Qiqige and Jiya sobbed at the bedside for a while, their pent-up anxiety dissipating before they wiped away their tears and stood up.
Bahu handed them a handkerchief. “Don’t use your sleeves to wipe your tears.” His clean clothes had just been put on, and wiping away tears and snot together would mean changing and washing them again later.
The siblings took the handkerchief and blew their noses heavily, their tearful eyes turning towards their mother, whose complexion didn’t look good. “I heard everything outside. Mother, you’ve been in pain for so long. I wanted to come in, but Grandpa wouldn’t let me leave with my brother,” Qiqige said, tears welling up again as she hugged her chest.
Mi Niang hadn’t cried during childbirth, but seeing her two children feeling sorry for her, her nose started to tingle, and her eyes swelled with tears. She choked, “It doesn’t hurt anymore, please don’t cry.”
“I’ll take them out.” Seeing the three of them crying together, Bahu took one child under his arm and, ignoring the screams and struggles of the siblings, carried them out.
Mi Niang blinked a few times, waiting for the tears to subside. She then turned her head to look at her youngest son, who remained unaffected by his siblings’ crying and shouting, merely furrowing his brow and continuing to sleep.
After comforting the eldest son and daughter, Bahu brought them back in. Inside the felt bag, it was quiet enough to hear the whimpering of the puppies in the dog kennel outside.
“Do you want to see your little brother?” he whispered. “If not, we’ll leave so we don’t disturb your mother’s rest.”
“Take a quick look.” Jiya walked towards the bed, and Qiqige followed suit, but they just glanced at the baby. The two siblings, in perfect harmony, stopped in their tracks and turned to leave.
“Saying a quick look really means just a glance, not even more.”
Outside the felt bag, the siblings sat by the dog kennel, peeking at the puppies that hadn’t opened their eyes yet. Then they looked at the person hanging a slingshot outside the door. Qiqige whispered, “He’s really ugly.” Red and wrinkled, with foam on his head, like egg white beaten in boiling water, splattered all over his head and face.
Even the baby is too ugly to call.
Jiya whispered back, “The newborn puppies are cuter.”
“And the little lambs, calves, foals, and camels,” Qiqige added.
The two were pleased to have the same opinion, but suddenly, a loud wailing came from inside the felt bag. Both siblings were startled, watching their father rush in with big strides. They shrank their necks, feeling guilty, and got up to leave.
“Did the youngest hear us talking?” Qiqige muttered with a guilty look on her face.
Jiya didn’t know either. “Then let’s not say the youngest looks ugly, or Mother will be upset.”
At least now there was a term of endearment, which could be considered an acknowledgment.
In the following three days, Qiqige and Jiya didn’t even glance at the baby in the swaddle whenever they entered the felt bag. On the day of the wash, there were many visitors, and the two of them happily ran outside to introduce the dogs, the cattle that could kneel, and the camels that came back for food to the visiting children. The youngest was taken out to be washed, but they were not around.
In the afternoon, after the visitors left, Qiqige and Jiya approached Ba hu’s side, looking dejected as they asked, “Dad, when will Big Spot and Little Spot come back?”
Bahu sighed lightly and casually replied, “Probably in winter.” He didn’t know if they would ever return.
Winter seemed too far away for the siblings to comprehend. Whether they heard Bahu’s answer or not, they pondered on their own, “If there’s no one at home, what will happen if Big Spot and Little Spot return and can’t find anyone?”
“They’ll come to find us,” Qiqige’s eyes lit up, and she excitedly grabbed Jiya’s hand, “Big Spot and Little Spot know the way, they’ll definitely come to find us.”
Bahu cleared his throat, fearing that if they continued talking like this, they might not sleep tonight, waiting for Big Spot and Little Spot to arrive.
“You’re siblings, why don’t you give something to Bahu for the wash today?”
“Bahu?” Qiqige’s attention was indeed diverted, “The youngest?”
Yes, the youngest had a name now, Bahu, meaning spring. Bahu had originally wanted to name him Namula, meaning autumn, but Honey refused, saying it was awkward to explain. What would they say? He was named Namula because he was conceived in autumn.
“Bahu, meaning spring, he was born in spring, which is a good season.”
“What about me and my sister?” Jiya pursed her lips.
Bahu glanced down and chuckled, “Summer is also a good season, you two were born in summer.” Was this also something to argue about?
“What do you two plan to give Namula? Think about it carefully, and give it to him before bedtime tonight.” Bahu had other tasks to attend to, so he didn’t linger with the two children. He collected the tables, chairs, and stools and went inside to tidy up the diapers and wash them in the river.
After washing the diapers, he returned to cook and stew soup. When he heard the baby crying in the felt bag, he hurriedly fetched hot water to wash the baby’s bottom and change the diaper. After Mi Niang fed Namula, Bahu took over to burp him.
The midwife was right; Namula was slow and calm, not prone to crying. When he was full, he would fall asleep. By the time Bahu finished burping him, his eyes were already closing.
This child was easier to handle than Qiqige and Jiya were when they were young, but Bahu was still as busy as a spinning top, handling everything inside and outside the house. He cooked, cleaned, and did laundry. Surprisingly, nighttime was when he was the most relaxed.
Ajima brought in the cleaned wild vegetables, and Bahu took them and sat outside the kitchen to sort them. When he saw Alse Wolves leisurely enter and lie down outside the doghouse, he sighed, “Being a dog is really good, carefree.”
Mi Niang, inside the felt bag, heard him and scoffed, “You deserve it. Uncle Muren wanted to help you wash the diapers, let you have dinner with them, and take care of the children together. Ajima said he would wake up at night to help Qiqige and Jiya go to the bathroom, but you refused each time, insisting on doing it yourself. Who else would be tired if not you?”
Today, Grandma Zhao and Wan’er came over and saw Namula bustling around. They suggested hiring a maid, but the old lady said she knew someone and could introduce her. Unexpectedly, Bahu waved it off, saying that he had managed with Qiqige and Jiya around, so having only Namula wouldn’t be a problem.
“I’m not tired. Who said I’m tired?” Bahu refused to admit it. Although there were many chores at home, they weren’t burdensome. He wasn’t tired at all. “Taking care of my own children and my wife, why would I be tired? I’m happy no matter how busy I am.”
The wild greens were for Mi Niang’s consumption, so he only kept the heart of the vegetables. He had Ajima take the trimmed parts to feed the chickens. “Both of us personally took care of the big ones, changing their diapers and cleaning up after them. Little Baby shouldn’t be an exception. Even the most skilled maid wouldn’t care for him as well as his own parents.”
“As for waking up Qiqige and Jiya at night, it used to be me doing it all the time. Just because we have a third child now doesn’t mean I should be replaced. Besides, I wake up frequently at night anyway.”
Mi Niang remained silent after hearing this. When it was dinner time, she got off the bed and sat on the padded armchair, offering him a chicken leg from the chicken soup. “Eat more, don’t let your legs get too thin while I’m recovering from childbirth.”
Since Namula was born, the family’s dining area had moved from the kitchen to the felted bed where they slept, with all four of them, plus Ajima, eating together.
Seeing this, Qiqige and Jiya also offered some lamb to Bahu’s bowl, echoing, “Eat more, don’t let your legs get too thin.”
Bahu felt greatly relieved and satisfied, handing his bowl to the basin. He let the children serve him, taking as much as they served. Then, he pretended, “Strange, it’s all the same meat from the same bowl, but why does the meat you served smell better than what I served myself?”
Qiqige and Jiya didn’t catch the implication and were rather pleased, licking their chopsticks and innocently saying, “It does smell good.”
Mi Niang suppressed a laugh and teasingly replied to Bahu, “Maybe it’s because it got touched by your child’s saliva, so it tastes better when you eat it.”
Bahu paused his chewing for a moment, glancing at her, before continuing to eat the meat as if nothing had happened, indicating to the two naive children to continue serving him meat.
After dinner, Ajima helped with the dishes. When he entered the kitchen, he said, “Uncle, I’ll wash the dishes from now on. I’m also grown up now. I may not cook to your taste, but I can still clean the dishes well.”
“Okay.” Bahu patted the young man’s shoulder. “There’s oil in the pots and bowls. Use hot water for washing. Before washing, sprinkle some ash on the water to remove the oil.”
After washing his hands, he went out to call Qiqige and Jiya. “Do you still remember what I told you this afternoon? What have you prepared?”
Each child took out a small silver bracelet from their purse, each with a bell attached. They couldn’t wear them anymore, so they decided to give them to their “ugly” little brother.
At that moment, Namula started to whimper in the felt bag. Bahu pushed one child in with each hand. “Go on, go give it to him yourselves.”
While Namula was nursing, he glanced in the direction of the jingling bells, and then continued nursing without paying them much attention. He didn’t even look at the cold little trinkets on his feet.
Qiqige placed her hand and her little foot next to Namula’s, finally showing some interest. “He’s so tiny! Little Namula’s feet are really small, and his toenails are tiny too, no bigger than a grain of rice.”
“You two were even smaller when you were born. Your dad was afraid to even hold you back then.”
Qiqige and Jiya didn’t believe it. They kicked off their shoes and crawled to the edge of the bed. Now they could see Namula’s face. They were astonished. “He, he, he looks better!”
Jiya also peeked over, her eyes wide open now. He looked rounder and less wrinkled, but still red, and still not as cute as a puppy.
Mi Niang and Bahu exchanged a glance, finally understanding why the siblings hadn’t looked at Namula properly—they found him ugly.
“He’s getting cuter as he grows. By the time he’s a month old, he’ll be chubby and fair,” Mi Niang said, turning to face her children with a serious expression after they had finished eating. “Look, he has deep eye sockets just like the three of you. You all inherited that from your dad.” High brow ridges and deep eye sockets made their eyes look deeper than others.
Qiqige and Jiya finally accepted their little brother, who would grow to be handsome. They willingly left the bell bracelets behind, promising to come back to see him again in the morning before going to bed.
…
While Mi Niang was in her postpartum confinement, she was still thinking about her beehives. After nearly half a month had passed, she urged Bahu to go and place the beehives for her. Namula would eat and then sleep, barely fussing during diaper changes, so she could handle it all by herself.
Bahu slaughtered the chicken, plucked its feathers, chopped it into pieces, and put it in the pot before leaving. He instructed Uncle Mu ren to watch the fire, saying, “Remember to skim off the oil from the chicken soup. Mi Niang doesn’t like it greasy. And the mushrooms—once the chicken soup is boiling, soak the mushrooms, and when they’re soft, add them to the pot. When the mushrooms are cooked, the chicken will be done too.”
The old man replied, “I’ve been cooking for decades; I know this much.”
Bahu shook his head and sat on the shafts of the Lele cart. “Your cooking is just to deceive people; you don’t pay attention to timing.”
“When you weren’t married yet, you didn’t complain about my cooking.” The old man felt indignant. “Back then, I didn’t see you complaining about this and that.”
Bahu smiled but didn’t respond. With a “gee-up,” he urged the big black horse pulling the Lele cart southward. It was fond of honey and remembered the direction and location after making two or three trips every year. Every time it reached a spot to place a beehive, it would stop without Bahu needing to remind it.
However, this year, there were an additional forty-eight empty beehives coated with beeswax. Bahu drove the Lele cart around, looking for places with many flowers and bees that were sheltered from the wind. Fortunately, it was already summer, so the nights were long, and the beehives were placed before sunset, during the most comfortable time of the day when the warm breeze carried a faint scent of grass and the sun had given the air a gentle buzz, more intoxicating than kumis.
This made him not react when he heard the familiar buzzing, wondering if the wind still carried hallucinogenic grass.
“Ah! Ah, ah, ah!”
The sound grew louder, and the big black horse pulling the Lele cart couldn’t help but veer southward, showing its teeth and making a “hui-hui” sound when it saw its long-lost old friends. Bahu squinted as he watched two badgers running from the south. He straightened up and waited silently as the distance between the big black horse and the badgers closed—these were Big Spot and Little Spot. Compared to winter, they were much thinner now, but Little Spot’s belly was round, indicating that she was carrying cubs.
Big Spot’s already hoarse voice became even more piercing as he called out while running. Although his “ah, ah” lacked strength as they got closer, when they missed the big black horse, he gave a powerful push and landed squarely on Bahu, shaking his short tail and sticking out his stinky tongue to lick Bahu’s face.
“You stink.” Bahu pushed away his big head, wiped off the stinky saliva from his face, and jumped off the Lele cart to check on Little Spot. “Heavens, how did you two come from the south? Even if you were looking for us, you should have come from the west.” He sat on the ground, holding Little Spot’s dirty furry head in his hands. “I won’t scold you two as ungrateful badgers. You still have a conscience, knowing to come back.”
He stood up, pushed open the Lele cart door, and let Big Spot and Little Spot sit on the Lele cart. The two of them would never voluntarily get on the Lele cart before. They would even jump off if carried on, but this time, they obediently jumped onto the Lele cart and lay down on the Lele cart board, with their fluffy heads resting on the Lele cart shafts.
As the sun descended behind the Daba Mountains, the rows of yurts near the mountains came into view. When Big Spot and Little Spot saw the familiar place, they excitedly stood up, prancing around in the Lele cart and shouting loudly towards the cows and sheep drinking by the river.
Qiqige and Jiya, led out by Ajima to the hillside to wait for their father who had been out all day, hadn’t seen the Lele cart yet but heard the familiar shouting first, loud and proud.
“Ah ah ah! Big Spot and Little Spot are back!” Qiqige screamed, and the siblings hugged each other, jumping around in excitement. “I told you, Big Spot and Little Spot, and would definitely come back.”
Ajima heard the sound and walked up the hill, following the sound. He first saw a small dot, which gradually approached and turned out to be the Lele cart pulled by Da Huang.
“Big Spot and Little Spot have met your dad, but how did they end up in the South? Did they run back from the mountains? Or did they take the wrong path?”
