Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn-Chapter 13 - 12 Yezi’s Worries

The boys from Dongnan Miao Village have been extraordinarily well-behaved these past few days, their clothes so clean that a single bucket of water is all it takes to wash them, sparing their mamas a lot of trouble.

No one among the young Miao mamas knew that the boys' good behavior was thanks to a six-year-old Han girl named Zhu Xiaoxian from a Han village.

That day after returning from Ge Village, Yibar recounted how Yezi had pulled down the Han girl's pants.

As one of the first Miao girls in the village to have gone out to attend high school, Yezi's mother sided with the idea of the Han and Miao being one family. She fully understood how seriously Han women considered virtue and integrity. Now her son Yezi had the audacity to do such a brazen thing. Without a second word, she grabbed a Moso Bamboo stick freshly sawed off and placed at the entrance of the suspension house stairs and gave Li Ye a few solid whacks.

"Elder sister, don't hit him for real, Yezi still has a wound on his forehead," Yibar, who pitied his dear nephew, rushed to snatch the Moso Bamboo rod as thick as his own arm from Yezi's mother. Such a thing should not be used to strike someone; it could seriously injure the boy.

What's the big deal with boys getting a little scuffed up? Besides, when Yezi's mother was younger, didn't she once set fire to the Great Wizard's house? And yet she now has the nerve to beat her son. Of course, Yibar only dared mutter these thoughts to himself; with the brother-in-law away, his sister was the one who ran everything inside out. Going against her wishes definitely wouldn't end well.

"Yibar, stop interfering. This naughty boy, if I don't beat him every three days, people will wear out the stairs coming to lodge complaints against him. Tell me, will you dare to do it again?" When Yezi's mother saw that the bamboo rod had been snatched away by her brother, she casually broke off several bamboo branches.

"Yezi, what's gotten into you today? Your mama is asking you a question, hurry up and admit your fault," Yibar saw his nephew standing with his head held high, his small hands clenched into fists hanging by his side, his round eyes glaring at his toes, and he remained silent.

Who was Yezi? Anyone randomly asked in Dongnan Miao Village about Li Ye would shake their heads approvingly. He was famously cunning in the village, flattering the village chief by tugging at his sleeve at the age of three, and at four, he managed to sweet-talk his way into obtaining a piece of honey candy from the poorest household of Granny Bu. Whenever Yezi's mother would just raise the bamboo stick, he'd already be hugging her legs and wheedling for forgiveness with smooth words.

"I won't say it," Li Ye, who had been double-crossed by the Han girl, felt his inner rage stoked by the jab of the bamboo, flaring up even more. How could he admit to something he didn't do, bowing his head in a grievance he did not commit? No matter how quick-witted he was, he wasn't inherently bad, and he couldn't stand being wronged and admitting fault at the same time – he'd rather die than to do such a disservice to himself.

"Won't say it, eh? Yibar, come inside with me, let this bratty kid stand there. He can forget about dinner tonight." After a few hits, Yezi's mother grew tired; after all, he was the flesh of her own flesh, and she couldn't bear to truly strike hard. Instead, she decided to let him go hungry for a while to teach him a lesson.

The suspension houses of the Miao families were built against the mountain, as Zhu Shijun previously mentioned, typically with two stories. However, the Li Family in Dongnan Miao Village was a big household, and their suspension house was built somewhat uniquely, with three stories.

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The lowest floor and the roof were constructed with Moso Bamboo, while the other two floors were built using fir wood brought up from the mountains. Nearly a hundred twenty-year-old fir trees were used to craft the beams and pillars without a single nail. The entire house was varnished with tung oil, and once inside, you could smell the pleasant scent of tung oil and bamboo.

Yezi's mother and brother went up to the second floor, where the daily living space was. Li Ye was punished to stand on the bottom floor, right next to the poultry pen.

The Li Family was a major household in the village, with the ground floor home to seven or eight pigs and dozens of chickens. When Yibar came back to complain, Yezi's mother had just finished feeding the livestock, and a pot of sour soup fish was simmering on the stove.

Li Ye had a hearty appetite, matching that of grown-ups like Yibar, and felt terribly hungry if he didn't eat his fill at a meal. The tantalizing scent of chili and sour soup wafted down from upstairs, itching at his heart like a scratching cat.

Zhu Xiaoxian, smug for now, I'll see how long you can keep it up. I'll make a complaint to Grandma and let her deal with that broken-down mountain village.

The stench from the livestock pen on the ground floor nearly made Li Ye give up on his nose. He stamped his feet, about to turn around, when Yezi's mother's cautionary voice floated down from upstairs, "Yezi, just try running off and see, I'll drag you by your ear to the temple behind the mountain tomorrow." It was as if she had seen Yezi's thoughts about fleeing.

Yibar was about to pick up a piece of pickled fish simmering in the spicy broth with his chopsticks when he heard her and hastily placed his chopsticks beside his rice bowl. "Sister, are you really sending Yezi to the temple to study with those Han kids? That won't do; he's supposed to inherit our brother-in-law's skills. If he gets mixed up with those Han people with their rotten guts and hearts, he might pick up their bad habits."

"It would be a marvel if he doesn't corrupt the other kids. Your brother-in-law has been planning this for a long time. Why else would he have had Yezi learning to speak Mandarin from a young age? Sooner or later, Yezi is meant to go out and see the world beyond the mountains." Unlike the Miao boys he plays with during the day, Yezi can speak fluent Mandarin, a result of the upbringing from his Mama and Daddy.

Surrounded by wild mountains and forests, the Miao Village, Ge Village, and the surrounding area had a temple behind the mountains. The town's primary school was too far away, and no teacher was willing to stay in the remote mountain gullies. The cultured individuals were the monks in the temple who could chant scriptures. Aware that his brother-in-law and sister were insightful people, Yibar resigned himself to quietly sipping his soup.

Downstairs, Yezi with his little round head and skeptical shiny black eyes, sized up the snorting pigs in the animal pen, wondering how his Mama knew he was planning to make a run for it.

Yezi had sharp ears and heard the faint fluttering of wings on his shoulder. Looking up with wide eyes, he saw a large moth with mottled gray patterns landed there. Those patterns were awfully similar to the blue apron Mama often wore. Wasn't it just so? How could he forget that Mama's real prowess wasn't just her sharp tongue.

"Mama's using her little creatures to spy on me again while Daddy isn't around?" If it had been a regular moth, Yezi would've squashed it already. Sadly, this creature perched on his back was not one to be trifled with. If he accidentally killed it, he'd face a few days of numb hands and feet.

Li Ye wasn't afraid of studying with the Han people; he just didn't want to be laughed at by the other kids in the village. If he had to learn, he'd prefer to learn witchcraft from Grandma.

Stars gleamed like shattered jade in the sky, and the last bit of light in the Miao Village had extinguished. On the other side of White Dragon Pond, at a spot on Leigong Mountain, a few night birds flew onto the white pear tree that had its basin of wash water from this morning, pecking at the Pear Fruits.

The moment their beaks tasted the flesh, the night birds flapped their wings and cried out in joy.

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