Xie Yan’s hands kept roaming—first over the clothes, then slipping inside. He felt along Lu Yang’s ribs, then his spine. The more he touched, the more his tears fell. Lu Yang had no choice but to tease him with something bawdy:
“This won’t do. What kind of man touches his husband and ends up with zero desire and two handfuls of tears?”
Xie Yan shot back, “Any man who has desire at a time like this has no heart.”
Lu Yang kissed him and patted his hand. “Enough touching. It’s all bones—embarrassing, honestly. I’m hungry. I want to eat.”
Xie Yan wiped his eyes and went to heat up the food.
There were already dishes prepared at home, so stir-frying wasn’t much trouble. Xie Yan planned to make two fresh dishes for him and just reheat the rice.
There was also rice broth. It was soothing and gentle on the stomach. When Xie Yan went into the kitchen, he saw it was still warm, so he brought Lu Yang half a bowl first to moisten his throat.
Lu Yang really was thirsty. After drinking the rice broth, he climbed down from the kang, found a hair tie, and tied up his hair. He burned some mugwort to fumigate the room.
Once that was done, he went to the kitchen to find Xie Yan.
Fumigating the kitchen with mugwort didn’t help much. The door was always opening, the window never fully closed, and mosquitoes kept getting in. Stay there for a bit and all you heard was smack, smack, smack.
Lu Yang asked him, “Have things been okay lately? How’s home? How’s your studies?”
Xie Yan nodded. “Everything’s fine. I’m just not fine inside. I kept thinking about you.”
Lu Yang told him to rein it in. “Say that again and my teeth will all sour.”
Xie Yan huffed. “I’m telling the truth.”
The truth could still be cloying.
Lu Yang cupped his cheeks, looking like he was protecting his teeth.
“Alright. You can talk now.”
Xie Yan praised him for being cute.
That was rare.
Lu Yang—no longer mighty, but cute.
In the time it took to stir-fry a dish, the two of them had chattered up a storm.
Back in the room, Lu Yang ate mostly vegetables and only took a couple bites of rice.
It was too dry; he still couldn’t stomach it.
There were plenty of seasonal vegetables. Xie Yan deliberately used less salt—enough flavor to taste good, but not so savory it demanded rice. That way, Lu Yang could eat large mouthfuls of vegetables. He was still hungry, but for the sake of his pitiful stomach, he chewed slowly and swallowed a few bites of rice just to pad things out.
Xie Yan went to look at the stones. Lu Yang told him to find the small pouch in his leather bag.
“There’s birthday money from other people in there too.”
The little pouch was leather as well, only big enough for碎银 and a few copper coins.
Xie Yan counted them—seven copper coins.
Lu Yang listed the names one by one. When he heard that Boss Yu had also contributed, Xie Yan’s eyes curved with delight. “You really held a banquet at Denggao Tower?”
Lu Yang shot him a look. “Would I lie to you? I was generous—I put down ten taels as a deposit. We only spent two taels, though. Got eight back afterward.”
Xie Yan beamed. “I ate longevity noodles that day too, and I even brought longevity buns for Wu Pingzhi!”
As he spoke, he remembered something. He took a wooden box from the kang cabinet, pulled out a small cloth bundle, and untied it for Lu Yang to see.
“Jingzhi, look at this. These are mandarin-duck toggles. Wu Pingzhi gave them to me as my birthday gift. He said they can be used as fasteners for standing-collar robes. I like them. Do you want to wear them with me?”
Lu Yang had said he was curious, but there was nothing left to wonder about. His top scholar had no secrets from him.
Smiling slyly, Lu Yang deliberately teased him. “Wu Pingzhi gave you a birthday gift. Why should I wear it with you? I’ll make you two outfits—you can rotate them!”
Xie Yan hugged him from behind and even remembered to wrap his arms around Lu Yang’s waist so he wouldn’t interfere with him eating.
He said, “If you wear it with me, then we’re a pair of mandarin ducks!”
So clingy.
Lu Yang laughed so hard he couldn’t take it. He set down his chopsticks and picked up the pair of toggles to examine them.
He’d never used such pretty frog closures before. The two toggles were shaped like mandarin ducks; when fastened together, they formed a pair with their necks crossed, nestled close to each other.
And Xie Yan actually wanted to sew something like this onto clothes and wear it out.
After thinking for a moment, Lu Yang advised him, “I’ll make two everyday outfits for wearing at home. You won’t wear them to school anyway. One outfit isn’t enough to rotate.”
As long as he could wear them together, Xie Yan was satisfied. Lu Yang agreed, and so did he.
Lu Yang pointed to the stones on the table. “Your birthday gift from me. The one with a bit of white jade showing—that’s you. The dull gray one next to it—that’s me.”
Xie Yan was sharp. He immediately understood where they came from. His affection only deepened, and he hugged Lu Yang without wanting to let go.
Lu Yang told him to go hug the stones instead. Xie Yan refused.
The stones were just for looking. Holding his husband was better.
Lu Yang went to rinse his mouth; Xie Yan went to wash the dishes.
When they lay down again, Xie Yan still held him, a hand resting on Lu Yang’s abdomen, gently rubbing.
A habit left aside for long enough ought to fade.
But Xie Yan hadn’t let this one go. He always remembered that Lu Yang’s stomach was delicate and needed to be rubbed before sleep.
Lu Yang himself didn’t even have that much patience. When he was away, if he couldn’t sleep, he’d rather lie flat and let his thoughts run wild.
The lamp still hadn’t been put out. He still needed to take a pill later.
He tilted his head and said to Xie Yan, “Actually, when I was in the prefectural city, I didn’t dare think about you.”
Xie Yan said, “You know you’re wrong, right? You actually missed me a lot.”
Lu Yang gasped dramatically. “Wow—how do you know that too?”
Xie Yan nodded.
“You worry too much. If you say you didn’t miss me, that just means you were thinking about me everywhere—afraid I’d be unwell, afraid something would go wrong. You got everything done and still say you didn’t miss me?”
To have one’s feelings seen and cherished was a deeply happy thing.
Lu Yang was speechless for a moment. A thousand emotions clogged his throat. He opened his mouth several times, and in the end tears welled up anyway. He turned sideways and hugged Xie Yan, rubbing against the hollow of his neck, finally admitting it.
“Yes. I missed you a lot.”
The day Li Feng came home, Lu Liu was roasting mushrooms.
The summer sun was strong enough to dry them. When it rained, they’d bring them in; when it cleared, they’d lay them back out again. But sunny days in the rainy season were hard to come by. If they wanted to do business this season, they had to make other preparations.
In winter, they’d put iron plates, iron racks, or stone slabs over the stove to roast food. Their family used an iron rack.
This was Lu Liu’s first attempt—and it was a complete disaster.
He managed to roast the mushrooms through, fragrant and aromatic. They smelled delicious. When he tried them, the flavor was a bit light, but they were edible with dipping sauce.
Living at the foot of the mountain in summer, the temperature was just right. In previous summers, Lu Liu had never felt this comfortable. As long as you didn’t mind the bugs, everything was good.
He hardly felt hot at all. Morning and evening, he even needed to throw on an extra outer robe.
Now, roasting mushrooms with Shun-ge’er, the two of them ate until their mouths were full of fragrance, and they couldn’t keep their outer robes on anymore.
Lu Liu planned to write a letter and tell Li Feng that roasted mushrooms tasted pretty good.
As for why he’d roasted them, he wouldn’t mention it. That failed method was just too ridiculous.
As they chatted, they heard sounds outside—voices that were distant yet familiar.
First Wang Meng calling out to Jiu-ge’er, then Da Qiang talking with Li Feng, followed by Li Feng’s reply.
Lu Liu looked up, his expression a little dazed.
There was a blazing sun in the sky. It shouldn’t have been a dream.
He glanced to the side. Chen Jiu, who’d been sorting mushrooms, set down his work and walked outside.
Shun-ge’er also jumped up and hurried to the courtyard gate. Sure enough, his big brother was back.
He shouted into the yard, “Mom! Sister-in-law! Big brother’s back!”
Faster than any of them was Er Huang. The dog had been napping in the back yard to cool off. Whether it heard the voices or caught the scent, it suddenly bolted out like a gust of yellow wind. In the blink of an eye it flashed past them—by the time you heard it bark, the dog itself was already out of sight.
Chen Guizhi wiped her hands and came out of the small shop. Two or three customers who’d been buying oil and salt followed her out, their voices full of envy.
“Guizhi, your Dafeng is something else! He can make money in the mountains, and he can make money in the prefectural city too. Look around the whole stockade—what other son is that capable?”
“And his husband’s capable too. He’s only been married in how long, and already carrying twins!”
“Dafeng doesn’t know yet, right? Making money and getting more children—double happiness at the door!”
…
In just a few steps, Chen Guizhi’s ears were filled with nothing but praise.
