In the kitchen, Gu Lanshi had already lit the fire. He needed both hands to wash the vegetables and couldn't keep adding fuel, so he called Zhu to help.
Rain blew through the window and splashed onto the worktable. He shut it and said, "Keep the fire going strong. I've put in the ginger slices already. As soon as it boils, get a bowl into your brother Gou'er."
"I know." Zhu added firewood beneath the stove, sat down in front of it, and smacked his lips over the fruit still in his mouth. "Brother Lanshi, I saw Pei Yan just now. He passed our gate. He's so tall!"
"Pei Yan?" Gu Lanshi scooped up two ladles of water to wash the thorn shoots. He thought for a moment. "The Pei family's son who came home last year?"
He rarely spoke to grown men, and Pei Yan had been away from the village for over three years, so they weren't familiar with one another.
"Of course! Who else could it be?" Zhu could never keep a secret. He leaned closer and whispered, "Brother Lanshi, I'll tell you something, but you mustn't repeat it outside. Otherwise we'll both get beaten."
Gu Lanshi burst out laughing and teased him. "Go on, then. Let's hear this marvelous tale of yours."
Country folk woke every morning thinking about how to earn enough to live. They worked from one year's end to the next, with few having the leisure to seek amusement. When people gathered, there was little to do but gossip. A village was far smaller than a town, and the talk was invariably about the troubles of one family or another.
Children heard adults discussing such things all the time and naturally repeated them. Young Gu Lanzhu had been astonished to see such a tall man, and couldn't resist passing on the scraps of gossip he had understood.
Gu Lanshi spread the washed thorn shoots on a bamboo tray to drain. After listening, he was amused. "If you don't go looking for trouble with him, why would he beat you? Don't listen to Gou'er's nonsense. He's only trying to scare you."
"I know." Gu Lanzhu tilted his face up. "But didn't he beat up the Zhao family last time?"
Gou'er hadn't been making up stories about the fighting. Pei Yan was fairly notorious in the village now. Last summer, in a dispute over drawing well water for irrigation, he'd beaten the Zhao family—men and women alike—until their faces were swollen and bruised like a family of pig heads.
Gu Lanshi put the mugwort in a basin and rinsed it. "That was because the Zhao brothers bullied him first. It wasn't their well, but they stood in front of it and refused to let anyone draw water. In heat like that! Our fields are in a better spot, near the river, and even so, weren't Father and Mother rushing to water them? If the crops dried up, what would we eat? Pei Yan must have been worried too. If he didn't beat those two, whom should he have beaten?"
Little River Village stood beside both mountains and water, sharing a broad plain at the foot of the hills with several other villages. As the population grew from generation to generation, more and more land was cleared for crops. Not every field was near the river.
More than twenty years earlier, several village elders had organized a collection to dig two wells in places far from the river. That way, villagers could irrigate their fields without hauling water over great distances, and those whose homes were farther away could draw drinking and household water too. Every family in Little River Village had contributed, and all villagers had enjoyed the right to use the wells ever since.
But having the right to draw water didn't stop bullies. Poor families, or those without many sons and brothers to support them, were often pushed around. A family with several strong brothers could block the well and refuse to let anyone else fetch water. Their victims had little choice but to make the long journey to the river.
Gu Lanshi was fifteen now, old enough to understand some of these matters. He lifted the washed mugwort, shook off the water, and laid it on another bamboo tray. "Those Zhao brothers are no good. Haven't they always bullied Mei's family? They're used to throwing their weight around, and even their wives and husbands join in. They saw Pei Yan was alone and thought they could take advantage of him. Well, this time they kicked a rock they couldn't move. A man with nothing to lose doesn't fear people with more to protect, and Pei Yan didn't grow that tall for nothing."
Still, neither brother had been at the well that day and neither had seen Pei Yan fighting the Zhaos. Their family had been busy irrigating the fields too. All they knew came from other people's stories, so they had imagined it was an ordinary brawl between men.
"It's boiling," Zhu said.
Gu Lanshi looked at the great pot steaming white. "Give it another little while."
"Mm." Zhu rose and put a bowl beside the stove. "In that case, the Zhao family had it coming."
"Exactly." Having finished washing the vegetables, Gu Lanshi began cutting the thorn shoots on the board. He reminded his brother, "Whether it's the Zhaos or the Peis, don't go telling people about these things outside."
"I know." Zhu nodded obediently.
Gu Lanshi trusted his brother not to spread gossip beyond the family. He split the shoots in half, busy with his knife, and heard his father Gu Tieshan's voice outside. "Father?"
"Mm." Gu Tieshan came in from the rain wearing a straw cape and bamboo hat. He glanced into the kitchen as he passed. "Cooking?"
"Father, I've made ginger soup. You and Gou'er should each have a bowl," Gu Lanshi said.
"Good." With rain still pouring down, Gu Tieshan hurried into the main room and untied his cape. "I meant to shelter at Zhuzi's house near the village entrance, but the clouds were so black it looked as though the rain would last a while. So I borrowed his rain cape."
"You can return it when the weather clears." Miao Qiulian was still spinning. Seeing that he hadn't taken off the cape, she said, "Leave it on a moment. Gou'er brought back pig fodder. You might as well feed the pigs in the rear yard before changing, so the boy won't have to go out again."
Gu Tieshan picked up the basket. As he moved, he noticed the groundberries in the bowl. "Did you go digging for those?"
Before Gou'er could open his mouth, Miao Qiulian answered, "The Lin family's boy gave them to Lanshi."
Then she turned to Gou'er. "Zhu saved the raspberries for you. Have just a couple of groundberries and leave the rest for Lanshi."
"I know, Mother." Gu Lanyu withdrew his hand and stopped picking at the fruit. He hadn't asked when he ate earlier; only now did he learn that Lin Jinpeng had given them.
Gu Tieshan said nothing and went to feed the pigs.
Water bubbled fiercely in the pot. Gu Lanshi used a long-handled gourd ladle punched full of holes to lift the blanched shoots out. Hot water streamed through its twenty or thirty holes. He could scoop up far more this way than with chopsticks.
The shoots were tender green and looked delicious. Zhu licked his lips beside him. "The last time we had these fried with meat was last year."
"Be grateful. They're lovely fried with eggs too. We had that several times last year, and you're still not satisfied?" Gu Lanshi laughed as he lifted out another ladleful.
"That's not the same. Eggs don't make that lovely fat and oil. Meat's different. Once the shoots have soaked up the meat juices, they come out glistening with oil. That's what makes them delicious!" As he spoke, Zhu pinched half a shoot from the bowl and ate it.
Seeing how greedy he was, Gu Lanshi said, "That's enough for now. They're only blanched. They might not be cooked through."
His family could afford to eat reasonably well. Poorer households simply boiled the thorn shoots until tender. Those who could spare it might toss in a little salt. Those who couldn't would still welcome such seasonal wild vegetables as a fine dish, however little oil or seasoning they had.
The brothers talked as they worked. Miao Qiulian entered carrying two empty bowls, the ones Gu Tieshan and Gou'er had used for ginger soup.
"Put the steamer basket on. There were some flatbreads left from the day before yesterday, weren't there? Warm those at the same time." She tied on an apron and took over from Gu Lanshi.
Stir-fried thorn shoots with sliced pork were a good dish, especially since she'd bought meat with more fat than lean, which would release plenty of oil. It would be a shame to ruin it.
With Gu Lanshi above him and Mother above them both, Zhu usually sat by the stove tending the fire. He was even happier when his mother took charge of the cooking. Somehow, the meals she made always tasted different from everyone else's.
The rain was easing. Zhu sucked hard on the fruit pit in his mouth. The last time he'd eaten groundberries was when wealthy Landlord Zhang in Mountain Abundance Village had invited a traveling opera troupe to perform. He'd gone with his family, and his eldest brother had given him a few.
"Mother, didn't the Lin family's auntie say they'd invite an opera troupe for the wedding?" he asked casually. An opera performance was a great occasion, full of things to eat and do, and stories to hear. Adults loved it as much as children.
Miao Qiulian smiled and turned to him. "The Lins mentioned it, but nothing's settled."
People in the countryside usually traveled to other places to watch someone else's performance. If the Lin family could bring in a troupe, it would bring honor not just to them but to the Gu family too. After all, the performance would celebrate Lin Jinpeng marrying their Lanshi.
With the groom's family giving the match such importance, how could she and Gu Tieshan be unwilling? They'd given the matchmaker some encouragement and were now waiting for the Lins to make their formal proposal.
Zhu said eagerly, "Then, Mother, remember to ask Auntie Lin to choose *The Search for a Husband*! It's such fun. I love the part where they quarrel."
"You child! Do you think people can perform just any play?" Miao Qiulian glared at him. "There are proper lively plays for weddings. This is your brother's marriage! How could they perform *The Search for a Husband*? Have you no sense? What right would I have to ask them to put on something like that? We'd make laughingstocks of ourselves!"
After that scolding, Zhu sat quietly on his stool and didn't dare say another word.
Gu Lanshi was peeling garlic nearby. He didn't think it was a big matter; Zhu was young and didn't know any better. Glancing at his drooping little brother, he hid a smile.
Come to think of it, the performance of *The Search for a Husband* had been a lively one. Lady Liu waited in vain for her husband to return. At last, she took her child to the capital to look for him, only to discover the ungrateful man had married a daughter of a noble family. Lady Liu had a fiery temperament, and the script was excellent. The back-and-forth of their quarrel was a delight.
He'd found it more entertaining than the other plays too, and Zhu had enjoyed it even more.
All at once Gu Lanshi's hands stopped peeling the garlic. He stared into space, remembering the dreams he had been having lately. The play was different in its details, but both stories were about being cast aside.
For days now, he had dreamed the same thing every night. Yet whenever he woke, the events of the dream slipped from his mind. He didn't know why, but the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. As the dream rose from its haze of forgetfulness, the images grew clearer. A cold wind swept in through the doorway and sent a violent shiver through him.
Miao Qiulian had still been lecturing Zhu. The moment she noticed Gu Lanshi shivering, she stopped. "What's wrong? Are you cold?"
She wiped her hands on her apron and pressed one hand to her own forehead and the other to his. After a moment, she frowned. "You feel a little feverish. You didn't even get rained on. How did you get sick?"
"There's ginger soup left," Zhu said. He grabbed a bowl and went to ladle some out. After the soup had been boiled in the large pot, they'd transferred the remainder to a clay jar to simmer on a small earthen stove, intending to give Gou'er and their father another hot bowl later.
"Drink it quickly, then go lie down. I'll call you when it's time to eat." Miao Qiulian added, "Remember to wear an extra layer when it rains. You've never learned to look after yourself, not since you were little."
Gu Lanshi was still dazed. He drank the hot ginger soup, then let Zhu hurry him back to his room. Once he'd lain down, it took him quite a while to recover his—
