Chapter 6: Husband
Zhao Ger was used to keeping busy. After talking with Fang Zichen for a while, he seemed listless, as if he had suffered some kind of blow.
He went back to the kitchen, took out the broken basket that had held wild vegetables earlier, called for Guaizai, and prepared to go out. Fang Zichen stood up, dusted off his buttocks, and followed: "Where are you going? Take me with you."
"To gather wild vegetables," Zhao Ger said.
Fang Zichen wrinkled his face. He didn’t want to go gather wild vegetablesz the taste was really bad. Zhao Ger assumed he didn’t want to go again and said, "Guaizai and I can go by ourselves. It’s hot out, you should rest at home."
Fang Zichen shook his head. There wasn’t much food at home, and he was penniless, without even a single copper coin to his name. If he wasn’t reduced to eating dirt, he should kneel and thank heaven for its mercy. He had no right to be picky.
He was no longer the wealthy young master who used to only lick the lid of yogurt bottles.
There weren’t many places in the village to gather wild vegetables - just the foot of the mountain, the ridges of the fields, and by a small stream.
Zhao Ger took him to the streamside, where some wild celery grew. It was tender and didn’t taste bitter when cooked. He thought Fang Zichen might be able to stomach it.
He had no idea what kind of background this man came from, but when it came to eating a bowl of wild vegetable porridge, he retched and vomited worse than Guaizai.
The man who couldn’t even handle wild vegetables didn’t recognize them. After sitting by the stream for a while, he just looked around, unsure what to do.
"Guaizai," Fang Zichen called out, lying in the grass with one hand pressed to the ground as he waved the boy over, as if he had caught something interesting.
Guaizai, still clutching a handful of small celery, trotted over: "...Father?"
Fang Zichen automatically ignored the term and motioned for Guaizai to come closer: "Let me show you something fun."
"What ish it?"
Fang Zichen loosened his grip slightly: "Look."
Guaizai gasped: "Wow, it’sh a froggie!"
"Yep," Fang Zichen said, dangling the frog by one leg and shaking it. "Later, we’ll find a string to tie it up so you can take it home to play with."
Guaizai, having been taught manners by Zhao Ger, smiled brightly and tilted his little head up at Fang Zichen: "Thank you, Father."
Some vines grew by the stream, and Fang Zichen plucked one to tie around the frog’s leg. Just then, he heard someone calling him.
It was He Xi.
Fang Zichen asked curiously: "You looking for me? What’s up?"
"Nothing, just heard the Ma family caused trouble at your place this morning, so I came to check on you," He Xi said. He had gone to chop firewood in the morning and only heard about the incident when he returned at noon. He immediately went to Fang Zichen’s house, but no one was there, so he came looking here instead.
"What’s there to see?" Fang Zichen squatted by the stream, idly tapping the water’s surface with a blade of grass.
He Xi said, "I heard all about it on the way. You beat up those Ma family guys." He gestured with his hands: "Ma Dazhuang is this big, and they say you knocked him flat with one punch. He couldn’t even get up! Is that true?"
There were no secrets in the village. Even the tiniest incident would spread like wildfire, reaching every corner. Young and old, as long as they had ears, they all knew.
But sometimes, after passing through too many mouths, stories got twisted. Fang Zichen didn’t know how exaggerated the rumors had become, but He Xi’s version wasn’t wrong. He nodded: "Yep. One punch, and that Ma Dazhuang you mentioned was down. Pathetic, really."
He Xi copied Fang Zichen, plucking a blade of grass and sitting beside him: "A guy that big, and he’s pathetic?"
"Tch," Fang Zichen scoffed. "All show, no substance."
"But you’re amazing," He Xi said. "You’re tall but look kinda thin, who’d have thought you’d be so strong? You took down all three Ma brothers in just a few moves. People in our village never dared to provoke them, afraid of getting beaten up. You’re really something."
Fang Zichen waved a hand dismissively: "Eh, just average."
He Xi was the type to act overly familiar and loved to chat. It was as if sharing a bed with Fang Zichen once had forged some life-and-death bond between them. Now, he asked curiously: "When you were thirteen, did you really carry a big knife to go fight people? Weren’t you scared?"
Most villagers were honest and simple. Even when conflicts turned physical, it was usually just trading punches or rolling around in the dirt, no one ever pulled out knives.
Zhao Ger, digging for wild vegetables not far behind them, unconsciously pricked up his ears and slowed his movements. That morning, when Fang Zichen had beaten those men, he’d been stunned too. At first glance, Fang Zichen seemed like the easygoing, gentle type - the kind who’d rather talk things out than fight. But when he got angry, he fought brutally. Ma Dazhuang and the others had only taken a few hits before they couldn’t even stand, like it was some kind of act. And then, without blinking, he’d snapped Ma Erzhu’s wrist.
Guaizai was also curious. Fang Zichen had caught him a frog, and now the boy no longer found him scary. Clutching the frog, he squatted beside Fang Zichen.
Fang Zichen gave He Xi a flat look: "Are you dumb? Did you actually believe that? Even if I wanted to fight someone, I wouldn’t go to their turf. They’d outnumber me, you think I’d walk into a trap?"
He Xi blinked: "So you were lying? I really thought you’d fought people with a knife before!"
Fang Zichen said, "Never fought with a knife, but I have beaten people up. When I was thirteen."
"Really?"
Fang Zichen nodded: "Four guys ambushed me on my way home from school." He exaggerated slightly: "All of them were built like the Ma brothers—arms this thick, chests this broad. They said since I had a private carriage taking me to and from school, my family must be rich, and they demanded money. I refused, so we fought."
"What happened after?" He Xi pressed.
Fang Zichen gazed at the sunlight glinting off the stream: "They all ended up in the hospital. I walked away without a scratch."
He Xi frowned, confused: "Hospital?"
"Like a medical hall," Fang Zichen explained. "They were stuck there for over half a month. After that, whenever they saw me at school, they ran faster than dogs."
"You beat them up that badly? And your mother didn’t scold you?" He Xi asked.
If they had to stay in a medical hall for half a month, the injuries must have been serious, and the compensation must have cost a fortune. He Xi imagined if he’d beaten someone up like that, his mother would’ve hung him from the rafters and whipped him half to death.
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