Yu Nian laughed despite himself. “No. I meant that room is too messy. I sorted some of the medicinal herbs, but everything else is still a jumble. Let’s take advantage of the cold weather when there’s nothing else to do and tidy it up. It’ll be easier for you to find things then, too.”
Only then did Tian Yao relax and think it over. “Alright then. We’ll start tidying tomorrow.”
That room piled with miscellaneous items had once been Tian Yao’s bedroom. After Father and Little Dad passed, he moved into their old room. The room he had lived in was originally just for temporary storage. Father had planned to build another room soon to store those things, but before they could, they were gone.
Later, any herbs Tian Yao gathered, any rare items, he casually tossed into that room. Over time, it piled higher and higher, and he had no real inclination to sort it. Now that Yu Nian brought it up, he also wanted to properly organize the things his fathers left behind.
Early the next morning, Tian Yao and Yu Nian got up bright and early. It didn’t snow today, but the thawing weather was even colder. So they set a charcoal brazier in the storage room. Gray followed the brazier wherever it moved, staying wherever it was.
The room wasn’t too damp. Tian Yao pushed Yu Nian beside the door. Inside, it was indeed packed full. He first handed the medicinal herbs stored on the outermost side over to Yu Nian. Looking at the jumble of dried herbs inside, Yu Nian asked him, “Do you know what effects these herbs have?”
Tian Yao shook his head. “Don’t know. I knew them when they weren’t dried. Once dried, I can’t tell them apart anymore.”
“You found these following Little Dad’s booklet too?”
Tian Yao acknowledged. “He was afraid I wouldn’t be able to live well on my own, so near the end, he drew a lot for me.”
Yu Nian began sorting these herbs by type. Tian Yao continued checking what else was in the room.
Inside were also some hides Father had obtained from hunting before. They were stacked fairly neatly; about three or four remained. He had sold one previously.
In one corner of the room was a chest. Tian Yao couldn’t quite recall what was inside it.
He moved the chest to the floor in the center of the room and crouched down to open it. A layer of dust had settled on top. In a daze, Tian Yao remembered this chest seemed to belong to Little Dad, only they seemed to have never opened it.
When Tian Yao lifted the lid, it was also full of little booklets. He didn’t even know when Little Dad had drawn them. The paper booklets were already yellowed, looking like they were many years old.
Yu Nian also came to his side. Tian Yao handed one of them to him. Yu Nian looked at the bizarre symbols that could barely be called script and was equally baffled. “This is…?”
“It seems to be Little Dad’s handwritten notes.” Tian Yao simply sat down on the floor and began flipping through them. He remembered Little Dad trying to teach him when he was very young, but now he had completely forgotten it all.
“If only I hadn’t been so obsessed with playing when I was little.” Tian Yao couldn’t recognize these characters now either; only residual memories allowed him to remember a little.
“What kind of person was your Little Dad?” Yu Nian asked him.
Holding the booklets in his arms, Tian Yao recalled. “He was always very gentle. But sometimes, he would also say some strange things, especially in that month after Father passed. He told me so much, but I’ve forgotten it all.”
He looked at Yu Nian. “You can’t read it either?”
Yu Nian shook his head. “I can be certain: this isn’t the script of the Great Yue.”
“Then these must be very important things to Little Dad.” Tian Yao set the handwritten notes aside. There were still many similar notes, all written in these strange characters, so Tian Yao placed them all to one side.
He rummaged through the chest again. There was a string of beads made from animal teeth—small beads. Tian Yao held it in his hand; it was a tiny bracelet. “This must be something from my childhood.”
Flipping through, he found a silver lock. “This must be mine too.”
The small chest held Tian Yao’s joyful childhood. He and Yu Nian spent a long time looking through it all before they finished examining everything.
Finally, at the very bottom, Tian Yao felt a small pouch. The pouch was heavy. Opening its mouth, he found it was full of seeds.
He didn’t expect Yu Nian to recognize what kind of seeds these were. After all, Yu Nian hadn’t been a farmer before. Asking him would be the same as asking no one.
“Yu Nian, once spring comes, shall I plant all these seeds? Right in our vegetable garden.”
Yu Nian nodded. “Alright.”
After that, there was nothing left to particularly hold their attention. Tian Yao reorganized the animal hides, planning to take them out to air in the sun when the weather was clear. The herbs were sorted by Yu Nian and even labeled.
Tian Yao had gathered quite a few herbs, and they were of good quality. If sold to a medicine shop, they could bring in a decent amount of money.
Tian Yao cleaned the dust off Little Dad’s chest and moved it into their room. He wanted to try again to see if he could remember what these characters meant. On this point, Yu Nian truly was powerless.
Looking at the now neat and tidy room, Tian Yao dusted off his clothes. “All done!”
He pushed Yu Nian back to the main room, the bag of seeds cupped in his hands. He separated the identical ones. “Can these really grow something?”
“Not sure. We’ll try and see.”
Tian Yao nodded. “Once spring comes, shall we also get some chicks to raise?”
“Sure.”
“In a couple of days, let’s go to town to buy New Year’s goods, okay? We still need to buy good fortune characters and Spring Festival couplets.” Only as he spoke did he look at Yu Nian. “Can you write?”
Looking at Yu Nian’s scholarly appearance, he should be able to handle a brush, right?
“Just buy red paper. I can write.”
Tian Yao’s eyes lit up. “Write well?”
“Acceptably.”
“So we could write Spring Festival couplets for the village? Charging one or two copper coins per set.”
In past years, Huailing Village’s couplets were either bought from town or written by Tian Wen when he came back to the village and set up a stall. Tian Yao had gone to look—written rather poorly, yet charging three copper coins a set.
But on second thought, he worried Yu Nian might possess that “scholar’s integrity” Tian Wen spoke of, finding the idea of trading one’s scholarship for money a shameful thing. “If you don’t want to, we can just write for our own home.”
“It’s fine. I can write.” Yu Nian smiled at him. “There’s no reason you should bear all the household expenses alone. It’s good if I can contribute a little to the household in whatever way I can.”
Only then did Tian Yao beam.
The days before the New Year drew steadily closer. After several days of snow, the weather finally cleared today. Tian Yao bundled both of them up thickly and took the Village Chief’s ox cart into town.
Once in town, Tian Yao lifted Yu Nian’s wheelchair down and pushed him from behind. Because the New Year was approaching, the streets in this part of town were extremely lively. Even the street vendors’ voices seemed louder.
Tian Yao leaned forward a little. “Yu Nian, what do we need to buy?”
“Don’t you have things you want to buy?” Yu Nian had never before managed the New Year goods a household needed and had no experience. New clothes had long been prepared, sewn as always by Aunt Shun—one set for Yu Nian and one for Tian Yao.
For the New Year’s Eve dinner, they didn’t want to make it too complicated, just wanting to eat what they liked. So they were going to have the hot pot Yu Nian enjoyed so much. Tian Yao thought about it: on New Year’s Eve, the two of them gathered around a steaming hot pot—it actually didn’t sound bad at all.
“Yu Nian, but I heard you’re supposed to make dumplings for New Year’s.” He pushed Yu Nian along. The people walking towards them all stared at Yu Nian, or more accurately, at the wheelchair beneath him.
“Do you know how to wrap them?” Yu Nian asked him with a smile.
Tian Yao shook his head. “Little Dad never taught me. He didn’t even draw it in the little booklet.”
“Then we won’t make them.”
They hadn’t come to shop with any specific purpose, so they stopped to look at anything novel along the street. Whatever interested Yu Nian, they bought a little of.
Finally, they arrived at the stationery shop in town. There was something Tian Yao wanted to buy for Yu Nian: brush and ink.
Sometimes, Tian Yao saw Yu Nian holding the little booklets, using his fingertip to trace and sketch on them. If they had brush and ink, he would probably be able to write what he wanted to. It was just that in this world, brush and ink were the most precious of goods. He remembered the Tian Liu family—every year, buying brush, ink, paper, and inkstone for Tian Wen, plus the tuition for the school, was a considerable expense.
Clutching his money pouch, Tian Yao pushed Yu Nian inside. The shopkeeper first glanced at Tian Yao and instantly knew he was an unlearned ger who scratched a living from the soil. But the one he was pushing was different—clearly a man who carried poetry and books within him at a glance. So he immediately put on a smile.
“What might you two be looking at?”
Tian Yao didn’t understand. If not for Yu Nian, he probably would never have set foot in a shop like this in his entire life.
“Buying some brush and ink for my husband.” Seeing that Yu Nian hadn’t spoken, Tian Yao spoke to the shopkeeper.
“For brushes, I have many types here: purple rabbit hair, goat hair, and for pricier ones, wolf hair, etc. Which type do you need?”
Now Tian Yao was truly lost and could only look at Yu Nian.
Yu Nian gently patted his hand. “The cheapest kind will do.”
The smile on the shopkeeper’s face immediately faded considerably. Perfunctorily, he said, “That one. The cheapest pig bristle, five copper coins each. Cheapest inkstick, thirty copper coins each.”
Tian Yao counted on his fingers, calculating for a moment, then said, “Can it be a little cheaper if we buy more?”
The shopkeeper looked somewhat incredulous. “This is already the lowest price, and you still want me to lower it? How many are you planning to buy?”
“Five of the cheapest brushes, plus one wolf-hair brush, two inksticks, and a ream of paper.”
“Total will be half a tael of silver.” The shopkeeper didn’t want to waste words with him.
Tian Yao still felt it was a bit expensive, so he said, “Then just throw in a few extra brushes as a bonus.”
Yu Nian only gently patted his hand. “Yao Ge’er…”
In the end, under Tian Yao’s persistence, they spent five hundred copper coins for one wolf-hair brush, eight pig-bristle brushes, one locally-made inkstick, and he even managed to wheedle the shopkeeper into giving him a wooden paperweight for free. It wasn’t finely made; there were even some scratches on it, probably a practice piece. Since it couldn’t be sold anyway, the shopkeeper just gave it to him.
“I was wondering who it was… haggling in a bookshop like this. Aren’t you afraid your vulgar mercenary air will pollute the scholarly fragrance of this establishment?”
Tian Yao placed the brushes and ink on Yu Nian’s lap and turned his head to look at Tian Wen, standing in the shop’s entrance. “What kind of dog crap are you spouting!”
