Otherworldly Space: A Tale of Love and Growth - Chapter 9

Song Ergou’s house was quite a distance from Song Ci’s home, requiring a walk through nearly half the village.

When the two brothers had separated their households, Song Ci’s family had inherited the old house, while Song Ergou’s father had purchased a plot of land in the village and built a new house.

“Did you really catch this wild chicken yourself?” asked the thirteen-year-old Song Sheng, tugging at Song Ci’s sleeve. His tone was dripping with disbelief and contempt. If he had been dealing with someone of a short temper, he might have received a stern lesson on the spot.

“How could it be fake? If you don’t believe me, I’ll take you to the mountains in a few days and show you,” Song Ci replied.

“Then it’s settled,” Song Sheng said, his tone implying that he was doing Song Ci a favor by accompanying him.

Song Ci didn’t take offense and ruffled Song Sheng’s hair, saying, “Alright.”

With a loud slap, Song Sheng knocked Song Ci’s hand away and shouted indignantly, “What are you doing? You can’t touch a man’s head!”

The men in the room were all amused by the young boy’s antics, with Song Ergou laughing the hardest. Song Tiesheng’s four-year-old son, though not understanding the joke, also giggled along with a wide smile, looking very cheerful.

Seeing Song Sheng’s face turning redder, Song Ci couldn’t tell if it was from anger or embarrassment, and offered him an easy way out: “Yes, yes, I was wrong. Please, Brother Sheng, be magnanimous and don’t hold it against me.”

“Humph, I’ll let it slide this time, but don’t ever do it again,” Song Sheng declared.

“Okay, okay, I won’t,” Song Ci agreed.

Song Ergou was delighted to see the good relationship between his nephews and sighed, “Ergou has grown up and become sensible. Your father would be proud of you if he were still alive.”

Hearing Song Ergou mention his deceased father, Song Ci thought that if the old man really had a spirit watching over them, he might just strike Song Ci dead for occupying his son’s body. “Uncle, I was young and did many reckless things in the past. I won’t do that anymore,” Song Ci said.

The original Song Ergou had always respected Uncle Ergou, who had helped him keep Song Tiesheng in check. Thanks to Uncle Ergou, he had been able to act domineering in front of Song Tiesheng for so many years.

His mother, who controlled the family finances, had to be appeased, and Uncle Ergou, who could back him up, had to be respected. The original Song Ergou had used most of his cleverness in these areas.

Song Ci was relieved that the original Song Ergou hadn’t ruined all his relationships.

“You’re five years older than me, and you still have the nerve to call yourself young,” Song Sheng complained from the side.

No one responded to him. Everyone was focused on encouraging Song Ergou, with subtle hints rather than direct criticism.

They were afraid that if they scolded him, he would revert to his old ways, so no one dared to do so at the moment. Song Sheng just wanted to provoke Song Ci.

After a glance from his second brother, the young boy’s cheeks flushed red again.

“That’s good, that’s good. If you encounter any difficulties, seek help from your elder brother. If he dares to ignore you, come tell me, and I’ll discipline him,” Uncle Ergou instructed Song Ci.

Song Tiesheng, who had been “sold out” by his own father once again, felt a bit uneasy but immediately expressed his stance: “Father, rest assured, Ergou’s matters are my matters. I won’t neglect him.”

Upon hearing his grandfather’s intention to discipline his father, little Dabao interjected in a childish voice, “Hit Dabao, not Daddy.”

Song Tiesheng was touched by his son’s protection and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“My Dabao is truly filial,” he said affectionately.

Dabao nodded solemnly, “Yes, Dabao is filial.”

Everyone was once again amused by Dabao’s innocent remarks, and Song Ci, trying to hold back his laughter, said, “Uncle, I understand. I won’t hesitate to ask for your or Brother Tiesheng’s help when needed. Dabao, don’t worry. Your father has grown up, and Grandpa won’t hit people casually anymore.”

“No, Grandpa is very fierce to Daddy,” Dabao pouted, glancing stealthily at his grandfather, “But he is very kind to Dabao.”

After a bit more conversation, Song Ci decided it was time to head home.

“Ergou, stay for dinner and try Second Aunt’s cooking,” Second Aunt called out from the kitchen, where she was busy with her husband.

“No, thank you, Second Aunt. Maybe another time. I need to go back and have dinner with my mother,” Song Ci replied.

“Father, I’ll see him off,” Song Sheng said to Uncle Ergou before chasing after Song Ci out the door.

“Brother Ergou really is different now,” Song Tongsheng, the silent teenager, finally spoke up after Song Ci had left.

“Seeing is believing. Now you all trust what I’ve said, don’t you?” Song Tiesheng said to his father and younger brother. Song Ci’s transformation had surprised not only the family members but even Song Tiesheng himself.

“Now I can rest easy. After I’m gone, I’ll have the face to meet your late uncle. You three brothers must support each other in the future. The debt of gratitude our family owes to your uncle’s family is insurmountable. If anything happens to Ergou, help him if you can,” Uncle Ergou earnestly instructed.

“Father, we will remember,” Song Tiesheng and Song Tongsheng replied.

The gratitude Song Ci’s family owed to Uncle Ergou’s family was mainly due to two significant events. First, when Uncle Ergou was getting married, he had fallen in love with Second Aunt, and she was also fond of him.

However, girls were considered precious at the time. Song the carpenter had only recently completed his apprenticeship and didn’t have much money saved.

The Song family had just married off one daughter-in-law and were reluctant to spend more money to marry another girl for their second son, so they chose a boy.

In order to fulfill his brother’s wish, Song the carpenter took on several jobs and worked day and night to earn enough money for the dowry before their mother went to the boy’s family to propose the marriage.

Because of this, Uncle Ergou was grateful to Song the carpenter for the rest of his life.

The other significant event involved Song Tiesheng. When he was a child, Song Tiesheng had a serious illness and took many medicines without much improvement. At that time, even Uncle Ergou and Second Aunt were ready to give up on him. However, Song the carpenter persisted in seeking medical treatment and had Song’s old mother, who had survived smallpox, take care of Song Tiesheng.

When Song Tiesheng pulled through, Old Lady Song fell ill. Over the years, Song Tiesheng has always regarded his uncle and aunt as his second parents. After Song the carpenter passed away and during the years when Song Ergou was causing trouble, the ten acres of land belonging to the Song family had always been managed by Uncle Ergou’s family. During spring plowing, they would finish their own work as quickly as possible and then help with the Song family’s land. The same went for the autumn harvest.

Old Lady Song, in her spare time, took care of two acres of land to pass the time. She believed that even the greatest favor would eventually be repaid and did not want to take advantage of Uncle Ergou’s family. She once proposed to give half of the grain from the land to Uncle Ergou’s family as their labor fee, but they refused to accept it.

“Song Ergou, it’s good that you’ve changed. Don’t revert to your old self. If you can stay this way, I’ll acknowledge you as my elder brother,” the young Sheng said to Song Ci as he chased him out the door.

“Oh, so you didn’t consider me as your brother before?” Song Ci teased.

Sheng glared at him, “The things you did before, none of them were like what an elder brother should do.”

“No matter what I’ve done, I’m older than you. Whether you acknowledge it or not, I’m still your brother. If you don’t, I’ll tell Uncle Ergou,” Song Ci, feeling playful, wanted to tease his young cousin.

From Song Ergou’s memories, Song Ci knew that the young Sheng, like his mother Song Jinshi, was tough-talking but soft-hearted. Even though he cared, his words always came out in a different tone. Song Ci deliberately misinterpreted them, turning Sheng’s well-meaning intentions into nonsense.

Song Sheng was almost driven mad by Song Ci’s teasing. “You’re so old, and you still tattle to adults. Don’t you have any shame?” he said.

“If being shameless works, then so be it,” Song Ci replied.

“You, you, you…” Sheng’s finger trembled as he pointed at Song Ergou, unable to form a complete sentence for a long time. He thought Song Ergou had been shameless before, but now he seemed to have taken it to a new level.

Seeing that he had made his point, Song Ci grasped Sheng’s finger and said, “Alright, alright, don’t be angry. I understand what you mean. I won’t change back. If I do, it’ll be for the better. Don’t worry about it. One day, I’ll take you to set traps and catch wild chickens in the mountains.”

“Humph, this wild chicken of yours wasn’t just a lucky catch, was it?” Sheng said.

“Whether it was lucky or not, you’ll see for yourself,” Song Ci replied. He actually liked the young Sheng and was willing to teach him how to set traps.

Lin Xiaohe returned home and used the same story Song Ci had told her, successfully convincing her parents. Even after hearing that Song Ergou had caught two wild chickens, the naive Lin A’m and the quiet Lin A’di only thought that Xiaohe had been lucky and never suspected that their well-behaved daughter could have any connection with the former troublemaker Song Ergou.

“Mother, this chicken is already dead and won’t fetch a good price. Let’s just eat it ourselves,” Lin Xiaohe suggested.

Lin A’m, thinking that the family hadn’t had meat for a long time and that the chicken was free, agreed, “Alright, let’s eat it ourselves. Divide the chicken into two halves. One half for you and your father to stew into soup, and the other half we’ll cook in a red-burning style.”

“Mother, you should eat too,” Lin Xiaohe said, finding it amusing that her mother was so generous about using soy sauce for the red-burning style. Her mother actually didn’t mind spending the extra money today.

“Alright, I’ll eat too. Let’s all enjoy it together as a family,” Lin A’m said.

Both the Song and Lin families enjoyed eating the chicken very much. The wild chicken wasn’t very tasty, with a strong earthy flavor, so Old Lady Song had specially bought two liang of pork belly to enhance the flavor.

The next afternoon, when Lin Xiaohe saw the basket in Song Ci’s hand, she immediately refused, “I’ve eaten too much today. I really can’t eat any more.”

“I’ve had chicken too. I know you’ve eaten a lot. What I have today isn’t a main meal, but an appetizer,” Song Ci said, bringing out a small bowl of cold skin noodles, the quantity of which was indeed not much, as he had said, “Try some?”

Lin Xiaohe took it, tasted a bit, and found it sour and cool, very delicious.

“Your mother’s cooking skills are really good,” Lin Xiaohe tentatively said to Song Ci.

“It wasn’t made by my mother. I made it myself. If you like it, I’ll make more tomorrow,” Song Ci replied.

“You made it?” Lin Xiaohe was so surprised that her mouth opened wide enough to fit an egg. Could this really be Song Ergou? Was he seeing things in broad daylight?

In this village of Daping, apart from the bachelors, which man knew how to cook and could make such delicious food?

However, thinking about the fact that everything he had eaten these past few days had been made by Song Ci’s own hands, Lin Xiaohe felt a strange sensation in his heart and his face grew a little hot.

“Of course I made it. I’ll tell you where I learned the cooking skills after you marry me,” Song Ci said.

“Then don’t tell me. I don’t want to know,” Lin Xiaohe said, shoving the empty bowl and chopsticks into Song Ci’s arms and walking towards his usual spot.

Song Ci looked at the empty bowl in his hand, thinking how quickly this person could change her mind, faster than turning a page in a book.

However, he resignedly chased after her and delivered the freshly squeezed orange juice he had made that morning.