The Idyllic Scenery is Infinitely Good

After Lin Cheng accompanied Lin Mai to take the medicine and walked him home again, Lin Mai gave him a strange look and said, “Chengzi Ge, don’t you want to go to the field? Why are you walking back again?”

“What is the use of going to the field right now?” Lin Cheng waved his hand and said, “I would like to see and visit your Grandma. There’s no need to rush and go to the field anyway.”

Lin Mai nodded his head and didn’t make any sound anymore. Both of them walked quietly just like this. After he got home, Lin Mai didn’t have time to care about Lin Cheng, so he rushed to the kitchen to cook the medicine. Until everything was done, when he came out of the kitchen with the bowl in his hand, only then he remembered Lin Cheng who had been left out in the courtyard. He was a little embarrassed as he said, “Chengzi Ge, I’m sorry, I was busy making medicine for my Ama that I forgot about you.”

Lin Cheng patted the small wooden bench beside him and said, “It’s alright, come here! You too, sit down and rest! Don’t make yourself too exhausted!”

“Wait, I’ll put the bowl in the kitchen first.”Lin Mai took the bowl and put it in the kitchen. When he came out, he also brought out two bamboo winnowing baskets, the small one containing a few boiled sweet potatoes and the large one containing some corn cobs and said to Lin Cheng,”I met Auntie Liu when I went down to the field yesterday. She gave me some sweet potatoes. Don’t look at the small size, I tasted one this morning and it was quite sweet. Try it!”

Lin Cheng took the sweet potato from his hand and broke it into two parts and gave half to Lin Mai, who didn’t say anything and sat next to him quietly nibbling on the sweet potato. Before he took two bites, he was already frowning and calling out to Lin Cheng, “Cheng Zi Ge …”

Lin Cheng gobbled up the sweet potatoes in his hand in a couple of bites. He was now twisting the corn with great energy, when he heard Lin Mai call out to him he answered casually: “What is it?”

Lin Mai didn’t notice it just now but when he turned his head and saw Lin Cheng twisting the corn for him, he reached over and tried to grab it, “Cheng Zi Ge, don’t do it! I’ll do it myself, I’ll do it myself.”

“It’s not a problem, I am idle anyway.” Lin Cheng turned sideways to avoid Lin Mai’s hand and said, “Just now, what are you going to say?”

Lin Mai saw that he couldn’t persuade him so he let him be. He rubbed his hands together and said, “Cheng Zi Ge, I may have to pay that medicine money back some other time later…”

“Tsk…” Lin Cheng stopped what he was doing and said, “Mai Zi, you couldn’t possibly think that I’m waiting at your house now for you to pay back the money, do you?”

“It’s not like that.” Lin Mai hurriedly waved his hands and said, “I didn’t think like that. Actually, I don’t have a lot of money in hand right now so I’m afraid that if I pay you back now, later I won’t have enough money to buy medicine for Grandma, so I’m thinking of paying you back later, do you think that’s okay?”

Lin Cheng sighed and patted Lin Mai’s shoulder and said, “Mai Zi ah, It’s not that I said you, actually earlier when I paid the money, I didn’t want you to pay back the money, do you know that? Your grandmother is usually quite kind to me, not to mention that she often embroiders a pair of insoles for me or makes me a pair of shoes every now and then, so just from this point, no matter what I have to take out the silver for that reason only. You too, don’t say whether to pay me back or not, that kind of talk I don’t like to hear, do you know that?”

Lin Mai replied in a low voice and didn’t say anything more but in his mind he was trying to calculate at what time he would be able to pay back the money he owed Lin Cheng.

Looking at his reaction, Lin Cheng already guessed what he was thinking about and how he was really concerned about that matter and put it in his mind. Lin Cheng shook his head helplessly and continued to rub the corn in his hands until he had finished twisting all of the corn. He then looked at the sun which was already slanting a little, before he said, “Fine, Mai Zi Ah, the time is not early anymore so I have to go back. You too, don’t dwell on it anymore! Let’s prioritize your Ama’s health first, then we will talk about the other matters later!”

“Be careful on your way!” Lin Mai watched Lin Cheng walk away before he closed the door and then went into the kitchen to cook for dinner.

Lin Cheng strolling leisurely on his way home and before he reached the door he saw Lin Da Shan sitting on the stone stairs, therefore he raised his voice to ask, “Da Shan, what are you doing?”

“Yo, you’ve finally willing to come back home! I’ve been waiting for a long time.” Lin Da Shan stood up and waved his hands at him, calling him to run faster.

Lin Cheng hurriedly ran up to him, slightly panting and asked, “You kid, what are you here?”

Lin Dashan patted Lin Cheng’s back twice and said with a wicked smile, “You’re no good ah! You’re panting like this after just two steps, what will you do if you get a wife later?”

“Fuck off!” Lin Cheng punched him and said, “I’m worried that if your mouth is so despicable, what will happen if you can’t get a wife?”

Lin Da Shan carried a basket with him as he followed him into the house. When he heard him say that, he slapped him hard on the back and said, “You’re full of bullshit. There are plenty of girls and gers waiting for me to marry. It’s only you who talk nonsense.”

Lin Cheng was staggered by his slap and almost went straight to the ground. He turned around and cursed him with a laugh, “You’re hitting me so hard, if I become crippled because of it, I’ll tell you that you’ll have to raise me from now on.”

Lin Da Shan expressed his disgust at him with a sideways glance and said, “Only a fool would raise a rough man like you. If you want to raise a full of life little girl or a little ger, just forget about it then, with your virtue like this, I’m afraid that it will hurt my eyes!”

“Hey! What’s wrong with my virtue? If I go out and shout about my virtue, believe it or not, many girls and gers in our village will rush to marry me?” Lin Cheng glared at Lin Dashan and scolded him but before Lin Da Shan could respond, he laughed. 

“That’s enough.” Lin Da Shan continued with a frown on his face, “The female mosquitoes and maggots in your family latrine are all making an uproar to marry you, so hurry up and go!”

“Don’t disgust me! Oh yeah, that’s right,”

Lin Cheng poured a glass of water for Lin Da Shan, sat next to him and asked him curiously, “Didn’t you go to the city to learn carpentry from that carpenter master? Why did you have time to come back today?”

Lin Da Shan drank a sip of water but when he heard Lin Cheng’s words, he immediately swallowed it and said, “Don’t say it anymore! I don’t know what kind of bad luck has befallen him. I heard that he had offended someone big (a bigshot). I don’t know if it’s true but yesterday some soldiers went there and closed the shop, so the master ( Shi Fu) went back to the countryside. I didn’t know what to do so I came back.”

“There’s still this kind of matter?” Lin Cheng said this as he patted Lin Da Shan’s shoulder, “It’s fine, it’s almost time for the autumn harvest anyway so it’s good that you’re back now, save yourself from being too tired and have to run between the village and the city.”

“I think so too, but it’s a pity. That master’s workmanship is famous in our city, but the shop went bankrupt before I could learn 70% or 80% of it. It’s really such a pity!” Lin Da Shan slammed his fist on the table and gritted his teeth.

Lin Cheng immediately said with a pained expression on his face, “You can be a bit more gentle! You have a hard fist, but you can’t smash it like that! If you break my table, what should I do?”

Lin Da Shan listened to the first two sentences, his expression still warmed up a little, thinking that this brother was still pretty good and know how to cares about him, but as soon as he heard the last one, his face directly blackened, staring at his eyes for a long time and unable to say a word.

Lin Cheng looked at his expression, he felt that he was funny and said, “I am just joking. Why angry? Are you hungry now? Why don’t you eat dinner at my place? I guess your family’s kitchen is still not properly cleaned up.”

“Humph!” Lin Dashan grunted coldly, with a look of ‘It’s good that you are not count as stupid’ and ‘asking for beating expression’ on his face.

Lin Cheng laughed sullenly and turned back after taking two steps, “So, do you have any plans for the future?”

“Plans?” Lin Da Shan put down the cup of tea in his hand and thought for a moment before saying, “I’m not sure yet. Let’s get the work in the field properly done first! Other than that … We’ll wait for the beginning of spring to start later before we make plans. I can’t really think of anything to do right now.”

“Then just let it be like this and take your time with the rest.” Without saying anything further, Lin Cheng went into the kitchen. 

Lin Da Shan saw him go in, only then he remembered what he had brought with him so he hurriedly followed him, “Cheng Zi, wait a minute! I just scoop this fish out of the river, it’s fresh. You take it and make a dish for me bei!”

Lin Cheng took the fish, weighed it in his hand and said, “This fish is quite heavy ah! Do you want it steamed or braised?”

“Can I have half steamed and half braised in soy sauce?” Lin Da Shan asked while blinking his eyes. 

Disgusted by him, Lin Cheng said in an evil voice, “Either you choose one or you can just eat this fish raw yourself, your choice!”

“Braised it then! The steamed one doesn’t have much flavour.” Lin Da Shan could only settle for the second best and chose it to be braised with soy sauce. 

Lin Cheng didn’t even answer him. He just directly cut the fish to death with a single slice. He then removed the scales and opened the belly with unparalleled skill.

Lin Da Shan was stunned looking at this. 

For dinner, Lin Cheng made braised fish, stir-fried cabbage and cooked a pig’s foot soup and then finished. After they finished eating, Lin Da Shan was unwilling to leave and stubbornly stayed in his place and complained to Lin Cheng about the bad food in one of those restaurants. In the end, Lin Cheng was so annoyed by him that he was about to explode, only then did he slip away and leave. Lin Cheng was so angry that he almost wanted to slaughter him for stock and drag him out to sell …