CH 74

Back to the Countryside

Chapter 74:初雪

[First Snow]

The night in the village was always so quiet, it was also easier for people to hear some small sound. Qi Yue opened his eyes in the dark, with the help of moonlight, he looked at the person sleeping beside him, helped him pull the covers and get out of bed.

He opened the door of his room and met the eyes of Xiao Yu Heng in the courtyard. Beside him stood several people dressed in black, almost hidden in the night, their heads and faces covered with black scarves, unable to see clearly their faces. 

“Thank you for your hospitality these past few days. The time has come for me to leave.” The man in the courtyard stood with his hands behind his back, a rare moment of seriousness.

Qi Yue’s expression was indifferent. He seemed to already expect this, “It took them so long to find you. The ability of the people from your place has regressed.”

The moment he said that, he immediately received a few incoming murderous aura. Several people in black still did not move, but he (QY) could vaguely see their imposing manner where they were waiting to act after having accumulated the energy. 

Xiao Yu Heng tilted his head and swept them a glance, said in a cold voice, “Are you all tired of living? Do not forget who you guys are facing!”

Several people’s breath was choked, their spurt out murderous intent was restrained. They were angry at being belittled for a moment but they forgot the identity of the person standing in front of them. If the other party wanted to kill them, it was only a matter of taking a breath. 

Those shown in front of them were the less capable ones and the weaker members of his. Their emotion was so easy to provoke, Qi Yue naturally would not bother with them. However, the ones hiding in the secret place were very calm and their breath was not revealed at all.

“Such a small and remote village, even if they damage their head, they will not be able to guess that I am here and it is good enough that they can find it.” Xiao Yu Heng justified them in the course of time. No matter what, they were also his people and he still had to defend them despite knowing that they were the ones in the wrong. 

“All right! Since the person who picked you up has come, hurry up and get lost ba!” For several days, Qi Yue had enough of getting annoyed by him. If he was able to send the person away earlier he could have some peace of mind too. 

“No matter what, in these several days we eat and live together, yet I do not properly say goodbye!” Xiao Yu Heng said this as he took a look inside the house, “What a pity, the little beauty is sleeping. I also can’t bear to disturb him. How about you let me in and take a look …?”

Before he finished speaking, Qi Yue had already entered the house and closed the room door, giving cold shoulder and leaving all of them in the courtyard. 

“What a bad temper!” Xiao Yu Heng shook his head and sighed, arching his hand at the closed door of the house and said, “Qi Gongzi’s kindness, Xiao ‘Mou1[Mou here refer to the way Xiao Yu Heng call himself, it’s kind of common in Jianghu or Wu Xia setting]‘ remembers it in my heart. Only hoping that we will meet again (in Jianghu) someday in the future.”

The house was extremely quiet, no one answered, but he knew that the other party must have listened to his words, as the matter of whether he could see him again later in the Jianghu, it would be a matter of the future.

After a few sounds of fabric rubbing together, there was no more detectable movement from the courtyard. Qi Yue wrapped his arms around his little Fu Lang and closed his eyes. Jiang Hu had long been far away from him, all he had now was a peaceful life.

The next day, when He Ling found that Xiao Yu Heng had left, he sighed helplessly for a while. This person came inexplicably and left quietly. He was really different from the ordinary people.

These several days, He Ling seemed to have gotten used to the other party’s gags2[The original one used this :插科打诨 / chā kē dǎ hùn : to include impromptu comic material in opera performance (idiom); to jest / buffoonery], the moment without his somewhat ‘need a spanking’ voice, he also felt kind of lonely. Even though he was a smooth talker, that man was not a bad person. 

The weather was becoming colder and colder. Inadvertently, the first snow covered the entire Gu Shui Village with the pure white color, it calmed down the hearts of the people who looked at it. 

Qi Yue stood under the roof, reaching out his hand to catch a falling snowflake, the ice-cold in his palm did not stay too long until it disappeared without a trace. He sighed in his heart, just as the time was fleeting.

When he first arrived here, the overflowing greenery covered the whole land. At that time, he was still a carefree person and unattached. However now he already had someone he loved and they were about to have their own child. 

“Xiang Gong….”

From inside the house, there was a light voice calling him with some confusion, he withdrew his thoughts and turned back to the house. The person on the bed was rubbing his eyes and sitting up, the quilt slipped off, revealing a bulging belly.

He closed the door to isolate from the cold air, took a few steps to the bedside, lifted the quilt and wrapped the person in it, kissed him on his still warm face, “It’s still early, why don’t you sleep a little longer?”

“I’ve had enough sleep!” He Ling gave a small yawn. As his eyes saw the falling snow swirling in the air, outside the window. He said with surprise, “Is it snowing?”

Seeing his joyful appearance, Qi Yue also followed after him and smiled. He curved his eyebrows, “Hn, I guess it started to snow yesterday in the middle of the night. The snow on the ground has accumulated a thick layer. Do you want to see it?”

The person in his embrace naturally nodded, he wrapped him more tightly and carried him in his arms out of the door.

The icy cold breath on his face, He Ling shrunk into the blanket, looking at the white snow constantly falling from the sky, said softly: “This is the first time I watched the snow with my Xiang Gong.”

After hearing that, Qi Yue lowered his head to kiss his forehead. His face reflected full on his eyes, “Every snowfall in the future, we will watch it together.”

He Ling’s hand hidden in the quilt touched his bulging stomach, tilted his head and kissed his chin, “And our child too!”

“Hn, how about making dumplings for lunch at noon?” After having let him see the snow, Qi Yue carried him back to the house, not letting him get sick because of the cold. 

After his little Fu Lang’s belly was getting bigger and bigger, his appetite was also getting bigger. He wanted to stuff his mouth with food from time to time, except for some taboo foods. He basically ate everything, just the opposite of what he did at the beginning.

Because of eating too much, his entire person was flabby and soft to touch. The original pointed chin had also become much rounder and smooth but less of his somewhat beautiful face, more childish.

“Then we eat the one with the chinese cabbage stuffed in it!” As soon as the mention of food, He Ling’s mouth began to secrete saliva. At first, he would still be embarrassed about the fact that he ate a lot, but over time he didn’t care anymore since the more he ate, it was also good for the baby.

Putting him to bed, Qi Yue smiled and agreed to his request. He took out thick clothes from the cupboard and helped him put them on one by one, wrapping him up into a ball before he stopped. With his body condition right now, if he was sick, it would be a problem.

He Ling tried to move his arms and legs and felt some difficulty. He raised his face to look at him speechlessly, “Xiang Gong, the clothes are too thick!”

“Be obedient, the weather is too cold, you could catch a cold!” Seeing his dumb look, Qi Yue was in a very happy mood and stroked his head to appease him.

After a simple breakfast, Qi Yue began to prepare the stuffing’s ingredients that would be used for the lunch; fresh chinese cabbage with fresh pork were chopped up and mixed together. Just by thinking of it, it smelled good.

He Ling sat on a stool beside him, nibbling on the freshly baked sweet potatoes. The aroma smelled good and the sweet taste warmed his heart. Now, Qi Yue basically did not let him do a little bit of work at all. He couldn’t help it so the only thing he could do was to stay by his side while he was doing his work.

“Is it cold?” Qi Yue finished making the stuffing for the dumplings, came over and kissed him on the cheek. He was fed a bite of sweet potato. It tasted sweet and soft like the person in front of him. 

“Not cold!” The fire in the kitchen was warm so how could he be cold when he was sweating in his thick clothes?

“Wait, let’s wrap it together, two people can wrap it fast!”

Seeing him looking at himself impatiently, Qi Yue knew he wanted to help him out. The dumplings also didn’t take much effort to wrap anyway, it was just a matter of moving his hands so Qi Yue did not refuse, “Hn, when I have made the dough, we’ll wrap it together.”

Qi Yue then smiled and came to his lips and kissed him, it tasted sweet of roasted sweet potatoes. He pressed down the person and kissed him thoroughly for a while before withdrawing and went to make the dough. 

Leaving He Ling blushed and gasping for breath. Nowadays, Xiang Gong really doesn’t know how to pick a place, moreover here is the kitchen!

After Qi Yue finished making the dough, he moved a small wooden table into the kitchen and put all the fillings and stuffing on it, making the table completely full.

In fact, he was not very good at making dumplings. He did not eat much of it in the past either. Even though he ate the dumplings once in a while. It was also when he was in the restaurant ordering the types of refined steamed dumplings that looked like an ornament.

This was the first time that he had made the dumplings himself. The result was barely passable. He knew it by seeing the uncontrollable smile on his little Fu Lang’s face. 

“I thought Xiang Gong is good at everything!” He Ling saw that the dumplings in his hand had the filing of it leak once again, he finally could not help but say, “So there is something you are not good at it too!”

He handled everything skillfully and easily, even in cooking, he was very good at it.

Perfect, not like ordinary people, who knew that he would be defeated by a small dumpling? 

Qi Yue shook his head, unable to help laughing. He was able to wrap the wonton quite well so he thought this thing was similar. He did not expect it would be this difficult, “Nobody is perfect, your Xiang Gong, I am not good at everything either.”

“It’s okay, I’ll teach you!” He Ling put down another white fat dumpling from his hand, moved closer to him, “You put a little too much filling, it will definitely leak ah!”

He held the other party’s hand and told him step by step how he should pinch the dumpling beautifully, with his head down in a serious manner that made the person beside him lift the corners of his mouth.

The fact proved that smart people no matter what or how they do things, they were always able to do it awfully well. It was only a short while before the dumplings Qi Yue had wrapped were not much different from his, just as fat, white and lovely.

“No wonder you’re good at everything, you’re a fast learner!” He Ling exclaimed in admiration. The first time when they just knew each other and he taught the other party how to transplant rice seedlings was also the same, but only after a few plants, he had completely mastered it.

Qi Yue smiled but did not say anything. He had encountered many difficult problems when he was studying medicine and the poison method attentively but could not solve them, some even took him to spend time and money on it for several years. 

They were chatting while wrapping so it took a lot of time. Before they knew it, it was noon therefore the small pot of filling was basically used up, leaving only one fat white dumpling which looked very pleasing.

He Ling stretched his body and took a look outside the door. The snow had stopped at some point. The sunlight sprinkled down, shining on the spotless white snow glittering its light. 

Qi Yue found that he was looking outside the window and was lost in thought, so he did not make a sound neither bothering him. With a smile on his face, he got up, went to boil water and put the dumplings into the pot.   

He Ling , who had returned to his senses, held up his chin. He was looking attentively at the busy figure in front of the stove. Suddenly he remembered at the time when he was in a half-asleep half-awake state, the other side had asked him that question, if he (QY) was different from what he looked like right now, what would he (HL) do about it?

At that time, he was so sleepy that he did not think about the hidden meaning of that question. Now, when he pondered over it again today, it seemed that he would still say the same thing as he did at that time. Xiang Gong was the same Xiang Gong, there was nothing different, even if there was a difference, in his eyes he was the same. 

Qi Yue was carrying the freshly cooked dumplings with both of his hands as he turned around, then he met the eyes that were staring at him. He was stunned for a moment. He did not know what the other party had remembered to reveal such a gentle look that seemed to encompass everything about him.

[包容 bāo róng : to pardon / to forgive / to show tolerance / to contain / to hold / inclusive]

“Xiang Gong, I’m hungry!” Both of them looked at each other for a while, He Ling suddenly bloomed into a smile and rubbed his stomach.

Qi Yue returned to his senses and

softened his eyebrows. He returned to his side bringing the plate and put it down in front of him, “Then you should eat more!”

The boiled dumplings that were made after being busy and working on it for half a day, the taste was naturally good. However, the most beautiful thing for them was to be with each other at this moment.

Thank you for Britener for sending me the ko fi, really appreciated it