RUHIP Chapter 035

Liu Qing-ge remembered the favor from the Lin family yesterday. As the saying goes, “When you take someone’s things, your hands become short; when you eat someone’s food, your mouth becomes soft.” At this moment, Liu Qing-ge felt especially close to Lin Ye, with a feeling like that of a brother from the neighboring family.

“Lin Ye-ge, where are you going?” Liu Qing-ge was good-looking, and his voice was also very clear and loud. Lin Ye was startled by this “Lin Ye-ge.” He suddenly wanted to hear what it would feel like for Yun Jiu to call him “ge,” so while talking to Liu Qing-ge, he secretly glanced at Yun Jiu with his eyes.

“We’re going to the mountain to play. Do you want to come and play with us?”

Yun Jiu happened to see Lin Ye secretly glancing at him. He suddenly felt a chill down his back and thought that Lin Ye was probably up to something mischievous again. Unable to resist, he stared fiercely at the back of Lin Ye’s head, glaring at him repeatedly to vent the dissatisfaction in his heart.

Liu Qing-ge hurriedly waved his hands. He didn’t want to go along and get in the way of the little newlywed couple. “No, I’ll have to go home later.”

After Lin Ye and Yun Jiu left, Yun Feicheng said in a faint voice, “Lin Ye-ge? When did you become so close to him?”

Liu Qing-ge glared at Yun Feicheng. “What does that have to do with you?”

Yun Feicheng coughed and didn’t dare say anything more.

He and Liu Qing-ge had grown up together since childhood. When they were very young, Yun Feicheng’s family did not have conditions as good as they did now. In addition, Yun Feicheng was a very strange-tempered child, so there weren’t many people in Yunjia Village who played with him. No one knew when it happened, but somehow the two of them had come together.

When he was young, Liu Qing-ge’s family was very poor. Many times, Liu Qing-ge couldn’t eat his fill, so because he was very thin, his eyes seemed to protrude outward, making his eyes look especially large.

Yun Feicheng really liked the cheerful Liu Qing-ge. He felt that this person was very amazing. Clearly, he couldn’t eat enough or dress warmly, and he couldn’t even go to school and study like Yun Feicheng could, yet Liu Qing-ge was always very happy, with a smile that was always impossible to wipe from his face.

At first, Liu Qing-ge didn’t like Yun Feicheng. He thought Yun Feicheng was very strange. He was clearly a young man, but he always dressed especially cleanly. His whole appearance was refined and delicate, just like a young ge’er.

Every time the village children climbed trees to catch birds, Yun Feicheng would tightly purse his lips and then stand far away under the tree watching. When everyone called for him to climb the tree, he disliked the dirt on the tree and was also afraid of the insects on it. When everyone took him to catch fish, he refused to go barefoot and actually went into the water wearing his shoes.

In any case, Yun Feicheng had been a strange person since childhood. Everyone kept their distance from him out of respect, feeling that although Yun Feicheng had the appearance of a young man, there was actually a young ge’er living inside his heart.

Liu Qing-ge also didn’t like such a delicate and pampered man, so at first he was extremely resistant to Yun Feicheng.

As a food lover, Liu Qing-ge, under the temptation of the cunning Yun Feicheng using sugar cakes to lure him, agreed to become friends with him. From then on, he and Yun Feicheng formed an inseparable ill-fated relationship.

Liu Qing-ge called Liu Yun-ge over. He thought to himself that A-mo had probably calmed down by now, and planned to take Liu Yun-ge home. Yun Feicheng silently followed behind them, always steadily maintaining the distance between them.

Hearing the footsteps behind him, Liu Qing-ge couldn’t help turning around and saying, “Why are you following me?”

Yun Feicheng smiled. “I’ll see you two home.”

Liu Qing-ge really wanted to say, “Go see your big head!” but when the words reached his lips, he swallowed them back. He glanced at Yun Feicheng and said, “It’s broad daylight. What are you seeing us home for? Besides, the two of us are men, not young ge’ers.”

Yun Feicheng had no choice but to stop walking and silently watch the two of them walk farther away.

Before entering the house, Liu Yun-ge reached out and grabbed Liu Qing-ge. He couldn’t help lowering his voice and muttering beside his ear. “Third Brother, what’s really going on between you and the Xiucai-gong? Our family is already like this now. If you also like him, why don’t you just make it clear to him?”

Liu Qing-ge became a little angry when he heard this. He reached out, intending to give him a knock on the head, but seeing the way he shrank his neck in fright, he ultimately could not bring himself to do it hard.

“The more this is the case, the more I cannot get too close to him. I don’t want Yun Feicheng to think that I’m interested in him because his family is rich, and that I’m only… Besides, our family’s land has just been taken by Landlord Zhang, and now our family has some connection with the village chief’s family. By then, the people in the village won’t even know how they’re going to point fingers at our father, A-mo, and older brother and talk behind their backs. When we conduct ourselves as people, we cannot only think about the benefits right in front of us. We also need to have our own dignity.”

Liu Yun-ge gave a faint hum. He felt that their family had been too honest in dealing with people and had cared too much about useless dignity, which was why their family’s life had become worse and worse. Although he did not say anything on the surface, he strongly disagreed with what Third Brother had said in his heart.

Seeing him acting so carelessly, Liu Qing-ge could not help frowning. “Did you hear me or not?”

Seeing that Third Brother was really about to get angry, Liu Yun-ge hurriedly grinned and tried to joke his way through it.

Liu Laoda, who was in the courtyard, heard someone talking at the entrance. Separated by the wall built of mud, he shouted toward the outside, “Are Little Third and Little Fourth back?”

The two of them answered and immediately walked into the courtyard.

On the morning of the twelfth, it began to rain mixed with snow.

Lin Ye and Yun Jiu left the house together as usual, intending to go near the mountains and gather some firewood. Seeing that snowflakes had suddenly begun to fall, mixed with a little rain, the two of them had no choice but to turn back halfway. On the way, they encountered Crazy Kid carrying firewood on his back. Crazy Kid looked at the firewood knife in Lin Ye’s hand and asked blankly, “Were you also going to gather firewood?”

Lin Ye did not think much about it and casually answered, “Yes, but it’s raining now. We can gather firewood another day too.”

Upon hearing this, Crazy Kid reached behind himself and put down the bundle of firewood he was carrying.

He pointed at his bundle of firewood and said, “Mine. Give it to you.”

As soon as Yun Jiu saw Crazy Kid’s action, he hurried forward and said, “No, no. You’re just a child who gathered this firewood. How can we take yours?”

Lin Ye also agreed with him. He was a grown man who was already married; how could he possibly take something from a child?

But Crazy Kid was very stubborn. He looked at Lin Ye and said, “But you also gave me food. I want to repay you.”

Crazy Kid did not understand many principles, but he still knew to repay those who treated him well. He had not eaten meat for a very long time before. Not only had he eaten meat at the Lin family’s house, he had also taken so many things from their home. Crazy Kid felt that, compared with what he had received, a single bundle of firewood he gave them really was nothing.

Lin Ye was stunned by Crazy Kid’s words. Then he remembered that on the day of his wedding, his family had given their family quite a lot of food. He had not expected Crazy Kid to be someone who knew how to repay kindness so well. However, he had not given them the food in order for them to repay him. Even if he had not given that food to them, he would have given it to other people. There was simply too much leftover food; even if they had kept it for the Lin family, they would not have been able to finish it.

But now the child had a serious expression on his face and insisted on giving the firewood to him, and Lin Ye suddenly felt that he did not know how to respond. If the other person had been an unreasonable child, he could still think of a way to deal with him. But the child in front of him was so sensible that Lin Ye did not know what to do.

In the end, Lin Ye still took the firewood away. After returning home, he told Lin A-mo about what had happened. After listening, Lin A-mo thought for a while and said, “Earlier, I heard people in the village say that Old Man Liu’s fields had been taken away.”

Yun Jiu put down the carrying basket on his back and, upon hearing this, instinctively said, “Then, then how will all those people in his family survive?”

Yun Jiu was a genuine farmer. Unlike Lin A-mo and Lin Ye, he knew just how important farmland was to a farming household. If things went badly, it might even lead to people starving to death.

Lin Ye glanced at that bundle of firewood. “Then, then we should still send the firewood back to them?”

That bundle of firewood really was quite a lot. Who would have thought that Crazy Kid, at such a young age, could have so much strength?

Lin A-mo hesitated for a moment, feeling that sending it back would not be appropriate either.

“Right, Yun Jiu, I heard that when you were at Yun Dali’s house before, some of the firewood you gathered was sold in town?”

When Yun Jiu heard what Lin A-mo said, he looked at the bundle of firewood on the ground and nodded.

“How much does a bundle of firewood usually cost in town? Let’s use the price in town and have Crazy Kid come over every day to deliver one bundle of firewood. Although we can’t help them with much, we can still help with this small matter. When spring comes, you will also be busy with the work in the fields, and my health isn’t good either. This way, we’ll have someone who can gather firewood for our family.”

As Lin A-mo spoke, he felt that this would be killing two birds with one stone. Although Lin Ye was the one who gathered firewood during winter, once he became busy later, he probably would not have time for it. And as for Yun Jiu, judging from Lin Ye’s personality, he probably would not bear to let him go either.

Moreover, according to what Lin Ye had said, Crazy Kid was someone who knew how to repay kindness. He was much better than those people who took things from others and then still gossiped about them. People always said that one should be close to gentlemen and stay away from petty people. Since Crazy Kid’s family was decent, it would not be a bad thing to interact with them more.

Lin Ye also felt that this was a pretty good idea, so he pulled Yun Jiu and was about to go to Old Man Liu’s house.

“Hey, don’t leave yet. Take a few copper coins with you.”

Hearing Lin A-mo’s words, Lin Ye immediately turned back. He had never liked carrying jingling copper coins around; whenever he had loose change, he always gave it to Lin A-mo.

Lin A-mo took ten copper coins and gave them to Lin Ye, then took out several dozen more and gave them to Yun Jiu.

“Here, Yun Jiu. From now on, when Crazy Kid comes to deliver firewood, if you’re here, you give him the money. If I’m here, I’ll give it to him.”

Yun Jiu was just about to say that he had money. There was some loose silver in his little purse that Lin Ye had given him. However, before he could say anything, Lin Ye took the coins and stuffed them into his hands.

Lin Ye once again left the house with Yun Jiu. The snow outside had already become heavier, but the rain had stopped.

Yun Jiu hurriedly stuffed those copper coins into his little purse, and only then did he quickly catch up with Lin Ye ahead of him.

Lin Ye looked up at the sky, then turned around and said to Yun Jiu behind him, “Do you want to go back and put on another piece of clothing? Why has it started snowing again? It’s damp and cold, which feels really uncomfortable.”

What kind of clothes Yun Jiu used to wear was one thing, but now he was wearing a thick, padded cotton coat, so he did not feel cold at all.

“Not cold at all. It’s you who’s wearing so little.”

As Yun Jiu spoke, he walked over to Lin Ye and reached out to touch Lin Ye’s clothes. Lin Ye really was wearing very little, but he truly did not feel cold. Lin Ye smiled and reached out to catch Yun Jiu’s hand. His palm was much warmer than Yun Jiu’s. Feeling the warmth of Lin Ye’s hand, Yun Jiu finally relaxed.