Chapter 82: Jiang the Second Riding a White Horse
Evening glow travels a thousand miles; morning glow means stay indoors.
In the morning, the horizon was filled with rays of light.
The rays dissipated, and white clouds gathered.
White mist filled the mountains.
The thick white mist turned into raindrops.
It was raining.
Sitting in the cave, listening to the sound of the rain.
Patter-patter, swish-swish, ding-dong, ding-dong.
It was like a symphony.
It is said that the reason why the sound of rain helps one fall asleep is because our ancestors lived in caves; hearing the rain meant they were safe, as wild beasts wouldn’t attack in heavy rain, so they could sleep peacefully.
This genetic trait has been passed down to the modern era; although we no longer fear attacks from wild beasts, sleeping on a rainy day is still quite sweet.
The cave, having had a fire burning all night, was not that damp.
Jiang Yu was washing rice.
When Elder Sister was washing the rice, Mianmian was being mischievous nearby, secretly adding spiritual spring water to it.
Father fell twice last night, add some spiritual spring water, go Father.
Mother went to dig for wild vegetables again last night, it was very hard work, add some spiritual spring water, go Mother.
Elder Brother practiced sword fighting for half the night last night, it was very hard work, add some spiritual spring water, go Elder Brother.
Elder Sister talked in her sleep a lot last night, reciting many dish names, so hard, add some spiritual spring water, go Elder Sister.
She needed to add energy too; she felt that if she crawled a bit more, she would be able to stand up by holding onto the wall, so she needed to add energy too.
Mianmian was muttering to herself, very seriously adding the spiritual spring water.
In the eyes of her family, little Mianmian had messy hair, was sitting cross-legged softly beside the pottery jar, sticking her little chubby hand into the water, her hand reaching right into the jar, muttering to herself, looking so serious, cute to the point of exploding.
Jiang Yu asked, “What are you doing?”
Mianmian said seriously, “Adding energy.”
Jiang Yu couldn’t help but kiss her little sister’s cheek and pulled her hand out of the pottery jar.
“Silly girl. There is no oil; oil is expensive. This is fine grain; fine grain is fragrant even without adding oil.”
There was no water source in the cave. This water was fetched by Mother. Although it had been soaked by her little sister’s hand, Jiang Yu didn’t pour it out; she carried it to the fire to boil.
Jiang Yu put the rice on to stew, thinking that she would be able to eat fine grain in a little while, she felt happy. If she could eat fine grain every day while fleeing, then she would want to flee every day.
Qin Luoxia took out the pickled wild vegetables she had brought. This was something she made after conditions improved; with salt, she had managed to turn those wild vegetables into pickled vegetables that went well with rice.
Inside were mashed wild onions, sticky and gooey.
Mianmian felt that what Mother made was a bit like natto; she didn’t understand what it was. She hadn’t eaten it before; she hadn’t reached that part of the recipe yet.
The whole family ate breakfast with great relish.
Jiang Feng, Jiang Yu, and Qin Luoxia all felt that as long as it was fine grain, it was fragrant.
Pickled vegetables with salt were definitely fragrant too.
Jiang Changtian felt that as long as he was with his family, anything he ate was fragrant.
Mianmian was slowly poking with a wooden spoon, pouring it into her mouth one spoonful at a time. Occasionally, a little bit of rice would fall out, and Ant would be squatting on the ground on guard.
Ant would immediately eat the fallen rice scraps, cleaning them up completely.
Of course, if any little bugs approached Mianmian, it would also swiftly eat them.
This was also the reason why, even though Mianmian was in the wild, she hadn’t suffered from mosquito or insect harassment; her fair, tender skin hadn’t been bitten even once.
There is no such thing as “years of peace and quiet” while fleeing for one’s life; it’s just that there is an army of Ants carrying the burden for her.
Especially when it rained, centipedes and poisonous insects would try to crawl in, but they were all carried away by the Ants at the cave entrance.
The cave was clean, which allowed Mianmian to crawl around.
After finishing breakfast.
The heavy rain outside the cave turned into a light drizzle.
The chirping of birds, the buzzing of insects, the sound of water droplets; all things were full of vitality.
The people hiding in the mountains walked cautiously back towards the village.
In the dead of winter, hiding in the mountains without food or drink would also lead to death.
People always miss home; even if home is just a thatched cottage, it is still home. No matter where one is, one will always miss the taste of home.
The drizzle was light.
On the road, the spider webs were heavy, adorned with crystal-clear water droplets.
Mianmian’s family also packed up and walked towards the village.
At night, Mianmian felt it was very far, but walking during the day, it felt like they arrived very quickly.
Along the way, seeing the tall trees and dense forest, she felt the environment was truly good.
It might also be her infant perspective; everything she saw felt exceptionally tall.
She felt her face slowly becoming moist; she didn’t know if she was walking in the mist.
The trees and grass in the forest were wet, and the road was very slippery. After walking for a while, the adults’ pant legs were all wet.
Father was on horseback, Mianmian was on Mother’s back, and Jiang Yu and Jiang Feng walked on their own.
The group trekked through the dense forest. After walking for a while, the trees gradually thinned out; they were almost at the village.
The forest near the village was visited by people every day, so the weeds didn’t grow much.
When Mianmian’s family was almost home, they saw many people gathered at their doorstep.
None of them entered the house because a huge pile of Ants was surrounding the entrance of Jiang the Second’s house, dense and numerous, even crawling on the lintel.
Ancient people were superstitious and would not easily touch situations they couldn’t understand.
The person leading those squatting at the door was none other than Old Uncle Five, who had spoken to Jiang Changtian at the village entrance that day.
Old Uncle Five watched as the family of five, Jiang the Second’s family, emerged from the mountains. He saw Jiang the Second sitting on that white horse, and from a distance, he looked like an immortal from legends.
Walking in front was the strong and tall Mother of Feng, carrying a hoe and holding a chubby baby in her arms.
Jiang the Second rode the white horse behind, his face fair and clean, his long hair fluttering.
Behind them was Sister Yu, holding a wooden stick, tapping and bouncing along.
Walking at the very back was Brother Feng carrying a load. They had even dug a load of wild vegetables while fleeing into the mountains; they were people who knew how to live a life.
Thank you for reading + listening 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
