Chapter 780 - 402: Sibling Chat

Chapter 780: Chapter 402: Sibling Chat

Juhua turned to look and saw it was Qingmu, carrying a large, flat sieve on his shoulder as he came toward the river.

She smiled and asked, "Qingmu, what are you washing the sieve for?"

Qingmu smiled. "To dry the moldy bean dregs. Why’d you bring him out all by yourself?"

So Juhua told him about how Banli had pulled the dog’s ears. Banli, completely unaware his mother was talking about him, was still grinning foolishly at Qingmu. His uncle often teased and played with him.

Qingmu chuckled. "This little one is going to be a handful. You’ll have your hands full from now on. I can tell he’s much more active than Hulu. Juhua, you shouldn’t be so quick to pick them up. They’re not light anymore, you know. Even though your wound has healed, you still need to be careful. You can’t get too tired, and you definitely can’t do heavy lifting. And isn’t holding a baby heavy lifting?"

Juhua nodded. "I know. I never hold him for long, and if I do, I’m sitting down. Look, I sat down as soon as I got here, didn’t I?"

Qingmu nodded. He carried the sieve down to the riverbank and squatted on the stone slab used for washing clothes. Using a bamboo-bristle brush, he scrubbed the sieve vigorously, turning it constantly so the dirty water would be carried away by the current.

Seeing his uncle ignoring him, Banli started to babble and cry out.

Juhua gave him a kiss and said with a smile, "Uncle’s busy washing his sieve. He’ll hold you later. Qingmu, could you pull up a couple of those calamus stalks, wash them, and give them to him to play with?"

Hearing this, Qingmu quickly leaned the sieve against the stone. He waded into the reeds by the riverbank, picked out three of the straightest, greenest calamus stalks, and pulled them up. After washing them in the river, he brought them up and handed them to Juhua, saying with a smile, "These actually make great toys. They’re straight, like little swords, and they won’t hurt his hands. I’ll grab a few more to take back for Hulu later. I never would have thought of this before."

Juhua smiled. "Well, we never had little kids in the family before, so who would have thought of it? I’ve always liked them because they’re so straight and vividly green—they’re just lovely to look at. Yun Ying said the roots can be used for medicine, so I had Huai Zi plant a whole bunch by the pond. That way, they’re not only nice to look at, but we can also dig them up for Yun Ying’s medicinal uses. Plus, in the summer, you can dry the leaves and burn them with mugwort to keep the mosquitoes away."

Qingmu nodded. He watched as Banli clutched a ’green sword’ in his little hand, waving it around and giggling. "Just be careful he doesn’t stick it in his mouth," he added. "You can’t eat these."

Juhua nodded and said she would let him play with it for a little while before throwing it out, and that she wouldn’t take it home.

Seeing Qingmu go back down to the river to wash the sieve, Juhua remembered what He had told her earlier. She carried Banli down to the water’s edge and squatted beside Qingmu, intending to bring it up with him.

Qingmu, however, didn’t catch her intention. He just assumed his sister had come down to play—she had always loved the river. While scrubbing the sieve, he said to Juhua, "Look how thick these willow trees have gotten. These are the ones Dad brought us to plant all those years ago."

He remembered that year—it was spring then, too. Zheng Changhe had brought him to plant the willow trees, while Juhua picked water celery nearby. He glanced at Juhua gently. In the blink of an eye, several years had passed. His sister was married and had a child. Back then, he had worried she wouldn’t marry into a good family. Fortunately, Huai Zi had come to his senses, and only then did he stop worrying incessantly about his sister’s marriage prospects.

Hearing him bring it up, Juhua happily chimed in, "I know, right? Dad planted them just so I wouldn’t have the sun beating down on me while I wash clothes here. These willows are much thicker than the others. I remember you saying you buried a lot of manure under them. It’s a shame that one got knocked crooked by the flood."

She pointed to a willow tree just below the stone slab. A great flood one year had nearly washed it away completely. Afterward, it grew tilted on the riverbank, its trunk leaning out over the water, earning it the name ’the crooked-neck tree.’

Being so close to the water, its trunk was damp and dark. A few mottled ducks perched on the trunk, preening their feathers with their flat beaks. Delicate willow branches trailed in the water, tugged downstream by the current. Yet they never broke, simply swaying back and forth like weeds on the riverbed.

Qingmu said with a smile, "That’s the manure doing its work. It’s actually not bad that the crooked-neck willow grew this way. The shade underneath makes a good hiding spot for fish and shrimp."

After they had chatted and laughed for a moment, Juhua found that Banli was squirming nonstop, and holding him was becoming a strain. She chided him, "If you keep wriggling, we’re done playing. You can’t sit still for a single second! Look at those ducks on the branch, see how calm they are? Can’t you just be quiet for a bit so I can have a proper talk with your uncle?"

Qingmu stifled a laugh. "You think he understands a word of that? You’re just wasting your breath."

"He may not understand the words," Juhua said, "but he knows I’m telling him off. Look, isn’t he being much better now?" This was a point of private pride for her—her son seemed to be afraid of making her angry, but he had no such fear of Huai Zi.

Qingmu turned to look. Sure enough, Banli had stopped squirming. He was watching the ducks on the branch with a smile, and when he noticed Qingmu looking at him, he broke into a grin for his uncle, too.