Carrying a Hoe to Cultivate

“179, Zhu looks really upset.” Xia Yi finally realized that there was something wrong with Gu Wen Zhu, “Help me to scan what he is doing.” 

“He is at the stream. He is sitting on the stone doing nothing.” System replied. 

Xia Yi, whose mind was in turmoil, waited for Gu Wen Zhu in the house anxiously. 

After over two hours, footfalls approached from outside the yard. Xia Yi rushed to the corridor and waited. The front door was pushed open. Gu Wen Zhu came back with dew on him. He raised his head and saw Xia Yi, he was dazed for a second, then looked away. He walked past Xia Yi and went straight into his bedroom. 

Xia Yi stretched out to stop him, “Zhu, why are you upset? We are both dudes, if you have something to say just say it.” 

“We are both dudes?” Gu Wen Zhu suddenly chuckled in an ironic way, “So you just think that we are both dudes. You have never thought about getting married and I’m just…” He halted and spoke no more. Gu Wen Zhu gritted his teeth in agony, pushing away Xia Yi’s arm, he went inside the room and shut the door. 

Xia Yi looked at the closed door, stupefied. Mixed feelings were fighting inside him. Is that what Zhu means? I think so, that kind of meaning. 

He thought he should feel scared, maybe alongside some resistance and disgust. In the end, this was a world where homosexuality was normal. However, he had been a straight guy standing firm for over twenty years… but why did he have none of those feelings except nervousness and he even felt some sweetness in his heart? 

What’s going on???!!! 

It was as if all the feelings in Xia Yi’s heart had been sieved. He tossed and turned for the whole night. Sometimes he sighed and sometimes he laughed like an idiot. He rolled in bed with the blanket in his arms. 

“Host, you make me feel scared.” 179 said. 

“Alright alright, I am sleeping.” 

The next day, Xia Yi got up with a pair of dark circles around his eyes. He checked out the kitchen and found that Gu Wen Zhu was not there. Normally he would be there at this time every day, busy. He searched around. He could not find Gu Wen Zhu in the yard but all the farming utensils and the cow in the barn were still there. 

“179, where did Zhu go?” Xia Yi asked System. 

“I don’t know. He went out before dawn and exited the village.” 

Maybe he is going to the city? But he tells me every time he goes there. 

Xia Yi was absent-minded all day long. He could not calm down even after checking up his beloved white radishes. If he was not standing in the field with the hoe supporting himself dazedly, he would be sitting in the ridge scratching the handle of the hoe dazedly. 

I seem to be not functioning right. 

He went back home to see if Gu Wen Zhu was back every once in a while. He kept waiting until the sky was dark, and there left only him in the yard. 

Xia Yi panicked greatly. 

Maybe he had been taken by the officers just like before or something like that happened? This idea instantly came to Xia Yi’s mind, making his nerve tightened abruptly, “No, I have to find him.” 

Just when he intended to go out to find Gu Wen Zhu, the son of Mr. Wang passed by in front of the front door. 

“Yi, where are you going? The sun is already down.” 

“I am going to find Zhu. I haven’t been seeing him for the entire day.” 

“Gu Wen Zhu, DaZhu and someone else went into the mountains to find Herba Aqua Effugio. Did you not know?” Wang asked in disbelief. 

“Oh…I forgot.” 

“Why are they picking Herba Aqua Effugio? That can only be found on the ChongMing Mountain. Those herbs only grow on the cliffs. What’s in it for them to pick those herbs?” Wang shook his head and walked away. 

Xia Yi was stunned, then he closed the front door and went back into the house. 

At night, Xia Yi stayed focused to listen to any noise outside. Whenever he heard footfalls from the other side of the yard’s wall, he would stand up to hear every sound carefully. Nevertheless, those footsteps were always moving away from the house. 

“It sounds dangerous to pick that herb. I shouldn’t have requested for Herba Aqua Effugio.” Xia Yi laid his head on the bed, regretting and worrying. “I don’t want any herbs, I just want Zhu to come home safely.” 

The sun rose. The front door had not been opened by anyone. Gu Wen Zhu had not come back. 

Xia Yi, dejected, cooked himself something to eat. He sat on the chair in the yard, waiting for Gu Wen Zhu. Falling asleep involuntarily, he woke up and found that there was only him, and the door was still shut. 

When sunlight came from the west, he stood at the entrance of the village, looking afar. He stayed until it was dark, dew climbed up the bottom of his trouser legs silently, but Gu Wen Zhu was still not there. 

Zhu, please hurry and come back, I don’t want that Herba Aqua Effugio anymore. 

Xia Yi regretted it very much. 

… 

Late at night, Gu Wen Zhu, DaZhu and another guy walked on the road back home. The three of them had picked four Herba Aqua Effugio. Gu Wen Zhu took one of them and let the other two sell the other ones. DaZhu’s leg was hurt and limped on his way. Gu Wen Zhu was not too good either, he had scratches all over his back. 

However hard that was, he had successfully picked the herbs for Xia Yi. It was all worth it. 

The three of them chatted and stumbled their way to the entrance of the village. Everyone else in the village was asleep. The village was in complete silence. Only the bark of the dogs could be heard rarely. 

A figure rushed out from behind the large stone in front of them out of the blue and ran towards the guys. The three stopped their steps. Only when the figure was close enough for Gu Wen Zhu to see with the torch did they notice that person was Xia Yi. 

Xia Yi stopped in front of them and stared at Gu Wen Zhu directly. He eyed him all over and unexpectedly hugged him. Xia Yi’s head lied on his chest, holding Gu Wen Zhu’s waist tightly and started sobbing. 

Xia Yi’s body was all cold. It seemed like he had been waiting at the entrance of the village for a long time. His clothes had already wet by the dew. Gu Wen Zhu’s heart was racing fiercely. He swallowed a few times along with the movement of his Adam’s apple. 

Sluggishly, he also raised his arms to hold Xia Yi back, without being too forceful or too weak. 

DaZhu and the other guy made several faces to signal Gu Wen Zhu, then they left laughing and chatting. 

Xia Yi did not care if there were others around, he did not let go of Gu Wen Zhu, sobbing, “I don’t want Herba Aqua Effugio anymore, I only need you. Zhu, don’t make me worried ever again. I don’t need anything, I only need you.” 

Due to the wounds on his back, Gu Wen Zhu had a fever starting from that night. 

Xia Yi took care of him, not leaving him one step. He invited the doctor to see him, then he decocted the medicinal herbs for him. He also used a towel with cold water to scrub off the heat from his body bit by bit. When he saw the injuries deep and shallow on his back, Xia Yi’s heart ached so much he felt like he was going to tremble. 

Gu Wen Zhu lied in bed, lips dried and chapped. His face was pale. He slightly opened his eyes to look at Xia Yi. 

Xia Yi leaned on the side of the bed with his head tilted. He gently picked up Gu Wen Zhu’s huge hand and put it on his cheek. 

Gu Wen Zhu swallowed once, the lump on his throat moved up and down, and used his thumb to caress Xia Yi’s face. 

“179, I may have become gay.” 

“Yes, I can tell. But you need to remember, gay or not, you still have to complete missions.” 

… 

Gu Wen Zhu was strong. His fever was gone before dawn. Within days, his wounds on his back were almost healed. 

During these days, the two of them had not talked, but they already knew what was on each other’s mind. Whenever Xia Yi was busy in the house, Gu Wen Zhu’s would fix his eyes on him. It was so intense as if sparks would come out every time their eyes met. Even having a meal took forever between them, they would hold the food for each other with chopsticks, one would peel an egg for the other, and they would look at each other and laugh. 

The whole yard was surrounded by sweetness. 

This day, Gu Wen Zhu took a wooden box out and handed it to Xia Yi quietly, without saying one word. Xia Yi got hold of it in confusion. He opened it, “Herba Aqua Effugio?” 

Gu Wen Zhu nodded, pretending that he did not care, but discreetly checking out Xia Yi’s expressions. 

Rather than herbs, this Herba Aqua Effugio looked more like Ganoderma, maybe it should be called the Fungus Aqua Effugio, soft and green. Xia Yi had it in his hand, looking at it thoroughly, then he put it back into the box and gave it to Gu Wen Zhu, “Sell it.” 

His face was blushing slightly. 

Gu Wen Zhu’s eyes lightened when he heard him. He reached out to take the box. 

“Host, are you ready to give birth to a child?” 179’s voice rang suddenly. 

Xia Yi quivered and withdrew his extended arm. He stammered, “I…I’ll keep it meanwhile.” 

Seeing the light in Gu Wen Zhu’s eyes dimmed, Xia Yi hurriedly added, “No, no, that’s not what I mean. I am… I am just scared of #@$#&.” He said the last few syllables in a very low voice. 

“Scared of what?” 

“Scared of #@$#&.” 

Gu Wen Zhu: … 

He understood Xia Yi finally and cleared his throat, looking the other way, “Actually, if you do not want to, we do not need to give birth to a child right away.” 

“We can @#[email protected]%&.” Gu Wen Zhu lowered his voice and said, blushing faintly. 

“We can what?” 

“We can @#[email protected]%&.” 

Xia Yi: … 

At the end, Xia Yi kept that Herba Aqua Effugio. It was not that he did not believe Gu Wen Zhu’s @#$&, he just needed to be prepared. 

Weren’t all main character bottoms in those fantasy ABO novels with nobody around had to just grab someone who passed by during their estrus? 

In most of those novels, no, in all of those novels, that someone who passed by would become the main character. In this place, Xia Yi did not want anyone but Gu Wen Zhu to become that main character. 

What if Gu Wen Zhu was not around? 

Mr. Wang came to the yard every day. What if he had heat and grabbed Mr. Wang in his foggy mind? 

He had to be extra careful concerning these. He had to be prepared. 

After that period of time, he could then sell the Herba Aqua Effugio. 

… 

The white radishes had been growing bigger and bigger. Xia Yi had to remove some soil on the surface of a radish every day to check out how they had grown. 

179 was extremely worried, “You will kill them by removing the soil.” 

“No, I just removed a little. I will cover them up right away.” 

“Then you can’t just do that to one radish. Every radish takes turns. I mean, how can you be so stupid? You are driving me nuts.” 179 was going crazy. 

… 

During the night, Xia Yi was sleeping deeply. All of a sudden, Kirin started to bark frantically. The sounds of people fighting came from the yard at the same time. Xia Yi had been awoken in a flash. He did not even have the time to wear shoes, grabbing the beggar stick from under the bed, and dashed out.