The woman’s voice was loud and sharp, giving Ji Yuchen a start. He peeked from the side of the wall and saw that it was the owner of the fruit stall next door, where he had just tried to make a sale. The woman was on the phone and ignored him.
A barrage of accusations came from her, scolding the person on the other end for being untrustworthy and threatening to report them to the police for fraud.
Ji Yuchen thought this might be an opportunity—how does that saying go? “The pavilion closest to the water enjoys the moonlight first.” If you don’t take advantage of a good deal, you’re a fool.
Ignoring his numb legs, he hobbled over and said to the woman, “Sis, are you looking for peaches?”
The woman, still angry, glanced back at him, “Who are you? Did I talk to you? Get lost!”
Her tone was unfriendly, and Xu Chuang pulled Ji Yuchen behind him, blocking half of his body. He suppressed his anger, his voice deepening, “Don’t shout, can we talk nicely?”
He was trying to be as polite as possible because he thought if he lost his temper and scolded her, the deal might fall through, and Jiu’er would be upset for days.
The woman looked them over, her expression calming a bit, and her tone softened, “So… what do you want? What were you saying?”
Her gaze on Xu Chuang was like sticky candy, her smile somewhat ambiguous.
Ji Yuchen stepped out from behind, speaking kindly, “Sis, are you looking for two thousand pounds of peaches? Why not check out ours? We have them in stock! We can deliver them tomorrow!”
His tone was sincere, and the woman was half-convinced, asking where they were from.
Ji Yuchen replied, “Qiantang Village.”
The woman thought for a moment, “That place isn’t easy to get to…”
She took a peach they handed her, took a bite, and seemed to like it, asking how much they cost.
Ji Yuchen estimated a price, adding fifty cents more than what Aunt Li had given him.
The woman scrutinized the two of them, seemingly undecided. Ji Yuchen said, “Why don’t you name a price, and if we can do it, we won’t haggle!”
His heart was pounding with excitement, feeling hopeful about the deal. The woman said she needed to make a call and walked between them.
During the call, Ji Yuchen vaguely heard “Qiantang Village,” guessing she was checking to see if they were scammers.
After the call, she walked back slowly, looking them over from head to toe, and asked, “How old are you?”
Ji Yuchen said twenty, Xu Chuang’s age, which wasn’t really a lie.
The woman asked to see his ID. Xu Chuang handed over his own, saying his brother didn’t bring his.
The woman looked at the ID photo and seemed pleased, saying, “Alright, deliver two thousand pounds of peaches tomorrow morning at the price you mentioned.”
They agreed on the time and place, and Ji Yuchen was overjoyed, holding back his excitement as he asked, “We actually have about three thousand pounds. Can we bring them all to you?”
The woman agreed, saying she could keep some to sell in her store, but she insisted on no deposit and would only pay after inspecting the goods upon delivery.
The cash-on-delivery model seemed reasonable for both parties doing business for the first time. Ji Yuchen found it acceptable, thanked her with Xu Chuang, and left a phone number, promising to deliver early the next morning.
Leaving the wholesale market, Ji Yuchen was in high spirits, calculating that he could earn over a thousand yuan. After deducting the transportation costs and splitting with Aunt Li, he could still pocket several hundred, enough to buy a piglet and maybe even save some for his family.
He excitedly shook Xu Chuang’s arm, bouncing as he walked. Xu Chuang wanted to take him to the hospital to check on his arm’s recovery, but Ji Yuchen said, “Let’s do it tomorrow! We need to go back and pick peaches today. Aunt Li’s peaches are still on the trees, and we need to pick and pack them… Oh right! We need to find a vehicle to deliver the goods tomorrow!”
Ji Yuchen was busy planning, first having Xu Chuang arrange for a vehicle. Since it was through a familiar connection, the cost wasn’t much. He calculated the transportation fee into the expected earnings. On the way back to the village, he wondered if an afternoon was enough for the two of them to pick all the peaches. Xu Chuang said that picking several thousand pounds of peaches would take at least three to four days for two people, which was impossible to meet the deadline. Ji Yuchen calculated again and again, realizing he had no choice but to ask the villagers for help.
He didn’t really want others involved, excluding himself, Xu Chuang, and Aunt Li, because the total profit was only so much, and it wouldn’t feel right not to share if he asked for help.
Xu Chuang laughed at his meticulousness, saying that during the busy farming season, villagers always helped each other without mentioning money.
The two of them immediately went to Aunt Li’s house to share the good news. Aunt Li was overjoyed, calling on neighbors to help pick peaches. Ji Yuchen was still pondering how to ask, but Aunt Li had already arranged everything.
They worked all afternoon, from the sun hanging high until the last rays of sunset disappeared. The transport cart made trip after trip, and Aunt Li’s yard was filled with baskets of juicy peaches.
She was in charge of counting the weight and number of boxes, preparing to load them onto the truck early the next morning. Xu Chuang was responsible for leading the transport, while Ji Yuchen focused on picking, spending the entire afternoon on the ladder.
It was then that he realized he was a bit afraid of heights. Climbing the ladder on a two-meter-high peach tree, he didn’t dare look down, feeling dizzy even when he lowered his head. Ji Yuchen thought it might be an old problem, something he had before his memory loss, so he didn’t pay much attention to it.
The group worked until evening, and after sunset, the mountain was enveloped in darkness. Ji Yuchen and Xu Chuang were the last to come down, finding Aunt Li already waiting at the road, inviting them to her house for dinner.
They didn’t refuse, mainly because they were starving. The smell of cooking smoke made their stomachs growl. After dinner, they recounted the peaches in the yard, agreed on the departure time, and then headed home.
After a day of running around, Ji Yuchen, who had been full of energy thinking about the money he was about to earn, was now exhausted as soon as he entered the house and sat on the kang. He didn’t want to move at all.
He discussed with Xu Chuang: since they had to go out again tomorrow, could they skip the bath today? Xu Chuang fetched water for him to soak his feet and handed him a damp towel to wipe himself down. After taking care of the little ancestor, he went to the bathroom to wash up.
When Xu Chuang came out, the person on the kang was half-asleep. Feeling someone approaching, Ji Yuchen instinctively moved inward, slipping his feet into Xu Chuang’s blanket because it was warmer there, even the bed was several degrees warmer than his own.
Xu Chuang used his calf to warm Ji Yuchen’s feet, asking, “Are you cold?”
Ji Yuchen mumbled incoherently, and Xu Chuang pulled him out of the blanket, covering both of them with his own, then draped the extra blanket over Jiu’er.
Ji Yuchen, who had been drowsy, suddenly woke up, his sleepiness gone. He opened his eyes wide in the dark, glancing around. As Xu Chuang adjusted the blanket, he felt a broad palm press against his back, forcing him to snuggle closer to Xu Chuang.
He curled up like a little cocoon, waiting for Xu Chuang to finish arranging the blanket before daring to peek out and look at him in the dark.
In the darkness, the man’s facial features appeared particularly rugged. Perhaps sensing the gaze, Xu Chuang asked, “Not sleeping yet?”
Ji Yuchen hummed softly, feeling Xu Chuang place one hand under his head as a pillow and the other around his waist, pressing lightly as he spoke.
He asked Xu Chuang, “Aren’t you cold? What if you catch a cold at night with all the blankets on me?”
Xu Chuang said he usually only used a thin blanket around this time of year, and he was used to it living in the mountains.
He didn’t mention that Ji Yuchen was the one afraid of the cold. Just as autumn began, he was already like this. When the outside turned into a frozen world, he wondered if Ji Yuchen could handle it. This winter, they’d have to keep the kang warm.
Ji Yuchen wasn’t really asking about that. His mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts, and to avoid getting sidetracked, he could only chat with Xu Chuang about random things.
After thinking for a while, he crawled out of the blanket and lay on Xu Chuang, asking mischievously, “Are you going to sleep? Can we chat?”
The person lying down hummed, indicating he was willing to accompany him.
“Do you have any dreams? Or goals?”
Although he had heard Xu Chuang mention his future plans before: to live a simple life, earn some money, marry a wife, and have a warm family, it didn’t sound very appealing. Ji Yuchen felt that after being together for so long, there should be some changes. He had feelings for Xu Chuang, and anyone who wasn’t blind could sense it.
Xu Chuang asked, “Which aspect are you referring to? Work or life?”
Ji Yuchen: “Either, say whatever you want.”
He lay on the man, looking at him expectantly. After a moment of thought, Xu Chuang said seriously, “I want to do well at the factory. The boss said he’s looking for someone to manage things here, so he won’t have to come over, just collect the money. If I can take on that role, my salary should increase significantly.”
“Does that mean you’ll have to go to the factory every day? You’ll have even less time at home?”
Xu Chuang said, “It should be like that, but the schedule will be relatively flexible. It’s not far from the village entrance to here, so I can come back anytime.”
He said this while patting the little guy’s head, sensing that the person on him seemed a bit unhappy, letting out a soft hum, “You weren’t this enthusiastic before…”
Ji Yuchen felt like it was going to rain, and his mother was getting married. The honest man living in the mountain village suddenly wanted to make money, there must be a reason. When he said during the day at the wholesale market that he was his brother, could it be that he had someone he liked? Was he really thinking about saving money to get married?
He thought back carefully, and he had been with Xu Chuang all this time, not noticing any signs of a crush, except for the time they went to the neighboring village to watch a movie. When Ah Sheng mentioned marriage, he did see Xu Chuang’s eyes flicker, not knowing what he was thinking.
The air became quiet, and Ji Yuchen rolled off him, wrapping himself back in the blanket, saying he was going to sleep.
Xu Chuang looked up, slightly puzzled, thinking Jiu’er had more to say, but no more words came.
That night, both had their own thoughts. Ji Yuchen didn’t sleep well, half-awake, still pondering. If Xu Chuang really had a girl he liked and got married and had kids, what would he do? Not to mention how embarrassing it would be to not even get the moonlight from the pavilion closest to the water. If his memory was truly gone and couldn’t be recovered, and he couldn’t find his family or friends, would he really be alone in this world? How would he live? Where would he go? These were all troublesome thoughts…
[Author’s Note]
I missed the update due to consecutive business trips. Some readers mentioned the long paragraphs were tiring to read, so I made some adjustments.