Gu Chengyu insisted on sharing a at bun with his mother, Mr. Gu also ate the remaining one, and Mrs. Lv took out two pieces from another package of peach blossom cake for the father and son to eat, finally filling their stomachs.
After eating the peach blossom cake, he suddenly rembered that he hadn’t seen his second sister yet. Had she gone out? He looked toward the cloth curtain in the inner room but saw no movent inside.
"Mom! Where’s Second Sister? Why haven’t I seen her?"
"She went out to play with Chunhua! She was being taught needlework all morning, so after lunch she got impatient, and I let her go out to play for a while." Mrs. Lv spoke of her daughter with a face full of helplessness. She had spent a lot of effort trying to get her to settle down and learn needlework. Fortunately, she seed to have beco much more sensible recently.
"Then why haven’t I seen Third Brother and Fourth Brother?" The ox cart caused quite a commotion when it entered the yard, so if they were ho, they should have co out to see.
"Old Third went to the field with the eldest and them. Staying at ho all day isn’t ideal either! Fourth went to Doctor Li to change his dicine because of his la leg." Mrs. Lv paused as she spoke.
"Speaking of Fourth, he’s been wanting to go to Doctor Wang Li’s house a lot recently. I’ve stopped him a few tis. His leg injury hasn’t healed, so why does he keep walking? Today, he said Doctor Li didn’t have ti to co, so he wanted to go by himself, which is a bit strange." Mrs. Lv thought of Fourth’s odd behavior recently and decided to ask him about it soti.
Gu Chengyu had a suspicion after hearing this. Could it be that his Fourth Brother wanted to learn dicine from Doctor Li? He had to find an opportunity to ask. He wanted to confirm whether his Fourth Brother really wanted to study dicine or if he was more interested in reading for the imperial exams.
"You should also spend more ti teaching the daughter; girls need to learn more needlework." Mr. Gu said as he took a puff on his pipe at the side of the bed.
"Shoo, shoo, don’t smoke. It’ll irritate and smoke up Xiao Bao."
"Then I’m off to the fields." Mr. Gu, feeling disdain from Mrs. Lv, had no choice but to stand up and prepare to work in the fields.
Gu Chengyu saw Mrs. Lv pick up the needle and thread again and knew she wouldn’t rest until she finished making the book bag.
"Mom! I’m going out for a bit and will rest before coming back." Da Ya and the others must be digging wild vegetables on the mountain, and he planned to send them the peach blossom cake.
"It’s too hot outside, better not go out, take a nap instead!" Mrs. Lv looked at the sun outside and worried about her younger son going out to play.
Seeing this, Mr. Gu paused at the doorway. "Xiao Bao is a boy. Why do you keep looking after him at ho? Boys need to run around more. Xiao Bao! Go out and play! Just don’t play with water and co back early." Mr. Gu felt Mrs. Lv was raising a boy too softly; if he beca more delicate, then what?
Gu Chengyu took advantage and slipped out of the yard without caring if his mother was willing.
He walked through the village houses, arriving at the foot of Changling Mountain. As it was noon, everyone either worked in the fields or rested at ho, so he didn’t encounter anyone on the way.
"Da Ya! Er Ya! Are you here?" Gu Chengyu shouted toward the hillside on the mountain, holding the peach blossom cake and a few corn cakes that were stored earlier in his hands.
"Hey! Is it Little Uncle? Turn around, we’re right here in the clearing." Gu Chengyu heard Er Ya Gu Lan’s shout.
Following the sound, he moved to the right side of the mountain, passed through a lowland, and arrived at the opposite side of the hillside.
"Little Uncle! Here." Er Ya stood up, paused her activity of digging wild vegetables, and waved her hands at Gu Chengyu. Da Ya, anwhile, continued digging wild vegetables, ignoring the conversation between the two.
Gu Chengyu smiled faintly and walked over with food. As he approached, he saw Gu Xing was also sitting on the grass, but her shape was obscured by tall grass in front of her. The little girl had just learned to sit last month, and now she was sitting, playing with grass. Gu Chengyu frowned, thinking their eldest sister must have gone to the fields again.
Sitting down next to Gu Xing, he called out, "Da Ya! Er Ya! Co eat sothing. These are peach blossom cakes my father and I brought from town; I’ve tasted them, they’re really fragrant." Gu Chengyu opened the paper package, which contained eight peach blossom cakes. Gu Xing beside him was attracted by the cake in Gu Chengyu’s hand, drool dripped onto her clothes as she tried to crawl up to him, but she didn’t have the strength to do so.
Gu Chengyu asked Er Ya to fetch the bamboo tube for drinking water, which Da Ya and they commonly brought because they were often out for a while.
"Where’s Sanya? Why isn’t she here?" Gu Chengyu handed two pieces to Er Ya, and then picked up one, held in his palm, squeezed it into smaller pieces.
"Sanya wanted to sleep after breakfast in the morning, so we left her in the room."
"I’ll give her so when I get back later." Gu Chengyu watched Er Ya holding the peach blossom cake in her hands but not eating. "What are you looking at? Eat!"
"Oh!" Er Ya handed a piece to Da Ya, then sent the peach blossom cake to her mouth and took a bite. It was really sweet and delicious.
Watching him next to Si Ya, feeding her small pieces of the cake, and offering her water while carefully wiping her mouth, Gu Chengyu saw Si Ya’s little mouth was puffed up with food, and she smiled at Little Uncle.
Actually, Little Uncle treats them quite well; it’s just that grandma isn’t likeable.
After feeding Si Ya a whole piece of cake, Gu Chengyu didn’t continue, knowing that eating too much cake would cause indigestion—it’s just the sa to eat more later.
Seeing that both had finished eating, he looked around but didn’t find Da Lang and others, guessing they may have gone around the mountain to gather firewood. He decided to bring three cakes there, plus the corn cakes in hand should be enough since boys eat a lot.
"Where are Da Lang and the others? Are they in the mountain? I’ll go check." Gu Chengyu prepared to leave but heard Si Ya cry out beside him!
Si Ya held onto Gu Chengyu’s clothes with her hands, using the mud she had scooped up earlier. Er Ya saw this and hurried to hug her, pulling Si Ya’s hands away. Little Uncle was known for being a neat freak, while other boys returned ho in muddy clothes after playing, Little Uncle remained clean even after playing outside.
Gu Chengyu thought for a mont, then took another peach blossom cake from the paper package in hand and handed it to Si Ya. Upon seeing the cake, Si Ya slowly stopped crying, though she didn’t loosen her grip.
Gu Chengyu sighed, rubbed Si Ya’s head, realizing she was still too young and perhaps just felt the person in front of her could feed her and fill her belly, thus naturally developing a dependency. Gradually, even Da Ya stopped her work to feed Si Ya cake.
Gu Chengyu seized the opportunity as Si Ya ate to pull out his clothes from her grip and hurriedly headed toward the mountains.
Walking past the foot of the mountain, climbing up the outskirts of Changling Mountain, he called out, "Da Lang? Da Lang? Where are you guys?"
As Gu Chengyu shouted, he pondered, thinking this was a good opportunity to see how his efforts had paid off these past few days.
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