Chapter 7 Fighting On The Bed

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures…

Winter in the north is always accompanied by the north wind. As soon as Lu Yuan went out, he was shocked by the strong wind. His enthusiasm cooled down. After cooling down, he could not help but feel a little regretful.

If he wanted to leave, he should have waited until the sun came out. It was freezing cold and pitch black at night. Not to mention that he had nowhere to go, even if he had a place to go, he probably wouldn’t be able to find it.

Turning around, Lu Yuan found that he had walked a long way in a fit of anger. Now he could only see the swaying red lanterns at the gate of Su Huai’s courtyard.

He had said it all. He couldn’t go back so dejectedly…

Lu Yuan gritted his teeth, turned around and ran away.

After dinner, as he was full and exhausted, Daddy Wang was soaking his feet and busy putting clothes on the baby. His husband was massaging his legs. Ganzi and his eldest brother sat around the table on the kang. The second oldest brother was a ger. He sat next to Daddy Wang, peeling freshly picked hawthorns, splitting them in the middle, and then using a spoon to dig out the cores.

“Go! Pour out the water!”

When Ganzi reached for the small bowl of red fruits for the sixteenth time, Daddy Wang slapped the back of his hand and pointed at the wooden barrel for washing feet.

Ganzi pouted. He glanced at the bright red fruits on the table, and suddenly reached out to pinch one very quickly and put it in his mouth. He pulled his lower eyelid with his index finger and made a face at Daddy Wang before picking up the foot washing water and ran out quickly, splashing water all the way.

“Damn brat!” Daddy Wang glared, grabbed a handful of hawthorn cores and threw them at Ganzi. Ganzi cried “ouch” several times and ran out of the door. Everyone in the room couldn’t hide their laughter.

 Going out in the dark, Ganzi was too lazy to look for a ditch so he pushed the door of the yard, and poured out the basin of hot water…

“Ah——”

Then, a scream came from outside.

“Who is it?” Looking at the dark and thin figure outside, Ganzi was scared. He wondered who is so idle that he would come out to stroll around in the middle of winter. He leaned half of his body to take a look, and Ganzi was stunned: “Isn’t it little brother Su?”

Who else can be so unlucky except him. Time travelled to a remote and poor place, where heroes have no place to use their skills, and bullied by the surname Su. He stood outside in the cold wind in the middle of the night, and then was poured with a basin of hot water by a hairy kid. Chills his heart!

He raised his arm and smelled his sleeve, Lu Yuan frowned.

Damn, why is there a foul smell!

 “Hurry! Come in and change clothes first!” Ganzi was stunned for a moment, then dragged the shivering Lu Yuan into the house. While dragging him, he did not forget to remind him: “That… younger brother Su… Don’t tell my daddy that I splashed water on you. If daddy knew that I splashed the foot washing water directly into the alley, I would be in trouble! Just think of it as Ganzi, owing you an adult’s love… Oh! Walk a few steps faster, your hair is frozen!”

Lu Yuan rolled his eyes as Ganzi grabbed his hair and yelled.

Damn, it turned out to be foot washing water…

He changed his clothes, wrapped himself in a quilt and sat on the kang while the four members of the Wang family stared at Lu Yuan. He scratched his head a little embarrassedly. Lu Yuan had to blink and explain again.

“That… it’s all my own stupidity! After dinner today, Brother Su asked me to come and deliver a dose of medicine to Daddy Wang. It was too dark outside, and I lost track of the road halfway through my walk. As a result, I fell into the ditch without paying attention. Fortunately, I met Brother Ganzi, who pulled me up!”

“Doctor Su is the same. Why let a little kid deliver medicine… Xiao Yuan, Daddy, you should not leave today, so as not to catch a cold again and get sick. Ganzi, go to Doctor Su and tell him that Xiao Yuan will stay here tonight!” The head of the Wang family is a simple and honest man. Daddy Wang is in charge of all the family affairs. When Daddy spoke, the Wang family also followed suit.

 “No–no need!” Seeing this, Lu Yuan hurriedly stopped him and said, “Well, that… Brother Su would definitely scold me if he knew that I messed up the business and lost the medicine! Daddy Wang, I’m fine. I’ll let Brother Ganzi accompany me back after I finish what Brother Su asked me to do!”

“That’s fine too. You take a rest first. Second brother, pour tea for Brother Su to warm up his body!” Seeing Lu Yuan’s insistence, Daddy Wang didn’t force him. He waved to the slightly slender boy standing aside. The boy took a bowl of ginger tea and walked to Lu Yuan. He lowered his head and said softly, “Brother Xiao Yuan, drink ginger tea.”

“Sorry to bother you, second brother!” Lu Yuan took the bowl with a smile, but everyone was stunned when he said that. Second brother’s face turned red and ran away. Lu Yuan was stunned for a moment.

 “Hey… Xiao Yuan, Second brother is a ger, not a man…” Ganzi came over and reminded awkwardly: “My second brother is very handsome, how could you not see it! You are going to make second brother angry to death!”

Ger?

Lu Yuan has heard this word more than once, and he probably guessed that it is equivalent to the meaning of a woman in normal thinking.

But, this second child is a ger, so he can’t be called second brother. Then what should he be called? Don’t tell him that he is second sister?

Anyway, the embarrassment has already happened, so Lu Yuan is lucky to not stop and make everything clear tonight. Thinking about it, he raised his face with an innocent look and smiled: “I came from the mountain valley, and my family is poor. My father and daddy died early. I grew up with Dahuang since I was a child, so I don’t know anything. Did I offend second brother just now? And what do you mean by ger, brother Ganzi?”

“Didn’t Dahuang tell you that you are a man and you have to find a ger to have children and live with in the future?” Ganzi widened his eyes.

“Brother Ganzi, Dahuang can’t speak, so naturally he can’t tell me anything.” Lu Yuan blinked and continued to pretend to be innocent.

“Dahuang is dumb?” Ganzi was even more surprised.

“Dahuang is a dog.”

…

After talking with the Wang family for a long time, Lu Yuan finally understood something.

 Here, there are no women, only fertile men. Such men are generally more delicate and slim, with wider waist and hips than normal men. The wider the hips, the stronger the fertility. Different from normal men, in addition to the difference in appearance and figure, such men will also have red birthmarks similar to the chastity mark on their bodies. Generally, the color is very light and grows randomly somewhere on the body. Once they have sex, the light birthmark will turn dark red. And Daddy’s birthmark grows on the inside of his wrist. When he raises his hand, he can clearly see a red mass.

In terms of address, men who have not yet married are called “ger”. Regardless of the generation, at most a number is added in front of the name. For example, the brothers of the Wang family is the third child, so he is called “Third Brother”. If they are married, they are all called “Daddy” like the Wang family’s Daddy, with the husband’s surname.

 Lu Yuan was a little dumbfounded and couldn’t react to suddenly accepting something that violated moral principles. The Wang family thought he was just innocent and naive, and felt sorry for him.

“Haha, you’ll understand ger affairs as you get more exposure!” Ganzi was about the same age as Lu Yuan, and was naturally friendly. Seeing Lu Yuan’s dazed look, he took the snacks on the table and coaxed him: “Come! You’re in for a treat today. My Daddy’s candied sticky rice and fried red fruit are the best!”

Candied sticky rice? Fried red fruit?

Lu Yuan looked up at the table and saw a plate full of pitted hawthorns, which were bright red. Lu Yuan thought, the ancients really didn’t have much to pursue. Just raw hawthorns can be called the most delicious?

He didn’t want to offend Ganzi, so although he was not happy, Lu Yuan still reached out and ate half a hawthorn.

It tasted sour at first, and had a slightly sweet aftertaste, which actually made people salivate.  The flesh is crunchy and the skin is very chewy. This hawthorn is indeed a pollution-free, pure and natural hawthorn from thousands of years ago. It is really delicious. Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes and couldn’t help but eat several of them.

Just as he was eating happily and kept reaching out to grab them, Lu Yuan suddenly found that the Wang family members were looking at him with an unbelievable expression.

Are they so stingy? Are they not happy he ate a few of their hawthorns?

Lu Yuan flattened his mouth and took back his hand embarrassedly: “Haha, I seem to have eaten too much? Don’t you want to eat it?”

“Little brother Su! You… don’t you think it’s sour?” The head of the Wang family pointed to the wild hawthorn and spoke in surprise.

Is it sour?

 Lu Yuan tilted his head and smacked his lips: “It’s a little sour, but sour things taste good!”

“Really? Then let me try it!” Ganzi couldn’t wait to grab one and stuff it into his mouth. He chewed it for a while and spat it out. He stuck out his tongue, squinting his eyes and stammered: “Hmm… so sour! It’s so sour! This kind of thing is simply not for human consumption!”

Daddy Wang also blinked in surprise: “This is wild hawthorn from the mountain, it is very sour. It is mixed with medicine to stop vomiting. Otherwise, it is made into sugar sticky fruit, fried red fruit, etc…. Even when I had morning sickness, I couldn’t eat such sour things… Xiao Yuan, you actually like sour food so much!”

Sugar sticky fruit? Fried red fruit?

Lu Yuan glanced at the table carefully again, and then he found that there were two small bowls. One bowl had round whole hawthorns, with a thick layer of icing sugar on the outside, and the other bowl was fried bright red red fruit puree. Lu Yuan ate a little embarrassedly. It tasted sour and sweet, but it was bland compared to the sour taste of the raw hawthorn.

Thinking of what Daddy Wang had just said, Lu Yuan was a little dumbfounded.

He didn’t like sour food at all. He would only eat candied haws at most.

He couldn’t help smacking his lips, and sighed in his heart. These ancient people were really strange. How could they not even eat this sour food? They really had no good taste, no good taste…

Thinking of it, he couldn’t help but pick up another hawthorn and chewed it happily.