Flower nursery work

"What are you all crowding around for!"

An old woman's scolding came from behind the crowd. "Not working anymore? Then how about I stop paying you, too?"

Like cold water splashed into a hot pan, the workers who had wanted to take their anger out on Bai Congming scattered, their necks hunched.

The old woman walked over with her hands behind her back. Her hair was white and her skin wrinkled, but she was full of vigor, and her grip on the back of Bai Congming's collar was strong.

"What are you standing there for? Get to work!"

Bai Congming hunched his shoulders, trying to dodge the big hand behind him.

"Work! I'll go work! Granny Sun, don't grab me!"

Only after everyone else had gone some distance did the woman called Granny Sun let go. She fished two boiled eggs out of her pocket and tossed them into Bai Congming's arms.

"My little grandson didn't want these. Throwing them out would be a waste, so you get a treat, you fool!"

The eggs were still piping hot. Bai Congming tossed them between his hands, unable to hold them, and after struggling for a while, he put them straight on the ground.

"Hot! My hands are hot! Hurts!"

Granny Sun clicked her tongue and plucked two large leaves. Though she grumbled about what a nuisance fools were, her hands worked deftly, wrapping up the eggs and putting them in Bai Congming's pocket.

His pocket felt warm. Bai Congming smiled as he cupped it with his hands. "Thank you, Granny Sun."

Granny Sun ignored him and walked into the flower nursery with her hands behind her back, surveying her land like a landlord.

Flower Nursery consisted of seven or eight greenhouses, connected by sheet-metal passageways. Each greenhouse had its own dedicated workers, some tending flowers and others caring for saplings.

Greenhouse No. 3, where Bai Congming worked, grew fresh flowers in every color, with spring lasting all year round.

Roses, gardenias, flowers of every kind-seasons did not exist in the greenhouse. Time stood still inside, setting apart a brief eternity.

The flowers vied in beauty, but people had to be divided into ranks. Each greenhouse had a team leader who managed these helpless, hardworking gardeners.

The team leader of Greenhouse No. 3 was Auntie Zhou, a gentle, quiet woman.

"Little Bai, you're in charge of that area today."

Looking in the direction Aunt Zhou pointed, he saw a patch of hydrangeas in the blue area that needed watering.

"Little Bai understands!"

Bai Congming nodded hard and answered loudly. He fetched a watering can from the tool shed and ran over. "Little Bai will water!"

Auntie Zhou failed to stop him and could only call after his retreating figure.

"Have you had breakfast, Little Bai?"

"Ate!" Bai Congming did not even look up. "Granny Sun gave eggs!"

Auntie Zhou murmured an acknowledgment and took a shovel, leading the others elsewhere to weed. A woman who had only recently started kept looking back at Bai Congming's bent figure.

"Is he..." The woman pointed at her head. "A little off?"

Auntie Zhou smiled. "Just focus on your own work."

"..."

Once curiosity took hold, not even a thousand oxen could drag it back. It had to get to the bottom of things.

Flower Nursery provided lunch. For a deduction of three hundred yuan from their monthly wages, workers could have a filling meal here. Most of those who wanted the convenience and did not want to travel back and forth gathered here at noon to eat and chat.

Others preferred not to. Auntie Zhou, for instance, lived nearby. She could go home for lunch and take a nap, naturally leaving her more energetic in the afternoon.

As usual, she asked Bai Congming if he wanted to go home with her. When he said no, Auntie Zhou brought him a tray of food.

"Eat here. When you're finished, spread out my blanket and sleep on it."

Bai Congming wiped the water droplets off his hands and carefully checked that they were clean before taking the tray.

"Thank you, Auntie."

For Bai Congming, eating was simply eating. He regarded every bite of food with reverence, grateful that it could fill his stomach.

Precisely because of that, the people gathered on the other side talking about him could not catch his attention.

"He's a fool. Been here for years. I heard both his parents died."

"What are you talking about!" someone interrupted her. "He never had parents. That woman on Hongfang Street found him and raised him!"

When it came to Hongfang Street, there was only one person they could mean by "that woman." But the newcomer did not know, so she asked.

"Which woman?"

"That poor woman. Not long after her husband jumped off a building, her son died of an illness, too. Why did she go and bring home a fool?"

"Hah!" Today's food was a little spicy, and the speaker sucked in a breath. "I heard she was going to follow them, but when she got to the river, she saw this fool. He was the same age as her son, so..."

The old story drew a few sighs, some of pity, some of regret.

"You could say she brought home two lives."

"When you've raised him yourself, he's as good as your own son. He doesn't seem that foolish to me, either. He worked briskly enough this morning. She could have had an easy life later!"

"No chance of that... That woman died a few years ago, too. It was some kind of..."

"Nasopharyngeal cancer, I think. That's what her son had."

"Yes, yes..."

A few sighs, their volume unchecked, went in Bai Congming's left ear and out his right.

Bai Congming was not someone who wasted food. Though today's dishes were very spicy, he still ate every last bit.

After putting his metal tray in the return area, Bai Congming went back to his corner. He had just spread out the blanket when he saw someone approaching.

It was the new coworker who had started today. Auntie Zhou had introduced her as Aunt Xie.

Not everyone at Flower Nursery was kind. This stranger frightened Bai Congming a little, and he instinctively shrank back.

But remembering that his mother had taught him to be polite, Bai Congming could only speak hesitantly.

"Hello, Auntie."

"Hello, hello." Aunt Xie helped straighten his blanket. "You're called Little Bai, right?"

Bai Congming nodded. "I'm Little Bai."

"How long have you worked at Flower Nursery, Little Bai?"

Bai Congming blinked in silence. Whether he did not understand or did not want to say, Aunt Xie could not tell. She sighed and lightly touched his head.

"It's so hard being on your own! Would you like a wife, Little Bai?"

"Wife!" Bai Congming raised his eyebrows. "Little Bai has a wife!"

Aunt Xie had not expected that. She had been thinking that although he was a fool, he could at least earn money, making him just right for her niece with the lame leg. The two could make do and get by together.

She had not expected the fool to have a wife already. She had just asked around and had heard nothing about that!

"You... you have a wife? Whose daughter is she?"

Bai Congming refused to say any more. He lay down on the blanket and closed his eyes, then opened them again to wave at Aunt Xie.

"Goodbye, Auntie!"

"..."

As the saying went, better to tear down ten temples than ruin one marriage. Since the fool already had a family, Aunt Xie could hardly say anything more. She pursed her lips, turned, and left.

"What were you talking to the fool about?"

"Nothing." Aunt Xie waved a hand. "Oh, is this fool married?"

"Married?" The speaker gave her an odd look. "...Who would marry a fool like him?"

Aunt Xie was momentarily speechless. That did make sense.

Then why... had he said he had a wife...

Aunt Xie puzzled over it but could find no explanation. In the end, she could only conclude that the fool probably did not understand what a wife was.

Starting a family was a matter for two people, after all. Although her niece had a lame leg, she was a respectable girl. Aunt Xie felt this could not be rushed; she still needed to ask her niece what she thought.

Meanwhile, Bai Congming could not sleep. He rolled over to look at the little yellow flowers in front of him.

At lunch, I ate mouth-hurting food... It didn't hurt as much as my wife biting me... but it still hurt a little!

Bai Congming counted the days on his fingers. There were seven more days until Flower Nursery's day off.

On his usual days off, Bai Congming cleaned his home from top to bottom.

But this time... Bai Congming rubbed the warm spot over his heart.

-Inside, it was filled to the brim with his wife.