Carrying a Hoe to Cultivate

After the episode, the two of them were closer than ever. Gu Wen Zhu treasured Xia Yi even more because he thought he was too nervous for the wedding, making him unable to distinguish between dreams and reality. He thought it could be due to the insecurity in his heart, therefore Gu Wen Zhu was more gentle, meticulous and considerate towards Xia Yi.

Xia Yi self-reflected after the episode, he realised that he still believed that Zhu would not do something like that. Hence, he put everything behind and started to prepare for the wedding wholeheartedly.

The two seemed like they were having an early honeymoon.

Gu Wen Zhu was now a well trained woodsmith and tailor.

Not only had he made a set of furniture in less than a month, he used the spare time at night to also make a set of coats for him and Xia Yi for the wedding. They did not have much money. Therefore they planned to wear some plain clothes instead of wearing all red.

Although Gu Wen Zhu thought that Xia Yi looked good with purple on him, Xia Yi insisted on objecting to the idea and to pick the fabric for the clothes, one in navy blue and one in sea blue.

Counting down, there were only a few days left before the wedding. The weather was nice these days. With a basket of melon seeds, dry fruits and sweets, Gu Wen Zhu brought Xia Yi  to every door to invite people to their wedding.

Gu Wen Zhu grabbed a handful for every house, after explaining why they came, the two would go to another house with the blessings of the owner of the house.

They arrived at the old house without noticing.

Seeing the old house, Gu Wen Zhu felt rage. Last time Xia Yi’s episode in the middle of the night must have been caused by these Fang Xian Dao people, Meng Wan Zi and Qi Zhou.

He did not know what these two had been telling Xia Yi to make him have a growing belief in lies such as the cultivation world.

During this period of time, Xia Yi was under Gu Wen Zhu’s close watch. Every time he saw him going to the old house, Gu Wen Zhu would follow him closely.

Whenever Xia Yi was having a conversation with Meng Wan Zi and Qi Zhou, Gu Wen Zhu would stand behind with a gloomy face with eyes so cold as if beams were coming out to freeze them into two ice rods.

Those two sensed the hostility from Gu Wen Zhu but had a hard time figuring out what was wrong. The only thing they could do was to reduce their presence, not to take the initiative to see Xia Yi, not to run around in front of Gu Wen Zhu.

They would say the least to quickly make Xia Yi go back when he came to find them.

Gu Wen Zhu saw Xia Yi stopped in front of the old house, causing him to look displeased. It would not be possible to avoid having the two Fang Xian Dao believers, Meng Wan Zi and Qi Zhou, on his wedding day, bad luck.

“Go go go, let’s invite old Meng.” Xia Yi merrily went to knock on the door.

He got married in this world, without one of his family and friends by his side. Meng Wan Zi could be considered as an elder in the sect, so he had to invite him and Qi Zhou.

“Who’s there?” A low voice echoed from behind the door. It did not sound like Meng Wan Zi or Qi Zhou, but it did sound like Er Niu in the village.

Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu looked at each other, then knocked again, “Is old Meng here? I am Xia Yi.”

“Oh, Yi.” With footfalls approaching, the front door had been pulled open. A tall and huge young man stood at the door. It was Er Niu. Er Niu held the door knob, smiling at them earnestly, showing his white teeth, “Wen Zhu, Yi, come in and have a seat. Old Meng was out to pick up cow feces. He is not home.”

Xia Yi was stunned. He said in hesitation after a while, “Old Meng went to pick up cow feces?”

“Yeah. Mr. Wang came here to fetch him everyday. The two of them then go to pick up cow feces together to fertilize the farmland.”

Gu Wen Zhu listened to them with a long face, not saying one word. This Fang Xian Dao aZ getting more and more aggressive these days, not only have they set up a branch at the old house, they have even involved Er Niu and Mr. Wang with them.

Er Niu suddenly came to realize that he was blocking the entrance, so he hurriedly stepped back to make room. He enthusiastically greeted them, “Come in. Come in to have a seat.”

He looked as if he was half an owner of the house.

Having been decorated by him, this yard had become quite a place. The bamboo on the fence had been cleaned thoroughly, let alone the flagstones on the floor, they were so clean and polished that they could be used as a mirror.

There was a nice-looking rockery at the corner of the yard. A big tank was beside it, with a few green and sweet lotus on top of the water.

“Come. Drink some tea.” Er Niu took out two bowls of water warmly to give them to Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu.

Xia Yi took it and looked. There were some unknown plants floating in the water.

“It’s Gan Huang.” Er Niu explained, “Zhou said that the tea in the village did not taste good. He will not even drink the tea I bought from the city. So I picked some Gan Huang to dry them under the sun, making them into tea leaves. He said it tasted refreshing.”

Refined.

“Gu Bei Cheng. Who’s here?” With a sluggish voice, Qi Zhou walked out from the room.

He was yawning with his hand covering his mouth on his way. He must have just awakened.

“It’s Yi and Wen Zhu. They are getting married. They came to invite you and old Meng to the wedding.” Er Niu quickly explained to Qi Zhou with a smiley face.

“The two of you? Getting married?” Qi Zhou slowly widened his eyes with disbelief. “Aren’t the two of you mal, male?”

“What about it? Are you saying a man cannot marry another man?” Xia Yi’s expression became gloomy due to his annoyance with his response.

Qi Zhou froze on the spot and could not say a word, obviously shocked from his body to soul.

“Gu Bei Cheng. Do two guys marry each other around here?” After Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu left, Qi Zhou turned to Er Niu with an emotionless face.

“That’s not true.” ErNou smiled earnestly.

“Oh, then it’s fine.” Qi Zhou turned to go to the bathroom, “But the men in your village are weird. They have makeup on though they are men.”

Morals are declining these days.

When he arrived at the door of the bathroom, he turned to order Er Niu, “Come in to serve me in bath.”

“Yes, I am coming.”

In the following days, a few women from the village had come to help with two gers among them. They cooked meat, steamed buns and killed chicken with Xia Yi, busy. On the other hand, Gu Wen Zhu followed old Zhang on his carriage to the city everyday to buy necessities for the wedding.

After a long day being busy, Xia Yi remembered the lettuce he had not been caring for for a few days and he decided to go see them. Just when he exited the entrance of the village, he saw Meng Wan Zi and Mr. Wang. One of them had a bowl in his hand, with a smoking pipe in his other hand, crouching in the ridge, chatting, laughing.

Seeing Xia Yi, Meng Wan Zi knocked the sole of his shoe with the pipe and inserted it in the linen belt. He put both hands inside his big cotton sleeves and greeted Xia Yi with a broad smile, “Xia, how are you doing?”

Xia Yi: …

In the twinkling of an eye, it was the day of the wedding. Xia Yi had been awakened by Gu Wen Zhu before dawn. He closed his eyes and waved away the annoying hand which was softly pinching his face. He buried himself in the blanket, only leaving a few strands of hair on the pillow.

The blanket had been slowly lifted, Gu Wen Zhu’s voice, with a hint of laughter, rang beside his ears, “Time to get up. Husband.”

Hearing the word ‘husband,’ half of the sleepiness of Xia Yi vanished, he chuckled in the blanket with his eyes closed and his lips pulled inwards.

“Husband. This is the day of our wedding. It’s time for you to get up to marry me.” Gu Wen Zhu extended a finger to scratch that pink fat earlobe of Xia Yi.

Xia Yi could not hold off anymore, he opened his eyes and turned.

Gu Wen Zhu was standing beside the bed happily with his navy blue long gown, wearing a brooch made of schlumbergera and asparagus setaceus leaf on the right of his chest.

His black hair had been tied up neatly. He was tall and elegant, handsome and extraordinary.

Xia Yi abruptly lost all his sleepiness. He laughed goofily towards Gu Wen Zhu and stretched out his arm, demanding a hug, “My wife, you look great today.”

Gu Wen Zhu lifted the end of his lips. He used his arms to hold Xia Yi and took him out from the blanket. A coolness from the morning wind came with that hug, making Xia Yi quiver uncontrollably.

In view of this, Gu Wen Zhu hurriedly put the new clothes which were placed beside the bed on Xia Yi, “Get up. Lady Li and the others are already here.”

“Okay. Then I will go help.” Xia Yi slid his arms into the sleeves while he was talking, and he started to wear his clothes under the blanket.

Gu Wen Zhu was about to say that this was not appropriate. On the day a ger or a girl get married, they should stay in the bridal chamber. But since Xia Yi looked excited, Gu Wen Zhu closed his mouth right before he spoke.

Yi did not want to marry in the first place. Let’s not bind him with all these restrictions. Just let him be.

To match with Gu Wen Zhu’s navy blue clothes, Xia Yi wore sea blue clothes and had a brooch just like Gu Wen Zhu’s.

He picked the two schlumbergeras (also known as Christmas Cacti) which were about to blossom from Qi Zhou’s yard last night, making Qi Zhou’s face twitch with reluctance.

After a night in a bowl of water, the crimson red petals of the flowers opened up with a few sparkling water drops on it. The flower made Xia Yi’s skin look as fair as the snow and his face as beautiful as one would find in a painting.

The two of them looked at each other and laughed.

With the atmosphere in the room becoming lovey dovey again, Gu Wen Zhu gave Xia Yi a kiss on the forehead, “Let’s go. It’s time.”

The sun had risen to its highest point. More and more guests gathered in the yard with time proceeding.

Whenever there was a wedding in the village, no one went to farm on that day. Everyone from the village squeezed themselves into the small yard of Gu Wen Zhu’s, eating melon seeds and chatting happily.

When it was about time, the ceremony began.

During the ceremony, due to the fact that the grooms’ parents were not alive, Meng Wan Zi and Mr. Wang sat at the corresponding places as elders of the family. The wedding couple bowed before them and served them tea.

Once the ceremony was over, the sounds of crackers rang from the yard. Gu Wen Zhu quickly covered Xia Yi’s ears.

179 also played the wedding march at the right time in his mind, yelling blessings out such as “Happy wedding,” and, “Have a child soon,” in excitement.

Xia Yi laid his hand on the back of Gu Wen Zhu’s hand. He narrowed his eyes to look outside. The confetti was falling in the air as if it was raining flowers.

While no one noticed, Xia Yi used his sleeve to wipe his eyes.

Dad, mom, I am married. I have someone by my side. You do not have to worry about me anymore.

All of a sudden, a warm breath reached his ear. Gu Wen Zhu leaned closer to talk to him quickly.

The crackers were too loud. He could not hear it clearly.

He turned to look at Gu Wen Zhu in confusion. Gu Wen Zhu looked at him with sparkling eyes and repeated. Xia Yi could see the shape of his lips clearly this time, he was saying, “I love you.”