She just smiled and nodded along, answering vaguely—either “mm-hmm,” or “that’s right, that’s right,” or a string of laughs.
When she saw Lu Liu still sitting by the path, she went over and tugged him up.
“And Shun-ge’er too—why’d you run so fast?”
It wasn’t that Lu Liu couldn’t move. His belly wasn’t so big yet that he was immobile.
He didn’t know what had come over him. He’d been longing every day for Li Feng to come back sooner. He’d heard the news, knew he was almost at the gate—but somehow he froze, not knowing what to do.
“I let Shun-ge’er go take a look first,” he said.
Chen Guizhi first kicked the firewood around the stove farther away, in case things got hectic later and sparks caught there.
The customers were heading out and ran into Li Feng on the narrow path. Seeing his cart piled high with goods, they all asked if he’d struck it rich.
“Did you buy all this in the prefectural city?”
Li Feng shook his head. “No, it’s all stuff from the county—oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, wine. Things in the prefectural city are expensive. How could I afford them?”
When they heard he hadn’t bought anything from the prefectural city, some people curled their lips in disappointment.
Li Feng didn’t bother explaining. He hurried the mule cart toward home.
Er Huang ran circles around the cart, barking nonstop.
Li Feng hadn’t bought it a big bone either. He just called its name a few times, and Er Huang wagged its tail like crazy.
At the gate, Shun-ge’er came out to welcome him inside.
“You’re finally back! If you hadn’t come back soon, sister-in-law would’ve turned into a great scholar!”
Li Feng laughed. “How’s he a great scholar?”
He’d thought Lu Liu would be crying his eyes out.
Shun-ge’er said, “He writes every day—writes and writes. His handwriting’s getting prettier, and he’s writing more and more. I asked him what he was writing, and he said letters for you. I said, how many characters do you even know—how can you write that much? He said you learn as you write. Tell me, isn’t he about to become a great scholar?”
Lu Liu heard everything from the courtyard!
“Stop talking,” he protested. “I’m not becoming a great scholar!”
Lu Liu hadn’t gone out to greet Li Feng earlier. But now that he saw him, that strange nervousness suddenly vanished. The moment he saw Li Feng, he broke into a smile—eyes curved, bright and shining.
“Da Feng! I was just eating roasted mushrooms!”
Li Feng hadn’t seen him in so long. He’d replayed Lu Liu’s appearance in his mind over and over. The moment he saw him, he felt like Lu Liu’s belly had grown.
He jumped down from the cart, pressed one hand to Er Huang’s head to stop it from jumping, then took two quick steps over and gently touched Lu Liu’s belly.
“Why’s it grown so fast?” Li Feng asked.
Lu Liu’s smile widened even more. “Because you’re going to be a dad again!”
Li Feng didn’t quite catch that. He only touched it once, then called out to his mother, briefly talked about the trip to the prefectural city, and led Lu Liu aside to start unloading the jars and containers from the cart.
They were heavy, so he did it himself.
Shun-ge’er followed along, waggling his eyebrows. “Big brother, didn’t you hear what sister-in-law said?”
“I heard,” Li Feng replied. “I was already going to be a dad.”
Chen Guizhi saw the brothers chatting happily and didn’t remind him of anything. She went off to the kitchen to boil water so Li Feng could wash up.
No rush for clean clothes. Lu Liu stayed outside the little shop, his eyes tracking Li Feng wherever he went, listening as Shun-ge’er teased him.
Finally, everything was unloaded. Li Feng freed up his hands and smacked Shun-ge’er.
“What’s wrong with you? Like stringing goat pellets—takes forever to get a whole piece of crap together.”
Shun-ge’er: “……”
“Hahahaha!” Lu Liu laughed out loud.
Li Feng wanted some private time with his husband. He ordered the “goat-pellet-stringing” little brother to take the mule to the shed and feed it, then wrapped an arm around Lu Liu and led him back inside to talk.
Lu Liu had clearly changed. Before seeing Li Feng, he’d been timid and hadn’t even gone out. But once Li Feng was there, he smiled nonstop. Sitting close together, his whole body softened—no fear of heat, no worry about dirt—leaning right up against the man.
Li Feng glanced at the window. Broad daylight—not good to close it—so he just took Lu Liu’s hand and kissed it twice.
“So what’s going on? Tell me properly.”
To avoid “goat pellets,” Lu Liu explained clearly.
“I’m pregnant with twins! I found out from the pulse a while ago. You’re going to be a dad again!”
So that was the “again.”
Li Feng looked at him, then at his belly, reached out and touched it again—patting it like a watermelon.
There were rules about touching a pregnant belly. You couldn’t rub in circles. Usually you just rested your palm there and slid it downward a bit.
Li Feng was trying to feel two babies, so he touched twice. Curious, he bent down and listened.
Lu Liu lowered his gaze and asked, “Did you hear anything?”
Li Feng said, “Your stomach growled.”
Lu Liu was unhappy.
Li Feng held him and laughed for a long while. “Maybe Zhuangzhuang’s hungry. Or maybe the second one is.”
Lu Liu laughed again and told him the name he’d picked.
“How about ‘Xiao Mai’? I thought about it for a long time!”
Li Feng said it was good, murmuring “Zhuangzhuang, Xiao Mai” a few times, clearly delighted.
He also carefully studied Lu Liu’s eyes. His little husband was doing well—smiling all day today, no tears in his eyes. That made Li Feng even happier.
He didn’t want Lu Liu to cry. He wanted him to be happy.
Lu Liu loved sharing things. Before Li Feng even asked, he started chattering away.
First he talked about how he’d discovered he was pregnant with Xiao Mai, then how he chose the name, then about recent everyday matters.
“The salted duck eggs are ready. When Da Qiang went to the county to deliver goods, I had him bring some to the shop—for big brother and brother-in-law. That still wasn’t enough, so I bought a few more from Er Jun’s husband.
“My appetite’s been better lately. I haven’t been throwing up much. I eat comfortably every day. Once I’m full, I have energy and can help out at home. Mom still won’t let me help gather mushrooms—she says it means bending over all the time, and the bags are heavy. My belly’s big, and my back’s going to ache plenty later, so she tells me to rest whenever I can. But how can I just sit around? I hurried up and cut all the fabric, do some needlework every day. Now it’s two babies—scrap cloth has to be sorted, two little quilts need to be made, and lots of baby clothes too. It’s really busy.
“I also help process mushrooms—picking through quality ones, flipping them, bagging them. When I bag them, I just pull the bag mouths. I usually do the cooking. It’s just a shame I still can’t stand the smell of fish. Otherwise I’d stew fish soup for you. You like fish soup, and you’ve worked hard lately—you could use something nourishing.”
As he talked, Lu Liu’s eyes turned red.
He was still someone who cried easily. That initial numbness at meeting him didn’t stop the tears.
Once it hit him, the tears started dropping.
“I was so worried about you,” Lu Liu asked him. “Were you okay out there?”
Li Feng said he was fine. His hands were rough—he’d just finished unloading and hadn’t washed them—so he had Lu Liu wipe his own tears while he talked about a few things from the prefectural city.
The city was bustling, streets crowded, people packed shoulder to shoulder.
“Sometimes it feels like there are more outsiders than locals. I never imagined there were so many merchants in the world.”
They always said scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants—with merchants at the bottom. Who would’ve thought so many people ran off to do business?
Lu Liu understood that well enough. When you’re so poor you can’t eat, when you’re starving, who still cares about household registration or status?
Li Feng talked about many things from the prefectural city—but not what Lu Liu wanted to hear most.
So Lu Liu asked about what he ate, what he drank, and where he stayed.
Li Feng focused on food. Traveling outside, among all sorts of people, Lu Yang had been very generous with provisions—insisting everyone eat their fill so they’d have strength.
They couldn’t pick fights. They had to keep their heads down. But they couldn’t be without the ability to protect themselves either.
Lu Liu understood then.
“So the lodging wasn’t great?”
Li Feng said he was a smart cookie. “Inns are expensive. We went with a big group, so we all slept in one big communal room. It wasn’t bad—if it were too bad and got smelly, the stink would drift to the front and kill the dining business. But there was no way to bathe inside. Some people came in reeking of sweat, sealed in all night—stronger than dead fish. The communal rooms are all men: snoring, grinding teeth, farting, talking in their sleep. Some don’t know what they’re dreaming about and try to pounce on others. Like a steamer full of dead fish, and every so often one slaps you with its tail.”
