“Go.”
The afternoon had passed, half the long day already gone.
At the horse gang on the other side of town, all the work was wrapping up.
A few young men carried loads on their shoulders, panting heavily along the way, yet still couldn’t resist joking and messing around.
“Hey! Carry some of mine, I’m about to die from exhaustion!”
“Get lost! Who told you to sell us out?”
“Who sold you out… Damn! Who put vegetables in my basket?! Who?!”
“Nyah nyah nyah!”
They barged through the yard gate, still squabbling, dropped their loads on the ground, and collapsed against the wall, gasping for air.
At that moment, Zhao Yi’an was sitting on a small stool, leisurely picking vegetables at the kitchen entrance.
Hearing the commotion, he set down the half-picked greens, wiped his hands on his pants, and poked his head out to look.
“Zhang Ge, are you done moving?”
Seeing the young men drenched in sweat, Zhao Yi’an suppressed a smile as he asked.
“No kidding!” Zhang Agui fanned himself with his hand, breathing heavily. “Go, go get us some water! Can’t hold out much longer!”
“Yi’an, hurry up, I’m dying of thirst!”
“Yeah! Get more!”
Several other guys chimed in, urging him on, clearly parched.
“What’s the rush? I haven’t even checked if these supplies are enough yet!” The young man curled his lips.
Zhao Yi’an crossed his arms, leaned against the wall, and fanned himself with a ledger board, looking utterly at ease.
“Oh man, you really are a big shot…” Zhang Agui stood up, walked over, snatched the ledger board from Zhao Yi’an’s hand, and grumbled, “Alright, alright! We’ll check the supplies for you, just get us something to drink!”
“Seriously, hauling all these vegetables from noon till night is more exhausting than swinging a sword or a spear!”
“Whose fault is it that you guys stole Big Brother Ma’s medicinal wine? You always slack off, and he turns a blind eye, but now you got caught red-handed, right?” Zhao Yi’an said with schadenfreude.
He saw that someone else was taking over the inventory check, so he shrugged and turned back to the kitchen to ladle out some water for them.
Zhang Agui went back to his buddies, kicked the nearest one, and jerked his chin. “Hey! All of you, get up and report what you carried! If you’re short, you’re treating us tonight!”
The guys glared at Zhang Agui after hearing that, but they only grumbled a few complaints before reluctantly going to help check the goods.
Zhang Agui stood aside, fanning himself smugly with the ledger board.
The cool summer breeze rustled the treetops, announcing the setting sun.
“Hey!” Zhao Yi’an carried a basin of water and shouted toward the group. “Are you done yet? Come help me! This is heavy!”
“Tsk! Yi’an, why are you still so weak? You get banged up all the time, big and small injuries, shouldn’t you be pretty tough?” A horse gang disciple walked over, took the wooden basin with both hands, and couldn’t help teasing.
“Hey, hey, hey! Be careful, don’t spill it!”
“Hmm… All good, all good!”
Seeing how stubborn the guy was, Zhao Yi’an could only shake his head helplessly. He turned to look at Zhang Agui, who was still fanning himself and slacking off, and said, “Zhang Ge, finished checking?”
“Of course! Who do you think I am?”
Faced with Zhang Agui’s confident boast, Zhao Yi’an just pursed his lips, took the ledger board he handed over, and flipped through it.
“Hmm… The cabbage count is right, the meat weight checks out too. Not bad, you guys actually hauled all this stuff back!” Zhao Yi’an confirmed everything was in order, looking surprised.
“Of course!” Zhang Agui proudly rubbed his nose, then stretched. “Sigh… If Big Brother Ma hadn’t ordered it, we’d already be sitting down waiting for dinner.”
“Whose fault is it that you guys have itchy hands…” Zhao Yi’an sighed helplessly.
“Hey! It’s all Agui’s fault, going on about how great Big Brother Ma’s wine was, otherwise we wouldn’t have risked stealing it!” One of the guys spoke up.
“Exactly! If we got caught, it’d just be Agui on his own, but he dragged us all down with him—so disloyal!”
“You bastards!” Seeing everyone start blaming him, Zhang Agui couldn’t sit still and shot back. “We all did the bad deed together! Why should I be the only one punished if we get caught?”
“Rather than have you guys laugh at me from the sidelines, I’d rather drag you all down with me! At least that way I’d feel a bit better!”
“Jerk!”
As they argued, they started wrestling. Punches and slaps flew, fierce but just child’s play.
‘How nice.’
Watching the lively scene before him, Zhao Yi’an’s heart calmed again. He looked at these people and couldn’t help but curl his lips into a smile.
But messing around too long eventually got annoying, so Zhao Yi’an interrupted before they got too carried away.
“Hey!”
Zhao Yi’an held the ledger board in one hand and walked toward the roughhousing group.
But maybe because he was focused on Zhang Agui and the others, he didn’t notice his step. He stepped on the stone floor right where water had splashed earlier when they were moving the basin.
A startled cry rang out, and the wrestling guys all turned their heads.
They saw Zhao Yi’an slip, fall backward, the ledger board flying out of his hand, and he landed face-first on the ground.
“Holy crap!”
Zhang Agui reacted first, rushing over in three strides and reaching out to help Zhao Yi’an up.
Zhao Yi’an had just gotten up, stars spinning before his eyes.
“Tch—This is why I said to be careful when moving stuff! You get water everywhere!” Falling for no reason made Zhao Yi’an so mad he couldn’t help cursing.
The horse gang disciples were stunned for a second, then burst into roaring laughter.
“Keep laughing! You’re eating rotten cabbage tonight!” The young man said angrily.
“Alright, alright.” Zhang Agui couldn’t help but chuckle. “Isn’t this your own bad luck?”
Zhao Yi’an rubbed his forehead, grimacing as he sat up, then looked at the water stain on the floor and let out a long sigh.
‘Is this really my lot in life forever?’
He looked at the guys around him, at their sturdy, muscular builds, and a wave of unease washed over him.
“…I’m fine.” Zhao Yi’an smiled bitterly, bent down to pick up the ledger board, and dusted it off. “Alright, back to work! I still have to cook later!”
“How about you guys stay and help me pick veggies?”
Hearing there was more work, the guys who had been gloating immediately shoved each other and fled.
“Keep it up, little bro! And I mean, keep some oil in the pot when you cook!”
Zhang Agui left a parting remark before running off.
‘These guys…’
Seeing all these disloyal types scatter at once, the young man could only smile helplessly.
Then he brushed the dust off the ledger board and turned around.
‘If only I could learn some martial arts… At least get in shape, right?’
‘Otherwise I’ll keep tripping and bumping into things—this can’t go on…’
‘So why does Master keep disappearing? She promised to teach me martial arts but hasn’t even started.’
‘She didn’t forget, did she?’
‘…Knowing her, maybe she actually did.’
He shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts.
Just as Zhao Yi’an lifted his foot to head back to the kitchen and continue working, a pair of hands covered his eyes, plunging his vision into darkness.
“Huh? Hey!”
The young man, whose eyes were covered, was startled at first—anyone would be shocked by such a sudden move.
But with his sight gone, Zhao Yi’an immediately felt something off.
‘Tch—’
‘These hands… pretty soft.’
‘But soft or not, who would be so bored as to play this game? Scared the hell out of me!’
‘Wait! Don’t tell me…’
While Zhao Yi’an was guessing in his mind, a sweet, pleasant voice came from behind him.
“Hehe, guess who I am? Guess right and you get a reward!”
The voice was as crisp and lovely as an oriole’s, and because she was so close, her breath brushed past Zhao Yi’an’s earlobe.
He froze on the spot.
Seeing the young man silent, Liu Yao tilted her head and asked curiously, “What’s wrong?”
“Master… you’re too close…”
“Ah? Oh, oh! Sorry about that…”
Reminded by her own disciple, Liu Yao immediately realized and stepped back.
“Master, can you please…” Finally free from the “clutches,” Zhao Yi’an rubbed his eyes, turned around, and was about to give his master a lecture about maintaining proper distance between men and women.
But when he saw the young woman before him—face slightly flushed, eyes darting—all the words he wanted to say got swallowed back, and all he could muster was:
“Welcome back.”
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