It wasn’t until dusk, under the glow of the setting sun, that some noise finally came from the quiet next door. Xie Jinning had been waiting for a long time, feeling a bit annoyed but not wanting to go to the courtyard gate. Instead, he moved a stool to the wall, carefully stepping onto it.
The courtyard wall wasn’t very high, and once he stepped up, he could just peek his head over. He leaned on the wall, looking around, and when he spotted Yan Yi, he waved, “Yan Yi, I’ve been waiting for you for so long. Why are you only back now?”
Yan Yi didn’t look up at him, just gave a low “hmm” and continued towards the courtyard gate without putting down the things on his shoulder.
What’s with ignoring me?
Xie Jinning frowned. The yellow mud on the top of the courtyard gate blocked his view, so he couldn’t see what Yan Yi had brought back. He tiptoed and climbed up a bit more.
“What have you been up to? I’ve been so bored at home today, and I even got chased by a chicken—”
“Clang.”
His foot slipped, and he almost fell. He let out a startled cry, clinging to the wall to avoid falling.
Dangling in mid-air, Xie Jinning was still in shock. He turned his head slightly and saw the wooden stool had fallen over.
With no support under his feet, he couldn’t climb up, and he was afraid of getting hurt if he let go. As his strength began to wane, he had no choice but to call for help.
“Yan Yi, Yan Yi, I’m going to fall, Yan Yi!”
Yan Yi had already dropped his prey and rushed to the Xie family as soon as he heard the stool fall. Being tall and strong, he easily reached out and caught Xie Jinning, lifting him down like a child.
“That was dangerous. What if you fell and got hurt?”
His tone was stern as he set Xie Jinning on the ground and dusted him off, then suddenly paused and stepped back a few steps to create some distance.
“Don’t act so recklessly in the future.”
The panic in Xie Jinning’s eyes hadn’t faded yet, but under such implicit reproach, it turned into a slight anger.
“I called you several times, and you didn’t respond. You didn’t even tell me you were going out, leaving me waiting. Is this what you call being responsible?”
He looked up, the clouds in the sky reflected in his eyes like shimmering autumn water, orange-red like burning flames, with his eyelashes and hair tinged with a rosy hue, making him look like spring flowers, though his expression was cold.
Xie Jinning said, “Besides, how was I supposed to know the stool would tip over? I was just concerned since you hadn’t returned for so long, and instead of a response, I get a lecture.”
He wasn’t one to take things lying down. After saying his piece, he turned to leave, but Yan Yi blocked his way.
Standing like a wall in front of him, Xie Jinning almost bumped into him, glaring coldly, “Move.”
“…Sorry.”
The tension in Yan Yi’s lips eased, and under Xie Jinning’s increasingly displeased gaze, Yan Yi said, “I was wrong.”
On the way back to the village, Yan Yi had intended to keep some distance after returning home, but his body moved on its own, seemingly unwilling to see the young man unhappy.
Besides, he was concerned about him.
With a sigh, Yan Yi asked, “Have you eaten the food in the kitchen?”
Xie Jinning, whose temper always came and went quickly, replied, “I have.”
His gaze moved from Xie Jinning’s lips, which had been licked by his tongue, and Yan Yi asked again, “And the medicine?”
Xie Jinning’s eyelashes fluttered, “I drank it.”
Drinking half a bowl still counts as drinking, right?
“That’s good.”
Yan Yi’s thoughts were a mess, saying whatever came to mind, forgetting what he should ask first, and quickly added, “You slept for a whole day and night. Do you feel any better today?”
“What?”
Only hearing the first half of the sentence, Xie Jinning’s eyes widened in disbelief, “I slept for a day?!”
“Yes, you had a fever the night before, and after giving you medicine, you slept continuously. Yesterday I…”
Yan Yi’s Adam’s apple bobbed, unable to continue.
Staying by the bedside, feeding medicine, porridge, and wiping him down were all small matters. In the past, he could have recounted them calmly, but now, with his unsettled emotions, saying it out loud felt like boasting, or worse…
Taking advantage of someone.
“I thought my recovery ability had improved, getting better in just one night.”
Xie Jinning sighed gloomily, recalling how refreshed he felt in the morning. He pursed his lips and softly said, “Thank you.”
At the Xie residence, the maids and servants took care of him as their duty, and his parents and brothers did so out of affection. But Yan Yi, who was neither family nor friend, had carried him to see a doctor and cared for him for a day, so he indeed deserved gratitude.
“Hmm?” Yan Yi didn’t hear clearly.
“I said,” Xie Jinning looked up, his beautiful amber eyes curving into a sincere smile, “Thank you for taking care of me yesterday, for leaving me food and making medicine.”
His fair cheeks turned slightly pink, his full lips curving upwards, with the clouds as a backdrop, and in his clear, untainted eyes, only Yan Yi’s figure was reflected.
Drip.
A drop of water fell into the lake of his heart, creating ripples that spread outwards.
Seeing him silent, Xie Jinning puffed his cheeks, “I’ve thanked you, so I won’t hold it against you for hitting me. After all, if you hadn’t hurt me first, I wouldn’t have had a fever, right?”
Conveniently omitting the fact that he was the one who threw the bowl first.
The doctor diagnosed that the fever was mainly due to emotional turmoil leading to wind-cold entering the body, not much related to the external injury, but if he says so, then so be it.
“Mm,” Yan Yi reached out to him.
Is he going to pat my head?
But a man’s head is like a tiger’s backside; you can’t touch it unless you’re family. He’s older than me, so he can barely count as an older brother, but there’s also a saying that touching the head stunts growth. I’m already much shorter than him…
Xie Jinning wanted to dodge but stood there stiffly, not moving.
Fine, let him pat it this once. It shouldn’t stunt my growth too much.
He held his breath, but only felt a tug on his hair.
Looking up, he saw a feather pinched between Yan Yi’s fingers.
“…”
Recalling the afternoon when he was “chased” by a chicken, ending with him fleeing into the bedroom in disarray, while the rooster strutted into the coop beside the hens, Xie Jinning felt both embarrassed and annoyed, clenching his fists, wishing he could tell Yan Yi to stew that chicken.
“Yan…”
“I’ll head back first.”
With his heart in turmoil and his face faintly warm, Yan Yi placed the feather in his hand, saying, “I’ll call you when the meal is ready.”
He turned to leave, and Xie Jinning wanted to show him the wounds from the chicken pecking, reaching out to grab his belt.
“Hey, don’t go—”
As Yan Yi turned back, the unsteady young man fell into his arms.
His chest was hit hard, soft hair brushed against his cheek, and in the sweet, honey-like fragrance, his pupils contracted, freezing like a wooden sculpture.
“Ugh.”
The nose is an extremely fragile part, and with such a collision, Xie Jinning’s eyes filled with stars from the pain, tears streaming down. He covered his nose, unable to speak through his sobs.
And this scene was just witnessed by Xie Nong, who had pushed the door open.
Everything he was carrying fell to the ground, and he quickly stepped forward, pushing Yan Yi aside, standing protectively in front of Xie Jinning.
Xie Nong was a sturdy farmer, but next to Yan Yi, he seemed a bit thin and short, yet he was full of righteous anger.
“Xiao Yan, what are you doing, bullying him like this!”
“Uncle Xie, I…”
Yan Yi pressed his lips together, glancing over Xie Nong’s shoulder at the boy still quietly sobbing with his nose covered, wanting to mention the slap incident, but thinking of his own fleeting, unworthy thoughts, he didn’t know how to start.
His silence only confirmed Xie Nong’s suspicions.
Xie Nong’s face darkened immediately, angrily saying, “Yan Yi, I asked you to take good care of my son, not to bully him just because you’re a few years older!”
*
Xie Nong never expected Xie Jinning to return.
He had inquired before, knowing that the Xie couple were kind-hearted people, donating large sums to charity every year. Even if the child-switching incident was exposed, they wouldn’t mistreat Xie Jinning.
After sending Xie Zhu away, he was despondent for a while, then thought of earning some money, saving enough for the journey to the Capital City, and going there alone.
Just seeing Xie Zhu from afar, knowing he and Ah Fang’s child was doing well, would be enough.
He wouldn’t appear before them; Xie Zhu would have a better life, and this child…
Would continue living as he always had.
But he never expected the boy to suddenly appear before him.
The night he returned to the village, Xie Nong only had time to see half of the boy’s face wrapped in a thin quilt before he was taken inside.
Excitement, nervousness, fear.
Xie Nong didn’t know if the boy was awake, wanting to go in and take a closer look, to see what this child really looked like, if he resembled Ah Fang, but fearing the boy wouldn’t want to see him, he sat outside the door all night.
Until dawn, he got up and went to work.
The emperor was using the nation’s resources to build the Yao Xian Residence, requiring a large amount of materials. Besides those enlisted, many young men from nearby villages were also recruited.
Xie Nong wasn’t on the list but could work as a day laborer, exchanging three loads of clay for ten copper coins.
He worked tirelessly for two days, and even though he was used to farm work, he was exhausted.
But thinking of his and Ah Fang’s biological child at home, it didn’t feel so hard.
When he pushed the door open just now, with just a glance, he felt a sense of kinship.
Xie Nong thought, maybe this is what Xiao Zhu read about in books, blood is thicker than water.
The middle-aged man was covered in dust, his eyes bloodshot, his steps uneven from lack of rest, yet he stubbornly stood in front of Xie Jinning, glaring at the tall, strong man opposite.
And behind him, as the pain subsided, Xie Jinning wiped away his tears, his wet eyelashes blinking rapidly, the tear film dissipating, and the outline of the person before him gradually becoming clear.
The graying hair tied up, the sweat-soaked collar, the slightly hunched back, the sun-darkened, reddish skin.
This is…
His lips trembled, fingers reaching out then pulling back, hesitating for a moment, he tugged at Xie Nong’s clothes, gently pulling.
“He didn’t bully me, I just accidentally bumped into him.”
His voice was muffled, still tinged with sobs, but Xie Nong heard it clearly and immediately turned around.
“Is it serious? Let me see.”
His face was lined with the marks of time, dark and thin, slightly awkward, but in those deep-set eyes was a vast, overflowing concern.
As if burned by his gaze, Xie Jinning lowered his eyes, not daring to meet them, “It’s nothing.”
His first impression of this middle-aged man wasn’t great.
Dark and thin, dressed simply, speaking with a strange rural accent, completely different from the tall, dignified father figure he had imagined.
Narrow shoulders, a bent back, like a tree weighed down.
But when he stood in front of him protectively, Xie Jinning suddenly felt his figure extend, like a vast, steadfast mountain.
This is his biological father.