Chapter 752 - 387: Hulu Saw the Grandaunt (Part 2)

Chapter 752: Chapter 387: Hulu Saw the Grandaunt (Part 2)

Just as he was speaking, Hulu, who was sitting on Qingmu’s shoulders, suddenly spoke up. "Daddy, the Great-Aunt is scary!"

Qingmu quickly said, "Don’t be scared, Hulu. The Great-Aunt is the nicest person. She likes you the most. She even held you when you were just born."

Hulu pouted. "She doesn’t like Hulu. The Great-Aunt isn’t smiling. Grandma is smiling."

Liu Yunlan’s heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly asked, "Hulu, where did you see the Great-Aunt?"

Only then did everyone realize there was something strange about what Hulu had said. The "Grandma" he mentioned was his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Wang—who was always beaming—and everyone knew that. But as far as anyone knew, he had never seen his own great-aunt in his life, not since he was old enough to remember things.

Hulu said, "The Great-Aunt is... on top of the big box..."

This stunned everyone. Juhua, in particular, was covered in goosebumps. ’Hulu really saw the Great-Aunt, on top of the coffin.’ This wasn’t a mistake or a coincidence; a child that young wouldn’t know how to lie.

Her teeth chattered as she grabbed Huai Zi’s arm. "Hulu... H-how can he see things?"

Pu Pao was already pale with fright. She squeezed into the middle of the group, not daring to walk ahead or fall behind.

Huai Zi quickly wrapped his arm around Juhua to comfort her. "Little kids are different."

Liu Yunlan was still intensely questioning Hulu, asking if it was the long, black box in the mourning hall, and whether the Great-Aunt was sitting or standing. But Hulu couldn’t explain clearly. He only repeated that the Great-Aunt was on top of the big box, and that when he smiled at her, she didn’t smile back.

Qingmu sighed. "The Great-Aunt was surely smiling at Hulu. But when she smiled at the younger generation, she would just barely stretch her lips. Not like his grandma or the Second Great-Aunt, who would beam from ear to ear. Hulu probably saw that his great-aunt wasn’t paying him any mind and took it to heart."

Liu Yunlan explained to Juhua, "Little children have clear eyes, so it’s easy for them to see these wandering spirits. But our Hulu is sturdy and has strong vital energy. Otherwise, he probably would have gotten a fright yesterday. Still, when we get home, we should buy some paper money to burn for the Great-Aunt, to ask her to protect our Hulu."

Juhua asked, puzzled, "Even if Hulu saw the Great-Aunt’s spirit, she wouldn’t have tried to scare him, would she?"

Liu Yunlan said, "It’s not that the Great-Aunt would scare Hulu, it’s... that yin energy. Most people can’t withstand it. Didn’t you also say that when you first entered the mourning hall last night, you felt a gloomy chill?"

Juhua nodded. ’So this is what people mean when they talk about running into bad energy!’

They talked a bit more about their cousins. Qingmu sighed, "This family connection is more or less finished. With the Great-Aunt gone, the bond has weakened. If our cousins don’t stay close to Dad, this relationship will be severed."

He was a bit depressed, not so much because he couldn’t bear to lose this connection, but for his father, Zheng Changhe. His father had lost a caring elder, and with no close relatives like siblings in his own immediate family, he would probably be sad for a long time. The Second Great-Aunt was probably not in good health either, or else she would have come for her older sister’s funeral.

Juhua understood her brother’s meaning. She said to him, "We’ll just have to be more filial as his children. I can see Dad is taking it very hard. It’ll probably be a long time before he recovers."

But Huai Zi said, "Don’t worry. With one Hulu, plus Banli and Cong, it’ll be easy to make him happy."

Juhua and the others returned home, and life settled back into its peaceful routine. The dead were gone, and the living had to go on. After the fifteenth of the month, once they had seen Zhang Yang off, Zhang Huai gathered his tenants, the fathers and sons of the Wu and Wang families, to get busy on the wasteland Juhua had bought.

They dug a pond and a well at the foot of the mountain and cleared land to plant bamboo on the mountainside. Old Man Wu and Old Man Wang led their sons with great enthusiasm. The master had only hired their two families to help. It was supposed to be the off-season, yet they could earn fifteen cents a day. Where else could they find such a good deal? As a result, they worked honestly and didn’t cut corners or slack off, fearing the master wouldn’t hire them next time if he had more work.

Since planting the bamboo couldn’t be delayed, the Wu and Wang families were assigned to clear the land on the mountain, with even their wives going up to help. Zhang Dashuan and his son, along with Liu Heizi, dug the pond at the foot of the mountain.

Juhua took Pu Pao to inspect the edge of the fields once and changed the plans again—expanding the fishpond to five mu. At that size, it would be too slow for just a few people to dig. So she had Liu Heizi go back to the village and find a few more families to help. She decided to just spend the money and get the pond dug all at once, which would also save her father-in-law and Huai Zi the trouble.

While she was busy with the wasteland, she was also worried about her parents’ home, because Zheng Changhe had fallen ill after returning from burning offerings for the Great-Aunt’s seventh-day memorial.

"Dad, have some corn porridge first. I’ll make you a bowl of noodles later," Juhua coaxed the somewhat gaunt Zheng Changhe.

Holding a bowl of corn porridge, she sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her father. With a white cloth wrapped around his head and a pillow propped behind his back, he was leaning listlessly against the bed, looking like he was in postpartum confinement. The sight almost made her laugh.

Zheng Changhe was in a bad mood and threw a little tantrum, refusing to eat the corn porridge. He said he wanted braised soybeans and a large bowl of soaked crispy rice. Of course, Juhua wouldn’t agree, so she began to coax him as if he were a small child.

She scooped up a spoonful of corn porridge with a small wooden spoon, held it high, and let it pour down. The thick porridge streamed down in a continuous line. "Look how thick this porridge is. I even put some minced meat in it, so it’s delicious. Have it with these sour bamboo shoots. A big, hot bowl will make you sweat, and you’ll feel much better. Or does Dad want to lie in bed forever? Are you afraid of work? Did I buy too much wasteland, so now you’re faking sick to hide at home?"

Just then, Mrs. Yang came into the room, shot Zheng Changhe a look, and said to Juhua, "If he doesn’t want to eat, then forget it. Don’t bother coaxing him. He’s starting to act all pampered. If he’s happy to lie in bed, then let him. We’ll go to the fields tomorrow. We can still farm and live our lives without him."

Zheng Changhe shot Mrs. Yang a resentful glance, then reluctantly took the bowl from Juhua’s hand and began to drink with a SLURP. Perhaps he was hungry, and the sour bamboo shoots were appetizing, because he ate with great relish.