Riding the wind of rebirth

Xiao Shunzi didn't respond to anyone at all. He was already attracted by the thing swaying above his head. Instead of raising his hand, he first made two "ah ah" sounds and lifted his lower leg.

"Use your hands, why lift your foot?" Yan Xiao couldn't quite understand the little guy's thinking.

Then, the heels of his two little feet landed heavily on the blanket, and Xiao Shunzi let out another "ah," his little bottom even lifting off the blanket a tiny bit.

Feng Xueshan covered her forehead with her hand: "Now Xiao Shunzi's move really hurts when he hits someone; he'll do it to you out of the blue."

"Hey, hands up! Hands up!" Ah Zi clapped her hands and said, "Miscalculation! Miscalculation! We should have prepared something big... Huh?"

But then Xiao Shunzi reached out, his chubby little fingers touching the flight badge, and then, because the bamboo pole was moving, they swung away from his little fingertips.

"Ugh... does this count?" He Shiqing was very disappointed; of course she knew it didn't.

Then her little hand grabbed the chicken wing, but unfortunately the wing was a bit slippery, and her little hand slipped off before she could get a good grip.

"Oh dear!" Liang Hong's heart, which had been in her throat, sank back down in disappointment.

Just then, a red and white thing swung in front of Xiao Shunzi. Xiao Shunzi grabbed it with his greasy little hands that had just grabbed a chicken wing, and then started kicking and straining his legs, trying to pull the thing off.

"Excellent, excellent!" Zhou Zhi's face immediately lit up with a smile: "Holding the jade seal means you're either going to be an official or a literary star descended to earth!"

"Tch! I clearly grabbed the chicken wing first!" Liang Hong protested. "Because the chicken wing was too slippery, I dropped it and then grabbed your broken stamp!"

"What a lousy seal! That's a Hetian water seed seal, it's worth a lot of money... Oh dear, you can't put everything in your mouth..."

Feng Xueshan quickly stepped forward, picked up Xiao Shunzi, snatched the seal from his hand, and looked at the red flat surface: "What's engraved on this?"

"This is a small seal I used when writing in regular script on stationery. The inscription reads 'The Story of Plum Blossoms,'" Zhou Zhi said proudly.

"Shameless!" Feng Xueshan laughed. "Confiscated! We'll use it when the baby practices calligraphy in the future. I think there was a package inside?"

Zhou Zhi had no choice but to take out the sandalwood seal box and brocade bag from his pocket and hand them to Feng Xueshan: "If Xiao Shunzi really likes practicing calligraphy in the future, I will take care of all the writing materials."

"How can we talk about that now?" Feng Xueshan asked Yang He to get some wet wipes to clean Xiao Shunzi's hands. "The baby can't even roll over yet, and the poor thing has already been given all the learning tasks."

“I’ve noticed that you’re all quite good at turning the tables,” Zhou Zhi laughed. “You took my things, and instead of appreciating my kindness, you even badmouthed me in front of the children.”

She then picked up Xiao Shunzi and rubbed her nose against Xiao Shunzi's nose, making Xiao Shunzi giggle: "Xiao Shunzi, we won't listen to Mommy's teasing..."

Yang He wiped the jade seal, which Xiao Shunzi had handled with his greasy hands, and felt it was even more lustrous. Apart from the part with the outer skin, the area around the edge where the skin had been cut away truly resembled mutton fat. The part at the bottom, where some ink had seeped in, even shone with a luster ranging from red to pink. Knowing that Zhou Zhi treasured it so much, he knew it was probably a rare and valuable item, and couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed: "We were just playing around, why are we trying to extort something? This isn't appropriate. Zhouzi, you should take the seal back..."

“It’s rare that Xiao Shunzi picked it out himself, it’s not like it was for you.” Zhou Zhi laughed: “If it’s something for a child, you’re not the one who has to return it.”

Xiao Shunzi also made two "ya ya" sounds at his father, seemingly supporting Zhou Zhi, which made everyone laugh.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, the girls played with Xiao Shunzi on the lawn, while Zhou Zhiyang and Yan Xiaoyang took Honghui to go fishing with surfcasting rods.

However, even a god can't catch fish at midday. Although late autumn is the last season for crucian carp and common carp to come to the shallows to feed, the bell hadn't rung once even after the fishing rod had been cast for over an hour. "Isn't there a pumping station?" Yan Xiao muttered, "Why haven't we pulled up a single fish?"

“This reservoir has dried up before, and no fish fry have been released. The fish density might be a bit low.” Zhou Zhi hadn’t really expected any fish to be in the mountain reservoir anyway: “It could also be that the fish are too small and the hooks are too big.”

"Are you sure we'll have Ya fish to eat in a few days?" As the sun began to set, Yan Xiao had completely given up hope of a fish catch and was deeply skeptical of Zhou Zhi's previous promises.

“The mountain and the river are not the same thing,” Zhou Zhi said. “The pipelines of the pumping station are all equipped with isolation nets, so even fish the size of a finger cannot come up.”

"That's no fun, let's stop here!" Yan Xiao is an impatient person; he gets bored if he doesn't catch any fish within fifteen minutes.

Thinking about the "Kowloon" event that evening, Azi probably had to go home early, and Zhouzhi also felt it was time to close up shop.

The return trip is downhill, and the round trip takes a day, so you get to experience both going up and down the hill on horseback.

The group remained the same, but their riding skills had improved significantly. Even Feng Xueshan and He Shiqing were no longer nervous about riding with someone holding the reins.

When they returned to the grain depot, a black Volkswagen Santana was parked in front of the Zhouzhi Grain Depot.

When they led the horse into the courtyard, they saw Wu Renzhong sitting at a small tea table next to the kitchen. On the table were tea, dried fruit, and melon seeds, and he was happily drinking his tea.

There were four benches next to it, and on the benches were two large winnowing baskets, which were piled high with meat and offal.

"Oh my, this is a pig!" Zhou Zhi exclaimed, looking at the pile of meat in the winnowing basket.

Wu Renzhong stood up and patted Zhou Zhi on the shoulder: "You can't expect anything good to come out of a dog's mouth."

Zhou Zhi then hugged Wu Renzhong: "Where's Shama? At least you made it before the festival, right?"

“Shama is tending the fire inside, and Auntie is making crispy pork.” Wu Renzhong hadn’t seen Zhou Zhi for a long time, and the two were especially affectionate: “We arrived before noon and just happened to see the big black pig being slaughtered, but then we heard that you had gone up the mountain. Where’s Xiaomiao?”

"Perfect timing! Let me introduce you to my classmate. I went to horse training with them today."

"Brother Renzhong, you're here." Mai Xiaomiao also came over leading her horse: "Where's Sister Shama?"

"I'm here!" A beautiful woman's pretty face appeared at the kitchen doorway: "Hi, Xiao Miao!"

Shamaricong is a beauty pageant contestant who has placed in the top ranks. Her eyes reveal the high, long nose bridge characteristic of Yi women, but her clothing and style are very fashionable and modern, leaving the people who followed her in awe.

"Wow, you must be Shama?" Liang Hong, with her straightforward personality, was truly amazed: "You're even more beautiful than in the photos!"

"Is it because the styles are different?" He Shiqing looked at Shama curiously: "Hello Shama, we've all seen the wedding photos that Zhouzi took for you. You were wearing ethnic costumes and the photos were taken in the Tulou and the back mountain. They were so stunning!"

"That's because the pork knuckle was patted well," Shama laughed. "Hello everyone, welcome to our Liangshan Mountains!" (End of Chapter)