Chang'an kicked the man, who didn't react at all, as if he were dead.
She called out to Old Gu Six, "Dad, Dad!"
Hearing his daughter call him, Old Gu Six quickly put down the half-finished bamboo hanger he was making.
Old Gu Six ran to the riverbank and saw his daughter poking at a person in the river with a bamboo pole, not knowing if the person was dead or alive.
He went over and dragged the person ashore, turning him over. They had seen this man briefly on the road before - it was the young man in brocade clothes who had been galloping on horseback with others.
After pulling him ashore, Old Gu Six didn't bother with him further, and took Chang'an back home as well.
Thinking about how he had previously helped Yu San and his group, only to have a bucket of cold water dumped on his head, he'd rather not mention it.
He had treated others with kindness, only to be slapped in return.
Though one should remember kindness, it's up to him whether to accept others' gratitude. It's not right to take his help for granted.
Back at home, Chang'an began making bamboo tube rice, while Old Gu Six continued busy making hangers, which Chang'an had requested for hanging clothes.
He thought it was unnecessary - couldn't they just hang washed clothes directly on a rope to dry?
But since his daughter wanted it, it must be useful.
Chang'an busied herself in the makeshift kitchen, washing the rice and soaking it in clean water for half an hour. She prepared green peas, corn kernels, and diced carrots. She also diced shiitake mushrooms and Chinese sausage.
She mixed all the ingredients with the rice, added some oil and a little sesame oil, then added other seasonings and mixed well.
She filled bamboo tubes with the mixture, added some water, covered them, and steamed them in a pot of cold water.
While the bamboo tube rice was steaming, which took longer, Chang'an also prepared a cold dish of shredded kelp and set it aside.
The faint fragrance of bamboo tube rice wafted out. Old Gu Six put down his work, washed his hands, and sat down at the bamboo dining table, waiting to eat.
His eyes were fixed on the stove, looking like a hungry chick waiting to be fed. Chang'an found it almost unbearable to watch.
She suspected Old Six was the reincarnation of Taotie, the gluttonous beast of legend. How else could she explain his foodie nature? He seemed to eat endlessly all day, never appearing full.
In the evening, when Old Gu Six took the pots, bowls, and bamboo tubes to the river to wash, he found that the man he had pulled ashore in the afternoon was gone. He didn't think much of it, assuming the man had woken up and left on his own.
What he didn't know was that while they were eating, a herb-gathering woman had come down from the opposite mountain. Seeing the handsome young man in brocade clothes lying on the riverbank, she had waded across the small river and taken him away.
Chang'an and Old Six continued weaving bamboo products: baskets, winnowing baskets, dustpans, and even made several brooms from bamboo branches.
Later, thinking about future farming needs for winnowing grain, they wove four more large baskets, making a total of ten with the previous six.
Then they cut some wood to make planting boxes, two meters long by one meter wide, making ten of them.
They dug soil from the bamboo forest to fill ten wooden tubs, which Chang'an neatly arranged in the space of the living room.
The villa had a terrace, but unfortunately, they couldn't go out. Otherwise, it would have been perfect to put everything on the terrace.
They lived by the bamboo forest for about a month, making all the bamboo products they could think of, and before leaving, they cut more bamboo to take with them.
The mule cart set off again, swaying along. During the journey, Chang'an and Old Gu Six often changed their appearances and bought another carriage.
However, the mule pulling the cart remained the same, never changing.
The most hard-working member of their family might be this mule, which hadn't rested since they began fleeing the famine.
Soon after they left the bamboo forest, it welcomed an unexpected group of visitors.
They hadn't erased the traces of their stay when they left, and the group of people, wrapped up with only their eyes visible, naturally saw signs that someone had lived there.
These people were relieved they hadn't let their guard down, thinking the person who fell off the cliff had surely died. They had searched below the cliff but found no body, so they had tracked all the way here.
That person might have been saved by those who had lived here, and they had just recently left.
The group followed the traces out of the bamboo forest, but lost the trail on the main road.
"An Yi, what should we do now? The master said not to let Prince Qi return to the southwest," one said.
"Didn't the master also say that if we fail, we should spread the news to Chen Su that the Military Command Token is in Prince Qi's hands?" An Yi replied.
An Yi was very calm. The master had already thought of a backup plan, so what was there to worry about?
But these people were really something. Given their master's habit of taking a nap wherever he fell before getting up again, how could he possibly have the Military Command Token?
Most importantly, their master had been exiled to the northern lands. Had they ever seen a respectable family give a Military Command Token to an exiled prince?
Were their heads just for decoration? Just to make them look taller?
An Yi silently criticized them for a while, then led his brothers back to report their mission.
Chang'an and her group traveled for another half month. When they passed through a county town, they finally saw a decent local official efficiently settling refugees.
Old Gu Six didn't stop, driving the mule cart onwards.
People from all over living together, each place with its own customs, different dialects, and different personalities - just thinking about it gave them a headache.
They wanted to find a simpler place, not somewhere with nine different dialects and ten different customs among ten people.
The people settling in this county town were just like that. Chang'an could only understand three or four sentences, and the noise made her head buzz.
However, no matter who you're dealing with, people need to adjust to each other to find a better balance in their relationships.
So before finding that balance, chaotic days are inevitable.
Yet, after living in a place for a long time, one learns to follow local customs, integrates into local life, and eventually becomes a local. After a while, one might even forget where they originally came from.
The vegetable seedlings Chang'an had been nurturing in her space had already sprouted and grown. She transplanted them one by one.
The two sweet potatoes had also sprouted a bit, which meant they had successfully taken root.
"Dad, the sweet potatoes have grown too," she said.
Old Gu Six, remembering the sweet potatoes they ate in the mountains that nearly made him roll his eyes, wasn't very interested.
But since his daughter had grown them, he had to show support. "My daughter is so capable, even better at farming than me. When we settle down, you can teach me, and then I'll farm to support you."
"Aren't you going to hire farmhands?" she asked, remembering he had mentioned hiring workers to farm.
"...You teach me, I teach the farmhands, and then I herd cattle while supervising? Sounds wonderful," he mused, delighted at the thought.
Chang'an's eyes crinkled with laughter. She said teasingly, "Dad, you're going to be a wealthy landowner with two oxen. Can you manage to herd two oxen by yourself?"
She remembered a joke she had heard before about a young boy who went out to herd cattle. In the evening, the cattle came back, but the boy got lost in the mountains.
She felt that if Old Six went to herd cattle, he might end up like that boy, and the cattle might have to go fetch him home.
Hearing Chang'an's cheerful voice, Old Gu Six was happy that his daughter was happy. He grinned broadly and said, "Two oxen? I could manage twenty!"
Chang'an thought to herself: I'll remember your bold words.
