Chapter 421
Liu Da's wife waited at home for most of the day and didn't see him return. The food was still on the stove. She told her eldest son to go out and look for him. But then—wonderful—the eldest son went and didn't come back either. She told her younger son to go, and the younger son didn't come back either.
Liu Da's wife grabbed a cleaver and searched the streets for a long time. An acquaintance saw her and said, "Looking for Liu Da and the kids?"
"Yes."
Liu Da's wife went there. When she reached the restaurant entrance, she noticed that this restaurant must have just opened; she hadn't seen it before. But when she went in, she saw the place packed with people. Who knew what her three family members had eaten—their mouths were all red and plump. Her husband was sniffling while fishing food out of a big pot on the table.
Liu Da's wife was so furious her nostrils flared. Like a water buffalo, she charged at Liu Da and landed a shadowless kick right on his back.
Liu Da went flying whole.
What terrifying strength!!
Fang Zichen watched from the side, dumbstruck.
He had once thought Zhao Ger was a tigress, but now he saw that this was the real tigress! His own fulang, at most, was a cat that scratched people.
The man was also something else. Kicked to the ground in one blow, he got up as if nothing had happened and kept eating.
If it wasn't numbness, then it was being so used to beatings that it had become routine.
A talent indeed.
Afterward, Liu Da's wife naturally stayed in the hot pot restaurant too.
Fang Zichen went to the back kitchen. Zhao Ger was teaching two newly bought gers how to simmer the soup base. Fang Zichen tugged at him: "Zhao Ger, your cousin is here."
"What?"
"There's a super fierce tigress outside."
Zhao Ger: "......"
Fang Zichen took a ladle to the head from Zhao Ger and ran out of the kitchen grimacing, not daring to provoke him again.
Zhao Ger and Xiao Feng were busy beyond belief, while Fang Zichen was sulking.
He had asked Zhao Ger to roast beef for him. Zhao Ger had agreed days ago, but there was still no sign of the beef. He couldn't make it himself, either. By now, his resentment as a living man was no less than a ghost's. Seeing Fang Zichen wear an expression that said, "If you don't roast meat for me, I'm not paying tonight," Zhao Ger couldn't help but find it funny: "Alright, I'll roast some for you tonight."
Last time they'd roasted some, Zhao Ger had liked the taste quite a bit himself. The marinated beef came out very tender and juicy. Every bite was full of deep, savory meat flavor. Sprinkle on a little cumin and it was outrageously fragrant. Having eaten it once, Zhao Ger couldn't stop thinking about it. But these past few days had just been too busy.
When Fang Zichen heard this, he was happy for most of the day. But that afternoon, the Qin family soldier arrived with a letter from Guaizai.
At that time, Fang Zichen was squatting in the latrine. Zhao Ger was missing his son terribly, so he just opened Guaizai's letter directly.
Once he read it, he nearly couldn't catch his breath.
Xiao Feng saw him swaying and quickly steadied him: "Uncle Zhao, what's wrong? What happened?"
Zhao Ger couldn't even speak.
Xiao Feng hurriedly called Fang Zichen out. Fang Zichen ran outside while fastening his pants: "What's wrong? What's wrong?"
Zhao Ger tremblingly handed him the letter.
Fang Zichen took it and read it, and was immediately troubled.
"He wants my underwear? Does this kid's butt have to be that big? It'd fit just right on his head."
At the time, he just said it casually, never expecting it to come true. Later, when he learned that Guaizai really had put his red underwear on his head and followed Qin Hengyi off to kill enemies, Fang Zichen didn't dare leave the house for three days.
He had lost face so badly he couldn't show his face.
Zhao Ger: "......"
Zhao Ger was rendered completely speechless.
Is the point the underwear? Huh?
"Your son is going off to war."
"I know!" Fang Zichen said worriedly. "What are we going to do? That head of his—if the people of the Chao Kingdom see him, they'll probably think our Da Xia has no one left, that we sent him out there to be a joke. Now our Da Xia is really going to lose face."
Zhao Ger: "......"
Fang Zichen saw that his expression was off—his face was covered in sweat, his lips were pale. He was clearly genuinely worried, so Fang Zichen hurriedly said, "But you don't need to worry! The Qin family dotes on him so much, there's no way they'd let anything happen to him. Maybe he's just talking. The Qin family might not actually let him go."
Zhao Ger thought it over and figured that made sense. The Qin family's eldest young master and his fulang doted on Guaizai terribly. Blades and swords have no eyes on the battlefield — it's full of danger. There was no way they would actually let him go.
But since Guaizai had written specifically to ask for it, Fang Zichen thought it over and still sent him his treasured limited-edition red underwear.
He had always been generous with his son, granting almost every request.
He didn't think the Qin family would really let Guaizai go, because if anything really happened to Guaizai, how would the Qin family answer to him? If it were him, he wouldn't let someone else's child follow him into danger.
Otherwise, if something really went wrong, he was afraid he'd have to pay compensation down to his last pair of underwear.
Once matters in Beilu County were settled, Fang Zichen brought Zhao Ger back.
Xiao Feng was very reluctant to part with them, his eyes reddening as he said goodbye.
Fang Zichen's mouth ran loose again: "Don't be like that! You're making it seem like we're about to die."
Xiao Feng: "...... I can't bear to see Uncle Zhao go."
Fang Zichen pointed at himself: "That's it? You're not going to miss me at all?"
Xiao Feng looked at him and answered honestly: "I'll miss you too."
Only then was Fang Zichen's old heart comforted. He ruffled Xiao Feng's head firmly: "Filial little ger. Love that, love that."
Xiao Feng: "......"
Xiao Feng couldn't quite describe how he felt. It wasn't that there were no gers his age at the factory — in his free time, he sometimes chatted with them. Liu Gouzi had treated him badly in the past, and his own father had passed away early, so he didn't really know how a father and child were supposed to get along. But he did know that in other families, fathers were close with their sons, while they kept their distance from gers and daughters. Fang Zichen simply wasn't like that; he didn't have that feudal mindset.
Just because a daughter has grown up, does that mean you can't pat her on the shoulder, joke with her, ruffle her hair, or give her a hug? Should you be dragged out and shot for that?
Whether ger or girl, they were still their father's children.
Fang Zichen's affectionate gestures warmed Xiao Feng's heart.
Zhao Ger transferred Yu Ger and Dou Ger over from the Bei'an County cement factory.
Back when Zhao Ger had sent Yu Ger and Dou Ger to manage the cement factory, the three of them had been trembling with fear at first, always afraid of making mistakes. But once they got the hang of it, they didn't find it all that difficult. Now with Dami staying there, one person could keep an eye on things well enough, so Zhao Ger transferred Yu Ger and Dou Ger over to manage affairs in Beilu County, while he himself followed Fang Zichen to blast mountains.
Anxi County did have a canal, but it was narrow and shallow — small boats could get through, but large merchant ships couldn't. The Hezhou Grand Canal lay just beyond it, yet several large mountains stood in between. So to get from Anxi County to Hezhou, people had to go downriver to Beilu County, then from Beilu County to Bei'an County, and finally from Bei'an County into Hezhou — a huge detour.
Hezhou had a water route directly to Linjiang, and from Linjiang to Jiangzhong, Shangyang, Xiayang and other places was convenient—only about eight or nine days.
This could save nearly twenty days of travel.
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