Chapter 191
Zhao Ger did not speak.
Although Fang Zichen spoke with absolute confidence, he still could not feel at ease. However, the weather was cold, and it took a very long time for a child's hair to dry after washing. When the weather was hot, they washed it every other day. Now that it was cold, Zhao Ger wanted to wash it every two or three days instead. But perhaps because Guaizai's scalp was too dry, or because he was used to washing every other day before, if he didn't wash it, he kept complaining that his head itched. Since he had nearly caught a chill before, cutting it shorter would not only make it easier to wash but also dry faster.
Although he was not skilled at needlework, cutting hair was something he could manage. However, seeing Fang Zichen so eager, he let him do it.
Fang Zichen cut along the edge of the plate. Snip, snip, all the way around. In just a few minutes, it was done.
Zhao Ger removed the plate. After just one glance, his breath hitched sharply. Then he immediately put the plate back over the child's head, covered his mouth, and walked into the kitchen.
Guaizai widened his eyes and blinked. "Daddy, what happened?"
Fang Zichen picked up the plate and licked his lips. "...He was struck by your handsomeness!"
"Yo~" Guaizai frowned, looking very troubled. "How come Daddy got struck by my handsomeness again? It's been so long, and Daddy still hasn't gotten used to it. This won't do."
"...Alright, enough. Praise you a couple of times and you think you can fly." Fang Zichen patted him and told Guaizai to stand up. He examined him carefully from left to right. The haircut was quite smooth and even. It would take a decade of skill to achieve this effect. Guaizai's looks could carry it; the hairstyle complemented him perfectly. He was quite satisfied with his own handiwork.
Guaizai ran into the room to fetch a mirror. Fang Zichen went to knock on Xiao Feng's door and called him out.
When Xiao Feng heard he wanted to give him a haircut, he put an old clothes around his own neck.
By the time Zhao Ger came out of the kitchen, a second "pot-lid head" hairstyle had been born.
Guaizai ran out of the room holding a mirror. Xiao Feng glanced at him, then suddenly shot to his feet and touched his own head.
He had thought only a little would be cut off, but the result...
Guaizai ran over. "Yo! Brother has a new hairstyle too, oh! Brother, why are you crying?"
Zhao Ger couldn't help but laugh. He patted Xiao Feng's shoulder. "It's alright, it'll grow out in a couple of months."
Xiao Feng sniffled, biting his lip to hold back tears. "B-but, this, this is so, so ugly."
Zhao Ger didn't think it was ugly, it was simply unusual.
Fang Zichen glanced sideways at Xiao Feng, put away his scissors, and spoke with careless bluntness, "Your ugliness has nothing to do with the hairstyle."
Xiao Feng: "..."
Zhao Ger couldn't help laughing again.
Xiao Feng chased Fang Zichen to hit him. Originally a quite introverted child, he had been provoked into a fury by him.
When Aunt Liu and Uncle Liu arrived, they saw Guaizai sitting properly on the door threshold.
"Oh my~" Aunt Liu's eyes lit up. "Did Guaizai get a haircut?"
Guaizai looked up at her but didn't speak.
He had a large head, a small face, outstanding and delicate features. He was already very endearing. Now with this haircut, his grape-like eyes set under the straight bangs made him look especially pitiable and cute.
"Guaizai?"
Guaizai was very serious, very solemn. "Grandma Liu, please don't call me Guaizai anymore."
Aunt Liu was taken aback. "Did you change your nickname?"
"Mm!" Guaizai nodded. "From now on, I'm called Little Handsome, not Guaizai anymore."
Aunt Liu: "..."
Uncle Liu and his daughter-in-law directly held their stomachs and laughed.
Guaizai didn't understand what they were laughing at and continued, "If Grandma Liu doesn't want to call me Little Handsome, you can also call me Spirited Young Fellow."
This time, even Aunt Liu couldn't help laughing.
Zhao Ger felt inexplicably embarrassed. He went over and patted Guaizai. "Auntie, don't listen to his nonsense. He's learned all his bad habits from his father, never serious."
It was cold outside. Zhao Ger told him to go into the kitchen to warm by the fire. Guaizai shook his head and didn't go, continuing to sit on the threshold. When the workers arrived and saw him, they all praised him profusely. It wasn't deliberate flattery; he truly looked adorable.
The workers all thought to themselves: Why didn't we ever think to cut our own children's hair this way? Not only was it easier to wash, but it also looked incredibly lively and cute.
After everyone had arrived and seen him, Guaizai, satisfied, finally went into the kitchen to warm by the fire.
Watching this series of actions from the child, Zhao Ger sighed, feeling both amused and exasperated.
The child's vanity was learned from Fang Zichen, ten out of ten.
The river water flowed year-round, so it wasn't too cold. But the water left in the vat overnight was particularly freezing. The water was so cold that a person could not bear to keep their hand in it for more than a few moments.
Zhao Ger wasn't a stingy boss. He provided them with heated water. However, processing several dozen ducks required far more than a single vat of water. Furthermore, heating that much water would have used a great deal of firewood. Zhao Ger was currently using firewood purchased from Hexi Village, a fact everyone was aware of. After scalding the ducks to loosen the feathers, the workers suggested finishing the plucking by the riverbank. This way, they wouldn't need to haul water, making the task much simpler.
Since everyone had proposed this practical solution, Zhao Ger saw no reason to object and agreed to let them proceed.
Although the river water was cool now, none of them came from wealthy families. They were used to washing vegetables and clothes by the river even in winter.
Lunch was not provided. They were all from the village and lived nearby. If hungry, they could go home to eat and return to work afterward. Each person had ten ducks to process; they could leave whenever they finished cleaning them.
After everyone had left, just as Zhao Ger was about to go find Fang Zichen, he saw Meng-shi approaching.
"Zhao Ger."
Meng-shi called to him. Seeing her, Zhao Ger showed no surprise. He placed both hands on the courtyard gate and asked, though he already knew the answer, "Is there something?"
Meng-shi craned her neck to peer into the courtyard. Not seeing anyone, she seemed somewhat disappointed.
"I, I want to see Xiao Feng."
Zhao Ger glanced sideways towards the small room, seeing the door tightly shut. After a moment's thought, he asked, "Why do you want to see him?"
If it were an ordinary person wanting to see their own child, they would just see them. No one else would ask why. But Meng-shi was clearly feeling guilty.
"I haven't seen him for many days. I just want to see how he is now, if the injuries from before have healed."
Zhao Ger sighed, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness.
"But Xiao Feng doesn't want to see you."
"How could he not want to see me?" Meng-shi grew agitated. "I'm his mother!"
"You know you're his mother?" Zhao Ger's expression darkened. Meng-shi spoke quickly, with a slight hint of panic. Others might not know what she was panicking about, but Zhao Ger understood perfectly. "That night you came to me, saying he was missing. You clearly knew the most likely place he could be was in the mountains. Did you go look for him?"
Meng-shi took half a step back and said nothing.
"You did not go looking for him," Zhao Ger stated. "In fact, you did not even consider searching until three full days after he went missing."
Meng-shi didn't dare look at Zhao Ger, hanging her head like a convict awaiting judgment. "Because I was busy those few days. He often runs off to the mountains, I..."
"Why did he run off to the mountains?"
Meng-shi looked up, meeting Zhao Ger's penetrating, deep, cold-pool-like eyes. Her heart shrank, and she mumbled, "Because my husband beat him."
Zhao Ger: "Did you try to stop it?"
"I couldn't stop him. If I tried, my husband would get angry and beat me too." Meng-shi finished speaking, tears falling.
Zhao Ger felt no sympathy whatsoever. He simply pretended not to see her tears. "And afterward? When he was at the medical hall, I asked Zhou Ger to bring you a message. Why didn't you go see him? Did you know he almost didn't make it? After escaping death, when he woke up, he kept looking towards the door, eagerly hoping you would come. Where were you? When he most needed companionship and comfort, where were you?"
Pressed by his successive questions, Meng-shi also became somewhat distraught.
She knew she had no right to come, shouldn't come. Even with the thickest skin, she felt she had wronged this child.
But Liu Gouzi had told her to come, so she had no choice.
When Xiao Feng went missing, she came to find Zhao Ger. When Zhao Ger said he hadn't seen him, she knew then—the child was most likely in the mountains. Knowing the likely location was one thing, but she, a woman, did not dare venture into the mountains to search. If Xiao Feng was her only child, she might have forced herself to go. But she had another son! She could not focus solely on Xiao Feng and neglect the other child.
When Zhou Ger came to her door and she heard Xiao Feng had been found, she was happy, repeatedly uttering "Amitabha Buddha" several times. When she learned that Xiao Feng was injured and receiving care at the medical hall, she wished to visit him. However, Liu Gouzi forbade her from going.
"Go where? If you go, what if the Fang family asks you to pay for the medicine?"
Meng-shi felt she should pay for the medicine. It was her own child; surely the parents should pay.
But Liu Gouzi was unwilling. "Staying at the medical hall means the little bastard is probably seriously injured. Might cost several taels of silver! Where would we get that much money? I heard Landlord Jia compensated Fang Zichen with three hundred taels, and Zhang family compensated too. They're rolling in money now. Let them pay."
"This..."
"This what? A few taels of silver is nothing to them, just a drop in the bucket. Consider it charity. Anyway, you're not allowed to go."
On the day Xiao Feng was brought back, Liu Gouzi received the news early. He came over, took one look at Xiao Feng—who appeared unwell, his face pale and needing Zhao Ger's support to step down from the cart—snorted in disdain, and turned around to leave.
In that condition, if they brought him home, he wouldn't be able to work. On the contrary, they might end up having to take care of him.
Yesterday, Xiao Feng went out with Guaizai to dig for earthworms. Seeing he could move, Liu Gouzi told Meng-shi to come over. "I just saw that little bastard. He should be better now. Go call him back! There's lots of work at home. Someone needs to do it."
...
Meng-shi wiped her tears and suddenly said, "I know what you think of me. I know what everyone in the village says about me being heartless. But I have my difficulties!"
Back when Xiao Feng's father first passed away, Meng-shi hadn't planned to remarry.
Xiao Feng's father was called Qiu Dabiao. The name sounded mighty and imposing, and the person should have been someone like Lin Xiaoxia. However, the reality was quite the opposite. Qiu Dabiao was tall but as thin as a cucumber, with a perpetually sickly appearance. When Meng-shi was nearing her delivery date, he caught a severe cold and became bedridden. Seeing his family as a burden, his two older brothers declared their intention to divide the household property.
[大 (Dà): big/great; 彪 (Biāo): young tiger, martial prowess)
Qiu Dabiao knew he wouldn't last long. When Meng-shi gave birth to Xiao Feng, Qiu Dabiao used twenty copper coins to bribe the midwife, to report the newborn as a son rather than a ger.
Only men were eligible to receive land.
If a ger had been born, with Qiu Dabiao clearly on his deathbed, the Qiu family would have naturally refused to allocate any land to a ger.
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