RUHIP Chapter 034

Lin Ye had a very awkward-looking expression on his face. He didn’t know why, but upon hearing these words, he suddenly had a feeling of having returned to his original world.

Lin Ye didn’t dare stay here any longer, afraid that if he continued staying, he would hear even more familiar words.

Yun Jiu saw Lin Ye walking back while yawning and waved at him. “Do you want to eat something first?”

Lin Ye walked over to Yun Jiu. He was just about to say that he wanted to go outside for a walk before eating, when he saw Yun Jiu’s cheeks puffing up and down.

He reached out and pressed the puffed-up side of Yun Jiu’s cheek. Yun Jiu looked at him with bewildered eyes, then moved the dumpling in his mouth to the other side and continued chewing. So childish Lin Ye followed along and moved to the other side as well. The two of them faced each other and played like this, having an extremely good time.

This kind of play, childish to the extreme, was something only the two of them could enjoy so much.

At first, Yun Jiu didn’t understand what Lin Ye was doing. After Lin Ye kept pressing his cheeks back and forth for quite a while, he finally understood that this person was playing with him again?

Yun Jiu blinked his eyes. No, no, it was Lin Ye playing around with him again, but he didn’t want to play like this at all.

Lin Ye looked at his rapidly blinking eyes and blew a breath toward his eyes. “What are you thinking about?”

After Yun Jiu’s eyes were blown on, he blinked and instinctively answered, “Thinking that you are playing with me again. No, thinking that you are fooling around with me again.”

Yun Jiu had answered completely instinctively. He hadn’t thought that much about it, nor had he thought about it in such a complicated way. But the words that slipped out of his mouth made both of them freeze for a moment.

Lin Ye suppressed the amusement in his eyes, wanting to leave some dignity for his clumsy husband.

But when he saw Yun Jiu blinking his eyes, wearing an expression that seemed to say, “Why did I say something like that?”, looking as aggrieved as some kind of large dog, Lin Ye held it in for a long time before suddenly bursting out laughing.

“Haha, Yun Jiu, what did you say you wanted to play at?” Lin Ye’s eyes were full of amusement as he asked softly beside Yun Jiu’s ear.

Yun Jiu had an embarrassed expression. “Th-that was completely a slip of the tongue. You… you can’t take it seriously.”

“Why are you so silly?”

“A-mo said that you shouldn’t always say I’m silly. I heard that the more you say it, the sillier you become.”

When Lin A-mo and Sanzi A-mo heard the noisy sounds coming from the courtyard, they couldn’t help but move their little stools a little closer to the courtyard and secretly peek inside.

They saw Lin Ye lower his head and say something into Yun Jiu’s ear. After saying it, he immediately turned around and ran away. Yun Jiu, who was behind him, froze for a moment, then immediately became red-faced with anger and chased after Lin Ye.

Lin A-mo looked at the two childish fools in his family and helplessly sighed. Sanzi A-mo, however, couldn’t help feeling envious. “I don’t know when my Sanzi will be able to marry a fūlang¹T/n: Wife and bring him home?”

Lin A-mo comforted him, “Don’t worry. What should come will come sooner or later. When that time comes, even if you try to stop it, he will still have to enter the door.”

Compared with the many happy things happening at the Lin family, the situation at Old Man Liu’s home was completely different.

Early this morning, Landlord Zhang, who rented several mu of land to them, suddenly wanted to take back the few mu of land he had rented to their family.

It seemed that the landlord’s ge’er was going to get married in half a month, so Landlord Zhang, being wealthy and generous, took fifty mu of land and gave it to him as a dowry.

Unfortunately, the land belonging to Old Man Liu’s family was also among them. This family was already so poor that they could barely make ends meet. Now, without their farmland, wouldn’t this be forcing the whole family to their death?

The whole family squatted in the courtyard, looking at one another with worried faces.

Liu Laoda couldn’t bear to see his father and A-mo so upset. As the eldest son, he felt that he should shoulder the responsibility for this family. “Father, A-mo, don’t worry. After the fifteenth, I’ll go to the nearby town to find work.”

Everyone still had worried expressions on their faces after hearing what Liu Laoda said.

Liu Laoda had worked for other people before, but he only had his strength, so he could only do physical labor for others. However, Liu Laoda was too honest, and while working for people, he had been cheated quite a few times. So later, there was no choice but for him to return home and continue farming.

Their second son, Liu Wen-ge, was very good-looking. When he was thirteen or fourteen years old, someone had already arranged a marriage with him. Unfortunately, later, when he went into the mountains to gather firewood, he encountered a wild boar and accidentally broke his leg from falling. Therefore, that marriage also fell through. After that, Liu Wen-ge’s health was not very good, and he also became depressed and unhappy.

The third one, Liu Qing-ge, had the best relationships with the people in Yunjia Village among the Old Liu family’s children. He was a cheerful, simple-minded and kind child. His health was better than the second one’s, and he was also more clever than the eldest. But precisely because of this, he was especially loved by the old couple. Whenever they thought about their Qing-ge having to do hard labor for someone else, they were unwilling to let him.

As for the remaining two, they were both too young.

Liu Yun-ge ²Crazy Kid looked at everyone with their faces full of worry and couldn’t help muttering softly, “I just don’t understand. The Xiucai-gong wants Third Brother to go and be a little shū-tóng. Not only would he not have to be tired or suffer hardship, he’d even get paid. Why, Father and A-mo, do you refuse?”

The expressions of several adults immediately changed. His A-mo looked at Little Fourth and couldn’t help reaching out and hitting him twice.

Liu Yun-ge immediately became red-faced with anger. He cleverly shrank behind his eldest brother, then glared with his eyes wide open and said indignantly, “What did I say wrong? Our family is poor precisely because you are too honest and too old-fashioned.”

Crazy Kid A-mo said somewhat angrily, “That Xiucai-gong isn’t necessarily a good person either. Last time, he stood up for our family. You silly boy, do you really think he was being so kind? He was looking at your Third Brother!”

“I know! Xiucai-gong likes my Third Brother. Everyone in Yunjia Village knows it. So what if a poor family enters into a contract marriage now?”

In some poor and remote places, there were many families who were extremely poor and didn’t have the money to marry a ge’er into the family. Many people would choose to enter into a contract marriage, and then two men would make do with each other and spend their whole lives together.

Although there were many families among farmers who entered into contract marriages, it was, after all, not something honorable. Moreover, given their family’s circumstances, Qing-ge would definitely have to marry into the village chief’s family. Qing-ge was the child they loved the most. How could they bear to let Qing-ge, a man, go and become someone else’s wife?

What made the Liu family most uneasy was that the village chief’s family had only this one son, and Yun Feicheng was a Xiucai-gong. Even if the village chief’s fūlang doted on this boy, in the future he would still have to marry another ge’er to continue the family line for their family. By then, a simple child like Qing-ge would inevitably suffer grievances there.

Liu Qing-ge’s face flushed red as he looked at Liu Yun-ge. How had this matter suddenly been dragged onto him for no reason?

At Lin Ye’s wedding yesterday, because he had been greedy for the sugar pastries, that fellow Yun Feicheng had pulled him away. Yesterday, he had been scolded quite a lot by A-mo. And now, Little Fourth was really good at bringing up exactly what should not be brought up.

Crazy Kid A-mo was extremely angry and was about to pick up the broom beside him to hit Liu Yun-ge. As soon as Liu Yun-ge saw that he was getting a weapon, he hurriedly turned around and ran outside.

When Crazy Kid A-mo saw that he couldn’t hit Little Fourth anymore, he turned his gaze toward the Third. How could Liu Qing-ge dare to stay there any longer? He also ran after Liu Yun-ge.

Old Man Liu looked at his two most lively sons, then at his fūlang, who was so angry that he looked like a fighting cock, and couldn’t help chuckling as he said, “Alright, alright. Look at how frightened you’ve made the children!”

Crazy Kid seriously nodded his head from the side. Although no one had asked for his opinion, he still couldn’t help nodding. He felt that his two older brothers being like this was quite good. He really liked it.

Not long after Liu Yun-ge ran out, he saw the Xiucai-gong. He looked at Yun Feicheng curiously and said, “Eh? Xiucai-gong, weren’t you shut up at home every day before? How come you’ve been coming out so frequently these past two days?”

Yun Feicheng gave Liu Yun-ge a look that said, “You clearly know the reason,” and then his pair of long, narrow eyes looked toward the space behind Liu Yun-ge.

As soon as Liu Yun-ge saw Yun Feicheng’s eyes light up with a smile, he knew there was something behind him. At his young age, he couldn’t help speaking sourly, “I heard those people in our village who have studied say that there are houses made of gold in books, and, and beauties as beautiful as jade. How can you bear to leave your gold and beauty?”

Yun Feicheng couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the young but mischievous Liu Yun-ge, and walked past him.

Liu Qing-ge heard his younger brother’s foolish words and couldn’t help wanting to turn around and walk back.

Then he heard Yun Feicheng’s voice sounding close by, “The books also say that one should know how to cherish the person in front of one’s eyes.”

Liu Qing-ge felt his face suddenly heat up. With a whoosh, he jumped far away from Yun Feicheng.

A trace of approval flashed through Yun Feicheng’s eyes. As expected of the person he had taken a liking to; his movements were truly as light as a swallow.

Liu Qing-ge was good-looking. Because his family’s circumstances were not very good, he was thin and slender. When he jumped, he looked just like a cute rabbit. This made Yun Feicheng, who was watching him, unable to resist wanting to touch his head.

It seemed that Liu Qing-ge had seen through Yun Feicheng’s intention. Before Yun Feicheng could even come closer, Liu Qing-ge once again nimbly increased the distance between the two of them. He then did not forget to warn the other person with his eyes that he must not mess around. It was broad daylight now, and if someone saw them, there would certainly be gossip.

Yun Feicheng sighed inwardly, then very consciously took a step backward, keeping a safe distance between the two of them.

Liu Qing-ge looked at the distance and only then happily revealed a smile. When Liu Qing-ge smiled, there was a pair of dimples on his cheeks, which were especially eye-catching against his fair and clean face.

Liu Yun-ge’s eyes hurt a little from looking at them. He rubbed his eyes and hurriedly moved away from these two “men who liked men.”

However, before he had gone far, he saw the newlywed husband and wife pair walking toward him.

Lin Ye was carrying a large back basket on his back, while Yun Jiu followed behind him carrying a pocket-sized back basket.

No matter how Liu Yun-ge looked at him, he felt that Yun Jiu’s build did not match that pocket-sized back basket. But that was someone else’s fūlang, so he didn’t dare say anything more.

Lin Ye smiled and greeted Liu Yun-ge. “Yun-ge, where are you going to play?”

Liu Yun-ge gave a foolish smile. He really wanted to say that he hadn’t come out to play, but had been driven out by his A-mo after being beaten. However, because of a man’s dignity, he still lied and said, “I-I came out to look for my brother.”

Lin Ye looked at Liu Qing-ge behind Liu Yun-ge, but didn’t notice anything unusual.

Yun Jiu also smiled at Liu Yun-ge, then walked together with Lin Ye over to Liu Qing-ge, greeting Liu Qing-ge and Yun Feicheng.

Looking at Lin Ye and Yun Jiu, Liu Yun-ge suddenly felt that this pair also seemed like “men who liked men.”

Yun Feicheng’s impression of Lin Ye wasn’t bad, so the Xiucai-gong, who was famous for being reserved, showed Lin Ye a smile.

Lin Ye had just gotten married, and his mood was extremely good. Now, everyone looked pleasing to his eyes. On the road, when he saw Sanzi driving pigs, he even thought that the other person’s pigs looked very handsome.

So when Yun Feicheng expressed friendliness toward him, Lin Ye also good-naturedly smiled at him.