Lu Liu felt chilled to the bone listening to this. Forget the Chen family—what was the Wang family to them anyway? Was this not their own flesh and blood?
He struggled to sit up and look at Xiao Mai. There was a small red mole between Xiao Mai’s brows—he was a little ge’er.
Lu Liu gently touched his face and the pregnancy mole, then said to Li Feng, “Da Feng, thank goodness we aren’t that kind of people. Otherwise, this child would really suffer.”
Li Feng deliberately changed the subject, telling him to relax and not dwell on it.
Physician Hu told Lu Liu to rest quietly for a while longer. Carrying twins had squeezed all his internal organs out of place; he needed proper recuperation.
Lying down while the heart was exhausted—how could that be considered recuperation?
Li Feng brought over some books and read The Hundred Family Surnames and The Thousand Character Classic aloud to Lu Liu.
His literacy was decent. He stumbled through the text, and when he got stuck, Lu Liu filled in the characters for him. He read and learned at the same time.
Listening, Lu Liu grew drowsy. After a while, he brought up that letter.
“Da Feng, your handwriting is so big—you could cut it up and use it as flashcards.”
Being able to mention it meant he had let go of certain obsessions. He could affirm his own worth and then slowly reinforce it. He needed to gradually believe that love did not require so many justifications, that he did not need to do something in exchange for it.
Whatever he was willing to do in return was because there was love in his heart—not because he felt guilty or indebted.
Li Feng asked him, “Then should I cut it up?”
Lu Liu refused. “That’s my treasure. I’m keeping all of it.”
Li Feng felt embarrassed. “If I’d known you were going to save it, I would’ve practiced my writing before I wrote it.”
Lu Liu asked, “What about the letters I wrote before—are you going to throw those away?”
Li Feng said he wouldn’t. “Those are my treasures.”
The husband and husband both laughed. If they waited until their handwriting improved before writing again, then there would be no more of these treasures.
There was no one else at home today. Li Feng stayed with Lu Liu, and since his hands were free, he hung up the painting Xie Yan had given them.
Xie Yan had been generous—the painting was a large one, suitable for hanging on the wall.
Li Feng hung it inside the house, where it could be seen as soon as one walked in.
Their house had earthen walls. Li Feng worried about dampness damaging the painting, so he brought over some scrap paper to paste onto the wall first.
Most of the scrap paper in their house came from failed calligraphy practice. The rest was misprinted paper from when they made illustrated booklets.
Neither looked good and wasn’t suitable to be seen. Li Feng cooked up some paste, turned the inked side toward the wall, and pasted it on. After carefully measuring the position with small wooden pegs and waiting for the paper to dry, he would be able to hang the painting.
Lu Liu couldn’t wait, so Li Feng unrolled it and held it up for him to see.
In the painting, the two of them stood together, looking at each other.
Behind them were mountains, hazy and indistinct, with faint lines sketching a small courtyard. One could vaguely see a big yellow dog—that was Er Huang.
Lu Liu loved it. “How strange. My brother and I look the same, but when he paints us, we feel completely different. One look and you can tell this is me.”
Li Feng said, “That’s a real skill. We should let the two kids learn it well. In the future, they can paint pictures of us.”
Lu Liu glanced back at the two children, full of anticipation.
“I always knew scholars could read and write. I never expected they could paint too. That really is an impressive skill.”
After hanging the painting, Lu Liu got out of bed and walked around, looking at it from near and far.
That evening, Shun’er came home and said Wang Dongmei had given birth to a little ge’er.
“Second Brother isn’t happy at all—his face is dark as thunder. Mother scolded him, and he even talked back to her. Mother originally didn’t want to bother with him anymore, but seeing Second Sister-in-law lying in bed so pitiful, she stayed to help take care of her. Mother said don’t think that just because the family has split she can’t control him. If he keeps acting like such a brute, she’ll throw him out and make him live on his own.”
Hearing that Er Tian dared to talk back to Mother, Li Feng’s expression also darkened.
That night, the brothers cooked together. As Shun’er talked more about the second household, he felt some pity as well.
Li Feng was hard-hearted. “Those who are pitiable must have something hateful about them. They brought this on themselves.”
Shun’er listened to him. That night they sliced cured pork and stir-fried it with garlic shoots.
They left some in the pot to cook longer, so it would be softer for Lu Liu.
That evening, only the three of them ate, sitting together in the room.
As soon as Shun’er walked in, he saw the painting on the wall and almost dropped his bowl in shock.
“When was this painted? It’s so beautiful—I want one too!”
Li Feng said he had no ambition. “Why don’t you learn to paint it yourself?”
Shun’er: “……”
He couldn’t even recognize all the characters yet, and now he was supposed to paint?
Lu Liu ate his meal and said, “I feel like an old man with no teeth, eating such soft, mushy food.”
“Very good,” Li Feng said. “You’re adapting to old age early.”
Shun’er thought Lu Liu would get angry, but instead Lu Liu looked quite happy.
“Then you eat with me. Let’s be old men together.”
Li Feng switched to a softer bowl of rice and said something about growing old together until their hair turned white. Shun’er’s teeth nearly went sour just listening to it—his own rice was hard as a rock, and he could barely chew it!
With the New Year approaching, Chen Guizhi spent three to five days taking care of things in the new village, then returned home. Whenever there was something good to eat, she had Shun’er hitch up the cart and deliver a bowl to Wang Dongmei in the new village.
After this recovery period, she wouldn’t bother anymore.
Chen Guizhi planned to make some pickled radish. Li Feng helped wash and cut the radishes.
It was cold work. His body ran hot, so he worked briskly and didn’t feel the chill.
On the twenty-second day, another snow fell—the heaviest of the year. It only snowed for two days, but the ground was soon covered in a thick layer.
Li Feng shoveled snow every day and even climbed onto the roof to clear it, afraid the house might collapse under the weight.
He tidied up the livestock sheds in the back yard—the chicken coop and rabbit hutch—and added plenty of straw.
When he had free time, he trained Wei Feng and took the two dogs out for walks.
He also wanted to ride out on horseback, but that would be too ostentatious. Instead, he hitched the horse to the cart so Shun’er could look a bit impressive when delivering food every day—then the boy would be more willing to brave the cold wind.
He even built snowmen in the yard. Using a plate, he made a small snowman and carried it inside for Lu Liu to see.
The babies born in the twelfth month belonged to the tiger zodiac, the same as Li Feng.
Li Feng couldn’t shape a tiger, so he wrote the character “king” on the snowman’s head.
Lu Liu liked tigers—tigers were mighty. If the children were born one month later, they would be rabbits. Rabbits were soft and fluffy… and delicious.
This year, some people in the stockade had hunted weasels. Li Feng had them save the pelts. He’d heard that wolf-hair brushes were made from weasel fur, and he planned to look for a craftsman who could make them.
He wanted to keep a few wolf-hair brushes. They were hard to find—none in the county town, and expensive in the prefectural city. He would provide the fur and ask a craftsman to make them; the price could be negotiated.
It was said that besides the hair, the wood of the brush handle and the craftsman’s skill also affected the price.
The wood was easy—there was a mountain right behind them. He didn’t even need to fell trees; thick branches would do.
As for the craftsman, he could ask Old Master Lu to carve some patterns on the handles. Brushes like that would look quite presentable as gifts.
“We’re not scholars, so we’ll just keep two—one for you and one for Shun’er. The rest we’ll send to your brother. Our two families exchange gifts all the time, but we never quite hit the mark. These brushes should be a good gift.”
Lu Liu listened to him.
With some free time, Li Feng also made slingshots.
He cut the deer tendons and made a few extra. When Lu Yang and Xie Yan had children, he could give them one right away.
He asked Lu Liu what kind of toy he wanted. “I’ll make one for you too.”
Lu Liu didn’t want a slingshot. He wanted a kite.
“When spring comes, shall we go fly kites? I’ve never flown one before.”
Li Feng said, “You’ve never ridden a cow either. Want me to take you riding a cow while flying a kite?”
Lu Liu refused. Riding a cow wasn’t impressive—riding a horse was.
He wanted to ride a horse and fly a kite.
Li Feng said, “Riding a horse isn’t as impressive as riding me. Want to ride me while flying a kite?”
Shameless!
Lu Liu stopped talking to him!
In the final days of the year, everyone in the household was busy.
Shun’er and Mother washed and dried things, cleaning every corner.
Physician Hu was still staying in the stockade. As a guest they had invited, they intended to have him spend the New Year with them. Unexpectedly, he had already been invited away by someone else.
He was extremely popular. Even the stockade chief had gone to invite him. In the end, he was invited to another physician’s home in the stockade, where the two doctors could exchange experience and knowledge. At that point, there was no way to compete for him anymore.
