Liu'er stood before Qingmu, biting her lower lip hard, her red-rimmed eyes fixed on him.
Because Juhua had told him that Liu'er liked him, Qingmu felt he couldn't just turn and walk away like last time. But he didn't want to get mixed up in Liu'er's family matters, so he felt conflicted. Seeing her red-rimmed eyes and remembering her mother's greed, he couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.
But in the end, he didn't speak first. He just stood there quietly, frowning slightly. 'If someone sees us,' he thought, 'it'll just lead to more gossip!'
Liu'er had to repeatedly muster her courage, casting aside her shame to plan for her own future. But Qingmu was clearly uninterested in her, which made the young maiden's heart ache with sorrow and despair. She asked softly, "Brother Qingmu, do you... do you not like me at all?"
Qingmu hadn't expected her to ask so directly and was taken aback.
Seeing her waiting pitifully for his answer, he thought it over carefully before replying earnestly, "I really can't help you! You should go back quickly. If someone sees us, your mother will beat you. Just talk to your mother properly. In the end, she does care about you."
Liu'er sobbed quietly, "Why does everyone say that? You say it, and Juhua says it too. If my mother were a good person, why would I be acting so shamelessly!"
Seeing her crying so pitifully, Qingmu sighed and said in a muffled voice, "How can an outsider get involved in your family's business? You should hurry home. I'm leaving." With that, he walked around Liu'er.
The soft sobs behind him made his heart ache with pity. 'Why don't you go find Huai Zi?' he thought. 'He might be able to help you. I have my own parents and sister to look after!'
He had never been truly interested in Liu'er anyway, so he shook his head, put the matter out of his mind, and walked away with large strides.
And so, in the afternoon, there was one more person helping Juhua's family gather acorns. When they finished work as dusk fell and returned home to tally their haul, they found they had gathered a full eight bags of acorns today—a bountiful harvest.
"It won't be this easy from now on. No one's ever gathered them before, so there were plenty on the ground. This first time, all we had to do was bend over and pick them up. Next time, we'll have to search for them slowly. Or maybe we should wait a few days for more to fall before going up the mountain again," Yang Family said, summarizing their experience.
But Qingmu said, "It's no problem. We can just give the tree a good, hard kick, and the ripe acorns will fall down. If that doesn't work, we can carry a long bamboo pole and knock them down."
Zheng Changhe said, "Let's do what Qingmu says. It's better to gather them and bring them home to process sooner. The weather will get colder later on!"
Juhua looked at the acorns piled high in the kitchen and said to her father, "We also need to dig that pit in the courtyard bigger and add a ditch to drain the water."
"Okay, I'll dig it tomorrow!" Zheng Changhe replied readily.
Qingmu added, "I've asked Third Uncle Zhao to come help us dig the well tomorrow!"
Yang Family said, "In that case, I'll go to Xiatang Market tomorrow morning to buy some meat. You," she said to the father, "cut some more thick Zhuzi and tree branches to build a frame. You have to be careful when you dig deep!"
Zheng Changhe lifted his head and retorted, "You think I don't know that? As if I need you to remind me!"
Early the next morning, Yang Family hurried to the market, while Zheng Changhe and Qingmu cut down a good amount of Zhuzi and a few thick tree trunks, lashing them together into a frame for digging the well.
Not long after Juhua and the others had finished breakfast, Zhao San arrived with Little Shitou to help.
"Sister Juhua, I'm here!" Little Shitou shouted from a distance, then trotted right up to Juhua, who was washing clothes. He stopped, panting slightly, and smiled at her. He felt that the rough patches on Sister Juhua's face weren't so scary anymore. In fact, he even felt a sense of closeness to her!
Juhua saw his little face was flushed from running and that he looked like an honored guest who had just arrived. 'If I don't act happy to see him,' she thought, 'he'll probably be disappointed.'
So, she chuckled and said to him, "I was just thinking that Third Uncle might bring you along, and here you are. You go and play by yourself for a bit. I'll make you something delicious for lunch later."
Little Shitou nodded eagerly, his eyes shining.
He squatted in front of Juhua, watching her scrub the clothes, and added, "My dad said the dried fish you cooked was really delicious and that you added vinegar. My mom wasn't happy when she heard that, so she added some vinegar when she cooked fish too. Aiya, it was so sour it could kill you! Sister Juhua, how do you cook it? Dad said yours wasn't that sour."
Juhua saw that as soon as he spoke, it was about food, and she smiled, pressing her lips together. She replied, "You can't add too much vinegar. I'll cook some for you to try at lunch."
Shi Tou was overjoyed and said with a laugh, "Sister Juhua, do you like to eat Huang Shan and turtles? Last time, Gou Dan and I found a little turtle and cooked it in the stove opening. It didn't have much flavor!"
An image immediately formed in Juhua's mind: two little kids tossing a turtle into the blazing stove opening. As the turtle struggled to crawl out, they relentlessly threw it back in, deeper this time. The scene made her shudder.