After lunch, Ma Dala and Ma Tian, Liu Guihua went to the field to work, leaving Ma Di at home with Ma Duo. Seeing Ma Di playing listlessly with ants on the ground, Ma Duo said to him: "Little brother, go to the barn and bring some straw, Ill make something for you." Ma Di replied unenthusiastically: "Sister, what can you make for me? You cant even embroider flowers or make shoe pads. Mother also says youre not very clever, doesnt she?"

  "Wow, youre quite venomous for an 8-year-old! Youll be a handful when you grow up! Go fetch a bundle of straw, I had a divine old man teaching me all sorts of things in my sleep while I was unconscious these past two days." Mai Di ran off to the hayloft with mixed feelings, thinking that since they had plenty of straw at home anyway, hed just let his sister have her way and not tell their parents about it.

  Mai Di brought the straw into the house, and Mai Duo quickly picked out a handful of coarse ones, skillfully weaving them together. Two minutes later, a straw-woven treasure sword appeared vividly before her eyes, making Mai Di extremely excited. This was one of Mai Duos specialties when she was young. At that time, her parents were going to teach in remote mountainous areas and sent Mai Duo to her grandmothers house in the countryside. Her grandmother had a skillful hand at weaving, and as long as she saw the pattern, she could weave anything. Mai Duo learned from her and mastered the technique of weaving various toys and animal models with straw or bamboo branches.

  Mai Di grasped the "treasured sword" and brandished it about, laughing joyfully until his mouth corners nearly split to his ears.

  At noon, they had corn porridge for lunch, and in the evening, they still had thin corn porridge with a dish of salted vegetables. Ma Duo Duo looked around at the furnishings in the room and the clothes worn by the family members. He knew how poor this family was. At night when he went to sleep, he could hear the sighs of Ma Da Lang and Liu Gui Hua from next door: "Wife, we owe Luo Da Fu ten copper coins. Well have to sell our grain after autumn harvest to pay him back." Liu Gui Hua let out a deep sigh again: "Alas, what else can we do?"

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