Gossip and Soybeans

Madame Liang's fingers ran through the bowl of soy beans, gleaming in the sun like fat yellow pearls. She grasped a good handful and added them to the mill that she and Huajun were turning. The beans rattled against the stone mill, then were drawn between the two large slabs and disappeared. A thin stream of milky fluid trickled out from the mouth, which they carefully collected in a large jar; this would be used to make tofu later. The dull grating sound of the mill hung in the air like the faint twittering of crickets and birds. It was spring.

"Thank the gods everything worked out in the end," sighed Granny Hong as she sorted through a flat basket of beans, picking out the bad ones nimbly with her wrinkled fingers. "Really, I tell you I couldn't sleep well the last few nights, worrying about those two. Ah, what a shock it gave me."

"To be sure," Madame Liang carefully lowered her voice. "No one expected it. They've always been such a loving couple. Physician Xu worships the ground she walks on. I didn't believe it at first when Liang Guo told me he'd sent Suzhen away. Turns out Xuxian has more spirit than we'd always believed. I can't imagine him telling her that to her face. They must have had a terrible quarrel."

Huajun chewed on a straw with one hand as she turned the mill efficiently with the other hand. "What do you think they quarrelled about?" she asked in a hushed voice, eyes bright with curiosity.

Granny Hong shook her head significantly. "For things to have reached such a bad state, it can't have been any small thing." She sighed meaningfully.

Huajun looked annoyed as all the married women pursed their lips up knowingly and shook their heads as well. "Like what, then?" she demanded.

All she got was a maddeningly demure smile from Granny Hong. "Ah, Huajun my dear, you're too young to understand. When you're married yourself you'll know."

Huajun flung the straw down in disgust. "You're always saying that," she blurted out indignantly.

Ziyi said nothing. She had changed ever since Zheng Haoran's death. Now she smiled more, even if she said less, and it had been a long while since they last heard any bitter or sour remarks cross her lips. But whenever the talk turned to Madame Xu she would bend her head over her work busily, as if anxious to hide her face.

Sunyi nudged Granny Hong eagerly. "Yuanzheng would know, wouldn't he? He came back from the mountain shortly before Xuxian and Suzhen did. I have a feeling he was involved. What did he say?"

Granny Hong rolled her eyes. "That stupid boy of mine won't say a thing when I ask him. He says it's none of his business. None of his business! If it's not our business, who else would it be? We're all in the same village. Whatever happens to one happens to everyone. Isn't that the case?"

They all nodded energetically. Everyone was dying to know what had happened ever since Madame Xu had mysteriously disappeared. Physician Xu had become a zombie who barely answered when you spoke to him, and only paid attention to his patients. Then yesterday someone had seen Miss Qing in the village, briefly, and the next thing they knew Physician Xu had went to the mountains on his own even though it was so dangerous with the demon lurking around. Right now everyone avoided going to the mountains unless they had to, and when they did, they went in a large group of ten or more. It was very suspicious that anyone would go on their own. And then Physician Xu had come back with Madame Xu, and seemingly all was well again at the physician's hut. Madame Xu had not stepped out since but they had caught glimpses of her through the window, and she looked happy, though paler and thinner than before. It was the talk of the village right now, even more than the gossip about the demon, and that said alot.

"I think Miss Qing came down in a rage when she heard her sister had been sent away," whispered Huajun. "Her being so feisty, she wouldn't hold back from speaking her mind, even to her brother-in-law. Maybe she scolded Physician Xu into bringing Madame Xu back."

This theory sounded quite likely, as everyone in the village was aware of Qingqing's temper. They nodded thoughtfully.

"Well, I'm just glad they're both back safely," declared Granny Hong. "All that going back and forth on the mountains. Even if Suzhen grew up there it's far too dangerous for her to be there now. I don't even want Yuanzheng to go so often on his own. Who knows what could happen?"

She shivered. Madame Liang cleared her throat. "About that. Liang Guo and I decided that we should ask Fahai to come back. We need him here more than ever, and I heard that he's still in town. We could send a messenger asking him to come back and help us throw out this demon."

"Who asked him to leave so suddenly," snorted Granny Hong, who was rather disillusioned with Fahai after he had left without warning. "He hadn't even done anything for us yet, other than make us even more afraid with his stories."

"Maybe we ought to have offered to pay him," suggested Madame Liang. "We are not rich folks, but maybe he was waiting for us to offer him something. If we each give a little, surely it would be good enough. He can't be expecting too much from us, he's seen how we live."

They thought about this, and then Granny Hong said decisively, if reluctantly, "All right. Send a messenger then. We can't go on like this. Why, it's spring already. How will we get our food if we can't go to the mountains to fish, and trap, and forage?"

Huajun sighed wistfully at the idea of fresh meat. "I'm so tired of eating dried things!"

"Here, you take over from me for a while," Madame Liang ordered, getting up and beckoning to Ziyi to take her place. "I'm going to tell Liang Guo now. If we find someone who can carry our message to town today, maybe the holy man can get here within a week. The sooner the better."

Xuxian moved back quickly behind the wall, almost guiltily, as Madame Liang went out of the yard and hurried off. His fingers tightened unconsciously over the packet of herbs he had been carrying back home. He had overheard the last part of their conversation, and his heart sank.

Fahai was coming.