"Why were you late today?" Cheng Duo couldn't help but ask when he saw Yong-ge arriving late.
This young man is usually very diligent, coming early every day before dawn, never being late. But now the sun was already high up, and Cheng Duo thought about how he tricked him into helping with sewing yesterday, suspecting that he might regret it.
Yong-ge stopped hesitantly, "I, I…"
He had taken Cheng Duo's money and shouldn't have been lazy.
Seeing him like that, Cheng Duo was afraid of scaring him away, so he kindly let him off, "Forget it, come over and start making clothes. I have some free time now."
He appeared to be urging, but it was also a test.
Yong-ge had already prepared the ground, but he hadn't brought the seedlings he had ordered from Village Head Li. So they had agreed yesterday that Yong-ge would come today to make clothes.
"Okay." Yong-ge breathed a sigh of relief, went over to find the needle and thread that Cheng Duo had bought from Zhou Huolang, and took out scissors, hemp rope, and a piece of dark fabric.
When it was time to measure Cheng Duo's size, he held the hemp rope and felt at a loss—this person was too tall and strong! Moreover, because he had been working all morning, even approaching a bit made him feel the steaming heat coming from Cheng Duo, making his head dizzy…
Cheng Duo was oblivious and opened his arms, urging, "What are you dawdling for? Hurry up!"
"Oh…" Yong-ge was influenced by his straightforward attitude and felt that he had overreacted. He took a deep breath, approached Cheng Duo while holding his breath, and started measuring behind him with the hemp rope.
Because of the heat, Cheng Duo had already taken off his tactical jacket and was only wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, revealing his well-built arms. The cotton fabric of the short sleeves was damp with sweat, thin and close-fitting, outlining the man's broad shoulders and firm deltoids, a standard inverted triangle figure. Below that was a slender waist and narrow hips, exuding the aggressiveness of an adult male…
Cheng Duo's muscles weren't as exaggerated as many people imagined. After all, his muscles were the result of hard work to make a living, completely different from those who eat protein and train to bulk up. Without sufficient nutrition intake, his muscles were only toned.
But he was too tall, standing at about 1.9 meters, and this height combined with the intimidating aura developed during the apocalypse gave him a strong sense of oppression when he stood out. In the minds of others, Cheng Duo's image was akin to those towering two-meter-tall, two-hundred-kilogram muscular men from another race.
Yong-ge had been with Cheng Duo for a long time, so he didn't find him that scary. However, he also felt that Cheng Duo was too tall, and even to measure his shoulder line, he had to stand on tiptoes…
In fact, Yong-ge was standing far away to avoid arousing suspicion. Because he was standing on his toes and unstable, he accidentally pressed on Cheng Duo's back to gain support.
But feeling the hot body underneath the clothes, he quickly retracted his hand, and his ears unknowingly turned red from embarrassment.
"You, you can measure your waist and height yourself, just tie a knot." Yong-ge gave up and handed the hemp rope to Cheng Duo.
Coincidentally, Cheng Duo had been tickled all over by Yong-ge's almost imperceptible movements. He wasn't a dead person after all, and when someone made movements behind him, especially such light movements, as if sweeping with a feather, his attention unconsciously shifted to his back.
Just a moment ago, Yong-ge had pressed his back, and before he could react, the other person handed him the hemp rope.
Cheng Duo unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, "Okay, just measure against the body, tighter or looser?"
"Whatever you want." Yong-ge turned to the side, almost afraid to look at him.
In order to ease the awkwardness, he racked his brains and finally remembered what he forgot to tell Cheng Duo: "Um, I accidentally broke your bowl. Can I deduct it from my wages as compensation?"
"What did you break?" Cheng Duo was busy taking measurements and casually asked, then reacted, "Wait, did you break the bowl?"
He was about to say that if it broke, it broke, and there was no need for compensation. But he remembered Yong-ge's hurried arrival with a slightly disheveled collar and an unpleasant complexion, which made him think more–
"Did your family head hit you? Did he misunderstand something?" Cheng Duo's face turned serious, even furrowing his brows.
Could it be that the bamboo rat meat caused a family dispute in their household?
Yong-ge was dumbfounded, "What… family head?"
He wasn't even married, so where did the family head come from!
Cheng Duo noticed his unusual tone and carefully examined Yong-ge's expression, surprised as he said, "The day I entered the village, the man I fought with, the one you helped up from the ground, isn't he your husband?"
"Of course not, that's my eldest brother!"
"But you don't look anything alike?" Cheng Duo pointed out straightforwardly.
Yong-ge raised his hand and touched his own eyes, his gaze flickering. "I… can't I look like my mother?"
"So it was your mother, and she's from a different ethnicity?" Cheng Duo still felt something was off. He remembered that two of the men he fought seemed to be brothers, "Do you have another older brother?"
Seeing Yong-ge nod, he continued, "Your eldest brother and second brother didn't inherit any genes from your mother. It's impossible… are you not from the same mother?"
Yong-ge was completely bewildered by terms like inheritance and genes, but that didn't prevent him from admiring Cheng Duo—this person's brain was just too sharp! With just a few words, he guessed that he and his elder and second brothers didn't have the same mother!
Yong-ge's expression was easy to understand, and Cheng Duo understood at a glance. He didn't need him to answer, "It seems I misunderstood… but what happened to the bowl? What do you mean by 'broke'?"
"My eldest brother and second brother took it, and I couldn't get it back," Yong-ge said gloomily. At this point, there was no point in concealing it any longer. Cheng Duo would easily find out by casually asking around in the village about his elder and second brothers' character.
"You mean they took it by force?" Cheng Duo scoffed. Considering the character of those two, and how they treated Yong-ge, what was there to not understand?
"They didn't lay a hand on you?"
Yong-ge shook his head, "No." A push didn't count as physical harm.
Yong-ge didn't completely deny it, indicating that there had been physical altercations before. Otherwise, if any one's older brother were misunderstood by outsiders, the younger brother would only explain, "My brother never lays a hand on me."
Cheng Duo's face darkened, "Alright, I understand."
Yong-ge thought he agreed to compensate for the bowl with his wages and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Little did he know that Cheng Duo was already calculating how to teach those two scoundrels a lesson.
He didn't care about a bowl, but if they got away with snatching it from him, how could he let it go?
Cheng Duo pondered for a moment, had lunch, and then went alone to Shanzi's house. He knew where Shanzi lived because he had bought a bundle of wheat stalks from him for two coins before, and later when he needed more for building the kitchen, he sent Yong-ge to get it.
Of course, the stalks of Shanzi's family's wheat were not enough. Their land was so small, how much wheat stalks could they produce in a year? Since Cheng Duo wanted to buy enough to cover the entire roof, he gave money to Shanzi and asked him to help with the purchase in the village.
When Shanzi saw him, he thought he had come for the wheat stalks and quickly said, "Brother Cheng, why have you come? I haven't collected much of the wheat stalks you wanted…"
Shanzi felt a little ashamed because he had made an agreement with the villagers but hadn't had the chance to collect them yet.
Cheng Duo waved his hand and said, "That's not urgent. I want you to inquire about something else…"
After hearing Cheng Duo's request, Shanzi was surprised, but that surprise quickly turned into excitement. He said, "Brother Cheng, are you trying to teach those two scoundrels a lesson? They really disgust people. Every time they do something wrong, it's up to Yong-ge to clean up after them. Don't worry, I'll take care of this matter, and you don't need to give me any money!"
Shanzi still didn't know about Li Da and Li Er stealing the beef, and Wu Guihua wouldn't spread the word in the village using her own money. Li Wang, Li Changsheng, and others wouldn't either.
His enthusiasm for helping was partly because of Yong-ge and partly because he wanted to vent his anger.
Shanzi's father was often away from the village, so Li Da and Li Er would frequently bully him. Sometimes when he was walking on the road without provoking them, the two would come over and kick him, just to enjoy his embarrassed appearance.
Shanzi had wanted to get back at them for a long time but was limited by his young age and lack of strength. What does it mean to vent for Yong-ge?
Cheng Duo denied without thinking, "Of course not. It's because they provoked me and caused trouble for me that I want to teach them a lesson."
He then cautioned Shanzi, "Only you and I should know about this. We can't let anyone else find out."
It wouldn't look good for him to cause trouble just after joining the village. Although scoundrels like Li Da and Li Er might have a worse reputation in the village, he was still a stranger and feared by the villagers. If things escalated, it would make it difficult for Village Head Li.
At night, as expected, Shanzi arrived stealthily. Cheng Duo asked him to lead him to the place and then sent him away, saying, "Go back early. It's not safe outside in the dark."
"Oh…" Shanzi felt a bit disappointed, but he didn't have the courage to protest against Cheng Duo. He obediently disappeared into the darkness.
Cheng Duo stood outside Zhao Widow's house, hearing the voices of two men and one woman inside, laughing and flirting, enjoying a festive feast.
"So, you two troublemakers remember me. Where were you fooling around last night, coming here reeking of alcohol?"
"Don't worry about that. Didn't we bring you good wine and food? Can't that satisfy you?"
"That's right…"
Behind their backs, Zhao Widow rolled her eyes. They only brought such a small amount of food and wine, and now they were eating and drinking in her house. What would be left?
After a while, Zhao Widow got up and went to the kitchen to heat up the dishes. Taking this opportunity, Cheng Duo silently entered the house, knocked out the two intoxicated men, and carried them away, one in each hand.
When Zhao Widow came out of the kitchen with the hot dishes, she saw an empty table. At first, she thought they had gone to relieve themselves behind the house. But as she waited and they didn't come back, she realized she needed to go look for them.
But behind the house, even the outhouse was empty. Zhao Widow, shrouded in the darkness of the night, was struck with cold sweat. "This… feels like I've seen a ghost—"
She knew she couldn't go out to look for Li Da and Li Er. After all, they were involved in an illicit relationship. What would happen if someone found out?
Her legs went weak, and she leaned against the wall as she walked back into the house. She closed the door tightly and refused to come out again.
Cheng Duo carried Li Da and Li Er, initially thinking of throwing them on the mountain to be food for wolves. But then he had a second thought. These two guys didn't seem to have done anything extremely heinous. Would it be too much to kill them?
After pondering for a moment, he decided to take them to Niu Family Village. He tossed them into the water tank in the backyard of the Old Niu's house, where a dozen or so people had tragically died.
Cheng Duo squatted on the roof and waited for a while. Finally, Li Da shivered and woke up from the cold. "Hmm… Whoa, it's so cold! Lao Er? Lao Er, wake up! How did we end up in the water?"
Li Er also woke up, groggily asking, "Lao Da, where are we?"
"How the fuck should I know!" Li Da snapped, thinking that they had been walking around while drunk and accidentally fell into the water.
But when the two of them, illuminated by the moonlight in the courtyard, saw the ground covered in ghost money, white mourning cloth, and a dozen coffins resting in the main hall, and when they realized they had suddenly appeared here… they were instantly terrified. "Ghost! There are ghosts—"
Both of them jumped out of the water tank almost simultaneously, screaming in horror as they ran outside. It was nighttime, and they were in a panic, so they dashed out of the Niu Family House and headed in the opposite direction of Yang Village, quickly disappearing from sight.
The dogs in Niu Family Village barked a few times, but none of the villagers came out to investigate. The entire village remained eerily silent.
Cheng Duo emerged from the darkness, slightly surprised by the unexpected turn of events, but his surprise was short-lived. He dusted off his hands and went home to sleep.
Little did he know that Li Da and Li Er wouldn't return for several months…