Re-birth: The Beginning after the End

Chapter 27 TO THE FIELDS

After their walk, the family returned to their courtyard home, where the morning sun now cast long shadows across the dirt path. The familiar scent of woodsmoke drifted from the kitchen hearth as her mother began preparations for the mid-day meal, the gentle clatter of well-worn clay pots and iron woks echoing through the courtyard.

Her father retrieved his wide-brimmed bamboo hat and farming tools, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth as he watched Li Hao struggle to lift a smaller hoe.

"Careful there, little warrior," he chuckled, gently taking the tool from his son's determined grasp. "Perhaps start with something lighter? Here—" He handed each child a small basket for gathering herbs that grew along the terrace edges.

"But Bàba, I want to help with the real work!" Li Hao protested, puffing out his chest.

Li Wei, ever the mediator, patted his brother's shoulder. "Herbs are important too. Remember what Māmā said about the healing properties?"

Their father nodded approvingly as he gestured for them to follow. Their farmland stretched across three terraced levels carved into the gentler slopes below their home, about a li's distance away. The carefully maintained rice paddies glittered like mirrors in the morning light, while plots of wheat and millet swayed gently in the mountain breeze.

From their vantage point, Li Hua could see the village nestled in the valley below, about five li from their fields. Thin wisps of smoke rose from cooking fires, and she could see the patchwork of small vegetable gardens and animal pens surrounding the cluster of earthen homes. Chickens pecked at the ground near woven bamboo coops, while goats grazed in fenced areas beside modest pig sties. The dirt path that connected their home to the village wound like a brown ribbon through the terraced hillside, occasionally disappearing behind groves of bamboo and ancient fruit trees.

As they made their way down the well-worn dirt path leading to their fields, farmers in neighboring plots called out greetings, their voices carrying clearly in the cool mountain air. Some were already knee-deep in the flooded paddies, their conical hats bobbing as they tended to the young rice shoots.

"Li Ming!" An elderly man walked over, his weather-beaten face creasing into a smile.

Her father laughed lightly, "Thank you, village chief."

The village chief nodded with satisfaction, his weathered face creasing into a gentle smile. "Well, I should return to my fields. The morning won't wait for idle chat." With a final acknowledging nod to her father, he turned and made his way back down the path, his straight-backed figure soon disappearing among the terraced fields.

As the old man's figure faded from view, her father got down on one knee and placed his hands on both of Li Hua's shoulders. "Little Poppy, don't take anything from that conversation seriously, ok? You and your brothers are my pride and joy. I don't want you to think that bàba prefers boys over girls - it's just that we must adapt to the environment we are in. Bàba thinks very highly of women, just like your mother and the women you will grow to become. You will never have to be subjected to being in the kitchen or doing wifely duties unless you choose to. Do you hear?"

Li Hua nodded, meeting her father's gentle gaze. "Bàba, I understand."

With a gentle squeeze, he pulled Li Hua into his arms, "I love you so much. All of you." He reached out and pulled her brothers into his embrace.

"We love you too," her brothers responded in unison, while she leaned into her father's warmth, softly adding, "you too."

She had never said I love you to anyone in her previous life. It felt strange that she also wanted to say it, but she couldn't bring herself to form the words completely. The phrase felt foreign on her tongue, like a sweet candy that dissolved too quickly to savor. Even though these past days had brought unprecedented warmth to her cold and empty heart, a stark contrast to her previous life, an uncomfortable truth lingered - this family wasn't hers.

The moment this thought crystallized in her mind, a sudden pang of pain hit her like sharp knives. Her head throbbed as if she was being torn apart from the inside out, memories of her past life crashing through her mind like violent waves.

"Little Poppy? Hua'er? Hua'er!" Her father's voice faded as the pain intensified, becoming distant echoes in the storm of her consciousness.