Chapter 21: Be Clever

“Grand-aunt!”
“Thank goodness, Grand-aunt, you’re all right!”
“Grand-aunt, you scared us to death. We thought…”
“You thought something happened to me?” She was supposed to have been kidnapped—but who would abduct a little child like her, unable to carry a load or lift a thing?
“No, no.” The one who had just shouted about Grand-aunt being abducted hurriedly shook her head, embarrassed, wishing she could dig a hole and disappear.
It was mostly because, earlier that night, she’d overheard her husband and children talking about kidnappings, and in her panic, she’d blurted out whatever came to mind.
Bai Xi didn’t descend the stairs entirely; she stopped with a few steps left.
Chen Daliu hurried over to the staircase, concern evident: “Grand-aunt, are you all right?”
“Your Grand-aunt is perfectly fine!” Bai Xi pouted.
Seeing that Bai Xi was truly unharmed, in good spirits, and not frightened, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Of course, Grand-aunt had always had a bold heart; she wasn’t easily scared. Even when she’d fallen into the water before, she’d managed to take a breath and walk herself home, though they’d been terrified.
Now, with their worries eased, the group couldn’t help but chatter away.
“Grand-aunt, next time you mustn’t be so reckless. No matter what you hear, you shouldn’t open the door, let alone come downstairs.”
“Yes, yes, and besides, wild boars are dangerous. You don’t know what’s below; how can you just go outside? What if the wild boar wasn’t dead? What if there were bad people? What if…”
“That’s right, Grand-aunt, what you did wasn’t proper at all.”
“Exactly, Grand-aunt, you really frightened us. The door was wide open in the middle of the night, we all gathered here, but you didn’t show yourself. We were terrified.”
“Grand-aunt, you can’t joke about your own safety. Don’t come downstairs before sunrise, please.”
“That’s right, Grand-aunt, don’t you have that pull-cord for the bell in your room? If anything happens, just pull it to ring the bell and call for us.”
The bell hung from a branch of the big tree, with a rope that stretched into Bai Xi’s treehouse. It had been installed by the villagers after Bai Xi was left alone in her home, just so they could respond quickly if she needed help.
Anytime she rang the bell, someone would rush over—the nearest ones would usually arrive first. But neither the silly flower spirit nor Bai Xi herself had ever used it.
Bai Xi was still so young, so the villagers couldn’t help but worry.
The earlier panic had faded, and now everyone spoke up, though their words were gentle and polite.

If it had been their own child, they’d have certainly given them a scolding.
Had no one mentioned it, Bai Xi would have forgotten about the bell entirely. Seeing their chatter wasn’t ending, she interrupted them at once.
“All right, all right, am I the Grand-aunt or are you?” With one sentence, she silenced them all.
She understood their concern, so she softened her tone, her voice sweet and childish.
“I’m fine. When I came down, the wild boar was already unconscious. The wild deer, too, had fainted.”
At her words, everyone was surprised: “A wild deer?”
“Grand-aunt, you mean there’s a deer as well?”
Chen Daliu and the others looked around, only seeing the large wild boar.
“There it is,” Bai Xi said helplessly, pointing out the spot.
A sharp-eyed villager called out, “Village chief, look, there’s something else in the net.”
Something else in the net?
Everyone turned together, and by flashlight, they soon saw the wild deer caught in the net.
“There really is a deer.”
“And it’s quite large.”
“Must weigh dozens of pounds, surely.”
No one had expected the net beneath the tree to catch a wild deer. Everyone praised the luck.
“Grand-aunt is impressive as always.”
“Of course she is.”
“She has foresight, our Grand-aunt.”
Listening to their chatter, Bai Xi vaguely recalled that the net beneath the tree had been installed under the flower spirit’s guidance. To appease the flower spirit, who’d insisted on going up the mountain, the workers hung several nets as she requested. Unexpectedly, the nets proved useful after all.
Though the praise was for the flower spirit, Bai Xi still enjoyed it. After all, good or bad, it all belonged to Bai Xi now.
That silly flower spirit had finally done something clever.

Seeing them only talk and not act, Bai Xi pouted—were they expecting her to do everything?
She turned to Chen Daliu: “What are you standing around for? Hurry up and get that deer down, and don’t break my net.”
“Oh, right, yes, two of you, go get the deer down,” Chen Daliu called, “Be careful, don’t be clumsy.”
“Grand-aunt, what about the wild boar?”
Facing Chen Daliu’s question, Bai Xi rolled her eyes.
“Do you really need to ask? Tie them up together, slaughter them first thing in the morning, and share the meat with everyone.”
Chen Daliu knew what to do, but still asked, since strictly speaking, both the deer and the wild boar belonged to Bai Xi. If she wanted to keep them, the villagers wouldn’t object.
After all, the wild boar hadn’t crashed into anyone else’s wall or tree—it had come to Bai Xi’s tree, and the deer had landed in her net.
In other villages, such things would be pooled and divided according to headcount and contribution, but in Niuluo Village, anything that fell into Bai Xi’s hands was hers unless she said otherwise.
“Daliu, can you not make me worry about everything?” Bai Xi spoke earnestly, “Be smart—what will you do when I’m no