Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

The next day was Sunday, and Wei Chen rarely didn't have to get up early. But he still woke up just as dawn was breaking. He lay in bed for a while, listening to the chirping of sparrows outside the window, then turned over and closed his eyes for a few more minutes.

The late autumn morning was chilly, a cool breeze seeping in through the cracks in the window, carrying the distinctive bittersweet fragrance of jujube leaves. He simply sat up, got dressed, and opened the door.

The courtyard was bright and clear, with the morning light shining obliquely on the old jujube tree, making the jujubes on the tree glow translucent. The bright red jujubes hung densely on the branches, and some of the ripe ones had already fallen to the ground, surrounded by early-rising ants.

Wei Chen walked over, squatted down, picked up a jujube that had fallen beside the tree root, wiped it on his clothes, and put it in his mouth to take a bite.

Sweet, a refreshing sweetness, with a unique autumnal crispness, the juice bursting on the tongue. He chewed a few times, then bent down to pick up a few more, stuffing them into his pocket, intending to let the little ones try them later.

He went into the kitchen, reheated the half-pot of cornmeal porridge left over from last night, steamed two cornbread buns, mixed a dish of pickled vegetables, and brought them to the table. Wang Xiulan was already up, sitting on a small stool in the yard, holding a handful of green beans, peeling off the tough strings one by one. Seeing Wei Chen bring out the food, she asked, "Are we picking dates today?"

"Hmm." Wei Chen put the bowl on the table. "I think the dates are ripe. If we don't pick them soon, they'll all fall off. Today is Sunday, so everyone's home."

Wang Xiulan nodded, put the green beans in her hand into the basin, stood up, and patted her clothes: "Then I'll go and ask your Grandma Li and Aunt Liu to come and help after I finish eating. You can't pick that many by yourself, someone has to keep picking them up."

"Okay," Wei Chen replied. "Let Wei Ran go and call her; look how restless she is."

After breakfast, Wei Chen went to the woodshed next door and found a long bamboo pole. He had cut it down from the village entrance when he went back to his hometown last time. It was four or five meters long and had been drying for more than half a month. It was now completely dry, light and sturdy, and made a crisp sound when tapped on a branch.

He carried the bamboo pole to the jujube tree and looked up at its canopy. The old jujube tree was over 30 feet tall, with a thick trunk and branches that stretched out in all directions, covering most of the courtyard.

This year's jujubes are exceptionally plentiful, hanging in clusters of bright red, like countless tiny lanterns, bending the branches under their weight. He estimated that at this rate, harvesting two or three hundred jin (100-150 kg) wouldn't be a problem.

He was looking up and estimating when he heard light footsteps at the courtyard gate. Two small figures rushed in one after the other, panting, like two cheerful little sparrows.

"Brother Wei Chen! Brother Wei Chen! We're here!" Running ahead was Niu Xiaocao, nine years old, with two thin braids, wearing a faded floral blouse, and two shallow dimples on her thin cheeks. She rushed into the yard, her eyes lighting up when she saw the long bamboo pole in Wei Chen's hand. "Brother Wei Chen, are we going to use this pole to knock down dates?"

Little Grass followed behind Little Stone. Little Stone was eleven years old and was Grandma Li's grandson. His parents had passed away long ago, and he had been living with his grandmother ever since. He wore an old cotton-padded jacket with several patches on it, the sleeves of which were too short, revealing a section of his thin wrist.

He was quieter than Xiaocao. After entering the yard, he first greeted her respectfully, "Brother Chen." Then he peeked at the jujube tree and said, "My grandma told me to come and help, to do as much as I can."

Wei Chen reached out and patted the two little ones on the head: "Okay, you two can pick dates under the tree later, you don't need to do anything else." He then looked at Xiao Cao, "Where's your mother?"

"My mom's behind me, she came with my brother Dali," Xiaocao said, then added as if remembering something, "My brother Dali didn't work today, he came to help too!"

Before she could finish speaking, footsteps sounded again at the courtyard gate. Aunt Liu led her son, Niu Dali, into the yard. Niu Dali was fifteen years old, tall and thin, wearing a faded blue cloth jacket. His arms and legs were long and thin, like bamboo poles.

He usually does odd jobs on the street, doing all sorts of work—pulling a cart, carrying goods, running errands—to earn some money to supplement the family income. Today is Sunday, and he didn't have to work, but when his mother told him he was coming to help the Wei family pick dates, he came without hesitation.

"Brother Wei Chen." Niu Dali called out as he entered the room, his gaze falling on the long bamboo pole. "You can't handle it by yourself, so I'll help you hit the lower ones, and you can hit the higher ones."

"Okay." Wei Chen nodded. "Then you take this pole, and I'll find another one."

He turned and went back to the woodshed, where he found a slightly shorter bamboo pole and handed it to Niu Dali. Niu Dali took the pole, weighed it in his hand, and tapped it on the ground a couple of times. Finding it comfortable, he walked to the jujube tree, looked up at the lower branches, and said, "I'll pick this branch first, to see if it's ripe enough."

Grandma Li arrived at this time. She leaned on a cane and slowly walked into the yard, carrying a bamboo basket with a few pieces of rags in it, which she said she would use to collect dates later.

She walked to the jujube tree, looked up at the tree laden with jujubes, and clicked her tongue twice, saying, "This jujube tree is really bearing a lot of fruit this year. I've lived so many years, and this is the first time I've seen such a dense harvest." She turned to Wang Xiulan, "Xiulan, how did you take care of this jujube tree? I remember in previous years it only bore a few jujubes sparsely, how come it's bearing so many this year like it's recklessly overgrown?"

Wang Xiulan smiled and said, "I don't know either. Maybe it's because of the good rainfall this year. Plus, Wei Chen takes good care of the trees, watering them and loosening the soil. The trees are growing well, so naturally they bear a lot of fruit."

Grandma Li nodded without asking any further questions. She bent down, picked up a few fallen dates, wiped them clean, put one in her mouth, chewed it, and her eyes lit up: "So sweet! Much sweeter than any dates I've ever eaten before, like honey."

Wei Chen didn't reply, he just smiled. He had already nourished the roots of this jujube tree with his planting techniques, and the fruit it bore was large and sweet, much taller than ordinary jujubes. But he couldn't say it aloud, he just picked up his bamboo pole, walked to the tree, looked up at the highest branch, and suddenly swung the pole up.

With a crisp snap, a branch laden with dates trembled violently, and the bright red dates fell like raindrops, crashing to the ground with a clattering sound, rolling all over the ground.

"Let's pick dates!" Little Grass cheered, squatting down first and quickly picking up the dates on the ground with her two little hands, putting them into her basket. Little Stone also squatted down, moving a little faster than Little Grass, grabbing three or four with one hand, and in the blink of an eye, she had picked up half a basket.

Wang Xiulan, Aunt Liu, and Grandma Li also bent down, picking up the dates and gathering them into bamboo baskets and hampers. Niu Dali stood under the tree, swung his bamboo pole, and struck a low branch, sending another shower of dates crashing down.

Wei Chen looked up at the tree canopy. There were still quite a few dates on the top few branches, but he couldn't reach them; he would have to climb the tree. He handed the bamboo pole to Niu Dali: "Dali, you start hitting them first, I'll go up and hit the ones I can reach."

Niu Dali took the bamboo pole: "Okay, Brother Wei Chen, be careful."

Wei Chen walked to the tree trunk, hugged the rough bark with both hands, and nimbly climbed up. He was agile, and in a few leaps he reached the first large fork, steadied himself, and called down, "Get out of the way, don't get hit!"

Upon hearing this, the people below moved a few steps to the side. Wei Chen held onto the tree trunk with one hand, and with the other hand, he pulled a short bamboo pole from his waist and knocked it down onto a branch laden with jujubes.

Plop, splash, the dates fell like raindrops, bouncing and rolling on the ground. Little grass and pebbles squatted on the ground, their tiny hands busy picking them up, giggling as if playing some fun game.

The courtyard gradually became lively. The sound of jujubes being threshed filled the air, and the jujubes rolled on the ground. Adults bent over to pick them up, while children squatted down to grab them, filling basket after basket to the brim.

Grandma Li bent over and picked the dates for a while, then straightened up, rubbed her back, and said with a smile, "I'm too old to do this anymore. If I were twenty years younger, I could pick all the dates off this tree by myself."

Aunt Liu smiled and said, "Grandma Li, why don't you sit down and rest for a while? Your basket is almost full."

Grandma Li looked at her bamboo basket, which was indeed full, piled high like a small mountain, covered in bright red berries. She smiled, picked it up, placed it in the shady corner, and then took an empty basket to continue collecting.

The sound of jujubes being picked quickly spread throughout the entire courtyard. Children from Zhang Dashan's house in the front yard, and Liu Haizhong's and Liu Erzhuang's houses in the back, heard the crackling sound and rushed out of their homes, crowding around the east wing entrance, peering through the doorframe. Several little ones craned their necks, their eyes fixed on the rolling red dates, swallowing hard, but too afraid to come inside.

Wang Xiulan looked up and saw them, then waved: "Come in, come in, all of you, pick a few to try."

At her call, the children rushed in as if they had received a royal decree. Yan Jiekuang and Yan Jiedi were the children of the third uncle, the two younger ones being the fastest.

Liu Erzhuang's daughter, Liu Xiaohong, is five years old and followed behind, running and stumbling along. Zhang Dashan's son, Xiaojun, also squeezed in.

A group of little radish heads squatted on the ground, their little hands quickly grabbing dates, not caring about being dirty, stuffing one into their mouths and then a handful into their pockets, their mouths bulging as they chewed, like a group of little squirrels.

Wang Xiulan looked at them, feeling both amused and heartbroken. She squatted down, grabbed a handful of the cleaned dates in front of her, and stuffed them into each child's hand: "Eat slowly, don't choke. Let your parents try some when you get back."

The little ones, their mouths stuffed full of dates, mumbled their thanks, then bent down to pick them up again. Their pockets were full, and they were still clutching the dates in their hands. Only when they could fit no more dates did they reluctantly stand up, run out of the courtyard gate, and go home to tell the adults.

The older children—Yan Jiecheng, Yan Jiefang, Liu Guangtian, and Liu Guangfu—stood at the door and didn't come in. They were older and more sensible; they knew that in these times, a bite to eat was more precious than anything else. The Wei family was already being kind by letting them in to pick a few dates to taste, and they were too embarrassed to try and take advantage of them.