Before taking part in the imperial examination, Qin Zhao spent a year recuperating in the mountains.
This year was not as comfortable as he had imagined. He had taken such bad care of his health that after consulting many famous doctors, he wrote three pages of notes on diet, daily life, and what he should pay attention to and what not to eat.
It makes people dizzy just looking at it.
But for Qin Zhao's health, Jing Li carefully copied down the items and posted them on the door so that he could supervise him at any time.
"... You are not allowed to drink alcohol or eat spicy food, you are not allowed to touch cold water, you are not allowed to read for more than two hours a day, you have to wear an outer robe when you go out... Are you in prison?" Xiao Yue stood in the main room, reading aloud the items posted on the door, and was amazed, "The military regulations in the army are not so strict."
"Shut up." Qin Zhao sat on the couch and glanced at Jing Li in the yard. Seeing that he didn't turn his head, he lowered his voice and said, "Blame Qi Xuan if you want to. I don't know what kind of order he gave. The doctors who come to my clinic are more cautious than each other, rushing to write taboos on the prescriptions."
"It's almost like I have to lie down all day and not get out of bed." Qin Zhao drank a sip of warm water.
—Thanks to those famous doctors, he can’t even drink too much tea now.
"That won't do." Xiao Yue pointed at one of the signs on the door and said gloatingly, "It says here that you must go out for a walk every day to keep fit."
Qin Zhao put the cup down with a snap.
Xiao Yue quickly shut up.
After the turmoil in the capital, Xiao Yue and Qin Zhao had completely put aside their past grudges. However, they had disliked each other for so many years, and this little thing was not enough to make them friends immediately, nor was it enough for him not to be thrown out after angering Qin Zhao.
When he met Qin Zhao again earlier, Xiao Yue thought that this man's personality had changed after experiencing so many twists and turns.
I only recently discovered that there has been a change, but it was only towards his beloved husband and son.
“… Just be content. If the little emperor hadn’t been worried about you every other day, he wouldn’t have bothered to come all the way here.” Xiao Yue muttered softly.
The young emperor was worried about the health of his former teacher, but it was inconvenient for him to leave the capital often, so he could only ask Xiao Yue to visit him from time to time to see if there was anything he could do to help.
Xiao Yue walked back to the couch, rummaged through the bag he brought with him, and pulled out a small, exquisite wine bottle. He shook it at Qin Zhao and said, "It looks like you can't drink this anymore."
Qin Zhao: “…”
He knew that Xiao Yue couldn't bring anything good when he came to visit him.
As expected of him.
"You..." Qin Zhao was about to tease him when he heard footsteps outside the door. Qin Zhao's expression changed, but Xiao Yue, a veteran general, reacted faster than him and quickly stuffed the wine bottle under the small table next to the couch.
As soon as he put them down, Jing Li pushed the door open and ran in: "The seeds are all ready, we can go to the fields."
"… "
The two people in the room looked at each other, with a lingering fear in each other's eyes.
Jing Li didn't notice their strangeness: "Hurry up, if you delay any longer you won't be able to plant the seeds before dark."
A few days ago, they reclaimed a few plots of land behind the house. The weather was suitable recently, so Jing Li went to a farmer's house at the foot of the mountain and bought some vegetable, fruit and melon seeds, intending to plant them in the next few days.
Jing Li had been planting the vegetable seeds early this morning, waiting for the weather to get better in the afternoon so he could go to the fields.
Qin Zhao glanced at Xiao Yue and said calmly: "Don't worry, General Xiao will help us."
Xiao Yue: “?”
Jing Li was surprised: "Have you ever farmed?"
Qin Zhao smiled gently: "You don't know this. Food and vegetables are scarce in the border areas, and the military camps usually cultivate their own fields. General Xiao has been stationed at the border for so many years, he must have been farming a lot."
Jing Li really didn’t know this: “Really?”
"..." Xiao Yue nodded with hatred, "Yes, just leave it to me."
Qin Zhao was not talking nonsense. Food and grass were scarce in the frontier areas, and the military camp could not rely solely on supplies from the rear. When there was no war, the soldiers had to farm and hunt on their own and exchange their living needs with the locals.
Although Xiao Yue was a general, he did a lot of these things.
"General Xiao is really amazing. He is worthy of being the commander of the three armies."
Xiao Yue was very strong and plowed the field in a short time. As for Qin Zhao, he only needed to follow behind him, sow seeds and brag to him without any emotion.
Jing Li is now very skilled at farm work, but he is not as strong as Xiao Yue. He becomes out of breath after hoeing the land for only a while.
The spring afternoon sun was not strong, but it still made one feel dizzy after being exposed to it for too long, especially since they had been doing high-intensity physical labor. Jing Li put down the hoe and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Wanting to make a living by farming... isn't that easy.
"Are you tired?" Qin Zhao walked behind him and handed him a kettle.
Jing Li took it and drank it, then shook his head: "Not tired."
Plowing the land is the most physically demanding part of farming. Qin Zhao cannot do this, so he can only let Ah Qi and Jing Li do it. Ah Qi has never done this kind of farm work, but he knows Kung Fu and learns quickly, so his efficiency is not much worse than Xiao Yue.
Compared with them, Jing Li's progress has fallen far behind.
It was he who originally proposed reclaiming land for farming, and he cannot just sit back and enjoy the results.
Jing Li was about to pick up the hoe and continue working, but was stopped by Qin Zhao.
"But I'm a little tired." The man looked at him with a soft gaze, and he looked a little aggrieved, "And I feel dizzy."
Jing Li became anxious when he heard this: "Then I'll help you go to the side and rest for a while."
Qin Zhao: “Yeah.”
There was a row of bamboos beside the ridge. Jing Li carefully helped Qin Zhao walk under the bamboos and said, "You've been exposed to the sun for too long. Do you want to go home?"
The young man's cheeks were slightly red from the sun, and there was a layer of fine sweat beads on his forehead, but he didn't care about himself at all. His heart and eyes were full of Qin Zhao.
Qin Zhao's heart softened when he saw this, and he took out a handkerchief from his arms to wipe his face.
Jing Li turned his head away and said, "Don't worry about it. How do you feel now? Are you still dizzy?"
"Dizzy." Qin Zhao remained calm, "Sit with me for a while."
"..." Jing Li finally realized something was wrong, "Are you lying?"
This man's face is as rosy as usual, and he hasn't sweated a drop after being in the sun for such a long time. How could he look tired
There is no intention of pretending when telling lies.
Qin Zhao didn't care about being exposed, and pulled him to sit down: "I'm just worried that you'll be tired."
"Not tired..." Jing Li muttered quietly, but still sat down with Qin Zhao. He looked up and saw Ah Qi and Xiao Yue were still hoeing the fields in the distance. Even Xiao Yuzai was squatting on the edge of the field, throwing vegetable seeds into the field.
He and Qin Zhao were slacking off here.
"You said you would be lazy and eat nothing in the future. Why don't you keep your word?" Qin Zhao asked him.
Jing Li said: "That depends on you getting better soon. If General Xiao hadn't come to help us today, we would have had to do these farm chores for three days."
Qin Zhao nodded: "In that case, it's my fault."
Jing Li hummed softly.
The spring breeze blew across the hills, making the bamboo leaves rustle. Some of the leaves fell and landed on Jing Li's hair, and Qin Zhao reached out and picked them up.
"I think what you said last time was wrong." Qin Zhao looked at Jing Li with gentle eyes, "I am very happy on days like this."
Work from sunrise to sunset and rest from sunset to sunrise, every day is so fulfilling and happy.
Jing Li asked seriously: "Isn't it because you are here?"
Qin Zhao was speechless.
Jing Li raised his hand and placed it on Qin Zhao's shoulder. Bamboo leaves fluttered and scattered around them like falling snow. nian blinked at him and whispered in his ear: "I thought you were going to say that no matter what you do, you'll be happy as long as you're with me."
Jing Li was now very uncomfortable with this kind of intimacy and frankness, and Qin Zhao felt a numbness in his ears.
"Oh, your ears are red." Jing Li smiled and wanted to slip away after saying this.
Unfortunately, he didn't escape and was pressed against the slender green bamboo by Qin Zhao.
Jing Li couldn't break free and immediately became cowardly: "You're just kidding, there are people here..."
"I know. Why don't you do it?" The man played with his earlobe, and the distance between them was infinitely shortened. "It's just a small punishment."
Xiao Yue was sweating profusely as he swung his hoe. When he turned around, Qin Zhao, who had been following him, was nowhere to be seen. When he looked again, the man was sitting in the bamboo forest in the distance with his young husband, enjoying the cool air.
"Fuck, you—"
Xiao Yue threw the hoe away and was about to curse, but he saw Qin Zhao lower his head slightly and kiss the young man on the lips.
Xiao Yue: “…”
Xiao Yue suddenly withdrew his gaze.
He will find a wife when he returns to Beijing, he must find one!
Xiao Yue was thinking angrily when someone suddenly tugged at his clothes from behind. He turned around and saw a kid who was only as tall as his knees standing in the field, covered in mud and holding a small cloth bag in his hand.
Xiao Yue never understood how a person as cruel as Qin Shu could give birth to such a lovely son.
Seeing the little boy's bright eyes, Xiao Yue felt that all his fatigue disappeared, and even his voice became gentle: "Fish, what's wrong?"
"Daddy and daddy are not happy again." The little fish tilted his head with an innocent look in his eyes.
Xiao Yue asked: "Do they often hide like this and not pay attention to you?"
"Yes." Little Fish said seriously, "Daddy said that when he and Daddy are alone together, I can't go over or peek, otherwise he won't let Daddy and I sleep together."
Xiao Yue felt that Qin Shu was simply not a human being as he even lied to his own son.
He squatted down and coaxed, "Why don't you go home with your uncle? Your uncle loves you."
"Hmm..." The little fish tilted his head and raised the cloth bag in his hand, "But Daddy said we have to plant all of these."
The cloth bag was full of vegetable seeds.
"That's easy, leave it to me." Xiao Yue patted his chest, picked up the hoe he had thrown aside, and said excitedly, "Okay, uncle will help you finish hoeing this field right away."
Little Fish: "Okay!"
So, when the couple stopped "slacking off" and returned to the fields, what they saw was Xiao Yue swinging the hoe vigorously, and his efficiency was more than twice as fast as before.
As for the little fish cub, it was sitting on the edge of the field, swinging its two short legs, happily supervising the great general who protects the country.