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The midday sun made people drowsy, so did Lin Cheng, who was driving an ox cart towards his home.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and waved the whip to make the cart run faster, while he just looked at the green rice fields and stared at it, dumbfounded.
It had been over half a year since he came here, but it still felt like a dream. When he woke up, he found that he had somehow crossed over into the body of a young man with the same name as himself, yet everything around him was unfamiliar. The only thing that was familiar to him was that the original owner was a pork seller like himself, which gave him some comfort.But it was inexplicable, how could a pork seller like himself run into such a strange thing? Could it be that there was too little incense?
Lin Cheng smiled bitterly and shook his head. These days, he had thought a lot about how to go back, almost to the point of suicide. But Lin Cheng, who had lived for 25 years in his previous life, was not really impulsive enough to kill himself. There was nothing in that world for him to be concerned about. When he came out of the closet, his family kicked him out of the house and never saw them again. Usually, no one answered the phone when he called. He sent something and it was rejected. At first, he thought his family would accept it over time, but he didn’t expect the resentment would only get deeper and deeper so he slowly gave up the idea. It was rather a pity regarding the pork shop he owned, he wonders who will own it in the future …
Seriously though, he was quite satisfied with this body. The original owner was only eighteen years old, but he had grown a lot of muscle because he had been killing pigs and farming for many years, which was beneficial for Lin Cheng.
“Yo, Cheng Zi is back.” Lin Tao Amu was sitting in front of the house, working on the soles of shoes, when Lin Tao saw Lin Cheng, who had rushed over, greeted him with a smile.
“Hey Lin Tao Amu, have you eaten yet?” Lin Cheng said with a smile.
Lin Tao Amu nodded in response and went back to work on the soles.
Lin Cheng withdrew his eyes and continued to drive. The original owner lived in the southernmost part of the village, the most mountainous part, because of his pig farming. It was far from the centre of the village, there were no families living there. Lin Cheng was glad to be at home, living in the village was too much of a problem. It’s better to live far away …
When he got home, Lin Cheng got off the ox cart and was about to tow it home when he saw a thin and weak ger, carrying a large basket on his back coming this way, so he raised his voice and said, “Mai Zi!”
Lin Mai looked up and smiled at Lin Cheng with a small face that could only be described as innocent, “Brother Cheng Zi, you have closed the stall?”
“Yes. You’ve just been to the mountains,right?” Lin Cheng laughed as he looked at the wild vegetables in his basket.
Lin Mai lifted his sliding back and said, “This morning Grandma wanted to eat wild vegetables from the mountains, so I went up there to dig some up when I was free.”
“That’s a good thing! Some time ago, your grandma couldn’t eat anything, but now her appetite has increased.” Lin Cheng smiled when he heard that, he thought that this ger was a very nice person, but his family was a bit miserable. Lin Mai’s father had fallen ill and died when he was very young. It seemed that his Amu had said that he couldn’t stand the pressure of the family and ran away with a ‘mountain collector’, leaving him to live with his grandmother. So if something had happened to his grandmother, Lin Mai wouldn’t know what to do.
Lin Mai laughed and didn’t say another word, while Lin Cheng froze for a moment and then tapped his head and said, “Eh Mai Zi, I have some leftover pork here for you to take back, so make something good for your grandmother.”
With that, Lin Cheng took a piece of tied pork out of the basket on the cart then he stuffed it into Lin Mai’s basket.
Lin Mai hurriedly ducked to the side to avoid Lin Cheng’s hand and said, “Brother Cheng Zi, I really can’t take it, you stuffed a pig’s foot last time. I haven’t given you the silver yet. If I take it again, how can I not be ashamed to take it?”
“Hey, this kid, what are you talking about?” Lin Cheng patted Lin Mai’s head with his free hand and said with a smile, “I didn’t give you any silver for the shoes you made for me either, right? This is a thank you gift for the shoes you made for me.”
“Don’t …!” Lin Mai ducked to the side again, “Enough with the pig’s feet last time! I can’t take any more of your stuff. Every time I bumped into you, you stuffed me with meat yet I didn’t give you anything. Brother Cheng Zi, I really don’t need it.”
“Come on! if I say I’ll give it to you, I’ll give it to you. Anyway, I can’t eat it all!” Lin Cheng ignored Lin Mai’s resistance and put the pork in his back basket.
Lin Mai took a look at this and started to dodge to the side, the two of them were in a position that made people think they were doing something.
“I’m dying (the same with the English context of ‘what the hell’). It’s daytime, this is really shameless …!” A woman carrying a basket, twisting her hips and walking this way, gave Lin Mai an undisguised contemptuous look.
Lin Mai’s face instantly sank, gritting his teeth and looking at her expressionlessly with no intention of saying anything back.
But the woman obviously didn’t intend to end it like that, hiding her mouth and smiling, “But it’s true, with such an indiscreet Amu, how much better can his children be? Look at all the girls and gers in the village who are the same age as you, which one of them is not married? Instead, you …” The woman looked at Lin Mai up and down and continued, “Oh, look at my mouth! If it weren’t for the fact that your Amu ran off with someone therefore he got a bad reputation.If not for getting you involved, I reckon you’d have married someone by now. What a shame!”
“You ……” Anyone would be upset at being spoken to like that.Lin Mai was just about to speak when Lin Cheng interrupted.
“Auntie, why do you have time to come here today?” Lin Cheng said.
The woman who came is a distant aunt of the Lin family, purely the kind of relatives who ‘cannot reach by the length of eight bamboo poles’. It is said that the aunt’s in-laws used to open a shop in the city, then it seems that the shop closed down or something like that. Then they came back to live in the countryside.
[八杆子打不到 Idiom : cannot reach by the length of eight bamboo poles — (of two matters) : be very distant, be completely unrelated or the relationship between the two is alienated or unrelated.It’s meaning is sth or sb is none of business with you.]
Later, she married his distant uncle. Usually, they would come over to his house to have a windfall .Today, she would have some pork, tomorrow she would like to borrow some money.At first, Lin Cheng had the heart to deal with her.Now he just feels more and more annoyed …
[打秋风 ( 打秋風 ) dǎ qiū fēng :seek gratuitous financial help /obtain some money]
“Cheng Zi, Aunty do not intend to talk about you ah! What do you think you’re colluding with this kind of person? If word gets out, it’ll be bad for your reputation.”Li Cui Cui said with her hands on hips. She had a look of ‘hating iron for not becoming steel ‘ on her face.
[恨铁不成钢 ( 恨鐵不成鋼 ) hèn tiě bù chéng gāng : to feel resentful towards sb for failing to meet expectations and impatient to see improvement ]
Lin Cheng gave a cold ‘Hmph’ and didn’t say anything. Instead he turned to Lin Mai and said, “Mai Zi, you go back first! Don’t care about what she says, her mouth is full of fart.”
[‘her mouth is full of fart’ basically he meant that she talks nonsense in rude way]
Lin Mai nodded his head with an ‘ashen face’ and walked away without looking at Li Cui Cui, minding his own business.
Lin Cheng didn’t lower his voice at all when he spoke, so Li Cui Cui naturally heard his words clearly so she was furious: “Lin Cheng, what do you mean? I reminded you of this with good intention and sincere heart. You think that I’m talking nonsense. You asked for this (you are ungrateful)!”
“Yes, yes, yes, ungrateful…..” Lin Cheng nodded copiously and drove the cart to the door.
Li Cui Cui was not going to let this go. She came here today for a reason.She patted her chest, smoothed her breath and went into Lin Cheng’s house.
Lin Cheng’s brow was furrowed at once.He didn’t have to guess that she must have come to borrow money again.
Lin Cheng’s house was not the best one in the village, but it is still good. After all, pig killing started in his grandfather’s generation and has been passed down to the original owner’s generation.The house they live in is an old one but it is also made of black bricks and red roof. The family still has more than ten mu of rice fields, but most of them have been leased out, leaving only three acres for growing rice or other things (for themselves). The simple life is still very comfortable.
青砖红瓦
See Pic:
However, Lin Cheng is completely a rough masculine bachelor, usually, he often leaves early and comes back late. He often forgets to clean up the house.But because he is often away from home, the dust on the things he doesn’t use is not so bad as to be unbearable.He was used to it, but Li Cui Cui didn’t think so.
Li Cui Cui frowned habitually at the sight of the hall.Every time he came, it was like this. ‘A country bumpkin is really a country bumpkin’, what a waste of a good house.
She reluctantly picked a chair that was still clean, sat down and said as soon as Lin Cheng came in, “Cheng Zi, sit down! Auntie wants to discuss something with you.”
Lin Cheng rolled his eyes and leaned against the door frame with his hands on his chest and said, “No, you’d better get right to the point. Don’t give me this empty talk! I’m tired of hearing it …”
“Tsk…” Li Cui Cui frowned while she used the old handkerchief in her hand to hide the corners of her mouth that had turned downwards. After a while, she put on a face like ‘I am your elder’ and said, “You child! You are no longer a child, why do you still not know how to talk? How can you do business like this? You must offend a lot of people. Auntie tell you….”
“If you’re here to tell me this, I already know. I have my own rules, so you should leave now! Don’t stay in my house for too long, lest people misunderstand you, how to fix it then?” Lin Cheng was busy interrupting her, if he let her talk like this, she wouldn’t be able to finish the conversation even if it was dark, he hadn’t even eaten yet.If she went on like this, it would be strange if she didn’t say something that would make him faint.
Li Cui Cui slammed the table, stood up, pointing at Lin Cheng and started to scold him, “Is that how you speak? If you don’t know how to speak, don’t speak nonsense! If anyone outside hears this, how could I face others?”
Lin Cheng shrugged his shoulders with a stubborn expression and his little thumb pulled out from his ears. He looked indifferently at Li Cui Cui who was having a rant: “Finished? If you’re done, get out of here! I haven’t even eaten yet just to listen to you make an unreasonable scene. So when you’re done, leave! Don’t make a fuss in my place! It’s annoying.”
Li Cui Cui patted her chest, which was aching with anger.When she felt her breath had smoothed out a bit, she said, “I must have come here to see you for something.Hey! Look at you! It’s fine that I’ve been sitting here for so long and you haven’t even offered me any tea but you don’t even pour me a cup of water, what do you mean by this? Eh, where are you going?”
“Where am I going? Go to eat ah! Do you think everyone has nothing better to do than to go to someone’s house and drink water like you? I’ve got a lot to do! If you’re done talking then just leave!” Lin Cheng was not a good tempered person, he had driven him away two or three times but the person wouldn’t leave! This kind of person, what’s the point of giving him a face? Such a shameless person.
“You …okay, you win! I say it, I will say it.”
Li Cui Cui was really afraid that Lin Cheng would run away.If he ran away, where would she get the money?
Lin Cheng turned around and looked at her with an impatient face. He just hoped this person would finish talking and hurry up, don’t be a nuisance here.
Li Cui Cui resisted the urge to slap him twice and rightfully said, “In two days, your brother’s school will be paying tuition. You know his father, it’s not easy to make some money doing that work now. Besides, the silver will be saved for next spring to build a bigger house! So I’m going to ask you for some silver to pay for your brother’s school fees.”
Lin Cheng didn’t say anything.
He just listened to the drama she was talking about.
Li Cui Cui saw that Lin Cheng was silent so she thought he was considering borrowing her the silver, then she added her voice and said, “You also know that your brother is a serious student. The other day, the school master even praised him for his good learning.”
“Is that so,oh?” Lin Cheng laughed a little.All he could think about was when she would be done talking…?
“Isn’t it? Think about it, if your brother succeeds in his studies and becomes a scholar or something, you’ll be proud too right?” Li Cui Cui took a peek at Lin Cheng’s face and thought it was about time, so she said, “Aunty won’t ask you for more, just ten taels of silver. If you have more, you can make some clothes for your brother. His clothes are so old that people would laugh at him if he wore it to school.”
When Lin Cheng saw that she had quieted down and stopped talking, he said, “Are you finished? I have a few things to tell you after that. First, my father and My Amu left early so they didn’t leave me a brother. Second, if you want to build a house, that’s your business, so don’t come to my house and tell me about it since I am not interested in listening about it. Third,is ten taels of silver not a lot of money? Then give it to me bei! Fourth, next time, don’t come to my house if you need anything.
We’re not even related to each other, so don’t bring it up, it’s embarrassing.Fifth, I’ve lent your family enough money. When are you going to pay it back? It must be around 20 to 30 taels at least. I still have a book in my house to keep track of it.”
“What are you …talking about? I see, you just want to disown your relatives because you have money, don’t you? I can see that. Aren’t you afraid that lightning will strike you when you go out?”Li Cui Cui was so angry with him that her hands began to shake and she shouted at the top of her voice.
Lin Cheng waved his hand and said, “You’d better stop shouting, you don’t sound as good as the pig when I kill it. Don’t bother me here! My ears can’t take it.”
“Lin Cheng, you shameless bastard! If your brother has any success, won’t you be proud too? What do you mean by saying that now?” Li Cui Cui shouted while slapping the table, wanting to shout so that people could hear her for miles around.
Lin Cheng was very disrespectful, covering his ears and saying: “Stop shouting! There are only a few people living around here, so no one will come to see you if you shout. Besides, if people do come,will you look good? So save your breath! Eh,don’t make a scene, I’m fainting here! Otherwise, people will think I’ve done something to you.”
Li Cui Cui married here at the age of fifteen.Now she is thirty-one, but she has never been so angry.The last time she came here, although he was reluctant, Lin Cheng still lent it to her. It was not like this time, not only was he shameless but he also made her so angry. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got, Li Cui Cui cried out which scared Lin Cheng.
” Hey,hey,hey …You say, your husband is not even dead. Your son is also fine, so what are you crying for? If you want to cry, go to your house and cry! Don’t cry here, it’s bad luck!”Lin Cheng waved his hand and told her to go away, it would be strange if they didn’t get misunderstood by people,if she went on like this.
Li Cui Cui still kept crying. Lin Cheng was also annoyed, when he was bothered whether he should give her some silver to make her go, someone came to help him.
“Cheng Zi! Is Cheng Zi home yet? I’ve brought you some goodies!” Lin Dashan shouted at the front of the door. When he didn’t see anyone answer, he came in himself. He scratched his hair and said, “What are you doing? Oh, isn’t this Aunt Li? Why are you crying here?”
Li Cui Cui saw that someone had come. She was too embarrassed to cry here again, so she carried the basket and left without saying hello.
Lin Cheng patted Lin Dashan’s shoulder and said, “Brother, if it weren’t for you, I would have been annoyed to death, Go! Let’s go to the kitchen, Ge will make you something delicious.”
[Lin Cheng call himself Ge (it mean older brother but they are not blood related, just bro]
Lin Dashan didn’t know what Lin Cheng was so excited about.But when he heard him say he would make something delicious so he followed him eagerly.
Lin Dashan was the only one in his family, but he was hard working enough to feed himself. As an orphan, he was often laughed at by the children in the village because he had no parents. Lin Cheng was happy to play with him, so they have been playing together a lot until now. Their relationship was quite deep.Since a few months ago, he had been coming over for dinner to eat at this brother’s house…