The Left Chancellor's wife nearly fell off her seat: "What? That—you must have heard wrong."
"I already asked Lord Gu." The Left Chancellor said, both exasperated and pained: "Guaizai wore it out for a stroll, and the very next morning he couldn't move his neck anymore. Said it hurt."
The moment the gold necklace was brought back, Guaizai was hopping around with joy. He dashed straight to his room, changed into a sleeveless vest, hung the gold chain around his neck, and went out beaming with pride.
The necklace blazed with blinding golden light under the sun. As he walked through the village, it practically dazzled everyone's eyes. Quite a few villagers gathered around to gawk. The stares made Guaizai feel like he was floating on air. Zhao Ger saw that his neck could barely hold his head up—he looked like a duck craning its neck sideways to peck at someone—and urged him to go home and rest, lest he break his neck.
Guaizai wouldn't have it. He insisted on parading around the village. That night, his neck ached so much he couldn't sleep. Zhao Ger massaged it for him all night long. When he finally dozed off, Zhao Ger figured everything was fine. But who would have guessed—the next morning, he simply couldn't get up.
Gungun and Dandan ran out without even putting on their pants, burst into Fang Zichen's room, and started yelling in a panic: "Brother's seen a ghost! A ghost!"
Fang Zichen and Zhao'er hurried to the next room and found Guaizai lying stiff as a board on the bed with tears in his eyes. When Fang Zichen asked what was wrong, Guaizai said his neck hurt terribly and he was done for, asking what he was going to do.
Fang Zichen saw that he really couldn't move his head at all and was terrified he might be paralyzed. He hurried off to town to fetch a physician. The old physician felt his pulse for a long time—it was strong and steady—but he couldn't find a thing wrong. Yet the child simply couldn't move.
When he asked what had happened, he was completely at a loss for words. All he could think was: adults are something else — once they have money, they really don’t hold back.
In the end he said it wasn’t serious, the ache would be gone in a couple of days. That’s when Fang Zichen realized it was just muscle soreness. And here this little brat had been wailing and carrying on, scaring everyone half to death!
With anyone else, the old physician might have prescribed a couple of doses to make a few copper coins. But facing Fang Zichen, he didn't dare cheat him, nor did he want to. He just said that all medicine has some toxicity to it, and left without writing a single prescription.
Guaizai was in so much pain he could barely stand it—he couldn't even turn his head. He lay in bed suffering for days. Zhao Ger couldn't help but find it a little amusing. He went to the kitchen himself, steamed a few buns, brought them back to the room, blew them cool, and fed them to him. Guaizai ate four in a row. Only then did Zhao Ger truly relax—as long as he could still eat, it wasn't anything serious.
After he recovered, that big gold chain was put away by Guaizai with tears in his eyes.
When Lao Gu told this story, he couldn't stop laughing.
The Left Chancellor, just hearing about it, felt his heart ache. Right now, he absolutely could not hear a single good word about Fang Zichen. And thank goodness Hezhou was so far from the capital—if it were closer, the Left Chancellor would have charged over there and given him a good thrashing.
What kind of father acts like that?
If Guaizai weren't so tough, the Left Chancellor would be afraid he'd have been done for.
The Left Chancellor's wife fell silent too, not knowing what to say for a moment.
In Da Xia, the factory construction was in full swing. For convenience, every town had to have at least one built.
Even the Qin family, up at the border where they were fighting fiercely with the Chao Kingdom, had gotten wind of it.
There was no helping it—the news spread like wildfire.
That evening, the whole family sat in the tent. Meng Ruqing took out Guaizai's portrait again and gazed at it, his eyes full of longing. If he went even a single day without looking at it, he felt as if his heart would be empty. After studying it carefully for a long while, he finally said: "Back then, Guaizai used to say his father was the most..."
He paused there. Guaizai had said his father was the most 'cow cunt'—but Meng Ruqing just couldn't bring himself to say those crude words."
[牛逼 (niúbī): lit. cow cunt; fig. awesome/badass — a very informal, slightly vulgar slang term.]
"Who'd have thought—he really does have some skill after all," he said at last.
Qin Hengxuan gave a faint smile: "If he didn't have skill, would Guaizai have bragged so much?"
When Guaizai had stayed at the Qin residence, he'd gone all out with the boasting. He'd just moved into the residence, and on the second night, Meng Ruqing suddenly had another nightmare for some reason. He woke in the middle of the night and was in a terrible state. Whenever he dreamed about what happened back then, his mind would break down. He'd cry and cry, lose his mind, and run out barefoot screaming that he had to find his child.
This happened every few months.
Qin Hengxuan knew it was a relapse. He hastily sent someone to fetch a physician. Their courtyard was in an uproar. Guaizai and Zhao Ger were sleeping in the adjacent yard. At first, Zhao Ger thought the two were just arguing and didn't want to intrude. But Guaizai charged straight out—Zhao Ger couldn't even stop him.
When he reached Qin Hengxuan's courtyard, he happened to see Meng Ruqing break free from Qin Hengxuan and the two maids and run outside. Guaizai called out to him in his milky little voice: "Pretty Uncle, where you goin'? It's all dark out there!"
Meng Ruqing froze on the spot.
Whenever this illness struck, it usually took days for him to "come back to his senses." But this time, Qin Hengxuan watched him go completely rigid, his eyes locked on Guaizai without moving.
Meng Ruqing hung his head, hair covering his eyes. He didn't speak, didn't move—just stood there, staring blankly at Guaizai.
Guaizai ran over and took his hand, then looked up and called out to him again, worried.
"Pretty Uncle?"
Meng Ruqing trembled as he crouched down, cupped Guaizai's face, and studied him closely.
A drop of water fell on the back of his hand—warm and wet. Guaizai looked up and saw that Meng Ruqing was crying.
His eyelids were red, his eyes brimming with tears. He held Guaizai tightly and wept in low, suppressed sobs—anguished, as if in great pain.
He kept apologizing: "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry—it's all Daddy's fault for not protecting you."
His voice was choked beyond recognition, and he'd been screaming so much earlier that his throat was hoarse. Guaizai could barely make out what he was saying. He asked worriedly what was wrong. Meng Ruqing didn't answer. Afraid of scaring Guaizai, Qin Hengxuan said Meng Ruqing had just had a nightmare.
Zhao Ger used to have nightmares often too, and always woke up crying. Guaizai wasn't scared at all—he was used to it. He wrapped his little arms around Meng Ruqing's neck, pressed his small cheek against his tear-streaked face, nuzzled him, and gave him two kisses before saying: "Pretty Uncle, did you dream about a ghost?"
Meng Ruqing still didn't speak.
Guaizai naturally felt close to him and didn't mind at all. Like he was telling a secret, he covered his little mouth with his hand, leaned close to Meng Ruqing's ear, and said: "Don't be scared, Pretty Uncle. Guaizai tell you—Guaizai's father, he can fight ghosts."
The warm breath brushed against his face, and Meng Ruqing regained a sliver of his senses.
Guaizai waved his little fist, puffing with pride: "Ghosts aren't scary at all! If one comes, you just call Guaizai, and I'll get Father to beat it dead—turn it into a dead ghost!"
Qin Hengxuan was astonished to see Meng Ruqing suddenly laugh, as if he'd regained his senses. In a hoarse voice, he asked: "Your father is that powerful?"
"Mhm! Guaizai's father is the most powerful!" Guaizai looked at Qin Hengxuan. "Handsome Grandpa, can you fight ghosts?"
Qin Hengxuan thought to himself: I've never even seen a ghost before — what am I supposed to fight?
No comments:
Post a Comment