Stay

The two of them ate and shopped their way around the county town. By the time they returned to the village, it was already past six in the evening.

They had packed up the dishes from lunch, so there was no need to cook much for dinner. They only needed to stir-fry a green vegetable.

The old man kept feeling the leather shoes in his arms and grumbled all the way home, "They're really too expensive. Why would a pair of shoes cost so much? A pair of cotton-padded shoes costs less than eighty yuan."

Zhao Danshi smiled without saying anything and let him grumble.

The old man complained, but the delight in his brows and eyes was impossible to hide. On the way back, quite a few people noticed the shoebox in his arms and asked what it was. He raised his voice and proudly told them that his grandson had bought him a pair of shoes.

Afraid that he would be reluctant to wear them, Zhao Danshi deliberately cut off the tags as soon as they got home. He also told the old man that if he did not wear the shoes, they would easily get damp and deteriorate faster.

There was not much entertainment in the village, and everyone went to bed early. By eight at night, there were barely any lights left in the whole village. Likewise, everyone woke up early, and by six in the morning, plenty of people were already working outside.

After returning, Zhao Danshi specifically went to the fields to help the old man finish all the recent work: watering, fertilizing, and weeding. He was not skilled at these tasks, but he was patient and did a decent job.

One day, while he was picking chili peppers, Watcher's voice sounded in his mind again. "These chili peppers contain quite a bit of bio-energy."

Zhao Danshi glanced at the bucket of peppers by his feet and casually asked, "How much is quite a bit?"

"About 0.67 bio-energy per kilogram. Don't underestimate that number. Compared with peppers from other places, the quality of these is already exceptional. The peppers you buy on the market probably only contain around 0.48 bio-energy per kilogram."

Zhao Danshi had a habit of cooking and usually bought some vegetables to keep in the refrigerator. Watcher had probably taken plenty of opportunities to scan the vegetables he bought.

Something stirred in Zhao Danshi's heart. "How much energy do you need for repairs?"

"Well, conservatively speaking, one hundred thousand bio-energy should be enough to repair most of the problems."

Zhao Danshi said, "...Your demands aren't low at all."

"It only looks high." Watcher tried to persuade him. "According to information my colleagues have reported back, some hosts could not even afford to eat when they first started out. A few years later, earning tens of millions of bio-energy was no problem for them."

Zhao Danshi said, "Hosts differ from one another. I probably don't have the ability to earn tens of millions of bio-energy every year. How about you find another host? See if someone can quickly earn you one hundred thousand bio-energy and help repair your body."

Watcher immediately replied, "It's fine. I have faith in you. By the way, can you give me a bucket of these peppers? The energy is a little low, but I can make do with it."

Zhao Danshi refused decisively. "Sorry, no."

The only cash crop the old man grew was these chili peppers. Every market day, he picked peppers to sell. A pound of peppers usually went for between 2.10 and 3.20 yuan, and the price varied with each market day.

The old man had planted more than two mu of chili peppers. Now, he could sell seventy or eighty pounds at every market, bringing in nearly three thousand yuan a month.

The old man had farmed all his life. He had no real pension and refused to take money from his son. His only sources of income were the vegetables in his fields and the savings he had accumulated over a lifetime.

Zhao Danshi knew the old man would not mind if he took these peppers to do something else with them, but he still did not want to simply hand them over to Watcher.

Watcher had not expected such a clean refusal and asked in confusion, "Why? This small amount of peppers isn't a big deal to you."

"But it's a big deal to my grandfather. They are his property, and I have no right to decide whether to give his peppers to you for free. Since all living things contain energy, how about I cut some weeds for you after I finish this work?"

"No, that won't do. Weeds contain less than 0.05 bio-energy per kilogram. That amount is too little for me. It isn't even enough to offset the energy wasted on scanning."

Zhao Danshi shrugged helplessly. "Then I'll think of another way for you."

Watcher said, "Do you still not trust me?"

Zhao Danshi found that strange. "As an adult, is trust really so cheap? Did all the hosts you met before trust you the moment they met you?"

Watcher fell silent. It seemed that the hosts his colleagues had encountered had all been easy to handle. Even if they did not trust them at first sight, there had at least been no major problems after a conversation.

Zhao Danshi ignored him and continued picking peppers.

The small chili peppers were scattered like stars. He had to be careful while picking them, making sure not to break the branches or pick green peppers and leaves along with them. If there was too much debris, no trader would take them at the market.

Picking peppers was hard work. Some people even carried a chair with them and sat down while picking. Often, by the time they finished harvesting one mu of peppers, their hands were nearly cramping.

Pepper picking had to be timed carefully. If he was going to market the next morning, he had to pick one batch that afternoon, then get up at dawn the next day to pick another batch.

If they were picked too early, the peppers would easily rot at home through respiration. Traders would not even take such poor-quality peppers at a discounted price.

Picking them too late would not work either, since he might miss the market. By the time he arrived after the market had dispersed, most pepper traders would already be gone, and the few remaining would find excuses to drive down the price.

Zhao Danshi picked peppers alongside the old man for two days, until his hands were almost cramping. He could hardly imagine how exhausting it must have been for the old man to toil in the fields from dawn to dusk before he came back.

Farmers did not earn money easily. His grandfather had to work so hard day after day just to earn those two or three thousand yuan for living expenses.

In the blink of an eye, five days passed, and Zhao Danshi had to return to work.

The old man was reluctant to let him go, but he could not delay his grandson's proper business. Before Zhao Danshi left, the old man stuffed all sorts of things into his suitcase: wild honey, dried bamboo shoots, dried vegetables, dried chili peppers, and a whole pile of odds and ends.

Zhao Danshi had not brought a suitcase back with him. The old man was afraid he would have trouble carrying things and worried he would feel embarrassed using a woven sack, so he had specially gone to the county town to buy him a suitcase.

That suitcase alone had cost more than three hundred yuan, more than the things inside it.

The old man told Zhao Danshi to work hard after returning and to take good care of himself.

The man driving the three-wheeler was still the same uncle. When he saw Zhao Danshi, he smiled at the old man. "It's fine. The New Year will be here in a few months. He can come back then for a visit."

Zhao Danshi waved to his grandfather. "I'm heading back to work first. When some time has passed and I'm free, I'll come take you to my place for a visit."

The old man's eyes reddened. "Mm. If you're too busy, just call Grandpa a few more times."

Zhao Danshi sat in the cargo bed of the three-wheeler and kept looking back at his grandfather for a long time.

Only after the three-wheeler had slowly driven away did Zhao Danshi realize that the old man's occasional motion of raising a hand to his eye corners had been him wiping away tears.

Zhao Danshi's heart was struck all at once, and his own eyes reddened.

The old man was already so old. Every meeting might be one less than they had left. He did not know when they would meet next—or whether something unexpected might happen before then.

As he waited for the bus in the county town, he felt miserable.

There were few bus routes in the county town, and they came slowly. Zhao Danshi sat there for nearly an hour, watching people come and go through the town. He noticed that most of them were elderly, and his heart grew even more bitter.

The ties between people were so shallow. Even relatives truly spent only a little over ten years together, and after that, they could only see one another during holidays.

Zhao Danshi rested his elbows on his knees and stared at the passing pedestrians with red-rimmed eyes, his heart in fierce turmoil.

He thought of Watcher and asked, "Watcher, you said we could benefit each other. I can provide you with energy, but what exactly can you do for me?"

"What do you want to do? Tell me first, and I'll see whether I can help."

"If I wanted to stay here and farm, how could you help me?"

"I can provide you with fertilizer and Spirit Spring Water, ensuring that your vegetables are a cut above everyone else's. I can also provide information to help you sell them at a higher price." Watcher said, "As long as you can provide the corresponding bio-energy, I can get you many good things. If you give me enough bio-energy, I can even open my marketplace for you and let you purchase fine goods from various worlds."

Zhao Danshi abruptly stood up, pulled his suitcase, and returned to Three-Way Junction.

The three-wheeler uncle's vehicle was not full yet, so he was still waiting there for passengers. He was quite surprised to see Zhao Danshi. "What? Did you leave something behind?"

Zhao Danshi stuffed his luggage into the cargo bed. "No. Plans changed, and I need to stay a few more days."

"Ah." The three-wheeler uncle smiled and nodded. "It's good to stay a few more days. You can keep your grandfather company. Hurry and get on. Let's head back."

When Zhao Danshi returned to the courtyard, he found his grandfather sitting there, doing nothing, simply staring blankly into space. Dahei, the wolfdog, lay beside him and occasionally twitched its ears.

Seeing the old man looking so lonely, Zhao Danshi's heart tightened. He stepped forward and lightly knocked on the courtyard gate. "Grandpa, I'm back again."

Dahei happily leaped up and circled around Zhao Danshi.

The old man immediately stood up in alarm and came over to grab his suitcase. "What happened? Is something wrong?"

Zhao Danshi took a deep breath. "No. I still have leave left, so I planned to stay a few more days."

He did not dare say outright that he wanted to stay, afraid it would worry the old man.

Only then did the old man relax. He patted Zhao Danshi's arm, helped pull his suitcase back into the house, and kept saying, "It's good to stay a few more days. Go inside and rest first. I'll go buy a chicken."

"Grandpa, don't buy one. Isn't there plenty of food left at home?"

"How can that little food be enough for the two of us? Besides, Dahei is here too!" The old man went inside to get money, beaming as he walked with far lighter steps than usual. "Your Auntie Huajiao has raised plenty of chickens, all free-range in the fields. I'll ask her to save one for me."

Watching the old man leave with the big wolfdog, Zhao Danshi let out a breath. He went back inside, checked the time, and planned to call his boss again around noon to tell him he was going to stay in the countryside for a while.