“Father, I’ll cook today,” he said, groping under the wild vegetables to find the pheasant and gastrodia elata, and showing them to Father Huo. “We’re family, Father, don’t always let me rest… I caught these on the mountain this morning, so I’ll make a pot of gastrodia elata and chicken soup to nourish Father’s body. It’s a way for Duan Ge and me to show our filial piety.”
Unable to refuse, Father Huo assigned the cooking task to Gu Fengyan...
Unable to refuse his father's request, Huo Duan followed his cousin Ye Bao to the river to catch fish and shrimp.
He was indignant. Father Huo doted on that boy too much. He served him plain rice and vegetable porridge every day, but when he had a fever, he made a big fuss and even made him go to the river to catch fish and shrimp... As a result, he fell into the river and got completely wet.
Huo Duan figured the young man was probably in his room, so there was no need to hide anything. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he took off his shirt and went shirtless.
"Father, I've caught the fish and shrimp. Where should I put them?" He pushed open the kitchen door, full of grumbling, and called out without even looking.
Gu Fengyan coughed. "Father isn't here. Give it to me."
"How come it's you?" Huo Duan was taken aback.
The person in front of me had their sleeves rolled up to their elbows, revealing two fair and delicate arms, and their face was flushed from the steam in the pot.
He quickly put his clothes on...
He quickly realized that this reaction didn't seem to fit "Erdan's" character, so he hurriedly pretended to be panicked, "I...I didn't know you were there, please don't be angry..."
Gu Fengyan rubbed his forehead. He knew that in this world, there were taboos between young men and men... but he was still a little unaccustomed to it.
"Come and eat after you've changed your clothes. There's something delicious to eat today." Gu Fengyan poured strings of small fish and shrimp into a basin of water.
Huo Duan said "Oh," feeling quite surprised.
You should know that his husband had never even stepped into the kitchen before, and in the situation just now where he "overstepped his bounds," he should have already started cursing him out.
The sun rose in the west?
...
Gu Fengyan sprinkled the chopped wild onions into the chicken soup, and finally, the task was completed!
Before he transmigrated, he would spend his rare days off learning to make medicinal cuisine for his grandfather from the nanny at home, so his cooking skills were pretty good.
A dish of cold clover salad, a big bowl of gastrodia elata chicken soup... Only half a chicken was used. The weather wasn't too bad in March, so it could be stored for a few days by hanging it on the roof beam for ventilation.
The chipped, coarse porcelain bowl contained three bowls of white rice.
It pained Huo's father to see this.
"Yan-ge'er, did you make all of this?" Father Huo asked, both heartbroken and amazed.
You should know that if you take a pheasant to the county to sell, you can get a full sixty-five copper coins, enough to buy a peck of rice.
The white rice in the bowl, because the land here is all dry and can't be grown into paddy, is 20 coins more expensive than wheat.
"Wow! It smells so good! I never knew you could cook." Huo Duan changed his clothes and came out. The food in front of him finally gave him some appetite.
Gu Fengyan smiled and said, "Eat quickly, it won't be good if it gets cold."
...
After finishing his meal, Uncle Huo couldn't stay idle, so he took the dishes and went to wash them.
Two people were tidying up the table inside the room.
"You're going to the county tomorrow... could you take me with you?" Gu Fengyan asked tentatively.
During the meal just now, Father Huo arranged for Huo Duan to go to the county tomorrow to exchange for white rice, and also to pick up the medicine he needs every seven days from Doctor Liang's house at the village entrance.
Gu Fengyan also wanted to go.
Since there's no going back, he needs to make sure he lives a better life... like earning some money.
But before that, we need to at least understand the economic situation of the world.
Huo Duan moved the small, cracked table to the wall. "Father will definitely disagree. I'm afraid of him. You can talk to him yourself."
"If you agree, I'll naturally find a way to persuade Father," Gu Fengyan said confidently.
Huo Duan believed that since his father treated him better than his own son, he would naturally listen to whatever his father said.
The difficult part was that he had to pretend to be foolish and stupid... and he also had to keep an eye on Gu Fengyan all the time.
Mr. Huo felt overwhelmed.
Heqing Village is more than ten miles away from Qianmo County, and it is a difficult journey. Uncle Huo prepared breakfast early in the morning and told Huo Duan and his wife to eat before going to the village entrance to drive the oxcart.
Ox-carts were time-saving, comfortable, and cost only two copper coins per person, similar to modern buses.
It was just as crowded as a bus.
Five people were crammed into a space the size of a single bed. Gu Fengyan was hunched over, unable to stretch out his limbs. To make matters worse, a man with yellow teeth sat next to him, who hadn't showered in days, emitting a foul odor.
The stench was so strong it made people want to vomit.
This man was a rogue old bachelor from the west end of the village, nicknamed Liu Laosan. He was over thirty years old, poor, and had never found a wife or husband. He had a lewd appearance, and every female dog in the village that passed by him would leer at him.
He sat next to Gu Fengyan with a purpose... He had long heard that a handsome young man had come to escape the disaster, and had bewitched the simpleton Erdan and the young master of the neighboring county magistrate.
I finally met him today.
She has fair skin, smells sweet, and even the birthmark on her earlobe is more vibrant than the others; she's clearly a woman who will bear many children.
It's a pity that he followed such a fool as Erdan, and he probably hasn't even held hands with him... The more Liu Laosan thought about it, the more excited he became. His elbows rubbed against Gu Fengyan's forearms, and his thighs moved closer to him.
Gu Fengyan, a modern man in human clothing, naturally didn't have much of a sense of male-male privacy. It must have been because the oxcart was too crowded... until Liu Laosan's hand lewdly touched the side of his thigh.
This is groping on a public bus, an act of indecent assault!
Right?
Gu Fengyan was disgusted and was about to kick Liu Laosan off the car when someone beat him to it—
"Liu Laosan! What are you doing?!" Huo Duan suddenly grabbed Liu Laosan's hand and questioned him.
From the moment he got on the oxcart, he noticed that Liu Laosan was sneaking around Gu Fengyan. Not wanting to cause trouble, he only gave him a warning look, but who knew that Liu would take advantage of the situation.
Regardless of gender, Huo Duan would never stand idly by and watch someone be offended right under his nose.
"Where are you putting your hands?!"
His questioning drew the attention of everyone on the bus, their eyes all falling on Liu Laosan's hands.
Liu Laosan's face turned bright red. He tried to break free by bending his hand, but Huo Duan grabbed him tightly, causing him to gasp in pain.
"Oh, Brother Erdan, it's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding! The bus is so crowded, it's inevitable that some people will bump into each other..." Liu Laosan grinned, thinking that Huo Duan was just a fool, and Gu Shi was a young man with thin skin, so he could just brush it off. "I'll just sit further away, okay?"
"Squeezed on the bus?" Huo Duan grabbed Liu Laosan, who was trying to escape. "Why don't I see anyone else putting their hands on anyone's thighs? Are you the only one who's different?!"
He understands these deadbeats all too well; they exploit public prejudice and the vulnerability of victims to fish in troubled waters.
But the more this is the case, the clearer the words need to be, leaving him nowhere to hide... After all, his identity is that of a clueless fool.
Everyone in the surrounding villages knows what kind of person Liu Laosan is, and now they all understand.
"Isn't this Liu's third son?" a villager from Dashi Village said. "Last time you and Zhang's wife got into trouble, Zhang's brother beat you pretty badly, didn't he? Where did you get this medicine... You're already walking around in less than ten days!"
As soon as the story was told, the villagers gathered around to gossip, which brought up several old stories, causing everyone to burst into laughter.
Liu Laosan's face turned bright red, and he tried to bury his head in his arms like a turtle hiding its head... In the end, he didn't go to the county, stopped the car, and sped away.
With most of the space around him empty, Gu Fengyan breathed a sigh of relief.
I can finally breathe again.
The oxcart ran over a stone and lurched violently. Gu Fengyan swayed to the side, but Huo Duan pulled him back.
Unlike others who were covered in sweat, Gu Fengyan smelled a faint fragrance on Huo Duan, like the scent of grass mixed with sunshine.
He didn't realize... this idiot is quite clean.
And very brave.
Once the car was stable, Huo Duan released him and sat up straight.
"Thank you." Gu Fengyan thought for a moment and gently tugged at Huo Duan's sleeve.
Huo Duan steadied the sack of wheat without even looking up. "Father said you are my husband, and I will protect you well."
He paused, then looked at Gu Fengyan earnestly. "And... this isn't your fault. Next time something like this happens, don't be afraid, I'll beat them up for you!"
Gu Fengyan couldn't very well say that he wasn't afraid at all, and that he was planning to kick Liu Laosan off the bus, but Liu beat him to it.
He could only smile and nod vigorously, "Yes!"
She felt a little more favorably toward this fool.
...
As soon as the oxcart arrived in the county town, people rushed off like bees, leaving Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan at the very back.
The kind-hearted old man, Mr. Shen, who was driving the cart, felt guilty seeing the two men carrying two large bags of wheat and knowing what had happened on the cart earlier. So he insisted on taking them to the grain store.
Although Qianmo County is not a large place, all the villages in the surrounding area come here to buy goods. Today, with the market opening, it is bustling with activity.
There are four grain stores in the county alone.
Father Huo had previously instructed Huo Duan that the wheat should be exchanged at Wang's Grain Shop in the West Market, and he must not mistake it for the Wang's Grain Shop next door... Wang's could exchange for more than Wang's, and Wang's mostly had old rice with unremoved husks.
Thanks to the help of Father Shen, the three of them were able to move the two large bags of wheat to the west market entrance.
But something still went wrong.
"Which of these two is Wang's?" Gu Fengyan asked, squinting.
It is next to the two grain stores mentioned above, and the signboard is "Wang Ji".
Huo Duan was also confused. He clearly remembered that one of the two shops was "Wang's" and the other was "Wang's," so how come they were both now called "Wang's"?
The sun was scorching, and Gu Fengyan could barely open his eyes. He just wanted to quickly change the rice and find a shady place to rest.
"Never mind, just stay here and don't move around. I'll go ask around," he instructed Huo Duan.
Just as he took a step, he heard Huo Duan say, "It's the one on the left. Look at its signboard. The one on the right is Wang's. The three dots are blocked by the signboard."
Gu Fengyan looked up, and the wind happened to blow open the banner, revealing the character "汪" (wang).
"It really is true," he muttered to himself.
But a sudden feeling of unease crept into my mind—when did Huo Duan learn to read?
A note from the author:
Thank you for reading and adding to your favorites. (The author secretly slipped a piece of candy into your pocket, "Shh, it's a bribe.")