Chapter 25 25 "You were kissed by a goose."
Thanks to Feng Ci, the first meal the two of them had when they arrived at their second elder’s home was a goose stewed in an iron pot, but they had to catch the goose themselves and clean the pot themselves.
"There's a pond just ahead. Geese are pretty clumsy, so catching them is easy. It's not a skill." Uncle Lin unfolded a small green net woven from rattan and turned around to say, "The geese are all there. Go ahead."
A round head poked in first, and saw a group of snow-white geese floating on the water or squatting by the pond cleaning their feathers. Berry's heart softened.
"Brother Feng, they're so delicious." The child looked up. "Do we really want to eat them?"
"Why, you can't do it anymore?"
Berry's clear eyes followed a gosling that was following behind the big goose: "If the gosling lost its parents, it would definitely be very sad and lonely."
Feng Ci put on his hood and zipped up his jacket to the top. His eyes were colder and more resolute than the one who had been killing fish for ten years at RT-Mart.
“They taste better than chicken.”
"Then let's catch the goslings too." The three-headed child swung his short legs and ran straight towards the geese. "Put them in the same pot so they won't be lonely. Brother Feng, hurry up."
Feng Ci's eyelids twitched. What a living devil.
The big white geese were very alert to the strangers who suddenly broke into the flock. The goose, which was originally in a leisurely posture, stood up, tilted its head and observed secretly with its black eyes.
Geese look stupid and clumsy, giving people the illusion that they are gentle and easy to control, but in fact they are the bullies of the village!
Berry, who saw the goose for the first time, had no idea how dangerous the goose was.
The child who just entered the Novice Village couldn't contain his curiosity, so he bent down and followed the goose closely. When he noticed something unusual behind him, the goose flapped its wings and ran forward staggeringly.
Berry followed without thinking.
"quack--!!"
A big goose suddenly appeared and blocked the road. It stared at Berry with its black eyes burning with anger, and flapped its big wings, stirring up a gust of sand. Berry took a step back, feeling that the other party did not look very friendly.
Sure enough, the loud and clear cry sounded again, and the goose rushed towards the berries.
“!!!”
"Why are you chasing me?"
"oops!"
Berry covered her butt and screamed. It turned out that he wanted to bite her butt.
The whole Berry cub ran away with its head in its hands, but there was no way a two-legged human cub could outrun the arrogant village bully, whose big paws were clattering closer and closer.
"Brother Feng, save me!" Meiguo opened her arms wide, tears in her eyes, and sobbed for help from Feng Ci.
Feng Ci, who was still waiting for the opportunity, turned his head and saw this scene. His face changed, his pupils shrank slightly, and he turned around and ran away screaming.
Meiguo watched Feng Ci running faster and faster, his figure getting smaller and smaller, and farther and farther away from her, like a shooting star that disappeared in an instant.
“???”
Feng, Brother Feng, eh?
Black question mark face jpg.
When Feng Ci finally remembered that he had forgotten something important, he turned back breathlessly to look for it, but Uncle Lin had already come out holding the crying little girl.
One big and one small stared at each other.
Feng Ci already understood what had just happened. He took a deep breath and pretended to be calm, his expression completely nonchalant.
He opened his arms to Berry: "Berry, brother will hold you."
"don't want!"
At the age when she was praised even for taking a shit, Meiguo had her first taste of the dangers of the world. She could remember the sight of Brother Feng running away with a knife in his hand for three days and three nights.
She clenched her fists and asked him, "Why did you come back?"
Feng Ci glanced at the suspected goose in Uncle Lin's hand and replied righteously, "I'll avenge you."
He took the criminal goose from Uncle Lin's hand and asked, "Steamed or braised?"
Berry Puff's face tossed, "Whatever. Just something delicious."
"Okay, let's braise it."
Feng Ci walked side by side with Uncle Lin and asked in a rather flattering manner, "Berry, is anyone injured anywhere?"
"No, none of your business." The child scratched his butt secretly, angrily showing the back of his head to Feng Ci, and complained loudly and accurately, "Shushi Flying is not as fast as you, you must be the fastest runner in the world, Brother Feng!"
Feng Ci's ears felt hot, his mouth was racing, his mind was racing: "Well, maybe it's because I was wearing sneakers, so I ran a little faster."
Berry, who was originally 100% angry, dropped to 70% after hearing these words.
She tucked her hands in her pockets and turned half her head back: "So if you don't wear sneakers, you won't be able to run, right?"
Feng Ci couldn't see Meiguo's expression, but from her slightly hesitant tone, he could tell that the girl was no longer as angry as before.
Feng Ci nodded quickly, completely shirking the responsibility: "Yes, I shouldn't have worn it outside."
"Then you are not allowed to wear it again." Meiguo said deliberately domineeringly.
"good."
"Put it on me."
"Okay, I'll buy you a new pair."
Berry turned around, Xiaopeng spread his wings, raised his chin and ordered, "Hold me."
The honest child returned to his arms, and Feng Ci's heart finally settled down.
Uncle Lin, who watched the whole thing, joked: "Oh, this is what they call one thing conquers another. Xiao Ci is really a good father who loves his children."
Meiguo was puzzled: "Who is the one who loves children? Why is Brother Feng a good father who loves children?"
"No." Feng Ci straightened her little head and looked straight ahead, "You heard wrong."
*
The two unlucky guys who were starving after working hard for the whole morning finally got to eat the goose stewed in an iron pot. The arrogant village tyrant turned into a delicious dish in the blink of an eye, which was really gratifying.
Berry ate every bite of meat fiercely, and didn't touch much of the rice in the bowl, but the goose bones piled up like a small mountain on the edge of the bowl.
Feng Ci picked up two pieces of green vegetables and said, "Berries, you should eat vegetables too."
"I'm busy now, let's talk later."
The child's mouth was stuffed full of meat. Feng Ci was worried that she would choke, so he poured her a glass of coconut water and said, "Eat slowly, don't rush."
The goose meat raised in the countryside is firm and chewy, and even adults have difficulty eating it, let alone Berry, who has small baby teeth. Feng Ci is really worried that her teeth will break.
Feng Ci did all these movements so naturally. The two elders of the Feng family had never seen him so gentle and considerate. They looked at each other, and all their feelings were expressed without words.
Good things don’t work, but bad things do.
Meiguo's eyes suddenly widened, her face wrinkled, she grabbed Feng Ci's wrist, pointed at her mouth, and looked painful.
Feng Ci panicked: "Did he choke? Don't worry, I've learned first aid."
As soon as he finished speaking, before anyone present could react, he picked up Berry from her seat, frantically searched his memory for the Heimlich maneuver, and put his arms around Berry, ready to rescue her.
“Ahhh.”
"My tooth hurts."
Feng Ci paused: "?"
Berry twisted and broke free: "My teeth hurt."
At this time, Grandma Feng, who had been observing for a long time, was the first to understand: "Xiao Guoguo, is there meat stuck between your teeth?"
Berry nodded heavily and pointed to the location of her front teeth for help: "My neighbor's front teeth are about to separate."
It was a false alarm. Feng Ci flicked the hairpin on her head in annoyance: "What are you doing?"
Grandma Feng brought out a box of dental floss from the house, touched Meiguo's face, and said softly, "Little Guoguo, can grandma help you pick out the flesh?"
Feng Ci has strong hands. Usually when he washes Meiguo's face and applies baby cream to her, she always screams and hides away. He is more than happy to have Grandma Feng take on this task.
Grandma Feng quickly helped Meiguo solve the problem. With a smile on her face, she said, "The goose meat isn't tender enough. Next time, I'll cook it myself and make it more tender. Then it won't get stuck in your teeth."
"Now we can eat more fish slices and sweet and sour pork. These won't hurt our teeth."
Berry is a baby who listens to advice. After hearing what was said, she decided to be magnanimous and temporarily put aside the deep hatred with Big Goose.
The old couple thought that Meiguo liked to eat goose meat. When Uncle Lin heard them talking about this topic, he couldn't stop talking. After drinking a glass of wine, he vividly described the goose catching drama in the morning with gestures.
Feng Ci covered his face with his hands and pretended nothing happened.
Grandpa Feng turned around and chuckled, "After all these years, you still haven't forgotten the time when you were chased by a goose as a child. Look at how little you've accomplished. Isn't that shameful?"
Grandma Feng glanced at her husband in disapproval and tried to smooth things over, "Don't say that. Xiao Ci was young back then, after all, not as tall and strong as he is now. You know how ferocious that goose is."
"He ran away and let the little kid play eagle and chicken with the big goose. What a good father."
Back then, little Feng Ci had a bad temper and tried all kinds of things to embarrass himself in front of the big geese, including but not limited to stealing goose eggs, plucking goose feathers, and touching the goose head. In the end, he was angrily surrounded and attacked by the big geese who could no longer tolerate his behavior.
That day, there were geese clacking at him from all directions. If Uncle Lin who passed by had not saved his life, "Little Fengci" would have almost died.
After the old man finished his sarcastic remarks, he suddenly burped loudly. Several people looked at him. The old man was thin-skinned and wanted to save face. He said with a stern face: "What are you looking at!"
Berry smiled and replied, "Grandpa, your stomach is saying thank you."
The innocent language of the cub immediately resolved the old man's embarrassment, and his face, which had turned from gloomy to sunny, was filled with more than ten wrinkles due to a smile.
*
Catch geese in the morning, catch fish and dig bamboo shoots in the afternoon. The bamboo shoots are the tenderest at this time.
Feng Ci strode forward with a hoe in his left hand and a bucket in his right hand. Meiguo, holding a small children's shovel borrowed from Maodou's house, followed Brother Feng happily.
Feng Ci hadn't used a hoe for many years, so he was a little unfamiliar with it. He hit the hoe without knowing how to use it gently and broke several tender bamboo shoots, which was a real waste of resources.
Feng Ci practiced for a while longer, and his old feel was finally back. The fertilizer bucket at his feet was soon filled with layer upon layer of fresh spring bamboo shoots. He nodded in satisfaction and looked back at Berry who was playing with the soil with a small shovel.
"Berry, don't rub your eyes with your hands after playing in the dirt. It will hurt if sand gets in your eyes."
“Don’t pour sand on your head.”
"There are bugs on the ground, don't sit on it."
Meiguo thought Feng Ci was too long-winded and waved her hand impatiently without even looking up: "I know, I know."
Feng Ci gritted his teeth and decided to settle the score with her after he was done.
Feng Ci estimated the quantity and thought it should be enough for two or three days, but it would not be enough for drying bamboo shoots. He would have to fill the bucket at least.
The boy twisted his sore neck, took a short rest, rolled up his sleeves and continued to work. Feng Ci always paid one-third of his attention to the berries, and he did this until the fertilizer bucket was almost full.
Feng Ci straightened up to rest, and suddenly the overly quiet environment aroused his alertness.
The child was quiet, so he must be doing something naughty. He quickly turned around to look in the direction of the berries.
With just that one glance, Feng Ci was almost scared to death by her: "Berry, put the bug down!"
No wonder the rustling sound of shoveling the soil disappeared. It turned out that she was playing with little bugs. The evil caterpillar in his eyes was treated like a treasure by her, and she poked it in the palm of her hand.
Feng Ci felt like his heart was about to stop: "The caterpillar is poisonous, put it down immediately!!"
Berry's little hand shook, and the black caterpillar in her palm fell directly to the ground, and its fat body rolled forward twice.
Feng Ci breathed a sigh of relief, pulled the troubled child to his side, and held Meiguo's finger:
"Let's go back and wash our hands."
"Brother Feng, that's a non-venomous caterpillar. You can play with it. Touch it."
Feng Ci was like a furious cat, his teeth bared: "Don't move!"
"Can't you find something from the mortal world to play with? What's so fun about that thing? Don't you find it disgusting?"
There is no essential difference between a fat, furry maggot and a fat, naked maggot.
Berry muttered, "It's really cute. Its eyes are black and bright, like little stars..."
The letter from the indifferent face: I have read it but will not reply.
Berry seemed a little depressed when she didn't get a response, and she held Feng Ci's hand dejectedly.
Feng Ci, who was tall and had long legs, could see Meiguo's emotions without having to lower his head. In silence, he began to reflect on whether he had been too extreme just now.
When he was a child, he especially liked to scoop tadpoles from the small pond after the rain. He used a large glass jar to raise the tadpoles and observed their changes every day. He would be excited for a long time when he saw them find a leg, but would be sad when a tadpole died.
Later, he became obsessed with catching frogs. Instead of going home after school, he ran to the pond every day to look for frogs and compete with his classmates to see who could catch more.
But now, his scalp tingles when he sees a croaking frog, so much so that he can't empathize with his childhood self at all, and can't understand what's so fun about that ugly little thing.
Perhaps it is because children’s world is mostly bright and beautiful, and they can always discover the loveliness of the world faster than adults.
Thinking of this, Feng Ci felt relieved. Regarding Meiguo's behavior of playing with caterpillars...
No, I can't accept this at all.
If she really likes it, he can just buy her a realistic caterpillar toy. This is his biggest concession.
Feng Ci was struggling with his conscience when Meiguo trotted over, came up to him, grabbed his trouser leg, and looked up:
"Brother Feng, are you afraid of bugs?"
Feng Ci composed his expression and sneered, "You must be joking. I simply think they're dirty. What could I be afraid of?"
Hmm.
Berry thought for two seconds: "You were beaten by a goose."
"...Those were all childhood events, so they don't count."
"You ran away in fear this morning."
Feng Ci: "Don't you have anything else to say besides this?"
Berry thought for a moment and said, "You were kissed by a goose."
“…”You’re a damn bastard!
*
Feng Ci worked hard to carry a big bucket of spring bamboo shoots back home, but before he could even sit down, his grandfather called him to the study to check his homework. Meiguo, who was covered in dust from playing, was happily held in the arms of Grandma Feng and taken to a hot bath.
Showing calligraphy under the eyes of a national treasure-level calligrapher, Feng Ci, who had neglected practice, was unsurprisingly met with a violent attack from the old man. The old man's heartbroken and angry roars could be heard continuously in the room.
During the intermission, Feng Ci served tea and water to the old man and massaged his shoulders.
"You don't want this or that, what do you want to do?"
"Live off your parents."
The old man was stunned, he couldn't believe his ears at all, and his words were so angry that he couldn't speak clearly: "Living off your parents? You, you, have some shame, is living off your parents something you're proud of?"
Feng Ci glanced at him and said, "Grandpa, let's stop being so cynical. I'm a sucker for the old, and you're a sucker for the young. We're the same."
Mr. Feng retired at the age of 40 and handed over the huge company to his son who just graduated from college. He and his wife have lived a shameless and free life for more than 20 years.
cough.
"...The tea is cold, change it."
*
In the bathroom.
Meiguo was a little shy when she took off all her clothes in front of Grandma Feng for the first time. She shrank her little body and went into the water little by little, refusing to show her little butt to her grandma.
Although Grandma Feng hadn't taken care of a child for a long time, she was experienced, careful and gentle. Long before Meiguo came back, she bought a bunch of toys that the child would like.
When she took out the little turtle toys that could spray water, swim and act as frogs, Meiguo's eyes widened immediately. Feng Ci, who was a careless parent, never prepared these for her, so it was no wonder that the little one was won over by the two plastic toys.
Grandma Feng worked up some foam on her hands and smeared it on the naked child. Feng Ci refused to reveal the child's mother's situation. She planned to take this opportunity to learn more information from Meiguo.
"Guoguo, can you tell grandma why your mother didn't come here to play with you this time?"
"I don't have a mother."
Grandma Feng was not surprised by this answer. After all, girls who get pregnant before marriage face more difficulties than boys, so the decision to give up raising the child is not uncommon.
"I don't have a dad either. My mom and dad don't want me. Only my grandma wants me."
Also, no dad?
Grandma Feng thought this was a bit strange, but after thinking about it carefully, it made sense. The child's father was not around all year round, and the father's absence would make the child automatically erase the existence of the father's role.
Xiao Ci has a long way to go in learning how to be a good father.
Although becoming a great-grandmother or great-grandfather at the age of 60 was far beyond the plans of the old couple, Grandma Feng felt that it was not difficult.
Grandma Feng gave Meiguo a massage and softly assured her, "Guoguo, your father will never abandon you. Your great-grandfather and I will never—"
The voice stopped abruptly, and Grandma Feng's smiling eyes suddenly froze. She stared at Meiguo's exposed back, which was a light pink birthmark shaped like a petal.
This birthmark...
It's exactly the same as the one on Xiao Ci's lower back.
She couldn't help but stretch out her hand and brushed the pink mark with her fingertips. It didn't fade and was very smooth, not a red mark caused by pressure.
"Grandma tickled me." Berry shrank into the water, leaving only a wet little head exposed, and laughed happily, "I'll hide and turn into a little fish."
"Guoguo, did you know you have a birthmark on your back that has a unique shape?"
"Of course I know, it's a little flower." Berry turned her back and watered herself with the little frog sprayer. "Grandma said I was a very powerful little witch in my previous life. This is my symbol. Other little witches don't have it, but I have it."
Grandma Feng didn't take her words to heart, but continued to ask: "Where is your grandma?"
"Grandma went to heaven."
Alas, poor child. Grandma Feng half-hugged Meiguo with heartache and decided to double compensate the child for all he had missed.
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