An idiot, useful

Shen Wangjing turned around.

Jiang Xun had yet to wipe the smile off his face, the corners of his mouth still lifted. "She said she'd come again next time. You lead a pretty lively life."

Shen Wangjing didn't respond, his gaze sweeping over him.

Only after confirming that the young master from the city was in one piece, without so much as a hair missing, did he put down the hoe and turn toward the kitchen.

After two steps, he stopped again.

"Don't confront her again. She holds grudges."

Jiang Xun raised his eyebrows. "What a coincidence. So do I."

Silence fell in the kitchen for a few seconds before the sound of an iron pot being set on the stove rang out.

"Keep your distance next time. I'll handle it." Shen Wangjing paused. "Some people can't be dealt with just by reasoning with them."

Jiang Xun leaned against the doorframe, watching Shen Wangjing bend down to pick up the firewood scattered across the floor.

Sunlight streamed through the kitchen's little window, falling on his sweat-soaked back.

Jiang Xun rubbed the two green jujubes he hadn't finished eating against his clothes and offered one to him.

"Hey."

Shen Wangjing straightened. The green jujube had been rubbed to a shine. Jiang Xun had casually picked it on their way back from the old jujube tree outside his courtyard wall, its skin a glossy green.

"I'm not hungry."

"You always say you're not hungry." Jiang Xun shoved the jujube into his hand.

"You're not some immortal. People need to eat, so quit acting like you're too good for mortal food, you pretentious ass. Hurry up and eat it. You've still got work this afternoon."

Shen Wangjing looked down at the green jujube.

It was small, its skin a little wrinkled, and Jiang Xun's palm had warmed it.

In the end, Shen Wangjing didn't refuse again and put it in his mouth.

A second later, an exceedingly faint crack appeared in that eternally icy expression.

So. Damn. Sour.

It was sour enough to make his back teeth ache, his cheeks instinctively tightening as the corner of his eye twitched uncontrollably.

Jiang Xun had already hopped three steps away and was laughing so hard he doubled over.

Childish.

Shen Wangjing swallowed the unbearably sour mouthful and tossed the pit into the winnowing basket without expression.

Jiang Xun's eyes curved into crescents, the dimples at the corners of his mouth plain to see, his face full of the satisfaction of having pulled off a prank.

The mountain sunlight slanted through the kitchen's little window onto his messy hair, gilding its tips a pale gold. His smile was dazzlingly bright.

The production crew upgraded their precautions that very afternoon.

Both box trucks retreated straight behind the dirt slope outside the village entrance. The production assistants crouched behind the trucks to eat their boxed lunches as if conducting a clandestine rendezvous, looking up to keep watch after every bite.

The director even assigned someone to stand guard at Shen Wangjing's courtyard entrance, a walkie-talkie clipped to his waist, reporting Jiang Xun's movements in real time.

Jiang Xun wandered around the courtyard twice. The moment he took a step toward the gate, the production assistant on lookout reflexively clutched his lunch to his chest.

"Is that really necessary?" Jiang Xun leaned against the doorframe, his gaze sweeping over the bulge against the man's chest. "I'm not going to steal yours. Look at your face. Do I have 'armed robber' written across my forehead?"

The production assistant gave two dry chuckles and held his lunch even tighter.

After all, the director's exact words had been, "That kid looks like an angel and acts like a bandit. Anyone who trusts him is an idiot!"

As the sun sank in the west, Shen Wangjing returned from the fields.

He carried a hoe over his shoulder and a bunch of wild greens he'd pulled up by the roadside in his hand. Their leaves were wilted, their roots still caked with dirt.

The yellow dog greeted him with a wagging tail and circled his legs three times.

Shen Wangjing propped the hoe against the wall and crouched by the well to wash his face, water trickling down his jawline.

He shook the water off his hands and carried the wild greens into the kitchen.

It wasn't completely dark when dinner was served.

There were three bowls of wild greens porridge, just a tiny bit thicker than breakfast. At least the grains of rice were visible swirling in the bowls now.

More importantly, there were three boiled ears of corn on the table. They weren't big, but they were golden, their steam carrying a sweet fragrance into their noses.

"Wow." Jiang Xun's eyes lit up. "We've got corn tonight!"

He grabbed an ear, juggled it between his hands several times because it was so hot, then opened his mouth and bit into it.

The kernels were firm and took some effort to chew, but their sweetness was undeniable. Compared with the sweet corn sold in city supermarkets, this had more of the grain's own flavor.

As usual, Shen Wangjing fed his grandfather the vegetable porridge first.

The old man's teeth were bad, and he couldn't gnaw on the corn, so Shen Wangjing picked off the kernels one by one and mixed them into the vegetable porridge, crushing them with a spoon before feeding him.

Jiang Xun ate his corn in silence, but his gaze stayed fixed on Shen Wangjing's hands.

Those hands had large knuckles and thick calluses covering the pads of his fingers. A long, old scar marked the web between his thumb and forefinger, as though something had cut him there.

Those hands could split firewood, hoe fields, repair a dilapidated house, and feed his paralyzed grandfather.

They were nothing like the pampered hands in the Jiang family villa.

Jiang Xun had never thought corn could taste so good. He polished it off in no time.

The wild greens porridge really couldn't be called tasty. The leaves had a bitterness that wouldn't go away, but he still gulped it all down in one go.

Even though his stomach remained so empty it could echo.

Capital City, the Jiang family's old residence.

Shen Yuxing came out of his room after his shower. He had just reached the turn in the stairs when he heard Liu Wanying downstairs in the living room, crying her heart out as she recounted the family's little devil of a young master's various misdeeds to the camera.

He was about to retreat quietly to his room when a figure darted out from beside him and slammed a shoulder into him.

Shen Yuxing staggered a step from the impact and only avoided falling by catching himself against the wall.

Looking back, he saw Jiang Yu leaning against the wall with a lollipop in his mouth, his temporary false teeth an unnatural white. Arms folded across his chest, he looked Shen Yuxing up and down with undisguised disgust.

"You're that poor kid from the backwoods?" Jiang Yu's voice was full of naked contempt.

"You're dressed like a beggar. I have no idea how the production crew picks people. Aren't they worried you'll dirty my floors?"

The cameraman wasn't in this corner. Jiang Yu clearly knew exactly which places were out of the camera's view.

Shen Yuxing lowered his head, his shoulders hunching slightly, his voice so faint it was almost inaudible. "S-sorry. I... I'll be careful."

"What good is sorry?" Jiang Yu stepped forward, the tip of his shoe almost treading on Shen Yuxing's canvas shoes, whose soles were coming unglued.

"Do you know how much this house costs? Do you know how many years that carpet under your feet could feed your whole family? You'd better know your place and stay in the guest room. Don't wander around making a fool of yourself."

Shen Yuxing bit his lower lip, his eyes misting over as he nodded hard.

Seeing his cowardly look, as though he was about to cry, put Jiang Yu in an excellent mood.

That lunatic Jiang Xun had finally been driven out, and this new pushover was his to bully as he pleased. Life couldn't get any better.

Jiang Yu snorted and swaggered away.

Naturally, he didn't notice that the instant he turned around, the mist in Shen Yuxing's eyes vanished completely.

Shen Yuxing watched Jiang Yu's retreating figure disappear down the corridor and assigned him a label in his mind.

An idiot. Useful.