Early the next morning, when Bahu opened the door just a crack, eleven dogs slipped out eagerly, jostling and competing with each other, afraid of being left behind if they were a moment too slow.
Standing outside the door, Bahu waited. First, Da Huang and Alse wolves, one tall and one short, passed by the door, their tails wagging together as they headed towards the sheep pen. After waiting a while longer, Bala squeezed through the crowd of eight puppies and hurried over, wagging his tail enthusiastically when he saw someone at the door.
“You guys not only poop and pee together but also form gangs? Are you waiting for the first one to finish?” Bahu held Bala’s dog head down, sitting on the doorstep and pulling at its legs to inspect its hindquarters. It didn’t seem like there was any problem. It was really strange. Could it be that even dogs adhere to the principles of brotherhood, refraining from touching their brothers’ women?
That was even more particular than humans.
“Woof—” Bala watched as the puppies all ran out to frolic and play in the snow, and then he wriggled free and followed suit, leaving Bahu sitting alone on the doorstep, propping up his leg. Even though was a four-year-old big dog, he shamelessly mingled with a group of young pups, digging in the snow, wrestling, and biting ears…
All he cared about was playing, with no thoughts of reproducing!
Bahu brushed off the snow from his hands, got up, and went back inside to pull out Big Spot and Little Spot to do their business. The two badgers had grown their fur thick over the winter and weren’t afraid of the cold. They lay in the snow nest as if taking a bath buried Big Spot in the snow with a shovel, and it lay there motionless, dazed.
“Don’t just grow taller, grow some brains too, and don’t learn from Bala.” Bahu pulled it up again and tied it to the door latch while the two cats went crazy in the snow. He went back inside to get a shovel and knocked down the icicles hanging from the eaves, but when he heard the dog’s painful yelp, he quickly ran outside without even putting down the shovel in his hand.
“Bala! Shut up!” Bahu shouted loudly, dragging Big Spot out from under Bala’s claws and using the shovel to keep the dogs and cats apart. Big Spot and Little Spot were still showing their teeth and growling fiercely. If they didn’t hide behind Bahu when they saw him, that would be truly fierce.
Bala was also snarling, saliva trailing in the wind, dripping onto the snow and turning into ice. Behind it, a yellow-haired puppy was still whimpering softly, with its right front paw raised. Bahu picked it up to check, and it had only lost a few hairs, with no scratches or bites.
“Alright, stop pretending. You troublemaker!” Bahu slapped it, silencing it completely. From then on, it was known as the troublemaker.
“What’s going on? It’s chaos so early in the morning,” Mi Niang stood at the door wrapped in a wolf fur cloak, her black hair disheveled, with a faint blush on her face from just waking up.
“This troublemaker here provoked Big Spot and Little Spot. I reckon Big Spot scratched it once, only pulling out a few hairs, but it screamed like its paw was bitten off. Then Bala got worked up, trying to protect itself. If I hadn’t come out a bit earlier, it would’ve grabbed Big Spot by the neck.” The man carried the two trembling badgers into the house. “Put them in the room first. Can you help me check if there are any icicles left on the eaves?”
Mi Niang held the thick paws of Big Spot, and indeed, there was no blood on the claw tips. She stroked the cat’s head a few times, and Little Spot also came over, lifting its head to be scratched under the chin.
“So obedient, no wonder Bahu is so biased towards them.” She scratched a few times, and Little Spot immediately started purring, making Mi Niang wonder if they would still be able to catch rabbits and deer when they grew up.
When Bahu picked up Qiqige and Jiya to change their diapers, they saw Big Spot and Little Spot in the house and giggled early in the morning, revealing their two mismatched baby teeth. They insisted on being hugged and scratched before they would obediently put on their clothes.
Bahu entered with a basin of water, feeling uplifted by the crisp laughter of the two children. He placed the basin on the table and wiped his face with a towel, first checking his forehead. “No fever today.”
“Yeah, you seem to be in good spirits,” said Mi Niang, folding the blankets and placing them at the head of the Kang bed before carrying the chamber pot outside. As soon as she stepped out of the door, the dogs that had been fighting in the snow rushed over, shaking off the snow and wagging their tails, following her to the dung pit outside the sheep pen. It just so happened that Da Huang and Alse wolves, who had discovered something suspicious behind the sheep pen, were there.
“This early in the morning!”
But only she took it seriously. The dogs on both sides acted as if nothing had happened, and even Bala just glanced over before foolishly running off again, leaving paw prints in the snow.
“Bahu, let me tell you, Bala might really be clueless. Just now, when I went to empty the chamber pot, I saw Da Huang and Alse wolves doing something over there, and Bala was as indifferent as if it had seen a pile of cow dung, showing no curiosity at all.” Mi Niang ran back into the house. “Bala might have been a monk in its past life, living a life of purity and abstinence, free from worldly desires.”
Bahu glanced at her and handed her the towel to wipe her face. “Well, monks from your Central Plains seem to be quite sinful too. If they didn’t kill in their past life, they’re reborn as dogs in this life.”
Mi Niang gave him a sideways glance, scooped up a dollop of face cream, warmed it in her palm, and applied it to her face. She asked vaguely, “Did you put on face cream?”
Bahu remained silent.
“Did Qiqige and Jiya put it on?”
“They did.” Bahu tried to slip away, but as soon as he stood up, he was held down. Two greasy and fragrant hands pressed onto his face, causing him to involuntarily close his eyes and purse his lips.
Qiqige and Jiya, seeing their mother pressing their father onto the Kang bed, crawled over, eager to join in. They sat beside Bahu and reached out to smear his face, saliva dripping down as they did so. Mi Niang quickly caught the drool and raised an eyebrow at Bahu. “You should thank me. You’ve saved yourself one face wash.”
Bahu frowned and wiped off the remaining face cream, then picked up the little girl climbing onto his back. He turned his face away, pretending not to recognize anyone. “Nosey, I don’t mind my child’s saliva, it’s not smelly…” He didn’t finish his sentence before leaning back to avoid her.
“Don’t dodge, if you don’t mind, then you won’t mind me smearing cream on your face,” Mi Niang reached out her hand, thankfully she hadn’t washed it yet.
The man kept laughing, dodging her hand, and even used Qiqige’s face to block her, teasing vaguely, “I only mind when it’s your hand touching me.”
Mi Niang didn’t relent, kneeling on the Kang bed, she tried to smear the saliva from her hand onto his face. With the child caught between them, it became a game of chase. Qiqige giggled, tightly holding onto her father’s head, forcing Bahu to peel her off.
“You almost suffocated me.” He panted heavily, not struggling anymore, waiting for the cool sensation on his face, and then he used a diaper to wipe it off.
“Tsk.” Mi Niang got up from him disdainfully, “You still mind? If I didn’t mind you, you’d be lucky.”
Bahu didn’t think it was a big deal, the diaper was clean. They both lay down on the Kang bed, with Qiqige and Jiya crawling over wanting to ride on their stomachs. Bahu glanced at Mi Niang and lifted Jiya, letting both children sit on his stomach.
“What should we have for breakfast?” Mi Niang asked, tilting her head.
Last night they slept late, and this morning they woke up late again, after another commotion, it’s not early anymore. Bahu suggested cutting some dried beef with a knife and having some butter tea to fill their stomachs, they could have an early lunch later.
Mi Niang didn’t feel like moving and asked Bahu to cut the beef instead. “Since you’re the one making the butter tea anyway, let’s make it a one-man job. You do it all.”
“In that case, don’t let Qiqige and Jiya sit on your stomach,” Bahu lifted the children off, then grabbed a blanket and rolled it up for them to sit on.
Mi Niang rubbed her belly. “I’m not pregnant.”
Even if she wasn’t pregnant, she couldn’t have them sitting on her stomach. The two children combined weighed forty pounds. If they kept bouncing around, she might cough up blood. Bahu’s stomach had never carried a child, so no matter how much pressure he felt, it was fine. But Mi Niang’s belly, after giving birth and shrinking back, made Bahu feel like her belly was empty. Pressing down on it would feel like sitting on bones.
When Bahu went out, he happened to see ChaoBao and the others bringing in buckets of squeezed sheep milk. They looked surprised to see him at home.
“Master, you’re home?”
“Where else would I be?” Bahu asked if they wanted some butter tea, if they did, he would make some extra.
“Well, we heard about your father…” ChaoBao stuttered.
“Oh, he’s dead.”
Bahu’s tone was as calm as if he were talking about a dead mouse. Others couldn’t find anything to say, not even a word of condolences.
The sound of pounding echoed from the courtyard and the kitchen. Bahu carried two bowls of butter tea into the house, and the beef was torn into strips and arranged on plates. “The sheep milk we left a few days ago has gone sour. Shall I scoop you a bowl to taste?”
“Sure, but don’t scoop too much. I’m afraid I won’t be able to handle it,” she replied. She wasn’t fond of sour flavors and wrinkled her brow after tasting a spoonful of the sour sheep milk.
“Not used to it?” Bahu moved the bowl in front of him and gently pushed away the chubby hand reaching for it.
Mi Niang chewed on a strip of beef and unexpectedly found the taste of sour sheep milk tolerable. “Let me try another spoonful.” Once she tasted it again, she couldn’t stop, pouring a bit of honey from her jar into it. “It’s not sour anymore, try it.” She held Qiqige’s hand and scooped a spoonful to feed Bahu.
“You have it, I still prefer it sour.” He went back to the kitchen to prepare another bowl. Seeing Ajima coming, he pointed to the kitchen and said, “There’s sour milk in the house. If you want some, scoop it yourself.”
In just a moment, the kids in the room started crying. Bahu rushed in and saw Qiqige and Jiya sitting in the crib, tears streaming down their faces, still pointing at the plate on the table.
“Why is it so delicious? They’re crying even before their teeth are fully grown, just because they want meat.” It was both funny and exasperating.
Seeing that comforting didn’t work, Bahu thought of squeezing camel milk to cook. He pressed the kids’ bellies, still bloated from the milk they had drunk just before dawn.
“How about giving them a piece to suck on? After all, they can’t chew yet,” Bahu discussed with Mi Niang. He couldn’t stand seeing the children cry.
“They can’t eat it. It’s raw meat. Let them cry,” Mi Niang replied, eating her own food. She let Bahu deal with the two foodies while she finished her meal. “Hurry up and eat. Once they can’t see it anymore, they won’t crave it.”
She was really tough; the children were almost hoarse from crying. Bahu hurriedly gulped down the sour milk, gave up on the beef strips, and took everything to the kitchen.
“Boss, I’ll go comfort the kids now,” Ajima said as he saw Bahu enter, a bit impatient from drinking too quickly, coughing from the choking.
“I’m not a big bug, and I won’t eat you. Look how scared you are,” Bahu sighed, feeling helpless. He called him “boss,” called Mi Niang “Auntie,” but none of them came over.
Ajima’s face flushed red, unable to say a word.
“Never mind, you eat your meal. Qiqige and Jiya are acting up now, you won’t be able to calm them down either.” He placed the bowl on the stove and went back inside to pick up the chubby girl who was still crying with her mouth open. “Come on, Dad will take you to cut the beef. Since Mom won’t let you eat it raw, Dad will steam it for you to suck on.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re such a good dad,” Mi Niang didn’t intervene either, she helped Jiya put on her cotton shoes and carried Qiqige to the kitchen, watching Bahu cut the beef strips into finger-thick pieces and put them in the steamer. The steamer was a big grinding pot with two and a half chopstick-length beef strips inside.
After steaming, the two dry beef strips softened. Seeing the two kids eagerly opening their mouths and reaching out their hands, Bahu looked at Mi Niang for help. “What should we do now?”
“This can’t be blamed on me, right?” Mi Niang watched the two kids with tears brewing as if enjoying the show.
“I’m not blaming you, how could I blame you?” The man was so anxious that his legs were shaking. “Quick, they’re about to cry.”
“Let them cry if they want to cry, how can we be afraid of children crying?” Mi Niang heartlessly carried the two children outside, and as soon as she crossed the threshold, loud wailing exploded in the courtyard.
But in the afternoon, they cut another piece of beef leg, lit a fire with wood, and grilled meat with charcoal, keeping busy for the rest of the afternoon.
