Fantasy Farm

Chapter 108 - Ao Run’s Invitation

Edited by Zaki

Wu Xiaohang didn’t like winter.

Winter meant spending more money on food, warm clothes, and heating. For ordinary people, it might just be a change of seasons, but for those who were not well-off, it was a heavy burden. In the past, he was alone, so he gritted his teeth and passed the winter by, but now there was a child in the family. Although the child said that he was not afraid of the cold, he was reluctant to let the child spend the winter in an unheated room.

Gritting his teeth to pay for the heating bill, Wu Xiaohang heaved a sigh of relief as the house became warmer.

After the winter, the originally lively child became quieter, almost unwilling to move except to eat. Wu Xiaohang changed his method to bring him delicious food, for fear that he wouldn’t even have this last hobby, and he would become completely without desire.

The child had been living in his home for almost half a year, and Wu Xiaohang was also used to his presence. During this period, although he had thought about whether to call the police to find the child’s family, but after finding out that the situation in the child’s home did not seem to be good, Wu Xiaohang stopped his thoughts. What’s more, he checked the missing persons information in this city every day, but he didn’t find anyone looking for the child. This also confirmed the child’s statement. His family didn’t love him, and even after they found out that he was missing, they didn’t have any intention of looking for him.

While Wu Xiaohang felt sad, he also breathed a sigh of relief, letting go of the guilt in his heart.

In autumn, the child was injured again. He was injured so badly that he passed out when he got home. Wu Xiaohang was startled when he saw this situation, and immediately carried him on his back and wanted to run to the hospital, but Wu Ruhuo woke up halfway and refused to go to the hospital adamantly.

“I’m fine, don’t go to the hospital.” Wu Ruhuo insisted, “I’ll be fine after a few days of sleep.”

“Who hit you, who hit you?” Wu Xiaohang gritted his teeth, wishing to help Wu Ruhuo get revenge, “Who has the heart to hit a child with such ferocity.” He couldn’t help but swear, but as he started cursing, he hurriedly stopped, after all, he had a child on his back, and it would not be a good thing for him to learn to use swearing.

Wu Ruhuo rubbed Wu Xiaohang’s cheeks naturally, in a coquettish manner and said: “Yes, he is really not a good thing, let’s go back, I really don’t want to go to the hospital, it’s all just superficial wounds, it will be fine in a few days.”

“No, how could this be just a skin injury?” Wu Xiaohang was still unwilling.

But Wu Ruhuo refused to go to the hospital no matter what. Wu Xiaohang’s persuasion was also ineffective, and finally had no choice but to take the child home. After returning home, he asked Wu Ruhuo why he didn’t want to go to the hospital. Wu Ruhuo was silent for a moment and said something that made Wu Xiaohang feel extremely distressed.

He said: “Hospitals are very expensive, and our family has no money.”

After Wu Xiaohang heard this, he hugged him hard, feeling extremely uncomfortable, thinking that he would never let the child suffer such grievances, nor let other people hurt him again.

The child was noncommittal about Wu Xiaohang’s promise. He leaned on Wu Xiaohang’s shoulder, his eyes were no longer as pitiful as before, but calm and waveless like stagnant water.

Although he was seriously injured in autumn, fortunately, after winter, he became much quieter, and he didn’t like to go out anymore. Though Wu Xiaohang was worried, he also breathed a sigh of relief. If Wu Ruhuo didn’t go out, it meant that other people had no chance to hurt him.

On this day, it was Wu Xiaohang’s payday. He specially bought Wu Ruhuo’s favorite cake from the bakery, and happily carried it home. But just as he was about to enter the house, he heard a fierce argument coming from inside, it seemed that Wu Ruhuo was arguing with someone. He was startled, his first reaction was that Wu Ruhuo’s parents had come to the door, but after carefully eavesdropping through the wall, Wu Xiaohang found that only Wu Ruhuo’s voice could be heard from the room.

“I won’t do that, just shut up.” Wu Ruhuo was furious, “He is different, at least to me.”

It was not known what the person at the other end said, Wu Ruhuo became even more angry, and even knocked down something: “I’ll let him know, but it’s not the time yet, wait for a while.”

Wu Xiaohang was thinking what the child wanted to tell him, when the voice in the room dropped down, and then the door opened, and Wu Ruhuo who was standing at the door had already found him who had come back.

The two looked at each other, but Wu Xiaohang was startled. In Wu Ruhuo’s eyes, he saw a look he had never seen before. The expression was cold and cruel, staring at him as if he was looking at an ant that could be crushed to death with a flick of his fingers. Wu Xiaohang’s heart was shocked, and he took a step back reflexively. When he looked again, Wu Ruhuo had recovered his usual gentle appearance and looked at him with a smile, saying “Brother, you’re back.”

“I, I’m back.” Looking at Wu Ruhuo in front of him, Wu Xiaohang quickly forgot the bad sense of incongruity just now, and said,  “I brought you your favorite cake, if you don’t eat it, it will freeze hard, come and try it.”

Wu Ruhuo laughed.

The two entered the room and happily shared the small piece of cake. Wu Ruhuo said suddenly, “Brother, if you find out that I’m lying to you, will you blame me?”

Wu Xiaohang was cutting the cake with his head lowered as he heard the words:”What are you lying to me about? Is it that your family is calling you back?”

Wu Ruhuo shook his head, indicating that it was not.

Wu Xiaohang said: “Everyone has their own secrets, and if you don’t intentionally want to harm people, occasional deception is also something that is allowed.” He raised his hand and touched Wu Ruohuo’s head, saying, “Or do you want to tell me now”

Wu Ruhuo bit his spoon and thought for a moment, but he rejected Wu Xiaohang’s proposal. He said, “No, I don’t want to tell you yet, it’s not yet time.”

Wu Xiaohang couldn’t help but laugh: “What do you mean it’s not the right time, in the end what is it?”

Wu Ruhuo said: “It’s very important, but I don’t want to say it now.” He observed Wu Xiaohang’s expression, and thought of the step Wu Xiaohang took involuntarily back at the door just now.

Wu Xiaohang, however, did not take Wu Ruhuo’s words seriously. Wu Ruhuo was only in his teens now, could a teenager have any particularly important secrets? Wu Xiaohang guessed that this secret probably had something to do with his family, so he was not in a hurry, stating that he could wait until Wu Ruhuo wanted to talk about it.

Wu Ruhuo smiled with satisfaction and said, “Brother, you are really good”.

Wu Xiaohang patted him on the shoulder and motioned him to come and eat the cake. The orange light in the room coated both of them with a layer of warm color. This winter didn’t seem to be as difficult as Wu Xiaohang imagined.

——–

The food tonight was stewed mutton, served with cabbage stored from the cellar, and a dipping sauce made by Lu Qingjiu himself, which was very appetizing. In fact, when Lu Qingjiu ate mutton, he liked to blanch some pea sprouts, but unfortunately this year’s snow came too early, and they didn’t grow any at home, so they had to give up on it in the end. But unexpectedly, Bai Yuehu suddenly stood up and went out halfway through the meal. Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun both looked blank, and while they were wondering if something happened in the city, Bai Yuehu came back with a bunch of crisp and tender pea sprouts. There was still white snow on his shoulders, but he didn’t care. He just patted it off and said, “Eat first, I’ll wash it.”

Lu Qingjiu couldn’t help showing a smile and nodded. He didn’t say that he wanted to eat fresh vegetables, but he didn’t expect Bai Yuehu to see it at a glance.

After the pea sprouts were washed, they were placed in a hot soup pot, and they could be taken out after immersing in the soup for a while. Such pea sprouts had a strong aroma, and both the fresh leaves and stems were very refreshing. Lu Qingjiu asked: “Where did you pick it?”

Bai Yuehu said: “I bought it from the supermarket.”

Lu Qingjiu said: “It’s really delicious.”

Bai Yuehu nodded in satisfaction. Although Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun couldn’t go out, he could. Thinking about it this way, they weren’t too isolated from the world.

After eating the pea sprouts, Lu Qingjiu’s mood improved a lot. In the end, he drank several bowls of soup consecutively, and his body also warmed up. After dinner, Yin Xun took the initiative to wash the dishes, while Bai Yuehu and Lu Qingjiu sat by the bed and continued knitting. He had to say that knitting sweaters was really addictive. Once you started, you wanted to knit in one go, and you couldn’t stop. The earmuffs that Lu Qingjiu planned to knit for Bai Yuehu were only a third completed at this time, and they were still far from completion. As for what Bai Yuehu was knitting, Lu Qingjiu couldn’t comprehend it.

After winter, the snow has no intention of stopping at all. It was like a big hole had been poked in the sky and continuously poured snow on land. In just one night, the snow outside was as high as a person’s thigh, and it was almost impossible to open the door.

In order to avoid the house being blocked, the first thing they did every morning was to sweep snow. But sweeping the snow had nothing to do with Lu Qingjiu. Although he wanted to do it, Bai Yuehu firmly refused, saying that Lu Qingjiu’s physique was already cold, and he had to rely on Zhu Rong’s ginger soup to warm up and having contact with snow would further worsen his condition. Lu Qingjiu tried to argue but he was unsuccessful, so he could only give up and stand in the room looking at Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun sweep the snow.

After being holed up in the house for several days, there was finally a sunny day. Lu Qingjiu hurried out to bask in the sun for a while. After the heavy snowfall, it was white outside, and the sun was dazzling in the snow. Yin Xun sniffled and asked Lu Qingjiu what was for dinner tonight.

Lu Qingjiu said: “Let’s see what you and Yuehu want to eat, why do you have a runny nose?”

Yin Xun said: “I seem to have a bit of a cold.”

Lu Qingjiu: “Mountain gods can catch a cold too?” The mountain god Yin Xun was a bit too fragile.

Yin Xun said: “The cold virus is terrible. Who doesn’t catch a cold, and the dragon people can catch a cold too.”

Lu Qingjiu: “…..” He didn’t know what to say.

Although it was sunny, Lu Qingjiu still didn’t dare to go far, so he walked around the yard a few times to exercise his muscles and bones. At this time, the yard was empty, the chickens and rabbits had all been moved indoors by Lu Qingjiu before the snow fell. The cow, Niuniu didn’t go inside, but Bai Yuehu said that he was very cold resistant, as long as the forage was constant, the quality of the meat would be better if he kept it outside for a winter. Niuniu shuddered silently when he heard Bai Yuehu’s words.

As for the Qinyuan and the bees in the backyard, Lu Qingjiu also put them in a special storage room, and placed sugar that bees could eat for them to spend the winter. In short, the whole family was now ready for winter.

In December, the fox’s father Su Yan came to pick up the little fox cub Su Xi as usual. After last year’s situation, this year Su Xi had perfectly preserved his smooth and soft fur, and he no longer had to worry about being recognized as a poodle. Su Yan was quite moved when he saw this scene, he took Lu Qingjiu’s hand and shook it a few times to express his gratitude, and finally ran away under Bai Yuehu’s unfriendly gaze. When he saw the sweaters in Bai Yuehu and Lu Qingjiu’s hands, he obviously thought of something terrible, his back felt cold, and he grabbed his son and hurried away.

Lu Qingjiu asked in a daze: “What was wrong with Su Yan, why did he look like he was being chased away in a panic?”

Bai Yuehu said: “Look at the color of the wool on your hand, doesn’t it look like smooth fox fur?”

Lu Qingjiu: “….”

Bai Yuehu said: “That’s why he is running fast.”

Lu Qingjiu was exasperated, he bought the wool from the town at first, but because of their hard work day and night, it soon became insufficient. Of course, how could Bai Yuehu allow his gift-giving business to be hindered? So he soon brought back a ball of very good quality wool. Lu Qingjiu didn’t think much about it. He thought it was the wool that Bai Yuehu got from somewhere. Now seeing Su Yan’s expression like seeing a ghost, he could guess where Bai Yuehu got the wool from.

He had to say that it was really miserable for this group of nine-tailed foxes to meet Bai Yuehu. Not only did they lose their tails, but even their body hair was plucked a lot.

After Su Xi left, the house became much quieter. This year, the Chinese New Year came very early, almost in mid-January. Lu Qingjiu originally thought that they would wait until the Chinese New Year in peace, but unexpectedly at the end of December, a major event happened in the city. The Zhulong who had been very quiet so far suddenly rioted in the city.

It was still snowing that day, Lu Qingjiu woke up in a daze, and saw Bai Yuehu dressing beside him, he asked, “Where are you going?”

Bai Yuehu said: “I’ll go to the city.” He turned his head and planted a tender kiss on Lu Qingjiu’s forehead, “You stay at home obediently, don’t go to the yard, it’s too cold outside.”

Lu Qingjiu agreed.

Bai Yuehu got up and left, his back was a little hurried, it seemed that the situation was not very good. Lu Qingjiu lay on the bed for a while, then got up too. There was an electric radiator plugged in inside the room so it wasn’t too cold. It was past ten o’clock in the morning and Yin Xun should have come over. Sitting by the bed, Lu Qingjiu noticed a strange red glow in the sky. He was very familiar with this red glow, it was clearly a symbol of  fire, and it seemed that it was created by Zhulong again, but he didn’t know what kind of stimulation the Zhulong had received.

Lu Qingjiu was sitting by the window when he heard a knock on the door. His first reaction was that Yin Xun had come, but after the knock on the door, no one came in. Lu Qingjiu’s heart stirred and he knew that the person outside the door must not be Yin Xun.

Every time Bai Yuehu left, something would happen, and Lu Qingjiu felt it in his heart, so although he heard the knock on the door again, he didn’t move from his spot.

The knock on the door rang again for a while, then stopped. Lu Qingjiu was slightly puzzled, so he looked out through the cat’s eyes, but he didn’t expect to see a familiar figure standing outside the door in the snow and wind, gazing quietly at the black door in front of him.

Unexpectedly, his Grandpa had come to the door suddenly. While he was pleasantly surprised, Lu Qingjiu was also a little worried. He quickly opened the door and asked, “Grandpa, why are you here?”

Ao Run’s expression was slightly tired, he slowly stretched out his hand and gently grabbed Lu Qingjiu’s arm, and wrote in Lu Qingjiu’s palm: Qingjiu, I have something to tell you.

Lu Qingjiu said, “What’s the matter?”

Ao Run wrote: About Bai Yuehu.

Lu Qingjiu walked to the door, opened the door in the yard, and saw Ao Run standing outside the door, but Ao Run’s appearance frightened Lu Qingjiu, he saw wounds all over his body, and bruises on his cheeks. With scorched marks, it seemed as if he had escaped from the scene of the fire.

“Grandpa, are you okay?” Lu Qingjiu was startled.

Ao Run shook his head to show that he was okay: I had a fight with a beast just now.

When Lu Qingjiu heard the title of beast, he immediately thought of something: “You and Zhulong fought.”

Ao Run nodded slightly.

Lu Qingjiu said: “Come in first, I’ll help you treat the wound.” Those wounds looked too hideous, not only was the skin burnt to a crisp, even the red flesh inside was exposed, it was frightening to look at. Lu Qingjiu looked at his Grandpa’s appearance, and thought that his Grandma would feel very distressed if she saw it.

Ao Run stepped into the yard, but he didn’t enter the house, instead found a stone bench in the snow and sat down.

Lu Qingjiu hurried into the house to get alcohol and gauze, planning to give some treatment to Ao Run.

Alcohol on the wound should have hurt, but Ao Run didn’t flinch, while Lu Qingjiu felt more and more sad the more he cleaned it up. He whispered: “This won’t work, you still have to go to the hospital for stitches.”

Ao Run refused, saying that it was not that serious.

“Why is it not serious?” Lu Qingjiu said, “You can see the bones.” He really couldn’t bear it, and tried his best to lighten the movements of his hands, but this was just a drop in the bucket for serious wounds, “What happened, why did you fight with Zhulong, aren’t you two in the same group?”

Grandpa didn’t answer, just sighed softly, and he wrote slowly: You are different from your Grandma.

Lu Qingjiu made a sound.

Your grandma doesn’t like to talk. Although she has a good temper, she is very stubborn. If she sees me like this, she will definitely sulk again. Grandpa wrote that she was very smart, so she seldom advised him. Smart people seldom say superfluous words, and she knew she couldn’t persuade her lover, so she simply didn’t persuade him.

Lu Qingjiu listened quietly.

You are a good boy. Ao Run suddenly wrote this sentence, you shouldn’t get involved in all this.

Lu Qingjiu said: “But I have already mixed in.”

Ao Run wrote: No, you still have a chance. He raised his head slightly, his closed eyes turned towards Lu Qingjiu, and then he seemed a little confused: Why didn’t you leave Shuifu Village?

Lu Qingjiu stopped the work at hand, took a deep breath, and said in a serious and serious tone, “Because there are people I love here, and everything I want to protect.”

Ao Run said: But you are just a fragile human being, who do you want to protect?

Lu Qingjiu said: “Humans are the Guardians, and the Dragons are just tenants.”

Ao Run was dumbfounded and let out another sigh as he revealed a look that there was nothing he could do about Lu Qingjiu. Lu Qingjiu continued to help him treat the wound, he felt that Ao Run’s breath was a little weak, and a little worry rose in his heart.

Both of them fell silent, only the sound of snow falling around, Lu Qingjiu asked Ao Run if he wanted to go inside to warm up for a while, Ao Run refused.

I’m going to go. Ao Run wrote, but before leaving, there are some things to be done.

Lu Qingjiu asked: “What?”

Ao Run said: You really don’t want to leave Shuifu Village?

Lu Qingjiu was originally bent over, but when he read Ao Run’s question, he straightened up. He was a little puzzled as to why Ao Run insisted on him leaving this place.

“I won’t leave.” Lu Qingjiu said firmly, “No matter what happens, I won’t leave.” He couldn’t imagine leaving Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun here, the two of them couldn’t even cook well, what would happen to the whole family if he left?

Ao Run said: But you will die here.

Lu Qingjiu was stunned for a moment when he heard the words.

You will die here, like your parents. Ao Run actually wrote such a sentence.

Lu Qingjiu was silent for a moment, and gave Ao Run his final answer: “Everyone will die, everyone will, and death is the ultimate destination of human beings. It’s not so terrible to be with the people you love.”

After listening to Lu Qingjiu’s answer, Ao Run felt an indescribable melancholy on his brows. His expression seemed to be crying, but also seemed to be smiling. Combined with the hideous wounds on his face, he looked extraordinarily bizarre.

Lu Qingjiu was about to ask what’s wrong, when he saw Ao Run standing up suddenly, with his free hand on his shoulder, he wrote: Sorry, Qingjiu, I don’t want to do this either, but if I don’t do it, you will definitely die. As soon as he stopped, Lu Qingjiu felt a cold breath pouring into his body along his hands, and his whole body was instantly frozen, like an ice sculpture. But although the body was frozen, his consciousness was still clear. Lu Qingjiu heard Ao Run’s heavy sigh, and he wrote: It’s about to start, it’s too late.

Then a ferocious roar came from the doorway, it was Yin Xun who should have been here a long time ago but had only just arrived. When he saw this scene, he pounced towards Ao Run like crazy: “Bastard, let go of Lu Qingjiu!”

Naturally, Yin Xun was not Ao Run’s opponent at all, and before he could pounce on Ao Run, he waved his hand and Yin Xun hit the wall with a thud.

Seeing this, Lu Qingjiu showed a panicked expression. He didn’t understand why Ao Run would do this, but he also knew that Ao Run would not kill him, but Yin Xun was different. To Ao Run, he was just an insignificant person. Just a Mountain God.

Fortunately, Ao Run didn’t make any unnecessary movements. After Lu Qingjiu was completely frozen, he let go of Lu Qingjiu’s shoulder, stretched out his hand and gently touched Lu Qingjiu’s cheek, his fingers trembling slightly: I’m sorry.

Lu Qingjiu couldn’t speak, and could only look at Ao Run.

I do not want this. Ao Run wrote the last sentence: But I have no other way. He lowered his head. Although he couldn’t see his expression, Lu Qingjiu felt that he must be extremely sad at this time.

After Ao Run finished speaking, he turned around slowly and left against the wind and snow. Lu Qingjiu stood in the yard, like a lifeless ice sculpture. Yin Xun, who was beaten into the air, staggered towards him. After confirming that Lu Qingjiu was still alive, he cried and took out his mobile phone to call Bai Yuehu, but the mobile phone signal failed. It was gone long ago, his tears flowed out of his eyes and turned into ice drops on his cheeks, he choked up and said: “Jiu’er, it’s okay, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay, let’s just go into the house, it’s warm in the house.”