Chapter 21
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Chapter 21: "Du girl, please don’t… eat the clothes…"
Who has a pig!
Chu Xiulan’s whisper struck Jiang Wu’s heart like thunder. His first reaction was to turn toward Du Yinsui. Yet… Du Yinsui was whispering with others, completely unaware of their situation.
Thankfully…
Jiang Wu breathed out in relief, though feeling inexplicably empty.
Some hearts were troubled, others were clever.
Du Yinsui whispered for a while, then enthusiastically waved off Qin Chongli as he walked away scowling.
"Father, where are you going?" Chu Xiulan glanced at the two little ones still sunning themselves on the riverbank and called, "It’s sunny here, why not join them?"
Qin Chongli didn’t slow his steps. Years of refinement prevented him from actually saying "to feed the pig."
Of course, that was precisely his purpose.
"Second tree straight ahead, turn left behind the big rock…" Qin Chongli murmured Du Yinsui’s instructions. Behind the designated rock, he found three green plants with oval serrated leaves, shorter than his calf.
Reciting the route silently, he moved between rocks, trees, and grass. Soon he returned to the riverbank clutching handfuls of plants.
"Many more like these. Should I gather them all?" Qin Chongli selected two narrow-leaved, pointed-tip plants from the pile of greens on the cart and waved them before Du Yinsui.
Du Yinsui took them, popped them into her mouth to chew, and nodded vigorously: "Yes!"
"What are those?" Chu Xiulan stared at Qin Chongli in surprise. "Father, you know wild vegetables?"
"Hah." Qin Chongli shook his head. "I don’t. Du girl told me to pick them."
Chu Xiulan: "…" Never knew her father-in-law could be so obedient.
"Teacher’s so kind. Bring me water when you return? I’ll gladly accept any fish or shrimp you catch." Du Yinsui cheerfully produced a bamboo tube. "Just go further upstream. This water’s all bathwater now."
You actually mind that… Qin Chongli swallowed his words, took the tube, and turned away.
"Grandfather, I’m coming too!" Suddenly, one little one sunning on the bank rolled over and scampered after him.
One child ran, then the slightly larger one followed, both trailing Qin Chongli.
"Teacher, pull out the roots too! Don’t waste them." Du Yinsui touched the broken stems regretfully. "Mud’s fine! Just rinse it in the river!"
Qin Chongli didn’t turn back, only quickened his pace.
"Du girl, do you recognize these wild vegetables?" Chu Xiulan asked weakly as Du Yinsui started seriously munching greens.
"No." Du Yinsui shook her head confidently. She lifted her chewing face, looking at Chu Xiulan inquisitively. "Are these all wild vegetables?"
Chu Xiulan’s vision darkened.
Even the lowest-grade feed for pigs on her estate was cooked vegetables! What was this girl eating!
"Du girl, these wild plants… shouldn’t you avoid eating what you don’t know? What if they harm you? What if they’re poisonous?" Chu Xiulan glanced toward the river where Jiang Wu seemed nearly done.
How could Father-in-law agree to pick unknown plants for her?
Just as Chu Xiulan saw Du Yinsui ignoring her and considered calling Jiang Wu back, the person on the nearby cart spoke.
“Well, I did recognize some of these,” Du Yinsui pointed at the three plants she’d specially set aside, “Mint. Chewing it cleans your mouth. Want some, Sister Chu?”
Only then did Chu Xiulan notice the mint nearby. Fine, this was also the only plant she recognized in the whole pile.
But forget about mint now!
“Du girl, how are you feeling? Any discomfort besides your injuries? Especially…” Chu Xiulan carefully gestured toward Du Yinsui’s head, “Does it hurt? Feel dizzy?”
Seeing Du Yinsui munching wild greens with such relish—as if they were delicacies—Chu Xiulan finally understood Jiang Wu’s earlier concern about last night’s events.
“I’m alright, really. I just need more—” Even without her heightened sense of smell, Du Yinsui sensed Chu Xiulan’s genuine worry. She meant to reassure her, but her eyes caught movement behind Chu Xiulan…
“Need more what? Hey… slow down!” Chu Xiulan waited for her to finish, but Du Yinsui stopped mid-sentence. Her leisurely nibbling turned into frantic stuffing, as if she were a starving refugee.
Du Yinsui couldn’t answer, though Chu Xiulan soon guessed the reason.
“What’re you eating?” Jiang Wu emerged from the river to find Du Yinsui on the cart, cheeks bulging as she chewed desperately, nearly choking.
Chu Xiulan: “…” Eating? The wild greens your teacher picked.
Just then, the guards started shouting orders to assemble. Today’s departure was nearly an hour later than previous days.
Jiang Wu gripped the cart handle without asking what she ate. What else could it be? The remaining greens on the cart and her stained mouth reminded him of last night—when she’d devoured a cartload of Honeysuckle, then scavenged for more.
Was she really that hungry?
Jiang Wu watched her worriedly as she covered her mouth, chewing vigorously. Faint gurgling sounds escaped.
Unlike overthinker Jiang Wu, Chu Xiulan’s thoughts were straightforward.
“Du girl, are you scared of Jiang Wu?” she whispered, leaning toward the cart. “You ate so fast when he showed up!”
Jiang Wu: “…” The cart handle’s short. I’m right here.
Du Yinsui sat straighter, swallowing hard. “Don’t remind me! ‘Don’t drink river water! Don’t eat grass!’ First hygiene lectures, then health sermons—whole essays recited at you. Then he asks if you understood…”
“Yikes… Eat faster. Faster eating means less lecturing.” Chu Xiulan nodded sympathetically. “Father loves reciting too. They should lecture each other.”
“I’m still here,” Jiang Wu murmured.
Chu Xiulan stuck out her tongue and retreated from the cart.
“Wait…” Du Yinsui pointed ahead. “I think Teacher’s calling Xiaobao.”
“Really?” Chu Xiulan looked up.
Thick trees partially blocked the view, revealing only a prisoner’s trouser leg.
Jiang Wu frowned and pushed the cart faster.
The trees stood just steps from the guards’ assembly point, right on their path.
Under the trees, one adult and two children stood—two unharmed, one thoroughly disheveled.
“Aiyo, Yao Yao! You just got cleaned!” Chu Xiulan lifted the small figure, now smeared with yellow grime. She sniffed it, baffled. “What is this?”
Beside them, Qin Chongli’s usually stern scholar’s face had turned thunderous, guilt and anger warring in his eyes. “I looked away for one moment—and she climbed the tree.”
"How did you climb the tree? Were you alright? Did you fall?" Chu Xiulan asked in shock as she gathered the little one into her arms and checked her hands and feet.
"I didn’t fall; I slid down," Qin Chongli said, tapping his little granddaughter’s little ponytail, his beard trembling with anger. "How did you get so bold?"
"Sister was naughty; she sneaked up and suddenly vanished, scaring us!" Qin Haoyang pointed at his sister’s pant leg. "When she came down, she tore it."
Hearing this, Chu Xiulan turned her to check the pant leg. Sure enough, there was a big tear on the inner side of the left leg, but luckily, only the outer prison pants were damaged.
"Did it hurt…" Chu Xiulan rubbed the little one’s left leg. "Next time, don’t—"
The little one, who had stayed quiet with pursed lips, wriggled out of Chu Xiulan’s arms and reached into her prison uniform to search.
Jiang Wu thought, "…" Ah, it was such a familiar action.
Jiang Wu glanced at Du Yinsui on the cart. No surprise; her eyes were fixed brightly on the little one, not even looking elsewhere.
"Auntie," the little one struggled to pull a similarly yellow-stained pouch from her chest, opened it, and gave a small bird egg to Chu Xiulan. She then turned and handed another to Qin Chongli. "Grandfather."
Qin Haoyang instinctively stood straight, waiting, but his sister just gave him a sideways glance and walked away.
"Sick," she said as she placed one on the cart and looked up at Jiang Wu.
"I don’t need one," Jiang Wu waved his hand. He thought this pouch looked a lot like the one he had returned to Sister Chu that morning; could it be the one that once held the moldy mung bean cake?
The little one rummaged in the pouch, and with each whole bird egg she found, her tense face softened a bit.
"Here." She placed a new bird egg on the cart and went back to Qin Chongli’s side. As she passed Qin Haoyang, she tossed the whole pouch to him.
The boy, at first sad, brightened when he got the pouch, but upon opening it and seeing only broken pieces, he grew disappointed again.
"Yao Yao, you’re really…" Chu Xiulan touched the yellow stain on the little one’s chest. "Climbing trees is dangerous. How did you get up there? Next time, don’t—"
"Ah Mu taught me; he told me not to tell anyone," Qin Ruoyao clenched her little hands, shrinking even smaller. "Big trees are close to the sky; I can climb very high. The tallest one in Grandfather’s yard even has a kitten."
Chu Xiulan felt a pang of heartache; her eyes reddened, but she couldn’t lose her calm in front of the children, so she stood up fast.
She had once talked with her father-in-law about how to explain to little Yao Yao that her parents were gone, saying they had gone to the sky and would always watch over her, blessing her to grow strong. She thought it was a gentle, hopeful way, but now it was clear… it wasn’t enough.
"We need to hurry," Jiang Wu said, looking at the nearly formed line in the distance.
"Come up," Du Yinsui beckoned to the little one. "I have mint here; it’ll make your mouth smell nice after eating."
The little one, who had been still, perked up and dashed to the cart. Then… the familiar one-handed scoop happened.
"No time to wash it; let’s hope we camp by the river tonight," Du Yinsui said, leaning in to sniff the little one’s bird-egg-stained prison clothes. The smell would turn bad by tomorrow if not cleaned tonight.
As Du Yinsui kindly planned for the little one, Jiang Wu, pushing the cart, suddenly said in a low voice, "Du girl, please don’t… eat the clothes…"
"???" Du Yinsui looked up, shocked. "Am I a pig to eat clothes?"
Silence fell over the group of six, broken only by the cart wheels and growling bellies.
"Jiang Wu!" Du Yinsui squinted.
