Back to the Countryside

Chapter 7: Fate

The next period of time, Qi Yue is also busy because of the spring plowing up, basically spent his time in the field, He Ling, naturally of course he never saw him again, After all, not all of their land is next to each other.

    On the contrary, actually he had met He Zhen several times, his purpose is obvious, Qi Yue is not a fool, his heart naturally understand.

   After the spring plowing, the villagers is finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Just occasionally go to the field to take care of it.No need to be stuck in the field all day. There is more free time to chit chat with each other.

But these have little to do with He Ling.
He still has endless work to do every day. Today, after washing and drying all the clothes, he went into the mountain with a rope and machete.The firewood at home was used up, If he don't make it up quickly, he will be scolded again for the delay in making dinner.

His strength is not so strong, each time he couldn't carry so much firewood, so he have to walk a few more trips, only enough to burn at home for a few days. But also because it took a lot of time to do so, it was not uncommon for Qian to say that he was lazy hiding in the mountains.

    He couldn't argue since he would be scolded even worse. Fortunately, he was also used to it. When he was young, he would be sad, Now, he does not care much.

    He Ling squatted on the ground, tied up the firewood that had just been cut, and carried the bundle of firewood back on his back.It's almost there.

Not far away, came the sound of neighing horses, He Ling stopped the movements in his hands and listened carefully. He heard the sound of hooves on the ground, not far from him.

        He stood up and looked in that direction, a horse was standing there, kicking the ground with one front hoof from time to time, but no one else was seen near it.

He Ling knew whose horse it was because there was only one person in the whole Gu Shui village who had a horse, but he didn't understand why the horse was here and the person was not.

        He hesitated for a while, but still walked towards the horse, and when he got closer, he noticed that it didn't seem to be right, and while kicking the ground, he also threw his head and snorted from time to time, seemingly very annoyed.

*蹄子 : hoof


He took two more steps forward, but did not dare to go too close. He had only seen such a valuable thing as a horse from a distance before, and had never been so close, so he was still a bit afraid, not to mention that the horse's mood seemed to be unstable.

        The horse did not run away when it saw a living person approaching, but lifted its front hooves, which had been kicking the ground. He Ling looked down and did not really understand very well. The horse snapped his nose again, raise his forefoot at him.

He Ling seems to have some understanding, tentatively go to it, seeing no response from it, he knelt on the ground reach out to touch its front hoof, the horse did not lose his temper,
cooperate with him, lift the hoof up.

        He Ling put its hoof on his lap to look carefully and found that there was a thorn prick in the calf position near the hoof,he breathed a sigh of relief.

There are many thorn bushes* 荆棘丛 in the mountain, sometimes he will not pay attention to be pierced, although it was not very painful, just a bit annoying

        He took the thorns□□, and used his sleeve to carefully wipe away the emerging blood, and then gently patted the horse's calf, "Is it comfortable now?"
  
The horse lowered its head and gently rubbed against the side of his face, its nose breath, spraying on the nape of his neck, tickling it a little.

        He Ling raised his hand to touch his cheek, and the corners of his lips curled up, and a smile opened up, just like the first red plum blossoms in the winter, that brings people a surprise of dazzling beauty in the plain white snow.

    When the busy time passed, Qi Yue  who had nothing else to do, would let Mu Yan out for a walk in the mountain , where he would also find some useful herbs and take it back with him.

    Mu Yan is smart so l he would not hold it by his side, it will follow him running around in the forest. When he was ready to leave, he would whistle for it to return.

Today, he whistled, but he didn't see Muyan for a long time. He has a strange feeling in his heart that it should not have gone far right? He followed the footprints in the forest to find.

Before long, he stopped walking, and his smile grew thicker.

    He Ling held the horse's head and played with it for a while, then gently pushed it away and stand up, "I have to go, you also go back to your master ba!"

"It's called Mu Yan!"The sudden voise startled He Ling, he turned his head to see that Qi Yue is coming over.
"Are you guys having a good time together?"

    As Qi Yue approached, He Ling took two steps back, keeping a certain distance from him, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't touch your horse casually!"

    Qi Yue raised his hand and touched Mu Yan's head, smiling. He said, "It's okay, it's rare to be close to people!"

    "Then...I'll go first!" He Ling turned around, ran to the side of firewoods that he had left behind, and he picked it up and carried it on his back.

"I'll see you off!" Qi Yue followed him and reached out to take his firewood.

He Ling dodged all of a sudden and avoided his hand, "Qi Yue!"

Qi Yue's hand faltered. It was the first time he called his name. He couldn't say what he felt, it was itching in his heart.

"I know you are kind-hearted and a good man. You want to help me, but..." he Ling held the rope tightly.

"For your own reputation, it's better for you to stay away from me!"

    "Kindness?" Qi Yue never knew that these two words could be put on him. What he lacked the most is the so-called compassion*(慈悲心: it's just interesting that separately 慈悲 itself means mercy + 心 is heart) , "How do you know that I have no other aims*(有利所图)?"    
[有利所图 you li suo tu: have other aims [plans]
This idiom is almost similar to 有利可图 you li ke tu : profitable]

"Have other aims*? If I have anything to make others to wonder* [惦记] about,
it wont be like this, the condition like now!"  
 
[惦记*: to think of / to keep thinking about / to be concerned about]

He has nothing good to scheme on/to aim* (图),because he has nothing, "I'm going back, Qi Yue, thank you!" 

He Ling's figure gradually disappeared in Qi Yue's sight, his smile became meaningful, "Maybe, I have a lot of 'to aim*'图 for you!"

[图 itself means diagram / picture / drawing / chart / map  / to plan / to scheme / to attempt / to pursue / to seek]

He Ling went home with firewood on his back, went straight into the kitchen, unloaded the firewood and put it on the pile.

Today, Qian's family took He Zhen to the town to buy goods by the ox cart of Zhao's family in the village. He Tian and his eldest son, he Fu, and his youngest son ,he Gui went to have a drink. Afraid that it will be very late at night, Liu, took her three-year-old son back to her mother's home to visit her sick mother. It was estimated that she would have to stay for a few days. Only her second sister-in-law, Zheng, was in the room to take care of her just barely-one year old daughter.

It's rare that there is no one at home today. It's rare very quiet. He Ling feels that he can take a little breath. He doesn't have to be so tense, for fear of doing something wrong.

However, it's time to relax and relax, the work still needs to be done quickly. It's getting late. He afraid that Qian's family, should be back too. If they see that he hasn't finished cooking for dinner yet, they will lose their temper.

Sure enough, as soon as he Ling cooked the meal, he heard a sound from the yard, Qian began to call him, "He Ling! Did you cook?! I'm starving"

He put on the lid of the pot and went out of the kitchen. "Big aunt, the rice has been cooked. I'll serve it now!"

Qian nodded to him and went into the room to put things. He Ling was about to turn back to the kitchen, but he was stopped.

He Zhen walked in front of him and turned around. He was wearing a goose-yellow shirt. It was a new purchase, which made his face more delicate. "Am I good-looking?"

    He Ling nodded, "Good-looking! "

He Zhen looked at the coarse cloth clothes on him. It was his old clothes. It was already in bad condition and there was patches everywhere, but he still look beautiful. He Zhen took another step forward. "Are you good-looking or am I good-looking?

    Because of the premature delivery, and Later, he always worked and didn't have enough to eat, He Ling is thinner than the average ger, He Zhen is three years younger than him, but he is nearly half a head taller than him and his skeleton is bigger than him. Talking to him so close makes him feel stifling,  "You...you look good!"

He Zhen showed a satisfied smile, "after dinner, you come to my room, I have something for you to do!"

    "Got it!" He Ling responded softly, watching him return to his room, he went into the kitchen fill the bowl with rice.

There were not many people eating in the evening, so there was no noise like usual. He Ling shrank and sat down at the corner of the table and did not dare to hold his chopsticks to pick up vegetables. Instead, he went to drink his own bowl of soup. Every day when he has a meal, it's the most difficult time for him. Sitting with these people makes every inch of his body uncomfortable.

After dinner, he Ling took all the dishes and chopsticks to wash them. Remembering what he Zhen had said to him before, he sighed and went to his room even though he didn't want to.

Seeing him, he Zhen handed a cloth bag to his hand, "you embroider a purse for me!"

    He Ling opened the cloth bag, and there was a small piece of silver-white silk cloth inside, as well as a few balls of silk thread. It's common for him to help He Zhen embroider things, and he was not surprised, so he nodded to show that he knew.

    He Zhen took out a piece of paper from his sleeve, unfolded it and handed it to him, "Embroider this word on it!"
 
    He Ling took it over and looked at it carefully. He was illiterate, and only thought that the word was written beautifully, but not know what the word is.

    "This is the Yue character!" He Zhen smiled shyly. This character was written by the shopkeeper when he bought the embroidery thread today. He described the character he had seen on Qi Yue's purse. The shopkeeper wrote this for him, "祁越的越 - the Yue's in Qi Yue"

    He Ling's hand holding the paper pauses and embroiders the name of the man. It's self-evident who the purse is for. It's just, "is that allright to send something to a man rashly like this..."

    "Pa" a slap in the face interrupted He Ling's words, he covered his beaten cheek and lowered his head.

    "He Ling, are you trying to say that I'm shameless?" He Zhen grabbed his wrist and pulls him to his side. "Or, do you like him too?!"

"No... no!" He Ling hurriedly shake his head, he just subconsciously spoke out, and he didn't mean anything else.

"Better not!" He Zhen pushed him away.

"Today, I've been in town for a whole day. I'm all dirty. I have to take a bath. I'm afraid there isn't enough water at home . You can pick up two baskets more."

He Ling had only picked the water during the day, so a bath was definitely enough, but he knew that He Zhen was deliberately making things difficult for him, just looking for an excuse.