Chapter 30 - Crying fisherman
“Jinge, you didn’t see it. He even dared to fight and scold an official,” Zhao Liu said. That Eldest Jiang was the most daring person she had ever seen in her life.
“That’s because they were going to arrest him,” Zhao Jinge said. “He made such a big commotion before but did he do anything to someone else in the end?” When he saw Jiang Zhen beating people before, he didn’t think it was a very good idea, but now, after thinking about it, Jiang Zhen didn’t do anything to the Jiang family. He only took some food and silver. . .
He used to live in the Jiang family house, but he was even more miserable than him who was a long-term worker. Even if the masters of long-term workers were stingy, they still had to give what should be given. If he didn’t have to support his family, he would certainly be able to fill his stomach every day. But Jiang Zhen? When did he have enough to eat? During the busy farming season, those long-term workers could also eat fish and even rice. However, he only saw Eldest Jiang eating raw lettuce, radish, or a cucumber in the field.
Zhao Liu thought about it too. Old lady Jiang only spent some money in spite of crying for several days. She had actually spent more money on Jiang Chengxiang’s marriage before, but she hadn’t seen her distressed over that.
However, Jiang Zhen was still frightening . . . “Anyway, let’s stay far away from him. Jinge, you can’t fight against him.”
Zhao Jinge was not a talker and couldn’t speak well, so he could only stay silent this time.
In fact, he had the intention of telling his mother about him and Jiang Zhen, but he was afraid that his mother would be angry, so he did not dare to say it. Meeting Jiang Zhen in the middle of the night was certainly wrong of him and even a little shameless.
Zhao Jinge thought it was wrong to have a rendezvous with someone at night, but he still went to Jiang Zhen’s place that night. There, in the light of the fire pot and candles, he saw Jiang Zhen sewing clothes while looking at old clothes to study.
“You are sewing clothes?” Zhao Jinge asked.
“Have you sewn clothes before? Can you teach me?” Jiang Zhen looked at Zhao Jinge. He had seen Jiang Chengxiang’s clothes. The stitches were not too tight, and he could copy them somehow, but he needed to be careful when cutting the cloth.
“I’ll do it for you,” Zhao Jinge blurted out. He had never seen an adult man make his own clothes. Even if a family consisted only of a single bachelor, he would catch some fish for some old lady in the village to make her help him make clothes.
But Jiang Zhen . . . No one would be willing to help him except for me.
“Just teach me. I’m free these days anyway,” said Jiang Zhen. Although he had hit people very hard before, in fact, this body wasn’t in good health at all.
Eldest Jiang used to work so much all the time. If he didn’t pay attention now, he was afraid he would die before living to his forties.
That’s why, although he wanted to make money, Jiang Zhen decided to put it off for half a month and think first about what he could do.
Zhao Jinge could make clothes, but he hadn’t used a a needle or thread for a long time, so he was somewhat rusty.
However, he still somehow taught Jiang Zhen how to cut the cloth and helped him cut out several pieces. Before leaving, he said, “Jiang Zhen, maybe I can help you do the sewing? I’ll do it in my room, so no one else will know.”
Jiang Zhen was afraid that Zhao Jinge’s parents would find out so he didn’t dare to let him do it, but to be honest, he really wanted to wear clothes made by Zhao Jinge. . .
“Make me a pair of trousers,” Jiang Zhen said. After the pants were cut, there were fewer places to sew compared to other clothes, so pants were easier to sew and make quickly.
Zhao Jinge’s hands shook when he heard these words. To make pants . . . pants. . .
Zhao Jinge soon clenched his teeth, took the cloth, and left. When he left, Jiang Zhen couldn’t help laughing.
He liked to see Zhao Jinge’s shyness; it even gave him a reaction.
After the trouble with the Jiang family was solved and Eldest Jiang left his body, he couldn’t help but want to get Zhao Jinge in his bed immediately. . .
That evening, Jiang Zhen solved his physiological needs himself and sighed again. In some aspects this body’s abilities were simply incomparable with his original body’s. The speed was also too fast . . .
However, if he exercised well, he thought he could improve.
Jiang Zhen slept very well that evening. Early the next morning, he prepared himself some food before going outside.
Nowadays, when people in Hexi Village saw him, they would take a detour, but people in the other villages obviously didn’t know about his fame. Now, a person who picked up two loads of goods to sell in Hexi Village greeted him.
“Big brother, do you want to buy some incense and paper money?” Jiang Zhen was now well-dressed and his temperament was totally different from that of ordinary farmers, so he was greeted very enthusiastically.
“Paper money?” Jiang Zhen looked at him in bewilderment.
“Yes, isn’t it Qingming soon? I’m sure every family should have some!” That human sympathy.
Jiang Zhen calculated the time in his head and found out that tomorrow was Qingming.
He was alone in this world for the time being, and there was no one at all who he could worship. So there was no need to buy this stuff. Jiang Zhen was just about to leave when he suddenly thought of someone. He spent 20 copper pennies to buy some paper money.
After leaving the paper money at home, Jiang Zhen went out again with a bamboo basket and searched for small fish and shrimps everywhere. When he passed the fishing boat on the river, he was also greeted by the man who was busily working on the boat.
The next day was Qingming Festival.
Jiang Zhen got up early the next morning; he discovered it was raining outside. He hurriedly got dressed and went to check on his chicken first.
Although the thatched cottage was leaking, it didn’t leak very much. The chicken hiding in a corner not only had not get caught in the rain, but had also laid an egg, looking like it was in good spirits. Jiang Zhen didn’t want to disrupt it and went back to his house.
This chicken could defecate anywhere. Some people would lock their chicken in the house to prevent them from freezing at night, but he was not very happy with this solution.
But since he was now free, it was better to fix the leaking thatched cottage.
Since it rained that day, Jiang Zhen didn’t go out to catch fish. He used the morning to fix the thatched cottage, and in the afternoon he began sewing his clothes.
He was too impatient to sew the stitches carefully and slowly. When he made clothes, he made them quickly by hand. He managed to make one set of clothes in the afternoon. Of course, it was not surprising that the clothes turned out ugly.
But in a place where many people’s clothes were full of patches, wearing such clothes was nothing.
On that day, in addition to his work, Jiang Zhen went to the fixed thatched house to burn all the paper money he had bought.
He burned it for Eldest Jiang.
Jiang Zhen originally thought that, after the Qingming Festival, he would look around to find a way to make a living while improving his health. However, his plan could not catch up with the rapid changes.
After the Qingming Festival, it rained for seven or eight days in a row. It finally stopped for a day only to start raining again the next day, making the whole world moist.
Jiang Zhen was bored at home for several days. He did all the work he had to do at home, but the rain still didn’t stop.
In fact, he went out in a coir raincoat, but it was very difficult to catch fish on rainy days. If he got caught in the rain outside and caught a cold, it would be very difficult for him, so he didn’t go outside again. Instead, he relied on pickled pork and rice to eat every day.
But while Jiang Zhen could have a good rest at home, Zhao Jinge couldn’t. Even if it rained, he still had to go to work.
It was very tiring to do farm work on rainy days, and often, at the end of the day, Zhao Jinge was exhausted. Jiang Zhen took care of him and didn’t call him out at night. Instead, he secretly delivered some food to him at noon like before.
Probably because of the good food, Zhao Jinge, who always lost a lot of weight in the past rainy seasons, had a rosy face and an excellent spirit this year.
That day, Jiang Zhen put on the coir raincoat and went out again.
Recently, when it rained every day, all the earthworms in the fields crawled out. From time to time, many earthworms could be seen on the surface of the dirt road. Jiang Zhen caught them all on his way. When he met Zhao Jinge, he had already caught more than 20 earthworms, which was enough to feed the five ducklings that Zhao Liu kept at home.
Jiang Zhen came to deliver him food every day. Zhao Jinge was very uncomfortable at first and wanted to refuse. But now he had learned to accept it; however, he still brought something to Jiang Zhen every day. For example, today, he gave Jiang Zhen a basket full of various vegetables and a few loaches.
“I caught four or five loaches, but you can also eat them if you steam them on the steaming rack.” Zhao Jinge said. He was embarrassed that he had eaten Jiang Zhen’s pork but could only send loaches to Jiang Zhen in return.
“Um,” Jiang Zhen answered. “Come here.”
“What’s the matter?” Zhao Jinge went to Jiang Zhen and then felt Jiang Zhen hug and kiss him.
Zhao Jinge was stunned but soon calmed down. At first, when he was kissed by Jiang Zhen, he only felt that something was wrong with his body, but now, he was much more affected by Jiang Zhen, and he slowly got used to it.
Jiang Zhen liked to kiss, just kiss . . . He looked so ugly, but Jiang Zhen would still kiss him. It was really formidable.
While thinking about it, Zhao Jinge suddenly felt something slippery on his lips.
Jiang Zhen had licked his mouth with his tongue!
This . . . This . . . Was Jiang Zhen not too perverted?
Zhao Jinge, who never knew that something like French kiss existed, just licked his own lips and was confused once again.
Seeing him like that, Jiang Zhen couldn’t help laughing. Then he picked up the vegetables Zhao Jinge had prepared for him and left quickly.
When Jiang Zhen was going back, he was in a good mood. However, he was only halfway there when he heard the suppressed crying of a man.
It was not raining hard that day, just a drizzle, but with the sound of the rain, the man’s crying was particularly sad, and the pain evoked was magnified a lot.
Jiang Zhen didn’t want to meddle in someone else’s business, but he suddenly found that the crying was a little familiar . . . As he walked to the place where the sound of crying came from, he saw the fisherman who had traded fish for his hedgehog. He was squatting under a camphor tree, crying. His clothes and hair were all wet, but he seemed to be unaware of it.
Jiang Zhen had been in contact with the fisherman several times, and he was always pretty quiet. Now he was surprised to see him crying so sadly.
“What’s the matter with you?” Jiang Zhen asked with a frown.
The fisherman looked up at Jiang Zhen, wiped his face, and stood up. “Nothing.”
“What happened?” Jiang Zhen asked again.
“I . . .” The man choked. “My wife, I’m afraid he’s going to die.”