"After the rain stops, shouldn’t it be time to plant the seeds?" The same question had been asked by the village chief Jin Dafu since the first day of the new year.
Compared to the blizzards at Cornell University, the rain in the mountainous area is considered modest. The rain is persistent but not heavy, having started at the beginning of the year and continuing until the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
By the time every household began pounding sesame fillings, preparing the glutinous rice balls for the Lantern Festival, village chief Jin Dafu was sitting in the Zhu Family’s dining hall, still sighing over this thought.
Xiao Xian sat beside him, peeling peanuts, ready to wrap them in glutinous rice balls.
"It’s about time. I remember last year, right after the New Year, Xiao Xian had planted his, and I wondered why the rice was so cold-resistant; it turned out to be because of the good seeds," Sister-in-law Lian said while holding a pestle, pouring freshly roasted black sesame into the rice pounding tool, each pound releasing a fragrance that tickled the nose.
The glutinous rice flour came from Wang Mazi’s family in the village. Ge Village lacked many things, but not the tools for hand-grinding rice and pounding sesame.
The freshly ground glutinous rice was a bit grayer than what is sold in the city; there wasn’t room for fussiness when it was for family consumption. A bit of rice flour was added when kneading the dough, resulting in glutinous rice balls that were soft and chewy with a stickiness that was irresistibly memorable.
"No, I’m still going to the temple to ask for a divine sign, to pick an auspicious day to plant the rice," the village chief had declared right after last year’s village assembly, distributing the rice seeds early, at fifty catties per household.
Waiting for the spring to start this year so they could begin planting. Just then, the door to the Zhu family was knocked open.
"Village chief, I heard from Sister-in-law that you were here, so I came looking," said Sister-in-law Wangcai, one of the poorest in Ge Village, a widow raising two children around seven or eight years old by herself; one of them was a classmate of Xiao Xian, a dry-looking, short little girl.
"Sister-in-law Wangcai, come on in, it’s windy and rainy outside, Sister-in-law Lian’s glutinous rice balls are almost ready, come in and have some," apart from a few particular families, villagers rarely got close to the Zhu Family, to whom Zhu Shijun was still a bit mysterious.
An elderly person, who had not long arrived in the village pulling along a grandchild, was already causing a stir with farming and getting close to the Miao people. Many villagers would walk a few steps around when passing Zhu Shijun’s gate.
Sister-in-law Wangcai hesitated but was pulled inside by Sister-in-law Lian, who invited her to sit down. The glutinous rice balls were soon served, and Xiao Xian couldn’t wait to take a bite, happily holding the scalding lard, sesame, and peanut filling in his mouth.
"Village chief, I came today to ask if I could get another twenty catties of rice seeds," Sister-in-law Wangcai said, holding the bowl, her hands covered in chilblains.
"Sister-in-law Wangcai, you lost your husband early, and with only five mu of land, the fifty catties of rice seeds distributed should have been enough," when the village chief originally distributed the rice seeds, he had taken special care of the widow’s and orphan’s needs in Sister-in-law Wangcai’s household. Usually, with twenty catties per adult and half for each child, Sister-in-law Wangcai’s household would have received only forty catties, but the village chief counted her son as an adult to calculate.
"It’s my fault for being careless, right when the seeds were distributed, I didn’t guard them well. Come the first day of the year, they were all eaten by rats," Sister-in-law Wangcai said, her head lowered, her nose reddened, beginning to sob.
The village chief had no choice but to get her another fifty catties of rice seeds and reiterated the importance of guarding them this time.
Sister-in-law Wangcai, before leaving, also took the bowl of rice balls, saying that on such a festive day, her two children at home hadn’t had any yet, so she was taking them back for the children to eat together.
Sister-in-law Lian heard this and couldn’t help wiping the corner of her eyes, "It’s tough on her." Xiao Xian just listened, losing his appetite. The last rice ball sat in his mouth, unsure whether to spit it out or swallow, worried that he might accidentally blurt out the truth.
Before even clearing the table of the rice ball bowls, the Zhu Family’s door was knocked on again. This time it was Granny Bai, the eldest in the village at eighty-seven, who had come despite the rainy weather, supporting herself on a walking stick.
"Xiao Jin," Granny Zhao said with her nearly toothless mouth, all the peers of Jin Dafu in the village had grown up under Granny Zhao’s watch. "I’ve come to ask for some rice seeds, you know my home leaks, those twenty catties of rice seeds were all soaked, they’re now useless."
It took some effort to send Granny Zhao off, and before the village chief could sit down and say a word to Zhu Shi, another person arrived.