MLH | Chapter 8

Three people squeezed onto one bed, Fang Zichen had half his body hanging out of the bed all night and hadn’t turned over once. Coupled with the few blows he had taken from the wooden stick earlier, when he got up in the morning, there wasn’t a single place on his body that didn’t hurt.

Zhao-ge’er and Guai Zai had gotten up before dawn. Fang Zichen scooped some water from the water vat to wash his face, then sat bored on the threshold.

He had originally planned to go to the town today, but after the fuss last night, Zhao-ge’er said they would wait until the day after tomorrow. The day after tomorrow just happened to be market day, so they could go along with the others. Fang Zichen didn’t mind, so he agreed.

He had fallen asleep quickly at night, so he hadn’t gotten up too late. At this moment, the edge of the sky was faintly red, and the sun had just risen.

On a summer morning, the mist in the mountains was heavy. There was nowhere to go at home, and the water vat was full too. He didn’t know where Zhao-ge’er had taken his son so early in the morning.

More than ten minutes passed before Zhao-ge’er came back carrying a bundle of firewood on his back.

Guai Zai walked beside him, holding a bunch of muddy wild vegetables in his arms. The hems of both father and son’s pants were already wet.

Seeing how big the bundle of firewood on his back was, Fang Zichen knew this person must have gone out when it was barely light.

“Father.” Guai Zai was the first to call out to him.

He ran over, gave Guai Zai’s cheek a rub, ignored Zhao-ge’er’s refusal, and directly took the firewood off his back, “Why did you go pick up firewood so early in the morning?”

The firewood had been gathered from Nanshan, and after carrying it for so long, Zhao-ge’er’s breathing was uneven, “There was none at home.”

“Then you could have called me too, it’s so heavy, weren’t you exhausted?” Fang Zichen hoisted the firewood. He didn’t climb like Zhao-ge’er did, his steps were light as if it took no effort at all, and his words sounded casual too, but they warmed the heart.

Zhao-ge’er’s tired, cool body gradually warmed up, and the sourness in his heart was hard to describe.

“Not tired,” he lowered his eyelids and led Guai Zai to walk at his side, saying, “I’m used to it.”

Fang Zichen glanced at him, “You’re not made of iron. Such a big bundle of firewood, I could see it from far away just now, I didn’t even see you. ”He freed one hand to rub the top of Guai Zai’s slightly yellow, rough hair, and said, “Going out to work first thing in the morning like this, look at how Guai Zai’s pants are wet. To anyone who doesn’t know, they’d think I was abusing my stepson!”

Zhao-ge’er: “·····”

Fang Zichen: “I’m a good stepfather, you know.”

“……”

The west room was empty and no one lived in it. Last time the village chief had torn off the door to use as his bed board, it had split off a piece as wide as a lower leg, and that had been thrown into the west room by He Xi. Fang Zichen wanted to take that little wooden plank and widen the bed a bit. He fiddled around with it, and when he heard Zhao-ge’er say he was going out to work, Fang Zichen didn’t think much of it and just gave an “mm.”

By mealtime, the bed had been fixed up, but Zhao-ge’er still hadn’t come back. Fang Zichen wanted to go and cook the porridge first. There wasn’t much grain at home, and they hadn’t eaten breakfast, so his stomach was already growling. Just as he was adding water to the pot, Guai Zai ran in from outside.

His little face was covered in sweat, and the hem of his clothes had been rolled up to make a pouch. It was bulging inside, exposing a small stretch of his white, tender, and flat belly.

“Father.” Guai Zai called out.

Fang Zichen accepted it calmly, his gaze landing on that red little face, and there was already not a trace of discomfort left in his heart.

People’s adaptability was really fucking strong, he had only been called a few times, and he himself had already entered the role.

Fang Zichen pointed at the big pouch on his belly and asked, “What’s in there?”

“Sweet potatoes,” Guai Zai said. He was already speaking very fluently, only a few characters still weren’t pronounced particularly standard: “Dad helped Granny He do work, they gave sweet potatoes.”

“Sweet potatoes are tasty, give them to Father.”

Fang Zichen laughed when he heard that, “Didn’t I pick up frogs for you for nothing?”

Guai Zai opened the cloth pouch on his clothes. Inside were only five sweet potatoes, each the size of a fist, all dug broken by a hoe, missing arms or legs, not a single one intact.

Fang Zichen wasn’t unfamiliar with sweet potatoes. In the past, there had been a stall selling them at the school gate, roasted until they smelled delicious. His second brother had bought him a few, sweet, soft, and glutinous, pretty tasty.

But the family’s conditions weren’t convenient. Fang Zichen thought about it, washed them clean, and threw them all into the pot.

Boiled should be tasty too… probably!

The sun outside was blazing, just the hottest time of the day. Guai Zai was back, and Fang Zichen thought Zhao-ge’er would be back soon too, but after the sweet potatoes were cooked, there wasn’t even a single hair at the doorway.

Fang Zichen ate one, then peeled one for Guai Zai. When he finished eating, he put the rest into the broken basket Zhao-ge’er had previously used to hold wild vegetables.

Fang Zichen crouched down and asked Guai Zai, “Shall we go find your dad?”

“Okay,” Guai Zai looked at the basket, “Send sweet potatoes to Dad.”

“Do you still remember where your dad is?”

“I remember.”

Although Guai Zai was only three, Zhao-ge’er took him with him whenever he went up the mountain to cut firewood, went to the fields to work, or searched for wild vegetables. If he were a bit sturdier, he’d have trampled Little River Village flat. In that palm-sized Little River Village, there was nowhere he didn’t know.

After leaving the house and walking along the narrow path, it wasn’t long before Fang Zichen felt dizzy all over. Even the air he breathed into his nose was hot, the wild grass by the roadside had been scorched into limpness, and looking out over the fields, there wasn’t a single person in sight.

That was true, nobody dared to be so reckless.

Fang Zichen picked up Guai Zai and broke off a branch to shade their heads. After walking not long, he saw Zhao-ge’er working in the field.

“……”

…There really was someone reckless enough to risk his life.

“Dad is there.” Guai Zai shouted, “Dad~”

Zhao-ge’er was swinging his hoe. Hearing that, he wiped the sweat off and turned his head, seeming not all that surprised to see Fang Zichen.

His somewhat darkened face was sweating again, drops falling one by one. The clothes on his back were already damp and stuck to his spine, wet and stuffy. The weather was hot too, making him look especially uncomfortable. He had been working continuously without a break, and by now his whole body was already drained of strength.

Zhao-ge’er leaned on the hoe, his whole body swaying.

Fang Zichen hurried over to support him.

“I’m fine.” His voice was hoarse, like he had been thirsty for too long.

Fang Zichen put his arm over his own shoulder and forcefully dragged him under the shade of the tree, actually getting angry at him for once, “Still fine? Is it only when you faint and can’t wake up, when you’re stiff, that it counts as a problem?” He took out a bowl of water from the basket and handed it over, “Hurry and drink some. If anything happens to you, I’d fucking have to become a widower. My newly married husband turns cold right after entering the door, people might think I bring bad luck to my wife!”

Zhao-ge’er’s hand shook when he took the bowl, and he looked at him wordlessly.

“Why are you looking at me? Can looking at me quench your thirst?” Fang Zichen urged him, “Drink it quickly!”

“Dad~” Guai Zai handed over the peeled sweet potato, “Eat.”

“You’re good,” Zhao-ge’er said, seeing that there were still two left in the basket. He looked at Fang Zichen, “Have you eaten?”

“Mm!” Fang Zichen said, “We cooked them and didn’t see you come back, so Guai Zai and I ate first.”

Zhao-ge’er lowered his eyes and took a bite. The sweet, glutinous fragrance instantly filled his whole mouth, “I won’t be able to go back until night. Granny He’s family planted a lot of sweet potatoes this year.”

Most people in Little River Village had the surname He. Fang Zichen had only been here two days, and besides the village chief and the Ma family group, he hadn’t interacted with anyone else, so he didn’t know who was who.

Which Granny He was that?

His tone turned a little heavy as he asked, “Then where are they?”

“It’s hot, they went back,” Zhao-ge’er answered, “They’ll come again in the afternoon.”

Fang Zichen: “Then why don’t you go back too?”

From just now on, his tone had been off, sounding like he wasn’t very happy.

Zhao-ge’er pinched the remaining half of the sweet potato and didn’t speak.

Fang Zichen was soft-hearted, and he felt for people. Zhao-ge’er wasn’t stupid, he knew he was angry that he was working so recklessly. Last night, he had also said those things to comfort him. But there wasn’t much food at home, and Fang Zichen was very fussy, he couldn’t even eat wild vegetable porridge, while sweet potatoes were tastier than wild vegetables, so he had thought to come help with the work and bring some back. He hadn’t expected to make him unhappy.

“Why aren’t you talking?”

He stammered, “Granny He said that because I worked more, she’d give me a few extra.”

Actually, Granny He’s original words were even more than that.

She meant for Zhao-ge’er to finish digging this patch of land together with the noon work.

This wasn’t the first time Zhao-ge’er had helped their family work. They had agreed on three copper coins a day, and she wanted him to stand in her field before dawn and only let him leave when the moon came out.

She was top-notch when it came to exploiting people.

Hearing that, Fang Zichen nearly laughed.

Sweet potatoes were that precious these days? Enough to make someone work so recklessly.

“You rest. I’ll help you later,” Fang Zichen said, “That whatever Granny He and Auntie He aren’t human. To dare exploit people like this, if this were when I had money, I’d have made her eat a slap.”

……

Outside was truly scorching. Even hiding in the shade of the tree, sweat kept pouring out as if it didn’t cost money. Actually, Fang Zichen wanted to drag him back right then and there, but they had already been at it all morning, and the sweet potatoes had been dug halfway. If they went back now, wouldn’t they have done all that work for nothing, only to cheapen Granny He?

That wouldn’t do.

He absolutely wasn’t going back.

Even if he were scorched to death, he wasn’t going back.

Sweet potatoes were worth more than life.

……

After resting for half an hour, Fang Zichen shouldered the hoe and went back to the field.

The sweet potato vines had already been cut back by Granny He and taken away, leaving the dry cracked soil bare.

Fang Zichen had never worked before, and at this moment, holding the hoe, he didn’t really know where to start.

But he learned quickly. He called Zhao-ge’er over and had him demonstrate a couple of times. After watching a few times, he immediately felt that he had already mastered this skill.

“I’ll do it! You go back and rest,” he said.

“You’ve learned it?” Zhao-ge’er asked in confusion.

“Of course!” Fang Zichen said confidently, “It’s not some high-tech task, it’s simple.”

Hearing him speak so confidently, Zhao-ge’er said, “Then don’t dig up the sweet pota…”

Fang Zichen brought the hoe down, and exactly three sweet potatoes were nailed onto the hoe.

Fang Zichen: “····”

Turns out there really was specialization in the trades.

After less than five minutes of work, under Zhao-ge’er’s somewhat anxious and impossible-to-describe gaze, Fang Zichen sheepishly handed the hoe back, “·····For this kind of job that really needs skill, it still has to be a professional like you! I’ll provide support from the side.”

“You go rest,” Zhao-ge’er raised his head, his gaze brushing over Fang Zichen’s sunburnt face. He pressed his lips together, “I’ll do it faster, we can finish digging before dark.”

Looking at the half basket of broken sweet potatoes, and at Zhao-ge’er’s expression from just now, “You talk so big, and yet you’re this bad” or whatever it was, Fang Zichen didn’t know if it was the sun or what, but he felt his face burning badly, “You dig, I’ll pick them up. Hurry up, hurry up, don’t look at me, I know I’m handsome.”

He forcibly held onto his dignity, but his tone couldn’t help turning weak. Zhao-ge’er’s mouth curved slightly, and he said nothing, just gave an “oh” and went back to digging sweet potatoes.

The basket had been carried home by Granny He, so Fang Zichen just gathered the sweet potatoes into a pile. Guai Zai ran over and said he wanted to help. Fang Zichen pinched his cheek, feeling like his throat was already starting to burn, “No need, I can’t even take it. If you get sun-dried into a human stick, who’s going to support me in my old age later? Be good, go wait under the tree. When I’m done, I’ll take you to catch bugs to feed your frogs.”

Guai Zai pouted, “I can work.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Fang Zichen brushed him off, “Look,” he picked out a big sweet potato and showed it to Guai Zai, “it’s even bigger than your head. Go back under the tree and take a nap, and try to wake up bigger than it.”

Guai Zai stared at the sweet potato in his hand without moving. He cajoled him slowly, “As a man, do you know which two places can’t be small?”

Guai Zai touched his own head, “Don’t know.”

Fang Zichen hooked up his lips and raised his brows, smiling, “Of course it’s your head and your little brother.”

“What?” Guai Zai tilted his head, looking puzzled.

“It’s the little bird in your crotch that hasn’t grown feathers yet,” Fang Zichen said.

What?

Guai Zai’s eyes went wide. He looked down and yanked at his pants immediately, inside there was nothing at all, “…Father,” he seemed very disappointed, his little face drooping, “there’s no little bird!”

Fang Zichen: “Hahahahaha~ How can there not be one! If there isn’t, wouldn’t that make you a eunuch, hahaha~”

Zhao-ge’er endured and endured, but in the end he couldn’t hold back and cut in from the side, “Don’t teach him bad things.”

Fang Zichen refused to take the blame, “How can you say that! I’m teaching him to recognize relatives, the things between us men, if you don’t understand then don’t talk nonsense, it really ruins people’s reputation.”

“Come here.” When Guai Zai came closer, Fang Zichen tugged at his pants and flicked his little penis, saying, “Isn’t this a little bird? This is the symbol of us men, you have to protect him well, it’ll be useful later, understand?”

Zhao-ge’er: “·····”

“Mm!” Guai Zai didn’t understand, but that didn’t stop him from nodding.

Seeing how obedient and well-behaved he was, though thin and sallow, he still couldn’t hide his outstanding features. Thinking of the ge’er in this world who looked exactly like men, Fang Zichen said again, “In the future, don’t let others pull your pants around randomly. Whoever does that, curse him as a变态.”

Guai Zai: “What’s 变态?”

Fang Zichen: “It’s a bad person who specially takes advantage of people and touches their butts.”

Guai Zai knitted his brows, his voice as soft as a mosquito’s, “Father and Dad are not 变态.”

Fang Zichen immediately said, “I definitely am not!” He looked at Zhao-ge’er and smiled. The other person met his eyes with a pure and harmless little round face, and as he looked, a streak of wicked amusement suddenly grew in his heart. He tossed the sweet potato in his hand, raised his brows, and said in a very annoying voice, “But whether your dad is, I really don’t know.”

Zhao-ge’er: “·····”

Maybe he was tired and dazed, or maybe Fang Zichen’s smile standing in the sunlight was too dazzling at that moment, or maybe the short time they had spent together had given Zhao-ge’er courage. By the time he reacted, the fist-sized clod of dirt in his hand had already been thrown out.

Fang Zichen: “·····”

Fang Zichen froze completely.

That狠?