CH 69

“Kirin, Number Two is crying.” Xia Yi stood in the Wang Zhu Yard to pick chilli peppers and he heard Gu Xing in the basket begin to cry behind him.

Kirin was using its paws to play with a butterfly and pretended that it had heard nothing. It held the specially made handle of the basket with its mouth, then it floated in midair, and started to circle the yard.

Gu Xing immediately stopped crying. Happy bubbles popped out from his mouth. The baby was giggling in the slightly moving basket. He waved its fat little hands merrily.

By now, Kirin was already a qualified babysitter. One to two years after it had babysat Number One, it quickly had to take over the job of taking care of Number Two, Gu Xing. Kirin had been really helpful.

Gu Xing was now just eight months old. A red mark appeared on his forehead the first time he was being carried to the farming world. He was a ger. He was different from Gu Cheng. Except the shape of the eyes, Gu Cheng had everything on his face similar to Gu WenZhu. As for Gu Xing, except those eyes which were slightly tilting upwards, he had every face feature looking like those of Xia Yi’s, including that little nose with a slight curve and that small heart-shaped face.

A couple of years before, 179 had finished his mission and returned to the system world. However, he did come by to check out how everybody was doing from time to time. He would pop up out of nowhere inside Xia Yi’s mind.

“Host. Ah, sorry. Ex-host. Do you know this? All of your missions have been changed. The original ones are not like those and the rewards are not the same as well.” 179 returned all of a sudden and spoke up, “Of course. I know that.”

“They are changed from the first place. That’s because you entered the wrong world so they had to change the missions to the cultivation world missions.” Xia Yi replied absentmindedly while eating a tomato.

“It’s the cultivation world missions that have been changed. The rewards and the missions are both different.” 179 said in a gossipping manner.

Oh right. Seems that everything, every mission, and every mission are connected. Let alone those rewards. They even had painless labor.

With Xia Yi not responding, 179 suppressed his voice to say, “Those were all done by the technical system.”

“Why would the technical system do that?” Xia Yi stopped chewing to ask.

“I asked him. I asked him a lot of times then he finally decided to tell me. He said that he turned into a wolf in the wild in the cultivation world for his job and got himself stuck in a tree cave. He did not want to ask for help from the system and got stuck for a few days. When he was dizzy, Wang Lan, who was passing by, rescued him.”

That’s why? Xia Yi began to think hard. Right. Something like that happened.

One day, he just split with Ze Yuan and was going home. When he went past a thousand year old tree, he found an animal stuck in the cave with its butt out. The animal was clearly stuck there. So he pulled it out like he was pulling a carrot and found that it was a dog.

He could confirm that it was a dog, and that was one of the breeds in his home world. It was ridiculous. So that was the technical system?

“How did he get there?” Xia Yi was shocked.

“He said that he did not realize that he was actually fat instead of just fluffy.” 179 sounded sarcastic and happy, “But, the point is, he had been helping you out discreetly since then.”

Xia Yi put down the tomato in his hand and said seriously, “Please tell the technical system this. It was just a coincidence to rescue him there, but Wang Lan is grateful for his help all along. Where is the technical system now? If I have a chance, I would like to say thank you to him directly.”

“He is on vacation. We are not able to contact him again.”

That bug had never been fixed since then. The technical system had entirely wiped away the data to let the bug stay between the two worlds. And, he even set the doorway from a random position to a fixed altitude, i.e. this Wang Zhu Yard and the yard of their house in the farming world.

Now, Xia Yi could go to either world freely anytime.

He saw that the time was late and prepared to call out to Gu Cheng, telling him to come back for lunch.

After letting Kirin take care of Number Two, Xia Yi went to the backyard and into the slowly swirling transmigration tunnel at the corner.

The exit was a small space separated out from his yard at home. After coming out, Xia Yi went to put away the washed diapers which were drying on the shelf, then he went to the entrance of the village. Gu Xing wet countless diapers everyday. The number of diapers had exceeded the capacity of the Wang Zhu Yard, so they hung the rest on this side.

Passing by the farmlands, he saw a man in Qi Shan uniform crouching there with Mr. Wang. The two both had a smoking pipe in their hands.

It was clearly Meng Wan Zhi.

He came here everyday after cultivation to smoke with Mr. Wang.

Seeing Xia Yi, Meng Wan Zhu took a sip of tea and said with a smiley face, “The Kid is at the village entrance.”

Even his accent changed…

Gu Cheng, who was six, was wrestling with the other kids in the village. He threw the other kids into the bushes at the village entrance, then he put his hands on his waist to look at them proudly, “Now who has a problem?”

The defeated kids admitted their defeat, “Oh hail the king. Please forgive us.”

The kid from Er Niu’s house, Gu Tian was five this year and was as fair as Qi Zhou. She followed the others to say, “The king is great. Please forgive us.”

Gu Cheng could not help but laugh. He grabbed Gu Tian’s hand and said patiently, “Let’s go. I am taking you home.”

With a huge belly, Qi Zhou had a bowl of green plum in his hand, eating. He saw the two from afar and smiled, “Cheng. I see you are taking her home. You are such a good kid.”

Gu Cheng politely greeted him. Qi Zhou took Gu Tian’s hand and said, “Uncle Bei Cheng is going to cultivate at Qi Shan later today. Do you want to go with him?”

Er Niu was now an apprentice of Liu Si Qian. He would go to Qi Shan to cultivate whenever he was not farming. He was now both Qi Zhou’s husband and his fellow apprentice.

Gu Cheng waved his hand, “No. I am going to play with the other kids this afternoon.”

After he had finished his words, he heard Xia Yi calling from the village entrance, “Gu Cheng. Come home to eat.”

“Oh. I can’t play now. My mother is here.” Gu Cheng looked down disappointedly, making Qi Zhou and Gu Tian giggle.

“Go now. You can play tomorrow. Return to Qi Shan first. Today your grandfather and grandmother are coming. Your dad went to pick them up thi morning. It’s almost time for them to arrive.” When Gu Cheng weng closer, Xia Yi stretched out to take the grass sticking onto his hair away.

Gu Cheng looked at Xia Yi with a troubled face, “Are grandpa and grandma not living in that valley in the mountains? I went there this morning and picked a lot of flowers with Auntie. Grandpa did not say that he is going to eat at Qi Shan.”

The grandpa and grandma he was talking about was Jie Shang and Ciang Yi. Auntie was Ciang Yi’s daughter who was just three years old.

Although Ciang Yi only allowed him to call them Big Grandpa and Second Grandpa, when Ciang Yi was not around, Gu Cheng was allowed to call them grandpa and grandma.

Jie Shang had been saying that the valley at the foot of the mountain was the most memorable place for him, so he built a wooden house there and would bring his partner and daughter to live there for a while.

Xia Yi heard Gu Cheng’s question and his expression froze for a bit, then he equivocated, “I am talking about your grandpa and grandma (both on the father’s side) at the Wang Zhong House.”

“Aren’t they grandpa and grandma (both on the mother’s side)?” Gu Cheng looked at his mother, “Mom. Are you confused?”

“You are calling me mom again. Didn’t I tell you to call me dad?” Whenever no one was around, Xia Yi would try to tell his son to call him father.

“Dad.” Gu Cheng obeyed and called, but he was thinking in his mind, ‘If you are happy.’

Not long after Xia Yi brought Gu Cheng back to the Wang Zhu Yard, Qi Shan’s chief had prepared food and sent them here. Just when the food was on the table, he heard the voice of his parents from the front door.

“Cheng. Xing. My dear.”

“Grandpa, Grandma! (On mother’s side)” Gu Cheng was playing with his little brother, making faces beside his basket. Gu Xing was giggling nonstop. When he heard Xia’s parents, he immediately turned and called out loudly and happily.

“It’s grandpa and grandma. (both on the father’s side)” Xia’s father quickly showed his stern face.

“Grandpa and grandma.” Gu Cheng laughed and said. Xia’s father smiled back and patted his head, then he went to check out Gu Xing who was in the basket.

Xia’s mother took hold of Gu Cheng, lifting his arm to measure how tall he was and nodded, satisfied, “Have you been drinking milk and doing the morning exercises that granny had taught you everyday?”

Gu Cheng swiftly nodded, “Yes. Grandma.”

Ciang Yi had already restored Xia’s parents memories, so they kept a lot of habits from the home world.

For example, everyday after their meals, the two would hum and dance in the yard. They would go out from the Wang Zhong House to fish and cook, and they would let Gu Wen Zhu bring them along to travel on his magical item.

Gu Xing had already been picked up by Xia’s father and held in his arms. He was teaching him pronunciations of alphabets.

a, o, e…

Gu Xing saw the funny exaggerated movements of Xia’s father’s mouth, he then laughed, showing his little white teeth. Then, Gu WenZhu discreetly went into the kitchen with a pack in his hand, avoiding Gu Cheng’s eyes.

“What are you doing? Why are you so low profile?” Xia Yi was putting down the bowls and chopsticks. He asked curiously when he found he like this. 

Gu WenZhu put that pack into the cupboard, and said, smiling, “Mother-in-law had prepared some cake. I am afraid they may find that out now. I will show them after the meal.”

Xia’s mother always wanted to eat food in their home world when she had nothing else to do in her house, so she tried some of this and that, and managed to produce something like cake and biscuits. Then she would send some to Gu Cheng.

Gu Cheng loved to eat. No matter how much they sent, he would finish them all. But then he would be so full that he could not eat his meals, causing Gu Wen Zhu a lot of headaches.

“Right. Hide it, hide it.” Xia Yi immediately echoed with him.

Gu WenZhu helped to set up the bowls and chopsticks. He went out to call the guests back in for the meal and found no one there.

“Mom must have gone to the farmlands to pick some fresh cucumbers for you to make her a mask.” Xia Yi resignedly shook his head, “Let me go fetch them.”

“Let’s go together.” Gu Wen Zhu stepped up to hold his hand.

When they were at the farmland, Xia’s mother was really picking cucumbers. Seeing Gu Wen Zhu, she said in excitement, “Wen Zhu. Make me a mask later.”

“Sure.” Gu Wen Zhu quickly answered, then he picked some chilli peppers and eggplants, “Mom, take some back. I know you love our veggies.”

Xia’s father was holding Gu Xing to look at the ants on the ground together, he said happily when he heard them, “You mother loves your veggies. They were fresh and juicy. We can make salads.”

They chatted and laughed on their way home. When they arrived at the front door, Xia Yi asked, “Where is Gu Cheng?”

Everyone looked at each other, and all of them said they had not seen him. Only Gu Xing giggled and said a word, “Cake.”

Xia Yi’s face turned pale, “Oh no.”

Then they really saw Gu Cheng walking out from the kitchen burping, with some cake crumbs on his face, “Grandpa grandma, dad, mom. I am going out to play. Eat without me.”

“Gu! Cheng!” Seeing Xia Yi gritting his teeth, Gu Cheng moved slowly towards the front door then ran away quickly.

His voice rang from afar, “I am going to find Uncle Tian Ji to cultivate.”

Kirin discreetly followed behind him and dashed out.

Yay, no babysitting today.

After the meal, Xia’s parents held Gu Xing to walk around at the back of the mountain to help digestion. Gu WenZhu washed the dishes and crouched beside Xia Yi who was lying on the bench.

Xia Yi was enjoying the sun with closed eyes, he felt a shadow blocking above him and a hot breath on his neck. He laughed with his eyes closed, turned and pouted his lips, receiving a gentle kiss as expected.

“Go. Let me show you something.” Gu WenZhu’s low voice rang.

Xia Yi opened his eyes to ask lazily, “What?”

“You will see.” Gu Wen Zhu wiped off the wetness from his lips.

Xia Yi’s eyes rolled around when he was thinking. He sat up and stretched, “Let’s go and have a look.”

—

At the foot of the mountain, the purple medicine field extended to the horizon. The color was as vivid as a painting. Xia Yi saw a house from afar. It was in the middle of that purple. They stepped down from the magical item. He pushed the door open to enter.

In that delicate yard, there were flowers and plants on the walls around. One of the sides had some land planting some young chilli peppers. There were four rooms in a row, the sunlight shone into them thoroughly. Xia Yi picked a room which looked like a bedroom and went inside.

The placement of the furniture was exactly like that of their home in the farming world. He could imagine that Gu Wen Zhu did all these. The paper of four persons, holding hands, was decorated on the window. Two of the persons were taller and two of them were tinier, looking like them.

A vase with a flower in it was placed on the table, surrounded by a light aroma. The familiar handmade wooden bed already had blankets on it. On top of the blanket, there was a clothed Ultraman. Xia Yi looked around, amazed, and his eyes got caught by a writing hanging on the wall.

That was a light yellow rice paper, with words on it.

Looking closer, it wrote something like Bai Sha City The Third Teenage Drawing Competition First Awardee Xia Yi.

Seeing Xia Yi turning back to look at him in surprise, Gu Wen Zhu explained embarrassingly, “You told me about all the words on your wall at your old house.”

“Awards.” Xia Yi corrected him.

“Right. Awards.” Gu Wen Zhu nodded, “Then I asked your mother. Then she taught me to write that down.”

“I see your eyes shining every time you talk about your past. So I think, I will return that glory to you.” Gu Wen Zhu gently looked at Xia Yi, his words filled with love.

Xia Yi was flabbergasted. His waist had already been held by a pair of arms. A low and hoarse voice rang beside his ears, “Do you like it? Lan.”

He nodded. His eyes became a little teary. He opened his mouth and said, “I like it.”