Chapter 8: Childhood Fun

From the moment the sun began to sink in the west, Song Daya kept her eyes fixed on the front gate. Yet even when the moon climbed above the treetops, there was still no sign of her parents returning.

In ancient times, there were no streetlights, no flashlights, and certainly no Skynet surveillance system^[1]. Bandits and robbers seemed to be an ever-present danger, leaving Song Daya sick with worry.

Worried as she was, she eventually slumped over the dining table and fell asleep.

Old Mother Wu tried to carry her to bed, but she could not lift her on the first try. Afraid of dropping her, she simply let the girl sleep where she was. She picked up a palm-leaf fan instead and sat beside her, waving away the mosquitoes.

By the time Old Mother Wu was nodding off herself, the front gate finally rattled.

“Ma, we’re back!”

Old Mother Wu got up and lit a lamp before opening the door. Song Dalang stepped in first, while Mei-Shi followed behind to shut the gate.

Stepping into the central room, they saw Daya fast asleep in a chair.

“Why is she sleeping here?” Mei-Shi asked, her heart aching and a hint of displeasure in her voice.

“She wouldn’t go to bed, insisted on waiting for you two,” Old Mother Wu explained. “I couldn’t lift her, and I was scared I’d drop her…”

Old Mother Wu had been thirty-nine when she gave birth to Song Dalang, and she was nearly sixty now. Ever since marrying into the family, Mei-Shi had never let her do any heavy labor.

Without putting her strength to use for so long, she had less and less of it left.

Mei-Shi understood.

“I’ll carry her to bed first.” Mei-Shi picked up Song Daya and carried her into the bedroom.

Song Dalang set down his things, washed his face, and headed to the stove to check the pot for food.

His mother was a woman of few words, but she could always be counted on to boil water and cook meals.

Sure enough, the food was still in the pot.

Song Dalang looked inside and saw quite a lot. “Ma, you haven’t eaten yet either?” he asked.

“Mm, waiting on you two,” Old Mother Wu answered.

“Ma, if we come home late in the future, you and Daya go ahead and eat. Don’t wait for us,” Song Dalang said.

Old Mother Wu did not respond.

After putting the child to bed, Mei-Shi came out and handed the saved steamed buns to Old Mother Wu, telling her to eat them tomorrow morning. Then she washed her face and sat down to eat as well.

Once finished, they cleared away the bowls and chopsticks and began settling the accounts.

Old Mother Wu tactfully slipped away.

“We sold twenty-five sets today in all, with twenty-four sets left.”

After marrying into the family, Mei-Shi had learned a few characters from Song Dalang and could manage simple bookkeeping.

“Altogether, we made…

“Three hundred and seventeen coins!”

Deducting what was spent on steamed buns and maltose candy, they still had three hundred and one coins left.

“Good heavens, this…” Mei-Shi breathed in awe.

The fishermen in the village only made about fifty wen a day, yet the two of them had earned in a single day what took others six days to make.

“We spent several days on it beforehand, too,” Song Dalang said, reminding his wife not to forget the hard work of the days leading up to this.

“I know, how could I forget?” Mei-Shi said, looking at the table covered in coins. “I just feel that doing business really does have its sweetness.”

No wonder Song Dalang always wanted to head out the moment things slowed down in the fields.

“What should we do with the rest?” Mei-Shi asked again.

“We’ll try selling in town for another day and see how it goes. If that doesn’t work, we’ll head to the county seat,” Song Dalang replied.

When it came to making money, just like striking iron, you had to strike while it was hot!

Done chatting, the couple gathered up the coins and hurried off to bed.

The next morning, Song Daya woke up a bit late, and Song Dalang and Mei-Shi were already gone.

Old Mother Wu brought over a copper coin strung on a red cord and hung it around Song Daya’s neck. “Your mother left this for you.”

Needless to say, Mei-Shi was making good on her earlier promise.

Along with the copper coin was a small paper packet. Song Daya opened it and peeked inside: it was maltose candy, thoughtfully cracked into pieces no bigger than soybeans.

“Grandma, open your mouth. Let me look at your teeth,” Song Daya said.

Suspecting nothing, Old Mother Wu opened her mouth.

Quick as a flash, Song Daya popped a piece of maltose candy into Old Mother Wu’s mouth.

How could Old Mother Wu bear to eat something so precious? She quickly took it out and tried to feed it back to Song Daya.

How could Song Daya possibly accept it?

“Grandma, it’s for you! You eat it!”

Pushed back and forth, the candy began to melt.

Left with no choice, Old Mother Wu put it back into her mouth, and the sweetness seeped straight into her heart.

Having achieved her goal, Song Daya turned back to playing with the copper coin.

In her previous life, any copper coins she had seen were either blackened or covered in green patina. The one in her hand now had a warm, yellow luster, which felt quite novel.

Ancient coins usually bore an emperor’s reign title, and this copper coin was inscribed with “Longxing Tongbao.”

In history, Emperor Xiaozong of the Song dynasty had indeed used “Longxing” as his reign title.

Unfortunately, though Song Daya had been around for a while now, she still had not figured out which dynasty or era she was living in.

Nor could she be blamed for it.

After all, Song Dalang and Mei-Shi were ordinary commoners living hand-to-mouth. Every day was spent scrambling to feed the family’s mouths. Who had the leisure to debate affairs of state?

Besides, it wasn’t as if they knew anyway!

Even if they did, who would bother discussing such things with a three-year-old child?

Fortunately, there was Ergouzi.

Ergouzi did not hold grudges. Every few days, he would come over to play with Song Daya and bring her bits of news from the outside.

Sure enough, as soon as Song Daya finished breakfast, Ergouzi showed up.

“Daya, those questions you asked me last time, I know the answers now!” Ergouzi said, clearly here to show off.

“Oh, let’s hear it then,” Song Daya said, being an eager audience.

She knew full well that Ergouzi had definitely asked his older brother after going home.

This was exactly the result she wanted.

Ergouzi’s brother was three years older than him. As one of the few children in the village who had begun schooling, he was currently in the phase of “tirelessly teaching others.”

Song Daya had traded a few rounds with Ergouzi’s brother through Ergouzi’s mouth, and had discovered that the brother had an exceptional trait: he was stubborn, and he loved to act like a know-it-all.

The most direct manifestation of this fine quality was that he answered every question, and even when he didn’t know, he would never admit it.

If he didn’t know at the time, he would find out after asking his teacher, and then deliver the answer a couple of days later.

What was more, Ergouzi’s brother was tight-lipped and never mentioned such things in front of adults, which was why Song Daya had not given herself away before the grown-ups to this day.

What a great brother!

Why didn’t Song Daya have one herself?

And so, without even knowing it, Ergouzi’s brother was awarded the title of “Songjiatai’s Second-Best Companion” in Song Daya’s heart.

“Our country’s name right now is Xia, but folks call it Great Xia.”

Ergouzi clasped his hands behind his back and puffed out his chest, as proud as a little rooster.

“In our Great Xia, there’ve only been two emperors so far. The first was the founding Grand Ancestor, who ruled for…” The proud little rooster scratched his head. “How many years was it again? Seven? Eight? Or nine?”

“Never mind that, keep going,” Song Daya said, waving her hand magnanimously to show they could move on.

As long as she got the general idea, that was plenty.

“The current emperor has been on the throne for…” The little rooster wilted. “…for thirteen years… or thirty-one years…”

Song Daya understood: the second numbers were involved, Ergouzi hit a wall.

“Alright, you remember… wait, no, knowing this much is already amazing!” Song Daya comforted Ergouzi.

Afterward, even she felt she had sounded a bit half-hearted. Thinking she would probably need to rely on Ergouzi quite a bit in the future, she scrambled to mend the fold after the sheep had bolted.

Oh, wait, no, preparing before the rain!

“You’re the most amazing among all my friends!” Having only a single friend to her name, Song Daya patted Ergouzi on the shoulder and encouraged him without blushing in the slightest. “As long as you keep at it, you’ll be Songjiatai’s Number Two Bright Pearl!”

“What’s a bright pearl?” Ergouzi asked, looking utterly lost.

“It’s just a bead that shines light!” Song Daya answered bluntly.

Poor Ergouzi had never seen the world and couldn’t understand. “Where in the world are there beads that shine light?”

Song Daya thought to herself, Tons of places.

Close to home, the emperor had luminous pearls.

Farther away, witches even had crystal balls.

“Look, isn’t the sun just…” Intending to use an example close at hand, Song Daya meant to use the sun as an analogy, but looking up, the glare nearly blinded her.

Who would have thought that Ergouzi, usually so slow on the uptake, actually caught on this time: “The sun is a bead that shines light.”