Chapter 80 Your brother seems to be someone who needs a simple rest...
After a short rest, everyone started preparing food and then tidied up everything. By the end of the day, everyone was a bit tired, so they lit a campfire and went to bed early.
The ten rooms were divided up, and Lin Qing'an and his group occupied six of them, which was just right.
Villagers with children were allocated the larger rooms, while Mo Xing had a single room for each person.
Yang Ruo took the initiative to suggest sharing a room with Chen Yuetao, which surprised everyone.
Chen Gengnian held the warm person in his arms tightly, the long-lost scent and warmth bringing him immense peace of mind.
Lin Qingan hugged him tightly, and all the fatigue and fear of the past few days were released in this embrace.
The early spring night was cold, but the warmth of their embrace rose sharply. At first, they simply wanted to hug each other, but later, for some reason, they both started to become restless.
Like rain after a long drought, a torrential downpour continued for half the night in the new house.
Those who were enjoying themselves dared not utter a sound, while Chen Gengnian whispered in his husband's ear, coaxing him.
"It's alright, our house is far enough away they can't hear us." Then, with a sudden impact, Lin Qing'an could no longer control himself and let out a sound.
Suddenly I remembered that this location was personally chosen by Chen Gengnian.
Lin Qingan bit down on the muscular shoulder and cursed, "You scheming bastard!"
His curses were weak and feeble, so Chen Gengnian put in more force and continued to hurl them.
In the darkness, Chen Gengnian's sexy voice rang out softly.
"My dear husband, your voice is so beautiful..."
The room was dimly lit by the campfire, and Chen Gengnian, in his dazed state, continued to sketch his husband's flushed face, every subtle change making him fall irrevocably in love.
——
The next morning, having adapted to the previous days, everyone felt comfortable. Relatively speaking, the environment and conditions here were much better than the thatched huts over there.
Everyone was busily preparing food, with Lin Jing and Liu Yiyi helping in the kitchen, while the men were chopping firewood in the nearby woods.
Lin Qing'an was still asleep when he faintly heard the sound of reading aloud. After he dressed and opened the door, he saw A Bao teaching several children to read by the stream not far away. On the other side, Lin Yanfeng was holding a book but looking elsewhere. Lin Qing'an watched for a long time but he never turned a page.
Lin Qing'an's eyes rolled around several times before suddenly stopping, and his entire face changed drastically into a look of shock.
He still couldn't quite believe the bold guess in his mind, and his gaze followed Lin Yanfeng's.
Abao was the oldest among them. His fair skin glowed with a rosy hue under the morning light, and his clear, gentle voice as he read aloud showed no trace of his usual mischievousness. At this moment, Abao was like a mature adult.
Lin Qing'an's gaze returned to Lin Yanfeng's face. After seeing Lin Yanfeng's silly grin, Lin Qing'an slapped his forehead, looked up at the blue sky, and murmured, "Lin Qing'an, your brother seems to be a bit of a jerk!"
Heaven remained silent, and Lin Qing'an took "Lin Qing'an" as the implicit answer.
Looking at A Bao's serene and elegant appearance, he suddenly remembered the name the dean had given him, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Chen Langyue~"
The sound of reading aloud came to an abrupt halt. Lin Yanfeng, who was engrossed in reading, hurriedly looked away and pretended to be reading seriously. The others all turned to look at him.
Ah Bao greeted Lin Qing'an sweetly as he spoke, seemingly waiting for Lin Qing'an to continue.
Lin Qingan smiled and waved his hand, "It's nothing, I just wanted to call you by your full name."
Ah Bao smiled and pointed to the kitchen, saying, "Brother, there's steamed egg custard that your husband made for you in the kitchen. Go and eat it!"
When Abao said that, the other kids clapped and cheered happily.
"Brother Qing is so lucky! Brother Nian is so good to you~"
"Yes, yes, I'm so happy~ I want to find a man as good as Brother Nian to be my husband in the future."
"Nonsense!" the slightly older girl frowned and corrected, "You're a man, you're going to get married!"
The child, not understanding anything, shouted, "No, no! Who says a man can't marry another man? When I grow up, I'll marry a man!"
Lin Qing'an listened intently, his mind racing with questions. He glanced furtively at Lin Yanfeng, and sure enough, Lin Yanfeng flipped through the book in his hand several times, then straightened his sleeves. At this moment, he was more focused than anyone else, doing everything but not looking at anyone.
Ah Bao acted as a peacemaker to mediate the dispute between the two children, while Lin Qing'an had no time to watch Lin Yanfeng's performance and went to the kitchen humming a little tune.
Lin Yanfeng only slowly raised his head after Lin Qing'an entered the kitchen. The early spring sun was supposed to be the warmest, but his face was flushed red from the sun.
Chen Gengnian left a large bowl of steamed egg custard in the pot, adding chili powder and chopped green onions that Lin Qingan liked. It looked and smelled delicious.
Seeing Lin Qing'an start burping after finishing her meal, an older woman suddenly laughed and remarked, "When I had children, I was just as delicate as Qing'an, and I'd get full after eating only a little. Now, this little bit isn't even enough to fill a tooth gap, haha..."
Lin Qingan wiped his mouth and comforted her, "Auntie, being able to eat is a blessing. Besides, taking care of children is tiring enough, so it's normal to eat more. I'm just not hungry, but I would eat a lot if I were hungry."
“Eat more, baby, you’re too thin,” Chen Yuetao chimed in, but when no one noticed, her eyes were intentionally or unintentionally glancing at Lin Qing’an’s stomach.
Lin Qing'an nodded repeatedly, "Mom, I understand. I'll eat more from now on and get chubby."
Lin Qing'an had barely finished speaking when the auntie spoke up again, "Yes, gaining a little weight will make it easier to have children later."
It was meant as a joke, but as soon as she finished speaking, someone subtly nudged her arm.
The woman then realized what she had said and could only laugh awkwardly.
Everyone could see it clearly, but Lin Qing'an was too slow to grasp the meaning and Lin Jing changed the subject.
Lin Jing pulled the person aside and asked, "Aqing, do you think we should let everyone learn how to hunt? Learning some skills would make everyone's life easier."
Upon hearing this, Lin Qingan nodded repeatedly, agreeing that it was a good idea.
Lin Qingan snapped his fingers. "Learn to hunt first. If we can't return to the village for the time being after we've met our basic food needs, then we'll clear land and farm."
Lin Jing thought the same way, so the two reached a consensus to talk to Chen Gengnian when he returned, and that he would teach the men how to hunt.
Chen Gengnian readily agreed, "Sure, we'll take care of it after we've chopped firewood for a few days."
That was exactly what he was thinking. After all, they spent a lot of time together and never skimped on food. Plus, once things settled down and the tension in people's hearts disappeared, it was inevitable that some people would start to have doubts.
The three of them, without prior consultation, decided to take action immediately.
Lin Yanfeng and Abao were responsible for learning and teaching the three children to read and write. Yang Ruo and Mo Xing were finally observing from the mountaintop. As before, A Meng was still guarding the thatched hut in front every day. Occasionally, he would fly around and act as a patrol captain. Bai Fu was his teammate, following him everywhere and still being a true sycophant.
The remaining women spontaneously formed a wild vegetable group, and apart from mealtimes, they would search for fresh and delicious wild vegetables in the nearby mountains.
Lin Qing'an was worried that they didn't know many people, so he went along to join in the fun.
Everything in the mountains was running smoothly and on track. During the day, Chen Gengnian taught everyone how to make a living, and at night he and Lin Qingan would work late into the night, exploring and learning together, just to find a way to make each other more comfortable.
The area down the mountain was not so peaceful.
All the better houses were occupied by deserters, leaving the villagers to crammed together in dilapidated houses, starving and cold.
In the past, Linjia Village was peaceful and stable, and villagers often gathered in small groups to chat and relieve boredom.
But now, because so many people have died, it would be very difficult to move all the bodies out and it would be easy to be discovered. So, a mass grave was dug at the foot of the back mountain and all the bodies were thrown into it. Recently, the sun has been shining for days. Although the sun is not scorching, the rotting of the bodies has filled the entire Linjia Village with a foul stench of excrement. Flocks of crows are circling overhead.
At first, some people tried to take their own relatives to bury them, but were refused. Those who refused were even beaten and killed. Seeing this, others dared not make any more demands and were treated as the lowest-class slaves, at the mercy of these people.
"Waaaah... Mom, I'm so hungry..."
After these days of torment, Lin Tianyou could only clutch his stomach and cry softly.
Zhang Cuiping had no choice. They could only drink some thin porridge every day. To put it nicely, it was porridge; to put it bluntly, it was just rice water. With so little food, it was impossible for the children to even have enough to eat, let alone the adults.
Zhang Cuiping let her son shout softly, her heart already numb; she had no other choice.
Just then, Zhang Cuiping saw Lin Yongxin, who lived with her, sneaking into her room with something in his arms.
Zhang Cuiping nudged Lin Yongwu with her elbow, signaling him to look quickly.
Lin Yongwu quickly followed his gaze and saw the third brother wrapping himself up tightly and closing the door.
"What's wrong?" Lin Yongwu asked in a low voice.
Zhang Cuiping pointed to her bosom and said, "What delicious food has the third brother found?"
"Impossible." Lin Yongwu pointed to the room they were staying in and said, "We are already living the best among our fellow villagers. If there were any benefits, wouldn't the officials prioritize us first?"
Zhang Cuiping thought it made sense. The two of them served that important person in the courtyard like an ancestor every day, and that's how they got this draft-free room from Lin Erzhu's family. Lin Laosan's family did nothing and couldn't possibly have anything to eat.
The two remained silent for a while, unable to convince themselves, so they decided to send Lin Yongwu over at night to see what was going on.
But at night, before they could figure out what was going on, they heard low fighting and shouting coming from the house across the street.
Because they lived in a remote area, only they, the abused, could hear these sounds.
They heard it, but many were too hungry to have any strength left. Moreover, such sounds only agitated them further. Most of them huddled under their blankets, curled up, and prayed that they would not be harmed.
Zhang Cuiping and Lin Yongwu listened intently for a while before they could clearly hear that the person shouting was Zhou Caixia. So the two of them got up and ran over there.
Upon opening the door, they saw several families grappling with Zhou Caixia and her husband, with someone threatening, "Hand over the food and we'll spare your lives."
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