Leaning against the wooden tub, Zhao Li gradually relaxed her entire body. This was the best way to soak in the dicinal bath. The water temperature felt just right, and she was so comfortable that she squinted her eyes. Grandma Sun carried away Lan Tian’s clothes that she’d taken off to wash them.
"Is the water too hot? Does it hurt?" Mo Yuanle closely observed the child’s expression, fearing any mishap.
"Not at all, it’s really comfortable." After soaking for about ten minutes, Lan Tian was so comfortable that she almost fell asleep. Seeing no adverse reaction from her, Mo Yuanle tested the water with his hand, found it was getting cool, added so more hot herbal juice, and tiptoed out.
Lan Tian slept drowsily, vaguely noticing soone leaving and returning. Mostly, the dicinal bath was too cozy to want to wake up from. When she did awaken, she was on the bed, not knowing when she had been carried there. She was dressed in a floral-print short blouse and pants, which were halfway new. The courtyard was silent.
She got out of bed after a good sleep, her spirit greatly refreshed. Stepping barefoot into the hall, she saw her grandma with reading glasses, imrsed in a book, completely oblivious to Lan Tian’s approach.
On the table was a stool, and Lan Tian quietly climbed up to sit on it, glancing at her grandma’s book. It was a worn almanac, yellowed with age. Lan Tian lost interest after one look and quietly watched her grandma from the table.
Her grandma appeared older than the other elders in the village, her back slightly hunched from years of toil, though she remained relatively healthy with no white hair on her head yet. Lan Tian decided that once she started her Spiritual Energy cultivation, she would use it to help Grandma Sun stay healthy till a hundred years of age. Lan Tian rembered that around the age of ten, her grandma often fell ill, and passed away before reaching eighty.
Grandma Sun mumbled to herself while reading, occasionally counting on her fingers, sowhat like a fortune-teller. After a while, she figured out a good day for an adoption, closing her book upon noticing her quiet and well-behaved granddaughter beside her. She patted Lan Tian’s head, "Awake already? Hungry? We’ll go eat at your Fifth Aunt’s house tonight. Why did you co out barefoot without shoes? Look at my poor mory." Noticing Lan Tian’s bare feet, Grandma Sun slapped her forehead in recollection. Mo Yuanle had left a pair of shoes behind the door of the hall. She turned to fetch them, telling Lan Tian, "Be good, don’t co down; I’ll get your shoes."
"Grandma..." Lan Tian looked at her bustling grandmother, speechless with an incomparable sense of comfort, feeling relieved that her grandmother was in good health.
The shoes were black corduroy cloth shoes with buckles and were about eighty percent new. Grandma Sun wanted to put them on for Lan Tian, who refused, but the shoes were loose when put on. Buckled, they did not pose much of a problem when walking.
"They’re big," said Grandma Sun as she pressed down on the tip of the shoe, which caved in considerably.
After slipping on her shoes, Lan Tian hopped down and took a few steps to test them out. She felt alright and said with a smile, curved eyebrows and eyes, "Grandma, they fit. They’re like new. It’s my first ti wearing new shoes."
"Good, wear them for now. When I have ti, I’ll make a new pair for you. Let’s go eat." Grandma Sun pocketed the almanac, and hand in hand, she and Lan Tian headed to Mo Yuanle’s house.
An afternoon downpour had left the courtyard ground slightly wet. Lan Tian, not wanting to dirty her shoes, carefully stepped on spots where the ground was higher and drier.
Knowing that Lan Tian could only tolerate light food due to her long starvation and fragile digestion, she had only been able to drink porridge these days. Fifth Aunt specially made her a chicken egg and lean at porridge. The two houses were not far apart, just a two or three-minute walk. As soon as they left the courtyard and saw a figure pacing at Fifth Aunt’s gate, Lan Tian didn’t need to guess who it was.
Approaching the gate, Lan Tian couldn’t help but smile upon seeing her. Although Fifth Aunt had visited several tis, Lan Tian had been unconscious and now didn’t recognize her. Grandma Sun pointed to Zhao Li and told Lan Tian to call her Fifth Aunt, and Lan Tian obediently called out, "Fifth Aunt."
"There, dear, you must be hungry. Auntie has prepared food, let’s go eat!"
At the dining table, Lan Tian obediently drank her porridge while Grandma Sun discussed with Mo Yuanle and his wife the matter of setting a date, showing them her almanac.
"I’ve checked, and the best day is in seven days. Yuangle, check it out and if there’s no issue, we’ll set it for that day," said Grandma Sun. Mo Yuanle glanced at the almanac then passed it to Zhao Li. After she looked it over and handed it back to Grandma Sun, Lan Tian glanced at the date from the corner of her eye and quietly counted on her fingers under the table. Indeed, seven days later was a good day.
"Okay, after we eat, I’ll go discuss it with the village chief."
Lan Tian’s adoption was decided right there at the dining table, unanimously agreed upon. Over these seven days, Lan Tian’s job was to recover her health, eating and sleeping, each al with two eggs. Zhao Li slaughtered one of her hens to make soup for her, and Grandma Sun killed two of the chickens she raised this year.
In the bright hall, a little child of a few years old carried a stool towards a corner, above which hung a mirror. The child placed the stool correctly, then stood on it to peer into the mirror. Initially, the mirror only reflected the withered yellow hair on her head, but as the child tiptoed and lifted her chin, half of her face beca visible in the mirror.
Looking left and right with widening eyes, Lan Tian was satisfied. After being nurtured for several days, her complexion had improved a lot, her skin seed whiter, and her face had gained so flesh. Poking her cheek, it felt a bit plump. Given a month or two, she would turn into a plump and tender dumpling of a child, though admittedly a bit short.
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