"Mmhm! Didn't Guaizai write to Father and Daddy about it? As soon as Guaizai put on Father's red underwear, Guaizai beat everyone in the world—Superman invincible amazing." Guaizai giggled.
Fang Zichen's heart jumped into his throat. He looked at his little bottom: "You... where did you put them on?"
Guaizai patted his head. "On the head! Guaizai's butt is still small, can't fit them."
Great.
Just great. Now I've embarrassed myself all the way to a foreign country.
When he first arrived in Da Xia, all he had was the pair of underwear he was wearing. He was used to changing them every three months. Later, he adapted to local customs and started wearing traditional undergarments, but he never got comfortable — without underwear, no matter how many layers he had on, it felt like he was running around bare-assed, flashing everyone.
Eventually he bought some cloth and had Aunt Liu make him a few pairs to his specifications. After he came to the capital, Aunt Liu wasn't around, so Uncle Tang made them for him. He'd never worn that red pair. Times were harder now and he couldn't afford to be picky, but he still couldn't bring himself to give his son underwear he'd already worn.
But just because they were unworn didn't mean they belonged on someone's head!
He'd even thought about marketing them and making a killing. Now—never mind. The locals didn't understand, and his son hadn't completely disgraced them yet. If people found out what that red thing actually was, even his dead ancestors would lose face.
Guaizai said softly, "Father, you have to get revenge for Guaizai!"
Fang Zichen held him, letting him sit on his lap: "You've got some nerve, kid—going off without Father around. Did they hurt you badly?"
Guaizai wrapped all four limbs around him. He'd just had a bath and his hair was still messy. Like a baby looking for milk, he kept nuzzling against Fang Zichen's chest: "But Guaizai had to protect Grandpa! The other side were bad people. They had people gang up on Guaizai. It hurt so much, I wanted Father to kiss it better."
Fang Zichen kissed his belly a few more times, his heart aching. This child—he'd never even hit him, and even when he did, it was never hard. This was his precious treasure! How could he let just anyone touch him:
"Does it still hurt? Next time I see them, I'll take care of them for you. Daring to hit my son—outrageous."
Guaizai beamed: "Father loves Guaizai most."
Fang Zichen pinched his little nose, and all his worries seemed to vanish.
Guaizai wiggled his little body, giggling.
Ever since he got back, he hadn't stopped laughing—he was overjoyed.
"Father, Guaizai went home last time."
"Huh?" Fang Zichen caught on: "Back to Xiaohe Village?"
"Mmhm!"
Xiaohe Village was poor, but they'd lived there quite a while and he'd met quite a few people. Fang Zichen asked, "Are the village chief and the others doing well?"
Guaizai said they were all fine, just that Grandpa Village Chief and Grandpa Liu seemed really old.
"Aunt Meng cried too," he said finally.
Fang Zichen stroked Guaizai's head and said nothing.
When they left Xiaohe Village, Meng-shi had hidden in the crowd, watching Xiao Feng with tears streaming down her face.
Later, when Liu Xiaoli died and he went back for the funeral, the village women who came to help gossiped about her—said that after Xiao Feng left, all the housework fell on her, and Liu Gouzi was no good either. He used to get drunk and beat Xiao Feng; now that Xiao Feng was gone, he beat Meng-shi. Poor thing!
Liu Gouzi's life was a mess, and he was such a failure that the only way he could feel good about himself was by beating women. At the time, Fang Zichen had thought Meng-shi brought some of it on herself.
But when Meng-shi came, stammering out questions about how Xiao Feng was doing, then dropped to her knees to kowtow and beg him to look after Xiao Feng, he helped her up — and feeling her bony frame through her rough clothes, he thought of Liu Xiaoli lying in the main room, and somehow, he understood a little.
After all, he'd grown up protected by his parents and brother. He couldn't experience—couldn't even imagine—how miserable life was for girls raised under feudal thinking. Looking at Meng-shi, he'd thought it was her own fault. But being deep in an abyss isn't something you can just walk out of.
Zhao Ger asked Yang Mingyi some questions, and when he came into the room, Guaizai repeated his routine of lifting his shirt to show him.
Zhao Ger couldn't get revenge for him, but seeing he'd been hit, he'd make him something good to eat.
Zhao Ger looked heartbroken and terrified.
At the time, he'd thought the Qin family wouldn't dare actually take the child to war, so he hadn't gone to bring him back. If anything had happened to their son, he'd probably have to pay a visit to the underworld himself.
After coaxing Guaizai to go out and play, Zhao Ger told Fang Zichen about Yang Mingyi coming to them.
"Got bullied, huh!" Fang Zichen lay sprawled on the bed, hands behind his head: "Not surprising. He's almost as good-looking as me. I used to watch TV—those rich young masters always loved to snatch up pretty common girls. Being targeted by that kind, he must've been scared. Go tell him that when I have time, I'll take him back to settle the score. He calls me brother, after all—I'll definitely get justice for him."
"Your son already smashed in the prefect's gate," Zhao Ger said.
"Huh?" Fang Zichen said gloomily: "How long has he been out? Causing me trouble again. This isn't going to cost me silver, is it?"
Zhao Ger: "No need. Uncle Qin stepped in."
"Oh." Fang Zichen said: "Then go thank him."
Zhao Ger sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over him: "Why don't you go yourself?"
"I'm a bit embarrassed to go out." Fang Zichen said: "My butt feels like it's on fire."
Zhao Ger looked at him: "Why? Because of Uncle Qin and Uncle Meng?"
Fang Zichen shook his head: "No."
Zhao Ger said seriously: "Then Husband, are you really their son? But I heard Uncle Meng lost his child twenty years ago. You..."
He'd meant to say the ages didn't match, but then he suddenly remembered what happened with Guaizai. Back then, when he told Fang Zichen that Guaizai was his son, Fang Zichen didn't believe it—because only a month or so had passed since he and Zhao Ger had been together before he went back, and then mysteriously "returned" and the child was already three. How could he believe it? If not for the handkerchief and some vague residual memories, he'd have been sure Zhao Ger was messing with him.
The flow of time in the two worlds must be different.
Fang Zichen also knew what kind of place Donghuan Ridge was. At the Hanlin Academy he'd read many books—the Donghuan Ridge area had special geology and was the main official road connecting north and south, so of course it was recorded in the registers.
Back then, Uncle Tang said the child had a birthmark on his bottom, and he did too.
Uncle Tang said the birthmark was black; his was blue.
But Uncle Tang also said the child had been stuck in the womb for a long time before coming out, so the baby must have been red all over, and the blue birthmark wouldn't have been obvious.
He had learned to paint. Blue and red mixed together make purple, and in dim indoor lighting, purple can easily be mistaken for black.
And his son looked human. If he wasn't related to Qin Hengxuan, then that meant he'd been cuckolded.
Also, the sand, gravel, and mud he'd had on him at birth...
Appearing abruptly in a trash can as if out of thin air...
"I heard that back then, Uncle Meng's son was thrown down the mountain by his sister and just disappeared—not even a drop of blood was left," Zhao Ger said.
Fang Zichen smacked him on the butt. "If there'd really been blood, you wouldn't have such a handsome, dashing, elegant young husband."
Zhao Ger wanted to confirm his guess. "So you really are their son?"
"...Probably." Fang Zichen said gloomily, "Earlier I was wondering why he'd give me such a huge stack of silver notes for no reason. It's not like money burns your hands. I thought I'd run into some peerless good Samaritan. But turns out—ugh, there really are too few good people like your husband in this world!"
Zhao Ger laughed. "So what do you want to do?"
"I don't know," Fang Zichen said.
No comments:
Post a Comment