Early the next morning, Ye Yaodong woke as soon as the rooster crowed, before it was fully light, having had more than enough sleep that night. But one little one had woken even earlier than he had.
When he sat up, he saw a little ball of flesh lying at the foot of the bed, holding her foot and chewing away happily. He smiled knowingly and moved over quietly.
Afraid of waking A Qing, he said nothing, simply smiling as he picked the child up. Then he sat on a stool and put her clothes, trousers, shoes, and socks on her. Only after setting her down to stand holding the chair did he get dressed himself.
"Dada, dada, dada..." Ye Xiaoxi called excitedly, holding on to the stool.
"Shh, your mother's sleeping. Keep your voice down."
He quickly pulled on his clothes and trousers, then hurriedly carried her outside.
In the main hall, the Old Lady was already sitting by the fire cooking porridge. Seeing father and daughter up, she smiled and said, "You two got plenty of sleep last night, so you're up early."
"Yes, we went to bed too early, so we woke early."
Through the window, he could see the gray sky outside. It looked as though it would rain again soon.
Ye Yaodong put Ye Xiaoxi in the standing cage to stand and play, then went over to look out the window. He opened it while he was there, and heavy moisture drifted in.
"Is it going to rain again?"
"Yes. Qingming is the day after tomorrow. There's a lot of rain around these days."
He went to the doorway and checked the calendar hanging on the wall. Yesterday's page, the second, had already been torn off. Today was the third. He flipped ahead another two