Chapter 46: Distant Relatives of the Liu Family
As midsummer arrived, all the windows were open, the beds were covered with bamboo mats and bamboo pillows, but despite this, it still felt hot when sleeping.
Qiu Henian wanted to hold Qingyan, but he was always pushed away, Qingyan finding his body temperature too high.
In the first half of the night, Qiu Henian kept fanning him. Finally, it cooled down in the second half of the night, and both could sleep peacefully.
These days, the vegetables in the field were just finished harvesting the first batch and the second batch was not yet ripe. For a while, both had some leisure time and could sleep until they woke naturally.
Before the roosters started crowing in the morning, Qiu Henian got up to close all the windows and pull the bed curtains.
When he returned to bed, he saw Qingyan had turned over, pulling all the blankets away, and sitting between his curled legs.
After the weather turned hot, he changed from sleeping in his underwear to a lighter cloth that barely covered his back, secured by a fragile string, a few strands of long hair wrapped around it.
Qiu Henian watched quietly for a while, wanting to remove it for him, but hesitated to touch the thin strap, eventually retracting his hand.
Qingyan’s legs were also bare, long and straight, shining white, almost glowing, irresistibly attracting the gaze lingering above them like a magnet.
Watching this, Qiu Henian’s Adam’s apple moved slightly, helplessly smiling to himself, forcing himself to lie down and not look at the little beauty beside him anymore.
Since Qingyan had a stomach ache a few days ago, Qiu Henian had helped him wash for a few days, and Qingyan gradually became less “reserved.”
He probably felt that since he had been seen so thoroughly, there was no need to be modest anymore, and simply did whatever was comfortable.
But Qingyan didn’t know that the man sleeping beside him tossed and turned for a long time every night before falling asleep.
After a while, the roosters outside started crowing, still audible through the windows, but Qingyan was not at all disturbed, sleeping soundly, breathing evenly without moving.
Qiu Henian lay awake with his eyes open, tired but unable to sleep.
Listening to the occasional soft snoring beside him, Qiu Henian “hated” it so much that he was itching to the point of his teeth not itching yet. He finally sat up, bent over, and used his mouth to lightly bite the part of Qingyan’s body with the most flesh.
But it wasn’t enough.
The itch of his teeth still persisted, and Qiu Henian took a deep breath, giving in to his inner craving, and bit down slightly harder…
“What’s wrong?”
Qingyan was finally awakened by the bite, groggy as he propped himself up on his elbow and turned to look back.
Qiu Henian quickly raised his head and replied, “Nothing, just a mosquito.”
Qiu Henian couldn’t bear to bite too hard.
Qingyan didn’t wake up completely. He just said “Oh” and lay back on the pillow, falling asleep again in no time.
…
Today was overcast, a rare breeze blowing. Li Sheng was drying the sheets in the yard and looked up at the sky, saying, “This rain won’t come down until at least evening.”
Taking advantage of the cooler weather, Qingyan wanted to go to town.
This time, it was purely for fun, no need to push a cart.
On the way, he ran into Liu Fa, who said he was also going, so they went back together to call his wife.
Qi Yanlan was still in the early stages of pregnancy, unstable, and unable to travel far. Liu Fa’s wife asked what he wanted to buy and promised to bring it back to him.
Liu Fa’s wife was a tolerant and reasonable person who had always been good to her sister-in-law, Qi Yanlan was gentle and obedient, and they got along well.
Qi Yanlan didn’t pretend to be polite anymore, and said sincerely to her sister-in-law, “I want to eat the sour date cake from the pastry shop on the east side of town.”
Liu Fa’s wife responded with an “Oh,” not standing on ceremony since her sister-in-law wasn’t, and replied, “Don’t you like to eat pork intestines? I’ll go to the butcher’s shop and see if they have any. I’ll stew you a bowl when I come back.”
Qi Yanlan nodded happily and said, “Hmm.”
When the tofu workshop was busy, Liu Fa’s three children were all taken care of by their grandmother, Liu Fa and his wife took the opportunity to visit occasionally and stayed for a few days.
Liu Fa was famous for being good to his wife, and there was a reason for that. With no elders in his own family, his wife’s family had helped a lot, and he knew how to be grateful.
As the two families strolled and chatted, they headed towards town.
Liu Fa’s wife and Qingyan walked ahead, asking how busy the fields were. Qingyan said all the vegetables were picked, and they were taking a break. After a few days, the green onions would grow, and they could go back to the fields to pick them.
Liu Fa’s wife nodded and said, “You and your husband are capable. Even if you hire someone, it’s not easy to work in the fields. When my family’s land wasn’t rented out a few years ago, my back couldn’t straighten from the work. These past two years, because the tofu workshop has become busier, I haven’t had time to manage it, but renting it out is quite worry-free. It’s just that we don’t earn as much as we would if we planted it ourselves.”
After a while, she seemed to remember something, furrowing her brows and saying, “But this winter, our family’s land will be taken back. We won’t rent it out anymore.”
“Why?”
Qingyan asked, “Planning to plant it yourself?”
Liu Fa’s wife shook her head, sighed, and gestured behind her with her chin, saying, “His relatives will be moving here in two months. They have no roots here at all. With enough people at the tofu workshop, arranging for more people to come in won’t earn much. So our two families discussed it and decided to lease our sixty acres of land to them. We won’t charge rent, and we’ll take it back when their family gets settled.”
Hearing this, Qingyan frowned slightly, glanced at her, wanted to say something but didn’t.
Liu Fa’s wife understood his expression and said, “Relatives also have to be clear about accounts. Once they start planting on this land, it’s likely we won’t be able to get it back easily in the future. After all, who wants to let go of meat that’s already in their mouth?”
She sighed again, “Back then, old Liu’s family fled the war and sought refuge elsewhere. This family didn’t treat them well. Otherwise, my father-in-law wouldn’t have died so soon.”
“But if it weren’t for them, the past few days wouldn’t have been so difficult to endure. At least they gave us a roof over our heads. In the end, there’s still a debt of gratitude. If this land can’t be taken back, my two brothers-in-law have already accepted it.”
Behind them, Liu Fa also heard their conversation and chimed in, “That’s my father’s brother’s son’s family. I have to call him ‘brother.’ Besides the husband and wife, there are also two children, twins—one son and one daughter. They should be about seventeen or eighteen years old now.”
“They are indeed close relatives. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have sought refuge with their family back then,” he sighed, “I don’t want to mention past grievances anymore; it only brings heartache.”
Qiu Henian patted his shoulder reassuringly, “Just aim to have a clear conscience.”
Liu Fa nodded heavily, “That’s all we can do.”
As they chatted, they didn’t feel tired at all, and soon arrived in town.
They first went to the bookstore. Otherwise, carrying so many bags wouldn’t be convenient.
Recently, Qingyan had become fascinated with biographies and stories of martial arts adventures, so he went deep inside to pick and browse.
Liu Fa’s wife wasn’t very interested in books and casually flipped through medical books near the entrance.
Liu An went inside and whispered with the shopkeeper. After a while, he went to Qiu Henian, nudged his shoulder, winked, and said for him to follow the boss to the back room of the bookstore to see the collection.
Qiu Henian trusted him and went along.
But upon entering, he saw the shopkeeper smiling broadly, taking out a box. When he opened it, it was filled with books without titles.
Qiu Henian glanced back at Liu Fa, who grinned exactly like the shopkeeper, mischievously toothy.
Qiu Henian turned around and walked away.
Liu Fa grabbed his arm and stuffed a book into his arms, “I asked the shopkeeper to specially set this aside for you. Take it and read it when you go back!”
Qiu Henian swiftly pushed the book back, “No need, I’m not very interested.”
Liu Fa still didn’t let go, “It’s really good stuff, much better than last time. Don’t believe me? Open and take a look!”
“No need!”
“Just take a look!”
“I won’t!”
“Hey don’t be sorry, aren’t I doing it for you?”
Liu Fa opened the book to a certain page, insisting, “I’ll open it for you. Look at this page…”
“Don’t open it!”
Qiu Henian rejected as he walked towards the room adjoining the front hall, accidentally colliding with Qingyan who was about to enter.
At the same time, Liu Fa threw the book open at a certain page into Qiu Henian’s arms. He instinctively caught it.
Qingyan looked down instinctively. Qiu Henian didn’t have time to close the book and simply lifted his hand to cover Qingyan’s eyes, saying, “Don’t look.”
The room fell quiet for a moment. Liu Fa scratched his head and deftly took the book from Qiu Henian’s other hand, hiding it behind his back.
At this moment, Qingyan spoke softly, “I didn’t see anything.”
After saying that, he removed Qiu Henian’s hand covering his eyes, turned around, and walked away with his head down.
As he walked away, his cheeks were flushed.
After leaving the bookstore, they went to a shop selling hair ornaments and earrings.
Liu Fa’s wife was dazzled by the variety and liked everything, calling her husband over for advice.
Qingyan would occasionally deal in such goods when setting up stalls, and he was familiar with most styles, so he wasn’t very interested. He stood nearby waiting, and Qiu Henian waited with him.
After a while, Qingyan’s gaze fell on his own shoe tip.
He cleared his throat and asked softly, “Do… you like that one?”
Qiu Henian also coughed lightly, “No.”
Qingyan quickly glanced up at him, then lowered his head again, “It’s okay, if you like it, just buy it. I don’t mind.”
Qiu Henian looked conflicted, “Really, I don’t.”
Silence fell between them.
Over at the hair ornament shop, Liu Fa’s wife was putting a pearl flower on her head, and Liu Fa was paying the shopkeeper. It looked like they were about to finish their purchase.
Suddenly, Qingyan spoke again, “I saw it.”
Qiu Henian turned to look at him, “Saw what?”
He thought Qingyan was referring to seeing the book opened to that page just now.
Qingyan blushed even more, answering, “The other day when I was tidying up, I saw the book you hid in Dad’s cabinet.”
Qiu Henian felt his head buzzing for the first time.
Qingyan glanced up at him again. This time, he took a step closer, took the money pouch from his waist, took out a couple of silver coins, and placed them in Qiu Henian’s hand.
Qingyan said, “This money is for you. Spend it however you like.”
Qiu Henian wanted to return the money, but Qingyan dodged away.
Before he left, Qingyan bit his lip with his head down, hesitating to say, “Don’t buy too much, it’s not good for your health…”
Spoiler for the Next Chapter:
Qiu Henian released him, his breath heavy, almost menacingly saying, “Provoke me again, and I’ll…”
