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The Cloud Recesses is very quiet, though if one listens very carefully, they can hear scattered bits of music on the wind. And if one listens not very carefully, they can hear Lan Jingyi speaking at full volume, the way he often does.
“They’re back here!” he is shouting, as though he is trying to deafen every creature that exists on the back mountain. As though the two following after him don’t know where they’re going.
Well, that isn’t fair. Jin Rusong knows where he is going. He has come here many times with Papa Xichen in the past, even though he knows it’s against the rules to keep pets in the Cloud Recesses. He knows Papa says they aren’t pets, but he has a dog back home, so he knows what a pet is. But Jin Ling doesn’t know where they’re going. His younger cousin toddles along after him as he climbs up the rocks. Which he can do! Very easily, because he’s a big boy now, even though Mama is scared that he’ll fall down and hurt himself when he climbs up rocks. He thinks Mama is just being careful, but he’ll be careful for Mama.
Jingyi is ahead of them, with his hands cupped around his mouth to make him louder (like he needs that!) and just ahead of him, Rusong can see them! The bunnies! They’re all gathered up in the bamboo grove, and in their midst, lying on his side, he can see Uncle Wuxian. Like always, he has the bunnies all over him, and Rusong is convinced he has some sort of treat or magic that draws them to him. Rusong, with his hand in Jin Ling’s (so he doesn’t fall over, because he’s a baby still, even though he’s only half a year younger than Rusong) goes carefully over the rocks and roots to the clearing.
“Okay, A-Ling,” he says, turning to his cousin. “We have to be careful with the bunnies. Can you be careful, A-Ling?”
Jin Ling makes a face at him, a big frowny pout like he’s personally offended by the question. “Yes,” he says. “They’re little. I’m big! Ling-gege can do it.”
“You can!” says Rusong, because Papa is always encouraging to him, and he wants to be encouraging to Jin Ling in return. “Go play with the bunnies, A-Ling.”
“A-Ling can do it,” says Jin Ling, and he stays still for a moment to make sure he has his balance, before going along to where the bunnies are gathered around Uncle Wuxian.
“XIAN-GEGE,” says Jingyi, with his hands still cupped around his mouth. Rusong sees Uncle Wuxian startle, and around him, the bunnies scatter. The man himself begins to sit up, supporting himself slowly as he rises into a sit. His stomach is very round now, and has been steadily getting bigger over the last few months. Mama told Rusong back when Uncle Wuxian first started showing that he and Uncle Wangji are going to have a baby, like Papa, and that A-Yuan is going to be a big brother, like Rusong will be, like Jingyi and Jin Ling are.
“Gege!” says Rusong, with a few tears already gathering in his eyes. “You scared the bunnies! A-Ling hasn’t played with the bunnies yet!”
There is, suddenly, a bunny in front of him and A-Ling.
“Here,” says Uncle Wangji who has appeared from behind him like some sort of hero descending from the mist, and like a gift, Rusong takes the rabbit, supporting its legs and torso as he does, the way Papa taught him. He turns to Jin Ling, showing him the rabbit.
“Look!” he says, blinking away the tears like nothing happened at all. He is only peripherally aware of Jingyi launching himself toward Uncle Wuxian. “Look, A-Ling! It’s a bunny.”
“I know it’s a bunny!” says Jin Ling, who likes to know things and be right about them. Even though he’s only three-and-a-half, and Rusong knows more things than him because he’s four. “I know what a bunny is, A-Song.”
“Do you want to hold it?” He holds the bunny out to Jin Ling, who cradles his arms like he’s seen Jin Ling’s Mama do with his baby sister. Rusong figures, if it’s safe enough for a baby, it’s safe enough for a bunny, and slips the bunny into his arms. Jin Ling, upon holding it, goes completely still. It makes Rusong laugh, a little bubble, a little chime.
“Be careful with Mama!” From the bamboo grove comes A-Yuan, stepping tall and wide to account for his little legs over the terrain. “Mama is fragile!” He scurries forward, through the bamboo and makes his way to Jingyi. He grabs his robes and pulls at him, as if to pull him away from Uncle Wuxian.
“Xian-gege is fine,” says Jingyi, though he does move away, in order to, instead, throw himself at A-Yuan. “Hi, A-Yuan.”
“You have to be careful, though,” says A-Yuan. Rusong begins to tug Jin Ling in their direction, and Jin Ling goes, as though there is nary a thought in his head. “We can’t hurt the baby.”
“I’m not going to hurt the baby,” says Jingyi. “I’m very good with babies. Mama says so.”
Rusong doesn’t believe him, but he doesn’t say it out loud because Rusong’s Mama believes that certain things shouldn’t be said out loud, like whether or not someone is lying or whether or not he likes Grandpa Jin.
“I was good with A-Song when he was a baby, because I’m gege,” says Jingyi, and now Rusong knows he has to say something, because he cannot let this injustice stand. Neither Papa nor Baba would forgive him if he did.
“That’s because you were also a baby, A-Yi,” he says. Jingyi is only four months older than him, and Rusong has noticed that it doesn’t stop the boy from pretending he’s much, much older than that. Like he’s ancient or something, like Mama, Papa, and Baba, who are all probably really old. He assumes, since he doesn’t know how old any of them are. Mama would say it’s not important or any of his business since he’s a baby, and then would laugh when Rusong corrects him and tells him he’s not a baby.
“Well, I’m still your gege,” says Jingyi, and Rusong can’t argue with that. He guides Jin Ling, who is still frozen and holding a bunny, who is sniffling at his hands, down to sit among the stones, moss, and grass.
“A-Ling,” he says to get the younger boy’s attention. “Since you’re a gege, does your Mama let you hold your sister?”
“No,” says Jin Ling sadly. “Mama says I’m too small and A-Feng is too small.” He runs a hesitant hand over the bunny’s back, who is now resting on his knees. “But I can be careful. I wouldn’t hurt A-Feng.”
“I get to hold A-Song, all the time,” says Jingyi who scuttles over and drapes himself over his brother. “Like this. Maybe you can do that, A-Ling.”
“That would hurt A-Feng,” says Jin Ling. “You can’t touch a baby.”
“You could if you’re fast about it,” says Jingyi. “Like wham. They can’t be mad if they don’t see you.”
“Jingyi,” says Uncle Wangji, even though Uncle Wuxian is laughing in that bright, cackling way at his side.
“How fast do you have to be, A-Yi?” says Uncle Wuxian. He is leaned up against Uncle Wangji, and A-Yuan has curled up in his lap, expertly dodging the swell of his stomach, as he begins to stack bunnies all over Uncle Wuxian once again.
“Like wham!” Jingyi repeats, like that is enough information to get his point across. He jostles Rusong in his arms, to demonstrate how fast he’s going. “Like whomp!” Their heads knock together.
“A-YI!” Rusong yells, and his voice is verging on shrill as he does, but that does not stop Jingyi, who continues to shake him. “Let me go, stupid!”
“No!”
A-Yuan, unphased by Jingyi’s behavior, continues to stack the rabbits around Uncle Wuxian. Jin Ling has crawled over, very carefully, to join him in doing so. It appears as though he has become more comfortable around the creatures.
“Mama,” says A-Yuan. “Mama, can the baby feel the bunnies?”
“Hmm,” Uncle Wuxian hums. “I think so, little radish. Maybe they can even hear the bunnies sniffing. A-Ling, are you also giving the baby some bunnies?”
“Yeah,” says Jin Ling, and his nervousness has shifted over into determination. “Giving the baby all of the bunnies.”
“Ah!” says Jingyi. “We should bring some bunnies for our baby.”
Rusong peels Jingyi off of him so that he can round on his brother. He grabs Jingyi’s face, like he’s expecting it to be the only thing that will calm the other boy down. Expectedly, it does not. Jingyi is still jostling about under his hands.
“We can’t,” he says. “Mama said to stay with the bunnies until he and Papa are done with work.”
“Good boy, A-Song,” says Uncle Wuxian. “Listen to your Mama.”
Uncle Wangji hums in agreement, and Rusong feels warm and happy that the adults are agreeing with him. Jingyi frowns.
“But I want our baby to have bunnies too.”
“Well, when Mama and Papa come to get us, we can give Papa some bunnies.”
They stay with Uncle Wuxian and Uncle Wangji in the grove until the sun sinks just above the horizon line. It takes a lot to keep the boys in order, but between Lan Yuan and Rusong, they manage themselves just fine. Jingyi, does vanish at one point, into the grove of bamboo, and reappears in Uncle Wangji’s arms with a big toad in his hands. When Rusong asks where he found it, he wouldn’t say, and Rusong, to Jingyi’s disappointment, lets the matter drop, as he was more interested in the bunnies anyway, and lets his brother know it loudly.
Through a breach in the bamboo, they see Rusong’s Mama first, in his golden robes and hat, as he traverses down the steps that lead to the bunnies’ home. On seeing him, Rusong beams and runs to him, throwing himself into his legs. He is quickly picked up.
“Hello there, baby,” says Mama, and then Rusong can see Papa who is coming up behind him and settles a hand on Rusong’s head. Papa is getting round, like Uncle Wuxian, but isn’t quite that big. Mama says the baby still needs more time before they’re ready to come out, unlike Uncle Wuxian’s, who could join them any day now, apparently.
“MAMA,” Jingyi yells.
“A-Yi,” says Papa. “We need to use our talking voice, remember?”
“NO!”
Uncle Wuxian laughs at this, throwing his head back. “What a kid! Must be the Chifeng-zun in him.”
“I promise you, Mingjue knows and respects the rules,” says Papa. “Were they good, Wangji?”
Rusong does not know why Papa specifically asks Uncle Wangji this, but he can see that it doesn’t break Uncle Wuxian’s good spirits, as he laughs once more. Rusong giggles, only because he wants to laugh with Uncle Wuxian, even if he doesn’t know what’s funny. Mama gives him a kiss on the head.
“Mn,” says Uncle Wangji. “Jingyi found a toad.”
“And where did A-Yi find this toad?” Papa has gone into the grove now, and knelt down next to Jingyi, who smiles at him and pulls the toad back out from wherever it was he was keeping it in his robes.
“In the woods!”
“Did A-Yi tell someone he was going into the woods before he went and found Mr. Toad?”
Jingyi smiles. “He did not!”
“And will A-Yi, please, in the future, tell your Uncle Wangji that you’re going into the woods before you do?” There’s something dull in Papa’s voice, but Rusong is too concerned with scrambling out of his Mama’s arms in order to enact the bunny plan to really notice.
“He will not!” says Jingyi, who catches Rusong’s eye and brightens further. “MAMA!”
“Please, quieter, A-Yi.”
“Does the baby want bunnies?” he asks, in a somewhat quieter voice. “A-Yuan’s baby got bunnies, and A-Song and I think our baby should have some too.”
“Your baby sibling?”
“Yeah, that’s what I said.” He scrambles away and scoops a rabbit up into his arms. Rusong does so as well, and looks at Papa with his deadliest eyes, the ones that always make Mama let him stay up or give him another story when he uses them. He can see exactly the moment when Papa folds. He takes the rabbit from Rusong with a soft sigh and looks back, cradling it.
“They want to give the baby rabbits,” he says.
“Oh, I heard,” says Mama. “Do you boys want some help?”
“A-Yao.”
“Go lie down next to Wuxian, A-Huan.”
Like he has no other option, Papa obeys, with his arms full of bunnies. He sits first, beside Uncle Wuxian, and then lays back against a rock, cushioned by moss. He takes a deep breath, cradling the rabbits.
Rusong, who followed him over, watches as his Mama grabs a bunny and places it on Papa’s lap.
“Come boys,” says Mama. “Let’s give the baby some bunnies.”