Zhou Li's shoes had gotten a bit muddy, so he sat at the edge of the eaves and wiped them off with a tissue.

Actually, the meal wasn't ready yet; Brother Nan's grandfather had come early to snoop around.

At this time, it was only eleven o'clock. A few stalls on the street hadn't packed up yet, and villagers were coming and going. Some carried baskets on their backs, while others toted baskets on a shoulder pole. Most people were heading back home at this hour, the air filled with the sights and sounds of daily life.

Today was the 30th, a market day.

"What are you looking at?" Brother Nan caught Zhou Li's gaze and thought for a moment. "Want to go to the market?"

"Yes."

"It's over already," Brother Nan said. "Generally, it starts winding down by ten o'clock. No worries. It's on the 4th, 7th, and 10th of the month here. Wait until May 4th, and Brother Nan will take you there again."

"Okay."

"Go inside and start the fire."

"Oh."

Zhou Li noticed stalls at the entrance to Brother Nan's home: a vegetable stall, a barber stall, and one for wrapping preserved eggs. An old man ran the barber stall, while middle-aged women managed the other two.

As Brother Nan led him inside, she explained, "The barber is a distant relative of ours. He's been cutting hair at our doorstep for many, many years now."

"Cutting hair..."

BANG!

"Picking on me again!" Brother Nan retracted her fist. "You're asking for a beating!"

"'No bullying classmates, huh!'" Grandma's voice suddenly came from inside as she craned her neck, peering their way.

"..."

"You're still laughing!"

BANG! Another punch.

Zhou Li innocently looked toward Brother Nan's grandma.

This time, Brother Nan's grandma pretended not to see, just chuckling.

It seemed that even Brother Nan's elders couldn't handle her, and his budding fantasies immediately shattered.

"Get up, let us tend the fire!"

Brother Nan called her grandma away from the stove, smoothed the hair at her grandma's forehead, and asked, "Did you comb your hair this morning?"

"Didn't comb it," Grandma replied.

"So lazy."

Grandma still looked on with a chuckle as they talked.

Brother Nan passed the fire tongs to Zhou Li. The small bench in front of the stove could fit two people, so she sat next to him and continued, "I remember there used to be a stall selling scallion pancakes on our street. They were so delicious, but it's gone now."

Grandma, standing beside them, interjected, "It wasn't *that* delicious! It's just that you rarely had it when you were young and always made a fuss about wanting it."

"It was really fragrant, though!"

"Everything tastes fragrant to you!"

"Erm..."

Brother Nan looked a little sheepish. After a pause, she retorted, "Why don't you go sit outside instead of standing here?"

"I'm just standing here, amusing myself..."

"Go outside!"

"I'm not going..."

The grandfather, who was tending the stove, was also chuckling on the side. It made Zhou Li feel like Brother Nan was taking care of two kids.

As a reward for their help, lunch was particularly sumptuous.

Brother Nan's grandfather had bought a large rooster from a neighbor and made chicken with potatoes. He also stewed a pot of turnip and pork soup. The three-year-old duck Brother Nan's maternal grandmother had brought before the New Year, which they hadn't wanted to eat yet, was taken out today to be cooked with konjac...

Sausages and cured meats, homemade smoked chicken, and beef in sauce were also staples.

All hearty dishes.

Now, a fish with pickled greens stew was simmering in the pot.

There was also a pot of eels, reportedly caught by an uncle of Brother Nan—who wasn't quite all there—using electric fishing in the fields a few nights before. This uncle often did improper things, and everyone outwardly disapproved of him, but they actually benefited quite a bit from his actions and so protected him.

In short, it was all authentic country flavors, the kind you couldn't find even in farm-to-table restaurants.

The only thing was, Zhou Li wasn't used to eels; they frightened him a bit.

Grandpa carefully stirred the pot, then called out, "Li Nan, go buy some beer and soft drinks. See what your friends want to drink."

"I'll give them money, let them buy it themselves!" Brother Nan sat with her legs crossed, cracking sunflower seeds. After cracking them, she tossed the shells into the stove. "I'll have Jiang Han take them. They can buy whatever they want."

"Where's the sense in making guests buy their own drinks?"

"So annoying~"

Brother Nan stood up, casually rested her hand on Zhou Li's head, and gave it a subtle rub. "You pay attention to the fire. And if my grandfather asks you all sorts of strange questions again, just ignore him, got it?"

"Mm."

"Sensible!"

Brother Nan went out with her phone.

Grandpa immediately turned to Zhou Li with a smile. "Are you and Li Nan high school classmates? And university classmates too?"

"That's right," Zhou Li answered truthfully.

"This girl was a real handful in school!" Grandpa spoke in a local dialect peppered with a bit of a Central Plains accent. This was because he had worked in the Central Plains for many years when he was younger. He said, "Always fighting and brawling! We were calling her parents every other day! And her parents were just as difficult; the teachers would call their phones, but they wouldn't go. It drove me crazy..."

"Brother Nan was indeed mischievous," Zhou Li had to agree, while stuffing corncobs into the stove, stacking them into a pyramid.

"Someone needs to keep her in line!" Grandpa said.

"Enmmm..."

Why did that statement sound oddly familiar and awkward?

Right...

Zhou Li had heard similar phrases in TV dramas, more than once, and it seemed it was usually the male lead's mother admonishing the female lead.

Headache...

Suddenly, Grandpa asked again, "What do your parents do?"

"What?"

"I'm asking, what do your parents do."

"Oh, my parents are divorced. They divorced shortly after I was born," Zhou Li still answered honestly. "My father has a company. My stepmother used to work in a bank, but she quit her job and came home for the past two years while my younger brother and I were preparing for our college entrance exams. My mother lives abroad."

"A foreign enterprise?" It was rare for an old man to know such a term.

"No, it's a domestic company that makes mobile phones, but she's at an overseas branch," Zhou Li said.

"Oh... making money off foreigners!"

"That's right."

When Brother Nan returned with the beer and beverages, she saw Zhou Li humbly nestled in front of the stove. His head was down as he watched the fire, and he was speaking in an honest tone, "I haven't considered pursuing a master's degree for the time being. It's quite difficult to get into graduate school for my major, and my grades are just average, just a tiny bit better than Brother Nan's. She probably can't get in either..."

Brother Nan's lips twitched slightly. "What are you two talking about?"

At once, the old man and the young man both fell silent, one thinking Brother Nan had returned too soon, the other wondering why it had taken her so long to come back.

"There was no Courage Beer, only Pure Draft. I also bought two bottles of Vitasoy soy milk," Brother Nan said, sitting back down next to Zhou Li. "You two haven't been chatting the whole time I was out, have you?"

"How many bottles did you buy?"

"Three bottles, chilled. Just for me, Zhang Hao, and Huai Xu. Not sure if Huai Xu drinks," Brother Nan said.

"Xiao Zhou doesn't drink?"

"He doesn't."

"I don't drink?"

"You don't drink."

"I want to drink!"

"You're not allowed to drink. I don't want you to."

"Oh my~~" Grandpa immediately looked incredibly wronged, his lips puckering. "When you're old and your health is failing, and your granddaughter won't let you drink, then you'll know how miserable it is."

"I'm in good health."

"You're young now. Wait until you're old... you'll understand."

"Hehe... Is dinner ready yet?"

"It's almost ready."

Zhou Li had thought that once at Brother Nan's home, she would behave obediently in front of her grandparents, at least enough to scoop herself a bowl of rice.

That wasn't the case, however.

Jiang Han diligently served everyone rice.

The grandparents scolded Brother Nan, but she paid them no mind, as if their words were just the wind.

They hadn't prepared rice using the traditional draining method for lunch; they used the old rice cooker instead. The rice was homegrown. It was very firm, with distinct grains. This might have been because less water was added, or for some other reason—possibly related to the variety of the rice. Nonetheless, Zhou Li greatly enjoyed it.

Scooping a spoonful of potato chicken or konjac duck into his bowl, the broth from these dishes moistened the firm rice, making it irresistible.

After eating two bowls of rice, Zhou Li ladled himself a bowl of tender pork soup.

Once the turnips were stewed until tender, their texture was a bit like that of white radishes, but with a different taste and even more delicious. For Zhou Li, who loved the white radishes in soup, this was a culinary delight that seemed made for his palate.

After the meal, Jiang Han and Kang Xue'er went to wash the dishes.

Brother Nan first offered to help, was politely refused by the two, and, as expected, didn't press the issue.

She carried a chair under the eaves and sprawled on it, looking for all the world as if she only needed a toothpick dangling from her lips to complete the picture.

A breeze began to blow down the street, and the sky turned overcast.

The auntie who wrapped preserved eggs then started to pack up her stall. She moved all her equipment into Brother Nan's house, placing it in an unused corner. After greeting Brother Nan's family, she hurried off.

"Why are their things stored at your place?" Huai Xu asked, looking up. "Indeed, your house has swallow nests under the eaves too."

"Her place is far. It's troublesome to move all these things back and forth. Our family has kind hearts, so we figured since we weren't using the space anyway, we'd let them store their equipment here," Brother Nan said, sprawled on the chair.

"What if they get lost?"

"How could they get lost."

"Do they pay for this?"

"They do. Plus, they set up their stall at our doorstep. It's a few dozen yuan a year, and we give them a small red envelope during Chinese New Year."

"That's not much?"

"Well, we don't need the space anyway."

"I see."

Brother Nan's family was very down-to-earth.

Meanwhile, Zhou Li kept looking up, fixated on the swallow nests at Brother Nan's home, before curiously asking, "Why did you say 'indeed' and 'too'?"

The two paused for a moment before understanding what he was asking.

Brother Nan grinned and said, "We've already moved on to something else, and you're still stuck on that!"

Huai Xu explained, "Because last time, when I went to Miss Zheng's house, there were swallow nests under her eaves, and Brother Nan mentioned she had them at her home too."

"Oh~~"

Zhou Li suddenly understood.

He continued to gaze upward.

It was almost May, about time for the swallows to return, but he had yet to see any sign of them—likely because the weather in Yi Province had been unusually slow to warm up this year. In previous years, he usually wore short sleeves by early April, but now he was still wearing a jacket.

He wondered if the swallows had returned to Miss Zheng's home.

There was also no news from Xing Hui, which was likely because her old friend hadn't woken up yet.

The weather forecast predicted rain for tomorrow.

Yet by 3 p.m., the rain had already started to fall with a PITTER-PATTER.

Zhou Li didn't find this surprising, as the weather had been poor for some time, and rain was a regular occurrence.

But he seldom sat by the street and watched the rain.

Rainwater trickled down from the eaves. He then noticed a clear line left by years of rain washing. Raindrops splashed like blossoming flowers, landing just in front of Zhou Li's shoes, unable to advance any further. Amidst the pattering rain, he felt an unusual quietness and a sense of security.

"Once this rain stops, it's going to get really hot," Brother Nan said.

"Really?"

"It should have gotten hot already. Haven't you heard that poem?" Brother Nan pondered for a moment. "'Endless rain, unaware of spring's departure; a single clear day reveals summer's depth.'"

"You can actually recite poems seriously?"

BANG!

Zhou Li heard Grandma shout from inside, "Why are you bullying your classmate again?" but then there was silence. Brother Nan, as if she hadn't heard a thing, continued to lounge in her chair, chatting with the others.

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