Huo Duan washed his hands and face and helped Gu Fengyan carry the quilt into the room. Seeing his clothes hanging on the bamboo pole, he felt a little embarrassed. "Young Master Gu washed my clothes? I'm so sorry. I'll do it myself from now on."
“I’m your husband in name only. If I don’t help you wash, people will gossip about me again…” Gu Fengyan said as he spread out the quilt with Huo Duan. “I’m not washing your clothes for nothing. I just found a vacant lot behind the house when I was getting firewood. I’ll trouble you to help me clear it out later, Mr. Huo.”
Huo Duan nodded. "It's no big deal, but what do you need the land for?"
"I'll go to the county to buy some vegetable and fruit seedlings another day and plant them so they'll be easier to harvest." Gu Fengyan smiled, realizing he was particularly good at managing household affairs. "After President Huo goes back, I'll have to stay, so I need to have some plans."
Huo Duan nodded blankly. He hadn't thought about returning to the modern world for a long time. Life suddenly seemed more comfortable. He would have forgotten about it if Gu Fengyan hadn't mentioned it.
"I'll clean up after I eat," he said.
After the sun went down, it got a little cooler, so Uncle Huo opened the courtyard gate to let the wind in, and set out the meal on the stone table under the peach tree.
A dish of braised bamboo shoots, a dish of stir-fried toon sprouts with eggs, a dish of cold clover salad, four bowls of white rice, and four bamboo cups filled with mint tea.
"Dashan, have a taste. This meal was all made by Yan Ge'er. There's more in the pot if it's not enough. Tell Erdan to get you some more." Huo Adie always wanted to praise his daughter-in-law, whether openly or secretly.
The table was covered with dishes that Ye Shan had never seen or eaten before, and the aroma wafted straight into his nostrils. "Hey, Uncle, you should eat too."
Ye Shan picked up a piece of bamboo shoot. It was fresh, fragrant, tender, and smooth. It was a taste he had never had before. He used to think that Gu Fengyan was spoiled and a two-faced devil. He never expected that Gu Fengyan could cook. His impression of Gu Fengyan changed a bit.
Of course, Gu Fengyan was unaware that he was busy pouring mint tea for Huo Duan and, while Huo's father was talking to Ye Shan, he whispered in Huo Duan's ear to try the dishes he had made.
Huo Adie and Ye Shan just smiled and didn't say anything, focusing on eating their rice... It's naturally gratifying to see the couple getting along so well.
A note from the author:
Thank you for collecting and reading.
Chapter Ten
After lunch, Ye Shan went home first. Huo Adie washed the dishes, while Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan took hoes to tidy up the small plot of land behind the house.
Gu Fengyan marked out a rough area for Huo Duan, "From here to here, there's a basket weaving workshop in the front yard where my father has leftover bamboo strips to weave a fence around. That way, the chickens and ducks we raise won't be wasted."
"I'm getting more and more used to it..." Huo Duan thought to himself, picking up the hoe and starting to dig crookedly.
The sun had set in the afternoon, the heat had dissipated, and a slight cool breeze had begun to blow. Gu Fengyan hadn't finished her work yet; she had blanched the bamboo shoots she planned to dry in the morning, and they were still soaking.
"Don't just stand here and watch, go back. It's still a bit chilly in the evening, don't catch a cold." Huo Duan was a little worried because he saw that he was dressed so lightly and that he couldn't handle the cold.
Gu Fengyan smiled, realizing he couldn't be of much help. "Alright then, I haven't finished processing the blanched bamboo shoots from this morning, so I'll head back now."
"By the way, let's go to the county again tomorrow." After walking a few steps, he turned back and reminded Huo Duan.
Without stopping, Huo Duan piled the dug-up black soil into mounds... He had learned this from Ye Shan. "Go buy some vegetable seedlings?"
"Yes, and while I'm at it, I'll check out the market for medicinal herbs." Gu Fengyan heard Huo's father calling him from the front yard and quickly responded, then said to Huo Duan, "Father called me. Mr. Huo, don't stay up too late. There's no rush, tomorrow is fine too..."
"Go ahead." Huo Duan stopped when the hoe struck a rock, carefully picked it out, and piled it at the bottom of the embankment. The soil was indeed as fertile as Gu Fengyan had said... there were even earthworms.
In the past, Mr. Huo would have been able to vomit up his dinner from last night and then wash his hands eight hundred times when he got home.
But at that moment, he simply turned the earthworms back into the soil and continued picking at stones.
Environment can change people, and Gu Fengyan and he are examples of this.
This mundane life of daily necessities, all done by their own hands, unexpectedly brought Huo Duan a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that was different from anything he had experienced before.
...
In the front yard, taking advantage of the cool weather, Father Huo had already moved the large wooden basin containing the bamboo shoots to the bottom of the peach tree.
"Father, leave it to me." Gu Fengyan quickly took the winnowing basket from Huo's hands.
"Erdan is tidying up that piece of land," Huo Adie said with a smile, and then moved two more stools next to the wooden basin.
“Sigh,” Gu Fengyan helped Huo’s father sit down, and then rolled up his sleeves to start processing the bamboo shoots. “I saw that the land was empty, so I thought I’d plant some vegetables or something, so they’d be easier to harvest.”
After rinsing and draining the bamboo shoots, cut them into wide strips and spread them out in a winnowing basket. Let them dry in the sun for about two or three days.
Gu Fengyan scooped the bamboo shoots, and Huo Adie chopped them. They chatted as they worked, and in no time, all the bamboo shoots were sliced and laid out to dry in a thin bamboo basket.
It was getting late.
“Erdan must be too engrossed in playing. Yan’er, go check on him and call him back. We can clean him up tomorrow.” Father Huo said, wiping his hands clean with a cloth hanging on a peach tree branch.
"Sigh, I'll go wake him up. Father, go to sleep first." Gu Fengyan took all the things under the eaves, closed the courtyard gate first, and then went to the back of the house.
Huo Duan had already finished clearing the small plot of land and was carefully picking up stones.
"Not bad, Mr. Huo." Gu Fengyan looked around and praised.
"Hmph, no big deal." Huo Duan finished picking up the last stone, his tail practically wagging in the air. He clapped his hands and said, "Father must have sent you to find me. Let's go, we have to go to the county tomorrow, so go wash up and go to bed early."
Speaking of washing up, Gu Fengyan suddenly remembered that there was no place to bathe in the house. He avoided people and used warm water to wipe himself down, while Huo Duan, finding it troublesome, simply rinsed himself with cold water in the yard.
But I just sweated today, and if I use cold water, I'm afraid I'll catch a cold.
"Go back and boil some water." Gu Fengyan took the hoe and told Huo Duan to rest for a while.
Huo Duan scratched his head, embarrassed, and said, "Summer is just around the corner. I'm not that delicate. I can just take a quick shower. You should go back and rest."
“I need to wash too. We’re like family, why are you being so polite, Mr. Huo…” Gu Fengyan nudged Huo Duan with his elbow.
As fellow unlucky transmigrators, Gu Fengyan felt they should help each other out.
Huo Duan felt inexplicably uncomfortable and grabbed Gu Fengyan's arm, "Why do you still like to get handsy..."
The two bickered as they returned to the front yard, where Father Huo had already gone to bed. Boiling water was a quick affair; a handful of wheat straw was added, the flames leaped up, and soon the water in the pot was bubbling like fish eyes.
After washing up and feeling refreshed, they rested as usual.
"Brother! Brother!" Gu Fengyan had just turned off the lamp and his head had barely touched the pillow when he suddenly heard someone knocking urgently on the door in the courtyard, shouting in a tearful voice.
Huo Duan was also disturbed by the noise, "What's going on?"
"I'll go check on him, you go to sleep." Gu Fengyan started putting on his clothes and lit the lamp. The person outside was still knocking loudly on the door.
Huo Duan also got up, and the two went into the courtyard. Gu Fengyan opened the door and saw that it was Huo A's father's sister, Huo Duan's aunt, Huo Xiuling.
Huo Xiuling was ten years younger than her father and married early. Her husband, Ye Bixian, was known throughout the surrounding villages as a "henpecked husband." It wasn't that Huo Xiuling was fierce; on the contrary, she was very amiable. No matter what, her hair was always neatly combed, and her clothes, even if torn, were always washed clean.
When the villagers saw her, even the most sarcastic and mean-spirited people had to obediently smile and greet her.
"Aunt? What's wrong in the middle of the night? Please come in." Right now, Huo Xiuling's face was covered in tears, her expression was flustered, and her hair was messy and not tied up... Gu Fengyan knew at a glance that something serious had happened.
Seeing the two of them was like seeing a lifeline. Huo Xiuling kept grabbing Huo Duan's sleeve and sobbing, "Erdan, Yan'er... are your fathers here?"
Hearing the noise, Father Huo quickly put on his clothes, grabbed his cane, and came out of the main room. "Xiuling, what happened?!"
They then ordered two men to help the person inside.
Huo Xiuling was completely distracted. As soon as she saw her brother, she burst into tears, crying out, "Brother, Xiaobao, Xiaobao is terribly sick!"
"What?! What happened? Tell me slowly!" Father Huo stamped his feet anxiously.
Huo Xiuling wiped away her tears. "Xiao Bao has been sick for the past few days and hasn't gotten better. Today he was a little naughty and kept pestering me to eat mulberry leaf jelly. I couldn't refuse, so I went up the mountain with Sister-in-law Xu. On the way back, I sat down for a while and forgot about it."
“Who knew, who knew that when he came back he would be so sick and delirious, he could barely breathe,” Huo Xiuling’s voice grew softer and softer, and she looked like she was about to faint. “Dashan, Dashan and his father went to work in the county this afternoon, I really had no other choice…”
"Erdan, Yange'er! Help your aunt up and go with her quickly to see what's going on!" Father Huo said with a furrowed brow before she could finish speaking.
The Ye family lives on the other side of the river. The road isn't far, but it's not close either. If Ye Bao is really as bad as his aunt said, then it's indeed a race against time to snatch his life from the jaws of death.
"Sigh!" Huo Duan agreed, and he and Gu Fengyan immediately helped Huo Lingxiu run towards the Ye family.
The year Huo Xiuling was pregnant with Ye Bao, the harvest was poor, and Huo Xiuling was short of food. As a result, Ye Bao was born with a weak constitution and would get sick once or twice a year, but this was the first time she had been sick like this.
With a reliable man at home, Huo Xiuling had never seen much hardship... If, if Ye Bao were to die like this, how would she live!
Upon thinking about it, Huo Xiuling cried even harder.
“Aunt, please calm down. Xiao Bao will definitely be alright. Duan Ge and I will take him to the county to see a doctor tonight. Don’t worry, Xiao Bao is a good child, even God wouldn’t want him to die,” Gu Fengyan comforted her.
If Ye Baozhen's illness was sudden, she probably wouldn't live to see her aunt return home... Gu Fengyan had a good idea of this, but he didn't say these inappropriate words.
The comforting words had some effect. Huo Xiuling resolutely wiped away her tears, looking as if she were about to fight the heavens. "Xiaobao is a good child. He never cries or makes a fuss. When he's sick and uncomfortable, he just snuggles in my arms and calls out 'Mama'..."
Huo Xiuling walked ahead, and Huo Duan took off the clothes he was wearing and draped them over Gu Fengyan. "I'm going to the county later. You go home. The road is difficult to travel at night, so don't tire yourself out."
They could already see the Ye family's lit windows. Gu Fengyan wanted to argue, but Huo Duan cut him off, "Young Master Gu, stop arguing with me now. Listen to me. If you want to come, come to the county tomorrow, buy your things, and we'll go home together."
Gu Fengyan tugged at the coat Huo Duan had draped over him, then whispered in Huo Duan's ear, "Be careful on your way, and wait for me. I'll come find you tomorrow."
Huo Duan couldn't stand Gu Fengyan talking so close to him because his ears were itchy.
Ye Bao's illness is not an acute one, but it cannot be taken lightly. However, Doctor Liang and her husband, who went to her parents' home at the village entrance, have not returned yet.
With no other option, Gu Fengyan and Huo Xiuling decided to ask Xue, the eldest son of the Xue family who drove the oxcart, for extra money to send Ye Bao to the county pharmacy overnight.
Huo Xiuling, being a woman, was not in a convenient position, so only Huo Duangeng went with her. With the eldest son of the Xue family helping out, it was quite safe.
After seeing Huo Duan off, Gu Fengyan comforted Huo Xiuling before going home to rest.
The night was already past midnight.
The next day, Gu Fengyan didn't dare to sleep in. He got up early, had breakfast with Uncle Huo, and then took the prepared medicinal herbs and a large bag of bamboo shoots to the county.
There are two pharmacies in Qianmo County: Miaochuntang and Xinglinyuan. The two are not much different, but only Xinglinyuan allows patients to stay overnight.
Huo Duan and his companions didn't have much money and couldn't afford to stay at inns or restaurants, so Xinglin Clinic was the best option. Gu Fengyan then took the things to Xinglin Clinic. Inside, the pharmacy staff were busy, with clear divisions of labor for changing dressings, dispensing medicine, and seeing patients.
"Excuse me, could you tell me about the patient who was brought in last night... a child, about eight years old, where is he?" Gu Fengyan grabbed a passing shop assistant and added, "I'm a relative."
The shop assistant was a burly man with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He was holding a small scale for dispensing medicine. He frowned when he was disturbed, but when he saw that Gu Fengyan was a handsome young man, he calmed down. "So early? Where did you come from? Have you had breakfast? You mentioned that child. Come with me. This place is crowded and hard to find. I'll take you there." He led Gu Fengyan to the back room, helping him carry things attentively, and asked a string of questions.
Gu Fengyan smiled lightly, deftly deflecting the question, "Thank you for your trouble."
The shop assistant blushed with embarrassment.
The back room was a mess, with a dozen or so wooden-framed beds under a rain shelter, quite similar to a modern hospital.
Huo Duan, Ye Bixian, and Ye Shan, three tall and strong men, were gathered in a corner, while Ye Bao lay fast asleep on the bed.
It looks like the fever has subsided a bit. Gu Fengyan felt slightly relieved.
Huo Duan spotted Gu Fengyan as he lifted the curtain and entered, waving and greeting him, "Here, here."
Then he saw the shop assistant behind Gu Fengyan carrying his things. His face was flushed, and he was smiling as he looked at Gu Fengyan.
The two were talking, completely ignoring Huo Duan.
"Tsk," Huo Duan's face darkened, inexplicably annoyed. He took a few steps forward and took the things the shop assistant was reluctantly holding from his hand. "What are you looking at? Brother Dashan and Uncle are here too. Have you had breakfast yet?"