Chapter 4: The Lazy Educated Youth (4)

Chapter 4: The Lazy Educated Youth (4)

Folks in Shanbao Village went to bed early, since they had to be up at the crack of dawn for work the next day.

Luo Chengxing first brought a basin of water so He Yubin could wash his face. He set the basin down, then leaned back, half perched on the edge of the kang. "Get down here and wash up quick. Then get to sleep."

He knew He Yubin's foot was fine—he was just faking it.

He Yubin hesitated for a moment. During the meal, he thought Luo Datou was angry.

He had no idea what he'd done to piss off Luo Datou this time.

He Yubin first poked his foot out from under the blanket to check it. There was still a red patch, and it stung when pressed, but it didn't hurt if he left it alone.

He slipped on his rubber shoes, used the drinking cup Luo Chengxing had given him to scoop a full cup of water from the basin, and started rinsing his mouth.

Back home, he used to brush his teeth with tooth powder every morning and night. But after coming to Shanbao Village, he didn't have that luxury, so he made do with rinsing his mouth with a full cup of water morning and night.

Luo Chengxing watched him take a sip, swish it around, then lean over and spit it into the spittoon.

"City folks sure are fussy," Luo Chengxing said.

Without looking up, He Yubin said, "If you don't rinse, your mouth stinks."

After rinsing, he cupped water from the basin and scrubbed his face. He didn't straighten up until he'd washed for a good long while, then asked Luo Chengxing for a towel to dry off.

Luo Chengxing got up and dug out a reasonably clean rag for him.

He Yubin sighed, took it, dried his face, then asked for the basin to wash his feet.

Luo Chengxing went out and fetched him another basin of water. He Yubin washed his feet clean and then meekly curled up under the blanket.

Luo Chengxing went out to the yard to dump the spittoon water, then drew himself a basin from the water vat.

He squatted down and, for some reason he couldn't explain, cupped some water and took a sip—but didn't swallow.

He copied what He Yubin had just done, swishing the water around a few times before spitting it out. He rinsed a few more times, then finally held his hand up to his mouth and breathed out to check his breath.

Then he washed his face and rinsed his feet too.

Luo Dasheng and Wang Fengxia had already turned in. Hearing noise in the yard, Wang Fengxia groggily sat up, squinted out, and muttered to Luo Dasheng, "What's Big Head up to out there?"

Without even opening his eyes, Luo Dasheng said, "Who cares what he's doing. It's late. We still gotta get up and ring the bell tomorrow."

Wang Fengxia grumbled a bit more and lay back down.

Luo Chengxing went back inside, blew out the oil lamp, put the table away, and shook out the blanket before climbing onto the kang.

When He Yubin had lain there alone during the day, the kang had felt plenty big. But the moment Luo Chengxing climbed on, it felt like the kang had shrunk.

Their arms were pressed right up against each other.

The room went dark. Luo Chengxing pushed down the weird feeling in his chest and was about to close his eyes when He Yubin, lying right next to him, said, "Brother Luo, can you go to the educated youth compound tomorrow and grab my stuff?"

He'd left in a hurry during the day and forgotten to grab his things.

Eyes still closed, Luo Chengxing asked, "What stuff?"

"Nothing much—just a jar of candy, a bar of soap, two towels..." He Yubin rattled off a list of odds and ends he'd brought from the city.

"It's all in a cloth bag on the cabinet by my bed. No need to pack—just grab it and go." Afraid Luo Chengxing would think it was a hassle, he tacked on that last part.

Luo Chengxing listened for a bit and figured He Yubin really did have a lot of nice things.

No wonder the He Yubin in his memory had looked down on Shanbao Village so completely. Candy needed sugar coupons, soap needed soap coupons—both were super scarce...

For the first time, Luo Chengxing found himself curious about the life He Yubin had lived before.

He knew these educated youths had all come by train from all over. From what he remembered, He Yubin had gone back to the city, but he never found out which one.

"The city" was a pretty fuzzy idea to Luo Chengxing. He'd always figured the city was just a place where people didn't farm, and everything else was the same as Shanbao Village. Later, when he went to the commune school and picked up a bit of book learning, he found out the city had department stores, little buildings, and cars.

He'd been to the county seat and thought that was already plenty nice, but he'd heard the city was even better.

"What was your life like back then?"

After He Yubin finished talking, he waited a long time without getting a straight answer from Luo Chengxing. Just as he was scheming to sneak back and grab his stuff himself, he suddenly heard Luo Chengxing speak up.

"Huh?" He Yubin blinked, caught off guard.

Luo Chengxing rephrased it: "What did you... eat and wear back then?"

"Plenty to eat." He Yubin propped his head on one hand, turned a bit toward Luo Chengxing, and said smugly.

"The department store's got everything... Just candy alone—there's assorted, fruit, peanut... Oh, and chocolate too." He Yubin ticked them off one by one.

Luo Chengxing figured he was just craving candy.

"Do you know what chocolate is?" He Yubin asked him.

Luo Chengxing said, "No."

"Chocolate's a foreign thing. In English, it's called Chocolate. It's brown, and it's both sweet and bitter." He Yubin said.

Luo Chengxing listened attentively.

Qiao Ke Li Te? Both sweet and bitter—could it taste good?

Luo Chengxing's question opened the floodgates. Although he didn't particularly like Luo Datou, this was the first time someone had talked about these things with him.

He Yubin went from food to clothes to daily necessities. There was also an element of showing off—he wanted to make Luo Datou, this country bumpkin from Shanbao Village, envious of him.

"The city has public buses, but I didn't ride them. My family picked me up and dropped me off for school... Our high school often organized outings—we went everywhere..."

It was only then that Luo Chengxing learned from He Yubin's mouth that his family had even had a car.

"But that's long gone now," He Yubin said.

He Yubin was vague, and Luo Chengxing didn't know what he meant by "gone."

As for why He Yubin had come to Shanbao Village, if he didn't bring it up, then it was surely something he didn't want to talk about.

Luo Chengxing quietly looked at He Yubin. A little moonlight filtered in through the window, allowing Luo Chengxing to see the outline of He Yubin's face.

He didn't even realize that in just one short afternoon, his attitude toward He Yubin had already changed a great deal.

Just like now—for a moment, he actually felt sorry for He Yubin, coming to Shanbao Village from such a good place.

He Yubin... is actually two years his junior.

Luo Chengxing felt that He Yubin wasn't so hateful anymore.

He then thought back to all the fuss He Yubin had made today—refusing this and that, not drinking hot water, insisting on rinsing his mouth, washing his face, and scrubbing his feet.

In his memory, would Luo Fang have fussed over him like that? Probably not. If he wanted to fool Luo Fang, he'd have to play along and sweet-talk her.

In his memory, He Yubin had always been gentle with Luo Fang, and later even sweet-talked her into asking her father to get him a teaching job at the commune elementary school, where he could earn work points without having to labor in the fields—and he had fooled all of them!

That's right, judging from his memories, this person was rotten to the core! There was no need to show He Yubin any kindness! Another voice spoke up in Luo Chengxing's mind.

Luo Chengxing's head ached from being pulled between these two completely opposite thoughts.

Before, his head would hit the pillow and he'd be asleep in an instant. But tonight, perhaps because there was someone else beside him, he lay there for a long while before finally drifting off to the sound of He Yubin's steady breathing in sleep.