The weather was cold, and Run'er clung to her warm bedding, refusing to get up. When she heard Qingzhi calling outside, "It's snowing! It's snowing!" she was delighted and hastily crawled out of her warm covers, lifted the bed curtains, slipped off the bed, and bounded barefoot into the upstairs gallery. Before she could even see the snow, Qingzhi scooped her up around the waist and carried her back into the room, landing two sharp slaps on her little bottom-
"No clothes, no stockings or shoes, and you dare get out of bed! Do you think your big sister Qingzhi doesn't know how to smack you?"
Before she had finished speaking, Zongzhi darted out of the neighboring room, likewise hopping about barefoot in a thin robe. "Oh! Oh! It's snowing! Uncle Chou is coming home!"
Xiao Chan rushed out in a fluster and dragged Zongzhi back inside.
A little later, the two siblings emerged bundled in thick clothes and hats, asking one question after another:
"Uncle Chou will be here soon, won't he?"
"Has Uncle Chou already crossed the river?"
Worn out trying to keep up with them, Xiao Chan and Qingzhi coaxed them, "Young Master Caozhi will be home soon. You two must be good. Go wash up first, then have breakfast and wait for Uncle Chou."
The two children raced to wash up. By the time they finished breakfast, it was roughly the end of the Hour of the Rabbit. Clinging to the gallery railing as they watched the snow fall ever more heavily, they asked their grandmother beside them, "Why isn't Uncle Chou home yet?"
Mother Chen Lady Li was worried too. Caozhi must be on the road by now, and with the bitter cold and frozen ground, this heavy snow would make traveling difficult. She answered,