Not long after, Song Wenqing hid the fully picked bayberries under a rock, fearing that the sun would be too strong and affect their freshness. He would still have to go up the mountain one more time later to gather his luggage, so doing this would save him some effort.
Upon returning to the wooden cabin, he first checked on the bayberries soaking in the bucket. Sure enough, Zhao Lin and the others had already helped bring them down the mountain; even the bamboo fungus that had been drying outside had been neatly packed by them and placed behind the door. Song Wenqing felt the clothes that he had put out to dry again this morning; they were almost dry, so he packed them into his bundle and prepared to go down the mountain.
This basket of bayberries did not look like much, but it was incredibly heavy to carry on one’s back, causing him to walk a while and rest a while. By the time he neared the foot of the mountain, it was almost evening. Song Wenqing felt that ever since he arrived here, his physical stamina was nowhere near what it used to be. In the past, there were times when he stood for nine hours a day performing surgery, and no matter how tired he was each day, he would spend half an hour exercising.
This was likely due to the condition of the original body; he would have to put some effort into this in the future to nurse this body into better shape.
Suddenly, he heard a whimpering sound coming from the nearby cornstack. Setting down the bamboo basket, Song Wenqing pushed aside the corn stalks surrounding the outside; it was a small puppy that looked as though it had only recently been weaned.
Conditions in the village were poor, and in ancient times, there was no such concept as neutering a dog. Sometimes, when a family’s adult dog gave birth to puppies that they could not afford to raise, they would choose to wait until the puppies were weaned and then abandon them in the mountains to fend for themselves.
The puppy’s eyes were wet. When Song Wenqing touched its paws, as if sensing something, the little puppy rolled over to reveal its soft belly and licked his finger with its tongue.
Song Wenqing’s heart softened; seeing this puppy somehow reminded him of the dog he used to raise. He readily scooped the puppy out of the cornstack. Because the puppy had stayed there for a long time, its body was thoroughly dirty. He did not mind it, smiling as he brushed away the corn leaves from its body.
After thinking for a moment, Song Wenqing said with a smile, “From now on, you will be called Huiqiu.”
Huiqiu was very intelligent, curling up obediently in his arms and letting out low whimpers from time to time.
The path to the foot of the mountain was much flatter than the path on the mountain. When he returned home, he was somewhat surprised to see several villagers gathered in the courtyard. Pei Jinrong pressed his lips together, sitting in the middle and concentrating intensely on weaving the bamboo basket in his hands; when he did not speak, he easily gave people a sense of distance.
The village chief was also present, and upon seeing Song Wenqing, he smiled and said, “Brother Wen is back.”
Frowning slightly, Pei Jinrong stopped weaving the bamboo basket the moment he heard these words. He raised his head to look at his husband, whom he had not seen for several days, and said with curved brows, “A-Wen, I saw Chuan Xiaoge and the others bring the bayberries back first but did not see any sign of you, so I thought you were not coming back today.”
For a newlywed couple, a brief absence makes the heart grow fonder, and seeing this, several villagers looked at the two of them teasingly. The village chief, being very discerning, waved his hand and said, “Young Master Jin, it has already been agreed upon just now; weave the bamboo baskets for my family first, and I will come to collect them in a few days.”
Hearing this, the others also hurriedly spoke up, and within a few minutes, everyone had run off.
Seeing that no one was left, Pei Jinrong stood up and reached out to hug Song Wenqing. The puppy in his arms barked loudly, so Song Wenqing rubbed Huiqiu’s head and said, “My body is dirty; wait until I wash Huiqiu clean and change my clothes before we talk.”
Seeing his face full of confusion, Song Wenqing then explained with a smile, “I picked up this dog at the foot of the mountain; seeing how pitiful it was, I brought it home to raise.”
Pei Jinrong pretended to be jealous, whimpering as he competed with Huiqiu for affection, “A-Wen will not only dote on Huiqiu and stop doting on me in the future, right?”
As he spoke, he carried the bayberries that Song Wenqing had just set down into the house. Hearing him speak this way, Song Wenqing found it amusing and smiled faintly, “Why are you comparing yourself to Huiqiu?”
After putting the bayberries into the house, Pei Jinrong brought out the wooden basin that had been thrown in the woodshed previously, filled it with water, and said gently, “To make brother happy.”
The word “brother” struck Song Wenqing’s heart, and Huiqiu became restless in his arms, scratching at his chest from time to time, perfectly matching the effect of those two words, making one’s heart feel incredibly restless.
The youth had bright eyes and white teeth, smiling as he took Huiqiu from his hands, “A-Wen, go inside first to change your clothes, and I will wash Huiqiu.”
The water soaked the fur on Huiqiu’s body. Perhaps because it was its first time taking a bath, Huiqiu shook its body uncomfortably, trying to shake off the water. Pei Jinrong squatted on the ground, holding the Chinese soapberry in one hand and pressing down on the puppy that was splashing in the water with the other; before long, Huiqiu’s body was covered in foam.
Song Wenqing dazed off slightly; he suddenly felt that this world was truly wonderful.
By the time he finished changing his clothes, Huiqiu was already washed clean, wagging its tail as it circled around his feet. Pei Jinrong finished up the edges of the bamboo basket in his hands, raised his head, and asked, “I see that you brought down quite a bit of bamboo fungus; tonight, do you want to eat stir-fried bamboo fungus with meat or stir-fried bamboo fungus with eggs?”
Two years ago, Pei Jinrong was still a young master who never dipped his fingers into chores, but after living in Yunhan Village on his own for two years, he had long since developed excellent cooking skills. When asked this, Song Wenqing recalled the stir-fried rabbit head he had made a few days ago and said with a smile that he wanted to eat stir-fried bamboo fungus with meat.
Their entire current fortune amounted to only ten taels of silver. They had bought some ingredients for brewing wine a few days ago, but if they wanted to brew bayberry wine, they would still need to prepare white liquor as well as cinnamon and cloves for seasoning; they would certainly also need to buy wine jars at that time. Calculating roughly, it would still cost about two taels.
However, Song Wenqing did not want to compromise on their meals; life was already bitter, and if they ate poorly as well, it would be even harder to get by.
After hearing him finish, Pei Jinrong nodded and stood up to cook. Having nothing to do, Song Wenqing thought of the chickens they were raising at home and asked, “How much chicken feed is left?”
Pei Jinrong was selecting fresh bamboo fungus, “Not much is left; it will probably only last for a day or two.”
Song Wenqing noted this in his mind, intending to cut some chicken grass by the stream tomorrow if he had time after the free medical consultation. At that time, he would chop the chicken grass into pieces, mix it with cornmeal, and scald it with boiling water; the chickens loved to eat that.
He leaned back on the bamboo chair, watching the youth busily working back and forth. Before long, the fragrance of the stir-fried bamboo fungus with meat drifted to his nose, and Huiqiu, smelling the scent, also grew greedy, circling around his legs. Under the candlelight, their two shadows flickered, appearing as if they were chasing and playing with each other; a curve unconsciously formed at the corner of Song Wenqing’s mouth.
After finishing the meal, it was Song Wenqing who washed the dishes as usual. He asked as if casually, “Why did you not ask me why I did not hunt but instead picked so much bamboo fungus and bayberries?”
The night was dark. Over these past days, Pei Jinrong had also discovered that Song Wenqing was afraid of the dark, so he did not leave. Holding a piece of grass, he teased Huiqiu, who had just eaten and drunk his fill. Hearing Song Wenqing’s question, he thought for a moment and said, “A-Wen, you do not need to worry about me for anything you want to do; you naturally have your reasons for doing this.”
“Are you not afraid that I will squander all the remaining money at home by then?”
Pei Jinrong raised his eyes, the candlelight reflecting in them, making them look bright and clear as he said seriously, “But all this money belongs to you, A-Wen; I am currently relying on you to support me.” Seeming to feel that bragging about living off his partner this way was too blatant, he shifted his tone and murmured softly, “In the future, I will also earn money to support you.”
Song Wenqing placed the washed bowls into the wooden cabinet, and hearing this, he let out a soft laugh, “Yes, I will wait for you to support me in the future.”
Seeing him smile, the youth finally breathed a sigh of relief. The two of them discussed the matter and decided to lock Huiqiu in the woodshed first; once tomorrow morning arrived, Pei Jinrong would build a cage for it. Huiqiu was quite obedient, readily allowing the two of them to pet it before wagging its tail and curling up to sleep in the woodshed.
Song Wenqing had not bathed for more than two days, and his body felt very uncomfortable. However, when he went to bathe, he discovered that the bathtub and the screen had switched positions. Although he found it strange, he merely thought that Pei Jinrong felt this arrangement was more convenient. Turning his head to look at him, he did not expect the youth to have his head turned away; even though the night was dark, he could see him blinking his eyes continuously.
After finishing his bath, Song Wenqing finally felt much lighter, and his mood improved accordingly. Perhaps because he had not seen Pei Jinrong for several days, he perceived that the atmosphere was different from usual.
Pei Jinrong stood up to blow out the candle, and the two of them lay down straight and stiff on the bed. Today, Pei Jinrong was not as enthusiastic as usual; their breathing intertwined in the darkness, and desire steadily grew.
Neither of them spoke, so Song Wenqing opened his mouth stiffly and said, “Tomorrow, I need to go to the head of the village for the free medical consultation; take good care of yourself at home.”
After a long pause, the youth responded dully, “Yes.”
After a standoff of about ten minutes, seeing that he still had not come over to hug him, Song Wenqing let out a sigh. This time, he originally intended to initiate going over to hug him, but unexpectedly, in the next second, he bumped into the youth’s hard chest.
The youth’s heartbeat amplified next to his ear, beating powerfully, as if his love was directly laid bare before him.
He tried his best to keep his body natural, and hearing the sound of Pei Jinrong swallowing, he also became nervous.
He knew that he had feelings for Pei Jinrong. When he was five years old, he was abandoned by his biological parents at an amusement park, and from then on, he had no home. It was with great difficulty that his grandmother adopted him, yet she also left him when he was sixteen years old. From that day on, only he remained in his world, until he met Pei Jinrong.
The youth had held his hand with a cold expression, yet spoke the gentlest words to him. He said, let us go home. At that moment, Song Wenqing’s heart had skipped a beat.
Just like right now, Pei Jinrong held him in his arms with a stiff body, asking with a trembling voice, “Can I kiss you?”
Song Wenqing was startled; at this instant, his steady breathing became rapid, and his heart seemed to echo the youth’s, continuously accelerating. No longer hesitating, Song Wenqing pressed forward, stiffly bumping into the youth’s cool lips.
Pei Jinrong had waited for a long time without receiving a response, and his heart was filled with continuous self-blame. It was all because he had not seen A-Wen for several days and became too eager, actually speaking his true thoughts aloud. He only hoped that A-Wen would not think he was reckless.
Unexpectedly, in the next second, Song Wenqing proactively kissed him. Pei Jinrong was completely rendered speechless; coming back to his senses, he suppressed the excitement in his heart, took back the initiative, and pressed his husband back down beneath him.
Fortunately, the night was dark. Song Wenqing had never engaged in such an action before, and his face grew hotter and hotter; if Pei Jinrong could see him, he would know how embarrassed he was right now.
However, the youth’s subsequent actions made him even more embarrassed. Pei Jinrong was no longer shy at this moment, first using his hand to feel his lips, then leaning down. The hair ribbon used to bind his hair had long since vanished, and the cascading strands of hair fell against his neck; the youth’s lips were cool, causing Song Wenqing to instinctively lick his lips.
Yet, Pei Jinrong seized this opportunity, capturing the air in his mouth and tasting a hint of sweetness. Song Wenqing felt his entire body become exceptionally strange, and he could not help but let out a low groan; the youth leaning over him paused, and after a moment, let out a delighted laugh, “Does brother like it?”
Song Wenqing did not speak; this time, he truly could not show his face. Although he thought this way in his heart, his actions showed no sign of weakness; with a stern face, he tilted his head up to kiss the youth’s lips, crushing all his words completely into this dark night.
After a while, Song Wenqing was the first to give in, resting one hand over his eyes as he panted, saying in a hoarse voice, “Do not leave too many marks on my neck.”