The new recruits had just finished physical training. In the neighboring area, the young men were sprawled on the ground in exhaustion, but these women and gers were using every spare moment—during their rest breaks, they still pulled out their little notebooks and studied.
They muttered to themselves, reciting the names of medicinal herbs.
Fang Zichen watched quietly for a while, then asked Li Yanmei a couple of questions before saying, "It's good that they're eager to learn, but you need to keep an eye on them too—make sure they rest when they should. You must ensure their health is not compromised."
As Fang Zichen was giving instructions to Li Yanmei, Guaizai stood beside him with Gungun in his left hand and Dandan in his right, behaving himself. Someone called out to him: "Little Young Master!"
It was Tang Daniang and the others—the dozen or so people Guaizai had recruited himself. They still recognized him.
"Oh! It's Brother Liu and Sister Tang!"
This place was practically his turf now, so Guaizai wasn't afraid. He told his father where he was going, then took Gungun and Dandan and trotted over.
Li Yanmei was a whiz at butchering pigs, but only a half-decent drill sergeant. Still, she'd gotten tips from a Qin family soldier—Zhu Zheng. In the early stages, it was all about building physical fitness anyway; tactics would come later, naturally taught by the Qin family soldiers. Li Yanmei was more than capable of leading the team for now—no worries there.
After Fang Zichen finished speaking with Li Yanmei, he called over Zhu Zheng and Shi Linjie and gave them a few more instructions. Seeing that it was nearly noon, he was about to take the three children home. He turned around—and his temples started throbbing.
They say you become like the people you hang around with. Gungun and Dandan now talked with the same flair as Guaizai—lots of "yo yo yo" thrown in. In modern times, they might've had a future in rap, but in Da Xia, that yo was just nonsense.
Right now, Dandan was imitating Guaizai, lying across a ger's lap with a big grin, waving at a young woman nearby and pursing his lips—from any angle, he looked utterly mischievous.
"Sister, come yo~ Dandan wants to give you a kiss~"
The young woman let him kiss her and was quite happy about it—she couldn't help reaching out to pinch his soft, chubby cheeks.
Two more young women came over. Dandan looked left, then right, and beamed with delight, giggling to himself.
Guaizai, meanwhile, was surrounded by a group of gers—like two mice that had fallen into a rice jar, utterly enchanted, with arms around everyone, looking for all the world like some lecherous old geezer visiting a brothel.
Zhao Ger saw that the meal was ready, but his husband and the children still hadn't come back. He was about to go out and look for them when he spotted Fang Zichen walking in—looking a bit gloomy and worried.
Guaizai and Dandan seemed fine as usual, but Gungun… well, Gungun had a bunch of little tufts sticking up all over his head like a hedgehog. Not long ago, his head had been shaved clean, and now his hair wasn't even as long as a thumb's length—yet someone had managed to tie it all up into tiny little spikes with brightly colored threads.
Zhao Ger could hardly bear to look. He stared wide-eyed at Fang Zichen. "You did that?"
"Nope. The girls at the training ground did it."
Gungun patted his little tufts, beaming with pride. He hopped and skipped around, his little face flushed pink. He'd ridden all the way back on horseback, and everyone they passed had looked at him—he was absolutely thrilled. "Daddy, tomorrow Gungun wants even more tufts!"
Zhao Ger: "…"
At that rate, he figured he wouldn't get a thing done all day.
That night, Fang Zichen tossed and turned, unable to sleep—as if the bed were full of nails. Zhao Ger gave him a light kick. "What's wrong? Can't sleep?"
What was wrong?
He felt like his two sons were acting like old lechers, and now he couldn't get any rest!
Zhao Ger chuckled. "You're overthinking things. Didn't you say you're the light of righteousness and a good role model?"
"Yeah, I did!" Fang Zichen looked at Zhao Ger. "But some things are hard to change. You know about genetics, right? If their daddy's a lecher, then…"
Zhao Ger punched him. "Nonsense! Who's the lecher?"
"Everyone knows who knows. I wonder who it was that kissed me like they were gnawing on a pork leg."
Zhao Ger clapped a hand over his mouth, and the two of them started wrestling around again. Fang Zichen's worries melted away. The next morning, he was in high spirits. Just after breakfast, Li Yisheng came by with a notebook and asked Fang Zichen what name he thought would be good for his son.
How would Fang Zichen know that!
Li Yisheng thought for a moment. "Guaizai is called Lanze. So what should Gungun and Dandan be called?"
[Lan Ze (兰泽) means "orchid marsh," evoking purity and virtue, much like the noble character of a gentleman.]
Fang Zichen choked. Seeing his expression, Li Yisheng said in surprise, "Don't tell me my two youngest sons still don't have names?"
Fang Zichen looked a bit embarrassed and scratched his head. "I forgot."
Ever since coming to Hezhou, he'd been so busy that he'd clean forgotten about it.
Li Yisheng was speechless.
But there was no rush.
"I want to give my son a name."
"Then think of one! I'm not stopping you."
"I'm just thinking—you're a top scholar! Full of learning. I was hoping you could help me come up with something that outshines everyone else."
These things were usually better left to the father, so Fang Zichen just smiled and said, "How about Li Youcai (Li Has Wealth)?"
Li Yisheng: "…"
"Li Youfu (Li Has Fortune)?"
Li Yisheng: "…"
And this man is a top scholar!
Those names were a dime a dozen in any village. In the cement factory he ran, there were already six men named Youfu and nine named Youcai.
In the end, Li Yisheng stayed up three nights in a row and named the child Li Yuxi.
[Yuxi (黎煜熙) means "bright and radiant dawn," symbolizing brilliance and warmth.]
The name was complicated enough—if this were modern times, by the time other kids had filled out the second page of the exam, he'd still be wrestling with his name.
Fang Zichen asked, "Is there some meaning behind it?"
Li Yisheng shook his head. "No."
"Then why did you stay up three nights?" All that time just to come up with that? And here he was acting all high and mighty, as if he'd thought of something earth-shattering.
Tch!
Li Yisheng watched him walk away shaking his head, and felt like kicking him.
Wasn't this name way better than "Gungun and Dandan"?
Xie Xiaoyu was staying in for his postpartum confinement, and the shop was busy. Feng momo couldn't handle it alone. The few girls and gers brought back from Shunan were still quite timid around strangers. They could manage if ordinary women or gers came into the shop, but if they saw a bearded, fierce-looking man, they froze up.
Earlier, one of the girls saw a customer—a big man who resembled the brute who had once assaulted her—and she went rigid on the spot, pale and drenched in sweat. The man was actually kind-hearted and asked if she was all right, but the moment he spoke, she screamed and ran off, curling up in the corner and trembling. It all happened so suddenly that many customers were startled. Not knowing what was going on, and since those girls' stories were too sad to share with outsiders, Feng momo couldn't explain. The scared customers grumbled and cursed.
After that, Feng momo moved them to the back courtyard, realizing she'd been rushing things. This would have to be taken slowly. Only two of them had truly moved past their trauma enough to serve customers calmly.
But the shop was still swamped. The paper mill had everything handled, so there was no hurry to go back. Zhao Ger decided to fill in for a while at the shop.
He was busy doing the accounts when an old gentleman in fine clothes walked in with a young servant. Zhao Ger assumed he was there to buy food, but the man eyed him and came straight over.
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