Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Walking home, Yin Hongxue began to fire question after question at Gu Chaoning.

First, he asked whether Chaoning Ge's exam results were out, then whether the messenger might have twisted his ankle on the road with nobody around to help.

Then he asked why Chaoning Ge bought hair ribbons, what the hair ribbons looked like, and then said Chaoning Ge needn't worry—his results would surely be excellent.

With so many words tumbling out of his mouth, Gu Chaoning couldn't get a word in edgewise.

Those in the know would understand that Gu Chaoning had only been to town for an hour or two; those who didn't would've thought Gu Chaoning had gone off somewhere far away for three to five years.

"Okay, okay, Chaoning Ge can't answer all these questions at once."

Gu Chaoning interrupted him, ruffled Yin Hongxue's hair, and turned the questions back on him: "Did Xue Geer have fun this morning?"

Yin Hongxue had been talking so much because Gu Chaoning had overheard what Xu Chunmiao said, which made him a little nervous.

Now that it was Gu Chaoning's turn to ask him, Yin Hongxue obediently hung his head and answered meekly, "I had fun."

Seeing him act all cute, Gu Chaoning's heart softened for a moment.

But then his gaze fell on Yin Hongxue's fingers still stained with grass juice, and his heart, which had softened for a moment, hardened again.

Gu Chaoning said firmly, "No being cute."

Yin Hongxue looked up, surprised, and though he didn't get it, he instinctively defended himself: "I wasn't acting cute."

Gu Chaoning wasn't buying his explanation.

He went back to his original question: "Did Xue Geer really have fun?"

Looked like he couldn't dodge this question after all.

He'd figured if he asked Chaoning Ge enough questions, Chaoning Ge wouldn't ask him anything.

Yin Hongxue let out a little sigh, looked up, raised his hand, and made a tiny gesture, pinching two fingers together.

"When Miao Geer was saying those things about me, I was a little upset."

"Does Xu Chunmiao often talk about Xue Geer like that?"

Not really.

Yin Hongxue shook his head.

He explained, "Miao Geer doesn't like Shui Geer or me, so we usually steer clear of him."

Gu Chaoning grabbed his raised hand and asked again, "What he said was wrong. Does Xue Geer want him to never say stuff like that again?"

Yin Hongxue looked at Gu Chaoning.

Gu Chaoning tilted his head slightly, his brows lowered, his face expressionless.

Yin Hongxue hesitated, then nodded, but quickly asked, "Are we going to tell Miao Geer's father and mother?"

In the village, if a kid did something wrong or bullied another kid, the bullied kid's parents would go to that kid's house and tell their parents.

Then that kid would get a beating.

Yin Hongxue tilted his head, frowning, looking troubled.

"Miao Geer's dad hits really hard," he scratched his chin, feeling kinda cowardly about it, "I don't want Miao Geer's dad to hit him."

Yin Hongxue had seen Xu Chunmiao's dad, after drinking, kick and beat Xu Chunmiao and Xu Chunmiao's mom.

Yin Hongxue couldn't quite remember what his own birth dad was like, but deep down he felt it was just like Xu Chunmiao's dad.

He was a little scared, and a little scared for Xu Chunmiao too.

Gu Chaoning understood what Yin Hongxue hadn't said out loud, and he ruffled Yin Hongxue's hair again.

He said softly, "I won't tell Xu Chunmiao's dad or mom."

"Chaoning Ge will teach you what to do if something like this happens again."

They say kids say whatever comes to mind, only because they haven't learned adult hypocrisy yet.

Likewise, the things they say are just what adults say in their everyday lives.

Before, Yin Hongxue had been timid, and Chen Youyan had raised him with great care, never really letting him go out to play on his own.

Gu Chaoning was usually busy and didn't hang out with the village kids much either.

The Gu family was well-off in the village, and the people they associated with were mostly kind-hearted and got along with the Gu family's temperament.

When they ran into villagers in daily life, no one was so clueless as to come up and say stuff like that.

So none of the family had ever heard such talk, and so hadn't thought someone might say it.

The fact that Xu Chunmiao would say such things meant the adults in the Xu family had more or less said similar things before.

Gu Chaoning's eyes darkened slightly, anger flickering underneath.

"Our Xue Geer went to pick grass again!?"

Chen Youyan exclaimed when he saw the two kids come back, with Gu Chaoning carrying a full basket of fresh grass.

This wasn't the first time Chen Youyan had noticed—Yin Hongxue would say he was going out to play, but every time he'd come back with something.

Sometimes wild veggies, sometimes pig feed.

"We have enough grass at home—Xue Geer doesn't need to work while he's playing."

The Gu family didn't need to stock up on dried fodder for the livestock in advance; every autumn they'd hire day laborers to gather grass.

So on regular days, they only needed to make sure the livestock had fresh grass each day.

In addition to fresh grass, the livestock also ate wheat bran from threshed grain.

Occasionally they'd add soybean cakes, and the tough outer leaves left over from daily cooking...

With such a variety of food, they didn't need much fresh grass.

Before Chen Youyan could go on, Gu Muan came rushing out of the main hall, holding a pastry with two bites taken out of it.

"Xue Age, brother!" He wasn't just holding a pastry in his own hand—his other hand had pastries for Yin Hongxue and Gu Chaoning too. "Why are you two so late!"

With that, he held out the pastries to the two of them.

Frowning, he looked like he was about to throw a tantrum, but after one bite of the pastry, his frown melted into a grin.

Gu Chaoning took the pastry but looked at him and asked, "Is the pastry good?"

Gu Muan nodded, and Gu Chaoning, before he could speak, frowned and said, "I buy you snacks, and now I can't even stay out a little late?"

Gu Muan's mouth fell open in surprise as he chewed over what Gu Chaoning said, and figured he had a point.

But Gu Muan didn't want to apologize, so he tried to find a way to hush him.

He stood on his tiptoes, reached up to guide Gu Chaoning's hand with the pastry, and nudged it toward his mouth.

He even said, "Brother, eat quickly."

His sharp eyes then caught sight of Yin Hongxue's basket, not far away, filled with pigweed. Embarrassed, Gu Muan pressed his lips together and glanced at Yin Hongxue.

"Brother Xue, you have some too!"

If they're busy eating, they can't talk!

*

When Xu Chunmiao got home with a basket of pigweed on his back, his father, Xu Dasheng, was giving his mother, Xiao Chun, a beating.

His grandmother stood at the kitchen door, egging his father on.

"Hit her! Beat that no-good woman to death for hiding eggs on the sly! Hit her, hit her hard!"

That's when Xu Chunmiao figured out it was because his mom had been sneaking eggs.

His mother, Xiao Chun, had been bought by his grandma for one tael of silver after fleeing to Xiaohe Village during a famine elsewhere.

Since she was an outsider and never acted right, she needed to be kept in line by his dad and grandma.

Xu Chunmiao was used to it by now. He set down his basket, grabbed the old chipped knife they used for chopping pigweed, and chopped up the pigweed.

But before he could finish, his older brother, Xu Fengshou, came shuffling over, munching on a boiled egg.

Xu Fengshou gave Xu Chunmiao a kick in the butt. "Hey, Xu Chunmiao, I'm hungry. Go fix me something to eat."

Xu Chunmiao almost said his mom and grandma were right there.

But then he looked and saw that his dad would probably be busy with his mom for a while longer, so he stood up straight and brushed off his hands.

"Fine, I'll go make lunch."

Xu Chunmiao walked toward the kitchen.

The second Granny Xu heard he was making lunch, she slapped him in anger.

"Eat, eat, eat—that's all you ever know. You're just like your pig of a mother."

She drawled, "Ohhh—who knows if she'll ever find a husband..."

But before she could finish, Xu Fengshou, who couldn't be bothered with her dramatics, hollered, annoyed, "Okay, Grandma, I'm hungry. Let Xu Chunmiao cook!"

Xu Chunmiao tilted his head, taking in his mother's cries and moans, and quietly endured his grandmother's scolding.

Once Granny Xu heard it was Xu Fengshou who was hungry, she let Xu Chunmiao go.

"Oh, Chunmiao, Grandma's doing this for your own good. If you're not straightened out at home, your husband will have to keep you in line once you're married off."

"Our girls and boys ain't too bright, so they need their men to keep them in line."

"Girls and boys who are greedy and lazy will get talked about by everyone!"

"Especially that Yin Hongxue from the Gu family. They bought him to wait on Gu Chaoning, but he just runs around all day. What a waste of silver!"

The more Granny Xu talked, the madder she got, like the Gu family's money was coming out of her own pocket.

Her murky eyes were full of resentment, envy, and rage.

Xu Chunmiao nodded. "Yes, Grandma, I know."

He went into the kitchen and quickly scooped up water to wash the veggies and start cooking.

Once Xu Fengshou finished eating, his friends called him out to play.

Erdan's dad got him a slingshot, and it was a blast for shooting birds.

With that in mind, Xu Fengshou wiped his mouth and took off.

Granny Xu hollered after him to slow down.

The five of them ran all the way to the bottom of the mountain before stopping.

Xu Fengshou was panting hard. He wiped his nose and stared, confused, at the group that had gotten there before them.

Erdan, leading the pack, called out cheerfully to the folks up ahead, "Brother Chaoning! What are you doing here!"

Gu Chaoning turned around and smiled at the group across from him. "I came to play."

Gasps rose from the crowd. Not just Erdan's group, but everyone present was delighted.

Ever since Gu Chaoning started going to the village school, he hardly ever played with the other kids anymore.

Everyone had been bummed about it.

After all, Gu Chaoning used to lead them in games—he was good at everything and always had ideas, so everyone loved hanging out with him.

One winter, he even got everyone to dig into a rabbit hole, caught three rabbits, and they roasted and ate them all together.

Now that Gu Chaoning showed up, everyone was pumped.

Last time they dug up that rabbit hole, Xu Fengshou didn't go because he couldn't stand the cold.

Now, remembering how Erdan had described that roasted rabbit, he licked his lips.

He figured since they were at the mountain and Gu Chaoning was hanging out with them, maybe he'd take them to dig up another rabbit hole.

Just then, Xu Fengshou saw Gu Chaoning stroll over with a smile.

"You're Xu Fengshou, right?"