She gazed at the end of the small path, at the village where houses, trees, and bamboo groves intertwined. Wisps of cooking smoke drifted up, birds chirped in the treetops, and dogs barked from behind wooden gates. 'If it weren't for the poverty,' she thought, 'this mountain behind me, this village before me, and this water beside it would be a beautiful scene straight out of a poem or a painting.'
She walked on, lost in thought, trying her best to recall the way to the old ancestral hall from her fuzzy memories. 'It's no use,' she sighed internally, 'I've completely forgotten.' There was a main road running through the middle of the village, but Juhua remembered that the hall wasn't on this path; it was closer to the northern edge of the village.
Winding through the labyrinthine paths, she looked around as she walked, observing the village's jumble of houses and courtyards—some made of earth, others of brick and tile—interspersed with trees and bamboo groves. The daily comings and goings of the neighbors had worn countless small paths into the ground, creating a spiderweb-like network that connected every household.
As she was searching, someone approached from the opposite direction—it was Qin Feng! He was dressed in a crisp, black, short-robed outfit today, a medicine box on his back.
Seeing Juhua, he greeted her with some surprise. "Juhua, what are you…?"
Seeing his scrutinizing gaze, Juhua inwardly pursed her lips. 'Is it really so strange for me to be out and about?' she thought.
"I'm taking a meal to my brother at the ancestral hall," Juhua said, stepping aside slightly to let him pass.
Qin Feng smiled. "Oh, the ancestral hall! It's that way." He pointed to his left.
Juhua thanked him softly and walked past, carrying her basket.
Qin Feng turned and watched her retreating figure, feeling more and more that this Juhua was completely different from before.
She had approached quietly and answered quietly, her entire demeanor calm and at ease. There wasn't a trace of her former self-consciousness or panic. She was like a wild chrysanthemum blooming in a field, swaying gently, opening up in silence.
Her worn-out gray clothes were covered in patches, clearly altered from a set her brother, Qingmu, had outgrown. She stood there, silently pursing her lips as she looked at him. Aside from the unsightly rash that still covered her face, her eyes were as clear as the waters of Jing Lake. For a moment, he was so captivated he felt he might drown in them.
He shook his head, driving the strange thought from his mind, and turned to walk toward his residence. He thought about the letter he had sent his master, asking about the rash on Juhua's face, and wondered if his master would have a cure. 'If it can be cured,' he mused, 'this poor little girl will be able to get married. And I'll have done a good deed.'
Following Qin Feng's directions, Juhua finally found her way to the ancestral hall's construction site. Looking at the noisy courtyard before her, she thought, 'This must be the right place.'
More people were coming and going here. They greeted Juhua warmly enough when they saw her, but they couldn't help but stare at her face, studying her expression. Seeing her poise and her unwavering gaze, they were secretly surprised.
Juhua didn't recognize most of these people, and even those she had seen before were strangers to her, so she paid them no mind and walked straight into the ancestral hall's main courtyard.
The courtyard was piled high with fine sand carried from the riverbank and all sorts of new and old lumber. Directly opposite the courtyard gate was a row of about five or six rooms, which looked very dilapidated from the outside.
'So this is the ancestral hall,' she thought. 'It definitely needs repairs; otherwise, it can't be used as a school.'
The courtyard was chaotic. Farmers of all ages, their faces beaming with smiles, were clearly happy and full of hope about repairing this old hall. Some were eating, some were gathered in groups shooting the breeze, and others were still busy mixing sand and mud. Juhua saw Qingmu carrying earth.
Zhao San, who was chatting with someone, spotted Juhua and quickly stood up, shouting to Qingmu, "Qingmu, get over here! Juhua brought you your meal! Juhua, come on over and sit for a bit!"
Juhua looked up, gave her brother—who had stopped and turned to look at her—a small smile, and then walked toward Zhao San. She carefully skirted around puddles and broken bricks, afraid of dirtying her cloth shoes. The main reason was that making shoes was such hard work, so she always treasured them.
When Zhao San saw her approaching, he quickly placed a relatively clean wooden plank on the ground for her. Juhua set her basket on it. Zhao San then found another plank for Juhua to sit on.
He smiled at Juhua and said, "I told Qingmu to come eat at my place, but he absolutely refused."
Someone nearby was staring at Juhua—studying her face intently—until Zhao San shot him a fierce glare, making him scurry away.
Juhua saw this but said nothing. She took a large clay pot out of the basket, along with a small, deep, insulated jar for soup. She had chosen these containers specifically to keep the food and soup from getting cold.
When Qingmu saw Juhua, his heart jumped. He was afraid others would mock her and make her cry. He quickly dropped his bamboo basket and called out to a slightly older man, "Uncle Li, I'm going to eat."
The man glanced at Juhua and called back, "Go on, rest for a bit after you eat. You've been working all morning."
Qingmu called out his thanks and ran over.
Uncle Li turned to a short man shoveling earth beside him and said, "That Qingmu is a good kid! He's a hard worker and an honest lad. A fine young man!"
The short man's surname was Zhou, and because he wasn't tall, people called him Shorty Zhou.
He chuckled and said, "Speaking of the young men in the village, Qingmu and Huai Zi are the cream of the crop in their generation. I wonder which girls will be lucky enough to marry them someday."
Uncle Li was the younger brother of the village chief, Li Gengtian, and his name was Li Gengdi.
He sighed. "It's just that their families are a bit poor. Otherwise, when Huai Zi's family proposed to Liu'er's family last time, Liu'er's mother wouldn't have refused."
Shorty Zhou curled his lip in disdain. "That foolish woman—so shortsighted! As the saying goes, 'Never look down on a young man for being poor.' As long as a man has good character, who can say what the future holds? You think people can't strike it rich? No one is born into wealth. Sun Jinshan is just letting his wife run wild. Sooner or later, she's going to ruin that girl's life. Does she really think it's so easy to marry into a rich family?"
Li Gengdi shot Shorty Zhou an approving look, knocked the ash from his pipe, and continued, "You've got a point. If that woman keeps on like this, she'll live to regret it." He glanced at Qingmu's back and added, "Changhe's two children are both good kids. That Juhua is a good girl, too. It's just a shame about her face."
Shorty Zhou added sympathetically, "Isn't that the truth. Nothing in this world is ever perfect. Maybe the heavens thought both children were too good to be true, so they made Juhua suffer this hardship."
But let's leave the two men to their discussion of the siblings. Qingmu rushed over to Juhua and looked her up and down. Seeing her calm expression, with no sign of distress, he asked, "How come you're the one who brought the meal? Where's Mom?"