Juhua knew her brother was going to the village tomorrow to help repair the ancestral hall. After he was done, he would be going away to school. 'So who's going to gather all these acorns covering the mountain? I'd be worked to death if I had to do it all alone! Hmm, my mother can help then; Dad probably can't, the work in the fields is enough to keep him busy.'
"Brother, let's go gather some more acorns. I was thinking this time we could soak them in water for about ten days. That should also get rid of some of the bitterness. It'll save us from having to boil them, and it'll save firewood!" she said, laying out the reason she had come up with.
Seeing how confident his sister was about the acorns, Qingmu didn't have the heart to dash her hopes. 'In a couple of days, we'll find out if the pigs will even eat this stuff,' he thought. 'It won't hurt to gather some more for now. I'll just humor my sister and play along.'
So, he nodded and said, "Alright. The back mountain is covered in them anyway, so it's not like they're hard to get."
Juhua knew he wasn't very enthusiastic, but she didn't offer any further explanation. 'Just wait until the pigs eat the feed made with these acorns,' she thought. 'You'll all be scrambling to gather them from dawn till dusk.'
In half an afternoon, the two siblings gathered another four large sacks of acorns. They mixed them with the acorns left over from the morning, dug a large pit in the courtyard near the wicker fence, carried several buckets of water to fill it, and soaked the acorns inside, shells and all.
The next day, after breakfast, Qingmu went to the village to work on the ancestral hall, while Yang Family went to Qingbei Village to ask Matchmaker Wang to handle an important matter. This left only Juhua and her father at home to keep busy.
After feeding the pigs and washing the clothes, Juhua ran over to the manure pile. She poked at it with a couple of twigs, and her skin crawled at the sight of the wriggling earthworms inside.
They had already grown quite large. Juhua called her father over to take a look.
Zheng Changhe came running over, THUD THUD. Seeing that the things his daughter had been experimenting with were indeed growing well, he broke into a wide grin.
"Quick, get some for the chickens! They're sure to lay more eggs if they eat these!" he said to Juhua, unable to hide his excitement.
Juhua quickly stopped him. "We can't do that, Dad. Feeding them to the chickens directly might make them sick. I think we should wash them, scald them with boiling water, let them die, then sun-dry and crush them. When we feed the chickens, we can mix the powder with vegetable scraps and cornmeal. That'll be more economical than feeding them whole earthworms. But... I can't stand the sight of them, so you'll have to be the one to do it, Dad!"
Zheng Changhe readily agreed. "I'll do it, I'll do it! It's normal for a young lady like you to be disgusted by them. Dad will do it exactly as you said."
Juhua added, "Dad, pick out the big ones first, and move the small ones into the other manure pile. Then we can take this pile and spread it on the fields; it must be very rich fertilizer. You can see how the soil is more fertile wherever the earthworms have burrowed."
Zheng Changhe said in agreement, "That's exactly right! Over in the corners by the woodpile, the more earthworms you find, the richer the soil is—all dark and loose! If we haul this manure over to that barren patch of land, the vegetables are guaranteed to grow well!"
He rolled up his sleeves and got right to work. Juhua had already made her escape.
At noon, Yang Family still hadn't returned. Juhua finished making lunch and said to Zheng Changhe, "Dad, you go ahead and eat. I'm going to take a meal to my brother." Her mother was supposed to do it, but since she wasn't back yet, she couldn't very well let her brother starve, could she?
Zheng Changhe hastily threw down his hoe—he had been hauling the manure—and rushed over. "Let me go instead!" he said to Juhua. "You stay and eat!"
Juhua knew he was afraid the villagers would make fun of her. The original owner of this body had rarely even gone to the village once a year, precisely for fear of being ridiculed. 'But I'm not afraid!' she thought. 'Even if I hate gossip, I have to face this challenge head-on. What's the use in hiding? I can't hide forever, can I?'
Juhua spoke to Zheng Changhe in a soft but firm voice, "Dad, I'll be fine. I don't care how they laugh. From now on, I'm not going to be afraid of their laughter."
Zheng Changhe stared at his daughter, his mouth agape. His heart ached with both pride and sorrow. "Oh, my dear girl, it's good that you have such spirit! But please, let your father go—we don't need to go looking for trouble."
Juhua gave a small, determined smile. "It's really alright, Dad. Let me go. You eat first, we still have so much to do!" With that, she picked up the basket and walked out the courtyard gate.
Zheng Changhe watched Juhua's retreating figure, his heart in his throat, wondering if she would come back hurt and upset.
Juhua carried the bamboo basket, strolling along the dirt path toward the village.
'How long has it been since I was last in the village?' She searched her memory. It really had been a long time. The previous Juhua hadn't even visited once a year. The village was practically on her doorstep, yet it felt utterly alien.
The signs of autumn were growing stronger. The treetops blazed with a riot of red, yellow, and green, and leaves drifted down from time to time. The wild grass along the path was turning yellow and withering. Farther out, in the paddies, the rice had long since been harvested, leaving only neat rows of stubble. Between the earth and sky, it seemed only the wild chrysanthemums still bloomed with stubborn life.