CH 20

Chapter 20 – Wilted

“If that’s not allowed, so be it.” Man Bao decided to arrange the flowers herself, so she asked Keke not to take the pictures away. Although she referred to the pictures, her flower arrangements looked nothing like them!

When Er Ya saw her little aunt ruining the flowers, she stopped weaving, ran over to Man Bao and asked, “What’re you doing?”

“I want to make the basket look better.”

Er Ya, “You’re ruining the flowers.”

Man Bao blinked, threw away the ruined flowers decisively, made way for her niece, and told her, “I’ll teach you.”

Everyone laughed. She was destroying the flowers and yet, offered to teach Er Ya?

However, Man Bao really guided Er Ya. Although her fingers were not deft, she had a lot of ideas. She had Er Ya wrap the flowers around the bamboo basket.

Er Ya didn’t want to listen to Man Bao but if she ignored her, the little girl would keep prattling on until you did exactly as she instructed.

Er Ya was helpless. In any case, wildflowers were abundant on the mountain, and they could just pluck more flowers if there weren’t enough.

Moreover, they could also pluck more flowers during the journey to town tomorrow.

Lost in thought, Er Ya suddenly realized the bamboo basket looked slightly different.

When she was nearly done, she added a few more flowers as the finishing touch. She was stunned by the basket’s transformation as the basket weaved by her grandmother looked quite ugly initially.

“Oh my goodness,” Er Ya couldn’t help exclaiming, “I’m so amazing!”

Man Bao was so delighted that she clapped her hands and tried hard to take credit for Er Ya’s work, “I’m the brains behind this. I taught you. Of course, you’re amazing, Er Ya. You followed my instructions very well.”

Old man Zhou looked at the flower basket, nodded imperceptibly and said, “Looks fine but this can’t be consumed. It’s attractive but who would buy it?”

Mrs Zhou also liked the basket very much, “Best not to sell this basket as it looked messed up. Leave it at home for Man Bao to play with.”

Er Ya took note and began to beautify the other baskets with the wildflowers.

When Er Ya worked on the first basket, she was totally unfamiliar with the process. Come the second round, she was more adept.

Moreover, Man Bao had other ideas. So, they adjusted the position and wrapping methods, and then, chose different coloured flowers. It looked different but was as attractive as the first flower basket.

Man Bao wanted to take Er Ya along to town tomorrow so that her niece could rearrange the flowers should there be a need. After all, fifth and sixth brothers wouldn’t know what to do.

She shared her thoughts with her father, and he agreed. After all, Old man Zhou thought, my daughter was going to town, so it was perfectly fine for my granddaughter to tag along.

Then it struck him that Da Ya was older. It only made sense if both his granddaughters could go because they couldn’t exclude the older Da Ya.

He waved perfunctory and said, “Take Da Ya and Er Ya to town.”

Both Da Ya and Er Ya cheered while Da Tou and Er Tou were envious. They pestered Old man Zhou, “Grandpa, Grandpa, what about us?”

“The two of you will remain at home to help your fourth uncle clear the wasteland. Eliminate the weeds and remove the rocks.

“We can’t have so many people going to town. Everyone needs food ration and water. Your father and uncle don’t have the time to watch over all of you.”

Da Tou immediately said, “We wouldn’t eat the dry cakes. We’ll just drink water. We also don’t need father to look after us. After all, fifth and sixth uncle will be going along.”

Old man Zhou refused, “No, it’s very far to town. If you don’t eat anything during the trip, your health might suffer as you will starve. When that happens, we’ll have to fork out money to buy you, medicine.”

The two boys looked at Man Bao.

Old man Zhou also stared at Man Bao.

Man Bao was sensitive to the undercurrents. She felt she couldn’t compromise or her right to go to town might be deprived.

So, she comforted the two boys, “When I get home, I’ll give you sweets. If I make money from this trip, I’ll definitely take you to town next time.”

The dejected boys lowered their heads, “Ok. Little aunt, you must keep your word.”

“Don’t worry. Don’t I always keep my word?”

By the time everyone was home for the evening meal, Old man Zhou and Mrs Zhou had weaved 25 small bamboo baskets.

The ecstatic Man Bao wanted to decorate all the bamboo baskets with wildflowers, so Da Ya stopped learning how to weave bamboo, and joined Er Ya.

When Man Bao saw her two eldest brothers, she unceremoniously got them to join the weaving production team.

The two brothers felt the task was a waste of time and bamboo strips. However, they had no choice because Man Bao insisted, and their parents were humouring her by weaving baskets.

Soon, the discarded bamboo strips ran out, and Man Bao wanted to use the bamboo strips that were in good condition.

Her father solemnly said, “Your second brother hasn’t used those strips yet. You can’t spoil them. After all, there’re already 50 baskets, it’s more than enough.”

In fact, he thought it would be a miracle if she could even manage to sell one!

So, the industrious little girl could only give up and stopped eyeing her second brother’s bamboo strips.

She joined her nieces to beautify the baskets. Naturally, she was the director and only moved her mouth, while her nieces were the ones doing the actual work.

The flowers and plants picked at noon were soon used up, but 20 baskets were still bare.

Old man Zhou said, “Alright. Go pluck more after dinner. It’s still bright and sunset is still a while off.”  

He exhorted them again, “You must be home before sunset, you must stay dry, and avoid the dew.”

Everyone responded happily and ran up the mountain after a quick dinner. Naturally, Wu Lang and Liu Lang followed.

Old man Zhou looked at Si Lang who was totally exhausted, so much so that he looked dead, and reprimanded him, “Go. Your younger sister has gone to the mountain. As a brother, don’t you know how to take care of her?”

For three consecutive days, Si Lang cleared the wasteland, and this was physically demanding work. Once he sat down, he didn’t want to move.

But since his father was scolding him, he could only get up slowly and made his wobbly way to the mountain.

Old man Zhou was enraged when he saw Si Lang acting this way. He turned and instructed his three oldest sons, “Keep a close eye on him. He’s not allowed to go to town within these two years. If he gambles again, chop off his hands.”

The men nodded.

“Okay, so many days have passed, you should be over your anger by now. Best to think how to save some money to settle the debts,” Mrs Zhou advised.

“Eldest, when you’re in town tomorrow, ask around to see if there’s work available. If there is, stay there and work. Just let Old Five and Old Six bring the kids home.”

Da Lang responded, “I’m afraid it’s difficult to find work in town.”

“Even if it’s difficult, you need to make the effort. We can’t just sit and eat without generating any income.”

Mrs Zhou added, “We don’t know what the situation will be like when it’s spring next year.

“If it’s good weather like this year, we won’t be short of food and clothing even if we can’t save money. But it’ll be difficult should if there be a drought or floods.”

Old man Zhou stroked his pipe and said, “Don’t worry, I’ve asked Third Uncle. He said although the weather next year may not be as good as this year, it wouldn’t be too far off.”

Mrs Zhou breathed a sigh of relief when she heard those words.

Third uncle was the best farmer in the village. He was an experienced and skilled farmer and was able to predict the weather pattern for the next six months.

Since he said those words, the weather next year shouldn’t be too bad.

Mrs Zhou was satisfied. So was Man Bao who plucked all kinds of wildflowers and fine grass from the mountain. She felt it would be a beautiful day tomorrow.

The system just watched silently.

However, when Man Bao got up the next day, she found to her dismay that all the flowers in the baskets had wilted.