CH 104

Apr 28 2023

Xu Qing and Li Changfeng’s house was built next to the Xie family’s, and they could talk to Xie Ama and his family over the courtyard wall, it was very close. They could go to the town by taking a donkey cart or driving on the road at the end of the village.

The layout of the new house was not much different from when they were in the back mountain, except that there was an extra room left as a grocery store, and a room for Yuan Yuan to live in when he grew up.

Li Changfeng’s injuries had already healed, but the injuries on his thighs were still serious and left scars.

In these few months, Xu Qing and Li Changfeng became closer to the villagers, and Xu Qing would often go around to visit others.

September 15th was Yuan Yuan’s full moon day.

Early in the morning, Xie Ama knocked on the door of Xu’s courtyard, catching Xu Qing who had only slept half the night because of staying up with Li Changfeng to prepare for the event.

Xu Qing couldn’t even open his eyes and his waist was sore, but he knew it was a big day and he couldn’t go back to sleep.

Li Changfeng also helped clean up the yard.

After the day got brighter, more and more villagers arrived.

Not long after, Lin Fangliang and Xie Yu also came with their children.

The courtyard became lively.

Xu Qing helped dress up the baby in new clothes and looked at the little face that resembled Li Changfeng as if they were carved from the same mold. He bent down to kiss the baby.

“Are you ready?”

Xie Yu entered the room and reached out to touch Yuan Yuan in Xu Qing’s arms.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

“He looks just like his father. But when I see him like this, se looks more like you.”

Xu Qing smiled. “That’s good. Where is Tuan Tuan?”

Tuan Tuan was now almost two years old. Although he had small arms and legs, he loved to play with the children in the village who were about his age. He always had a big smile on his face.

“He’s playing with Wu Ama’s grandson. Let’s go. The auspicious time is almost here.” Xie Yu urged.

Xu Qing carried the baby out of the hall and saw Li Changfeng talking to Eldest Li’s wife, who came to congratulate them.

After Li Laosan’s wife became pregnant again in August, Li Laosan’s attitude towards the old Li couple had eased. The old Li couple borrowed money with the excuse of the old house being damaged and the need to build a new one, and built a new house not far from the old courtyard house. As for the old house, it was “given” to the Eldest Li family.

Although some parts of the old courtyard were a little damaged, when the old Li couple and Li Laosan’s family left, it was still spacious enough. Eldest Li’s family couldn’t complain.

“Congratulations, second brother-in-law.”

Eldest Li’s wife smiled and congratulated Xu Qing as he hugged Yuan Yuan, “Congratulations to you too. Da Niu is also going to school now, right?”

Hearing Xu Qing’s words, Eldest Li’s wife couldn’t help but squint his eyes and smile. Da Niu was now studying under Zhou Wen, and although theydidn’t expect him to achieve great success, being able to read was already something to be proud of for their generation who was illiterate.

Just before the auspicious time arrived, Li Xiao’er’s husband also arrived. Li Xiao’er’s spirit was not very good. He and Li Laosan’s wife both lost their child, but Li Laosan’s wife was pregnant again while he had not shown any signs of recovery. He was feeling very uncomfortable about it.

Eldest Li’s wife went over to greet Li Xiao’er, but Li Xiao’er was indifferent and even unwilling to see anyone from the Li family.

Li Changfeng saw this and frowned.

“Changfeng.”

Li Changfeng turned his head in response to the voice and saw Chen Qi, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time. Looking at him, Li Changfeng’s already wrinkled brow became even more severe.

Chen Qi’s cheeks were covered in stubble, and the dark circles under his eyes seemed to never go away. If you got closer, you could even smell the alcohol emanating from him.

“What, you don’t recognize me, brother?” Chen Qi put his arm around Li Changfeng’s shoulder, and the smell of alcohol on his body became even more apparent.

Li Changfeng gently moved Chen Qi’s arm away, “If I smell like alcohol, my child won’t want me to hold him.”

Chen Qi was stunned, then smiled at Li Changfeng seriously.

“Great, brother, congratulations.”

Li Changfeng nodded, “Thank you.”

Then the two fell silent.

“Chen Qi! Come over here, you boy! We haven’t seen each other in so long!”

Second Wei and Lin Fangliang saw Chen Qi and immediately pulled him away.

Li Changfeng watched the three of them chatting and felt his heart grow dark.

Chen Qi was done for, with no hope left in his eyes, just a lifeless husk.

The lively and bustling full moon banquet lasted the whole day, and after eating and drinking well, everyone staggered home.

Today, only Eldest Li and his wife came to the Xu family courtyard, with no one from the old Li family else in sight. But this didn’t matter to Xu Qing and Li Changfeng.

Now there were two children in the Xu family, one only a month old and the other restless like he had ADHD. When it was time to sleep, one couldn’t be separated from the other.

Of course, the former was Tuan Tuan, and the latter was Yuan Yuan.

When Xu Qing finished giving Yuan Yuan a bath and carried him into the room, he saw the father and the older son on the bed staring at each other again.

“I want to sleep with my Ama!” Tuan Tuan exclaimed.

Li Changfeng frowned. “You’re already a big boy!”

“Father is even bigger than me!” Tuan Tuan protested.

Li Changfeng’s veins began to bulge. “Do you want me to make you sleep with Xiao Bao?!”

Tuan Tuan immediately shut up and turned to look at Xu Qing, who was watching the commotion with amusement.

“Ama, father is threatening me!” Tuan Tuan said in a pitiful voice, with a pleading expression.

Li Changfeng picked up Tuan Tuan and tossed him into the room next door that now belonged to Tuan Tuan.

“If you can’t even sleep on your own, then you won’t be going out to play with the others tomorrow!” he scolded.

“I’ll sleep right now!” Tuan Tuan immediately crawled into bed, obediently looking at Li Changfeng. “Father, I’m being good.”

With a face that resembled Xu Qing’s, and such a pleasing and cute expression, Li Changfeng gave Tuan Tuan a kiss before pulling the door closed and returning to the room.

“Every day it’s like this, and in the end, you’re the only one who can calm him down.” Xu Qing placed the sleeping Yuan Yuan on the nearby small bed and turned to Li Changfeng.

Li Changfeng frowned. Who would let that boy look so much like his wife?! It made him unable to act tough every time!

****

Although the flood had lasted for half a month and the harvest in the fields was not abundant, fortunately, the court had reduced taxes, and even exempted the tax grain for this year. Although Xu Qing felt that there was no tax to pay in the first place, it still gave the people a huge comfort.

By June, everything that could be planted in the fields had been planted, and Xu Qing had already placed everything previously stored in the space into the new house’s cellar.

Time passed bit by bit and day by day.

Eventually there came the time Tuan Tuan welcomed his third birthday, while Yuan Yuan had already turned one year old. During Yuan Yuan’s one-year-old celebration, he grabbed a book during the traditional “grabbing objects” ritual, which made the villagers envious.

And this year, Xu Qing, who had thought that he could welcome his third new year in the new house, realized he had miscalculated.

“You said that the official in town caught a strange person?”

Lin Fangliang, Xie Yu, Xu Qing, and Li Changfeng sat together in the main room, chatting. It was now winter, and they would gather and talk when there was nothing else to do at home. Unexpectedly, Lin Fangliang brought this news.

The children were all with Xie Ama in the next room and were not bothersome while the adults were conversing.

“Yes, it’s so lively! That person, that person, how should I put it, although he looks similar to us, his body is different from ours, and oh, his voice!”

Lin Fangliang became excited when he heard Li Changfeng’s question. He was originally a doctor and was curious about new things, let alone this “strange person”.

“Body? How did you see that?”

Xie Yu turned to look at Lin Fangliang and asked with narrowed eyes.

Lin Fangliang’s face flushed, and he dared not look Xie Yu in the eye. “I, I…”

Xu Qing and Li Changfeng sat on the side and watched the excitement. They were also confused about how Lin Fangliang knew about someone’s body being different.

“Hmm?”

Listening to Xie Yu’s voice filled with anger, Lin Fangliang immediately surrendered.

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! He suddenly appeared on the street, dressed in rags…” Lin Fangliang’s voice trailed off at the end.

Everyone understood, but Xie Yu’s brow remained furrowed. “You really know how to get in trouble!” he scolded.

Lin Fangliang quickly begged for mercy. “He passed out at the time and happened to be on the street. They pulled me over to see if he was alive or dead. I really didn’t look much! Really!”

“But you can’t deny that you did look, and you saw something very important that made you realize he was different from us, right?” Li Changfeng sneered from the side and inwardly muttered, “The little bastard, I finally caught him.”

When Xu Qing was pregnant with Tuan Tuan, Lin Fangliang scared Li Changfeng to death with his mysterious tricks. Li Changfeng hadn’t forgotten that debt.

Sure enough, after hearing Li Changfeng’s words, Xie Yu’s expression grew even more unfriendly.

Lin Fangliang didn’t have time to argue with Li Changfeng. When he saw his wife’s expression, he immediately began to flatter him like a grandson.

“I was wrong, I was wrong. You know me, I can’t control myself when I see something new. But I swear, I only glanced at him and saw it. I can’t explain it. It’s just that his features were too obvious.”

Xu Qing drank a sip of hot tea and interjected, “You keep saying his features were obvious. What features were they? And was he arrested by the authorities just because he was dressed in rags?”

Lin Fangliang shook his head, thought for a while and gestured twice on his chest with his hands.

“He has two big lumps on his chest!”

“His chest,” Xie Yu’s sense of danger decreased as he only saw Lin Fangliang pointing to his chest.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Li Changfeng didn’t quite understand. “Two big lumps? Buns?”

Xu Qing didn’t quite understand what Lin Fangliang meant either and looked at him.

Lin Fangliang became anxious and stood up, pacing back and forth. “It’s flesh! Two big lumps made of flesh!” He then gestured on his chest in front of everyone, showing the size and location of the “lumps.”

The movement seemed more and more obscene and familiar to Xu Qing’s eyes. This gesture, the large flesh lumps…could it be…? Xu Qing’s heart started racing, and his pupils involuntarily dilated.

“On the chest?!”

Thingyan: Finally the moment the reviewers on NU been talking about. So a woman appeared? That means in the future there will be not only men and gers but also women as a third gender?