan to stay with Ji Qiuyue and walked along the ridges, waving his hands to shoo the sparrows away.
By the time the three of them reached the threshing ground, the sun had moved further west, and a breeze finally began to blow.
They saw an old woman sitting on the ground at the threshing ground. Her white hair was disheveled, as elderly people often couldn’t afford hair oil to keep it neat.
Ji Qiuyue smiled when she saw her. “Granny Wu, picking wheat?”
Granny Wu looked up and, recognizing them, gave a faint smile. Her wrinkled face, weathered like tree bark, usually looked somber and dull, but when she smiled, her cloudy eyes seemed to brighten a little.
“Yes, yes,” she replied, somewhat embarrassed. She held up a small handkerchief to show them. “I’ve picked quite a bit today.”
The handkerchief contained a handful of wheat grains mixed with dirt, which she had painstakingly picked out from the muddy ground of the threshing field. Even after the wheat had been threshed, there were always a few grains left behind. When it was windy and rainy, others ran home, but she came every day to collect them, staying even when it rained until the downpour became too heavy. She gathered them bit by bit, turning them into a small portion of food.
Her legs weren’t strong, and she couldn’t stand after squatting for too long, so she had to sit on the ground. Her patched clothes were stained with mud, making her look even more disheveled. Some villagers would look at her with disdain, their contempt clear in their eyes. Therefore, she dared to smile only after she saw that it was Ji Qiuyue.
Granny Wu’s trembling hands moved the small pile of wheat grains from one hand to the other. As the wind blew, she also blew on the grains to remove some of the dirt and dust, making them look cleaner.
“I wiped off the dirt from these grains. I’ll wash them again when I get home. They’re food, after all. We can’t waste them,” she said in a low voice, muttering to herself.
The Wu family had harvested only one acre of wheat this year. It wasn’t enough to last them until the next harvest, and the whole family had to tighten their belts. A small handful of wheat wouldn’t yield much flour, but to survive, they had to scrape together every bit of food they could.
[lēi jǐn kù yāo dài (勒紧裤腰带): lit. To tighten the waistband of one’s pants; fig. To live frugally or endure hardship by reducing spending]
Ji Qiuyue felt a pang of sadness as she watched her.
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