Chapter 54: A Simple Farewell
Qin Liangchuan stayed in his hometown for less than two weeks before departing with his group, returning to Nanhui County.
Before leaving, he requested a final meeting with Aunt Li. They exchanged a few words, simply gazing at each other, each sighing deeply.
It was a beautiful spring day, alive with birdsong and the scent of flowers. They had first met in the corridor of the county lord’s mansion—a handsome and scholarly young man, and a beautiful and intelligent young woman.
The young master, graceful and refined, bowed slightly and greeted with clasped hands. The lovely young lady responded with a graceful bow.
On their wedding day, the bride couldn’t resist her hunger in their new room. She lifted the covers and happily began eating peanuts from the bed. Just then, the door creaked open, and she met the gaze of her young groom entering.
One was bashful and flustered, the other tender and affectionate.
The groom smiled, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, revealing two meat buns placed on oiled paper behind him.
During childbirth, the man paced anxiously outside the door while the woman’s heart-wrenching cries pierced his heart like needles.
After their daughter was born, on countless nights, the woman woke to breastfeed the crying child. The husband fretted over her, fearing she might be hungry, cold, or weary.
On the day the man left before the New Year, carrying a wrapped bundle, the woman stood at the door with their daughter, urging him to leave early and return soon.
The man walked a distance before turning back, catching a final glimpse of his wife and daughter.
Memories flooded his mind as vivid as if they had happened yesterday.
Today, in this moment, both knew this farewell might mean they would never meet again in this life.
On the day of farewell, only Qin Lan and her husband attended. Qin Lan looked tearfully as she watched her father, who had accompanied her from childhood to adolescence, walk further and further away. Her lips were tightly clenched, and her body trembled slightly.
She kept looking in that direction, watching her father occasionally wave back at her until he disappeared from sight.
After returning home, Qin Lan fell ill for a while. After two or three days of complete recovery, she seemed like a different person, never mentioning her father in front of others again.
…
The day before Qin Liangchuan left, Qiu Henian went to the county town and found the inn where he temporarily stayed. The two talked in the room for about two quarters of an hour.
Although Qin Liangchuan had recovered his memory, he had been drugged and couldn’t recall the appearance of the bandits clearly. He only remembered one person had a small black mole at the end of their eyebrow.
Learning of the past connection between him and Qiu Henian, he was even more grateful and expressed his intention to repay Qiu Henian in the future if given the chance.
Leaving the inn, Qiu Henian didn’t feel overly disappointed.
He didn’t know what kind of person he was before losing his memory or what he had to do.
There had been times of confusion before, and he had thought about searching for his past. Yet, there was always a voice in his heart telling him: don’t go.
When Blacksmith Wang was alive, even when he later fell seriously ill and was bedridden, Qiu Henian didn’t see him as a burden. It was only after the old man passed away, leaving him alone in the empty house, that he felt an unbearable loneliness, hearing the voices and footsteps from other people’s houses, making him feel unbearable loneliness.
Therefore, under Aunt Li’s repeated persuasion, he decided to marry and find himself a family.
He didn’t have many expectations for his married life. As long as husband and wife respected each other and took care of each other, it would be fine.
But he married Qingyan, someone almost completely different from what he had imagined.
Beautiful, delicate, yet also intelligent and kind-hearted.
That day in the shop, when Qingyan confessed to him, he was so pure and passionate, so irresistible.
Every time Qiu Henian recalled that moment, he still felt the uncontrollable heart palpitations and the indescribable desire to possess him.
He wanted to embed himself in him embrace, never allowing him to escape.
…
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the autumn harvest began in the north.
Although only one worker caused trouble, the other three were familiar with him. To avoid trouble, Qiuniang found a new worker to replace him.
She and Qingyan continued to take turns delivering meals to the workers.
Most of the vegetables in Qingyan’s field had been harvested, with only a small part left for seed.
Soybeans could stay a few more days, but sweet potatoes had to be harvested before the cold dew, or they would spoil in the field, requiring urgent attention.
By dusk every day, Qiu Henian hurriedly left the shop, pushing a cart over, and with the two workers, he packed the dug-up sweet potatoes into bags and pushed them back home.
Soybeans were more troublesome. After cutting down the seedlings, they needed to be dried in the field for two or three days before being pulled back to be shelled and packed.
After pulling them back, the work mostly fell to Qingyan. He had to beat the bean pods down, use a winnowing basket to separate the shells and shriveled beans, then pack them. When Qiu Henian returned in the evening, the two of them worked together, occasionally aided by Aunt Li, bustling about.
During the harvest season, the blacksmith’s shop was also exceptionally busy, with people coming and going from early morning till late at night.
Qiu Henian was busy managing both the shop and the fields, barely having time to eat a proper meal for the past ten days. He often cooked a big pot of rice for himself to eat throughout the day, whatever vegetables were available were stir-fried. If there weren’t many at noon, he would randomly fry whatever was washed and available at home.
After eating, they continued working until it got too dark outside to continue, then washed up and went straight to bed.
By the time of the autumn harvest season, outsiders would arrive driving ox carts to collect grain.
After the sweet potatoes were harvested, Qingyan kept enough for the two of them to eat and sold most of the rest to the grain collectors. While this earned slightly less money compared to selling them in town or the county, it was far more convenient. Transporting these sweet potatoes alone would have exhausted them.
As for the soybeans, they were taken directly to the village oil mill in exchange for several large barrels of soybean oil, enough to last the family for a whole year.
Once the fields were cleared, Qingyan instructed the workers to rest properly. They needed to fertilize and irrigate the fields to prepare for next year’s spring planting.
After everything was done, the couple sat down together to tally up their accounts. Looking at the figures, the profit wasn’t high, but at least they didn’t suffer any losses. This was their first year, and they had invested heavily; next year would likely be better.
Qingyan also entertained thoughts of expanding their operation. The current land was too small, and while much effort had been expended, the yield was limited. Renting or buying more land and hiring more people could potentially reduce the cost per acre, but human energy was limited. Whether or not to proceed required careful consideration.
However, compared to the earnings from the blacksmith’s shop or even the profits from setting up a stall, cultivating these dozen or so acres of land clearly fell short.
Qingyan sighed, saying, “It’s true what they say, every grain is hard-earned. Being a farmer is truly difficult throughout the year.”
…
During the busiest days at the blacksmith’s shop, Liu Fa’s relatives visited once again.
Xiao Zhuang had keen eyes and immediately informed his master, “That strange couple has come again.”
Qiu Henian glanced outside and locked eyes with the middle-aged couple. They noticed being noticed but showed no hesitation, even smiling broadly and nodding at him.
Qiu Henian’s face remained expressionless, his lips twitched slightly, and he instructed Xiao Zhuang, “Close the door.”
…
A few days later, Qingyan and Qiuniang went to the county to see the grocery store.
With the field work completed, they finally had some free time.
Aunt Li’s snowflake ointment and perfume had come out again, and the face masks were also about to be launched. They needed to stock up on goods for the stall.
Before they could leave the village, they saw a young man walking ahead of them. Upon hearing their conversation, he turned his head back.
Qingyan recognized the face—it was Liu Xiang, the younger brother of Liu Fa’s relatives, the twins.
Seeing Qingyan, Liu Xiang’s face lit up with exaggerated delight.
He opened his mouth wide and said, “Ah, it’s you, handsome brother!”
Qiuniang kept her head down, hiding her mouth, and whispered softly, “Qingyan, where did this person come from? He doesn’t seem quite normal.”
Before Qingyan could respond, Liu Xiang trotted over, carrying a basket covered with a pink silk cloth.
Though silk wasn’t cheap, a small piece wasn’t worth much. Qingyan had never seen someone use such fabric as a cover and couldn’t help but look at it a few more times.
Liu Xiang noticed his gaze, pursed his lips, and moved the basket behind him.
Qingyan immediately understood and retracted his gaze, smiling at him and asking, “Are you going out?”
Liu Xiang’s face lit up again with a brilliant smile, saying, “Yes, I’m going to deliver something to someone.”
As he spoke, his cheeks blushed faintly, and his eyes looked embarrassed as he glanced away.
Qiuniang stood beside him, looking puzzled.
Qingyan recalled that Liu Youfu and Zhang Jufu had recently asked villagers to help match their twins. It seemed like this was the opportunity, and now that the gifts were delivered, they would probably celebrate soon.
Qingyan coughed lightly and said with a smile, “Then since you’re busy, we’re going out of the village. We’ll leave first.”
As they prepared to leave, Liu Xiang called out, “Brother Qingyan!”
Qingyan turned back to see Liu Xiang looking embarrassed, hesitating and looking as if he wanted to say something but didn’t dare.
Feeling a bit impatient, Qingyan asked, “What’s wrong? Do you have something else?”
Liu Xiang cleared his throat, took a few steps forward until he was very close to Qingyan, and whispered softly, “Brother Qingyan, I don’t mean to ask this, but I’m really worried about you…”
“Huh?”
Liu Xiang said, “They say you’re infertile. Is it true?”
At first, Qingyan thought he had misheard. Then he glanced at Qiuniangg beside him, saw her wide eyes and gaping mouth, and realized he hadn’t misheard. His mind was in turmoil.
Thinking of Chen Yu mentioning this a few days ago, it was probably this person spreading rumors.
Qingyan closed his eyes briefly. If Qiuniangg wasn’t pregnant, he really wanted to rush back now and duel with him, avoiding the daily entanglement and strangeness.
Qingyan reminded himself not to argue with children, forced a smile, and said, “Don’t listen to nonsense. Brother still has things to do and won’t accompany you. Hurry up and do your own thing.”
After saying that, Qingyan pulled Qiuniangg, who was still in a daze, and the two hurried out of the village.
On the way, Qiuniang looked back from time to time. “Is there something wrong with this person?”
Qingyan said, “His name is Liu Xiang, Liu Fa’s relative.”
Qiuniang sighed, “It turns out it’s the family that moved here recently. The people from Liu Fa’s family are nice. How come the relatives are such characters?”
Qingyan didn’t say anything.
Before long, Qiuniang looked back several times and said, “Hey, why does it seem like he’s heading towards Second Brother’s shop?”
Qingyan glanced back and saw Liu Xiang turning into an alley—the same alley where the blacksmith’s shop was located.
Qingyan only glanced and turned back, saying, “There are many shops on that street. He’s probably going shopping.”
Not long after that, in the afternoon, Qingyan finished buying goods and returned home. As he was preparing dinner, Qiu Henian came home.
Qingyan was about to get up to greet him when he saw him carrying a basket.
The basket was covered with a familiar pink silk cloth!
Spoiler for the Next Chapter:
He grabbed both ankles without any prologue and sent himself directly.
