Chapter 39 Buying a Mountain

　　Li Feng carried two fish weighing half a catty and a handful of small fish and shrimp as he walked back. He had always remembered Brother Ming’s leg cramps that day, so while Tang Chunming was resting he took a trip to Hu LangZhong’s house. Doctor Hu didn’t think it was a big deal always to have leg cramps like this. He heard from Ah-Lin that they would sometimes happen at night. He could keep watch during the day, but what about at night?

　　Hu Langzhong said that this is a common phenomenon among pregnant gers. If he wants to alleviate it, the only way is to pay more attention to the food. It’s caused by the fetus in the womb competing with its mother for food. At Li Feng’s request, Hu Langzhong gave him a list of food and explained many things that pregnant gers should pay attention to.

　　”Good boy, I think you are a good man!”  Doctor Hu praised Li Feng, and then said to him, “Brother Ming suffered from severe health problems in the past. Although he has taken good care of himself in the past six months, he still has to suffer.” This is the main reason why Doctor Hu doesn’t like the Zhao family.

　　During this period of contact, Li Feng also knew that Brother Ming would not treat himself badly when it came to food, and he could only try his best. Bone soup, mutton, and eggs are often seen on the dinner table, but river fish are rarely seen. After asking Hu Langzhong, Li Feng took time to catch fish in the river next to the village from time to time. After returning, Whether it’s soup or braised, he’ll be satisfied if he sees Brother Ming enjoying his meal.

　　Li Feng didn’t pay much attention to the small fish and shrimps that Brother Ming specially told him to get, but it wasn’t hard work, so he ignored them on purpose.

　　”Hey, Boy Feng went fishing again.” The villagers greeted him when they saw him and looked at the fish in his hand with a smile.

　　”Well, Brother Ming is not in good health, Hu Langzhong told me that he needs to take supplements.” Li Feng responded lightly. He would return kindness to those who did show him. He didn’t take everything seriously at all.

 The same goes for Brother Ming, he never takes things that don’t matter to his heart very seriously, otherwise, it will be your own body that will get tired from worrying. From this, you can see that he is a tolerant person.

　　”Brother Ming is really fortunate, this is called blessing after suffering.” Although he has good intentions, he still feels envious. In just a short time, Brother Ming has been living a better life than anyone else. Not only can he make money, but he made a man take the initiative to come to the door by himself. Moreover, it was such a caring person, which made people who were usually afraid of Li Feng’s disfigured appearance regret it.

　　”No, It is Brother Ming who is good.” Although Li Feng didn’t say much, he was willing to say a few nice words for Brother Ming so that he could be praised in the village.

　　After Li Feng left, the villagers talked even more lively. The people who had previously disliked him for being fierce, poor, and quarreling with his relatives. He was not considered a good marriage partner in the eyes of the villagers. Word also spread outside the village about him not caring about his uncle.

 With how ruthless he is, how will take care of his ger and his in-laws in the future? As for his appearance, if he could scare an unmarried ger into screaming, he must be very scary, so his reputation is getting worse outside of course it should be because his relative’s deliberate fuss is indispensable for this.

　　”Li Congen’s family must be regretting it now. They also said that their nephew was a poor man. It didn’t take long before him to buy a big horse, back from the city. I heard that the horse was worth a lot of money. It’s dozens of taels of silver!” The tone of exclamation was full of envy. If the money exchanged is enough for a family to spend for many years, imagine that  Li Conggen’s family missed all that money how could they be happy?

　　”Now it’s all Brother Ming’s and none of the relatives can compete with him again, from now on, it will be others’ turn to be jealous of him.” Some people lamented that Brother Ming’s good days were coming.

　　”In the future, there will be many jealous people, Let alone other families, just Li Conggen’s family, how can they not be jealous?” someone sneered.

　　Several people burst into laughter, and after a while, they saw Li Conggen’s wife and his little ger coming from the intersection. They all raised their voices in unison and talked about Boy Feng and how good he was to Brother Ming. Like going down to the river every day to catch fish for Brother Ming to eat.

 Even when Zhao Dahu was here, Brother Ming could not enjoy such a blessing. Some people said that they had seen Jinji’s bos pay a piece of silver to Brother Ming. And the carriage comes every few days, how much money will be saved in a year?

　　Li Conggen’s husband knew that these people deliberately said those things to embarrass him. However, after walking passed them, the expression on his face was distorted. His little ger is now fourteen years old this year. It’s time to meet someone, the Li family has high hopes for their little ger. In the entire Pingshan Village, which family’s little ger is as outstanding and good-looking as their family’s? he must find a rich family to see who in the village won’t flatter him in the future.

　　”Mom, are they telling the truth?  That My second uncle made a lot of money outside?” The young ger also has close friends in the village, during this time, someone would inevitably tell him about Tang Chunming and Li Feng. Several unmarried gers are very dissatisfied with Brother Ming, A widower with a child is so shameless, that he dares to hook up with unmarried men in the village.

 Before this happened, the unmarried boys didn’t like Li Feng, a man with a scary appearance, but just because they don’t like him doesn’t mean that they’ll accept that he likes a widower.

　　”Bah! What second uncle? He doesn’t recognize us as relatives. Why should we embarrass ourselves by going to advise him?” Li Conggen’s wife became angry when he thought about this. He was angry when he was forced to return the house and land. When he was lying in bed and couldn’t get up, when he was able to get up later, he spread bad words about his nephew in and out of the village. In the end, he thought, no ger would marry such a man, and he would be a bachelor for the rest of his life. , maybe he’ll adopt a child from them in the future, and the family property will be back in their hands by then.

　　When he suddenly saw that there was a horse, he went to the town to ask. Everyone said that a good horse may not be bought for dozens of taels of silver. He inquired about how much that type of horse costs, which made him want to take the horse immediately to town and sell it for a good profit.

　He is such a scoundrel after he came back, he must have deliberately concealed it and pretended to be poor. Making everyone in the village take his side and no one spoke for his own family. Even though he already had money, he still wanted to take back the house and the land from their family. his heart is rotten to the core!

　　The little ger also complained that his second uncle made their family anxious. Ever since the eldest brother came back, the family had been in trouble every day, and his life was not easy. He kept an eye on him every day and deliberately assigned people to follow him. He often used his nephew as an excuse to do things, and his hands were tied during this period, making it difficult for him to get married in the future.

　　”Mom, let’s just forget it. Second uncle has troubled our family a lot. Are you willing to accept it?” The younger ger came up with an idea and said, “If you want, you can ask someone from the clan to speak out. When the second uncle came back, he told you that he had no money, so the clan gave him the house and land, but now he would rather support others, where does he put the face of our Li family?”

　　”Yes, since he is unkind, we don’t need to talk to him about family ties. You go home, and I will go to the elders of the clan to seek justice.” Li Conggen’s wife felt that the ger’s words could not be more convincing.

　　Li Feng carried the fish back home. For him, the place with Brother Ming is his home now. Although his house is the place where he and his parents once lived, the house has been ruined even more in the past five years. The repairs he made not long ago made those traces almost invisible. Even when Yu Mu was still there, he felt very lonely living there, but now every day when he sees Ming Geer’s vibrant smiling face, he feels… motivated.

　　”Brother Ming, I’m back.” After entering the yard, Li Feng loudly greeted the people in the house. After a while, one big and one young ger came out of the house to greet him. Li Feng held up Ah-Lin with one hand and held the basket in the other. He handed the fish to Brother Ming: “Be careful, don’t let the fish splash water on you.” The fish was still alive. If his craftsmanship was not too rough, he would have also handled it in the kitchen.

　　”I know, you should wash your hands too, so as not to get the fishy smell onto Ah-Lin’s body.” Tang Chunming said in disgust and went to the kitchen with the fish in hand.

　　”Okay, I got it.” Li Feng responded loudly from behind.

　　”Uncle Feng, let’s ride the big horse.” Ah-Lin didn’t care whether he was fishy or not. Only when Uncle Feng came back could he take him to ride a big horse.

　　”How about Ah-Lin ride the pony first? Let’s go ride together after Da Mao and Er Mao finish their homework?” Li Feng discussed this with him.

　　”Okay then, I have to wait for Brother Da Mao and Er Mao, Uncle Feng to let me down.” Ah-Lin was still willing to listen to reason. otherwise, Da Mao and Er Mao Brother would be sad. He then ran off, shouting: “Xiaodai, follow me. Let’s go on the pony.” Xiaodai stumbled behind him, while Xiaohei followed Xiaohua honestly to patrol the garden.

　　The so-called pony is a wooden horse that Li Feng made for him before, which is suitable for children of Ah-Lin’s age to play with.

　　Li Feng walked into the kitchen to help Brother Ming. There was still wild meat hunted yesterday at home. Li Feng suggested, “Why don’t we invite Li Zheng and the others to come over for dinner today, just in time to ask about buying the mountain?” Li Feng was thinking about Brother Ming. Although no one in the village has ever bought a mountain, it doesn’t mean that he can’t do it.

　　”Okay, then you hurry up and call them. I’ll go to the back garden to pick some vegetables and cook a few more dishes. Why don’t you call A-Xiu and Dashan to come too?” Tang Chunming didn’t expect Li Feng to keep his words in mind. He’s afraid he is the only one supporting him in this matter. In the eyes of others, buying the land won’t be profitable, but it is like throwing money into the water.

　　Well, he just had the insight to choose such a considerate man. When he was moved, he used his finger to tickle the person who was still up and about in the kitchen. Li Feng lowered his head slightly toward him, with a questioning look in his eyes.

　　”Get closer, a bit lower. Why are you so tall?” Tang Chunming was envious, still, he was very fond of him. This is the ideal man. On the face that is close to him, even though there were scars he still looked particularly manly in his eyes.

　　Li Feng was puzzled, but he lowered his head and approached according to Brother Ming’s request, he felt the slight breath blowing on his face. He couldn’t help but clutch his knees, telling himself that he should look away and stop staring. Brother Ming’s face had fair skin with upturned corners of his mouth and smiling eyes made him reluctant to look away and stared at him almost obsessively.

　　Suddenly this face came closer, warm breath sprayed on his face, and a soft touch landed on his cheek. When he realized what happened, Li Feng was so shocked that he almost lost his balance and nearly fell his face suddenly turned red, his breathing became rapid, and he almost ran away in panic.

　　”Haha…” Tang Chunming was amused by Li Feng’s reaction. He felt that he should not be teasing such an innocent man. Well, he had always been more practical, so he just patted him and said: “This is a reward, go and come back quickly.”

　　”Oh…” Li Feng stood up obediently, turned around, and walked out. When he came out of the kitchen, he was blown by the wind and woke up. He had just been kissed by Brother Ming! He had been kissed by Brother Ming! But, after Brother Ming had taken the initiative, he actually behaved in such an unmanly manner. How could he let his ger take the initiative in such a matter? He must have been too inactive.

　　Without thinking, he suddenly turned around and went back to the kitchen. Tang Chunming was happily recalling Li Feng’s silliness just now. When he turned around, he saw a shadow running in. His dark head pressed directly against him, and the corner of his mouth felt painful. 

　　Tang Chunming was also dumbfounded. Only after Li Feng left the kitchen did he realize that he had been teased back in turn.

　　Touching the corner of his mouth, he really didn’t know what to say, but for him to meet such a silly man after coming here, maybe his father was blessing him in heaven.

　　Li Feng invited everyone back. This time, because Li Feng said he had something to discuss, Li Zheng did not refuse and came with his husband. He felt that every time he came to this courtyard, he became more resentful.

　　The fruit trees planted in the yard all sprouted new leaves, and a circle of famous and unfamiliar flowers and plants were planted around the main house. Li Zheng asked his husband curiously: “What is Brother Ming planting? Indeed, he’s not like a ger from the countryside, he’s a scholar after all.”

　　”What are you talking about? It’s because you dislike me for being a rough ger.” Shen Fulang replied angrily. His husband was good in other aspects, but there was one thing that he couldn’t stand. He was born in a rural area.

 Just because he had learned calligraphy for a few days and excelled, he liked to put on airs to show that he was special. He would forget his last name after being praised a few times. Shen Fulang thought to himself that it was a good thing that he did not continue learning, otherwise he would be as famous as Zhao Laosan and look down on this countryman.

　　”No way, what are you talking about in someone else’s house!” Mr. Li Zheng blushed and reprimanded him. Shen Fulang wasn’t frightened by him. Instead, he pulled him and said, “Brother Ming raises so many chickens and sheep at home. Now that the weather is hot and attracts flies and mosquitoes. He especially found some flowers and plants to repel insects and mosquitoes. I’ll ask Hu Langzhong. If it is effective, I will follow Ming Geer’s example and plant some tomorrow.”

　　”Really?” In summer, they just smoke mugwort.

　　”Just wait and see, it’s going to get hotter today. Besides, most of the flowers here are jasmine. Brother Ming said it’s good to make tea after drying them. I’ve requested some with Brother Ming next time.” As he said this, he entered the room and reminded Tang Chunming, “Brother Ming, we had agreed, you can’t forget my share.”

　　”I didn’t forget,  just come over and ask Afeng for it.” Tang Chunming thought it wasn’t a big deal, so he agreed. After Li Zheng walked in, he didn’t quarrel with his husband like before. Instead, he carried on with his hands on his back. After being pinched by Shen Fulang, he smiled and talked to Dashan. They were all from the Li family, so their relationship is closer.

　　”Where’s Li Feng? Why didn’t anyone come out to greet us?” Li Zheng couldn’t find Li Feng, so he turned to ask Dashan. Since he knew that Li Feng had taken a fancy to Ming Geer and insisted on staying here, he also gradually considered Ming Geer as family.

　　Dashan replied with a smile: “He’s helping Brother Ming in the kitchen. He’s almost done and will be out soon.”

　　”He treats himself as a guest, what a bad virtue!” Shen Fulangsaid angrily, then turned around and went to the kitchen to help. If he didn’t know his husband’s temperament so well, Li Zheng wouldn’t know how to explain to Dashan: “Look at Feng boy, it’s okay if there is a ger in the kitchen, he still joins in.”

 “Is it fun helping his ger really… From now on, the geer, will order him around!” Well, Brother Ming is quite good, but he also has big ideas. In the future, there will Boy Feng still have a say in the family?

　　Dashan couldn’t hold in his laugh: “Don’t worry Brother Ming is good. It’s inconvenient for a ger to be pregnant, even my Axiu came to help as soon as he got here. Boy Feng can help light a fire at most.”

　　Well, these words made Li Zheng feel a little relieved. Although Dashan has a mild temper, Brother Xiu still respects him at home and outside. Although Dashan’s mother is partial, Axiu is always filial. which makes the people in the tribe feel comfortable.

　　When Shen Fulang arrived in the kitchen, he drove Li Feng out: “When Geers are talking, what are you doing here as a man? Go out and talk to your uncle.” After Li Feng reluctantly stopped and walked out, Shen Fulang smiled. Then he said to Tang Chunming and Zhang Xiu, “My husband is still a little worried. Brother Ming, don’t bother with him later.”

　　”I won’t,” Tang Chunming smiled and waved his hands, “Uncle Li Zheng still takes good care of me. He just cares about Afeng.” In front of outsiders, he calls him Li Zheng.  Now he also refers to him as Uncle, just like Li Feng.

　　”Uncle, he treats Li Feng as his nephew, otherwise he wouldn’t worry about him, for fear that Brother Ming would bully Boy Feng and lose all his wealth to him,” Zhang Xiu jokingly said, “But uncle, did the Li family say anything about Li Feng?”