Chapter 8
"Mom, what is Dad holding?" Cheng Yushan asked. "I saw Grandma Xie bring it just now."
Four-year-old Cheng Yusi also shouted, "It's chocolate! Mom, I want to eat chocolate!"
As they spoke, the two children jumped over the small pile of dirt that Huang Ruoyu had dug out and ran toward Chengshi, who was standing in the front yard. Huang Ruoyu, however, was still slowly swinging the shovel. Her lower lip protruded slightly as she blew away a few strands of wet hair that were covering her eyes. She seemed to be provoking Chengshi with every gesture: her only request of her husband was to set up the basketball hoop for the children instead of sleeping all day long!
"Dad, the contents of the box have spilled out," Cheng Yushan reminded Cheng Shi as she examined the plastic box.
“I know. Can you please stop yelling?” Cheng Shi said, turning his face to Huang Ruoyu in the backyard, but not looking directly at her. Instead, he seemed to be examining the plastic box in his hand. “Do you know what this thing is?”
How would I know what you're holding? What is it?
"I fucking have no idea what this is, it looks like a rice cake or a bowl or something."
"Bowl cake? A dessert?"
"No, it looks like some kind of flower. It's either pink or white. I thought you knew everything."
"Heh," Huang Ruoyu sneered, but put down the shovel in her hand and walked towards Chengshi. "What did that old lady just say to you?"
Cheng Shi's mind went blank. He tried his best to recall Xie Yiling's bright red lips opening and closing just now, and finally remembered something: "Oh, right, this seems to be called a bowl lotus, or a potted lotus. It's very easy to grow. She said you asked her for it."
The children's expectant eyes darted between Cheng Shi and Huang Ruoyu. Before long, Cheng Yushan displayed an anxiety beyond what a child her age should have.
Huang Ruoyu reached into the back pocket of her overalls, swaying slightly as she retorted to Cheng Shi, "Nonsense! Why would I need this? Since it's a flower, did you even ask her how to care for it? Tell her how to take care of it..."
Cheng Shi casually threw the plastic box on the ground, then loudly said to Huang Ruoyu, "Can you please stop being so aggressive? I didn't even get breakfast or coffee this morning, and..."
"Okay," Huang Ruoyu shrugged indifferently, "So how exactly should I take care of this thing? And what should I say next time I see that old lady?"
"Say whatever you want, you fucking thing!" Finally, Cheng Shi couldn't hold back anymore. "You can just tell her to stop fucking meddling in other people's business!"
"Dad, don't scold Mom!" Cheng Yushan shook Cheng Shi's arm and burst into tears.
"I didn't insult your mother." Cheng Shi tried her best to control her tone, as if she really wasn't angry.
Cheng Yushan quieted down, choking back sobs, then put her thumb in her mouth and sucked on it, looking lost and helpless. Cheng Yusi, on the other hand, gripped his pants tightly, took two steps back, his face full of tension and unease.
Huang Ruoyu sighed, then ran her hand through her sun-dried hair on her forehead and said, "Fine, then throw it in the storage room. Out of sight, out of mind. I'm going to make lunch; it's almost time to eat."
Cheng Shi picked up the plastic box from the ground and, following Huang Ruoyu's instructions, threw it hard onto the floor of the storage room. Then he kicked it, sending it into a corner. However, the kick also hurt his own toes, which were wearing slippers.
For the rest of the afternoon, Cheng Shi spent his time building his planned stone walkway, without touching a shovel or digging the foundation for the basketball hoop.
To repair this passage, Cheng Shi changed into an old T-shirt and old work pants he wore in college, looking ready to get to work.
Chengshi's initial plan was to lay a Japanese-style cobblestone path between the courtyard gate and the house door. The winding path would not only have an exotic feel but also save the trouble of bringing dirt from the yard into the living room. Most importantly, his older brother Chengguo had decorated their own courtyard in a Japanese style, which Huang Ruoyu liked very much.
Last month, when Chengshi first started laying the walkway, he thought it would be easy and quick. However, after laying it twice, totaling less than 20 centimeters, he realized it was inhuman – he couldn't even flatten the surface, let alone create any winding curves. Therefore, in Chengshi's view, laying the walkway had become a thankless and exhausting task. He saw no progress, received no support from his family, and felt completely drained and irritable. Chengshi believed the walkway wouldn't be finished until the end of summer, let alone the basketball hoop – one task had to be completed before moving on to another, right? So he decided he wouldn't touch the basketball hoop until the walkway was finished.
Despite his initial reluctance, after enduring the initial frustration and dizziness, Chengshi began to enjoy the simple muscle-building exercises and the feeling of sweating profusely. He also loved the smell of the earth. All of this made him feel very manly and perfectly aligned with his ideal of happiness: a loving family living in a beautiful country villa on a warm spring day; the husband was handsome and capable, the wife beautiful and gentle, and they had a son and a daughter—a perfect family! This was even better than his older brother's life, stuck in his hometown as a lonely bachelor!
Thinking of all this, Chengshi couldn't help but look down at his slender and toned body, which he had developed from regularly going to the gym to lift weights. At this moment, he felt fulfilled and satisfied, and felt endless joy, because he was a man, and a man who supported his family, a man who dared to take responsibility!
"Dad, shall we help you?" Cheng Yushan asked.
The two children squatted down next to Chengshi, watching him dig small holes in the ground with a shovel and then fill them with stones, which they found very interesting.
"Okay." Cheng Shi agreed without even thinking.
However, Cheng Shi immediately regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth. Nevertheless, he still controlled his tone and said to Cheng Yushan, "Baby, stay away from me. You keep kicking dirt into the little hole I just dug."
After saying that, Chengshi picked up the long-handled shovel and continued digging deeper into the shallow pit he had just dug. He enjoyed the rhythmic whooshing sound of the shovel each time he swung it, and the feeling of power in his arm.
"Dad," Cheng Yusi asked, "why did the shovel catch fire?"
"That's not a fire, that's called a spark, because it hit a rock. When steel hits a rock, it will produce sparks."
"Then why don't you dig the stone out?"
"I'm going to dig the stone out. I'll say it again, you two stay away from each other, or you'll get hurt."
The stone was finally removed from the pit. Chengshi moved it aside, then knelt down and used both hands to move the loose stones in the pit until the depth and shape of the entire pit met his requirements. Then he placed the selected pebble inside and secured it. At this moment, a swarm of aphids began to fly around his head, making him itchy and dizzy, instantly ruining his mood.
"Mom," Cheng Yushan obediently squatted down a little further away and asked Cheng Shi, "Why is Mom sleeping on the sofa?"
"I don't know either," Chengshi replied impatiently. "Maybe she just likes sleeping there. Now I'm going to work on the next hole. You two stay here and don't move."
As Cheng Shi continued shoveling dirt, he pondered Cheng Yushan's question and his own answer, inwardly criticizing Huang Ruoyu for being selfish and willful in everything she did, just like her dramatic parents, utterly irresponsible. Her sleeping on the living room sofa wasn't to cause trouble for Cheng Shi, but rather to embarrass herself!
"Dad, are you digging for stones again?" Cheng Yusi asked, squatting in front of his older sister.
"Yes, now move back a little further, I'm going to put this big stone in there."
Chengshi knelt on the ground and slowly moved the selected pebble into the pit that had been dug. However, for some reason, the pebble was always unstable and wobbled. Moreover, after being placed in the pit, it was much higher than Chengshi had planned.
"This is so high, Dad."
“I can tell.” Cheng Shi struggled to pry the stone out again and continued digging the hole. This time, he used the shovel as a spade and dug the hole with all his might.
"How many times have I told you? Don't stand so close! Look, you've kicked the soil I just dug out back into the pit again!"
"Dad, I was trying to help you," Cheng Yushan said, looking both surprised and aggrieved after hearing Cheng Shi's words.
Chengshi realized that she might cry again soon, so she immediately lowered her voice and said gently, "Okay, baby, you two go play something else for a while. You go play on the tablet with your brother for a while. I'll call you when I need you."
The two children returned to the yard not long after they left, and squatted down not far from Chengshi, whispering something.
By this time, Cheng Shi was so exhausted he was about to faint, sweat blurring his vision—this work was far more tiring than weightlifting. He straddled the small pit and began using the shovel Huang Ruoyu had used that morning. Each time the shovel struck the stone, it elicited bursts of laughter from the two children.
The child's clear, bell-like laughter contrasted sharply with the iron in Chengshi's hand, distorting his perception of reality. For a moment, as Chengshi raised the shovel, he thought he saw Cheng Yusi's little feet reaching out towards him. Although he quickly threw the shovel aside and realized it was an illusion, his anger flared up—because all of this could really happen!
So Chengshi grabbed his son's waistband, pulled him to his side, and then slapped his bottom while yelling, "I told you to get out of the way! Get out of the way! You just won't listen!"
It wasn't until after the two slaps landed that Cheng Shi realized he had hit a little too hard and raised his voice a bit too loudly, but he didn't understand why he was so angry.
Cheng Yusi jumped and twisted, covering his buttocks with both hands, his eyes wide with terror. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, but he couldn't utter a sound. Then he closed his eyes tightly, opened his mouth wide, gasped for breath, and finally let out a long howl.
Cheng Yushan watched as her younger brother was beaten for no reason. Her eyes widened, and soon her face contorted as if she had been beaten as well. Then, she cried out in a voice even sharper than Cheng Yusi's.
"I've told you over and over again to stay away, over and over again!" Cheng Shi's face flushed red, but he adopted the demeanor a father must have when scolding his two children. "You tell me yourselves, how many times have I told you? I've told you that if you get too close, there will be problems, did you hear me? Now, all of you get the hell out of here!"
Actually, the two children would have left immediately without Cheng Shi telling them. Cheng Yushan held Cheng Yusi's hand, and the two of them slowly walked towards the backyard, crying as they walked, and occasionally looking back at Cheng Shi, their eyes full of grievance and confusion.
If Chengshi hadn't forced himself to pick up the shovel again, he might have caught up with the siblings and apologized in the next second, or even cried along with them.
However, Cheng Shi persevered and endured it. So he continued digging the pit while defending himself: "Damn it, I told them at least three times to stay away!"
Then, he convinced himself and forgivingly for the fact that he had already altered: "It's because Xiaosi had already stretched out his foot. If I hadn't stopped in time, he might have lost his foot..."
When Cheng Shi looked up, he saw Huang Ruoyu had already come out of the living room doorway. She stood there, and the two children immediately ran to her, burying their faces in her clothes.
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