TTLJDFL chapter 34

Li Jin completely could not understand the year-old single young man Chen Xiran’s longing for certain things.

Seeing that Li Jin was not willing to have a deep discussion with him, Chen Xiran could only give up.

In the end, he summed up in one sentence: “You’re actually secretly a flirt.”

Li Jin: “???” Where did that come from?

Li Jin decided to change the topic. If the conversation continued, who knows how many labels Chen Xiran might stick on him.

But Chen Xiran obviously liked this topic a lot. He said, “There’s a place in town called Piaoxiang Lou, you know it, right?”

Li Jin nodded: “I know.”

He still remembered how the original owner used to get drunk over the Piaoxiang Lou top performer, even ignoring his husband’s childbirth.

Moreover, basically everyone in the village knew that the original owner was hopelessly infatuated with the Piaoxiang Lou top performer.

Chen Xiran was surprised: “You actually know?”

Li Jin: “The town’s not that big, how could I not know?”

Chen Xiran said, “Alright, once we top the imperial exam, let’s go to Piaoxiang Tower for a head banquet! It’s on me!”

If it were the original owner, hearing this would probably make them really happy. But Li Jin didn’t have this sort of romantic scholar’s fancy.

In this era, scholars especially loved writing poems or lyrics for certain famous courtesans. Li Jin always had a cleanliness obsession, not just physically, but mentally too.

Fortunately, the original owner didn’t have money to get a Baotou license plate, otherwise he might have ended up taking a bath in the river.

Li Jin sighed, really not understanding why he had agreed with Chen Xiran to walk back to the village from the town together in the first place.

Wouldn’t it have been better to just give Chen Xiran the address and let him find his own way?

Along the way, Li Jin endured countless mental torments from Chen Xiran, and finally reached his own vegetable field. Li Jin pointed to the patch of land where some tender green seedlings were sprouting.

He said to Chen Xiran, This is my family’s vegetable field.”

Chen Xiran glanced over and said, “The vegetables? Did you plant potatoes or something?”

Li Jin said, “Only the cucumbers have sprouted, the others haven’t yet.”

Chen Xiran finally spotted some small seedlings and said, “So cucumber seedlings look like this.”

Li Jin: “In another month, we’ll have cucumbers to eat.”

Chen Xiran, this young master, looked even prouder than Li Jin: “When the time comes, I’ll come to your place to eat cucumbers.”

When they reached the entrance of the village, Chen Xiran suddenly felt somewhat nervous.

“Is your kid shy around strangers?”

Li Jin was about to say, ‘No, he’s still preparing food for you,’ but then he realized that what Chen Xiran was actually asking about was his own little child.

He said, “I’m not sure about that. So far, only my wife and I have held the child.”

At this moment, Chen Xiran also realized that he couldn’t pretend any longer; after all, it was just holding a little child.

Thinking that Li Jin is a year younger than him, yet already has a child. Life, why is it so hard?

Li Jin greeted Chen Xiran in and, originally, opening the door would reveal a fairly large courtyard, but now a third of it is taken up by the study, but it still feels spacious and not cramped.

Li Jin put down the bamboo basket and invited Chen Xiran to sit in the study. Now that there’s a study at home, inviting guests has become a bit more classy.

Chen Xiran sat in the room called a ‘study,’ which actually didn’t have any books, looking around.

Li Jin said, “We don’t have tea at home, but we have chilled mung bean soup to beat the heat, is that okay?”

Chen Xiran nodded. “Anything’s fine.”

Then Li Jin went to the well to fetch the chilled mung bean soup and handed it over to Chen Xiran.

He said, “There aren’t many people at home, my wife is cooking, you rest for a bit first, I’ll go check if the kid is awake.”

Chen Xiran, knowing full well that you can’t just barge into someone else’s bedroom, simply sat in the study and watched Li Jin’s handwriting.

Seeing it, Chen Xiran was completely shocked.

He still remembered twenty days ago, the first time he saw Li Jin, he could only write neatly.

But now, every horizontal, vertical, and hooked stroke in Li Jin’s writing seemed to carry its own will, making it impossible to look away.

From the limited vocabulary he had for describing handwriting, Chen Xiran found one word: grace and strength.

——Every character in Li Jin’s writing was no longer limp; it was as if each word had its own bones and structure.

But there were still some flaws, like the strokes never quite looking harmonious.
It was as if the horizontal, vertical, and hooked strokes were all written so well that the slanted strokes looked lonely and awkward in comparison.

Chen Xiran felt a bit puzzled, sensing that each character had to be looked at stroke by stroke, as if many of the strokes in one character were written by different people.

Li Jin walked to the kitchen doorway and saw the young man wearing a moon-white short jacket, busy making dumplings at the cutting board.

The young man noticed his gaze and said, “Just twenty more to go.”

Li Jin looked at the neatly arranged dumplings on the board, washed his hands, and walked into the kitchen. He lifted the lid off the pot and said, “The water’s boiling, I’ll cook some of the dumplings first.”

The young man said, “Aren’t you going to go chat with your classmates?”

Li Jin replied, “I already talked all the way back, and I’m tired now. I might as well take some time to help you cook the dumplings.”

Of course, Li Jin only put the dumplings into the pot and then went to the bedroom to pick up Baozi. He actually just took this little bit of time to see the young man and say a few words to him.

After all, he couldn’t keep the guest waiting for long, so Li Jin went to the study holding Baozi swaddled in a new cloth.

Chen Xiran’s face lit up when he saw the child.

He said, “This child really does resemble you—handsome and good-looking.”

Moreover, a small vermilion mole in the center of his forehead made the child appear exceptionally spirited.

Li Jin smiled and thanked him: “His nickname is Baozi. We’ll pick a formal name when he’s one month old.”

Chen Xiran said, “Baozi is a good name, perfect for a child. You can tell it’s your choice—unique and special.”

Indeed, among all the old-fashioned nicknames like ‘Tie Zhu’ or ‘Er Lang,’ Baozi really stood out.

Maybe Chen Xiran’s voice was a bit too loud, because Baozi actually woke up.

Babies don’t recognize people, they recognize smells.

He couldn’t smell anything familiar, so he felt uneasy, and soon started crying.

Li Jin hurriedly took Baozi into his arms.

Then Chen Xiran saw the Baozi’s special trick of changing its expression—suddenly, he stopped crying. It was just that it had cried a bit pitifully before, so there were still some sniffles; if someone didn’t know, they might have thought that Chen Xiran was bullying the child.

Chen Xiran was dumbfounded; if he hadn’t been certain that this was a baby not yet one month old, he would almost have thought he had encountered a setup.

Chen Xiran said, “Amazing, your kid is definitely someone no one will dare to bully in the future.”

With just this knack for changing expressions, anyone who bullies him is sure to have bad luck.

Li Jin felt somewhat proud. It seemed that his child didn’t hold grudges. A few mornings ago, he didn’t get up to feed him rice porridge, and later, he didn’t show any displeasure either.

What a well-behaved kid.

Li Jin wanted to praise his kid for not making him, as a father, lose face in front of classmates today.

He decided to go to the bookstore to flip through the dictionary, looking for a few characters with good meanings to name the child.

Li Jin held Baozi, coaxing him for a while, then patted Chen Xiran’s shoulder in front of Baozi. Then, under Baozi’s watchful eyes, he slowly handed him over into Chen Xiran’s arms.

Baozi’s eyes were filled with tears, looking like he was ready to cry at any moment, but luckily Li Jin stayed within his sight. His big eyes were watery, and his gaze stubbornly didn’t leave Li Jin for even a second.

Finally, there was a soft little creature in Chen Xiran’s arms, carrying the scent of milk.

Especially, this child’s eyes were very big, gentle like a little deer, with a small cinnabar mole on the forehead, making them incredibly adorable.

Even though the child cried the moment they were placed in his arms, Chen Xiran couldn’t feel even a hint of annoyance toward them. Chen Xiran felt like his little heart was about to be melted by the cuteness of this dumpling.

He sighed and said, “How come I still haven’t gotten married? If I had married as early as you did and had a boy in the family, I would definitely have arranged a betrothal for him with Baozi.”

Li Jin said on the surface, “What a pity.”

But in his heart, he thought, How dare he set his sights on my Baozi so early, I’ll have to be extra cautious in the future.

In the end, the three of them had their meal together in the courtyard. Li Jin’s family had a spacious yard, and there was a persimmon tree, giving it a quaint rural charm.

Today, Li Jin and the young man were both wearing light-colored clothes, and standing together, they looked perfectly matched.

Chen Xiran said, “I was wondering why Brother Li always rushes home after class, turns out your wife is so kind and beautiful. It’s our first meeting, I’ve brought a little gift for Baozi, I hope you’ll accept it.”

Qin Muwen looked at Li Jin, unsure if he should accept it. Li Jin, however, calmly took the red-braided bracelet from Chen Xiran’s hand.

The bracelet was very short, obviously made for a child.

Chen Xiran, being Li Jin’s classmate, no matter how close they were, couldn’t give gifts to Li Jin’s wife, so he only prepared one gift for the child.

And it didn’t have any silver beads or anything on it, so Li Jin’s family could accept it without any awkwardness.

The craftsmanship of the woven cord, however, was very clever and looked quite exquisite.

Li Jin thanked him, saying, “Thank you on behalf of Baozi, Brother Chen.”

After that, the three of them sat down to eat together.

Chen Xiran watched this scene and knew that Li Jin valued his husband a lot; otherwise, he wouldn’t be bringing up his status in front of a classmate.

Li Jin said, “Brother Chen is not an outsider, and our farming family doesn’t have so many formalities. Today we’re all having a meal together, so I hope Brother Chen wouldn’t mind.”

Chen Xiran was naturally easygoing, otherwise he wouldn’t be squatting by the roadside eating buns.

He said, “Brother Li, having such a virtuous wife is a great blessing in life. Of course, I’ll join the meal!”

The young man made dumplings, with a pork and cabbage filling.

The side dishes included tomato and egg, steamed pumpkin, winter melon and pork rib soup, and a cold mixed wild vegetable salad.

At first, the young man wasn’t sure whether he should make the cold mixed wild vegetables, but after thinking about it, Li Jin said, “Go ahead, it’s a pretty tasty dish. And it really has the flavor of the village—you can’t get it in town.”

As it turned out, Chen Xiran, this young master, rarely touched meat, so that plate of cold mixed wild vegetables almost all ended up in his stomach.

Qin Muwen thought, as expected, listening to A Jin was definitely the right choice. The wild vegetables that are essential to every farmer’s family were surprisingly fascinating to the young master.

After Chen Xiran finished eating, the young man quickly got up and said, “There’s more in the kitchen, I’ll make another plate of vegetables.”

In the end, when Chen Xiran left, he took half of Li Jin’s family’s wild vegetables with him.

He even said, “If my father knew I quit meat to stay in shape, he’d definitely be so moved he’d cry.”

Li Jin saw him off at the village entrance. Chen Xiran said he knew the way and would definitely be able to get back to the town without any trouble.

After that, the two of them said their goodbyes, and Li Jin went home to help the young man wash the dishes. Today, Baozi was very considerate and gave Li Jin a lot of face when guests came over.

Li Jin was also very happy after washing the dishes and hugged him, giving him a little kiss.

This was actually the first time Li Jin had kissed a child; before this, he saw his role as half doctor, half father.

But since he was new to it, he could only try his best to fulfill his responsibilities as a father, though he lacked some of the familial warmth.

After what happened today, Li Jin truly saw Baozi as his own son. So he affectionately kissed Baozi’s little face.

As a result, Baozi suddenly smiled at Li Jin. This was actually the first time the little baby had smiled at his father on his own.​

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