That afternoon, Rong Zheng went to discuss tidying up the new house's courtyard with Master Zheng, who was building the house.
His courtyard had been designed to be very spacious. He planned to leave half for vegetables and flowers and use the other half as a leisure area. He would build a pavilion in the leisure area where he could drink tea while enjoying the breeze, and transplant a jujube tree beside it, both to admire and to harvest fruit from.
He would also add a livestock shed outside the courtyard. Rong Zheng was considering buying an ox or a horse in the future and wanted to leave room beforehand. Even if he never bought either, it could serve as a shade shelter.
When Master Zheng heard this, he found it no trouble and readily agreed to add everything over the next two days.
After discussing the courtyard, Rong Zheng made a detour to inspect the vegetable plot. The vegetables were growing wonderfully, full of vitality.
The Chinese cabbages were growing fastest, their tender leaves a lush, vibrant green;
The cucumbers were doing well too. Ye Yun had already built a trellis of crossed bamboo poles for the vines to climb, and several cucumbers of different shapes had grown, some straight and others slightly curved at the ends;
The tomatoes were not yet ripe, hanging from the branches like little green lanterns.
The scallions were the most luxuriant, standing neatly shoulder to shoulder, brimming with green.
Rong Zheng picked a Chinese cabbage, a few cucumbers, and a small handful of scallions. When he returned home, Ye Yun was feeding the rabbits. There were five or six wild rabbits, all caught on recent hunting trips to the mountain behind the village.
Inside the cage, the plump little white rabbits were chewing the fresh, tender green grass tips with relish. Their split upper lips opened and closed constantly, and now and then they wiped their noses with their little paws, looking utterly endearing.
Rong Zheng walked over and spent a moment looking at his husband's increasingly fair face, which glowed with a natural rosiness. Ye Yun was young to begin with, and so good-looking that even from this close, Rong Zheng could not find a single blemish. He could not resist reaching out to pinch his cheek.
His cheek had some flesh on it, smooth and delicate, and felt wonderful to the touch. It was so satisfying to pinch.
Ye Yun turned his head and glared huffily at Rong Zheng.
Rong Zheng pretended nothing had happened. He lowered his eyes to Ye Yun's lips, perhaps lingering for a second, then raised his gaze an inch to his nose and finally his eyes. "How can little rabbits be so cute?" he murmured.
He spoke of rabbits, but his gaze rested on Ye Yun. His voice was like a clear mountain spring, and his eyes grew deeper still.
Under his gaze, Ye Yun's cheeks flushed crimson and his heart raced. He turned his head to avoid Rong Zheng's eyes and poked the rabbit's fluffy fur with a finger.
Seeing his husband grow shy, Rong Zheng kissed his flushed cheek very lightly.
Startled, Ye Yun nervously looked around with his beautiful eyes, afraid someone might have seen.
Their courtyard fence was low, only waist-high. Any adult passing by could see inside clearly. Someone might just have happened to pass and catch them!
Finding no one there, he breathed a sigh of relief. Afraid Rong Zheng would brazenly keep kissing him outside, he hurried into the house.
Daily husband-teasing-today's quota complete!
Watching his retreating back, Rong Zheng laughed loudly. "I'll make spicy rabbit for A-Yun today."
Ye Yun did not look back, but his eyes shone with anticipation.
He had discovered that Rong Zheng was truly willing to put effort into food. His dishes looked, smelled, and tasted wonderful, and with his generous use of oil, they always made one's mouth water. He and Xiao Chen often ate with hearty appetites, eating more than before, and both had put on quite a bit of flesh.
Rong Zheng selected the fattest wild rabbit, skinned it, cut open its belly, and removed its innards. After washing it several times, he chopped it into large pieces, added seasonings, mixed everything thoroughly by hand, and left it to marinate.
Once Ye Yun's face had cooled, he came to the kitchen to help. He washed the cabbage and scallions, cut the cucumbers, shredded ginger, minced garlic, and prepared the other ingredients on the chopping board, then put them in bowls for Rong Zheng to use.
Rong Zheng heated oil in the wok, tipped in the small basin of rabbit meat, and fried it until golden before scooping it out and setting it aside.
Then he added the shredded ginger, minced garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, fennel, herbs, and other seasonings to the wok, frying them until fragrant. Finally, he returned the rabbit to the wok and stir-fried it over high heat, added an appropriate amount of liquor to remove the gamey smell, and covered it to simmer for a while.
Rong Zheng controlled the heat. After some time, he lifted the lid, saw that the sauce had almost finished reducing, and added the scallions, giving everything a quick stir to combine.
Finally, he transferred the steaming rabbit meat to a plate. The whole dish was golden, with a thick, glossy sauce.
Just then, Ye Chen came running home.
"Brother Rong, Brother Yun, I went upstream to catch fish with Wang Liang and the others today."
Ye Chen raised the little bucket hanging from his arm to show Rong Zheng and Ye Yun the three or four little fish inside.
Hearing this, Rong Zheng was a little worried about the child's safety by the river. As he cooked, he asked, "Was there an adult with you?"
"Brother Wang Ze was there too. He took us."
"That's good, then. Don't go anywhere with a strong current. It's dangerous." He turned to look at the little fish in the bucket and praised him. "Well done, Xiao Chen. You caught fish! Tomorrow, I'll have your Brother Yun fry them for you."
At the praise, Ye Chen could not keep the pride off his face.
Amused by his smug little expression, Ye Yun praised him too, then urged him to wash his hands and get ready to eat.
Only then did Ye Chen walk out with his little bucket. He had come into the kitchen specifically to show them the results of his fishing.
Rong Zheng made three dishes that evening: a large bowl of rabbit meat, stir-fried cabbage, and a cold cucumber salad.
"Wow, that smells so good." After washing his hands, Ye Chen sat at the table. The aroma of the rabbit meat made him feel very hungry.
"Let's eat. Have plenty, Xiao Chen." Rong Zheng was quite confident in his cooking. He placed a piece of rabbit meat in each of Ye Yun's and Ye Chen's bowls.
The rabbit meat was tender, spicy, and savory, with a rich, lingering flavor. The more they ate, the more they wanted, and everyone in the family ate an extra bowl of white rice.
That night, Rong Zheng held his soft, sweet-smelling husband in his arms and said, "The house will be finished in another ten days. Today I asked Master Zheng to help tidy up the courtyard and left a patch for growing vegetables and things."
"Then we can plant greens, tomatoes, and chilies in the courtyard. Next year, all the fields will have to be planted with rice, so we won't be able to grow vegetables there." Ye Yun was delighted. "Growing vegetables is great. They're nice to look at and good to eat, and most importantly, it's convenient. We can pick them right at home."
"Of course," Rong Zheng said. "We can water them whenever we need to. They'll be easy to look after."
As for whether to plant rice in the fields next year, Rong Zheng had not decided yet. Personally, he leaned against it. He was not good at growing rice, and there was no reason to make his husband farm more than ten mu alone. How exhausting that would be.
Besides, he could not bear to. He had only just managed to nurture that fair complexion! They could see next year; there was no rush now anyway.
Rong Zheng continued, "Oh, right. Why don't we all go into town tomorrow? I'll take you both to a teahouse to listen to storytelling."
He and Ye Yun had been married for two months, and Ye Yun had spent almost all that time in the village. This time, Rong Zheng planned to take his husband into town for some fun: shopping, drinking tea, and listening to stories.
His heart ached for Ye Yun, who had done so much work at such a young age while also looking after his little brother, living fearfully under someone else's roof. It had been far from easy.
Ye Yun was still young. He ought to go out more and broaden his horizons.
Rong Zheng also planned to take Ye Yun to more places in the future, to see the world beyond and experience different scenery by his side. But that was all for later.
"Storytelling?" Ye Yun asked in puzzlement. He had never had time for entertainment before, so he did not know what sort of stories they would be hearing.
"A storyteller stands on a stage and tells stories from storybooks. They're really exciting. We can eat while we listen."
"That sounds nice." Anticipation shone in Ye Yun's eyes.
"Afterward, we'll buy furniture in town for the new house."
"Are we moving over some of the furniture from the house we're living in now?"
Rong Zheng thought for a moment. Some of their current furniture was quite old, so there was no need to move it all. "We'll take the furniture we bought when we got married and leave the rest. We'll still need to buy most of it new."
Ye Yun felt that although it would cost money, it made sense. Besides, they now had ample savings, so he nodded in agreement.
As they talked, the two gradually grew sleepy and drifted into dreams to the sound of cicadas.