TIPS – Chapter 118

Opening his eyes to glance at the young man’s calm face, Song Jingwei’s gaze flickered slightly. In the end, he didn’t deny anything—he thought, let it be for now.

At sunset, Shen Junxi woke from his sleep. He felt as though he had had a dream—a faintly beautiful one. The joy in that dream had felt so real, but not long after, the dream suddenly shifted. The warmth and sweetness were gone, replaced by a sense of dread and suffocation.

“……” He opened his eyes and sat up, drenched in sweat, looking around blankly.

“What’s wrong?” Song Jingwei, now awake and seeing him like that, asked with some concern.

“……” Shen Junxi’s panicked expression faded as soon as he saw his wife lying beside him. He raised his sleeve to wipe the light sweat on his forehead and gave an embarrassed smile, gesturing: “I dreamed you went far away.”

“Where exactly?” Realizing it had just been a nightmare, Song Jingwei asked casually.

Shen Junxi shook his head. All he could recall was the unsettling feeling. One moment, he had been holding his wife’s hand; the next, some unknown force had pulled him away. He had no idea where he went—he just disappeared into thin air.

“You’re probably just too tired lately. Go back to sleep if you want,” Song Jingwei said as he got up. “I’m going to check on our son.”

Shen Junxi nodded, watching him get off the bed, watching the curve of his back as he bent slightly to put on his shoes. Suddenly, he felt that this simple scene was so warm, so full of happiness—it made him want to hold on to the moment.

“What is it?” Song Jingwei had just put on his shoes and was about to stand when his waist was suddenly encircled by a pair of arms, solid and real.

“I’m happy,” Shen Junxi withdrew one hand and used a finger to trace on his back.

“Heh…” Song Jingwei let out a soft laugh. He stayed seated, not removing the young man’s arms. Every time he thought he couldn’t accept being with a man, Shen Junxi would always manage to move him with such ease.

When the young man said he was happy, Song Jingwei couldn’t help but feel good too. If liking someone meant caring about their every emotion, then even if he and Shen Junxi hadn’t reached the point of liking each other yet, they weren’t far off.

After holding each other for a long while, Song Jingwei gently pried the arms from around his waist and said, “I’m going to hold Benben. If you want to sleep more, go ahead. If not, come help out.” They had been away from home for so long. Yang Shi usually had to watch the baby by herself—she likely didn’t have time for much else. Now that they were back, there was surely a lot to do.

“Okay,” Shen Junxi replied from behind and then let go.

Song Jingwei got up smoothly, glanced back at the young man, then walked out of the room and headed to Yang Shi’s place.

Yang Shi was playing with Benben in the living room. The little boy was crawling around on the carpeted floor, surrounded by his favorite toys. He had a fickle nature—he’d play with one toy for a while, toss it aside, and then reach for another, only to toss that one too before long.

“You’re up?” Yang Shi saw her daughter-in-law walking over and asked, “Why not sleep a bit longer?” It still looked fairly early outside—it was a hot summer day, and the sun was blazing overhead.

“Mm, I’m afraid I won’t be able to fall asleep tonight,” Song Jingwei replied. As he stepped through the door, he almost tripped over a plush doll. He bent down to pick it up, walked over to his son, squatted down, and waved the doll at him. “Little Benben, is this yours?”

Benben raised his chubby little head, clearly interested in the doll. He stretched out his pudgy arms, trying to grab it.

“Not giving it to you.” Song Jingwei held the doll up high.

“Ah…” Benben opened his mouth, showing a few baby teeth, and roared at him.

“He’s really fierce,” Song Jingwei said in surprise to Yang Shi. Little Benben was like a baby tiger. Come to think of it, his zodiac sign was the tiger.

“Isn’t he though,” Yang Shi agreed wholeheartedly. No one knew how fierce her grandson was better than she did. “When I carry him on my back, he always leaves bite marks on my shoulders. Super fierce!”

“He must be teething, maybe his gums are itchy?” Song Jingwei said, handing the doll to his son and gently tilting his chin to check his teeth.

“Most likely. Kids at this age are all like that,” Yang Shi replied. It was just that her little Benben seemed particularly strong—his bites really hurt. Sometimes when you were just playing with him, he’d suddenly bite you out of nowhere, and with such force that even Shen Dongming said it hurt.

“How much does he weigh now? Has he been weighed lately?” Song Jingwei stood up, lifted the boy in his arms, and bounced him a little.

“Not since last time. It’s been more than forty days. He was fifteen jin then,” Yang Shi said, then eagerly brought out the scale pole that Shen Dongming had specially made for weighing Benben. The two of them prepared to weigh him.

Song Jingwei placed Benben in the sling, then picked up the scale pole. He had never used such an old-fashioned scale in modern times—it was only when they had weighed cow dung that he’d learned how. He and Yang Shi both fixed their eyes on the markings.

Yang Shi counted aloud: “Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen… just a bit under eighteen jin. Wow, he gained another three jin!” She was overjoyed. Her little Benben had just learned to crawl and already weighed more than many babies his age.

“Only eighteen jin?” Song Jingwei had never dealt with such a small baby before, so he didn’t know whether eighteen jin was good or not—he just felt it sounded too little.

“It’s already pretty good. At this rate, our Benben will weigh over twenty jin by the time he starts walking,” Yang Shi said to her daughter-in-law proudly, thinking this was a strong and sturdy baby.

“Is that so?” Song Jingwei listened and thought, well, that didn’t sound bad.

Then Yang Shi picked Benben out of the sling and rewarded him for being good by giving him a candy.

“Mom, don’t give him too much candy—he’ll get cavities, his teeth will go bad,” Song Jingwei said as he put away the scale pole and saw Yang Shi giving the baby candy.

“His teeth will go bad? What do you mean?” Yang Shi looked at her daughter-in-law in confusion. She didn’t understand how candy had anything to do with teeth.

“Candy causes cavities—basically little bugs destroy the teeth from inside, making them hurt. That’s why we shouldn’t let him eat too much,” Song Jingwei explained.

“Ohhh, so that’s how it is.” Thinking of how she’d been giving her grandson candy every day lately, Yang Shi scratched her head in embarrassment. “I didn’t know about that. I’ll make sure not to give him so much from now on.” Back in the day, their family couldn’t afford candy—who knew too much of it could ruin your teeth? Now that they had a grandson and life wasn’t so tight, she just wanted to treat the boy well.

“It’s fine—he’s still going to grow new teeth later.” Still, if the baby teeth were in bad shape, it could have some effect on the permanent ones that came in later.

“Mm-hmm, I understand now.” Yang Shi looked at the small bottle of candy beans and decided she’d only give Benben one piece a day from now on.

“By the way, while we were gone, you must’ve accumulated a lot of things to do.” Song Jingwei took Benben from her arms and said, “I’ll watch him—you go take care of it.”

Yang Shi nodded. There was indeed a lot of household stuff to take care of in such a big home. She said, “Alright, you keep an eye on him, then—I’ll go get to work.” She had been thinking about the vegetable plots outside for days but hadn’t had time to check on them.

“Okay, go ahead.” Song Jingwei played with Benben inside for a while, then put him down on the carpet to crawl around. He made himself a pot of tea at the table and sipped it slowly. As long as he kept an eye on the baby and made sure he didn’t crawl too far, it was fine.

Unfortunately, Benben kept crawling toward the corners, where there were too many edges and risks of injury.

Song Jingwei looked around and found a baby sling that Yang Shi usually used. He tied one end of the sling around the baby’s waist and fastened the other end to the leg of a chair. He himself sat on that chair, which was placed in the center of the carpet. This way, the baby could only crawl within about a meter’s radius and couldn’t wander off.

Benben was an active little guy. He crawled and crawled, discovering that he couldn’t go here or there. After circling the chair several times, he became increasingly frustrated at his inability to move freely.

“Ahhh…” The trapped little tiger let out a loud roar, banging his toy on the floor to express his irritation and dissatisfaction.

“Just turn around and go back the way you came, dummy,” Song Jingwei said, sitting comfortably in the chair, sipping tea.

“Ahhh…” Benben tried again, but still couldn’t move. He was fuming.

“Stupid! You’re really dumb!” Song Jingwei couldn’t stand it anymore and helped turn the baby around so he could crawl back the way he came. “See? There you go, dummy.” Watching his son be so clueless, Song Jingwei started to worry about his intelligence. Could he really grow up smart, just like his father supposedly did?

He thought to himself, Shen Junxi isn’t all that clever either.

“……” Just then, Shen Junxi came into the room and immediately saw his son crawling on the floor while his wife sat in a chair, watching and occasionally adjusting the baby’s direction so he could keep crawling.

“You’re up?” Song Jingwei glanced up and saw the young man at the door. “What’s up?”

Shen Junxi pointed at the baby on the floor, made a cute little hand gesture, and smiled—clearly charmed.

“That’s what I call dumb,” Song Jingwei said.

Shen Junxi shook his head and walked over to free the baby from the sling. He couldn’t deny that this method was convenient, but watching his son circle the chair like that looked quite pitiful.

“Ahhh…” Once in his father’s arms, Benben started wriggling and quickly burst into tears. “Waaaah…”

“You better put him down—he likes crawling,” Song Jingwei said, taking the boy and placing him back on the floor. Sure enough, the crying stopped almost immediately.

Watching their son crawl around happily, Shen Junxi gave a helpless smile. He had felt sorry for the boy at first, but now… not anymore. The kid clearly loved playing like this.

The two of them sat quietly, watching the baby for a while. Shen Junxi eventually took a seat at the table, poured himself a cup of tea, wet his lips and throat, then gestured: “Father and the others are digging for lotus roots. We’ll go to the dock in a few days.”

“Okay.” Song Jingwei nodded. He was definitely going—he still didn’t know exactly how Shen Junxi had negotiated with Yuan Guanlin and the others, so he had to see for himself. “How’s the lotus root harvest? What about the fish and shrimp?”

Shen Junxi gestured: “The lotus roots are doing very well. At first, people didn’t know what they were doing and broke quite a few, but then they got the hang of it. Now the lotus roots we dig up look great, and the work goes much faster.” As for the fish and shrimp, he added: “The pond is full of nutrients. The shrimp are big, and so are the loaches and eels. The carp are average—some aren’t even sellable.”

Song Jingwei nodded and said, “Carp don’t grow fast to begin with. I even bought bigger ones on purpose back then. It’s fine—I only bought the carp fry to help clean the pond.”

“Mm.” Shen Junxi looked at him with a smile. He always felt that when his wife talked about work, there was a different kind of charm to him. Before, he thought he was hard to approach—now, he found him uniquely attractive.

“There are shrimp in the pond, right? When it gets cooler this afternoon, I’ll go catch some shrimp and loaches to cook. Both are easy to make—just salt and pepper them, and they’ll be delicious.”

“Mm.” Shen Junxi glanced at the sun outside and gestured, “I’ll go cut some pigweed.” This year, the family was raising ten pigs—one whole pigsty full. They needed a lot of feed on a regular basis.

“It’s still too hot. Wait a bit before you go.” Song Jingwei looked at the sunlight streaming in and felt the heat radiating off the floor. It was still scorching, so he advised against going out just yet.

“Mm.” He had originally planned to finish the chore early so he could come back and help his wife catch shrimp and loaches. But since his wife spoke up, he decided to stay a while longer. Honestly, this quiet time sitting together was what he had wanted too—so peaceful and happy.

But he didn’t sit long. Soon, Shen Junxi carried a basket on his back and headed out, planning to return before sunset.

Back at home, only Song Jingwei and Benben were left, playing idly together.

About two hours later, Shen Junxi hurried back home, drenched in sweat. Not wanting to go inside like that, he first went to the washroom in the courtyard, took a cold shower, and changed into clean, dry clothes before coming out.

Just then, Yang Shi also returned, but she was still busy, rushing around taking care of things.

Song Jingwei picked up the baby sling and said to the young man, “Looks like you’ll have to carry him now.”

Benben was secured to Shen Junxi’s back, and the two of them set off with their tools. Benben knew they were heading out and was so excited he wiggled happily on his father’s back, grinning from ear to ear.

“This kid really loves going out,” Yang Shi said as she came over and pinched her eldest grandson’s cheek. He was just too cute.

“Mom, we’re heading out now,” Song Jingwei said, carrying a fishing net and a bamboo basket.

“Alright, be back early,” Yang Shi said, patting her grandson’s back and sending them on their way.

At this time, the sun hadn’t fully set yet. It was peeking out from between the mountains, bathing the land in a warm red-orange glow—truly a beautiful sight. Shen Junxi walked ahead with the baby on his back, while Song Jingwei followed behind. Together, they walked along the edge of the lotus ponds, looking for a convenient spot in one of the ponds that hadn’t been harvested yet.

“Let’s catch them here,” Song Jingwei said, stopping at one spot.

“Mm.” Shen Junxi looked around. The movement of loaches could usually be seen, and shrimp too. After observing the water carefully, he quickly swept his long-handled net through the water.

Song Jingwei leaned over to watch and saw that there really was a catch—two shrimp of decent size, about as big as an adult’s pinky. For river shrimp, that was pretty decent. He opened the lid of the bamboo basket and let Shen Junxi drop the shrimp in.

“Can we catch any loaches?”

Shen Junxi gestured with one hand: “It’s harder.” He stared intently at the water and made a quieting gesture.

Song Jingwei stopped talking and focused on watching the young man’s technique. After a few rounds of catching shrimp, Song Jingwei also gave it a try himself, searching for prey in the pond. After a few attempts, he realized it was a bit like catching field chickens—quick hands and sharp eyes were key.

Seeing his wife catch a shrimp after just a few tries, Shen Junxi smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

“That’s nothing,” Song Jingwei muttered, walking to the other side, determined to catch a loach to show off.

Catching things could be addictive—especially once you got the hang of it. Every successful catch brought a burst of joy. It was just like how some people enjoyed fishing—not only the process but the satisfaction of a successful haul.

“Shrimp are easy to catch. Hurry up and get me some loaches. I want to eat fried loach.” After several failed attempts, Song Jingwei began to doubt whether there were actually any loaches here.

“Mm,” Shen Junxi replied, working hard to fulfill his wife’s request. He also wanted to catch some loaches, but they weren’t so easy to find.

“Maybe I’ll switch to another pond,” Song Jingwei said, and without hesitation, headed toward another lotus pond.

“…” Shen Junxi saw him leave and naturally followed.

Whether it was luck or just that the first pond had none, Song Jingwei struck gold as soon as they reached the new spot. One sweep of the net, and he brought up a fat loach. He smiled and said, “Look, isn’t this one fat?”

Shen Junxi nodded with a bright smile—it was fat. “My wife is amazing,” he gestured.

“No need to flatter me. The real goal is to catch more loaches,” Song Jingwei said as he stored the loach and kept his eyes on the water.

Maybe this pond had more loaches, because Shen Junxi soon started catching them in succession. Some were big, some small. If they were too small, Song Jingwei would toss them back to keep growing. Occasionally, they even caught eels, which they also released back into the water.