Hearing his words, Song Wenqing’s eyes curved into a smile as he called out, “A-Jin.”
The gentle voice drifted into his ears like a warm current flowing into his heart. Pei Jinrong pursed his lips and smiled, then lowered his head to continue weaving the bamboo basket with focused determination. In his own eyes, the bamboo baskets he made were merely intricate; they could hardly be called beautiful. However, since A-Wen liked them, he decided that once he finished this work, he would make a flower lantern for A-Wen. When the Lantern Festival arrived next year, he would take A-Wen to the town to stroll around with the lantern.
The youth’s future plans now clearly included Song Wenqing. Song Wenqing did not know exactly what Pei Jinrong was thinking, but seeing the smile the youth could not hide at the corners of his mouth, he felt a sweet sensation in his own heart as well.
When sweetness is added to a plain and simple life, time passes very quickly. Song Wenqing suddenly realized that he had been sitting by the side watching Pei Jinrong weave bamboo baskets for an hour without feeling bored at all. After a while, he spoke up and asked, “A-Jin, how much can you earn from a bamboo basket like this?”
“A small one like this is thirty copper coins, and a larger one is fifty copper coins.” Speaking of his area of expertise, Pei Jinrong’s eyes flashed with brightness as he picked up a bamboo basket to explain. His serious expression was something Song Wenqing was still not quite used to seeing.
Seeing him daze off, Pei Jinrong scratched his head with some embarrassment and asked, “Does A-Wen want to learn? If you want to learn, I can teach you slowly.”
Song Wenqing shook his head, and remembering something, he asked, “How much money is left at home right now?”
If money had not just been mentioned, he would have almost forgotten that he was currently very poor.
“Ten taels.”
Song Wenqing reacted with shock, “How much? Ten taels?!”
He thought he had misheard. How could that be; when he returned home previously, he still had thirteen taels on him. What exactly did Pei Jinrong buy to spend so much money over the past half a month?
Seeing Song Wenqing’s expression, Pei Jinrong became slightly flustered. He blinked his eyes at Song Wenqing and said guiltily, “Five hundred copper coins were spent to buy honey, and one tael was used to get medicine. As for the rest, I do not know exactly what was bought.”
Song Wenqing thought of the large jar of honey still sitting on the stove and instantly felt a headache coming on. However, since the youth had spent all this money on him, it was impossible for him to be an ungrateful ingrate and turn around to blame him. Even so, the financial loss truly pained his heart. He also wondered in his mind what Pei Jinrong’s true identity was, given that he spent money so lavishly, making him look practically like a spendthrift prodigal.
Because he remained silent for a long time, Pei Jinrong thought he was angry and said aggrievedly, “A-Wen, I will earn it all back.”
He was not saying this merely to comfort Song Wenqing. When he was sixteen years old, he did not rely on his family and was already able to open a shop to support himself. Any clothing designed by his own hands would become the bestseller of the season, eagerly sought after and bought by the young masters and women of wealthy families.
Although he no longer made clothes or designed patterns for flower lanterns, his money-making skills were still intact. If A-Wen truly liked silver, he was willing to try again.
However, in his memories of the few times his parents quarreled, his mother would always scold his father for not caring about the family, saying his father put his whole heart into the family business and made life practically impossible to live. He was afraid that before he and A-Wen could even live a good life for a few days, they would end up quarreling like his parents did.
The panicked expression on Pei Jinrong’s face made Song Wenqing find it somewhat amusing. The youth’s fluffy head was right within reach, and his palm felt hot, as if the sensation of touching his head a few days ago still lingered on his hand.
He wanted to touch it.
Without restraining himself, he rubbed the youth’s head and laughed aloud at the youth’s startled expression.
“I do not need you to support me; I will support you.”
Once he resumed brewing wine and had enough funds, he would open a medical clinic in the village. Not only could it support the two of them, but it would also fulfill his original dream of healing the wounded and rescuing the dying.
Hearing this, the youth’s body stiffened slightly. Was this what the people in the capital city referred to as living off a partner?
He thought to himself that it seemed, well, actually quite nice.
Song Wenqing had been lying in bed for so many days. Although Pei Jinrong used hot water to wipe his body every other day when he was sick, and he washed himself every day after his health improved, he had never dared to take a thoroughly satisfying bath, fearing he might catch a cold and have to lie in bed for another ten days or half a month.
Now that his body had finally recovered completely, he and Pei Jinrong drew many buckets of water from the well. After lighting the fire, they added water to the large pot. The firewood next to the stove was not enough, and before Song Wenqing could move, Pei Jinrong stood up to chop wood outside. Recently, the two of them had become more and more familiar with each other, and Pei Jinrong no longer sat in the wheelchair in front of him.
At the beginning, he had been curious about the cause of the youth’s leg injury and looked at it a few more times, which caused Pei Jinrong to sit back down in the wheelchair. Therefore, seeing that he finally did not sit in it this time, he tried his best to restrain his gaze, fearing the youth might think he was pitying him.
After the water began to steam, because the pot was very large, the two of them worked together to carry the pot into the room. Because Pei Jinrong’s left foot was injured, the process took a relatively long time. Fortunately, the bathtub was finally filled with a large amount of water.
Pei Jinrong told Song Wenqing to bathe first, and Song Wenqing did not decline. There was no separate, partitioned area for bathing in the room; the bathtub was placed in the inner room, separated only by a screen.
Song Wenqing had not yet fully transitioned into the mindset of currently being a ger, so he directly began to take off his clothes in front of the youth. Only after taking off his outer coat did he suddenly realize. Turning his head to look, he saw the youth staring at him blankly, as if he had lost his soul.
Snapping back to his senses abruptly, the youth’s face flushed red with embarrassment as he stammered, “I, I will go outside first to continue weaving the bamboo baskets.”
Song Wenqing was left speechless.
In fact, he still had undergarments on underneath, and had the youth not been unashamed when holding him to sleep? Now he was actually acting shy. Previously, the youth had also wiped his body, so he had already seen everything he should and should not see.
This behavior made it seem as if Song Wenqing was the one taking advantage of him.
However, the moment he lay down into the bathtub and the warm water enveloped his body, all of these matters were completely cast to the back of his mind.
Outside the door, Pei Jinrong sat on the chair, doing his work absentmindedly.
He did not know if Song Wenqing taking off his clothes right in front of him just now was a hint. But he was not ready yet. A few days ago, he might have thought that since the two of them were married, such things would happen sooner or later anyway. But now that they had spent more time together, he only wanted to treat A-Wen well, and then even better.
He knew that in this lifetime, it had to be Song Wenqing and no one else, so he wanted to give him a better experience. However, he did not know how to do anything, and he wondered if he should write a letter to ask his friends in the capital city for advice, since they were also married now.
Or perhaps he could wait a few days until he went to the town to see if there were any storybooks for sale, so he could learn from them.
His mind was filled with a chaotic mess of thoughts, and his face grew hotter and redder.
It was now late at night. Pei Jinrong’s house was at the head of the village and was originally very close to the stream, so the fireflies had already come out. Dotting the night sky, they appeared exceptionally beautiful.
There was one firefly whose tail was the brightest, and he was drawn to it. His gaze followed the firefly as it moved. Consequently, he saw his husband’s shadow cast upon the window paper, showing hair that reached the waist, and he could even faintly discern Song Wenqing’s silhouette.
Pei Jinrong became thoroughly dazed and hurriedly turned his head away. His entire body grew hot, and for some reason, his mind was left only with the description from the letters written by his close friends in the capital city regarding a fragrant and soft husband.
Song Wenqing felt refreshed after finishing his bath. After channeling the bathwater into the field where the sweet potatoes were planted, he went out to call Pei Jinrong. Seeing the youth looking at him with a completely blank expression, he felt a sudden desire to tease him. He rubbed the youth’s head and said, “If you do not take a bath, you will not be allowed on the bed tonight.”
Pei Jinrong responded, “You, you sleep first.”
After throwing out these words, he entered the inner room in a flustered state. Song Wenqing’s laughter echoed from behind him, causing the youth’s movements to become even faster.
The youth took a very long time to bathe, and he only groped his way onto the bed about an hour later. Song Wenqing was lying on the inside, reading the storybook in his hands with great interest. Only when he saw him get onto the bed did he put the storybook away properly.
“I need to go to the mountain tomorrow, so take good care of yourself at home.”
Just as Pei Jinrong got onto the bed, he looked toward him upon hearing Song Wenqing say this.
The youth’s burning gaze was more than Song Wenqing could handle, so he let out a sigh and continued, “A few days ago, did Zhao Lin and the others not come to look for me to go hunting on the mountain together? My body is recovered now, so I cannot keep staying at home doing nothing at all.”
Zhao Lin was the person who had asked him when they would go hunting together when Song Wenqing went to buy the chicks previously.
“I can support you,” Pei Jinrong said aggrievedly.
Seeing this expression of his somehow reminded Song Wenqing of the Siberian Husky at his own home whose ears would droop down, making him look incredibly endearing.
“I am going to the mountain and will return in just a few days. I will pick bayberries for you to eat.” His main purpose in going to the mountain was actually to pick bayberries to soak in wine; hunting was merely a convenient side task. The mountain was unsafe, so it was safer to go with Zhao Lin and the other young men.
Recently was the ripening season for bayberries. The bayberries picked in the morning upon entering the mountain would be freshly soaked in dew, each one completely plump and crystal clear, looking extremely enticing. The bayberries were a deep red that verged on black, and once brought home to soak in saltwater, they could be picked up and eaten immediately. When bitten, the juice would burst forth in the mouth, tasting intensely sweet.
The bayberries that could not be finished would be placed in wine to soak, and when the time was right, the wine would gain the fragrance of the bayberries. Drinking two bowls of it while eating side dishes was incredibly comfortable.
Seeing that his mind was made up, Pei Jinrong could only whine and act spoiled, “Then A-Wen must take me along.”
Although he knew perfectly well in his heart that because his legs were inconvenient, Song Wenqing would definitely not agree, acting spoiled and unreasonable at the appropriate moments would only make A-Wen like him more.
Song Wenqing frowned and thought for a moment, then said, “The path up the mountain is difficult to walk, and you are embarrassed to walk with a limp in front of outsiders. I will take you there in the future after your leg is healed.”
If it were any ordinary time, Pei Jinrong would definitely feel tight in his chest upon hearing the latter half of the sentence, but he clearly heard only the first half of the sentence. Holding Song Wenqing’s waist, he rubbed his head against his chest and said contentedly, “Yes, they are all outsiders.”
Song Wenqing looked down at the person clinging to his body and smiled with pursed lips. At the beginning, he felt this was very strange and feared he would not be able to sleep, but over the past few days, he had unexpectedly slept very soundly.
The two of them snuggled against each other and fell asleep.
The next day, just as the sky was barely turning bright, Song Wenqing began to pack the things for going up the mountain. They had to stay in the mountains for several days, and the mountain was very cold at night, so they had to prepare clothes to protect against the cold. The Song family had Shen Xiaolan, who ordinarily could absolutely not bear to buy a few warm pieces of clothing for Song Wenqing, so Pei Jinrong hid the action from Song Wenqing and secretly stuffed a thick coat into his bundle.
Only after preparing the dry rations and the bamboo baskets did Pei Jinrong part with Song Wenqing reluctantly.
This was the first time the two of them had been separated for such a long time. Not only was Pei Jinrong reluctant to part, but Song Wenqing also felt uneasy in his heart.
Several young men were calling out from outside. Song Wenqing put the luggage on his back, squatted on the ground to look directly into the eyes of Pei Jinrong who was sitting in the wheelchair, and said, “Wait for me to come back obediently at home.”