Ji Yuchen settled down in Qiantang Village, officially becoming a member of Xu Chuang’s household: there were two toothbrush cups on the windowsill, one blue and one white; two towels on the rack, one white and one gray; and two sets of quilts and pillows on the kang bed, with Ji Yuchen sleeping inside and Xu Chuang outside.
The summer was hot, but the night temperature was just right. Ji Yuchen was afraid of the cold and still needed a small quilt at night. He would wake up in one of two situations: either Xu Chuang had already gotten up early to chop wood and cook, leaving him alone in the room, or he would wake up in the middle of the night or early morning, still groggy, clinging to Xu Chuang like an octopus.
This guy didn’t snore in his sleep, contrary to what he had said.
One morning, Ji Yuchen was disturbed from his sweet dreams by a rooster—a real rooster—that started crowing diligently at four in the morning, determined to wake the entire village with its song.
Ji Yuchen hadn’t heard it in the past few days, but this time it pulled him right out of his dream. He flailed his arms around, and Xu Chuang, worried about his plastered arm, held him carefully to prevent a secondary fracture.
The rooster’s crowing didn’t stop, one call after another, until Ji Yuchen was fully awake, sitting dazed on the kang.
Xu Chuang put on his clothes and went out to see what was happening, discovering that Uncle Zhang from the neighboring yard had brought home another rooster.
Uncle Zhang already raised chickens to sell eggs. Xu Chuang had heard that the hens hadn’t been laying eggs recently because there was something wrong with the rooster. Uncle Zhang had sold the old rooster at the market and brought a new one back.
The kerosene lamp in the neighboring house lit up, indicating they had just woken up too. Xu Chuang waited for a while, and Uncle Zhang came out wearing a jacket, noticing someone standing by the wall.
“Yo, Dali, what are you doing up so early…?”
Uncle Zhang was in high spirits, showing no signs of being disturbed from sleep. Xu Chuang politely chatted, “Uncle, you got a new one, huh? How’s this one?”
Uncle Zhang glanced at the rooster in the pen, looking very satisfied, and said with a smile, “This one’s good. I snatched it from a breeder. It looks healthy, so it should be fine!”
Xu Chuang agreed with a smile and asked if there was anything he could help with. Uncle Zhang waved him off, saying he wouldn’t hesitate to ask if he needed help.
After a brief chat, Xu Chuang returned to the room, finding Ji Yuchen still sitting there, nodding off.
Hearing the noise, Ji Yuchen opened his eyes, confused, and asked what was going on. Xu Chuang sat on the kang and explained that Uncle Zhang next door had bought a new rooster, which might not be used to the new environment and was crowing early.
Ji Yuchen had never experienced such a scene before. It was too rustic! He vaguely felt that before his memory loss, he hadn’t lived in the countryside, at least not where roosters crowed so loudly, echoing like someone blowing a trumpet in his dreams.
He was sleepy but couldn’t fall back asleep, as the crowing outside continued relentlessly. Just as he was about to drift off, another crow would come. Ji Yuchen complained endlessly, and Xu Chuang pulled him into his arms, covering his ears with his hands to coax him back to sleep.
His tightly furrowed brows relaxed, and Ji Yuchen slowly drifted into slumber with his eyes closed. When he opened them again, daylight was already streaming through the window.
Due to the morning’s disturbance, he woke up feeling lethargic. As he got up from the kang, he noticed Xu Chuang was already shouldering a hoe, ready to head out.
The man gestured to the steamed buns and porridge on the stove, along with boiled and peeled eggs, for his breakfast.
In Xu Chuang’s view, Jiu’er’s life skills were somewhat lacking, possibly due to his fall. For example, he always left the eggshells in pieces, hung washed clothes wrinkled on the line, and often missed a button when fastening them. These were things Xu Chuang had learned before he was five, but Ji Yuchen often struggled with them, so Xu Chuang was used to helping him without complaint.
Today, he had to go loosen the soil in the fields and couldn’t stay home with him. After a few words, he shouldered the hoe and left; Ji Yuchen slowly walked to the yard, standing by the faucet to squeeze toothpaste and brush his teeth.
The faucet was next to the shared wall with Uncle Zhang’s yard. The wall wasn’t high, and Ji Yuchen’s height allowed him to just peek over.
With a mouthful of foam, he peeked over and saw the rooster in the coop, strutting around like it was patrolling its territory, with the hens in the pen as its harem, looking quite carefree.
Ji Yuchen stood on tiptoe, pondering how to make it stop crowing in the morning, or at least delay it so he could sleep a bit longer.
Uncle Zhang came out to pour water, splashing half a basin onto the ground, creating a circle of water stains. He turned and saw the person on the wall.
Shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand, he recognized the kid Dali had brought back from the city, seemingly called Liu’er or something.
Ji Yuchen was about to find a place to hide when he was caught, and Uncle Zhang called out loudly, “Liu’er, what are you looking at?”
The guy just blurted it out, giving him a new name. Ji Yuchen was momentarily stunned by the call, then responded, “I’m not called Liu’er…”
The old man didn’t mind, waving his fan as he walked over, asking, “What are you looking at?”
Ji Yuchen hesitated, his gaze occasionally drifting towards the chicken coop. Uncle Zhang thought for a moment, picked up two eggs from the coop, and handed them over.
“Take these, have Dali cook them for you. They’re nutritious!”
Uncle Zhang’s expression made it seem like these were definitely good things, vivid and persuasive, and refusing wasn’t an option.
With a toothbrush in his mouth, Ji Yuchen accepted the eggs, wanting to ask: Can you make the rooster stop crowing? Can you control it? Maybe have a word with it?
Before he could speak, with foam in his mouth and hands full of eggs, Uncle Zhang had already turned away, fanning himself back into the house, where the sound of a radio opera drifted out intermittently.
Ji Yuchen’s first attempt failed, but he gained two eggs and changed his clothes to find Xu Chuang in the fields.
The arable land in Qiantang Village wasn’t large. From this side, you could see the end of the fields from the dirt slope. Ji Yuchen heard that each household was allocated about one and a half acres of land.
Of course, he had no concept of how big one and a half acres was, only knowing that Xu Chuang often worked for half a day, watering, fertilizing, loosening soil, and weeding. In short, he was very busy, and the tasks varied daily.
When Ji Yuchen walked up the dirt slope, he saw the man in the distance, bent over, hoeing the ground, lifting and dropping it with force. His arm muscles moved with his shoulders and back, glistening with sweat in the sunlight.
He stood on the field ridge watching for a while, and the man in the field noticed him, putting down the hoe and running over.
Xu Chuang’s physique was impeccable. Ji Yuchen liked watching the veins under his skin, more pronounced when he moved, showcasing a vibrant, primal wildness. When he reached him, Ji Yuchen handed him a towel to wipe his sweat, as the one around Xu Chuang’s neck was already soaked. Ji Yuchen had brought a clean one for him.
Xu Chuang took the towel and wiped his face, asking, “Why did you come? Didn’t I tell you to rest at home? It’s hot outside!”
Ji Yuchen squinted and smiled, saying there was nothing to do at home, so he came to keep him company.
Xu Chuang didn’t always work alone. Before going to the city, he and his dad worked the fields, and his mom would often bring them food and drinks, sometimes helping out. After his parents passed, he returned to the village, and Xiang Chun often brought him meals in the fields, and they would eat together under the big tree.
But these feelings were different with Jiu’er. He looked forward to Jiu’er coming, wanting to see him more, even though they saw each other every day and slept on the same kang at night. Xu Chuang felt Jiu’er was special to him, like having a companion in life, giving him something to look forward to.
Ji Yuchen stood on the field ridge, looking up, clearly unaware of what the other was smiling about. Xu Chuang put the hat on Jiu’er’s head, reminding him to be careful of the sun, then led him to sit under the big tree to wait.
The summer sun was strong, and Xu Chuang sweated through several shirts in the morning. Ji Yuchen put the hat back on his head, saying the shade was enough to keep him from getting sunburned.
Xu Chuang glanced back, seeing the shade was indeed ample, so he didn’t refuse.
After finishing the farm work, they went home together. Xu Chuang planned to stir-fry a couple of dishes and eat the leftover steamed buns from the morning, seeking Ji Yuchen’s opinion. He had just harvested cucumbers and tomatoes from the last batch a few days ago, making various cucumber and tomato dishes for him. Now, Ji Yuchen had only one request: could they not eat those two things today? He was about to get sick of them…
Xu Chuang asked what he wanted to eat, but Ji Yuchen couldn’t say, so for lunch, they simply stir-fried shredded potatoes and stewed cabbage with tofu. Xu Chuang mentioned going to the river in the afternoon to gather some snails, asking if he liked them.
Ji Yuchen nodded, not really understanding, as he didn’t know what snails looked like, so he didn’t say anything else. Xu Chuang assumed he liked them and enthusiastically ate two more bowls of rice.
After they finished eating, Ji Yuchen remembered the eggs Uncle Zhang had given him in the morning, still on the table, and went to get them.
Xu Chuang asked, “Why did he give you eggs? He just gave me two this morning.”
Ji Yuchen blinked and explained, “I was looking at the chicken coop by the wall, and he might have thought I wanted eggs, so he gave them to me…”
He spoke innocently, his expression even more so, with eyelashes fluttering like little fans.
Xu Chuang was amused, ruffling Ji Yuchen’s hair with a big hand, asking why he was looking at the chicken coop.
Ji Yuchen looked a bit troubled, hugging his knees and asking Xu Chuang, “Do you know any way to make that rooster stop crowing? Or at least crow later? It’s too disturbing in the middle of the night.”
The term “disturbing” wasn’t commonly used in the village, and Xu Chuang took a few seconds to process it, seemingly searching for a solution.
He had no such concept living in the village, and when he worked in the city, he lived in shared dorms where everyone was focused on earning money, leaving early and returning late, with no one complaining about noise. He thought for a moment and said, “Uncle Zhang used to raise chickens, and they crowed too. It’s just that when you came, he had just sold the old one and bought a new one.”
Ji Yuchen asked, “Did the old one crow this early too?”
Xu Chuang didn’t have much impression, as he was used to roosters crowing early, and it felt strange not to hear them.
Ji Yuchen’s face fell, looking dejected, with faint dark circles under his eyes on his fair skin.
Xu Chuang comforted him, saying, “The rooster just arrived, probably not used to it. It’ll get better in a few days. It only crows when there’s light, so it won’t crow before dawn.”
They discussed ways to delay the rooster’s crowing, and Ji Yuchen gathered two potentially useful methods from their conversation: feeding it well at night so it wouldn’t be hungry in the morning, possibly waking up later; and covering the coop with a black cloth so it couldn’t see the light, thinking it was still night, and naturally wouldn’t crow.
Ji Yuchen pondered trying these methods at night, figuring it was worth a shot. He couldn’t just sit idly by.
[Author’s Note]
You’ve come this far, why not add it to your bookshelf~ Thanks for the support~