Nocturne

Dinner was a lavish affair. Ye Huan's mother had shared game with nearly all the households they were close to, and Bai Jie had cooked the meal. There were two or three small hot pots: roe deer meat, wild goat meat, and a pot of pheasant stewed with wild mushrooms. They had not even touched the wild venison today.

With a big basin of leafy vegetable soup and three stir-fried vegetable dishes as well, the whole family sat down to eat with Bai Jie and Jingjing.

"This goat meat is incredible. Sister-in-law, you've really got skills." Ye Huan kept praising the wild goat meat as he ate. Juanjuan was busy nodding, her mouth stuffed with meat. She was living the life she had always dreamed of now, with meat to eat every day.

"It's the meat that's good. It's been so many years since I've seen a wild goat." Bai Jie took no credit, seeming to recall things from the past again.

"We should be able to deliver some vegetables tomorrow, though I don't know how much there'll be. I checked the road too. It's barely passable, but we'll be fine if we go slowly." Ye Huan's father got down to business. The rain had stopped, so there should be money coming in tomorrow.

He had grown used to it now. If he went a day without receiving money, he felt empty inside, out of sorts.

Ye Huan nodded. "Let's check tomorrow morning. If we can get through, we'll make a delivery. If we really can't, we'll wait another day."

Manager Du had actually messaged him as soon as the rain stopped today, asking whether he could deliver vegetables tomorrow. He had yet to answer her.

Strictly speaking, Ye Huan had suffered quite heavy losses in this storm. Leaving aside the watermelons, peaches, and vegetables, he had lost roughly half the chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, cattle, and sheep on the hill behind the house.

Fortunately, the shelters he had hired the villagers to build back then were of decent quality. It was just that many chickens and lambs had been washed away when the flash flood came later. Given the quality of the animals Ye Huan had raised, the losses were by no means small.

"Dad, when you ask about greenhouse frames this time, ask whether they have pigpens and chicken coops too. We need to redo things on the hill. They need to be sturdy and good quality," Ye Huan said. The wood-and-earth structures he had put together himself were still somewhat lacking.

So he would have to go stronger: reinforced concrete.

"All right. How about taking a couple of chickens and ducks over tomorrow to try?" Ye Dafa asked.

Ye Huan thought for a moment. "Forget it. Before the losses, giving them a few would've been no big deal, but now we're down by almost half. Let's keep them for ourselves. Buy some more chicks, ducklings, and goslings while you're at it. Dad, you can decide about pigs, sheep, and the like. There's no rush."

Ye Dafa nodded. They would not take any, then. Things were different now; they were no longer short of money, so he thought it was only natural for the family to eat better. A little over a month ago, he certainly would not have agreed. There were so many animals, and they could have sold for a good deal of money.

"Uncle, have some meat~" Jingjing finally managed to pick up a piece of wild goat meat with her chopsticks and held it out to Ye Huan. He lowered his head and swallowed it in one bite. "Mmm, delicious. You have some meat too, Jingjing."

Everyone burst out laughing.

After dinner, Ye Huan's parents continued cutting up the meat, then took the electric tricycle out to deliver it to friends.

Bai Jie cleaned up while Jingjing watched television. Ye Huan had drunk quite a bit with his grandfather today. His grandfather kept to a steady daily routine: one cup of tiger-bone liquor, three liang's worth. He was living very comfortably.

The rain had stopped, but there was still a little wind. It was not strong, and felt pleasantly cool against the skin. Carrying Jingjing, Ye Huan went out for a stroll to help digest his dinner, with Xiaobai and Saihu following behind.

"Second Uncle, what are you doing?" Ye Huan spotted Little Tangyuan and her grandfather busy by the river. Tangyuan and the little spotted dog stood on the bank, while Tangyuan's grandfather, Ye Huan's second uncle, rummaged around in the grass beside the water.

"Oh, Xiao Huan. I'm setting a few traps to catch some shrimp, swamp eels, and such, to give Little Tangyuan something better to eat," his second uncle said with a smile.

"Uncle! Jingjing~" The two little girls got together again and started chatting about everything under the sun, their conversation roaming across the seas and skies. Ye Huan had no idea what they were talking about that made them so happy.

Saihu and Little Flower were also busy billing and cooing, leaving Xiaobai and Ye Huan by themselves.

"Are there swamp eels?" Ye Huan asked curiously.

"Yes, though they're not very big. Just about big enough to eat," his second uncle said. Streams like this, formed by water flowing down from the mountains, rarely held anything large.

Ye Huan nodded. These all counted as living creatures. When he had time, he could get some and put them in his space. He could not dirty the spring, though; he still needed to drink from it. He could simply dig out a separate little pond.

There were also those little river shrimp, about an inch long, with rather long claws. Stir-fried quickly in oil with some chili and garlic, these wild little shrimp were delicious and went wonderfully with liquor.

He had only just eaten his fill, yet Ye Huan had made himself hungry again just by thinking about food, almost drooling. He really was something else.

Then he thought of the river snails and freshwater mussels, the ones with shells. Scoop out the meat and stew it with salted pork-oh, damn, he was drooling again.

Then there were braised small mixed fish, with a ring of flatbreads stuck around the edge of the wok. No, Ye Huan could not take it anymore.

"Second Uncle, save me some small fish if you catch any. I'm craving that taste," Ye Huan said.

"Sure~ I'll see how much there is tomorrow and bring some to your house." His second uncle nodded. Who knew how many meals Little Tangyuan ate at their house in a year? This was nothing.

"Great, thanks, Second Uncle~" Ye Huan did not mention money. That could easily earn him a beating. This was his father's older paternal cousin; they were still within the five degrees of mourning kinship.

Although neither Ye Huan's grandfather nor his father was the oldest in his respective generation, theirs was indeed the eldest branch. In the old way of putting it, they were the line of the eldest legitimate son and eldest grandson.

Take Ye Huan, for example. Bai Jie's late husband had been older than him, but Ye Huan was the Ye Family's eldest legitimate grandson. Whenever the Ye Family opened the ancestral hall each year, no one dared stand in his place. They would be beaten to death.

After watching his second uncle set a few traps, Ye Huan carried Jingjing away. It was pleasantly cool for once, so he would walk a little longer. Soon afterward, Little Tangyuan also went home with her grandfather. Saihu escorted Little Flower home before coming to find his owner.

"You really are a simp." Ye Huan looked down on Saihu. Usually, when he was with Ye Huan and Xiaobai, he swaggered around like anything, but the moment he met Little Flower, he turned into a simp. Ye Huan seriously despised him for it.

"Woof, woof~~" Saihu did not care at all. He said, "Dis is love, you single dog..."

Ye Huan was so annoyed he nearly sent him flying with a kick. Ignoring him, Ye Huan hummed an unknown tune and strolled through the village, holding Jingjing's hand. At this hour, almost every household had gone indoors, and there were hardly any people outside.

That made it especially quiet. Ye Huan liked this atmosphere: the gentle breeze without a trace of heat, insects chirping and frogs croaking, adults chatting, children playing and tussling. What a vivid village nocturne.

Then he met the village chief at the village entrance. Ye Huan greeted him and chatted for a little while, learning that Eighth Grandpa and his family had already left. He nodded without saying anything, then turned back with Jingjing and strolled toward home at the far end of the village.

"Uncle, look! A big moon~" Jingjing pointed at the big moon in the sky as she spoke to Ye Huan.

"Mm, it's pretty." Ye Huan looked at the moon, more than half full. Time really flew. In just over two months, it would be the Mid-Autumn Festival.

He had come back after the Dragon Boat Festival, and more than a month had already passed, Ye Huan reflected. His life had indeed undergone earth-shaking changes, just as he had imagined. Thinking back to those years working away from home... ah, forget it. He could not think about that. It was a bellyful of tears.