Chapter 39

Because the temple fair in the neighboring village was too crowded, and there were many people from the same village, Zhou Yuan did not take them to the neighboring village. Instead, he chose to go to Huaiyuan Temple. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Huaiyuan Temple was also bustling with worshippers.

Qi Shuning sat next to Zhou Yuan, an extremely mismatched pair, yet inexplicably the two could still talk to each other.

Li Xin and Chen Qing ignored what the two of them were saying. He pulled Chen Qing aside, turned his back to them, and started talking about their affairs.

“My wedding was rushed. My parents only wrote a letter to my maternal grandparents’ family. I guess my uncle will be here soon,” Li Xin said. “My uncle will definitely argue with my dad.”

Chen Qing often envied Li Xin, envying him for having loving parents and a maternal grandparent family who doted on him so much.

Chen Qing had never met anyone from his maternal grandparents' family. It seemed that his uncle also had no family. After his father passed away, their family fell apart.

“That’s great, they love you,” Chen Qing said.

“But with my mother around, they probably won’t start arguing.” Li Xin smiled. His father was most afraid of his mother and always went along with him.

"Maybe when you two get married, your mother will come and sit in the ancestral hall." Li Xin smiled. He remembered that during the New Year, his mother had specifically asked Zhou Yuan and his wife when they planned to get married.

Chen Qing simply pursed his lips slightly.

Huaiyuan Temple also has a temple fair, which is more lively than the one in the neighboring village. When Zhou Yuan arrived there, he wanted to leave them behind.

Qi Shuning pulled the fuming Li Xin aside and said, "I want to go to the temple to pay my respects to Manjushri, but I'm not familiar with the way up the mountain. Can you take me there?"

Li Xin originally wanted to get angry with him. It was already annoying to take him out, and now there were so many other things to do. But seeing his pitiful appearance, she felt that the exam was more important. She glared at Zhou Yuan and said, "Hmph, you're just using me and then discarding me, aren't you?"

Zhou Yuan raised an eyebrow. There was no one here who recognized them. He was holding Chen Qing's wrist at the moment: "After all, you've married a scholar. You can even use idioms now."

Li Xin was furious, but Qi Shuning quickly pulled him away: "Don't be angry, don't be angry, you'll be tired from climbing the mountain later."

Watching them walk away, Chen Qingcai looked at Zhou Yuan with some disapproval: "Don't always argue with Li Xin."

"Okay." Zhou Yuan pulled him along. "Where are we going?"

Chen Qing shook his head and rubbed his forehead. "I'm still a little dizzy. I think I was drunk last night. Did I behave inappropriately?"

Zhou Yuan decided to keep Chen Qing's drunken words to himself; if he really said them, Chen Qing would probably want to crawl into a hole in the ground.

"No, you were very quiet because you were drunk, so your auntie told you to go back to sleep."

Chen Qing was relieved, as long as he hadn't lost his composure.

They had already visited the temple fair once, and there was nothing new or exciting about it, so they decided to go to the temple to offer their prayers.

"In April, I will ask my godmother to come and propose marriage. We'll see when the time is right and get married then." This was also Zhou Yuan's first time visiting Huaiyuan Temple. Although there was a path up the mountain, it was rugged and difficult to traverse.

Zhou Yuan walked beside him and spoke to him about these things while looking down.

After spending more time with him, Chen Qing no longer blushed as easily as before, saying things like, "I still need to discuss it with my mother."

Zhou Yuan nodded. He had learned all of Chen Qing's thoughts last night, and naturally he also knew that the heavy weight on his chest was his guilt towards Meng Tao and Aunt Sun.

Only when Aunt Sun blesses him can he lighten his burden a little.

“Of course.” Zhou Yuan also respected Aunt Sun. She gave Chen Qing a stable life and immediately gave Chen Qing a divorce certificate after learning of Meng Tao’s death. Although they were not related, she really treated Chen Qing like her own child.

When Zhou Yuan called her "Mother" in the future, he did so willingly.

Before long they climbed up to Huaiyuan Temple, but they had no intention of worshipping the Buddha. However, the mountain scenery was still worth seeing.

Chen Qing rarely had such a leisurely moment. He walked around the same route he had taken before and saw the monk selling amulets again. His stall was still packed with people.

Zhou Yuan glanced at the stall, then looked at Chen Qing: "Was there this many people last time too?"

Chen Qing blinked: "It's alright, there will be less."

"Wait for me." Zhou Yuan patted his shoulder and quickly walked to the stall.

He was so tall and strong that he quickly squeezed his way to the stall, paid, and came out.

He placed the amulet into Chen Qing's palm: "Today is the first day of the lunar month, and I hope that our Aqing will be safe and sound from now on."

Chen Qing felt a lump in his throat. He put the amulet into his chest and then smiled at Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan ruffled his hair: "Let's keep going."

Just like last time, they ate a vegetarian meal at Huaiyuan Temple. While eating, they met Li Xin and Qi Shuning again, and then went down the mountain together.

It was almost dark when we got back to the village. We first took Li Xin and Qi Shuning back to their homes. As we got out of the car, we overheard the two of them discussing where to eat.

"Let's go back to my parents' house to eat. I don't want to cook anymore," Li Xin said lazily.

“How can I go back to my father’s house on the first day of the Lunar New Year?” Qi Shuning said. “I’m going back to my mother’s house tomorrow.”

Li Xin said, "Why don't we just go back today? We won't have to get up early tomorrow morning."

They had already bought the gifts they would bring back to the bride's family today, and Qi Shuning was carrying them all.

Qi Shuning thought about it and felt that what he said made sense. The two of them didn't even open the door, but changed their route and went to Li the blacksmith's house. As they walked, Li Xin looked at Qi Shuning's back and thought that the books he read were not so pedantic.

When Chen Qing returned home, Aunt Sun had already come back, and wisps of white smoke were rising from the kitchen. After telling Zhou Yuan, he ran back home.

"You went out to play and only just got back now?" Aunt Sun didn't ask any further questions. "Have you eaten?"

Chen Qing shook his head: "We haven't eaten yet. We went to the temple fair with Li Xin and the others."

"I didn't run into you." Aunt Sun said as she kneaded dough.

“We went to Huaiyuan Temple.” Chen Qing washed his hands and took over the work from her.

Aunt Sun stepped aside and looked at Chen Qing's outfit today: "You should buy more brightly colored clothes in the future. Aqing looks good in them."

Chen Qing quickly shook his head: "I need to work, not something flashy."

"You keep kneading, I'll go pick some pea shoots to cook noodles, and then I'll bring a bowl to Zhou Yuan later."

Chen Qing nodded.

The second day of the Lunar New Year is the time to go back to one's maternal home, but Aunt Sun hasn't been back for many years. In addition, she had a complete falling out with them last year, so there was no need for her to go back to her maternal home on the second day of the Lunar New Year.

Needless to say, Chen Qing had no family to rely on.

So they all stayed at home on the second day of the Lunar New Year. The weather had improved a lot since then, and there was no longer fog all day. In the afternoon, the warm sun was high in the sky. Chen Qing and Aunt Sun each had a chair and sunbathed in the yard, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.

After today, the village will start exchanging New Year's greetings, but their house will not be lively at this time because Grandma Sun is a widow. Every year, apart from Li Xin coming to visit, no one else comes. It seems that this year, Zhou Yuan is the only exception.

"Is the village chief going to have a birthday celebration this year?" Chen Qing yawned and asked.

"Of course, isn't it celebrated every year?" Aunt Sun touched her knee. "How can we receive gifts if we don't celebrate a birthday?"

Chen Qing rarely spoke his mind: "We celebrate birthdays every year, but the banquets are not good, and we still receive so much money in gifts."

This is an unspoken understanding in Luohe Village. Every year on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, the village chief would invite everyone in the village to a feast to celebrate his birthday. However, the feast was meager, and each family still had to give a small gift.

In the past, when Grandma Sun went to deliver gifts, the village chief's wife would imply that Grandma Sun was a widow and wouldn't allow her to attend the banquet.

Fortunately, Chen Qing was able to go then. He went with Li Xin, and although he didn't eat much himself, he still had to bring some back for Aunt Sun. He was shy, but Li Xin wasn't afraid and always helped Chen Qing.

“This year the village chief turns forty-five, which is considered half a year old, so of course we have to have a big celebration,” Aunt Sun replied. “It’s just the same as every year, we’ll just give him some gifts. Anyway, we’re poor, so nobody can say anything about it.”

Chen Qing nodded. He looked at Grandma Sun's lap and thought that if there were a cat nestled on her lap or a puppy lying at her feet, the house would be much more lively.

Sure enough, in the afternoon, the village chief's wife brought her youngest son's husband, Zhang Ran, to the house, saying that the sixth day of the new year would be the same as usual, and invited them to come over for a celebration.

Grandma Sun patted Chen Qing's hand, and before the village chief's wife could speak, she said, "Our family is still in mourning right now, and we're afraid of offending the village chief, so we won't come to bother you on the sixth day of the new year."

Zhang Ran's gaze towards Chen Qing made Chen Qing feel very strange. Even though they had no connection, the way Zhang Ran looked at Chen Qing always made Chen Qing feel like he had stolen something from him.

The village chief's wife made a few excuses before leaving to go to Zhou Yuan's yard. Even from this distance, Chen Qing could see her husband's joyful expression. Unfortunately, they stood at Zhou Yuan's door for a long time, but no one came out.

Zhang Ran was a little discouraged; he had thought he could visit his house today.

Seeing Chen Qing's bitter face, Aunt Sun assumed he was still angry about what the village chief's family had done.

“Sometimes you have to be good at saying nice things,” Aunt Sun patted his shoulder. “You’ll have to learn these things when you get married.”

Chen Qing lowered his head: "But I didn't learn it before."

“How can that be the same? I was there for you before, but now that you have your own little family, do you still want me to help you with everything?” Aunt Sun disagreed. Aqing was good in every way, but he was too soft-hearted.

Chen Qing's eyes widened: "Can't I?"

“It’s you getting married, not you taking your mother with you.” Aunt Sun smiled helplessly. “Do you expect me to go with you after you get married?”

"Otherwise what?"

Grandma Sun wanted to pry open Chen Qing's mind to see what he was thinking. To put it another way, if she were Chen Qing's biological mother, it would be normal for him to have such thoughts. But to be honest, she and Chen Qing actually had no relationship at all. The day she asked the village chief to write the divorce papers, she and Chen Qing had no relationship anymore.

“Aqing, although Zhou Yuan says he doesn’t mind, in reality, no man is indifferent to this.” Aunt Sun could only coax him gently, “You must never say this in front of Zhou Yuan in the future.”

"Huh? But he respects you a lot." Chen Qing asked, puzzled.

“He respects me only because you call me ‘Mother’.” Aunt Sun took a deep breath. “Listen to me, you can’t have such thoughts again. Besides, our two families live so close, you can come back and visit sometime.”

Chen Qing said with a bitter face, "But Li Xin got married, and they still went back to Uncle Li's house to stay on the first night of the lunar new year. Why can't I come back?"

"Then it's better not to get married at all," Chen Qing said softly. After saying that, he looked up and met Zhou Yuan's eyes as he entered the room.

Chen Qing: ...