Living on a Mountain with my Husband

Chapter 21: Climbing the Mountain

After Zimo had calmed down they both got up and prepared to leave. They had packed the cart last night, all that was left was hooking up the old mule to the cart ad leaving.

Just as they walked out of the room, Mrs Li appeared and called out to them.

"Wait. Come here and eat."

"Mrs Li, thank you but we can't take your food." LongWei said.

"What do you mean? Do you plan on walling up the mountain on an empty stomach? Did you forget what the doctor said about nourishing your bodies? You can't skip a meal. Now quick come sit down and eat a little porridge and take these buns to eat on the road. I won't take no for an answer." She said, determined to feed them.

Eating a warm meal early in the morning felt comforting. Zimo was however a little sad. Living in the Li's house had a warmth he had longed for his whole two lives.

Mrs Li noticed Zimo's downcast mood.

"What's wrong XiaoMo? Does it not taste good? Are you feeling sick?"

"No, I'm just a little nervous about moving to the mountain." He said as he gave a simple smile.

...

After preparing tying the mule up to the cart the two finally left.

The morning air was a little cool but it also carried a fresh scent of plants and dew. Zimo was still a little quiet as he looked around them.

"Do you want to drives the cart?" LongWei asked. LongWei had noticed Zimo's fluctuating moods and wanted to help. He wasn't sure what to say, but he realized early on that Zimo enjoyed learning new things. They were still on the well beaten path, so it would not be hard to learn.

Zimo's eyes quickly lit up as he smiled and nodded his head in excitement.

"Can I really learn? I have never driven anything before." He asked.

"It isn't hard. First take the reins. One in each hand and hold them firmly. Not too tight or you will hurt the mule... that's good.... Now up ahead there is a fork in the road. We want to go to the left. To make the mule turn, firmly pull on the rein in your left hand. Make sure you pull it slowly, if you pull to fast and hard, the mule will think you want to turn around instead..." LongWei patiently explained, step-by-step how to drives the mule.

Surprisingly, Zimo quickly improved, and by the time they needed to leave the path he was quite proficient.

"Dear, should we switch?" Zimo asked.

LongWei thought about it a moment, and decided to let Zimo continue to drive. They weren't on the smooth path anymore, but there weren't any big obstacles found along the rivers edge that would be troublesome.

"You can continue to drives. Just follow the river. Once e get to the base of the mountain we can take a break and I will take over."

"Okay." Zimo was happy he could continue to drive, he really enjoyed it.

...

At around ten in the morning, they reached the base of the mountain. It wasn't too hot yet, but the sun had started to heat up. LongWei decided to stop the cart and take a short break before continuing forward.

"Zimo, eat one of the buns Mrs Li gave us, she handed us three each, so if we eat one now, we can save the other two for the afternoon." LongWei instructed.

"How long will it take to reach the cabin?" Zimo asked.

"On average it would take two or three hours. With our current speed and because we are taking the river path up which has an easier slope. It will take much longer then normal. I estimate we will arrive roughly two in the afternoon." LongWei said.

He hadn't often taken the river's path since it was much longer, but they weren't in a rush or in the best health. As long as they could reach the cabin before dark it would be okay.

...

They sat down under a willow tree by the edge of the river. The leaves shaded them from the sun and the breeze felt cool.

"Dear, do you know how to swim?" Zimo asked curiously.

"I do. Do you want to learn? If there is anything you don't know, ask and I can teach you." LongWei answered. He did not want Zimo to be shy or restrained. If he had any questions or things he wanted, LongWei hoped he could give all of it to him.

After they finished eating the climbed up the cart again. This time LongWei took the rains. The path would become steeper from this point on and it wasn't maintained. The risk was too high, it would take some more practice before Zimo could do it, but LongWei planned to help him learn.

The further they travelled the denser the forest became. With more trees LongWei had to be more careful. He sometimes had to maneuver around the trees are take a little detour.

In the tree not far ahead, Zimo spotted a little brown bird.he grabbed LongWei's sleeve and pointed at it excitedly.

"Look, look! It's a Hwamei. Aren't they beautiful. The brown color makes them hard to see. Isn't it beautiful?"

"Um."LongWei nodded but he preferred to look at the little. Rudy next to him.

"Look, look! There are some rabbits. They are very cute."

"They are also delicious." LongWei said as he stopped the cart and grabbed his bow from the back.

"Wait! Are you planning on catching it, but it's so cute." Zimo looked at LongWei, not quite happy.

"They are cute, but also delicious. We need to include some meat for nourishment." LongWei looked back and answered him before turning back and walking into the woods.

It wasn't long before LongWei came back with a dead rabbit and something moving in the little basket he had brought with him.

Zimo was sad seeing the dead rabbit held up by its ears. But he understood that meat was important.

"Dear, why is it moving?" Zimo asked curiously as he looked at the small basket in LongWei's other hand.

"A gift."

Zimo looked closer, inside the basket was a small little baby rabbit. It was very cute, with its nose twitching as it huddled at the bottom of the basket.

"It so small. Do you thinks the other rabbit is it's mother?" Zimo asked a little worried about killing the baby rabbit's mother.

"It probably was, but I don't see any other babies in the area. It's possible the rest of the family was killed by a fox or other predator. If we leave the rabbit here, it won't survive. Do you want to take it with us?" LongWei said.

Hearing this Zimo was cheered up. He had always wanted a pet. However he was also a little scared. Would they need to kill the little rabbit once it grew bigger? Zimo looked at LongWei as he asked.

"This rabbit, will it be a pet? You don't want to raise it for food, do you?"

"Hehe... no if you want it we won't eat it, but I won't stop hunting and cooking rabbit, simply because we have one as a pet. If your okay with this, let's take it with us." LongWei laughed as he reassured Zimo.

They placed the dead rabbit in the back after draining the blood before leaving again. Zimo decided to hold the baby rabbit in his arms, he was worried it might try to jump out.

They had been travelling for several hours now and despite not doing anything strenuous Zimo was beginning to feel a sleepy. Without realizing it he had leaned over and fallen asleep against LongWei's shoulder.

The ride was bumpy, but LongWei protected his sleeping bird by changing his position and wrapping his left arm across his back placing his hand gently over the side of his face to support his head.