With a sack of rice at home, Henry Clark still borrowed a hatchet and prepared to go up the mountain to chop firewood. Chopping firewood had now become a kind of tempering for the mind. If in the past it was out of necessity, now Henry Clark simply wanted to truly experience life in the Song Dynasty and quickly integrate into this collective.

Chopping firewood was still as enjoyable as ever. Henry Clark was much faster at it today, and he had changed into clothes just like the other boys: baggy pants and a cross-collared jacket. Except for his slightly shorter hair and fairer skin, walking along the mountain path, he was hardly any different from the other children.

During leisure time, he played bamboo chopstick games with the other kids. There was nothing strange about it except that counting was required. A group of children would lie on the ground, focusing intently as they used a bamboo chopstick to pick up other scattered chopsticks. As long as they didn’t touch the other chopsticks and could successfully count the ones in their hand, they won.

Life is the best teacher. In just a short time, these children could all count the chopsticks in their hands, so a small handful of bamboo chopsticks soon became a large pile. Henry Clark firmly believed that as long as they played this game a few more times, figuring out their own firewood money would be no problem.

Selling firewood today went very smoothly, and he got a new job. This job was very fair: three copper coins for a load of firewood, no cheating the young or the old. Henry Clark looked at the three coins in his hand, sighed for a moment, then put them into a cloth pouch.

By the time he got home, it was already dusk. Jack Clark was nowhere to be seen, and the little yellow dog was gone too. Henry Clark was greatly alarmed, rushed down from the bamboo house, and shouted like a madman. After calling twice, the little yellow dog appeared at Henry Clark’s feet, wagging its tail, and Jack Clark also showed up behind the bamboo house, lying in the arms of a mulberry-picking girl.

Henry Clark roughly pulled him out of the girl’s arms and shouted, “Where did you go? Why are you so disobedient? What if you got lost?”

Seeing the tears in Henry Clark’s eyes, Jack Clark reached out his little hand to wipe them away and whispered, “I won’t run off again. I’ll just wait for you at home from now on.”

Still shaken, Henry Clark was immediately besieged by the mulberry-picking girls. He couldn’t understand what they were saying, only that they were very excited. One of the girls even took out an embroidery pattern to show Henry Clark.

“You made this?” Henry Clark could tell at a glance that the simple drawing was definitely not something from the Song Dynasty.

Seeing Jack Clark nod, Henry Clark decided to ignore the girls. A real man doesn’t argue with women; it was better to take Jack Clark home for dinner. It was just some simple drawings—why were they all so worked up?

Henry Clark washed rice and started cooking. Today, while on the mountain, Cangwa caught a bamboo rat. He didn’t eat it himself but gave it to Henry Clark. Henry Clark also found some bamboo shoots and mushrooms, planning to stew a fragrant pot of bamboo rat soup.

Jack Clark took three copper coins out of his little pocket and put them on the table, proudly saying, “I drew a few little patterns for them, and Sister Xiaohua gave me three coins to buy candy. I even went with them to wash cloth today…”

Hearing that Jack Clark had gone with a group of little girls to wash cloth, Henry Clark’s face immediately darkened. He slapped the back of his head and said helplessly, “Can’t you have a bit of decency? When they wash cloth, they don’t wear clothes and go to the back of the small mountain. Men aren’t supposed to go there. Don’t you know that?”

“I’m only three years old!” Jack Clark had just finished speaking when he got another heavy slap on the back of his head.

“I’m warning you, if you ever do something so indecent again, I’ll beat you silly—then you can go wash cloth with them all you want.” A twelve-year-old should know what’s appropriate. With such a precocious mind in a small body, if he kept bathing and washing with those girls, it would be disgraceful. This bad habit had to be corrected.

The rice in the small pot was done, and the bamboo rat soup in the clay jar was ready too. Even though only salt was added, the two of them ate with great relish. After dinner, William Clark sat by the fire pit reading. He had already promised the old clan leader that he would study hard—otherwise, he would be letting down the old man’s gift of that sack of rice.

Jack Clark also picked up a book to read. After a while, he said to Henry Clark, “Big brother, do you plan to rely on these things to make a living in this era?”

Henry Clark smiled bitterly and said, “What else can I do? Here, I’m practically useless—I can’t carry loads on my shoulder, can’t lift with my hands. Other than following the old path of studying for the exams, what else can I do? You have to study too. As long as we can pass the exam for xiucai, we’ll be able to get by in this world.”

Instead of answering, Jack Clark suddenly asked Henry Clark, “Big brother, I was naughty today. Why didn’t you hit me? I heard that when kids are naughty, parents always grab them and give them a beating. You were really angry earlier—why didn’t you hit me? I really want to know what it feels like to be spanked by a parent.”

Chapter 8: The Cold Tit

Winter here rarely brings snow, only damp and chilly rain—wet and cold.

Jack Clark huddled by the fire pit, shivering nonstop. Henry Clark draped every warm thing in the house over him, but the child still trembled. Fortunately, he didn’t have a fever. If he got sick with a fever in this godforsaken place, Henry Clark really wouldn’t know what to do. There was no hospital, no doctor, no medicine—other than praying to the heavens, there was nothing he could do. The nearest herbal medicine shop was all the way at Dousha Pass, fifteen li away.