MLH | Chapter 36
In the end, they still did not get it done, and Fang Zichen went out to take another bath.
Zhao ge’er coaxed Guai Zai to sleep, and after hesitating for a while asked, “Why did you suddenly wake up?”
Other than getting up to pee at night, Guai Zai usually slept all the way until dawn.
Guai Zai pressed tightly against him, gripping his clothes, his voice sleepy, “The bed moved, noisy, di di!”
Fang Zichen had not come in yet, and he forced himself awake again to ask, “Where is Father?”
“He went to take a bath,” Zhao ge’er said.
“I want to wait for Father and sleep sleep together.”
“Be good, sleep first. Tomorrow you can get up and play with Father again, okay?”
“Oh!”
Only after he had fallen asleep did Fang Zichen come in.
Zhao ge’er had long since noticed that he had been standing outside the door, probably because he was embarrassed and afraid Guai Zai would cling to him and ask questions.
But he had only guessed half of it.
Fang Zichen now felt embarrassed even facing him.
He did not even know about the instinctive act of producing offspring, it was simply damaging to a man’s face.
Before going to sleep, Fang Zichen was still half-dazedly thinking over a profound question.
[Are ge’er and women the same? If you thrust it in, where are you supposed to thrust it?]
The next day Zhao ge’er called him for a long time before Fang Zichen finally got up, swaying as he did.
He did not have to start work until eight, but he had to leave at seven-thirty.
Zhao ge’er cooked some porridge, cut in some of the rendered fat scraps left over from last night, then added some salt and scallions. It smelled delicious.
There was movement from the room, and Guai Zai should have woken up.
Fang Zichen thought of last night’s fright, and only wanted to give him two slaps on the butt.
Zhao ge’er led him in. Guai Zai was rubbing his eyes, and even after washing his face he still seemed sleepy, with little energy, but the next second, when he saw Fang Zichen, he immediately smiled.
“Father～”
Fang Zichen caught his son as he扑ed over. Looking at his smiling face, he could not bear to give those two slaps anymore.
Zhao ge’er ladled him half a bowl of porridge. Fang Zichen thought about it and said, “Next time, fry two eggs for breakfast.”
There were still six eggs at home. Zhao ge’er thought he wanted to eat them, and just as he nodded and was about to say mm, Fang Zichen said, “One for you, one for our son.”
Zhao ge’er shook his head. “I don’t need it.”
“Why not? Look how thin you are. Last night, cough, I even thought I was pressing down on a Bai Gujing.”
When Zhao ge’er heard him mention last night, his face also began to heat up.
“Don’t say that here, Guai Zai is still here!”
Fang Zichen shrugged. “He can’t understand anyway.”
“What?” Guai Zai lifted his head from his bowl, his eyes wide open.
“Eat your food,” Fang Zichen pinched his face. “Be careful, it’s hot.”
Guai Zai suddenly stopped using his chopsticks, jumped down from the stool, and pattered over to Fang Zichen’s side. On tiptoe, he blew into his bowl.
He was really filial.
But…
Fang Zichen’s face went green. Zhao ge’er, seeing it from the side, found it funny. He patted Guai Zai. “Alright, your father can blow on it himself. Stand properly and drink your porridge.”
Guai Zai looked up at Fang Zichen, his eyes asking him, Do you not need my help to blow on it anymore?
Fang Zichen pinched his butt once. “Listen to your dad.”
Guai Zai covered his little butt, somewhat dejected. “Oh～”
Fang Zichen stirred the porridge in his bowl and smiled. “This porridge was already thin enough, and then you added two mouthfuls of water. I can almost not see where the rice grains are anymore.”
Zhao ge’er was afraid he disliked it, and said, “How about we switch?”
“No need,” Fang Zichen said after gulping down two mouthfuls. “Hey, you really can’t say, adding a bit of saliva seems to have made it taste better.”
“······”
Always fooling people.
Fang Zichen went off to work, and Zhao ge’er did not sit idle either. The water at home was almost gone, so he took two buckets and a carrying pole and went to the river to fetch water.
Most people in the village fetched water by carrying it home, and only a few families with good means would hire people from town to dig a well.
Digging a well was not something a nonprofessional could do.
The Ma family had once thought about digging one in the yard, but when they thought of how they already had Zhao ge’er, why waste that money? Now that they wanted to dig one, they did not have the silver anymore.
Today it was Ma Damu’s turn to fetch water. She had not done any work for more than ten years, and the two wooden buckets were barely filled halfway, impossible to even lift.
Seeing Zhao ge’er, and thinking of how Ma Wen spent all day heartbroken over such a cheap person, not even going to work, she grew furious.
She spat at Zhao ge’er’s back and muttered curses at the cheap person.
She did not deliberately lower her voice. Zhao ge’er stopped in his tracks and turned around.
“What are you looking at? I wasn’t cursing you,” Ma Damu said.
Zhao ge’er said, “Then who are you cursing?”
“Whoever is cheap, I’ll curse them.”
“Oh!” Zhao ge’er said coldly, “Why are you cursing yourself like that? Pretty self-aware.”
“You······”
“Mother～” Ma Wen walked over from behind her.
Knowing that Ma Wen was protecting Zhao ge’er, and that after returning this time, because of Zhao ge’er’s matter, Ma Wen was not even as close to her as before, Ma Damu did not dare curse anything else. She only asked, “What are you coming out for? Go back quickly!”
Most of the water in her buckets had spilled out. It had already not been filled to the brim, and now there was even less inside. Ma Wen took the carrying pole from her shoulder. “Mother, you go back first. I’ll help you fetch water.”
There was not much of anyone by the river at the moment, and Zhao ge’er was still there, so Ma Damu was unwilling.
“No need, go back first! Coming again in the afternoon is the same.”
By the time Ma Wen came, Zhao ge’er had already left, and his back was almost out of sight. Ma Wen hurriedly tossed out, “Mother, go back first,” and hurried after him.
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