Chapter 15 Sleeping in Separate Beds

When their eyes met, Lu Yuan was stunned, and Su Huai was also stunned.

“Brother Su… why did you touch me?”

He shook Lu Yuan’s hand away. Su Huai stroked his forehead and said in a muffled voice: “You’ve drunk too much, go to sleep.”

Rubbing his eyes in a daze, Lu Yuan was still drunk, and stretched out his hand to pull the corner of Su Huai’s clothes: “Mm, won’t you sleep with me?”

Lu Yuan scratched his neck with sleepy eyes, and Su Huai looked down along his finger, which was dazzling red. His throat tightened, and Su Huai unconsciously took two steps back. Lu Yuan’s hand holding the corner of his clothes was pulled away. He swayed, almost falling off the kang, and looked up at Su Huai in confusion.

“Ahem… Today is New Year’s Eve, I… stay up all night.”

“Oh…” He turned over, and rolled twice. Lu Yuan hugged Su Huai’s clothes tightly and fell asleep again.

Rubbing his forehead with his fingers, Su Huai’s face was extremely gloomy.

The first time he diagnosed the pregnancy pulse, Su Huai thought that his medical skills were not good enough. The second time he diagnosed the pregnancy pulse, Su Huai suspected that Lu Yuan had a strange disease. The third time he diagnosed the pregnancy pulse, Su Huai was puzzled why he looked so much like a big-boned ger…

Now it seems that he is really a big-boned guy!

He is obviously a ger but he still messes around with men everywhere. He doesn’t mind sleeping in the same bed with him… Is this troublesome guy really so shameless or too slow?

Su Huai snorted and sat on the earthen kang, separated from Lu Yuan by a kang table, staring at his sleeping posture. After a long time, he pulled the quilt over him and looked out the window sullenly.

 For so many years, Su Huai had never stayed up to see the New Year. This year, it was because he didn’t sleep well…

He was upset and kicked Lu Yuan’s butt. Hearing the two humming sounds from the other side, Su Huai didn’t feel much better.

This guy, is he planning to birth the baby to pester him?

He sighed softly. The sky outside the window was bright and dim, and the sound of firecrackers did not stop. Su Huai’s eyes reflected the swaying candlelight, and he seemed a little unpredictable.

Someone came to urge him again today. The old man wanted to have a grandson so badly! He just picked a ger and wanted to put him by his side. The same is true for his livelihood. He always wants him to inherit the family business, regardless of whether he is happy or not… But even so, it has been so long, and it’s time to go back.

He turned his head and looked at Lu Yuan who was sleeping soundly, smiling foolishly, not knowing what silly dream he was having. Su Huai suddenly smiled, a very meaningful smile.

Thinking about it this way, being entangled or… just right.

*

After the 31st, the New Year passed in a blink of an eye. These days, Lu Yuan followed Su Huai to visit relatives and collect red envelopes. Of course, the red envelopes finally went into Su Huai’s pocket, and the fat meat grew on his body.

According to Lu Yuan’s method, the Wang family’s child was fed with rice soup for half a month. Although he was not as strong as ordinary children, he did not suffer from any serious illness. Lu Yuan held the child once when he went to visit. The chubby little face and hands were cute. The little child seemed to like him very much and kept rubbing against his arms. Ganzi asked if Xiao Yuan smelled of rice porridge. His little brother liked it and came over to smell it, but let Su Huai take it away directly.

 However, when he heard that he was going to the city to find a job, Ganzi also wanted to go with him. Daddy Wang also said that the two of them could be good companions and can take care of each other. Lu Yuan was very happy to make this agreement. Su Huai’s face was as dark as usual, but this dead man had a dark face all day long. Lu Yuan was too lazy to guess whether the degree of his dark face today was different from other times.

On the night of the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Lu Yuan was so excited that he couldn’t sleep because he thought he would go to the town to find a job early tomorrow morning. He was almost suffocated to death by being stuck in such a small village. When he opened his eyes every day, he saw either Su’s facial paralysis, or pigs, chickens, and ducks. Thinking that he could see all kinds of normal people with rich expressions in the town, Lu Yuan couldn’t suppress his happiness in his heart.

“Brother Su, when you find a job in the town, will you stay in the shop?” Holding a sour jujube in his mouth, Lu Yuan unbuttoned and tied the bag that Su Huai had packed, looking energetic.

 Su Huai was fiddling with a bunch of bamboo sticks in his hand, tying them into the shape of lanterns. Hearing this, he raised his eyebrows and looked at Lu Yuan: “Do you want to stay?”

“I’m just thinking that living here will cause you too much trouble. If you live in the town, you can save some trouble!” Lu Yuan scratched his head with a smile, thinking, of course, avoiding you will save me some trouble.

“Mm.” Su Huai lowered his head and continued to work on his paper lantern, leaving Lu Yuan alone to study blankly, this “mm”, is it staying or not?

Soon, a small round lantern was completed under Su Huai’s hands. Su Huai put a small piece of burning candle in it, stood up, pushed open the window, and hung the small lantern out.

The round lantern swayed gently in the night wind. Looking out of the window, you can see the lanterns hung by every household outside the alley in a line. The orange lanterns reflected the silver moon in the sky, which seemed to calm people’s hearts.

 “Go to bed early, you have to get up early tomorrow.” Su Huai whispered, preparing to close the window.

“Brother Su, you won’t sleep on the kang today?” Lu Yuan touched his bag, looking a little confused.

Since the night of New Year’s Eve, Su Huai said that he couldn’t get used to sleeping on the kang, his waist hurt and he got angry. He used a square stool to build a bed, asked for bedding from Daddy Wang, and slept on it every day. The next day, Lu Yuan always saw Su Huai pounding his waist and twisting his shoulders. He probably couldn’t stand it. Lu Yuan asked him several times not to burn too much and sleep on the kang at night, but he refused. The next day, he looked uncomfortable again. Lu Yuan felt really bad. He wanted to live in the town, and this was another reason for this.

“Mm.” Su Huai responded and continued to close the window. He heard a few footsteps. When he turned around, Lu Yuan had already walked up to him and held his arm.

 Su Huai was just about to say something, but Lu Yuan ignored him, leaned on the windowsill, and sighed: “Brother Su, look outside, it’s quite beautiful! Come and look for a while!”

“What’s so good about it? It’s cool at night…” Su Huai frowned, but leaned against the window. His sight slowly extended.

“Brother Su, look, there seems to be a river over there?”

“That’s Shitou River. Shitou Town is built along the river. Washing clothes, cooking, swimming in summer, and ice fishing in winter are all done in that river. It is equivalent to the mother river of the villagers.”

Shitou River is covered with a thick layer of ice. Looking out of the window, you can only see a winding jade belt, flashing with tiny starlight under the hazy moonlight, responding to the red paper lanterns. Some are long, some are animal-shaped, or like this one at home, round.

 “Brother Su, this is such a great place! I envy you for growing up here!” The night wind was a little chilly, and Lu Yuan rubbed against Su Huai unceremoniously. He felt that it was convenient for two men to be together, and they could talk about whatever they wanted. There were no women’s troubles, they didn’t need to be coaxed, and they were warmer than women when they were cold.

It was a little rustic, but he recognized Su Huai as his good buddy! Just like this village, it was a little rustic, but it was simple and lovely.

“I’m not a native of Shihe Village.”

“Eh?” Lu Yuan turned his head and saw that Su Huai didn’t want to say more, so he had to mutter: “Is that so? I also think you seem to be more gentle and have studied. Maybe you’re from a wealthy family…”

“Go to sleep, you have to get up early tomorrow. You like to watch lanterns, there will be a lantern festival in the town tomorrow, I will take you to see enough.” Su Huai interrupted Lu Yuan and was about to close the window.

 “Wait a minute!” Lu Yuan shouted, ran into the house and found something. When he returned to Su Huai, he raised his hand to cover his eyes.

“Xiao Yuan, what are you doing!” Su Huai frowned and raised his hand to grab Lu Yuan’s arm.

“Wait a minute! You won’t die if you wait a while!” Lu Yuan struggled with Su Huai’s eyes covered. His palms were scratched by his eyelashes, which made him feel itchy. After working mysteriously for a long time, Lu Yuan finally let go of his hand and looked like he had accomplished a great task: “Look!”

The houses lined up in a winding shape in front of him, and the swaying lanterns were extinguished one by one. The last bit of warm light gathered on the round lantern of his own house. Su Huai looked up and saw a crooked lotus drawn on the transparent paper with an ink pen.

 “Haha, in my hometown, we always put lotus lanterns to pray for blessings during festivals. I’ve painted this lotus on our lanterns now. Although… it doesn’t look like it, it can be regarded as bringing in blessings!” Scratching his head, Lu Yuan smiled and said, “Brother Su, thank you for taking care of me these days!”

“…”

Su Huai didn’t say anything, but just stared at the lantern. Lu Yuan was so happy. He thought that this guy must be very touched. Except for every morning when he woke up and was confused, he had never seen him look so dazed.

 “Xiao Yuan…”

“Hehe… Brother Su, you don’t have to be so touched. I just want to thank you for taking care of me. It’s nothing…”

“That… Xiao Yuan…”

“Don’t thank me! It will seem strange if I thank you!”

“Xiao Yuan.”

“I said no… Eh? Brother Su? Why did you pick that lantern?”

After extinguishing the candle and closing the window, Su Huai turned around and looked at Lu Yuan silently for a long time, then slowly said, “Xiao Yuan, when a lotus painted on the lantern. Here, it is hung by the dead.”