LW chapter 16

 

The weight of a basket of corn is still not comparable to that of a pile of corn. Chen Qing walked much faster than before.

From a distance, he saw Li Xin standing at his door. What had just happened played back in his mind: Had Zhou Yuan come to help because he was worried that Li Xin might get tired from helping him?

The joy he had felt earlier soured a little into bitterness.

He didn’t know what kind of relationship the two had when they went to town together. Were they close? Were they going to get married someday? Was his partner a man or a woman?

“What are you thinking about?” Zhou Yuan suddenly asked. Chen Qing was caught off guard.

He blurted out, “Was it a man or a woman?”

Zhou Yuan raised an eyebrow. “I’m fine with either. What about you?”

“I…” Only then did Chen Qing realize what he had just said. His face turned crimson, and he wished he could dig a hole and bury himself in it. The question could be answered; it was just too strange, especially between him and Zhou Yuan.

Knowing when to stop, Zhou Yuan quickened his pace and dumped all the corn into Chen Qing’s yard.

The courtyard wasn’t big, and the corn needed to dry for a while before it could be threshed. The harvest from the mountain alone filled the yard, and there were still more fields. Clearly, there wasn’t enough space.

There was an open area in front of the village’s ancestral hall. During the autumn harvest, people rushed over early to claim a spot; otherwise, they’d have nowhere to dry their crops. During this time, Chen Qing and Aunt Sun felt uneasy about not having a man in the house. They had to move the corn there in the morning and bring it back at night.

Some men in the village even slept on the ground there to guard their harvests.

“Auntie, can we dry them here?” Zhou Yuan asked.

Aunt Sun quickly agreed and thanked him repeatedly, even saying that she would invite him to dinner later. Since Li Xin and Niu Niu were there, too, there was no need to be suspicious.

After Chen Qing emptied his backpack of corn, he started cooking. Meanwhile, Aunt Sun, Li Xin, and Zhou Yuan sat in the courtyard peeling husks.

Zhou Yuan glanced toward the kitchen. He saw Chen Qing moving his shoulder uncomfortably and rubbing it with one hand. He paused, then told Aunt Sun he had to head home first.

Once Zhou Yuan was gone, Aunt Sun smiled at Li Xin and said, “Zhou Yuan is a really good kid. He always helps whenever he can.”

Li Xin nodded. “Yes, Auntie.”

“I heard your father is looking for someone for you. Zhou Yuan would be a good match. Don’t let that chance slip away. If it works out, our families will be neighbors. You and Ah Qing are both good boys. That would make for a good future.” Aunt Sun kept husking corn, her mouth moving just as fast as her hands.

Li Xin looked as if he were facing a life-or-death situation and quickly said, “Auntie! No! It’s not like that!”

Aunt Sun just assumed he was embarrassed and nodded repeatedly. “Auntie knows. Nothing’s been decided yet. It’s hard to say. Hard to say.”

Li Xin: …

Just then, Zhou Yuan returned and called to Li Xin outside the gate.

Li Xin ran out and saw that Zhou Yuan was holding a bottle of medicine. He handed it to her and whispered, “Put this on him for me.”

Li Xin frowned. “How long do you plan to use me as your cover? If this continues, I won’t be able to clear my name, even if I jump into the Yellow River.”

“Not much longer,” Zhou Yuan replied. Now that Aunt Sun wanted to marry off Chen Qing, big changes were coming. “You’ll be sitting at the main table soon.”

Li Xin had always been sharp. After returning from his grandparents’ place and talking to Chen Qing about Zhou Yuan, he sensed that something was off. Then, when they went to town together, he realized that Zhou Yuan was acting strangely, too.

When Chen Qing wasn’t looking, he asked Zhou Yuan directly, and Zhou Yuan admitted it honestly. He really did have feelings for Chen Qing.

However, given Chen Qing’s personality and his particular identity, this path wouldn’t be easy.

While Chen Qing was still in the dark, Li Xin had already started looking into it.

Zhou Yuan didn’t know when he started liking Chen Qing. It began with seeing Chen Qing’s back, and then it became a habit.

After their brief interaction, Li Xin tucked the bottle into his sleeve and went to the kitchen, where he found Chen Qing cutting chicken. It was the chicken they hadn’t eaten last time; if he didn’t cook it now, it would spoil. His hands were greasy with chicken fat, and he hadn’t washed them.

So, when Li Xin pulled him by the arm, Chen Qing raised his greasy hands. “What are you doing?”

Li Xin pulled off Chen Qing’s clothes, revealing his red and swollen shoulder. He took out the medicine and carefully applied it. Chen Qing winced in pain.

Every autumn harvest was like this. His shoulders always ended up like this, so he never bothered with medicine.

“It’s fine. No need to put anything on it,” he said, trying to pull his clothes back up. But Li Xin held him down and wouldn’t let him move.

“It’s almost healed,” Li Xin said, gently applying the medicine.

“We’ve gotten through years like this. I’ll need my shoulder again in two days anyway.” Chen Qing smiled. “You’ve never been this worried about me before.”

Li Xin snorted and playfully pressed his shoulder. “And you think I don’t care about you?”

At home, surrounded by people he was close to, Chen Qing’s personality was much livelier. The two of them laughed and joked around for a bit before running out of the room. They said they had to cook or it’d be too late.

As they rushed out, Chen Qing happened to lock eyes with Zhou Yuan. He quickly turned away and slipped back into the kitchen.

Zhou Yuan watched him go and noticed the red marks on his face, probably from corn leaves.

Back in the kitchen, Chen Qing found that the salted chicken wasn’t ideal for boiling. He chopped and rinsed it before placing it in the family’s clay pot to simmer slowly over the stove. He also found some processed chicken giblets from before.

He melted the leftover chicken fat and pulled a handful of pickled cabbage out of the jar beside him. He chopped the cabbage and stir-fried it until it was fragrant. Then, he tossed in the giblets. The aroma of sizzling fat mixed with pickled cabbage filled the air, making little Niu Niu gulp hungrily outside.

Clearly, a chicken soup and a giblet stir-fry wouldn’t be enough, especially with someone as big as Zhou Yuan eating. So, he decided to make another dish: stewed potatoes and beans. The family hadn’t bought meat in a long time, and their lard jar was nearly empty. Gritting his teeth, Chen Qing stewed the potatoes, eggplant, and beans in lard. He didn’t even bother cooking rice.

On normal days, he and Aunt Sun ate steamed wheat buns.

Luohe Village was surrounded by mountains and rivers, yet they didn’t grow rice for some reason, so it was expensive. Most people only bought lower-grade rice or mixed it with wheat rice, so it was rarely eaten.

Chen Qing didn’t know how to cook any of this at first. His hometown was far from Luohe, and their eating habits were completely different. He’d learned everything he knew from Aunt Sun.

When all the dishes were ready, the chicken soup was also done. This time, Chen Qing added some Codonopsis pilosula that he hadn’t used the last time he was sick. The soup turned out rich and flavorful.

Usually, there weren’t many people at their house. They only had one small table and not enough stools.

But Li Xin and Zhou Yuan didn’t mind. They sat on a pile of corn instead.

Niu Niu looked like he was about to drool, so Chen Qing gave him a bowl and poured chicken soup into it to make it easier for him to eat.

“I knew you could cook,” said Li Xin as he dug in. Chen Qing smiled and lowered his head, quietly holding his bowl.

Zhou Yuan rarely saw Chen Qing smile like that. Seeing it now, he was a little stunned.

Aunt Sun kept her eyes on Niu Niu and didn’t notice the shift in the atmosphere.

Li Xin held his bowl and stared up at the sky in silence.

Once Niu Niu finished eating, Aunt Sun finally started eating herself. After dinner, she told Zhou Yuan that she wanted to borrow the ox cart. Their remaining land was in a wide, open area—perfect for the cart.

Zhou Yuan agreed, of course, and said he could help them harvest it, too. But Aunt Sun quickly waved it off. “Just letting us borrow the cart is more than enough,” she said.

Li Xin smirked. “How about this, Auntie? His courtyard is huge. Why not dry the corn there? Then you won’t have to fight over a spot at the ancestral hall. Otherwise, are you really going to make Chen Qing guard the corn overnight?”

Both Aunt Sun and Chen Qing looked toward Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan nodded. “Sure, Auntie. When the time comes, just bring it all to my place.”

“I really owe you one,” said Aunt Sun as she picked out a nice piece of chicken for him.

“It’s no trouble. I’ll need your help eventually, too. I didn’t plant anything in my garden last season. After this one, though, I’ll need to start farming it. I can’t just live off the land without giving anything back.”

“All right, when the time comes, I’ll bring Ah Qing to help you.”

Chen Qing fell silent, still thinking about what Li Xin had said earlier. Was Li Xin really helping Zhou Yuan with family matters now?

He bit his lip, his mind drifting.

Because of his initial mistake of thinking Zhou Yuan was Meng Tao, his thoughts had been a mess ever since.

All that talk about “avoiding suspicion” was just his way of resisting the urge to get closer. It was an internal struggle. He thought that as long as he didn’t approach Zhou Yuan, nothing would happen. But the guilt was overwhelming—so heavy that he couldn’t even straighten his back.

His mother had once said that, although he was quiet, he used to greet the villagers. He had met other men before, so why did he act like Zhou Yuan was poison?

Chen Qing didn’t dare admit the truth—that he had something to hide. He only said he’d changed after realizing it.

But all that restraint was clearly backfiring. The more you suppress something, the more it grows.

Li Xin was his best friend, the one who opened up to him when he had no one else. He couldn’t hurt him.

Thinking of that, Chen Qing felt like something had finally clicked.

The more you try to hide, the guiltier you appear. Honesty was the best policy.

Li Xin had just finished eating. He turned around and saw Chen Qing smiling. He blinked at him. “What are you grinning at?”

Chen Qing shook his head. “Nothing. I just figured something out.”

Right on cue, Aunt Sun chimed in: “Ah Qing’s always spacing out. Who knows what’s going on in his little head? Small body, big thoughts.”

Chen Qing scratched his hair. His face and neck were itching again, so he scratched them hard until they turned red.

---

 If you’re enjoying my translations, feel free to leave a comment or support me on Ko-fi ☕