A Basket of Rats

Qingqing stole through the yard and crept up the steps of the porch, careful not to step on the creaky step. As she reached the threshold Suzhen's voice called out gaily, "Qingqing! What brings you here?"

"I should have known I couldn't surprise you," she complained, skipping over the doorway. "Well, what have you been up to, Sister Bai? How is it like being Physician Xu's wife?"

She stopped short as Suzhen turned around from a basket she had been bending over.

Suzhen smiled brightly as she saw her and held up a plump rat she was holding by the tail. "Are you hungry? Do you want one?" she added as it squirmed and squeaked piercingly.

Scandalized, Qingqing looked around hurriedly to make sure no one was watching and shut the door. She snatched the rat from Suzhen and plopped it back into the basket. "Are you crazy? What are you doing with these rats? Don't you know humans don't eat rats?" she hissed.

Suzhen looked blankly at her. "But why not? They are so poor, they scarcely have any meat, and look at how plump these rats are. I thought I would cook them nicely for Xuxian--"

Qingqing stamped her foot. "Sister, how many times do I have to tell you, they don't eat rats. They simply don't. Even if you cook it nicely. Humans are just like that. They shudder at eating lizards and frogs and rats the way we do. If you want to live as Physician Xu's wife then you absolutely must stop eating any of the things we ate as snakes, and eat only what the humans do. Do you hear?"

Suzhen sighed. "I understand. It does not make sense, but I accept it. What a pity, however. Just see how well-fed these rats are. I caught them in Granny Hong's meal bin." She glanced at them wistfully. "Much fatter than the ones we normally get on the mountains."

Qingqing looked at the basket. "It is, indeed, a pity," she acknowledged. "But they won't be wasted. Give them to me. I'll eat them later." She flashed a cheeky smile.

Suzhen folded her arms. "Ah, trust you to end up feeding yourself," she teased. Regretfully, she turned away from the basket.

"Aren't you going to thank me for helping you dispose of them?" Qingqing put the cover back on the basket and pushed it into a corner with her foot. She sat down on the stool and looked curiously up at Suzhen. "So, Sister Bai. Is it hard being a human?" Her eyes glimmered mischievously.

Suzhen sat down more slowly, playing idly with a tress of hair. "It is heaven, being at his side every day," she said softly. "I thought I was happy before, but I could never have dreamt of this."

Qingqing rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, it's always like that in the beginning."

She shifted closer. "Did you do anything strange yet? That might make him suspect?" she asked, lowering her voice. "To think you would have served rats for dinner if I hadn't come by makes me very doubtful of how well you're blending in." Qingqing gave a snort of laughter.

Suzhen hesitated. A shadow crossed her face. "I cannot help it. There are so many things I am unfamiliar with. I know the neighbours say I am strange, but I am trying my best to learn." She brightened. "And he is so gentle. He has never gotten impatient with me for saying something wrong."

"That's because I more or less told him you were an uncivilized hermit," thought Qingqing wryly to herself. She dismissed Xuxian with a wave of her hand.

She looked at Suzhen's limpid eyes and the soft smile curving her lips. "Tell me, Sister," she said abruptly. "Do you not find it a great sacrifice to be living here and struggling to survive the way the humans do?"

Suzhen propped her chin on her hands. "It is different, yes. There are so many things to do every day. On the mountain, life is so simple. But for humans, they are busy from morning to night. Washing clothes. Cooking meals. Cleaning the house. Tending the garden. Cutting wood. Making the fire." She shook her head. "They work hard."

"They are stupid," Qingqing said loftily. "I could never endure a life like that. But of course, when no one's around, you'd use your powers to get it done faster, so you wouldn't have to waste so much time. That's a mercy."

"I would not agree that they waste time," Suzhen said slowly. "To me, doing all these things by hand are a kind of blessing. Like how Xuxian carried me down the mountain when he was afraid I would catch cold after we went swimming. I could have easily levitated the two of us without him having to spend so much energy, in half the time. But him doing that showed me all the more how he loved me. So it is when I do these small menial tasks for him."

"You're thinking too much," Qingqing scoffed. "You forget, Sister, that these humans don't have the ability to choose in the first place. They have no other way of getting anything done except through their own two hands. That is, after all, the basis for why we are superior." She flicked a strand of hair out of her eye. "Your little physician would have levitated the two of you down if he had a drop of spirit energy in him."

Suzhen sighed. "You don't understand, Qingqing."

"But why waste so much time and energy on such insignificant things?" demanded Qingqing, bouncing up from the stool so suddenly she sent a pot clattering over.

"There is more to these insignificant things than simply getting them done." Suzhen retorted. "When I cook dinner, Xuxian will come in to help me. That is one of my favourite times of the day. Because we can work together. Even if we don't talk. Even if the food is burnt." She laughed softly to herself, evidently remembering some memory.

Qingqing had a sudden recollection of Yuanzheng's kitchen, the warmth in the air as she sliced leeks and Yuanzheng kneaded the dough, and Xiaohu's tuneless whistling. Though her mind had been set on the noodles they were preparing, she only now realized that that moment had been pleasant in itself as well, enjoyable even.

She stopped arguing and instead poked the basket of rats with her toe nastily. There were some muffled squeaks. "Well, what are you going to cook for dinner since these rats are going to go back to the mountain with me?"

Suzhen smiled. "I shall take a look at the garden. Xuxian might bring something back with him, too. Are you sure you don't want to join us for dinner?"

"I am tempted to try your cooking, but Granny Hong has already invited me; she said she would cook omelette for me." Qingqing picked up the basket and balanced it on her hips. "These will be perfect for a snack later."

Suzhen hid a smile. "Do you see Yuanzheng every day?"

Unaware of the glint in Suzhen's eyes, Qingqing answered carelessly as she pinched the rats to see which one was the fattest. "Oh, pretty much. He comes to the mountains to cut wood, you see. And you can hear the sound of his axe from miles away--so clumsy! It's hard not to bump into him."

She suddenly cocked her head, at the same time Suzhen turned. "Someone's at the window," she said softly. Suzhen nodded. "I sensed something moving." she murmured.

Her fingers shot out from her sleeve and sent a burst of energy at the shutters, making them burst open forcefully. There was a thudding sound as the shutters hit into flesh, and a sound of pain, and then footsteps scurrying away.

The two snake spirits exchanged uneasy glances with each other.