"Hehe, master, you can think about it."
The little chick was overjoyed, fluttering its delicate little wings, gliding on the water, and making the basket float quickly towards the nearby village.
***********
Woniu Village, hidden at the foot of Qilian Mountain, is a secluded small village with only a dozen households.
Most of the residents in the village rely on hunting in the mountains and chopping firewood for a living. Men with good water skills will also cast nets in shallow water to catch fish, dig loaches, and catch river crabs in shallow water to improve their lives.
The dawn is rising, and the brilliant glow reflects the red sky. By the clear and shallow river, the hardworking peasant women made breakfast, chatting and laughing in twos and threes, carrying buckets to fetch water, washing dishes, and scrubbing clothes.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa."
The baby's delicate and soft cry came down the wind. Li Xiu'e, who was alone on the bluestone by the river, was scrubbing and washing her clothes. Her heart trembled. Following the cry, she saw a bamboo basket floating along the water, and she could vaguely see that it was wrapped in a quilt petite figure.
"Father, come quickly, there is a child in the river, go and fetch the basket."
Li Xiu'e subconsciously called out to her husband, her heart tightened uncontrollably, secretly worrying about the child who had drifted from nowhere.
"Plop!"
What answered her was the sound of her husband Su Hu rushing out from the courtyard wall closest to the river bank when he heard the shout, and jumped into the water without hesitation.
The river water in late autumn was icy cold, Su Hu didn't care about the cold water, he paddled and pulled the water vigorously with all his limbs, and swam towards the basket with all his strength.
There are still so many good people!
The little bird's nimble black eyes flashed with emotion, flapping its delicate little wings, it made the basket quickly approach Su Hu.
"Gululu..."
Su Hu popped his head out of the water, spat out a few mouthfuls of cold river water, pushed the basket with his right hand from behind, turned and swam back.
Su Hu sensitively noticed that a gust of cold wind blew by, and the frequency of his paddling increased a lot.
"Ah Choo!"
Su Hu was shivering from the cold wind, and couldn't help but sneezed.
Fortunately, with the help of the cold wind, the frequency of paddling became faster and faster. After a while, he returned to the shore, stood up from the shallow water with his basket in his arms, and ran to the shore while wading through the water.
"Father, the river is cold, go home and change clothes."
Li Xiu'e was overjoyed when she saw her husband returned safely. Seeing that he was wet all over, and afraid of catching cold and getting sick, Li Xiu'e swiftly put away the unwashed clothes and ran to her yard with her.
"Poor thing, it's a little girl."
Su Hu let his wife pull him, looked at the little baby girl in the basket, felt pity, and couldn't help but grow resentment towards his parents who abandoned him.
"Which family is so devoid of conscience and humanity, the newborn child is cruelly thrown into the river and left to fend for itself."
"Looking at the clothes she's wearing, she may be from a wealthy family."
Women are more sensitive to external clothes and appearance. Li Xiu'e glanced at the brocade quilt wrapping the little baby girl, and roughly guessed her origin.
***
The two couples ran back to their small adobe courtyard, and Su Hu went into the house with a basket in his arms to change clothes. The moment he stepped over the threshold, he was shivering from the cold, and turned to tell his wife.
"It's very cold in the room, and the newborn baby is afraid of the cold. You take some charcoal from the kitchen, put it in the house, and bake the bed, so as not to freeze the baby."
"Understood, you can change your clothes first, and I will come as soon as I light the fire."
Li Xiu'e immediately agreed, turned around and walked to the kitchen, and after a while, there was a faint green smoke from the chimney.
After Su Hu changed his clothes, Li Xiu'e walked into the house with a pot of burning firewood and placed it at his feet.