The clatter of pots, bowls, ladles, and pans kept ringing out.
Liu Dashuan was preparing lunch: watery gruel.
A stir with the chopsticks showed it was like water, not thick at all.
A few vegetable leaves floated on top.
There were also some flatbreads left over from yesterday.
Liu Dashuan blew on the fire and only stood up once it had grown a little stronger.
A shadow flashed past the window, a change an ordinary person would never have noticed.
Liu Dashuan raised his eyes slightly. A moment later, his eyelids drooped again.
He sighed softly. "What was coming has come after all."
Liu Dashuan's son was named Liu Xiaoshuan, and Liu Dashuan's family was poor.
Liu Xiaoshuan had worn the same piece of clothing year after year, and it no longer covered his little belly.
The other children looked down on him. They would not even let him join them when they mixed mud with their pee.
So Liu Xiaoshuan sat on a rock and played with mud by himself.
Just then, Li Ping'an walked over.
"What's wrong? All alone out here?"
Liu Xiaoshuan hung his head and pouted. "They won't play with me."
"If they won't play with you, Uncle Li will."
Li Ping'an grabbed a handful of mud and asked curiously, "Where did this mud come from?"
"I mixed it with pee."
Li Ping'an fell silent for a moment, then put the mud down.
Liu Xiaoshuan suddenly looked up. "Uncle Li, will you marry my mother?"
Li Ping'an could not help laughing. "If I married your mother, what would your father do?"
"We don't want that guy anymore!" Liu Xiaoshuan said petulantly. "He's useless."
"You mustn't talk about your father like that." Li Ping'an poked the little fellow's forehead.
Liu Xiaoshuan pouted. "But it's true. He