Chapter 36: Qingming
Qingyan was very good at taking care of people. When he was seven or eight years old, he lost his parents one after another. At that young age, he understood to help his mother wash her face, comb her hair, and turn over in the morning before going out. In the evening after school, he would feed her and help her wash up.
Before his grandmother passed away, she stayed in the hospital for three or four months. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, he took turns with hired caregivers to take care of her.
Shen Min had no appetite.
Qingyan made him chicken soup for dinner, skimming off the layer of oil on the surface. He shredded the chicken into thin strips and added specially rolled noodles, blanched a few stalks of baby bok choy, sprinkled some chopped green onions, instantly enhancing the flavor without being greasy.
Qingyan sat with Shen Min by the bedside to eat together. Only when he saw Shen Min eating did he feel relieved.
People are not afraid of getting sick; they fear not being able to eat.
That’s usually a bad sign.
After Shen Min finished eating, not hearing any noise outside, he asked, “What about my second brother? Has he eaten?”
Qingyan nodded and smiled, “He just finished eating and has already gone back to his shop. He’s been staying there lately due to a lot of work.”
Shen Min paused with the chopsticks in his hand.
After a while, he lowered his head and said, “I’ve caused trouble for you.”
Qingyan patted his hand and said, “Don’t think too much. Just focus on recovering. Everything you need is in the shop. He comes back for dinner in the evening, so nothing will be delayed.”
Sitting on the bed in the evening, Qingyan read a book by the light of an oil lamp for a while. Feeling tired, he blew out the lamp and lay down to sleep.
Normally, he would fall asleep soon after lying down, but tonight he tossed and turned and couldn’t sleep. He had gotten used to having someone by his side, and now he felt particularly empty. The room felt unusually chilly.
At this moment, he began to miss his phone again. In his world, at this hour, he could have easily made a video call lying comfortably in bed.
Qingyan started to daydream. Someone like Qiu Henian, with that kind of physique, would look especially good in a suit. Qingyan also liked seeing tall people in basketball jerseys. Qiu Henian had long limbs and his muscular lines were sleek and solid; he would definitely look good in a basketball jersey.
Lost in his thoughts like this, Qingyan didn’t know when he fell asleep.
The next morning, Qingyan got up and was starting the stove when he heard a knock on the courtyard door; someone had entered.
They always locked the gate when they slept at night, and the only two people living here had keys.
Qingyan stood up and saw a tall figure accompanied by the chilly morning breeze. He opened the outer door and walked in.
Looking at the person he had missed all night, Qingyan’s eyes were joyful and affectionate.
He said, “Didn’t we agree to only have dinner at home and not come back for breakfast?”
Qiu Henian looked at him with lowered eyes and whispered, “I wanted to come back and see you.”
Then the two looked at each other, gazing for a long time until there was movement from the next room, prompting them to turn away.
After breakfast, Qiu Henian went out again and returned with a bag of peanuts and walnuts, delivered by the parents of a small village family to his shop yesterday.
Qingyan roasted the peanuts and slowly dried the walnuts in a large pot. After finishing his work, he carried a basket of peanuts and walnuts into the next room.
Shen Min didn’t eat much in the morning, but Qingyan could see that he was trying hard to eat more to recover quickly. His body was too weak. Shortly after eating, he had unknowingly fallen asleep again.
Now that Qingyan saw him awake, he sat with him, chatting and cracking nuts.
Qingyan unwrapped a sugar block and handed one to each of them. With sugar in his mouth and nibbling on nuts, it was both sweet and fragrant. Shen Min’s originally gloomy expression relaxed a bit.
Around noon, Qiuniang came over with a freshly cut large piece of pork and brought a jar. Qingyan took it and was pleasantly surprised to find milk inside.
Qiuniang gestured, saying, “Old Ma’s cow at the east end of the village gave birth. I persuaded him to buy this milk. It’s good for your health.”
Qingyan asked them to talk inside while he stoked the stove and poured the milk into a large bowl, warming it up.
After the pot steamed, he let it simmer for a few more minutes to thoroughly heat it up. The high temperature also had a sterilizing effect.
Qingyan lifted the lid of the pot and saw a layer of pale yellow cream on the milk, looking especially inviting.
He used a cloth to hold it and carried it in, letting Shen Min finish drinking.
Shen Min wanted them to take a bowl each to drink some. They refused to take anything, so he had to drink it slowly by himself.
Qingyan chuckled, “Watching you enjoy it makes it even tastier than when I drink it myself.”
Qiuniang added, “Eat and drink more, gain some weight. You’re too thin.”
After finishing the milk, Qingyan took the empty bowl and Shen Min burst into tears.
Qiuniang wanted to comfort him, but Qingyan stopped her and whispered, “Let him cry it out; it’s good to let it out.”
Shen Min cried for a while. He started with silent tears and then sobbed like a child.
Watching him, both Qingyan and Qiuniang couldn’t help wiping their tears.
After Qiuniang left, Qingyan brought over the bag of copper coins and placed it in Shen Min’s hand, saying, “Take this money and give it to Liu’s wife yourself in the future. Live well; there’s always a way.”
Shen Min cried out his sorrow, and it seemed like he had changed again.
He nodded and said, “Qingyan, you’re right. I’ll live well.”
By the third day at Qingyan’s home, Shen Min could walk around.
When the sun was good, Qingyan would sit with him in the courtyard for a while.
Several people have come to see him at home these days. Aunt Li has visited, and Liu’s family has also come. No one talked about sad things; they just chatted or played cards. Shen Min listened along or joined in, occasionally with a smile on his face.
A few more days passed, and the bruises on Shen Min’s face had faded, and the cuts on his fingers had scabbed over.
One evening, Qiu Henian came back for dinner. In a couple of days, it would be Qingming (Tomb Sweeping Day), so he brought paper money and offerings for worship.
After dinner, Qingyan neatly organized these items and put them away. After finishing up, he went to the outer room to top up the stove with coal slag.
Qiu Henian was about to leave for his shop when he asked from behind, “Qingyan, have you seen my grey robe?”
Qingyan turned around and walked towards the inner room, saying, “It’s in this cabinet. My hands are dirty; you can look for it yourself.”
He hadn’t finished speaking when Qiu Henian followed him into the room, and the door was gently closed behind them.
Qingyan turned back in surprise to look at him, only to have his waist encircled by strong arms. Warm lips touched his forehead, eyelids, nose tip, and finally his lips.
Qingyan initially hesitated with his hands covered in coal slag but soon responded eagerly to the man’s kiss. In his mind, he complained about not washing his hands before entering the room. He wanted to touch Qiu Henian’s face and hold him tightly in return.
The kiss quickly ended, and Qingyan reluctantly pecked the man’s lips a few more times.
Qiu Henian held his shoulders, then kissed him again on the lips, his tone pleasant and reassuring, “Alright, it’s late. I have to go.”
Qingyan also knew it was getting late and reluctantly stepped back to let Qiu Henian leave.
As Qiu Henian opened the door ahead, he suddenly remembered something, turned back, took out a money pouch from his robe, and handed it over, saying, “This is the silver money collected in the shop these days.”
Qingyan took it, feeling a bit embarrassed at his earlier eagerness, and didn’t dare to look at him, quickly returning to the bedside to put away the money.
The two walked out of the room one after the other. Shen Min was outside scooping water from a kettle that was almost dry. He had started helping out with some chores these past two days.
Seeing the couple coming out of the room, Qingyan’s face and lips were flushed. Shen Min could guess what had just happened and quickly averted his gaze, covering his mouth as he laughed.
It rained lightly on Qingming Day.
Qiu Henian came back early from the shop, and together with Qingyan, they took the offerings and went up the mountain.
Before Blacksmith Wang passed away, he had instructed Qiu Henian to bury him in a quiet place. His grave was farther up than others’, taking a good half hour to reach.
Luckily, it was now spring, the rain was drizzling and gradually getting lighter, the air was clean, and the mountain wasn’t too steep, making the climb quite comfortable.
Qingyan took off his rain hat to breathe.
After a while, the man walking ahead noticed and frowned slightly, saying, “Be careful not to catch a cold in the rain,” and put it back on him.
By the time they reached their destination, the light rain had stopped.
The two pulled out the grass on Blacksmith Wang’s grave and cleaned up the surrounding area.
Qingyan placed the pig head and other foods that the old man loved in front of the tombstone.
Qiu Henian poured a bowl of white wine onto the ground from a jar, refilled it, and placed it next to the food.
The two knelt in front of the grave.
Qiu Henian said, “Dad, it’s Qingming. Qingyan and I have come to see you.”
Qingyan added, “Dad, this pig head is stewed with my sauce. I’m quite good at it. Please try it.”
Qingyan lost his parents at such a young age, and now, because of marrying into his family, he had a father again. Although the person was long gone, he still felt a sense of closeness to the deceased old man, stemming from Qiu Henian.
After paying respects to Blacksmith Wang, Qingyan used branches to mark out another area nearby. Qiu Henian placed the prepared offering there.
Qingyan burned paper with his head bowed, his eye sockets turning red. Qiu Henian silently accompanied him, not saying anything or asking anything.
After finishing at the grave, the two returned home and found no one there. Shen Min was unexpectedly gone.
The two hurried out to look for him. Aunt Li came out of her house and hurriedly stopped them, saying, “Shen Min asked me to tell you that he’s gone home. He also said thank you for taking care of him these days.”
Qingyan became anxious upon hearing this.
“How can this be? His injuries haven’t fully healed yet. And if he goes back like this, Wang Heyao might beat him to death!”
Qiu Henian also frowned and said to Qingyan, “You stay at home. I’ll go over right now.”
But Aunt Li waved her hand and said, “There’s no need to go. As soon as you left, he left right after. No matter how I advised him, he wouldn’t listen. Later, I was really worried, so I went to his house at noon. Turns out, Wang Heyao and his mother were busy making fire and cooking for him while Shen Min sat in the yard cracking melon seeds.”
Spoiler for the Next Chapter:
A large hand reached over and fixed his garment, intending to tie the string back up.
