Planting Radishes and Pears (continued)

It was mostly because he thought it was too hot today. Otherwise, he would have gone to the bottom of the valley to try it.

Tao Qiu scooped the pile of mushy radish sludge into a bamboo tube, then picked up the old radish that was close to exploding. He apologized to the baby birds, who had already hidden in their nest and were peeking out with their little heads, looking pitifully at him. "Daddy will throw them out right now."

With that, he hurried out of the cave, and three fluffy little heads turned to follow him.

Tao Qiu flew to a part of his territory where there were fewer living creatures and dug a hole. He cut the old radish into several pieces and buried them in the dirt along with the sludge.

Now their noses were safe.

Thinking of the cubs at home, Tao Qiu hurriedly flew back.

Soon, Tao Qiu's figure disappeared behind the mountain. A few minutes later, a black snake as thick as an adult's arm appeared where the radishes were buried.

It looked at the bit of radish mash left at the edge of the hole, a cold glint flashing through its brown eyes. Recalling that person's orders, it suppressed its disgust and took the mash into its mouth, then quickly returned the way it had come, leaving Tao Qiu's territory behind.

The cave had fairly good ventilation, and by the time Tao Qiu returned, the smell had mostly dissipated.

Tao Qiu apologized to the cubs. "I'm sorry you had to smell that."

Third Cub said, "Chirp, chirp."

—You don't have to say sorry. Daddy must have a use for growing it.

Eldest Cub nodded in agreement.

Second Cub asked curiously, "Chirp, chirp, chirp?"

—Why turn tasty radishes into stinky mush?

Tao Qiu smiled. "If we run into a bad guy later, we can throw the stinky stuff in its face."

Second Cub said, "Chirp, chirp."

—The bad guy will definitely stink to death.

Third Cub said, "Chirp."

—Daddy is amazing.

Eldest Cub thought for a moment before saying, "Chirp, chirp."

—We little birds can use this stinky stuff too.

Tao Qiu smiled. "You're all right, darlings."

No sooner had he finished speaking than his stomach rumbled. He had just ripened so many radishes that his strength was nearly spent again.

Second Cub said, "Chirp, chirp."

—Tummy's singing. Daddy's hungry.

Tao Qiu deliberately teased the cubs. "That's right, Daddy's hungry. How about Daddy eats his darlings to fill his tummy?"

The cubs weren't frightened, because they knew perfectly well that Tao Qiu would never hurt them.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp," Second Cub hummed.

—Daddy's fooling Baby. Daddy would never eat Baby. Daddy loves Baby the most.

"Oh my, Xuexue is so clever. You didn't fall for it." Tao Qiu pretended to look truly disappointed.

Second Cub raised her head proudly. "Chirp, chirp!"

—Yep! I'm the cleverest little bird!

Tao Qiu chuckled and brought over the prepared chunks of meat. As he ate, he told the cubs about his plans for the coming days.

"In a little while, I'll ripen another batch of radishes for their seeds. Tomorrow I'll rest for a day, and the day after that I'll plant the radishes and make them grow into seedlings, then let them grow on their own. The rest of the time, I'll use all my ability to grow pear trees and make sure they bear pears before the snow falls."

Besides wanting to go over his plans again himself, Tao Qiu told the cubs all this so they would feel more involved.

After all, he was preparing food for the whole family to get through the winter. The three of them were members of the family too, so they deserved to know. It could also help foster their sense of responsibility.

Eldest Cub said, "Chirp, chirp."

—We'll do whatever Daddy says.

Perhaps even the heavens wanted to help Tao Qiu. Rain fell that night and continued to drizzle until noon the next day. The dry soil soaked up the water and grew moist, saving Tao Qiu the work of carrying water to irrigate the plot.

Tao Qiu didn't use his ability again the next day. In the morning, he lay comfortably in the grass nest with the baby birds, chatting and sleeping. In the afternoon, he went alone to the bottom of the valley and cleared a larger vegetable plot beside the existing one for growing radishes.

They went to sleep early that night, making full preparations for the great undertaking of planting the next day.

With that on his mind, Tao Qiu opened his eyes as soon as dawn broke.

The three baby birds were still fast asleep on him like little balls of fluff. Tao Qiu carefully sat up, gently scooped them up, and placed them in the soft feather nest.

He got up and took a bamboo tube of water to the entrance to wash up. When he finished and came back inside, he heard a tiny chirp.

—Daddy.

Tao Qiu turned to look. Third Cub was standing at the edge of the nest, looking at him with a smile in her eyes.

Tao Qiu put down the bamboo tube, walked over, picked up Third Cub, and gave her a kiss. "When did you wake up?" he asked softly.

"Chirp, chirp."

—When Daddy put me back in the nest.

Tao Qiu looked at the other two little birds, who were still fast asleep, and took Third Cub over to the stone table. "Since you're awake, keep Daddy company while he cuts the meat for breakfast."

This was a rare chance to spend time alone with Daddy, so naturally Third Cub was willing.

While Tao Qiu worked, Third Cub perched on his shoulder, her eyes shining. She never once looked away from his face.

By the time Tao Qiu had cut enough meat for the family of four, it had grown a little brighter, and Eldest Cub and Second Cub woke up one after the other.

"Chirp, chirp."

—Good morning, Daddy.

"Good morning. Come and eat breakfast."

The three baby birds deftly hopped onto the table, found their bamboo bowls, and lowered their heads to eat in large mouthfuls.

Once it was fully light, Tao Qiu packed the radish seeds and pears in bamboo tubes and brought lunch along. Only then did he gather the cubs in his arms and fly to the bottom of the valley.

After putting the cubs on a rock, Tao Qiu went to inspect the newly cleared vegetable plot.

The original plot had absorbed some of Tao Qiu's ability along with the wild tomatoes. It looked much more fertile and somewhat resembled good farmland now.

That made the new plot look even more barren, giving the impression that anything planted there would die.

Still, it was much better than before it had been cleared, when it was covered in stones and hard as an iron plate.

Yesterday, Tao Qiu had picked out and thrown away nearly all the stones, then turned the earth with his large claws. After a night of airing out, the soil felt much softer when squeezed.

Tao Qiu checked it over again and broke apart some clods of dirt before he began scattering the radish seeds.

He first demonstrated "a heavenly maiden scattering flowers," telling the baby birds to scatter the seeds evenly. Then he gave them some seeds and let them plant them themselves.

The cubs couldn't turn human like Tao Qiu and couldn't sow seeds with their hands. They could only hold some seeds in their beaks, hop to a spot where none had been scattered, and lower their heads to let the seeds trickle into the soil bit by bit.

They made two or three trips like this. The process was very cumbersome, but all three cubs enjoyed it.

These were radishes they would eat, and they could help Daddy with the work too.

After all the seeds were scattered, Tao Qiu spread a thin layer of soil over them. Then he stood to one side and, while the cubs watched, poured his ability into the seeds in the soil like falling rain.

The energy of the ability was invisible to the naked eye. Tao Qiu could still sense it, but the cubs could only stare blankly, unable to do anything.

The process was indeed rather dull. At first, the cubs watched with great interest, but later they grew bored. Since they had gotten up a little early today, the three of them were soon dozing off together.

When Tao Qiu turned around and saw the cubs nodding off, he subconsciously increased the flow of his ability, hoping to finish sooner.

The three baby birds didn't know how long they had been dozing when they suddenly heard a voice say "All done" with a laugh. They woke with a start and looked up to find that the once-bare ground was now densely covered with green radish seedlings.

Second Cub's eyes widened. "Chirp, chirp! Chirp, chirp!"

—They've all come up! Daddy is amazing.

"Chirp, chirp." Third Cub also liked this patch of green.

—It's very pretty.

Eldest Cub said nothing. He thought back to how big the radishes were when fully grown and figured that if all these seedlings matured, they could probably make a little mountain of radishes in the cave.

Tao Qiu sat down on a rock to rest. He cut open a large round pear and scooped out the few seeds inside.

After sitting for several days, the pear's fragrance had grown stronger. When it was cut open, juice spread out, making the baby birds swallow involuntarily.

Seeing them gaze at it longingly, Tao Qiu explained, "It's not that I won't let you eat it, but this stuff makes you drunk. You're still little, so I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to handle it."

To Tao Qiu, this stuff was much like strong liquor, and little cubs couldn't drink alcohol.

"Daddy won't eat it either. I'll bury it in the ground for fertilizer."

Tao Qiu had originally thought the pear smelled quite nice, and that even if they didn't eat the flesh, he could leave it in the cave as an air freshener. But seeing the cubs like this, he decided not to keep it around to tempt them.

Seeing the obvious disappointment in the cubs' eyes, Tao Qiu smiled. "Don't worry. Before long, you'll be able to eat fresh pears. Then you can eat as many as you want."

The radishes had become crisp, sweet, and delicious after being purified by his ability. He believed the pears, whose only flaw to begin with was that eating them could easily make one drunk, would surely grow to be even more suitable for eating.

With Tao Qiu's pie in the sky to fill their bellies, the cubs finally felt less disappointed.

Tao Qiu took the cubs to a spot some distance from the vegetable plots, closer to the pond. Together, they dug two holes and planted a seed in each.

There were eight seeds, but Tao Qiu chose only the two largest and plumpest to plant, mainly because he could only be sure of growing two pear trees before winter.

He would keep the remaining seeds for now and see whether they could be used later.

Tao Qiu started by growing the seed in front of him. He sat down on the ground and gathered the cubs into his arms, telling them to sleep peacefully this time and that he would wake them for lunch.

Perhaps their sleepiness had passed. Although they could sleep without worry now, the three baby birds closed their eyes for a while, only to find themselves no longer sleepy at all.