Water infused with these chrysanthemums was much tastier than plain boiled water, and they made for very soft pillows. So, when the flowers bloomed, all the girls and young children in the village fanned out across the fields to pick the wild chrysanthemums. By the time Juhua came out to pick them, others had already been at it for several days.

People picking chrysanthemums wandered everywhere—along the banks of the Little Qing River, on the ridges between fields, by Jing Lake, and near the mountains. Juhua, naturally, went to the fields near Jing Lake. It was close to home, after all.

One morning, Juhua woke up early. Carrying a basket and shouldering a pannier, she headed for Jing Lake. But in the distance, she saw Liu Xiaomei and Meizi coming down the village path, also on their way to pick wild chrysanthemums.

Liu Xiaomei ran over. You could tell her hair had been braided in a hurry—it was a bit crooked and twisted. She smiled at Juhua and said, "You’re finally out! If you hadn’t come soon, we would’ve picked all the flowers."

Juhua laughed. "There are so many. How could you possibly pick them all?"

When Meizi saw Juhua, she gave a quiet smile and asked, "Juhua, are you done with your work?" She was nothing like her old self, who would have laughed loudly and shouted, "Juhua, I came to find you!"

Juhua stared in surprise at this very different Meizi. ’How has she changed so much?’ she wondered.

Because her family was building a house, she hadn’t seen Meizi in quite some time. Meizi hadn’t even come over for the roof-beam raising celebration. Getting engaged really did change a person.

She smiled and said, "I’m not done at all. I just took care of the most urgent things first. These flowers won’t wait, so I thought I’d come pick some while it’s still morning. You two are up early, though."

Liu Xiaomei bent down to pick flowers as she spoke. "We have to be up early, don’t we? There’s still a pile of chores to do at home. A lot of the others went to the riverside to pick, so Meizi and I came here to Jing Lake to avoid the crowd."

As they talked, the three of them spread out and got busy, heads down and backs bent.

Meizi gradually moved closer to Juhua, coming to her side. Her hands never stopped moving as she asked, "Juhua, are you angry with me?"

Juhua glanced at her sideways. "I am angry. Why don’t you like my brother? You would have made a great sister-in-law."

Meizi froze awkwardly, stammering, unsure of what to say. Her hands stopped moving.

Seeing her reaction, Juhua chuckled. "I’m just teasing you. I knew for a long time that you liked Brother Changming. But that afternoon I went with you all to pick water bamboo shoot greens, so I wasn’t home. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let my mom agree to the engagement, and your mom wouldn’t have had to come over to break it off. My mom doesn’t blame you, so you can relax. She’s just sad to lose such a good daughter-in-law."

Meizi’s face turned red. "Your brother is so capable, and your family just built a new tiled-roof house," she said in a small voice. "He’ll definitely find a good wife in the future."

Juhua smiled. "I think so, too."

After a moment, she looked up at the no-longer-lively Meizi and asked seriously, "Meizi, have you really thought this through?"

Seeing Meizi hesitate slightly, she added, "Brother Changming is a good man. But you’ve never really suffered any hardships. To be honest, you don’t even work as much as I or Mei do. Are you sure you’re ready for a life with him?"

Meizi’s eyes reddened. She sniffled and said, "I have thought it through. My mom says this is a debt I owe him from a past life. Juhua, you’re clearly younger than me, but I always feel like you talk like my older sister—" ’That’s because I *am* much older than you,’ Juhua thought. "—I never used to take charge of things, and I’m not as good at managing a household as you and Mei. You two always have so much to say about chores and growing vegetables. From now on, I’m going to step up. My mom says being poor doesn’t matter, as long as you’re diligent. You can always make a good life for yourself. I can handle the hardship."

Seeing that Meizi understood the kind of life that awaited her, Juhua thought, ’This probably isn’t just a rash decision.’

Meizi added, "I’ll still come find you to hang out in the future. I want to talk more with you and Mei about raising chickens and growing vegetables. You won’t look down on me, will you?"

Juhua laughed. "Why would I look down on you? Just come over whenever you want. It would be better if you were your old self. I’m not used to you being like this."

Meizi smiled faintly.

Liu Xiaomei sidled over, asking what secrets they were sharing.

Perhaps because everything was out in the open and there were no more hard feelings, or perhaps because she felt relieved after unburdening herself, Meizi gradually became more talkative. She told them about some of the arrangements her family had made with the Li Family.

"My mom insisted that we live separately. That way, if we each work hard for a couple of years, we can build a good life. If we’re all jumbled together, and me being the new daughter-in-law, it would be hard for me to speak up."

When Liu Xiaomei asked about the wedding, she said, "We’ll get married next year, so I can stay with my mom for another year. Besides, I can do more needlework at home and save up some more for my dowry. Once I’m married and running my own household, who knows how busy I’ll be? It won’t be as easy as when I was just a daughter living at home. Right now, I’m busy making shoes. I want to make a few extra pairs for Brother Changming. He doesn’t even have a single decent pair."

The thought made her heart ache.

Juhua and Mei listened as she spoke so methodically about managing a household and discussed her own engagement without a trace of shyness. They exchanged a look, their surprise growing.

Liu Xiaomei noticed the needle pricks on Meizi’s fingertips and couldn’t help but say, "You don’t have to rush so much. Look at your hands, they’re covered in pricks. Even after you’re married, you’ll still have free time in the winter for needlework."

Meizi glanced at her hands nonchalantly. "I was always lazy before," she said. "I’d only sew insoles and mend clothes, but I dreaded sewing soles—I thought they were too thick. Now that I’m making shoes, I’m paying the price for it. These pricks are from a while ago. I’m much faster at making shoes now. I hardly ever poke myself anymore."

Juhua was truly stunned by her complete transformation. At first, she thought Meizi was just acting awkward around her because of the broken engagement with Qingmu. Who would have thought she had changed to her very core?

It was a kind of growth forced by life—heartbreaking, yet also gratifying. (To be continued)