The litchi orchards of Lingnan were dripping with sparkling morning dew when Zhang Yifan's Wooden Ox team stepped onto the bluestone pavement. With a squelch, an ox hoof crushed a fully ripened litchi, the sticky juice making Huwa's carving knife slip—he was lying prone across the ox's back, decorating its horns with litchi-shaped grotesque faces.
"Hey, little guy!" Zhang Yifan walked over, clicking his abacus. "Are you smearing litchi honey on the Wooden Ox as an insect repellent?"
Wielding his honey-dripping knife with litchi shell fragments still clinging to the tip of his nose, Huwa answered triumphantly, "Brother Fan, look! This honey is mixed with Lingnan cinnamon powder. Bugs think it's sweet with just a tiny hint of spice—it attracts even more bugs than Sister Xiaoxiu's sachet!"
Chapter 43