By the time they returned to the village, it was already past three in the afternoon. The sun wasn’t as high as it was at noon, and the golden sunlight cast a vibrant yellow hue on the haystacks.
Ji Yuchen first went to Aunt Li’s house to settle the payment. Aunt Li was so happy that she couldn’t stop smiling and even pulled out two red bills, stuffing them into his hand, telling them to use it to buy some meat.
Ji Yuchen couldn’t refuse, and Xu Chuang also told him to accept it. In the end, they counted it as part of their earnings for this trip, netting a profit of 1,400 yuan, which wasn’t too shabby.
The two of them went home to start a fire and cook. Ji Yuchen went to take a shower first, taking advantage of the remaining warmth before sunset. Then he used the new hairdryer to dry his hair, put on a thick coat, and walked into the courtyard.
Xu Chuang was at the stove, cooking, and said that when it got colder outside, they would have to move the stove indoors. Ji Yuchen poked his head over to see what was in the pot, sniffing around like a little puppy.
He acted as the porter, carrying the cooked dishes into the house, and when he came back out to get the rice, he saw Xu Chuang pulling a small cloth bag out of his pocket and handing it to him.
“What’s this?” Ji Yuchen asked curiously.
Xu Chuang told him to open it and see. The cotton square bag had an opening on one side, with a drawstring, and inside was a bracelet made of agate-red beads.
Ji Yuchen fiddled with the bracelet and turned to ask Xu Chuang, “Is this for me?”
The man nodded, saying it was something he had asked for from the temple’s Bodhisattva, specially blessed, which was why it had stayed there for a while.
The bracelet didn’t seem particularly special, just a string of red beads. Ji Yuchen put it on his wrist, and as he turned it back and forth, the translucent beads sparkled with a fine luster in the sunlight. He asked Xu Chuang, “What did you wish for?”
The man paused, thought for a moment, and then said, “For peace and health, what else…”
Perhaps ending this topic, Xu Chuang handed two bowls of porridge from the stove to Jiu’er, telling him to take them inside, while he went to get the steamed buns and corn from the pot. Ji Yuchen quickly carried the porridge inside, then ran back to the door, standing on the threshold and waving to Xu Chuang, calling him to come eat.
In Xu Chuang’s vision of the future, the daily necessities of life might take up most of it, plain and predictable. But when he thought about the possibility of being with Jiu’er every day, eating and sleeping together, watching him stand at the door calling his name, life seemed to have a lot more to look forward to.
As October arrived, Qiantang Village fully entered the agricultural off-season. The north entered winter early, and the farmers had already harvested their crops, some drying them, some pickling them, and some root crops could be stored in cellars to keep for a month or so.
These days, Ji Yuchen was helping Xu Chuang repair the small courtyard. They planned to section off a piece of land in the yard to build a small storage room. The smaller room in the house was filled with miscellaneous items, leaving no room to even step in. Ji Yuchen wanted to clear it out to use as a dining room, so when winter came and they moved the stove indoors, they wouldn’t have to eat cramped in the hallway, which was drafty and sometimes cold.
Xu Chuang marked out a piece of land in the northwest corner of the yard, measured it with a tape measure, and started working with some wooden boards and old shipping container steel plates from the village. Recently, apart from going to work at the pig farm, he spent all his time at home, and in less than a week, he had built the storage room quite neatly, without letting Ji Yuchen lift a finger.
When the weather was warm, Ji Yuchen would accompany him in the yard, cracking sunflower seeds and peeling peanuts to feed Xu Chuang, mainly playing a supportive role. If the temperature dropped and it was cold outside, Xu Chuang wouldn’t let him come out, keeping him inside while he finished the work in the yard, and then cooking when it was time to eat.
He took advantage of the still warm weather to tidy up the small courtyard, organizing the farming tools neatly and putting them in the storage room. The small room next door was cleared out, looking spacious and bright. They moved the dining table inside, along with two chairs. Ji Yuchen thought that if they could add a sofa and put a TV opposite, it would feel even more like home.
In his free time, he would use Xu Chuang’s phone to go online and search for “ways to get rich in the countryside.” However, those success stories always seemed to require some material foundation, like crop yields, regional specialties, or something unique that could catch people’s attention. But Qiantang Village didn’t have any of these, except for Aunt Li’s peach trees, which were a rare variety locally. He pondered that to make money from this, they would need to expand the scale and achieve mass production, which wouldn’t be easy.
Ji Yuchen was thinking about how to make money, partly because he wanted the villagers of Qiantang Village to have a good life. He honestly felt that the people here were kind and simple, treating him well, even though everyone had their quirks. For example, Grandpa Zhang always said he was a girl and favored boys over girls, and Xiang Chun, that girl, would come to their house every now and then, as if afraid she wouldn’t get married. When Ji Yuchen went to the neighboring village to watch a movie, he felt the stark difference and always wondered why, with the villages not far apart, they could live a moderately prosperous life while they couldn’t. It ultimately came down to the lack of roads and isolated transportation.
He was learning how to make suggestions to the township government because it seemed impractical for the villagers to pool money to build roads. The people here were so poor they couldn’t even afford to donate money for road construction, so they could only rely on government funding, and he needed to come up with a good reason.
One autumn afternoon, Ji Yuchen woke up from a nap, rubbing his sleepy eyes as he walked into the courtyard. The house and yard were empty, and he called out “Xu Chuang” a couple of times, but got no response, so he sat on a small stool by the millstone to wait.
The persimmon tree at the entrance of the courtyard had already lost all its leaves, with vermilion fruits hanging heavily on the branches. Ji Yuchen stared at it in a daze when suddenly a strange noise came from outside the wall, an “ouch” sound, which seemed particularly abrupt in the autumn afternoon.
He went out to see and found a few five or six-year-old kids lying sprawled on the ground, the one in the middle clutching his head with a grimace.
Ji Yuchen went over to check and found that the boy holding his head was Xu Xiaohui’s eldest son from the village, apparently named Li Shun, whom Xu Xiaohui called Shun Shun.
He didn’t have a good impression of Xu Xiaohui, so he didn’t think much of Li Shun either, and his tone was cold, “What are you doing? Climbing walls for fun?”
The boy got up from the ground, moving awkwardly, and Grandma Zhou’s grandson was the first to speak, saying they wanted to eat the persimmons on the tree, and in the past, Brother Dali would pick them for them to eat.
Ji Yuchen turned to look at the persimmon tree in the yard, with the fruits hanging high, not knowing how they were picked before. He thought Xu Chuang was really a living Bodhisattva, not only treating him well but also being so tolerant and generous with these mischievous kids. But he didn’t like children and wasn’t willing to pick persimmons for them, so he casually sent them off to play, pretending he hadn’t seen anything.
The kids ran off in a swarm, leaving only Li Shun standing there, head down and silent. Ji Yuchen asked him, “Why aren’t you leaving?”
The little guy fidgeted with his fingers, and after a long pause, he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
Li Shun’s voice was small, almost like a mosquito’s buzz, and Ji Yuchen took a moment to realize the little guy seemed to be apologizing.
He asked, “What do you mean?”
Li Shun kept his head down, “The persimmon tree was planted by Brother Dali, and he used to pick them for us every year. We thought we could just come and pick them ourselves without telling him… Please don’t be mad, we didn’t mean it, we know we were wrong…”
The little guy spoke slowly, as if thinking about how to apologize. Ji Yuchen suddenly felt that this child was quite sensible, understanding the principle of “taking without asking is stealing,” much better than his mother.
He turned his head to look down at him, and after a while, he asked, “Do you want to eat the persimmons on that tree?”
Li Shun looked up and blinked, his features resembling Xu Xiaohui’s pretty face, his eyes bright and shiny.
Feeling a sudden urge, Ji Yuchen brought over a ladder and set it up by the tree, saying, “Brother will pick a big one for you.”
Li Shun ran to the tree, cheering excitedly, his little fists clenched in front of his chest, and volunteered to help hold the ladder.
Ji Yuchen had gained some experience from picking peaches, moving up and down the ladder with ease, as long as he didn’t look down, everything was perfect. He climbed the ladder to the branch, reached out, and picked a ripe, big red persimmon, tossing it down for Li Shun to catch. The little guy missed the first one, picked it up from the ground, dusted it off, and looked up with a happy face, shouting, “Thank you, brother!”
Ji Yuchen had never found children cute, not knowing if he was like this before his memory loss. He always thought children were unruly and noisy, not endearing at all. But now, he felt a bit of affection, thinking that well-behaved and sensible children were indeed lovable.
He picked a few more persimmons, holding them in his arms, thinking that when Xu Chuang came back, they could eat them together. When his arms were full, Ji Yuchen held onto the tree trunk with one hand, preparing to step onto the ladder. Suddenly, his foot slipped, and Li Shun shouted anxiously, “Brother, be careful!” Before Ji Yuchen could react, his view flipped 90 degrees from the horizontal ground, and he fell backward.
He felt his body plummeting rapidly, the wind whistling past his ears, the colors he could see turning into a long straight line, like an old TV losing signal.
In the moment of falling, Ji Yuchen felt as if something hit the back of his head, chaotic images flooding his mind, accompanied by sharp screams, as if falling from ten thousand meters high, everything changed tone.
He thought he would land hard on his back, but unexpectedly, he fell into a warm embrace, hearing the heartbeat of someone unknown.
Xu Chuang caught him in his arms, and when Ji Yuchen struggled, he bumped into Xu Chuang’s ribs, seeing stars instantly.
He had no ability to move, the persimmons in his arms scattered all over the ground, and Li Shun anxiously came over, clinging to Xu Chuang’s leg, standing on tiptoe to ask, “Brother Dali, is the pretty brother okay!?”
Ji Yuchen came to his senses and turned his head from the embrace, asking Li Shun, “What did you call me?”
He had heard all sorts of names, like Dali’s little kid, little follower, little tail, Grandpa Zhang next door calling him Liu’er, and the village elders liked to call him Xiao Jiu’er, but this “pretty brother” was a first, giving Ji Yuchen a sense of satisfaction as a respected elder.
He jumped out of Xu Chuang’s arms, not caring if he had bumped or bruised, tidying his hair and saying, “What did you just call me? Say it again~”
Li Shun tilted his head and blinked, obediently calling out again, “Pretty brother,” making Ji Yuchen beam with joy.
He asked why it was “pretty brother”? Not “Jiu’er brother” or some other name? Li Shun thought for a moment, “I think brother looks good, better than anyone else in this village, so shouldn’t it be ‘pretty brother’?”
In the understanding of a five-year-old, perhaps they hadn’t yet separated pretty from handsome, and anyone good-looking could be called “pretty.” Ji Yuchen thought it didn’t matter, it wasn’t like only girls could use this word, and on a whim, he ruffled the little guy’s hair.
He picked up the fallen persimmons, choosing the good ones to wash inside, saying these were all for him.
Li Shun smiled, his eyes turning into two crescent moons, thanking them repeatedly, and after saying goodbye, he ran to the road, not forgetting to turn back and wave at them.
Ji Yuchen couldn’t stop smiling even after the boy left, turning to see Xu Chuang with a gloomy face, his eyebrows furrowed tightly.
He reached out to press Xu Chuang’s brow, “Why so serious? Did you hear what Li Shun just called me? He called me ‘brother’!”
Xu Chuang sighed, unable to do anything about him, knowing he was happy, but it was too dangerous, being home alone and climbing ladders to trees. It was fortunate he came back in time, otherwise, who knows how badly he might have fallen.
He spoke earnestly, “In the future, don’t do such dangerous things at home alone, at least wait for me to come back…”
Xu Chuang’s words were cut off by a hand covering his mouth, Ji Yuchen’s fingers cool and smooth, the touch like an electric shock.
He complained, “I know! Why are you so nagging? People might think you’re in your thirties or forties, with two kids at home~”
Xu Chuang said, “I’m worried about you getting hurt…”
Ji Yuchen laughed, pulling his hand back, saying he also wanted to eat persimmons and asked Xu Chuang to lift him up to pick them.
Since the ladder wasn’t safe, the safest option was Xu Chuang. Ji Yuchen thought as long as he could ride on his shoulders, picking those persimmons wouldn’t be a problem.
Xu Chuang had no objections to this, putting the ladder away in the storage room, squatting down to let Jiu’er climb on.
Ji Yuchen was light, sitting on his shoulders with his legs wrapped around the man’s head. Xu Chuang stood up, lifting him high, holding Ji Yuchen’s knees, following his directions, “A little to the left… too far, a little to the right…”
He moved as instructed, and when Ji Yuchen was unsteady, he would grab his hair. Xu Chuang didn’t know how he had picked up this little ancestor, with so many demands, but he just couldn’t help it. Whatever Jiu’er said, he was willing to do, even wanting to give him more.
The two of them worked together to pick a small basket of persimmons, and as they were dismounting, they heard someone knocking on the door. The courtyard door was open, and Xiang Chun stood at the entrance, holding a bamboo basket.