“What are you doing!”
Xu He had long heard that this butcher was not a good person, but he had never known that he would bully a little ge’er. Even if he had gone too late and failed to catch the thief who had stolen his things, he still should not vent his anger on him!
Xu He tightly gripped the corner of his clothes. Even though he was afraid and the difference in strength between him and Zhang Fangyuan was so great that he could not possibly gain any advantage, he still did not show the slightest sign of cowardice.
He stepped on the little patch of wild grass soaked by the rain and aggressively chased after the man, whose one step was equal to two of his. He stretched out his hand, wanting to snatch the basket back.
Zhang Fangyuan ignored Xu He’s fussing. He simply bent down and stuffed the chopped firewood into the basket in one go, wanting only to fill it quickly so they could hurry down the mountain. But then he heard the person behind him making a commotion, followed by a smack.
He stopped his hands and turned his head. For a moment, he was stunned.
Xu He had thrown himself forward and fallen completely flat on the ground.
“What are you in such a hurry for? I’m not going to eat your basket.”
He quickly put down what he was holding and wanted to go over to help him up, but Xu He gritted his teeth and got up one step ahead of him. He staggered a few steps, and the two of them simultaneously saw that the trousers around his knee had been torn open. A branch had pierced through a large patch of skin and flesh, and blood mixed with mud was seeping out.
Xu He frowned and limped over to sit on a stone stump nearby. He did not care that the stone had already been soaked by the rain. He swiftly tore off a strip of cloth from the hem of his inner garment, simply wiped the wound, and without making even a single sound of pain, used both hands to wrap up his knee as tightly as a wrapped rice dumpling.
The movements were so quick that even Zhang Fangyuan, standing to the side, was surprised. It actually made him look like a big foolish bear.
The foolish bear looked at the little ge’er’s pair of thin-soled cloth shoes, which already had patches on them. Half the reason for his fall was these shoes that were unsuitable for the season, and the other half was because he had taken the other person’s basket away.
“Can you still walk?”
Xu He was filthy all over. He glanced slightly at Zhang Fangyuan. He knew that right now he was not only disheveled but also very embarrassing, but thinking that he was not his second sister, who needed to maintain a perfect image in front of a man, he did not feel particularly embarrassed.
He did not want to answer Zhang Fangyuan. He got up, wanting to retrieve his basket and put a little less firewood in it before going home. Unexpectedly, the flesh around his knee hurt sharply. Forget carrying firewood—even going down the mountain in this rainy weather would probably be difficult.
“You’re still thinking about firewood. Is it really the case that if you don’t carry this firewood home, your family won’t be able to cook tonight?”
Zhang Fangyuan naturally also saw the difficulty hidden beneath his stubborn appearance. He pushed the basket aside. “I’ll carry you down the mountain.”
Xu He was clearly startled by Zhang Fangyuan’s words, and for a moment his legs became even more awkward.
After quite a while, he finally remembered two words. “No need.”
“Then I’ll go down the mountain and find your father to come get you?”
Xu He remained silent and did not answer. His father had plenty of things to keep him busy and simply did not have time to come take care of him.
Zhang Fangyuan had never really intended to leave him on the mountain and go down to the Xu family’s house to find someone. Whether he could even call someone from the Xu family was one thing. If the rain grew heavier and Xu He stayed on the mountain getting soaked for this long, he would surely catch a chill.
He knew what the other person was worried about, and thoughtfully emptied all the firewood he had just put into the basket.
“Stop being stubborn. Get into the basket. We’re going down.”
Xu He saw that the butcher intended to carry him down in the basket.
“Then your firewood and basket…”
Zhang Fangyuan looked steadily at Xu He. “Which is more important, firewood or a person?”
Xu He’s ears reddened when he heard this. What an ambiguous thing to say.
……
Xu He crouched inside the basket, his knees bent and somewhat painful. With the man’s steps, he bounced up and down too, looking somewhat comical. It easily reminded a person of going to a household where a sow had given birth to piglets, buying a little piglet, and carrying it home.
He had carried piglets back before, and now he seemed to be that little piglet himself.
The little piglet hugged Zhang Fangyuan’s precious chunks of iron, lowered his eyes, and watched the man stride steadily along the muddy mountain path. Perhaps because his feet were large, every step was solid. Although he was curled up inside the basket and was not particularly comfortable, he was actually more secure than when walking on his own.
He wondered just how much strength this man had. Carrying him on his back, the man did not even furrow his brows, looking as relaxed as if he were walking empty-handed.
“You’re going the wrong way!”
Xu He suddenly came back to himself. With his sharp eyes, he noticed that the butcher was heading toward another small path. Although it was also a road down the mountain, it took a longer route and was completely covered in wild grass. It had not been used by anyone for a long time.
Zhang Fangyuan said in a low voice, “People are easy to run into on the main road. This path is more secluded, but no one uses it.”
Xu He was stunned for a moment and closed his mouth.
Wasn’t Zhang Fangyuan supposed to be a dissolute and unruly man who even drank flower wine in the city? How could he still think things through so carefully for someone else?
This instead made him somewhat uneasy. Could it be that he was taking a crooked path to abduct him and sell him in the city…? But with his appearance like this, he probably could not be sold anyway.
He went through all sorts of wild thoughts without realizing it, and before he knew it, the man had carried him to the place at the foot of the mountain where the secluded path connected with the main road.
Zhang Fangyuan stopped walking.
“From here to your house is only about a quarter of an hour. I have no problem carrying you to your front door, but if someone happens to see us, or if your parents don’t approve…”
Xu He hurriedly said, “I’ll go back myself.”
Hearing this, the man put down the basket. He had kept his legs bent inside the basket for too long, and they were both sore and painful. Gritting his teeth, he stood up, but he could not step out of the basket. Just as he was feeling somewhat awkward, the person standing beside him raised his bent arm toward him.
Xu He glanced at him, then slightly lowered his eyes and grabbed his elbow, borrowing his strength to climb out of the basket.
“Go home.”
Although the rain at the foot of the mountain was somewhat lighter than on the mountain, the two of them were still mostly soaked through.
Xu He did not linger. He hung his own basket on his back, returned all of the butcher’s chunks of iron, and limped toward his home.
Zhang Fangyuan watched the dark, skinny figure gradually almost blend into the color of the rain. He turned around and prepared to go home as well, but then, amid the sound of the fine rain, he heard a sentence of thanks.
When he turned back again, Xu He only gave him a brief glance before turning around and leaving.
He rubbed the tip of his nose. That word of thanks actually made him feel even more embarrassed.
……
After getting onto the road leading to his own small courtyard, Zhang Fangyuan lengthened his stride and reached home in less than a quarter of an hour.
He had not locked the courtyard gate when he left. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw a seven- or eight-year-old little ge’er walking over from beneath the eaves of his house.
He carefully said, “Brother A-Yuan, you’re back.”
Zhang Fangyuan put down the chunks of iron he had brought back.
“Xiao Mao, why did you come over?”
“I brought some vegetables for Cousin.”
Seeing that his cousin was in a good mood today and easy to talk to, Zhang Xiaomao was not as afraid. He showed Zhang Fangyuan the large basket he had carried over.
Inside were some seasonal vegetables, such as radishes, cabbage, and chili peppers. They were common things in the village, and every household had them. But he had always run to the city before, and since the beginning of spring plowing, he had not done any work in the fields. The land at home had already been left荒, and he simply had no vegetables to eat.
“Your father told you to bring them over?”
Xiaomao nodded. “Dad said if Cousin doesn’t have any vegetables to eat, you can go to the fields yourself and pick some.”
Zhang Fangyuan lowered his brows, a trace of a smile at the corner of his mouth. When his father and mother were still alive, his Fourth Uncle’s family had treated him the best.
When he went out being wild and unruly, his Fourth Uncle had come over many times to grab him by the ear and scold him. Unfortunately, he had never listened. He had even gotten into a big fight with someone, angering his Fourth Uncle badly. Later, he was in the city all day and never came home, so his Fourth Uncle could no longer find him. It was only when he returned to the village in some later year that he learned his Fourth Uncle had injured his foot on the mountain and died of tetanus.
His Fourth Aunt hated him and refused to open the door to see him. Later, Xiaomao also married far away to another place.
These things had always been his deepest regrets.
Looking up at the still-young little ge’er, his eyes could not help becoming gentler. He reached out and rubbed his head, smiling as he asked, “Your father isn’t angry with me anymore?”
Not long ago, when he had run off to the city, he had also gotten into an argument with his Fourth Uncle before leaving. Yet this morning, he had even sent Xiaomao over with vegetables. It seemed his anger had already subsided.
Xiaomao pursed his lips. His father had certainly cursed his cousin plenty of times at home, but how could he truly hate this person? If he really hated him, he would not constantly say, “Dad loves Cousin the most. How could he be angry with you?”
Zhang Fangyuan laughed. “You’re getting better and better at talking. What are you eating at home tonight?”
Xiaomao thought for a moment. “Mom said it’s raining today and there’s nothing to do, so she’s going to make baked flatbread.”
“That’s pretty good. I’ll go over and mooch a flatbread too.”
Zhang Fangyuan called Xiaomao into the house. Looking up at the only half of a smoked pig’s head hanging over the stove, he placed a stool underneath and took it down.
“I don’t know if this pig’s head meat has gone bad. Take it to your house and have a look.”
Zhang Fangyuan put on his bamboo hat, carried the pig’s head meat, and went together with Xiaomao to the home of his Fourth Uncle, Zhang Shicheng.
“Fangyuan is here!”
He Shi was washing radishes beneath the eaves. When she looked up and saw the big and small figures walking into the courtyard one after another, she hurriedly wiped her hands and got up with a smile to receive them.
Zhang Fangyuan greeted her. “Fourth Aunt.”
He casually handed the pig’s head to the woman, then raised his head and looked into the house.
“Fourth Uncle isn’t home?”
“He’s inside.” He Shi did not stand on ceremony with Zhang Fangyuan either. She directly took the pig’s head, the corners of her eyes smiling.
“I’ll stew it for you father and son. With the rain tonight, it’ll be just right as a dish to go with the liquor.”
Her voice was not loud, but the person inside seemed to have been seriously eavesdropping on the conversation through the wall.
“And you’re still giving him something to go with his liquor? Didn’t he drink enough in the city? Now he’s come home to drink too!”
The two of them looked toward the room together. Zhang Fangyuan exchanged a glance with his Fourth Aunt, then lifted his leg and entered.
A middle-aged man was sitting on a cushioned chair in the main room. His complexion was yellowish, perhaps because he often worried over life and livelihood, and deep furrows had already formed between his brows. Zhang Fangyuan’s Fourth Uncle was not actually very old, only a little over thirty-five, but farmers aged quickly. He already looked like a man well into his forties.
The man wore a stern expression. His build was nowhere near as sturdy and tall as Zhang Fangyuan’s, but after experiencing decades of wind, frost, rain, and snow, his presence was nevertheless very imposing.
“Fourth Uncle.”
“You still know how to come back? I thought you’d gotten drunk to death in the city. You don’t even come home for New Year.”
Zhang Shicheng had not seen Zhang Fangyuan for more than half a month. Ever since his parents had died, this boy’s temperament had become very strange. He had once loved coming to their home the most, but afterward he had picked up some useless bad habits and messed around in the city. Not only did he stop coming to their house, he barely even stayed in the village.
It had not been easy to see him come over on his own today. Zhang Shicheng had wanted to speak more gently and ease things between them, but when he opened his mouth, the words came out sharp instead.
Zhang Fangyuan did not get angry. He shamelessly sat down to the side. A good man did not bring up the glories of his past, and he did not pick up the angry words of his Fourth Uncle. Instead, he chose words that an elder would like to hear.
“Yesterday, I asked Aunt Gan to arrange a marriage for me.”
“I heard your Fourth Aunt mention it.” Zhang Shicheng had only learned that he had returned to the village after hearing about this. That was why he had sent Xiaomao over with some things today.
“Your Fourth Aunt was taking shelter from the rain at the Hu family’s house and happened to run into Matchmaker Gan going there to arrange a marriage.”
Once a man reached the age to establish a household, marriage became a knot in the hearts of his elders. Zhang Fangyuan had gone to ask a matchmaker, which was a sign that he wanted to settle down. Zhang Shicheng was very happy when he heard the news.
Zhang Fangyuan became interested too.
“Was Aunt Gan talking about the Hu family under the big locust tree at the east end of the village?”
Seeing the light in his nephew’s eyes, Zhang Shicheng sighed inwardly. Today, when the matchmaker went to the Hu family to arrange the marriage, they had originally been very enthusiastic and willing to discuss things before she mentioned that Zhang Fangyuan was the one seeking a match. Once the matchmaker said who was asking for the marriage, they immediately became unwilling even to meet him, and had even said a whole lot of sharp and unpleasant things in front of He Shi.
“The girls and ge’ers of our Old Hu family haven’t become so difficult to marry that they need to become wives or husbands to a good-for-nothing. Is Zhang Fangyuan someone our family can associate with?”
“He has no parents above to look after him, and below him is someone useless. Matchmaker Gan, do you think our Hu family is easy to fool? Our Hu family has never treated you unfairly. How dare you come here to arrange this kind of marriage? Are you looking down on our Hu family this much?”
“If you ask me, whoever’s child marries him is simply destined to have bad luck. How much did Zhang Fangyuan give you for you to come to our house and arrange a marriage?”
He Shi had heard all of it. Her face had flushed crimson from embarrassment, and she had not even waited for the rain to stop before walking straight home through it.
Naturally, Zhang Shicheng would not tell his nephew all those unpleasant words. He put it very tactfully, afraid of striking down the rare serious intention Zhang Fangyuan had finally developed.
“It’s not just the Hu family. For anyone of suitable marriageable age, she’ll go and ask around. The two sides have to be willing for it to work.”
Seeing the solemn expression on his Fourth Uncle’s face, Zhang Fangyuan knew that the discussion had not gone very pleasantly. He also gained some understanding of his own prospects.
Arranging a marriage was simple when you said it was simple. Take the Shu family, for example. As long as their family gave the matchmaker a word, girls and ge’ers would surely have their families send the matchmaker over to ask about them. If the scholar’s family agreed to the marriage, then it would be settled.
But it was difficult when you said it was difficult. Like him, the matchmaker still had to search from one family to another to find someone willing. Being mocked or insulted sarcastically was a small matter. More seriously, he might even be driven out of someone’s home.
“Don’t be anxious either. Your Second Aunt has already heard about this and brought another basket of eggs to ask Matchmaker Gan. She’ll certainly be able to find someone suitable and proper for you. It may be more troublesome than it is for other families, but you’re also at the age when you’re about to reach adulthood. Since you used to fool around, don’t blame the villagers for speaking harshly. In this life, a person always has to take responsibility for the things he has done.”
Zhang Fangyuan nodded. “I know.”
Seeing that he was unusually sincere today, Zhang Shicheng softened his tone even more.
“If the person is good, giving a little more in betrothal gifts is no problem. Fourth Uncle doesn’t have a son, so you know I don’t have to worry about betrothal gifts. If you’re short on money, Fourth Uncle will find a way for you. If you really can’t find someone in the village, it’s fine to go farther and look in another village. A wife or husband can’t just be found casually and settled for. It’s a matter for a lifetime. As long as you become steady and honest from now on, you won’t be worse than any other man in the village.”
Zhang Fangyuan’s heart warmed. He slowly took a deep breath and gave an affirmative reply.
After dinner, He Shi packed up the remaining pig’s head meat for Zhang Fangyuan to take home and eat. Zhang Fangyuan was too embarrassed to take something over and then take it back again, and the two sides argued back and forth without reaching an agreement. In the end, Zhang Shicheng said, “If he won’t take it, then forget it. He can come back to eat again in a couple of days.”
Zhang Fangyuan smiled and agreed.
Two days later, while Zhang Fangyuan was burning charcoal in the courtyard, Matchmaker Gan unexpectedly came to his door.