by Spring Trees
Heaving a sigh, Nan Ge Er turned to face the one on the left, “Ah Ju…”
The guy on the left was even more dejected, “Nan Ge Er, I’m so miserable…”
“What happened to you again?”
“Xiao Chun is too much…” The guy was just one step closer to squeezing a tear out, “Not only did she return the wallet I painstakingly stole, she even made me come over to surrender myself…”
Xiao Chun was the beloved wife of the guy mentioned above. The mother and daughter in his house were all firm members of anti-stealing. Not only would he be forced to return the money he stole every single time, but he was also even ordered by the young and old in his house to surrender himself.
Nan Ge Er sighed again before raising his head to look at the guy who was squatting on the tree branch, “Jun Er, what happened to you again?”
“My mum said that she forgot to buy rice. She took ‘er meal at aunt’s house, and told me to settle my meal myself, so I came ‘ere.” Being around the same age as Nan Ge Er, yet a little dumb, the young guy with delicate features spoke in a daze.
Nan Ge Er was in total misery.
Heaving a long and defeated sigh, Nan Ge Er drooped his head down, “Come on in, I’ve made some sweet cakes. If you guys can manage to snatch them before Mo Shu-” Before his sentence was completed, three faint gusts of wind swept passed him, “-and eat them.” They had already dash in.
Nan Ge Er only questioned, why was his life so spasm inducing?
Although no one could witness it, he still let out a long sigh.
Not only did he sigh to lament his embarrassingly miserable life, he sighed for those three unlucky dolls as well.
Why don’t they just abandon their outlaw life and get other jobs instead of trifling around? The three of them aren’t compatible with being thieves, which required technical skills. Not everyone with high martial art skills could qualify for it, ok?!
That’s right; the three guys were indeed the usual criminals that frequented the government office.
…Or maybe, they should change their jobs and become food handlers…
It is probably much more suitable for them…
Since all of them just do that to eat.
The food market is definitely closed now. Would other families have excess leftovers? If worst comes to worst, I’ll just fry some eggs with mildew bean curd by the side for them…
While thinking, Nan Ge Er sighed as he turned around, walking back to prepare dinner—since Mo Shu was helping out in the government office, Nan Ge Er did not have much to do. Finding it embarrassing to inconvenience the ladies in the town, he just cooked the meals himself instead.
Sometime earlier, Mo Shu ordered someone to catch a pregnant rabbit. She gave birth during the first half of the month, with four bunnies surviving – two males and two females.
Before entering the kitchen, he walked towards the backyard habitually to take a look at the four bunnies, just in time to notice a group of four muttering there.
“Mo Shu-xiansheng, do rabbits eat these?”
“Of course, can’t you see the bunnies are eating them? Would Mo Shu-xiansheng ever make a mistake?”
“Mo Shu-xiansheng is really awesome!”
“Be…be…bean!”
Nan Ge Er’s heart thumped, as he rushed over.
“Oi, the four of you!” He roared out, “Mo Shu, stop it!”
Mo Shu could only be seen feeding the bunnies with the salted beans, which had additional salt in them. Those four stupid bunnies were attracted by the fragrance of the beans, surrounding and squeezing around Mo Shu’s hands…
Wild rabbits were difficult to tame. The four of them only manage to survive with Nan Ge Er’s efforts of capturing the mother rabbit everyday to feed them her milk. Who would have thought Mo Shu dared to torment them like that.
It almost made him stuff every single bean in Mo Shu’s hand into his mouth as an attempt to kill him with saltiness.
“Advisor!” he howled his throat out, enraged, “Mo Shu-xiansheng came to the backyard!”
“Mo Shu, you scoundrel!” Thus, Zhu Xi’s roar came out from the study room.
“Erm, Mo Shu-xiansheng, I’ve promised to help Nan Ge Er pick vegetables.” Noting the bad turn of events, the other three began preparing to flee in an instant.
“Me too.”
“Bean- Me too!” The fellow had to force down his hunger, before correcting himself at once.
The three of them slipped away immediately.
Mo Shu looked at Nan Ge Er’s fuming expression, murmuring after a while, “…Xiao Nan, you’re so cruel.”
Nan Ge Er grabbed the things he had in hands, trying to restrain himself, but to no avail. He threw the things in his hands towards Mo Shu’s forehead, “Xiao Nan, your arse! How will you compensate me if the bunnies die, you bastard!”
The things in his hands were straws. With a throw from Nan Ge Er, the straws scattered around every part of Mo Shu’s forehead.
“Mo Shu, you irresponsible scoundrel!” Zhu Xi attacked from the side too, swishing a snarl in, with attitude and resentment as though being duped and abandoned by Mo Shu.
In the end, Zhu Xi forced Mo Shu to leave.
Nan Ge Er was trying to pry open the bunnies’ mouths the moment when they passed by, to see the number of strange items the bunnies ate.
“Nan Ge Er.” Mo Shu called out abruptly.
Irritated, Nan Ge Er raised his head to face him.
Looking rather comical with a few straws on his forehead, Mo Shu smiled towards him.
However, his smile was warm.
Chapter 23
* * *
During autumn and winter, neither did Nan Ge Er open his tea stall, nor did Mo Shu went out to patrol. Hence, the times where they interacted multiplied countless times as compared to the previous two seasons.
To Nan Ge Er, who tiptoed on the edges of getting outraged daily, this was unquestioningly a great challenge for his mental state.
It must be known that not everyone could tolerate such an absolute moronic fellow like Mo Shu.
Even though his days passed miserably, the second year of his arrival still passed by.
Before the New Year, Nan Ge Er still ended up falling seriously ill. It was due to his complete inability to tolerate Mo Shu, which ended up causing him to move back to his own room. In the end, he collapsed from a cold on the next day.
He had a fever and was dizzy for a week, even almost failing to finish preparing for the New Year.
He himself was shocked by how serious the cold was and kept confirming how bad his body’s condition was over and over again. Mo Shu seemed to be rather horrified by Nan Ge Er’s cold too and he strictly declared his disapproval for Nan Ge Er sleeping in his own room without permission.
While Nan Ge Er was gloomy about it, he still could not help but compromising—since Mo Shu did that for his own good. Plus his feeble body was a total letdown and he had no choice but to listen to Mo Shu’s warning.
Although the two were tormented quite a bit before the year ended, the year passed by peacefully nonetheless.
Nan Ge Er sat beside the fire stove as he counted the cash flow of the year while Mo Shu looked at him on the side, occasionally glancing at the book he had in his hand. On the floor, beside him, was a plate of nicely cut sweet bean paste.
Obviously the overall accounts and expenses of the government office were still controlled by Zhu Xi. The numbers Nan Ge Er counted were just the two’s daily income to be able to live in the government office.
According to the calculations, this year was better than the one before. Mo Shu would periodically take a trip to the river bank to catch numerous fish, and even to climb the mountain to hunt wild animals. Moreover, he already had the seeds sown in the first year and reared livestock. The tea stall business wasn’t all that bad too, plus, he had opened the stall for two seasons. Although Mo Shu casually spent his money without any planning, since Nan Ge Er managed his sal
ary at present, there was still a cash surplus on hand after the year had ended.
Noting Nan Ge Er’s frown, Mo Shu asked, “What’s wrong? Are the expenses this year not enough?”
Nan Ge Er concentrated on balancing the accounts, ignoring him.
Taking notice of Nan Ge Er’s silence, Mo Shu continued, “Do you need me to hunt wild animals to sell then?”
Nan Ge Er only lifted his head up at that moment, before looking at Mo Shu’s dimly-lit face, which was illuminated by the flames—he swore he could detect joyfulness on the fellow’s calm face.
Jerking the corner of his lips, he replied, “No need.”
Although Mo Shu snuck out some days during the autumn and winter season, he is still confined on the surface after all. After being restricted for two whole seasons, is this fellow unable to resist his urge to go outside? “There are ten or so days left. Just endure it, Daren.”
Mo Shu drooped down his head again, continuing to read the book in his hand absent-mindedly, while complaining faintly, “Xiao Nan, do you know my pain?”
“I don’t want to know.” Nan Ge Er’s answer was merciless. He totally had no plans on lending a listening ear to Mo Shu’s complaints.
“….” It was seldom for Mo Shu to be choked up with no words to continue on.
After a while, Mo Shu spoke restlessly again, “Xiao Nan, do you feel your body getting better?”
He did feel that way, though he still had a severe cold before the year ended. However, if he took proper care, there wouldn’t be any painful conditions left. At least, as compared to a year before, his health was much better.
Nevertheless, Nan Ge Er obviously wouldn’t be honest in admitting it. He only snorted, “Is that so?”
“…Xiao Nan, I realise you are cold towards me.” This time, Mo Shu tone wasn’t secretly begrudging, but was resenting instead.
“Oh, is that so?” Nan Ge Er was half-hearted in his reply, without a single bit of guilt.
“Xiao Nan.” With a clatter, Mo Shu pounced over abruptly. One of his hands pressed onto the account book, causing Nan Ge Er to have no choice but to cast his attention to his face.
Gloom, boredom, resentment, indignation…pitifulness…
“What?” Nan Ge Er was expressionless.
“…Don’t you feel guilty looking at my expression?” Mo Shu widened his eyes. An incredulous expression was plastered on his face.
“Why should I feel guilty?” Nan Ge Er cast a sidelong glance at him.
“…What an unfeeling and heartless man you are.” Mo Shu made a broken-hearted pose.
The corner of Nan Ge Er’s lips twitched, not wanting to bullshit with the fellow. He felt that, as the time of interaction lengthened, his intelligence seemed to keep nearing zero unboundedly.
Furthermore, the thing that he begrudged the most was that, no matter how unfitting Mo Shu’s words and actions were towards his appearance, that DaYe could still turn his ridiculous harassing into a drawn-out, deep grieving tone. He was clearly just eating a pie, but he made it as though he was savouring some kind of rare delicacy; striking a pose as if he was drinking fine liquor when he was just drinking honeyed water…
In short, Mo Shu’s actions, words and the entirety of his innermost being was totally opposite and incompatible to his outer appearance.
Nan Ge Er just couldn’t understand, why could such a unscrupulous, shameless and moronic fellow look so heavenly. No matter how he repeatedly lived like an idiot every day, he still looked so elegant!
Since his disturbance was fruitless, Mo Shu settled down for a few minutes, eating a few slices of bean paste while looking over half of his book—speaking of which, Mo Shu’ reading speed was swift, almost reading ten lines at a glance. In the beginning, Nan Ge Er even thought that the fellow was just flipping the pages offhandedly, brushing one page after another.
To his surprise, he really was reading, and, annoyingly, even had the words imprinted into memory….
“Hey, Xiao Nan.” Mo Shu spoke again.
Nan Ge Er feigned ignorance.
“It’s New Year soon, do you want to go out together with me to work, patrol and what not?”Mo Shu whispered.
Nan Ge Er’s calculation of accounts slowed down quite a bit.
Despite him being a former resident of the twenty first century, and knowing advanced bookkeeping methods, he still learned the current world’s primitive and a little complicated method, just to fit in with the crowd.
Never was he someone with a dashing spirit, much less having an ambition. Moreover, he grew, in Bei Jun, from a child to a prince. Under such an environment, he knew deep in his heart, being normal and plain was the only way to survive.
Thus, he appeared extremely normal and natural, as if he was born to be living there.
He used his all to learn the skills and methods to live there. Regardless of how inadequate and regressive the skills were, he still knew that the majority used them that way.
He never once thought of changing anything by using his twenty first century knowledge, which was also the reason why he could survive up till now.
In the end, after so much planning and calculation, I still landed in such a situation, don’t I?
Thinking of his past, Nan Ge Er couldn’t help being in a daze.
“It’s a good idea to you as well, right? Then let’s go out together when the year starts!” Mo Shu conscientiously decided it on Nan Ge Er’s behalf.
Nan Ge Er came back to his senses before looking at Mo Shu, black lines were plastered on his face—he realised, Mo Shu was an expert in being self involved!
“I didn’t even let out a squeak, alright!” Nan Ge Er made a face as he glanced at the guy in front of him.
“Squeak.” Mo Shu uttered a sound out understandingly again.
Nan Ge Er was speechless.
Nope, not because he was convinced by Mo Shu, but instead…
Are you serious? Do you think making a squeak yourself will prove that I’ve squeaked? Plus, the main point totally isn’t about me squeaking or not, it doesn’t mean I consented to it even if I squeaked.
Squeaking has nothing to do with it in the first place, not to mention that it was you who squealed on behalf of me, you squeaking doesn’t mean that I’ve squeaked!
Nan Ge Er’s mind was filled with squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak…
Getting completely dizzy from his own confusing thoughts, Nan Ge Er was stunned for a while, only asking blankly after that, “Why do you want me to go all of the sudden?”
Being in Guang Tian for such a long time, he did know Guang Tian definitely wasn’t simply just a district. However, he knew his place considerably well too; he absolutely wouldn’t be curious about stuff that he shouldn’t know of.
Although he did interact with the residents normally, those interactions were just superficial.
Ultimately, he had never explored the heart of Guang Tian himself.
This was also why he didn’t ask Mo Shu about the topic he had with Supernatural General that day.
He felt that he still couldn’t be considered someone from Guang Tian, and had no qualifications to understand all of that. However, Mo Shu’s sudden suggestion today seemed to be indicating something.
In spite of the faint awareness in his heart, he still spluttered out an involuntary question.
Mo Shu raised his eyebrows, chuckling, “What do you think?”
Nan Ge Er went silent.
“Do you like the life here?” Mo Shu asked the old question from the previous year again.
Nan Ge Er was stunned for a bit, before shaking his head, “I still don’t know.”
A slight resignation was in his smile.
Looking at Nan Ge Er’s expression, Mo Shu couldn’t help reach his hand out to pat the child’s head, “No worries. There’s still time.”
The dialogue was still about the same as before, seemingly having no changes in it.
Nonetheless, both of them knew, there were actually some
slight differences.
Chapter 24
* * *
Although Nan Ge Er supposedly accompanied Mo Shu during his patrols, in truth it was impossible for him to go out together with Mo Shu frequently. After all, there were a bunch of chores waiting for him at the government office.
Nonetheless, he was still a tad busier than before.
At least he wouldn’t suffer from the ball-aching boredom he had the year before.
Passerbys generally informed Nan Ge Er of Mo Shu’s whereabouts when he went out. The said locations were correct most of the time whenever Nan Ge Er went to find him.
Similarly today, after finishing his chores in the office, and watering the plum tree he bought earlier that year, he swayed out of the doors with a small bundle of snacks in hand.
Strangely, there was a sudden increase in Mo Shu’s official pay. Even though Mo Shu spent his money without restrictions, Nan Ge Er still controlled his entire salary. Hence, he only opened his stall during the spring, having spare time during the other two seasons. With autumn creeping close, Mo Shu’s stay in the government office became imminent too, causing him to exhaust himself as he used up his last chance to wander around…
When Nan Ge Er walked to the door, the few frequent thieves idling outside began informing him once they noticed him, “Mo Shu-xiansheng went to Chun Jiao’s place in the red light district.”
Nan Ge Er jerked his lips, “Ah Fa, I saw Police Officer Gao coming over here.”
Hearing that news, the thief, named Ah Fa, cried out in surprise together with the rest of the thieves, before dashing away towards the opposite direction at once…
Tiptoeing over, Police Officer Gao knew the situation in an instant once he noticed the youngsters’ stances. He complained as he passed by Nan Ge Er, “Nan Ge Er, give some face to me; we’re all trying to make a living. Why did you tell them instead of helping us?”
Nan Ge Er’s reply was practical, “…There’s not enough rice at home.”