Chapter 18
Chen Qing buried himself in his work: "What did Uncle Li say?"
“What can my dad say?” Li Xin pouted. “He said that back then, the family was poor, and when they sent him to work as a blacksmith, they didn’t have enough money. His grandmother went back to her parents’ home to borrow money, but they all said they didn’t have any. At that time, his grandmother’s cousin happened to be visiting her parents’ home. When she heard about this, she took off a bracelet and gave it to his grandmother. That’s how my dad learned to be a blacksmith. Later, my dad learned to be a blacksmith and remembered his grandmother’s dying wish to repay this cousin. But his cousin’s family moved somewhere, and the matter was left unresolved. Now that he has come to our door, my dad has to remember this kindness.”
Chen Qing nodded: "After all, his maternal grandmother had been kind to Uncle Li."
“Supporting a student isn’t a problem, but I just can’t believe how a grown man like him has ended up like this,” Li Xin said. “He’s two years older than me, and he can’t even support himself?”
"There might be more to the story," Chen Qing said.
"I don't know, oh well, never mind." Li Xin took a sip of the cold water that Aunt Sun had prepared. "Anyway, he doesn't live at our house."
Li the blacksmith didn't forge iron in his own home. If he did, the clanging noise would surely annoy his neighbors. So he had a separate shop where he forged iron during the day and returned home at night.
Having an unmarried son at home is a good idea; we can't just leave him at home. We can put him in the shop and help him watch the shop at night, which is quite nice.
So Qi Shuning settled down in the blacksmith's shop. During the day, while Li the blacksmith worked on his blacksmithing, he would go out to study. At night, when Li the blacksmith returned home, he would stay in the shop. For a time, things were peaceful.
As for the food, it was all brought over by Li the blacksmith early in the morning.
Li Xin looked at Chen Qing's already red fingers, then glanced around the yard, where there were still so many ears of corn: "How long will it take to peel all this?"
"This year's harvest is good, almost half more than in previous years. I'll try to finish peeling off the taxable items before the tax collection time, and then peel off the rest slowly. Anyway, there's nothing to do in winter."
Their current method of peeling corn is that Grandma Sun first uses scissors to make a slit in the corn, and then they peel it along the slit. This is much less strenuous, but since there are only two of them, it still takes a lot of effort to finish.
Not to mention the entire courtyard in Zhou Yuan's house.
“Okay.” Li Xin continued peeling, but he was a restless person and soon stood up. “I’m going to stretch my legs.”
Chen Qing nodded, knowing that his mind wasn't on working for his family, so he didn't stop him. Since he had comforted himself, he didn't seem to have felt that bitterness anymore, after all, the corn growing all over the ground was his future.
"Li Xin went out?" Aunt Sun came in and saw Li Xin going to the next room. She was very pleased. "I think it won't be long before the wedding is held."
Chen Qing nodded.
Grandma Sun sat down next to him and peeled corn with him: "This year's harvest is more than last year's. I'm thinking that after paying the taxes, I'll sell some of the rest."
Chen Qing looked up, somewhat puzzled.
Grandma Sun then said, "I'm thinking of saving up more money so that after this year of mourning, I can still find you a marriage partner."
Chen Qing was so startled that he dropped the corn in his hand into the basket. He quickly shook his head and said, "Mother, no, I don't want to get married. I'll stay with you."
"What nonsense are you talking about? You're so young, do you want to spend your whole life with an old bitter gourd like me? Are you stupid?" Aunt Sun laughed at him. "We'll bring a bigger dowry when the time comes, so I don't think they'll care that you've been in mourning."
Chen Qing shook his head again: "I don't want to get married. I'll stay at home and take care of you in your old age."
From the moment Aunt Sun bought him home, he decided that he would take care of her for the rest of his life.
"Getting married and being filial to me are not mutually exclusive. Does that mean you won't come back to see me after you get married?"
"No, I don't want to get married!"
Grandma Sun knew Chen Qing's personality; he thought a lot but said little, and was so meticulous that he would break down every word into its entirety: "From the moment you came into this world, I have treated you as my own child. Not to mention now that Taozi is gone, it's just the two of us relying on each other. As your mother, I also hope that you can find someone you can depend on."
“Mother, the two of us have gotten by like this for the past five years,” Chen Qing said. “So I don’t need to get married.”
"Silly child." Grandma Sun stopped trying to persuade him and focused on her work.
On the other side, Li Xin wandered over to Zhou Yuan's place. He didn't go in, but just knocked on the door.
Zhou Yuan came out and saw Li Xin: "What's the matter?"
"Can you make tools?" Li Xin asked directly.
"What tools?" Zhou Yuan asked.
"It's just that it makes peeling corn kernels a little easier." Li Xin pouted. "I saw that Chen Qing's hands were all red. If he really peeled all these corn kernels by hand, his hands would be peeling off a layer of skin."
Zhou Yuan squatted down, picked up an ear of corn from the ground, examined it carefully, and many things flashed through his mind. He simply sat down on the ground, holding the ear of corn in his hand, and slowly pondered.
Li Xin was just relaying the message; after she finished speaking, she returned to Chen Qing's house and sat down to continue peeling corn for him.
Chen Qing looked at his sunburned face and gave him some water to drink.
Li Xin said, "After we pay the taxes and husk all this corn, shall we go up the mountain? We can pick mushrooms after the rain."
"Okay." Chen Qing agreed. In the previous years, after harvesting corn, they would start planting the second season of wheat. They would have two days of free time in between. Every year, they would go to the mountains to find wild mushrooms. They would eat them fresh, and the ones they couldn't finish would be dried and stored for the dull winter days, so that they could have a different flavor.
Li Xin clearly remembered the location of every mushroom on the mountain, and every year he would take Chen Qing there, and the two of them would share them equally.
These past few days, Chen Qing has been husking corn at home. In the evening, Grandma Sun brought over an oil lamp and said, "It's time to rest."
Chen Qing nodded: "Soon."
Seeing that he showed no intention of going to sleep, Aunt Sun sat down beside him and took his hand. The pads of several of his fingers were already red from being rubbed. She got up, found some medicated oil in the room, and took Chen Qing's hand to apply it.
"You've suffered so much." Aunt Sun sniffled. "If I hadn't bought you back..."
"If you don't buy me back, the slave trader will send me to a brothel." The slave trader wasn't doing charity work. People who couldn't be sold for several years would naturally be sent to those places, especially Chen Qing. His appearance and height weren't what ordinary people liked, but if he was sent to a place like that, there would naturally be people who liked him.
"Mother, things are really good now." Chen Qing glanced at his hands. "If you feel sorry for me, I'd like to have a sweet egg soup tomorrow."
Grandma Sun patted his hair: "Okay, the medicine has just been applied, let's rest first, there's no rush."
Chen Qing seems to have changed a bit these past few days; he's become more cheerful, as if he's shed some kind of shackle.
"Okay, I'll wash up."
Because he was so tired these past few days, Chen Qing fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the bed and slept soundly through the night.
The next day, he was awakened by the sound of voices outside the door. He was still a little dazed when he got up. After getting dressed, he went out into the yard and saw Zhou Yuan standing at the door. Aunt Sun took a washboard from his hand.
Chen Qing yawned, walked to the door, and called out softly, "Mom," then looked at the washboard in her hand, which didn't seem to be his: "What is this?"
The washboard in their house only has two protrusions, while the one in Aunt Sun's hand is protruding from top to bottom. It seems like you don't need that much for washing clothes.
Zhou Yuan stared at the tuft of hair sticking up because of his bad sleeping posture, then picked up an ear of corn from the ground to demonstrate to him. The round ear of corn, when passing over the protruding part of the wooden board, had its kernels fall off due to friction with a little force: "It should be much faster than peeling it by hand."
Chen Qing's eyes widened in surprise; he had never imagined that a washboard could be used to peel corn.
Zhou Yuan picked up a basket still filled with corn with one hand, tilted the washboard, sat down, and started working. The corn kernels fell into the basket like rain: "Doing it this way is quick."
Chen Qing squatted down beside him, watching him peel corn. Chen Qing, who had come out as soon as he got up, hadn't combed his hair. A mountain breeze blew by, and Chen Qing's slightly long hair swayed on Zhou Yuan's wrist, making his heart tremble with each sway.
Zhou Yuan looked down.
His hair was a bit dry at the ends and split at the tips. Zhou Yuan thought of the general's horse in the barracks. Because it was well taken care of, the horse's mane was shiny and smooth, much better than Chen Qing's hair.
He glanced at Chen Qing and saw that Chen Qing was eager to try.
Zhou Yuan got up and let him try.
Chen Qing was a little weaker than Zhou Yuan, but he was still able to easily shred the corn until only the cob remained. Chen Qing exclaimed, "This is so useful! Why didn't we know about it before?"
They had tried other methods, but only by rubbing the corn cobs against the corn cobs, which could speed things up a bit. However, Chen Qing's hands were small, so it wasn't very effective. With this washboard, he was confident that he could finish processing the corn quickly.
Seeing that Chen Qing was about to start working without even combing his hair, Aunt Sun quickly brought out a bowl of sweet egg soup from the kitchen: "Eat something before you work. Didn't you whine and ask for some yesterday?"
Chen Qing reluctantly walked away from the basket, took the bowl from Aunt Sun's hand, which contained a poached egg and brown sugar that had been bought a long time ago. It was a bit dark in color but had a strong aroma.
Chen Qing took a sip of the sweet soup and felt a warm current slide down his body, making him feel much more comfortable.
Zhou Yuanchao greeted them and said he was going home. Chen Qing looked up from the edge of the bowl and noticed a dark circle under his eyes.
"Didn't you sleep last night?" Chen Qing asked.
Zhou Yuan was somewhat surprised to hear Chen Qing ask him a question, because Chen Qing always avoided talking to him if he could avoid it, but today he actually took the initiative to ask about his situation.
Something unusual must be going on.
Zhou Yuan turned to look at him and saw him holding a bowl of sweet egg soup. His eyes were clear and clean, unlike the way he used to look at him.
Zhou Yuan put his hands behind his back before answering him, "I stayed up all night making this."
After Li Xin left yesterday, he had been studying what kind of tool to make, but he had never farmed before, and corn was not even grown in his area, so he had no idea what to do.
It wasn't until he saw the washboard that Aunt Sun had brought him a few days ago, and saw the patterns on it, that a plan suddenly came to him.
It wasn't a very complicated job, but it took quite a while. By the time he finished, it was already getting cold. Without thinking much about it, he went to Chen Qing's house.
"Huh?" Chen Qing exclaimed in surprise, "Then you should go home and rest. Li Xin isn't coming today."
Zhou Yuan frowned. What does this have to do with Li Xin?
Chen Qing was very different today, and this difference made Zhou Yuan feel uneasy.
I don't know why he changed, but some things should be put on the agenda sooner rather than later.
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