MLH | Chapter 12

“Zhao ge’er?” Fang Zichen hurried over, and when he saw Zhao ge’er’s red, swollen eyes, even his tone sank.

“Why are you here? And crying? Were you bullied?”

Zhao ge’er’s legs had gone numb from squatting, and when he stood up he staggered twice. Fang Zichen was about to help him, but Zhao ge’er grabbed his hand back with one swift motion.

Zhao ge’er held his hand tightly and lowered his head without speaking.

Fang Zichen looked at him, blinked, and only then realized, “You weren’t thinking I’d run off and leave you to be a widower, so you got upset and cried, were you.”

“I…” Zhao ge’er couldn’t say anything.

That was exactly what had happened.

He had spent the entire afternoon, or rather ever since parting from Fang Zichen, waiting. Unfortunately, no matter how long he waited, until it was dark, he still hadn’t seen Fang Zichen come back. He had left the obedient boy with Brother Zhou’s family and come here to the village entrance by himself.

He didn’t know whether he would actually be able to wait for him, but when Fang Zichen left, he had said he would come back, so he believed him.

But believing it didn’t mean he wasn’t uneasy.

Especially since he had that dream again last night, he always felt uncertain.

Seeing him hesitate and falter, Fang Zichen knew.

He only found it funny, while at the same time some indescribable feeling was also growing in his heart.

“I said I’d come back, so I will come back,” he comforted him. “You and the obedient boy are here, where else could I go? Even if I leave, I’ll take you with me.”

They had already been bound together. No matter in what form, from the moment Zhao ge’er knelt before him and he said he would marry him, they had already become an inseparable whole.

Zhao ge’er’s hand tightened, and he turned his head to look at him, desperately wanting a promise. “Really?”

His voice still carried a nasal sound from crying, and when he looked at him, there was unhidden hope in his eyes. Under that gaze, Fang Zichen couldn’t say anything more.

He only nodded and gave an “Mm.”

Zhao ge’er sniffled, then couldn’t help laughing.

He was already nineteen years old, and even though he was already a father, Zhao ge’er’s features were still young. He also hadn’t matured enough to hide all his good and bad emotions. His emotions were all on the surface, his thoughts clean and plain, so people could see through him at a glance.

Fang Zichen unconsciously reached out and wiped his face once. “Next time, don’t cry in a place like this. In the middle of the night, it’s like there’s a ghost.”

Zhao ge’er: “······”

The sadness in his heart suddenly disappeared, and he felt a little angry.

“I bought you steamed buns,” Fang Zichen changed the subject.

Zhao ge’er was surprised. “You found work?”

“Mm!” Fang Zichen took the purse off his waist and handed it to him. “Look, this is what I earned in half an afternoon. Impressive, right.”

Zhao ge’er only felt the purse was heavy.

He touched the slightly raised stitched patch on it, a little absent-minded. This purse had been made from scraps that he had picked up when Madam Ma made new clothes for New Year. The colors were this patch of blue, that patch of purple, and it looked very ugly. He had worn it close to his body for many years, and it had never held this many copper coins before. Usually, just after he put in a few and before they were even warm, they were already spent again.

Before, he only felt safe when there were copper coins in the purse. Now it was different.

Zhao ge’er handed the purse back. “You take it!”

Fang Zichen thought about it, took ten wen from it, and put them in his palm. “You keep this for saving. I’ll carry the rest. Tomorrow I’m going to work and buy some things on the way back. It’s too late today, there wasn’t time.”

“You’re going again tomorrow?”

“Mm! The manager said they’re short-handed these few days.”

“Then can I go with you?”

“No,” Fang Zichen stuffed the steamed bun into his hand. “Eat quickly!”

Zhao ge’er pressed his lips together and took small bites out of the steamed bun.

The steamed bun was soft, and when he chewed it slowly, there was still a faint sweetness on the tip of his tongue.

“It’s really good,” he said.

After eating one, Zhao ge’er refused to eat any more no matter what. He asked Fang Zichen to take it back, and went to Brother Zhou’s family to pick up the child.

When the obedient boy got home and saw Fang Zichen, he clung to him very closely. It was impossible to tell whether Zhao ge’er had said something to him, or whether this child was naturally delicate-minded, but he seemed to have sensed Zhao ge’er’s restlessness all day. He stared at Fang Zichen and had plainly become his tail, following him wherever he went.

There was only one set of clothes that could be worn out. Fang Zichen rinsed himself in the courtyard and put on the short-sleeved shirt he had worn here. Zhao ge’er helped wash his clothes beside him.

After wringing them dry and hanging them up for the night, they could be worn again in the morning.

Fang Zichen sat under the eaves and watched the obedient boy stand quietly beside him holding a steamed bun bigger than his face, and felt a little amused.

“Why have you been following me all night?” Fang Zichen teased him. “Aren’t you afraid one fart from me will blast you away?”

The obedient boy clenched the steamed bun in his hand. “Watching father.”

The words came out without any basis, but Fang Zichen just understood them. He was not very old, not yet at the age where he would like children as soon as he saw them, but with the obedient boy, he just liked him for no reason. Maybe it was because he was too sensible, his background too pitiful. He pulled the obedient boy between his legs and held him there. “Father isn’t going anywhere, don’t worry. Eat quickly, aren’t steamed buns tasty?”

“They’re tasty,” the obedient boy said.

“Then eat quickly!” Fang Zichen pinched his face. “Poor little thing, you’re not even as big as the village chief’s piglet. When father makes money in the future, I’ll try to raise you fat and plump, okay?”

“Okay.” The obedient boy became happy, took a tiny bite of the steamed bun, and his eyes immediately lit up. Then he pushed the bun toward Fang Zichen’s mouth. “The steamed bun is tasty, father should eat too.”

Fang Zichen felt greatly comforted.

This child was filial!

Raising him up wouldn’t be a loss.

“You eat it. I already ate. This is for you.”

“Thank you, father.”

The obedient boy was small, and his appetite wasn’t big. Even when he was starving, he could only eat more than half a steamed bun, and the rest was put away by Zhao ge’er.

He had been busy all noon, and at night, almost as soon as Fang Zichen lay down, he fell asleep. Zhao ge’er looked at him and called softly a couple of times. After confirming that he wouldn’t wake, he carried the obedient boy to the inside of the bed and lay down beside him. Zhao ge’er still seemed to have lingering fear. He pinched a small corner of Fang Zichen’s clothing and stared at him for a long while before closing his eyes.

The next day, before dawn, Fang Zichen woke up.

Zhao ge’er heated the steamed buns and handed them to him. Fang Zichen shook his head and said he wouldn’t eat, he would buy something once he reached the town. When he went out, Zhao ge’er was carrying the back basket he had specially borrowed from Brother Zhou’s family when he went to pick up the obedient boy last night, and followed him.

Fang Zichen only thought he was going to gather firewood and was taking the same road, but when they reached the village entrance, Zhao ge’er was still following behind him.

“Why are you following me?” Fang Zichen was baffled.

Zhao ge’er gripped the shoulder straps, his voice as thin as a mosquito’s. “I want to go with you to carry sacks.”

Fang Zichen clicked his tongue. “You?”

“I have strength, I can do a lot of work,” Zhao ge’er said.

Fang Zichen gestured. “Those loading sacks are that big. One sack must weigh around a hundred catties. Are you sure you can carry it?”

“I can,” Zhao ge’er said. “How would I know if I don’t try.”

Fang Zichen looked at him, a little unconvinced, and after a pause said nothing more.

Back when he had skipped a grade and entered second year of high school at thirteen, his grades were good and his teachers often praised him. In class meetings, the homeroom teacher also often told the three slackers sitting in the back row to learn from him. The more it was said, or perhaps good students and bad students were born to get along badly, those three slackers grew more and more displeased with him, often saying behind his back that he was short.

He really hadn’t been tall then, nowhere near the fifteen or sixteen-year-old classmates. At first, when they said one or two things, he didn’t really mind. Those slackers only got even more arrogant after that. In the end, they simply spoke in front of him without restraint, saying he was short, saying he was the descendant of the Seven Dwarfs. Though they hadn’t named him directly, that look and tone made it obvious they were mocking him.

Fang Zichen had a bad temper too, and he immediately shot back, “Strong limbs, simple mind.”

The other side replied, “Indeed can’t compare to you, the more condensed, the more essential.”

Later, during PE class, on the basketball court, one slacker patted a basketball and asked him, “You, after eating for another ten years, can you jump high enough to touch the backboard?”

“Can you do a three-step dunk?”

“Hey, no, with your short build and small frame, can you even lift a basketball first?”

Fang Zichen was directly furious.

He stormed to the equipment room, hugged a basketball, and marched swaggering and imposing toward the basketball court.

Facts proved that practice was the only standard for testing truth. That saying was not false.

That day he was thoroughly mocked, and he spent more than half a month depressed. Even the chicken legs he had to eat every meal no longer tasted good.

Although in the end those three slackers were beaten up by his eldest and second brothers together and apologized to him, this matter seemed to have taken root in his memory, impossible to forget no matter what.

To deal with this kind of unwillingness, persuasion was useless. Let him try once, let him know clearly that he couldn’t do it, and he would accept it.

“Fine,” he said. Zhao ge’er let out a breath of relief and smiled. Fang Zichen took a couple of steps, then suddenly stopped. “If you go with me, what about the obedient boy?”

When he got up, the obedient boy was still sleeping.

Zhao ge’er pointed at the back basket to show him. “He’s in there!”

Fang Zichen: “·······”

The obedient boy was curled up in the back basket, a tiny little bundle, like a puppy. He had changed nests and was still sleeping soundly.

“My poor son.” Fang Zichen said sincerely, “You’ve been wronged.”

By the time they reached the town, the sun was already out. Fang Zichen had arrived at just the right time, catching the start of work.

He pulled Zhao ge’er over and said a few words to the boat manager. The boat manager didn’t say anything either, only that if he could work, then he should work.

Fang Zichen stuffed half a steamed bun to the obedient boy and let him sit by the back basket and wait, then took Zhao ge’er to start work.

When Zhao ge’er was at the Ma household, there were many tasks he had to do. Cooking, washing clothes, carrying water, feeding pigs, these all counted as easy. He had also carried firewood and pig fodder. At that time it wasn’t that he didn’t feel tired, it was that even when he was tired, there was nothing he could do. He was like a donkey turning a millstone, with someone holding a whip behind him to supervise. As long as he paused even a little, he would get a beating.

Carrying large sacks was different. It was truly very heavy. The heavy load of more than a hundred catties pressed on his shoulder, and it seemed like the whole person was about to be crushed.

Fang Zichen saw him move back and forth a few times, unable to catch his breath, and when Zhao ge’er pulled over a large sack to carry it onto his back, Fang Zichen stopped him.

“Don’t carry it. Look at you, you don’t even have two taels of meat on your whole body.”

Zhao ge’er panted, “Aren’t you the same as me.”

In terms of build, they were indeed both the kind of young men who looked naturally lean and thin.

“How am I the same as you?” Fang Zichen said. “Although I look lean, I have muscle in my bones. Do you know how people used to call me before?”

“No.”

Fang Zichen said, “Some called me handsome guy, some called me Third Brother, some called me Big Strength Brother.”

Zhao ge’er didn’t understand these words. “Handsome guy?”

“Just good-looking.” Fang Zichen said a little smugly, “Where we come from, if you look handsome, you’re called handsome guy. If you look ugly, most of the time they call you a slacker.”

“And Third Brother?”

“I’m the third child in my family,” Fang Zichen said.

Zhao ge’er: “Then Big Strength Brother?”

“Do I even need to say that? Strong, of course. Back when I was at school, I would move tables, carrying one in each hand, from the first floor to the sixth floor, not red in the face and not out of breath. My classmates all said I was ridiculously awesome.”

Zhao ge’er didn’t really understand, but looking at his smug expression, there was probably some water mixed in there.

“You stay here and wait for me to finish carrying them, then we’ll go back together.”

“I also…”

“You can stop there,” Fang Zichen pushed him away. “The family is poor, but it’s not so poor that it can’t spare your dozen or so wen.”

“But…”

Fang Zichen put on a stern face and raised his fist. “Will you listen or not? They all say a married woman follows her husband, why don’t you understand that at all? Do you want me to beat you?”

Zhao ge’er seemed to think of something, and his face turned red all at once. He didn’t dare say anything, and obediently went over to the obedient boy.