The Village Head kept his head down, puffing on his old, dry pipe… "Alas, the Hu family has suffered enough.

The husband is gone, and now the wife is gone too." The old woman paused, tracing a line on her forehead with a needle, and sighed, "Those two children are truly left to suffer." "Is that so?" The Village Head exhaled a plume of smoke.

Tap, tap, tap.

The Village Head knocked the dottle out of his pipe against his boot heel.

In just a few taps, the ash was gone.

He wrapped the dry pipe around its stem, tucked it into his waistband, and stood up, starting toward the door… "Old man, where are you going now?" the old woman asked, pausing her needlework.

"Now that you mention it, something just occurred to me," the Village Head replied, turning back.

"It seems to be raining outside," the old woman observed.

"Take an umbrella." The Village Head opened the door and