For the past few days, Tang Xiaonan’s breakfast had been nothing but Qingming rice cakes. There were savory ones and sweet ones, green ones and white ones. Her mother, Phoebe Huxley, had made some, her grandma Raina had made plenty, and her maternal grandmother had even sent some over. The family was overflowing with so many Qingming rice cakes that they had them for breakfast every single day.

The white ones, called *baiguo*, were made without the traditional Qingming grass. They usually had a savory filling of stir-fried pickled mustard greens, pork belly, firm tofu, spring bamboo shoots, and scallions, all finely diced. The green ones, or *qingguo*, were made with Qingming grass (mugwort) boiled with lye, then mixed with glutinous rice flour to form a dough. The dough was shaped into a bowl, filled, and then pinched shut on both sides, resembling a dumpling.

There was another style, a round ball, typically filled with red bean paste or a mix of date paste and peanuts. It was rolled into a ball, much like a large *tangyuan*, and then coated in a layer of soaked glutinous rice. After steaming, the white rice grains on the green dumpling’s surface would turn translucent and glistening, like tiny pearls. This variety had a lovely name: Snowball Dumpling.

Tang Xiaonan enjoyed both the savory and the sweet varieties, but her teeth weren’t up to the task. She had lost her front teeth and a molar, making it difficult to eat such sticky, chewy rice snacks. She could manage one at most; any more than that and her teeth would ache.

To her relief, however, one of her top front teeth was just beginning to sprout, barely the size of a millet grain. Unfortunately, it was the only one. She had no idea when the other three would emerge. ’I’m probably just too well-fed,’ she thought. She was losing her baby teeth much earlier than other kids her age. Most children didn’t start until they were seven or eight, but her process had begun at six.

"Mom, when is Second Uncle coming back?"

Tang Xiaonan couldn’t help but ask during breakfast.

Frederick Thorne hadn’t been heard from since his last trip to town. Goldie Thorne had said she’d go to Rosillia Village to ask around, but there had been no news. Tang Xiaonan had no idea if her second aunt was actually pregnant, and it was still unclear if there was a problem with Mystic Liu’s medicine.

Phoebe Huxley didn’t know either and asked her husband, Felix Thorne, "Didn’t Frederick take Lana Steiner to the clinic? What was the verdict?"

"Apparently, the clinic couldn’t determine anything," Felix Thorne replied, who was surprisingly well-informed. "They have to go to the county hospital. Frederick is trying to arrange for a vehicle, but the factory has been swamped lately, so none are available. He thinks he can get one in the next day or two."

"No news from Goldie either?" Phoebe Huxley asked again, her interest piqued.

Felix Thorne shot her a look. He knew what had her so worked up—she just wanted to see Phoenix Golding’s family suffer some misfortune. ’This woman is infuriating,’ he thought.

"Nope."

Felix Thorne grunted, grabbed a few Qingming rice cakes, and headed out for work. He couldn’t be bothered to argue with Phoebe Huxley. Whenever Phoenix Golding’s name came up, his wife became more ferocious than a tiger descending a mountain. He could never win those fights, so it was better to just keep his mouth shut.

Phoebe Huxley snorted softly, planted a kiss on Tang Xiaonan’s cheek, and grabbed a few rice cakes before leaving herself. She planned to dig up some shepherd’s purse in the fields along the way. They still had some meat at home, and she could make shepherd’s purse dumplings for dinner—both her daughter and son loved them.

For lunch, Tang Xiaonan packed a few of the savory rice cakes, which just needed to be steamed before eating. Amanda Chapman had the exact same thing. The weather was getting warmer, and the rice cakes wouldn’t keep for long. With no refrigerators, they had to be eaten up quickly.

On the way, she ran into Sherman Golding’s family, who were also on their way to work. His son, Bowman Golding, was limping, had a missing front tooth, and his face was bruised and swollen. The story was that a few days ago, Bowman had gone to his girlfriend’s house to deliver some Qingming rice cakes. He’d had a bit too much to drink and fell headfirst into a ditch. He nearly broke his leg, knocked out a tooth, and gashed his head open.

The ditch was deep, and Bowman couldn’t climb out for a long time. His clothes were soaked through, and he nearly froze to death. Fortunately, someone happened to pass by and pulled him out. The story had spread all over Clearspring Township, turning Bowman Golding into a laughingstock.