Shortly after, Little Five came back.
When the little fellow that they hadn’t seen for half an afternoon came back, his body was covered in mud. Li Hua and Li Man were truly startled to see him looking like a mud creature.
“What happened? Did you fall?” Li Hua hurriedly came to the doorway and turned him around to check. He didn’t stop worrying until he confirmed that Little Five was okay.
Little Five’s dirty little face looked as if it was holding back more tears. His voice sounded brittle as he said to his fourth brother, “Shitou pushed me.”
Li Man rummaged through the wardrobe to find Little Five’s clothing while asking, “Who’s Shitou?”
“Shitou, ah.” Little Five wiped his tears while lamenting to his family members, “He wanted to let out the water in the water dam I made. I wouldn’t let him do that, and he pushed me.”
The kids here usually didn’t have much that they could play with. The adults found the rain bothersome, but it was a boon to the children. On rainy days, all of the village children liked to run to entrance of the village. They would frolic in the mud in their bare feet, make little water dams, and dive into the ravine.
Little Five was a big fan of playing these types of games too. After eating lunch and hearing the sound of other children playing outside, he ran outside to join them too. But, he was small and weak, so the other village children liked to bully him.
He had been perfectly fine when he went out, but he came back in such a poor state.
“Who told you to go play with him again? Don’t you remember that you ended up with an awful nosebleed last time? Did you forget?” Li Hua looked brother’s pitiful appearance. He felt both angry and distressed.
Li Man came out with a clean set of clothing. She rubbed Little Five’s head and said to Li Hua, “It’s normal for boys to like to fight. Don’t scold him. Little Five, come with older sister, I’ll give you a bath.”
After saying this, she took Little Five from Li Hua and brought him into the kitchen.
Li Man moved the bathtub and added water to it while ordering Little Five, “Hurry, take off your wet clothing.”
Little Five bit his lip. Seeing that Li Man was really going to give him a bath, he felt so bashful that his left foot kept stepping on his right foot.
“Quickly, undress.” Li Man had already filled the tub. Seeing that Little Five was still dillydallying, she stood up and pulled him over. She laughed and said, “Little creature, you’re not feeling shy, right?” After saying this, she reached out to undress him.
Little Five was truly a shy child. He shrunk back and shouted, “Older sister, I can bathe myself!”
“You do?” Li Man didn’t believe him. While efficiently undressing him, she teased, “Why do I see dirt plastered to the back of your neck then? You probably don’t know how to scrub yourself properly clean, right?”
“I -” His shirt had been taken off, but Little Five wouldn’t let Li Man take off his pants. He desperately kept his legs locked together.
Li Man glared at him in exasperation. “Little imp, you’re way too young to be acting this way.”
Then, she called Li Hua to come over.
Li Hua had gone inside the eastern hut. It was because Li Yan had awoken. After he had only said a few words to his brother, Li Hua heard Li Man’s voice and hurriedly ran over to the kitchen.
Li Man gave the bath towel to Li Hua and instructed, “Wash him thoroughly. Make sure to wash his hair too. There’s a lot of mud in it. I’m going to heat up some more water. You can pour it into the bathtub once the bathwater has cooled down.”
After saying this, she ladled out several scoops of water from the water jar to the pot and covered the pot once she was done. Then, she went behind the stove to start a fire.
But, how could she have known that lighter would have gotten too damp from the rain? No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get the fire to start. She felt discouraged after spending a long time and still failing to get a spark.
Li Hua had already finished helping his younger brother wash his hair. Hearing Li Man grumbling behind the stove, he wrapped Little Five’s hair in the towel and went over there himself. “It won’t light?”
“En.” Li Man quickly stood up and handed him the lighter. “Here, you do it. I’ll wash Little Five.”
Right after saying this, she headed over to Little Five’s side.