CH 6

Chapter 6: 邀请 (Invitation)

Translator : LittleYen

On the way back, Zhong Ziqi had a hard time walking with the heavy things on his back. After all, he was a little ger in his original body, this body had never done any heavy work, so his strength was really pathetic.Zhao Zheng’an, however, had an easy time of it, he even tried to take Zhong ziqi basket off several times but he refused, knowing that Zhao Zheng’an’s basket was not much lighter since most of the heavy things were there.

At that moment, a carriage came from behind. On board were several aunts in their forties and fifties.The driver was an honest man in his fifties, known to most people in the village as Second Uncle Zhao/Zhao Er Shu. He had bought a horse-drawn carriage because his family had money to spare.He was usually the one who took the carriage to the town, so everyone paid two wen for the ride.

When the carriage stopped next to Zhong Ziqi, Zhao Er Shu said in a muffled voice, “Qi Ge’er! Come up and take the carriage back!”

“That’s right, it’s so heavy for Qi Ge’er to carry all that stuff, come on up!” There was a warm-hearted Amu, who said the same thing.

[Just reminder: Amu could mean mother or aunt or older marriage woman]

Zhong Ziqi couldn’t walk anymore, as he thought why bother with the two wen of money, so he pulled Zhao Zheng’an into the carriage: “Thank you, Second Uncle Zhao.”

“What did you buy, Qi Ge’er? So many things?” Someone asked.

Zhong Ziqi smiled, “We just divide the family, isn’t it? We have nothing to eat or use at home, so we rushed to buy some.”

“Aiyou, it cost a lot of money to buy so many things, didn’t it? When Wang Cuihua split the family, he didn’t give you much, did he?” Some of the people who had a bad relationship with Wang Cuihua asked deliberately at this moment.In fact, all of them know very well, according to Wang Cuihua’s nature, who would like to keep his money in but not out. How much could he possibly give?

“It’s not much, it’s only a string of 1000 wen.”

[Notes about a string of 1000 wén was supposed to be equal in value to one tael of silver]

“Only one tael? Wang Cuihua is too much, even if the fool is not his biological son, he can’t be so stingy, right? How could you live in the future by bringing the fool in your life like this? It’s really ……” The person said with a look as if he felt indignant at injustice,someone else also followed, to chatter continuously.

If the gloating in his eyes wasn’t so obvious, Zhong Ziqi might have believed some of it, so he only smiled decently on the outside but was bored on the inside.

What’s the point of all these people, one person, one mouth said ‘fool’? They were happy to see others having a bad time, weren’t they?

Looking at Zhao Zheng’an who was quietly bowing his head, Zhong Ziqi felt uncomfortable. He reached out to take his clutching hand, Zhao Zheng’an immediately looked up and gave him a foolish smile.

When they reached the village, Zhong Ziqi pulled Zhao Zheng’an out of the cart. As expected,he received a lot of pitying looks.Originally, Zhao Er shu did not intend to take money from him, because when Zhong Zhenhang was still alive, they had some friendship with each other, besides that, he thought Zhong Ziqi is quite pity. Zhong Ziqi didn’t know this, so he gave Zhao Er shu two wen since he didn’t know each other well and he didn’t want to be in debt.

When he got home, it was getting late. In order to save some money, Zhong Ziqi deliberately didn’t eat in the town, so he went into the hall, put the basket down, took out the things inside while he also instructed Zhao Zheng’an to put it away.

It was getting late, Zhong Ziqi was hungry and tired, so he planned to have a simple meal to eat, as he had to invite Zhao Ning to dinner tonight.Putting the basket in the corner, Zhong Ziqi straightened up then he asked Zhao Zheng’an, who looked full of energy, “Are you hungry?”

“Yes.” Zhao Zheng’an touched his stomach and nodded affirmatively at the same time his long and narrow eyes blinked.

Zhong Ziqi couldn’t help but refresh his opinion of Zhao Zheng’an, another level of obedience,not even noisy when hungry, very good!

“Wait, I’ll go and cook, we’ll eat something delicious at night.”

“Oh!” Zhao Zheng’an nodded obediently, but his mouth was quietly gulping, he wanted to eat meat so badly, since his wife said he could eat it tonight, how nice!

When he got into the kitchen, Zhong Ziqi held his head with his hands and thought that he was sure that he wouldn’t be eating brown rice.

Since I bought noodles today, I will make a noodle dish ba!

Zhong Ziqi untied the noodle bag. Later, he scooped out enough noodles to put it on the boiled water. He was going to make dough dumpling too,in order to save time and effort, he will boil the soup first, after that the noodles ? will be ready in a few moments.

Zhao Zheng’an stood by the door with half of his head peeking out, his eyes staring straight at the dough dumplings with oil floating on it.

Zhong Ziqi turned around and saw the scene, seeing that he was almost drooling, he couldn’t help but smile and handed him the dough dumpling which he had filled, “Yes, bring it to the table!Don’t spill it ! Be careful of scalding!”

After hearing what he said, Zhao Zheng’an smiled, took the basin carefully, as he moved towards the hall, step by step.

Zhong Ziqi took the bowl,chopsticks and the cucumber that he had just mixed and brought all over.

Zhong Ziqi was a good cook,as the evidence itself was Zhao Zheng’an finished the bowl of hot noodles in a flash, while he himself hadn’t finished half of it. As he watched Zhao Zheng’an finish his second bowl, he opened his mouth and checked up and down, “Did you burn yourself? Why are you eating so quickly? It’s not like anyone’s going to steal it from you.”

Zhao Zheng’an’s eyes glowed as he looked at the man with the beautiful eyes in front of him and giggled, letting him check him honestly without moving.

“It doesn’t burn! it’s delicious!”

When Zhong Ziqi saw that his mouth was not burnt, he said that his skin was thick, he did not know whether to cry or to laugh and said, “Eat slowly, these are all yours!”

Zhao Zheng’an nodded fiercely, Er hu zi (the eight or nine year old child in the village) said that you have to listen to your wife in everything or he will not want you, so if he says to eat slowly, then he will eat slowly, it just tastes so good that he wants to take a big bite, he has never eaten such fragrant meal before, his wife is really the best, better than his father and his mother, he does not beat him or scold him as a ‘fool’, he even gives him delicious food.

It would be an exaggeration to say how good Zhong Ziqi’s cooking is, but it’s not as good as the top, it’s better than the bottom. In his previous life, as a single male living alone, his cooking skills were still lit up.At first it was either burnt or raw, since no one noticed, thus he practised slowly. When he got good at it, he invited that person to his home and said that he didn’t know if his newly learned dish was good or not.Gradually just like that, Zhong Ziqi’s cooking skills became better and better.

After walking most of the day, Zhong Ziqi’s body was really tired, so after eating and telling Zhao Zheng’an not to run around, he went to bed to rest. Zhao Zheng’an who was in high spirits, went around the house, feeling bored. Finally he squatted in front of the bed, looking at his sleeping wife with unblinking eyes, his hands itching to touch his wife’s smooth face, but this definitely would wake him up, so he had to stop.

As he watched, he giggled for a while.Then he was sleepy too so he took off his jacket, climbed gently into bed, put his hands on Zhong Ziqi’s waist,wrapped it tightly in his arms before he closed his eyes in satisfaction.

The sleeping Zhong Ziqi frowned uncomfortably in his sleep,as his body moved uncomfortably, but he was too sleepy to wake up.

When the sun was about to set, Zhong Ziqi finally woke up, stretched his back and turned his head, but did not see Zhao Zheng’an’s figure.He shouted uneasily, “Zheng’an? Zhao Zheng’an?”

A short while later, there was a rush of footsteps, Zhao Zheng’an emerged from behind the door, ” Wife, you’re awake!”

Zhong Ziqi rubbed his brow as he asked, “What are you doing?”

Zhao Zheng’an raised his dirty hands, “I’m pulling weeds.”

The yard was mostly land, except for the entrance and the brick road leading to the gate. The weeds had gotten very tall after not being used for years. When they moved here yesterday, they only cleared away the taller grasses, leaving the smaller tender ones untouched.

When Zhao Zheng’an woke up, Zhong Ziqi was not yet awake, he walked out of the house, remembering that his wife did not allow him to go out alone. When he was bored ,he saw a lot of grass in the yard. Remembering the time he was still at home, Amu had made him do the work of pulling weeds.So if he had pulled all the grass, he is sure that his wife would be happy too, right?

Zhong Ziqi didn’t know what he was thinking right now therefore he was relieved to see that he hadn’t run away. He waved his hand and praised him without mincing words, “Zheng’an is very capable, you go on pulling! I’ll go and make you dinner.”

After he finished tidy up his clothes, Zhong Ziqi remembered that he hadn’t told Zhao Ning yet.He had to tell him earlier or the other party would have already finished his dinner.When he left the door, he saw Zhao Zheng’an was diligently squatting in the yard, pulling weeds so he called out, “Zheng’an!”

Zhao Zheng’an got up and ran over, looking at him suspiciously.

“I’m going out, I’ll be right back! You wait for me at home, okay?” Zhong Ziqi thought that he can’t always take him with him anywhere he goes, they all have to learn and get used to it.

Zhao Zheng’an miserably looked at Zhong Ziqi, ” Wife,take me with you, okay? Zheng’an won’t make any trouble, I’ll be good and listen to you so please take me with you!”

Zhong Ziqi had a hard time organizing his words: “Zheng’an, remember those two people who came to our house yesterday? They did us a favour so I’m going to invite them over for dinner, so it’s not that I don’t want you, I’ll be back after this since I have to come back and cook too! Look,this is our home, I have all my clothes and stuff here, I won’t leave you. Be good, okay?”

Zhao Zheng’an’s mind was in a dilemma( 天人交戰), one villain said to follow him, the other one said to listen to your wife, after a moment’s hesitation, it was the second villain who won over the first, he was afraid that his wife would be like others who hate him, so he had to listen: “Then …wife, you have to come back early. “

[notes on 天人交戰:

[1] be torn between A and B

[2] in a dilemma

It is a struggle between heavenly principles and personal desires, a psychological process. It’s like you have an evil elf and a good elf fighting and hesitating in your heart, not knowing what to do]

Zhong Ziqi looked at the teary-eyed Zhao Zheng’an helplessly, he nodded solemnly: “Then Zheng’an,you are alone at home so whoever comes, do not open the door! Unless it is me who comes back, remember?”

Zhao Zheng’an nodded with red eyes.

Only then did Zhong Ziqi feel in ease to went out and found Zhao Ning’s house according to the location he remembered, Zhao Ning’s house lived not too distant from the end of village, not very far, because the end of the village was not the central area so on the way he did not meet other villagers, from the memory, there were a few large willow trees in the centre of the village,few of stools were built there and everyone loved to sit while chatting there.

“Knock, knock, knock.” Zhong Ziqi knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” Zhao Ning’s voice came from far to near (as he walked closer).

“Xiao Ning, it’s me, Ziqi.”

Zhao Ning’s voice was full of surprise as he opened the door, “Why are you here? Come in quickly!”

“I’m not going in, I came to ask you and Brother Sheng to come to my house for dinner, I’ve bought some meat, I’ll treat you to a meal tonight.”

“Hey…what’s the trouble? Ziqi, it’s not easy for you to make a living, why spend money for it? If you want to treat, you can do it later when you’re rich! Even if you don’t invite me, I’ll go!” Zhao Ning said with a bit of complaint, he was really thinking for Zhong Ziqi’s sake. Yesterday’s words, itself a joke, did not expect Ziqi to take it seriously.

“Don’t worry, I am well aware of the situation, I’m buying some meat, it’s also a celebration of our house-moving. I’m inviting you guys over to celebrate and have a blast together. this… you’re not going to decline, are you?” Zhong Ziqi said this while pretending to be sad, but in his heart, he felt that Zhao Ning, who could think of him during his low time, was really good.

“Alright, alright, I’ll go after a while.” Zhao Ning compromised helplessly.

“Then don’t forget to call up Brother Sheng, yesterday was thanks to him too.”

It was Zhao Sheng, the guy who did all the heavy work.

“I know.”

Zhong Ziqi then smiled and left.