Chapter 3: The Moment of Awakening from a Dream

  Song Yunxi scolded the fool for a while, and after entrusting him with a few words, he felt a little relieved in his heart. Only then did he let go of the fool and leave. He had been suppressing his feelings for a long time, so he could say these things to the fool. The fool was actually quite enviable, being so carefree.

  The fool watched Song Yunxi leave, the yard was a bit empty, he felt a bit bored, and then followed Tang Guo back to the house. In fact, Tang Anwen wanted to go out of the yard to take a look, but unfortunately, the fool didn't listen to his command, so he could only obediently follow the fool back home.

  After a while, it was the sound of Mu Feng and Tang Dou's voices. Tang An Wen felt a bit excited and ran out of the house, only to see Mu Feng holding a large bamboo basket, with clothes piled up inside. Although the clothes had been wrung out, they were not washed by modern washing machines, and water was still dripping from the bamboo basket.

  "Mu Feng... Mu Feng..." The fool excitedly called out, running to Mu Feng's side and wanting to lend a hand. Tang An Wen still thought that this fool would only make things worse by helping.

  Mufeng glanced at the little boy following behind Tang Anwen, he didn't say a word to Tang Anwen. Seeing that Tang Anwen was still clean and tidy, Mufeng knew that no one should have bullied him during this time. As for verbal insults, Awen couldn't understand them anyway, so Mufeng pretended not to hear.

  Mufeng took out a bamboo rack from under the eaves, and the triangular bamboo rack held up a long bamboo pole. Tudou had already pulled over an old wooden basin, Mufeng picked up a piece of clothing and wrung it out again, then shook it twice before hanging it up.

  The fool thought it was fun and followed Mu Feng to pick up a piece of clothing. He did manage to wring out some water, but instead of putting it into the broken wooden basin, he let it spill directly onto the ground. A lot of it splashed onto his shoes and pant legs.

  Mu Feng heard the noise and immediately turned around, seeing water flowing along Tang Anwen's wrist into his sleeve. He hastily snatched the clothes from Tang Anwen's hand and threw them back into the basket, then pulled over his own hem to wipe dry Tang Anwen's hand.

  Mufeng really didn't know whether to laugh or cry, Ah Wen wouldn't say anything even if his clothes got wet and felt uncomfortable. This had happened many times before, so Mufeng paid special attention to these things, lest he wait until late at night to find out that Ah Wen's sleeves were all soaked through. Ah Wen was originally not in good health, and this would make him more prone to illness.

  Just as Mu Feng didn't know how to speak in front of his son, he heard Song Yunxi's voice: "Fool, what are you still standing here for? Hurry up and help Sugar Bean feed the chickens." Song Yunxi finished speaking, bent down to pick up the clothes and wring them dry, helping Mu Feng hang the clothes.

  Mu Feng watched as his youngest son was dragged away by Tang An Wen and said a word of thanks to Song Yun Xi.

  "Thanks, this family only has you two with good temper," Song Yunxi said with a smile. If it weren't for this fool and Mu Feng, he would have been suffocated to death here. A hen that can't lay eggs, how can this fool have children, but he can't even ask for one child? If his mother's family wasn't good, this family would have relied on them, there is no place for him to stand here anymore.

  Sugar bean grabbed a handful of pig grass and threw some into the chicken coop, then poured the rest into the pigpen. They raised two black pigs at home, which were fed with pig grass and dishwater, and were quite thin. There were only three people who cut the pig grass, one was him, another was Tang Xing, a nine-year-old boy from his uncle's family, and the third was Tang Jingqi, an eight-year-old boy from his second uncle's family. If Aunt hadn't helped to pull out the grass today, he would have taken some more time to fill up a basket.

  Tang Dou saw his little brother pulling their father over, so he picked up a few blades of green grass from the bottom of the basket and handed them to his father and little brother.

  Tang Anwen watched as the fool and Sugar took a few stalks of green grass and squatted at the edge of the chicken coop, the five or six little chickens inside quickly ran out, pecking at the green grass in their hands, it seemed that these two often fed the chickens like this.

  Mù fēng guà hǎo yī fu, tā bǎ pò mù pén de shuǐ dào zài yuàn wài, zhú lán hé pò mù pén fàng huí wū yán dǐ xia.

  Song Yun Xi looked at the father and son still crouching in the distance feeding chickens, opening his mouth to say: "Stupid Mu Feng is waiting for you, hurry over."

  The fool heard the two words "wood wind" and immediately pulled Tang Guo towards Mu Feng, who was already holding a small basket with some needles and threads inside.

  Soon, they followed Song Yunxi to the main house. The main house was already surrounded by a group of people. Tang Anwen thought that no wonder he said the yard was quiet and deserted, it turned out everyone had gathered here.

  "What are you standing there for, fool? Hurry up and sit down. Today, Tang Dou Siu will teach you to embroider plum blossoms. And today, Tang Guo, don't get your hands pricked again," Song Yun Xi said to several people.

  Tang Anwen saw the old lady frowning slightly, but she didn't say anything. The two brothers who were fools wanted to say something, but in the end they didn't speak up.

  Now the men in the family have gone out, and the young ones have become apprentices. There really isn't a single one who has done woodwork before. Without men at home, they all treat Mu Feng as a man, chopping firewood, carrying water, and splitting wood are all Mu Feng's tasks.

  Tang Anwen could see that the ones with deft hands were embroidering lotus pouches, while those with great strength but poor fine motor skills were weaving shoe soles. Mu Feng and Er Bojia's family, as well as that elderly woman with poor eyesight, were among them; some were embroidering, while others were learning.

  A fool had a half-finished shoe sole in his hand, carefully and quietly threading the needle, at a speed that made people angry. Tang Guo held a small purse, furrowed her brow, deep in thought.

  Tang Anwen was bored and looked around, he could see that Mu Feng's hand strength was the greatest, and his speed of sewing shoes was also fast, at least twice as fast as Er Bo's. Tang Dou was young, but his embroidery was very good, with a clear pattern. Song Yunxi should be the master of all the embroiderers here.

  The wooden wind quickly put away a shoe sole, he took a look at the slow and leisurely Tang Anwen, knowing that with Song Yunxi watching, nothing would happen, so he stood up his tall body, it was almost noon, he had to go cook.

  At noon, the meal was the same as in the morning, except that there was no leek and egg stir-fry. Tang Anwen knew that the egg this morning was allowed to be eaten only because it had been cracked by the chicken's foot. For this family, this egg was one of the better foods recently. Tang Anwen looked at the fool stirring the porridge in his bowl with a spoon, thinking that the fool must have gotten tired of eating this stuff.

  After lunch, the fool and Tang Guo were coaxed by Mu Feng to take a nap. Tang Anwen heard Mu Feng say that he was going to chop firewood. He knew it and scolded him for a moment. Everyone else in this family has died, how can everything be done by Mu Feng alone? Whether it's hard work or easy work, why doesn't this guy know how to take a break?

  When the fool woke up, it was already sunset. The fool slowly put on his clothes and woke up Tang Guo, who was still sleepy. Fortunately, the little guy knew how to dress himself, otherwise Tang Anwen would have been worried that the fool would make the child sick.

  The fool took Tang Guo to pour water, and after calling out to Mu Feng several times without a response, he took his son towards the door, presumably to go find Mu Feng.

  As the fool was about to leave the yard, Tang An heard Song Yunxi's voice calling out, "Fool, are you looking for Mu Feng? He went down to pull weeds. Tang Dou, take your father over there, he probably wants to go out for a walk."

  Soon, Tang Anwen saw Tang Dou running out of the main room. Tang Anwen thought that this little guy had followed Mu Feng to chop firewood and then went to embroider flowers again. Thinking about it, that little guy's embroidery was so good, probably also due to his diligence and practice.

  The fool followed behind Da'er's back, and Tang Anwen felt that Tang Dou was like a stray dog, probably having to take this fool out for a walk every day.

  More than ten minutes later, Tang Anwen followed Tang Dou to a field, where they saw Mu Feng half squatting in the wheat field pulling weeds, with handfuls of weeds scattered on the ridge.

  The fool saw Mu Feng happily shouting, Mu Feng got up after hearing the movement and saw that his two sons and Ah Wen had all come over. He hadn't had time to take Ah Wen out for a walk in the past two days, and Ah Wen must have been unable to bear it and wanted to run out and play too. This piece of land had already been weeded for two days, with only a small patch left that hadn't been weeded yet, and it would be finished soon.

  "Ah Wen," Mu Feng called out, these two words as smooth and natural as if they had been born with him.

  Mufeng walked out with big strides, Ah Wen had arrived and he couldn't continue working, it was getting late anyway, the rest could be done tomorrow. Otherwise, Ah Wen might end up pulling out all the wheat seedlings together, which had happened before. Mufeng didn't want his carefully tended wheat seedlings to be ruined by Ah Wen, if they were really pulled out then all his previous efforts would have been in vain.

  Last year's harvest was very poor, the rice wasn't even fully harvested when several heavy rains came down, and he also lost an unborn child during that time. The second half of the year was severely drought-stricken, and the crops in the fields were even worse off. Now there isn't much food left at home, but if they're careful, it should be enough to last until the next harvest.

  "Dad, don't follow Amu, that's a river and the water is cold," Tang Dou hurriedly pulled back his dad who wanted to get close to the riverbank. The weather in mid-February was not warm, the water was not icy cold, but it wouldn't be very warm either.

  Mufeng washed his hands clean with a few swishes, then pulled Tang Anwen and the two little ones towards the vegetable garden. Mufeng had Tang Anwen pull out three big white radishes, and because this silly guy was so happy, Mufeng also pulled out a big white cabbage, and only then did they head back home.

  The fool walked home with a carrot in one hand, swaying to the wooden wind, his heart full of joy, even humming a tune, although no one could understand it, but the wooden wind was still very happy and even praised the fool, making him even happier.

  Dinner still didn't have any gravy, but it wasn't mushy either, it was lumpy. The ingredients should be the same as this morning's thing, brownish in color. There weren't many lumps, and there were more cabbage and radish in the bowl. The fool seemed to like eating this, he finished dinner pretty quickly, and even asked for half a bowl more.

  After dinner, the fool watched Mu Feng wash the bowls and then boiled a large pot of hot water. Mu Feng went back to his room with a wooden basin filled with water, Tang Anwen watched as Mu Feng washed the faces of the two children, and then changed the basin to use the face-washing water to wash their feet. Tang Guo scratched Tang Dou's itchy spot, but couldn't scratch enough for his brother. Tang Guo giggled and crawled into the quilt, shouting "Ah-mu save me" with a muffled voice.

  Mufeng patted Tangguo's little butt, and the little guy obediently shrank into his brother's arms. Ahuo followed Mufeng to pour out the dirty water, but when they got to the kitchen, the hot water in the pot had already been used up. Mufeng boiled another pot of water, and after bringing it back to the room, he helped Ahuo wash his face and hands.

  When Mu Feng was washing his face, the fool was already sitting obediently on the edge of the bed, waiting for Mu Feng to wash his feet.

  Tang Anwen looked at the person who was diligently washing the fool's feet with his head down, the fool's skin on both feet was white and tender. When the wooden wind blew across the fool's soles, the fool burst out laughing.

  "Go ahead, be happy," Mu Feng said softly, lifting his head. The little boy had fallen asleep, and Mu Feng dared to speak up now. Only An Wen would never mind that he stuttered.

  "Haha...... ah ha......" The fool's foot sole rubbed against the rough big hand of Mu Feng, and he laughed straight away. He struggled free from Mu Feng's grasp on his ankle, and playfully put his toes to Mu Feng's lips.

  The wooden wind looked at the happy person with a smile, opened his mouth and held the toe in front of him, and the soft tongue swept over the toe, making the fool laugh.

  Tang Anwen's heart skipped a beat, the tingling sensation rushed to his brain, making him shudder all over, and that terrifying feeling made Tang Anwen no longer have the mind to be an onlooker.

  At this moment, he was completely stunned. How could there be such a real feeling in a dream? Wasn't this just a dream? Tang Anwen finally began to doubt everything. Was he now possessed by some ancient person? These guesses made Tang Anwen's whole body feel cold, as if falling into an ice cellar.

  And the fool, because his toes were itchy, giggled and hid under the covers, no matter how much Mu Feng called his name, he refused to show his head. Mu Feng shook his head, pulled up the quilt, lest Ah Wen suffocate himself, only then did he sit on the edge of the bed and start washing his feet.