Chapter 169
Zhao Ger grabbed his hand again and looked it over carefully. Only after confirming it was just a little red and hadn't blistered did he feel relieved.
"......" Zhou Ger silently walked to the other side, feeling it was too embarrassing to watch.
What a trivial matter!
They cooked and stir-fried regularly. Although they stir-fried meat very rarely, enough times to count on one hand, it wasn't like they had never been splashed by oil before. This was considered a minor issue. Compared to times when they cut their hands while chopping vegetables or chopping wood, and the blood wouldn't stop, they never even thought about seeing a physician.
The old physician in the village wasn't very skilled, but even a routine check-up and some medicine would cost more than ten copper coins. No one was willing to spend that much. However, he glanced at Fang Zichen. Although Fang Zichen wore no ornaments, he carried an air of natural nobility. Zhou Ger felt he looked more like a young master than those richly dressed, fan-waving young masters he encountered when selling vegetables in town. Therefore, Zhao Ger's exaggerated concern over such a minor issue seemed quite normal.
Knowing that Fang Zichen had put out the fire before coming out, Zhao Ger wasn't in a hurry to go back.
Fang Zichen helped pick the chilies, but he wasn't even as fast as Guaizai. After picking a few, he saw a grasshopper jump by. He immediately forgot about the chilies, chased after the grasshopper into the grass next to the vegetable patch, and said he would catch the grasshopper for his son to play with. Guaizai's eyes lit up. He threw the chilies into his basket and ran over to join him.
The father and son stuck their bottoms up, half their bodies submerged in the grass.
Zhou Ger watched them, his brow slightly furrowed as he felt he had forgotten something important.
Zhao Ger shook his head helplessly but remained silent. He felt somewhat grateful that Fang Zichen at least had a useful skill and could handle accounting work. Otherwise, given Fang Zichen's nature, their family might have truly faced starvation.
The truth was, Fang Zichen was not good at manual labor. It wasn't that he was lazy; sometimes when he saw Zhao Ger getting tired, he felt sorry for him and would often eagerly take over the work. But after taking over, he would realize he didn't know how to do it. Furthermore, for tasks he didn't want to do, he would often get distracted by other things halfway through.
He didn't know what was so fun about catching a grasshopper. Guaizai laughed incessantly, sounding like a hen having trouble laying an egg, "heh heh heh."
Zhao Ger looked at those two swaying bottoms and smiled. He felt that it was okay for him to work a little harder, as long as Fang Zichen could stay by his side and his son could remain happy. No matter how hard or tiring it was, it was worth it...
"Ow, damn it..."
Fang Zichen suddenly jumped out from the grass, his face full of terror. He picked up Guaizai and shouted: "Zhao Ger, Zhou Ger, run!!"
Zhao Ger didn't react, but Zhou Ger suddenly remembered.
In winter, when there was no food in the fields, rats frequently invaded the vegetable patches. Properly clearing the weeds helped reduce their numbers. Earlier, Uncle Liu had come to clear the weeds but left one area near the ridge untouched because there was a nest of hornets in it. That night when Zhou Ger returned, Uncle Liu had mentioned it in passing, but he had forgotten about it in today's busyness.
Now the three of them ran for their lives, running so fast their shoes were about to fly off. They didn't even care about the chilies left in the field.
About a dozen hornets chased closely behind them, buzzing, a sound that made one's hair stand on end.
Guaizai held tightly onto Fang Zichen's neck with one hand and covered his mouth with the other, sobbing.
Fang Zichen thought he was scared and held his head tightly against his chest. Only after running until their feet were smoking and they had shaken off the hornets did he realize that his son had been stung by a hornet at some point.
These hornets were somewhat poisonous.
The pain was one thing, but his son's formerly pink, delicate lips had now swollen until they were...
Truly unbearable to look at.
Fang Zichen didn't know how to describe it, nor did he understand why just one sting could swell up so badly. His son's upper lip now looked like a sausage. None of the others were affected, only his son... he was really unlucky!
Even Zhou Ger felt like laughing when he saw it, but seeing Guaizai crying so hard he was hiccupping, he ultimately felt sorry for him.
Zhao Ger, panting heavily, held him and comforted him. Fang Zichen wiped his sweat and said, "Maybe we should take him to see a physician!"
"Seeing a physician is useless," Zhao Ger said.
Zhao Ger had been stung by these hornets before. He knew their venom wasn't potent, though the pain was intense. Seeing a physician wouldn't help.
Guaizai reached out to him, his speech slurred: "Father, hold. Guaizai huwts."
At that moment, Fang Zichen would have done anything for his son - if Guaizai had wanted the sun itself, Fang Zichen would have to find a way to get Hou Yi to shoot it down from the sky, let alone something as simple as holding the boy.
[Hou Yi: a legendary archer hero from Chinese mythology, famous for shooting down nine extra suns to save the world]
Zhao Ger went home and cooked some porridge. After Guaizai finished eating, while bathing in the kitchen, he looked at his reflection, cautiously touched his lip, and then giggled. Completely unbothered, he declared that his mouth now looked incredibly sexy and asked Fang Zichen if he agreed.
Fang Zichen was left speechless by him.
What does a little kid know about sexiness?
Zhao Ger glared fiercely at Fang Zichen.
Last time they had been a bit too intense. The next morning, his mouth was a bit swollen, and he said he didn't know how to face people. Fang Zichen was putting shoes on Guaizai at the time and said, "What's there to be embarrassed about? It looks super sexy."
Fang Zichen obviously remembered this too and could only mumble, not daring to say another word.
Zhao Ger said, "Next time, be more careful what you say in front of the child."
Fang Zichen: "......"
How am I supposed to be careful about this!
I'm already trying my best to watch what I say, but you can't catch every single word!
And this darn kid, he doesn't learn the good stuff, only picks up this nonsense!
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