Chapter 134
The path uphill was steep and difficult to traverse. Qiu Henian got down from the carriage and led Xiaozao up the mountain on foot while Qingyan also descended occasionally to push from behind. Jindou stayed in the carriage holding Ah Miao, cheering loudly with his tiny voice for his dad and father.
The carriage was much faster than pushing it by hand, and before noon, they arrived at Liu’s hunter’s cabin on the mountainside.
As soon as Jindou got out of the carriage, he excitedly ran around inside and outside the cabin. Since it was too cold inside, Qingyan was worried he might catch a chill.
When the child ran up to him, he quickly scooped him up and placed him on the heated brick bed, wrapping him in a thick blanket so he couldn’t move around much, obediently waiting on the bed.
After Qiu Henian lit the fire, the cabin gradually warmed up, and Qingyan finally let him down.
For lunch, the three of them had noodle soup. Qingyan briefly scalded the persimmons, peeled off their thin skins, and cut them into small pieces. Seeing this, he fed Jindou, who wanted some, a small piece. He smacked his lips and asked for more, only satisfied after having another piece.
Qingyan then fried the persimmon pieces in oil over low heat until they turned into persimmon paste, adding water to boil noodles.
The noodles were rolled out by Qingyan himself yesterday and frozen outside. Now that they were here, he put the frozen lump of noodles directly into the pot without thawing them, cooking them as if they had just been rolled out.
When the noodles were nearly done, he added eggs and chopped scallions, and after serving them, sprinkled a few peanuts freshly fried yesterday on each bowl of noodles.
These two large bowls and one small bowl of noodles were sour and delicious, especially comforting on a cold winter day after such a long journey. The three of them quickly finished eating.
After the meal, after feeding Xiaozao and Ah Miao, Jindou was left to play on the warm brick bed by himself. The two adults unloaded the carriage, sorted out their belongings, and tidied up the cabin.
After finishing their chores and washing up, they went to check on the child lying on the brick bed, only to find that he had fallen asleep on the stacked quilts at some point.
Qingyan gently picked Jindou up, Qiu Henian laid out the bedding, and they put the child back on it.
The two husbands also took off their outer robes and lay down on the heated brick bed for an afternoon nap.
When they woke up, the sun was slanting westward. Taking advantage of the remaining daylight, Qingyan dressed Jindou warmly and they went outside to build a snowman in the yard, while Qiu Henian poked the stove, added coal, and heated water. It was warm inside the cabin.
He took the lean pork for dinner out of the house to thaw, washed the vegetables, put on a cotton robe, and went out to play with his husband and child.
Having slept too much in the afternoon, none of the three were sleepy that night.
They had sweated a lot during the day’s journey, so Qingyan washed Jindou and dried him off, wrapping him in a big quilt on the brick bed. Qiu Henian took him to play with the leaf cards.
Qingyan tied up the ends of the bedsheets, pulled out a curtain to cover the brick bed, and took a bath himself.
Halfway through washing, soap got into his eyes, and he realized he had forgotten to bring a towel.
He closed his eyes tightly and softly called out, “Henian,” asking him for a towel.
Footsteps approached and stopped by the bath bucket. Qingyan reached out to grab it, but only caught air.
“Don’t move.”
A deep voice sounded nearby, and then a soft towel gently wiped his eyelids.
After a while, the man said, “Done.”
Qingyan opened his eyes and met the man’s gaze, which was at eye level with his. They looked at each other for a while, and the man’s gaze followed the drops of water on his nose to his lips, then slid down into the water, lingering there.
Qingyan knew what he was looking at. Under the influence of the warm water and the man’s gaze, he could feel changes happening in his chest.
Since New Year’s, the two husbands had been busy, and even when the shop and the storehouse were closed, they had to prepare for the mountain trip. Bringing the child this year meant they had even more to carry.
It had been almost half a month since they had been intimate.
But even now that they had some free time, it still wasn’t possible.
This small cabin only had one large open space. The bed, stove, and storage were all together, unlike at home where there were separate rooms. It was very inconvenient, so they could only endure it.
Qiu Henian’s gaze lingered for too long, flames seemed to flicker in his eyes, almost burning into a vigorous blaze. Qingyan bit his lip, raised his hand to cover his eyes, shielding himself from that almost consuming gaze.
“Father!”
Outside the curtain, Jindou’s childish voice called out.
Qiu Henian stirred, responding with an acknowledgment before he attempted to get up.
Qingyan, however, lifted his hand and pressed down on his shoulder, his other hand still covering his eyes.
Then, Qingyan leaned forward, his lips brushing against Qiu Henian’s, his tongue gently probing before being entangled.
The two husbands became engrossed in this kiss until Jindou called out twice more from outside the curtain. Qingyan finally withdrew, lowering his hand.
Qiu Henian opened his eyes, glanced at Qingyan’s slightly flushed cheeks and damp hair for a moment, then hung the towel on the edge of the bath bucket, bent over to kiss Qingyan on the forehead, and then turned away.
Qingyan’s chest rose and fell irregularly a few times. He took a deep breath and sank into the bath, emerging after a while, gasping for air.
The blush on his face, however, didn’t fade away.
While Qiu Henian bathed, it was Qingyan’s turn to play with Jindou.
He took out the little picture book she had bought from the bookstore and read it to Jindou page by page.
They both enjoyed reading books. Apart from reading before bedtime, if there wasn’t much else to do after meals, they would also spend some time reading.
Jindou had been influenced by books since he was young and was very interested in them.
Qingyan guided him to read some interesting books with pictures, and Jindou liked them a lot.
Moreover, Qingyan noticed that the way children read books was somewhat different from adults. Initially, he thought that when Jindou listened to his reading, he was looking at the pictures in the books.
However, in reality, he wasn’t just looking at the pictures; he was also treating the words as if they were pictures themselves.
For example, characters like “人” (person), “从” (from), “众” (crowd) – he would perceive these characters as pictures and remember them quickly. Sometimes Qingyan would see him clumsily using a small wooden stick to draw these characters on the ground, even though his stroke order was completely wrong.
However, Qingyan didn’t rush to correct him.
Interest is the best teacher, and since Jindou was still young, there was no need to rush his learning so seriously.
When Qiu Henian finished washing up and tidying up, the family of three played happily on the heated brick bed. Jindou would roll over to his dad’s side for a while, asking for kisses in a coquettish manner. Then he would roll over to his father’s side, rubbing his tender face against his father’s face. Even when his saliva got on his father, there was no complaint.
After playing until tired, Jindou would lie down on the pillow and fall asleep on his own, without needing the adults to coax him, behaving extremely well.
The oil lamp was still lit. As usual, the two husbands leaned together to read books. As they read, they ended up kissing each other again.
However, the more they kissed, the more thirsty they became, and they couldn’t do anything else. It was truly uncomfortable.
So they had no choice but to extinguish the oil lamp and lie down to sleep.
The brick bed was too large, and they were afraid that the child might roll off. In the middle lay Jindou, fast asleep, while the two husbands slept on either side, protecting him.
Qingyan tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. As he turned over again, he saw Qiu Henian on the other side, looking at him with his eyes open, with Jindou between them.
Although the oil lamp was extinguished, moonlight streamed in through the window. After their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they could vaguely see each other.
They gazed at each other across the space for a while. Qingyan lowered his eyelids and smiled, covering her mouth.
When he looked up again, he saw Qiu Henian smiling with his lips curled up.
This smile seemed to ease some of the anxiety and longing in their hearts, and drowsiness gradually set in.
Qiu Henian reached over and gently brushed away the strands of hair that had fallen across Qingyan’s face.
Qingyan closed his eyes, and Qiu Henian withdrew his hand, closing his eyes as well. The two of them fell asleep facing each other.
Although they had felt uncomfortable just a while ago, this little bit of ordeal seemed to have its own charm.
