“I’ll just call out to Shen Zhuo when we get to the river. The baby is already five months old. Farmers aren’t that delicate. You don’t need to go through all that trouble.” Jiang Xuerui quickly stopped him when she saw that he wanted to come along.
Gu Fengyan held up the water jug in his hand to show him, "It's not that I'm tired. Huo Duan is helping my aunt and the others harvest crops in the ditch. I'm just bringing some water over, and I'll take you there too. I'll feel at ease once we're across the river."
The river in the village is full of sand and gravel, so a makeshift bridge was built with just a few planks and stones. No one has touched it for years, for fear of it becoming slippery when wet... Jiang Xuerui is now two people, so there can be no carelessness.
Jiang Xuerui naturally understood his good intentions, so she nodded and did not argue.
Gu Fengyan took two straw hats, one for himself and one for Jiang Xuerui, closed the courtyard gate, and went down the small slope.
By this time the sun was no longer too strong, and three people could be seen in the distance, busy harvesting by the riverbank.
Most of the harvest has already been completed. The crop stubble on the bare black mud is yellowish-green, and some ears of grain are being blown by the wind like waves.
Gu Fengyan looked after Jiang Xuerui and soon went down to the ditch. Huo Duan saw him while wiping his sweat and squinted and waved.
“Okay, go ahead, I’ll call out to Shen Zhuo here and he’ll come right away,” Jiang Xuerui said with a smile.
After calling out a few times, he heard someone responding from the slope. A moment later, Shen Zhuo took a planer and went into the bamboo forest.
"Why did you come back by yourself? I said I would pick you up this afternoon..." Shen Zhuo hurriedly dropped what he was doing and ran down the stairs, saying as he did so.
Then he thanked Gu Fengyan again.
Jiang Xuerui smiled and said, "Thank you for taking me. I'll treat you to a full-month celebration after the baby is born."
Huo Duan had been watching him the whole time, so Gu Fengyan smiled at the two of them and replied, "I'll definitely come then."
He told the two men to be careful before they stepped onto the path along the edge of the embankment.
When he arrived at the field, he put the water jug under a tree and went over to greet Huo Duan and Ye Bixian, saying, "Aunt, come and rest for a while, have a drink of water, and then continue harvesting."
Three people put down their sickles and came over.
Gu Fengyan poured water for Ye Bixian and Huo Xiuling first.
"Why are you here? Huo said you weren't feeling well. Are you feeling better?" Huo Xiuling handed the bowl of water to Huo Duan and poured another bowl for Gu Fengyan.
Gu Fengyan smiled and said, "Auntie, the water was cooled in the well before we came. It's refreshing to drink... I'm fine. I'm just a little tired since it's autumn. I feel much better after resting for a while."
She glanced at Huo Duan and said reproachfully, "Huo Duan is making a fuss over nothing."
Huo Xiuling gulped down her drink from the bowl, saying, "Young master, you must be careful... It's right that young Huo is paying attention."
“I see it’s getting late,” she said, glancing at the sky with the back of her hand. She then instructed Huo Duan, “There’s not much left. You and your uncle collect it. I’m going back to make lunch. Yan’er, don’t stay here in the sun. Come home with me and we can have lunch together.”
"Yes, Aunt, go ahead. I'll wait until Uncle and the others finish drinking the water and bring it back." Gu Fengyan quickly agreed.
Huo Xiuling was in a hurry to go home to cook, so she agreed and carried a basket of crops home first.
Ye Bixian finished drinking a bowl of water, returned the bowl, told Huo Duan to rest for a while, put on his straw hat, and continued to harvest with his sickle.
"Jiang Xuerui came to see you? What did she come for?" When Gu Fengyan arrived, Huo Duan didn't rush to start working. Instead, he slowly and deliberately sipped his food from his bowl.
Gu Fengyan carefully put away the ceramic bowl that Huo Xiuling and Ye Bixian had returned. "He's pregnant and bored, so he came to chat with me. Oh, by the way..."
“Those two plots of land over there belong to the Shen family,” he said, glancing up and pointing to the overgrown dry fields next to the mature farmland. “Jiang Xuerui is pregnant, and Shen Zhuo is busy with work. I thought the land was just going to lie fallow anyway, so I leased it. Including the land on the back mountain and a few acres of our own land, we can plant all the medicinal herb seeds.”
Huo Duan put down the bowl and nodded. "You can decide for yourself... Is anyone coming this morning?"
“A few.” Gu Fengyan plucked a withered foxtail grass and chewed on it. “Naturally, not many people are willing to do things that cost money. We’ll grow the rest ourselves and wait until this batch of medicinal herbs is harvested. Once they see that they’ve made money, they won’t hesitate to do it next year.”
"Go back now, don't leave it in the sun." Huo Duan put the bowls and earthenware pot back into the bamboo basket. Gu Fengyan nodded and reached for them, but Huo Duan tilted the basket to one side, "I'll bring them back after the harvest, you go back quickly."
Gu Fengyan said helplessly, "I'm not pregnant. Don't treat me like I'm being treated with the same care and caution as Jiang Xuerui."
Upon hearing this, Huo Duan smiled maliciously, "What if... Ah Yan said she wanted it that day."
Gu Fengyan recalled that night, his expression unnatural, and he muttered angrily, "What do you think I'm doing? It's only been a few days... Don't talk nonsense."
After he finished speaking, he began to pay attention to this matter... Logically speaking, this shouldn't be the case. He had visited Jiang Xuerui several times when she was pregnant, and he hadn't experienced any of those similar symptoms.
The only time I felt nauseous was because I had played it too much...
Gu Fengyan's face darkened. He was still holding a grudge about that incident and didn't really want to talk to Huo Duan. "I'm going back. Don't forget to take the basket," he said without turning his head.
"Sigh..." Huo Duan wanted to tease him a bit more, but when he saw that the man was gone, he had no choice but to take the sickle and catch up with his father Huo's progress.
But a doubt had crept into his mind... Gu Fengyan had been being far too lazy these days; he should find some time to have a doctor take a look at him...
The Ye family's courtyard was filled with freshly harvested corn drying in the sun, smoke was rising from the kitchen roof, Huo Xiuling was chopping vegetables with a steady hand, and Huo's father was playing with Ye Bao.
Gu Fengyan called out to someone and then went into the kitchen to help Huo Xiuling cook.
Before the weather turned cool, the people in the fields were too tired to have much of an appetite, so Huo Xiuling picked a few half-green persimmons, a few white cucumbers, and a few tender green vegetables from the vegetable garden... and mixed them with eggs as a topping to make a bowl of hand-pulled noodles.
In the earthenware jar in the corner of the room, there are also pickled vegetables made in the spring, which are sour and spicy and appetizing, perfect for eating with noodles.
Gu Fengyan rolled up his sleeves, washed his hands, and then chopped vegetables, while Huo Xiuling went to roll out the dough.
After a while, the two of them finally finished cooking... During the busy farming season, in order to get a good harvest, the villagers eat late. When Gu Fengyan went to call Huo Duan and the others to eat, the country lanes were full of villagers carrying baskets and sickles on their backs and heading home. In the twilight, the aroma of food wafted from each household.
After the whole family finished eating, they sat on the courtyard ridge around an oil lamp, peeling corn. When they were halfway done, several aunties came to help, and the courtyard became lively and bustling.
Gu Fengyan added another oil lamp, brewed a pot of strong tea, and took it out to invite everyone to drink before sitting down next to Huo Duan.
Several aunties were chatting with Huo Xiuling, and they were talking about whether Jiang Xuerui's baby was a boy or a girl.
Gu Fengyan kept dozing off while listening. Huo Duan told him to go to sleep, but he didn't. Around ten o'clock, he leaned against Huo Duan's shoulder and dozed off.
The oil lamp had burned down to the bottom, casting a dim light. Several aunties were engrossed in their conversation when one of them noticed Gu Fengyan dozing off and said:
"Speaking of which, Yan-ge'er married into the family at the same time as Rui-ge'er, so why haven't we seen any news about them for so long?"
When the topic turned to himself, Gu Fengyan suddenly woke up. Upon closer inspection, he recognized the aunt... She was a kind-hearted person, but she was a bit too direct in her speech.
If it were anyone else, they would only gossip about his childlessness behind his back; they would never ask him this to his face… The expressions of the people present changed slightly, but the aunt continued:
"Could it be that your constitution is weak?" she said seriously. "If that's the case, you should see a doctor and take some medicine to replenish your strength. You are still young and it will be easy for you to recover. Don't delay."
Ye Bixian and several men were all here. She should keep these private words to herself. It would be a laughing stock if people heard them... The aunts' faces didn't look too good.
Huo Xiuling smiled and tried to smooth things over, "Auntie, children and grandchildren have their own lives to live. We old folks shouldn't worry about it so much. Let them be..."
The others quickly chimed in.
The aunt frowned, persisting, "How can we let them do as they please? Huo is the only son in the Huo family. They're still young. If they don't have a child now, their health won't be good for conceiving when they get older..."
Gu Fengyan felt increasingly uneasy listening to this, as if the idea of marriage was solely for the purpose of continuing the family line.
He knew that this idea was already deeply ingrained in her mind, so he didn't want to argue and obediently nodded in agreement to avoid making things too ugly.
The others also felt uncomfortable after hearing this.
“Auntie meant well, and Yan’er and I will remember that…” Huo Duan looked at him and smiled, “But I married him simply because of him, not for anything else.”
Upon hearing this, the men and women present felt quite embarrassed.
“Auntie, listen to this. These two children are quite independent… Besides, the Huo family didn’t marry Yan Ge’er and Jing Ge’er for the sake of having children or carrying on the family line. Let it be. As long as the children live in harmony.” Huo Xiuling chimed in at the right moment.
Several aunties, including Uncle Huo and the three men, Ye Bixian and Huo Duan, all agreed with what she said.
Gu Fengyan coughed a few times, feeling quite embarrassed as he was stared at by several aunties.
However, at least no one remembers the unpleasantness from before.
The aunt opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but she couldn't get a word in edgewise. She could only bury her head in peeling corn and didn't say another word...
By the middle of the night, the mountain of corn piled up in the yard was finally husked. Ye Bixian and Huo Xiuling escorted the women home by lamplight.
Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan helped tidy up the yard. Huo Duan carried baskets of corn under the eaves, afraid that they would get wet if it rained in the middle of the night.
Gu Fengyan was sweeping the floor with a broom made of bundled bamboo branches. Just as Huo Duan turned into the house, someone came over and called him in a low voice, "Brother Yan."
"It's Auntie... It's so late, is there anything else?" Gu Fengyan looked up and was somewhat surprised to see that it was the same auntie from before.
The aunt looked around, then lowered her voice and said earnestly, "What I said just now may not have been pleasant, but it was all for your and Huo's good... Here's a method I'll teach you, I guarantee it will work!"
Gu Fengyan was completely confused and asked in bewilderment, "What method?"
What other way is there to have a baby? Gu Fengyan was very puzzled.
Seeing his blank stare, the aunt knew he probably didn't understand, so she said anxiously, "Oh dear! Why are you so dense... Of course, it's about how to get pregnant easily during 'that'!"
"Huh?" Gu Fengyan exclaimed in shock.
"Keep your voice down!" the auntie hurriedly stopped him, looked around, and whispered, "Do you remember what I'm telling you... From now on, it's best to face him, and you have to beg him to come, and then put a soft pad under your stomach..."
The more he listened, the more something seemed off. Realizing what the aunt was saying, Gu Fengyan's ears turned bright red, and he felt so ashamed that he wanted to disappear into the ground.
"Auntie, thank you, I understand, you don't need to say anymore!" he quickly interrupted the auntie, "Thank you..."
Although he was free-thinking, he wasn't free enough to share such things with a stranger... Gu Fengyan's face was so red it was almost bleeding.
Interrupted, the auntie, still wanting more, said, "What are you shy about, child? I'm only saying these things for your own good..."
"Auntie is right," Gu Fengyan said with a wry smile.
The aunt continued talking, her eyebrows dancing with excitement, becoming more and more animated as she spoke. The content was so shameful that no one dared to listen closely. Out of consideration for his reputation, Gu Fengyan couldn't just walk away, so he could only endure listening.
Fortunately, Huo Duan came out at that moment, saw someone standing next to him, and called out, "Ayan, who are you talking to..."
It was too dark for him to see who it was.
When the aunt saw Huo Duan come out, she hurriedly pulled Gu Fengyan aside and repeatedly told him to remember, before leaving in a hurry.
Gu Fengyan, as if reborn, let out a long breath and walked towards Huo Duan, "No, I just chatted with an auntie for a bit..."
"Is it the one from earlier?" Huo Duan noticed his bright red ear tips at a glance... Gu Fengyan's ears turn red and he looks unnatural when he's shy or excited.
He glanced up and said with a smile, "What did she say to you... that you're so embarrassed?"
Gu Fengyan coughed awkwardly twice, his gaze darting away. "It's nothing, we just chatted for a bit."
If this hungry wolf knew, Fei would drag him around trying those methods again and again. Gu Fengyan broke out in a cold sweat.
Huo Duan raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Is that so..."
She pulled him close, hooked him into her arms, lowered her eyes to pinch the tip of his ear, and breathed on his ear, tickling him. "Ayan, do you know that when you get excited, shy, or can't stand it, the tip of your ear turns especially red?"
Gu Fengyan didn't look at him, her ears turning even redder, "Don't do anything rash..."
"Dishonesty will be punished!" Huo Duan lowered his head and kissed his ear, then suddenly hoisted him onto his shoulder with one hand and strode out of the courtyard gate.
Gu Fengyan exclaimed, "What are you doing!"
The night breeze caressed my face, and countless strands of hair flew up and down my back.
Huo Duan strode towards the night and said with a smile, "Going home."