Huo Ye woke up the next morning splayed on the floor. He’d never been one to have decent sleep habits and it seemed the comfort of getting his new life on track finally got him to relax at night.

Ling Su was out as usual as the ideal time to harvest herbs was early morning or late evening. To maximise her profit each day, she’d usually set out before Xiao Ye, sneaking around to avoid waking him up.

This time around their rickety table was actually covered in dishes. Ling Su had been kind enough to prepare him a breakfast of bread and a simple stew. A fruit platter was to its side, the sliced apples already beginning to turn brown. Huo Ye hurriedly went through his morning ritual and sat down to eat.

He planned to spend the day cutting down the tree to at least fulfil his promise to Shao Zihan. He’d really began to appreciate manual labourers. He’d been at it forever yesterday and yet had a bit more to go through. Huo Ye sighed and gathered up his dishes to go clean up outside.

The house itself had very sparse furnishing, however there was a shed to the side. There were a few shelves, with their crockery and cooking utensils, up against one wall. On the opposite wall, Ling Su’s baskets and trowel for collecting herbs lay on another shelf. The floor was occupied by the tub used for bathing and another which was full of water.

As fetching water was a difficult task, the siblings usually dedicated some time to fill the extra tub which was used for washing dishes and basic hygiene. Baths took more water and so they’d climb down to the creek each time they need to take one. Usually, the siblings just wiped down with a wet cloth if a bath wasn’t really necessary.

Empty buckets sat next to the tubs with another container to their side. This inconspicuous container had what Huo Ye was looking for, a sponge. This sponge was rather versatile and doubled as his toothbrush. It was basically fibre from a tree which had been beaten into a soft mass. He chewed a bit morning and night and was good to go. Huo Ye ripped off a bit of the sponge and went behind the shed to complete his task.

After finishing up, Huo Ye solemnly grabbed his axe and headed out. He spent the next five minutes building up motivation to complete the job. Huo Ye had never done much manual work and although Ling Ye had, he lacked the enthusiasm to do so. You’d also have to consider that Ling Ye was pre-puberty and hadn’t built up much muscle. Huo Ye gave in to his fate and began to swing his axe, each swing reminding him of how sore his poor muscles were.

It took two hours before Huo Ye heard a satisfying crash as the tree came down, its crown in the clearing. He collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily with a grin on his face. He then began to inch his way to the tree which had taken him eight hours to bring down. He felt he had done a great job considering he had neither the experience nor the physique for it.

He got to his feet thinking about a way to get himself a warm bath.  He approached the tree confidently, running his hands down the trunk. Shao Wu had given him a week to make the order and he still had four days extra. Huo Ye rejoiced at his efficiency and thought about the profit he’d make when he finally delivered the log.

The smile on his face was instantly wiped off when he realised he had no way to get the log into town. His plan initially was to get the log into the clearing, have the residual spiritual energy absorbed, cart it into town and come back with the money. He had neglected to think about how to get the tree where he wanted it. Most of the tree lay in the forest and he was unsure of how long it took for the spiritual energy to be absorbed by the clearing. He was not interested in having all his effort be for naught as it got replenished by the forest.

Huo Ye began to bite his nails, silently cursing himself for being stupid. He’d had all the time to think about this. How could he overlook such a major flaw? He thought about how the modern industry got around this problem and cranes came to mind. He couldn’t build a crane, obviously, but he could design a pulley system. Huo Ye began to make some sketches on the ground with a stick.

First, he’d need a harness strong enough to bear the weight of the three-metres-in-length and a metre-in-diameter tree. The harness should be adjustable in case he had trees of varying sizes. Second, he’d need a strong rope. Third, some axles and a crank and last, lots and lots of nails and pegs.

His issue now was whether his cart could hold out for the trip into town. Speaking of his cart, Huo Ye spun around and noticed that the cart was nowhere to be seen. It finally occurred to him that Ling Su should have been back.

From the schedule the two had devised, Ling Su would gather spiritual herbs at dawn and medicinal herbs at dusk. The spiritual herbs were best used immediately after harvest and so Xiao Ye would deliver them to Shaluyu in the morning as well as the medicinal herbs harvested the night before to Ling Su’s customers. Ling Su would spend the day cooking, cleaning and working on their account books while Xiao Ye would chop down trees upon his return.

Xiao Ye was responsible for fetching water for them to bathe. This was a task he insisted on as he knew it was a bit of distance to do so and felt guilty about making Ling Su who was to him a complete stranger do so. Xiao Ye was also to do the shopping when he went to town.

This simple life that they’d chosen should’ve worked well for the siblings and yet Ling Su had not returned. Huo Ye felt tense, thinking that some harm had befallen her. He nearly shed tears, biting down hard on his lip to prevent himself from doing so.

He heard a sound to his left and saw Ling Su come into the clearing with a laden cart behind her. He rushed up to her, hugging her tight. Ling Su was taken aback by this behaviour and stroked his head, pushing him back slightly so that she could examine him properly.

“Xiao Ye, why are you crying? Are you hurt somewhere?”

The concern in her gaze brought Huo Ye back to reality.

Why am I crying?

He had thought he had everything put together but forgot Ling Ye was still a child who had been raised by his big sister and couldn’t remember neither father nor mother. Huo Ye had assumed Ling Ye had little attachment to his sister as he’d easily abandoned her.

A thought came to mind, as he realised that Ling Su would be better off without dependants. She could marry into a family and sell spiritual herbs if she wished to. Huo Ye pondered about whether Ling Ye’s suicide had really been so selfish.

Huo Ye looked at Ling Su who was still stressing over him and forced himself to chuckle.

“I’m fine. These are just tears of joy.”

Ling Su remained sceptical so Xiao Ye dragged her over to the log. “Look, I finally chopped it down.” Ling Su smiled and praised Xiao Ye for his effort. She then had him put away her shopping for the day.

Xiao Ye pouted and pressed that shopping was his responsibility. She had also made all the deliveries, even going as for to negotiate with Shaluyu, making twice as much as he got the day before.

“You just seemed so tired yesterday so I wanted you to get some rest. Besides, if I’d let you do the shopping you’d have left out stuff we do need.”   “You could have written me a list.”   “Yes, yes. I’ll do that next time.”

 She squeezed his arm affectionately and offered to cook whatever Xiao Ye wanted to eat. Huo Ye tried his best to keep from flinching as his tired muscles were suddenly forced to endure pressure and responded to her offer that she prepare whatever she wanted to.

Ling Ye hadn’t eaten much delicacies because of their small income, and so Huo Ye found it would be out of character to be so confident on what kind of meal he’d like.

Ling Su brought their table outside and used it as a makeshift counter to prep the soup which was chockfull of meat and vegetables. Huo Ye sat on the steps of the house as he realised he’d have to go into town to bribe Peng Gao to make him some axles and to sharpen his axe. If possible he’d use a whetstone but having never used one himself, he was afraid of getting hurt.

He’d need to get some stationery as well. Most of the townsfolk were not literate and usually used paper just for wrapping up packages. He felt awkward asking Shaluyu for help as he felt it would come out that he could read and write on a level that he shouldn’t be able to. He had to get Ling Su to eventually teach him so that he had a guise and wouldn’t raise any suspicions.

He made plans to ask Tang Lei, the baker, for some paper and used some coal in water as ink. Huo Ye stared at Ling Su and tried to make sense of his childish antics earlier. Was he going to suffer from losing himself each time he was left on his own?

Ling Su must have felt his gaze on her as she turned around and flashed him a smile. Xiao Ye returned the smile in a manner which felt all too natural to him. Huo Ye chewed on his nails as he calmly waited for the meal to be ready so that he could take his mind off everything else.