“Practice with mud?” Fu Miaoxue asked. “How?”
Du Lai said, “Same as before — throw stones at them. If a stone can sink about one finger’s depth into the clay, you’re ready to hunt birds.”
Fu Miaoxue reached over and poked one of the clay figures in his hand. It immediately dented inward.
“That seems easy,” she said. “And it’s so much bigger than a fruit core — much easier to aim at.”
Du Lai smiled. “Once it’s been fired, the outer layer will harden.”
Fu Miaoxue nodded in understanding, then grinned and complimented him: “Du Lai, you know so much~”
“Not knowing enough gets you killed.” Du Lai said casually, and set the few clay birds beside the fire. Then he stood and walked to the edge of the eave to rinse the mud from his hands in the rain runoff.
Fu Miaoxue moved all her bizarre little creations over too, arranging them in a circle — a lively, crowded little gathering.
A gust of wind swept through, slipping beneath her thin leaf-woven garment, and she couldn’t suppress a sneeze: “Achoo!”
Du Lai turned to look at her, brow creasing. “Young lady, please don’t get sick on me now.”
Fu Miaoxue wiped her nose with her hand. “It’s not like I can control that…”
Du Lai: “……”
Fu Miaoxue looked up at him, completely baffled. “Why are you staring at me like that? If you’re worried about me getting sick, hurry up and build all four walls — there’s nothing blocking the wind at all right now.”
Du Lai walked over with an amused expression and pointed at her face. “Go wash up.”
She had just wiped her nose with a mud-covered hand and smeared it across her face. She now looked like a calico cat.
The moment Fu Miaoxue heard that, she sprang up and leaned out under the eave to wash her face in the rain. Midway through washing — another string of sneezes!
“Achoo!… Achoo, achoo, achoo!”
Du Lai tensed. The conditions here were so basic they might as well have been nonexistent. If Fu Miaoxue actually fell ill, he truly didn’t know what he’d do.
“Stop wearing that tattered leaf outfit — change back into your own clothes.” Du Lai said, frowning.
Fu Miaoxue finished washing her face and came back, rubbing her nose, displeased. “It’s usually so hot — I had no idea the temperature would drop this fast once it rained… Achoo!”
“Your constitution is really something!” Du Lai crouched and fed a few more pieces of wood into the fire, then urged, “Change your clothes now, then come sit by the fire and warm up.”
“Hey!” Fu Miaoxue’s eyes went wide. “Watch your attitude… Achoo, achoo, achoo, achoo!”
The sneezes would not stop. Even Fu Miaoxue herself seemed alarmed. She clamped both hands firmly over her nose and mouth, and after great effort finally managed to quiet them. She stared at Du Lai in shock. “Are you cursing me in your head?!”
Du Lai: “……”
He turned away, his voice weary. “Young lady, if you don’t want to get sick, change your clothes now — or soon it won’t just be sneezing.”
Fu Miaoxue covered her nose and thought it over, then glanced at Du Lai’s back.
Honestly, she didn’t particularly want to change. It wasn’t shyness or embarrassment — mostly it was that the leaf outfit was more fun. But it really wasn’t warm, and it did leave her feeling chilly…
Her nose was itching again. She was pretty sure another sneeze was coming.
Was she actually going to get sick?
If she got sick, that would not be fun at all.
Fu Miaoxue wrestled with herself for a moment, then finally changed back into her original dress. It was summer fabric — not warm at all — but considerably more dependable than leaves.
“You can turn around now, I’m changed.” She rubbed her arms and sat down by the fire to warm up. “Still a bit cold… No idea when this rain is going to stop.”
That was one of Du Lai’s concerns as well.
He looked at Fu Miaoxue and suggested, “If the temperature stays this low tonight, we’ll have to sleep pressed together — otherwise getting sick will be a real problem.”
“What?” Fu Miaoxue’s brow knit. “But you’re so dirty. Maybe you should go stand in the rain and wash off first?”
Du Lai: “……Young lady, are you trying to make me get sick faster?”
—