Matters Outside the Home

"No way, Brother. What age are we living in? Who still goes around fighting and killing? I'm mainly responsible for the boss's safety, that's all. What happens on the construction sites isn't my business," Da Hu said with a smile.

"Mm, that's good. Come here. Let me see how good your moves are these days." Ye Huan stubbed out his cigarette and stood up.

"Ah..." Da Hu pulled a long face, wondering whether Brother Huan had deliberately called him back for a beating.

After just one move, Da Hu lay sprawled on the ground, staring at the sky, utterly speechless...

"You beast. Brother, have you gotten stronger again?" Da Hu asked.

"I used less than thirty percent of my strength!" Ye Huan couldn't very well say he hadn't even used ten percent, afraid it would crush him.

"Ah... have I gotten that bad?" Da Hu sprang to his feet.

Ye Huan shook his head and took a small bottle from inside his clothes. He had bought these bottles on his trip to the county town and filled them with spirit spring water from his space, about 300 milliliters per bottle. He handed it to Da Hu.

"Drink it." Da Hu didn't hesitate. Ye Huan wouldn't hurt him. He took it, tipped his head back, and gulped it all down.

"It's pretty sweet. What is it, Brother?"

"Something from the United States. A gene serum. It can strengthen your body." Ye Huan could only make up something like this to tell him.

"Ah... it must be expensive, right?" Da Hu was stunned. The legendary gene serum?

"Not too bad. It's just hard to get without the right connections. Here's another bottle. Don't drink this one. Keep it on you, and if you ever really get hurt, drink it!" Ye Huan offered no explanation.

"Okay, got it, Brother." Da Hu solemnly put the spirit spring water away.

It wasn't that Ye Huan didn't want to give him more. After all, he had said it was a gene serum from the United States. Too much would be hard to explain.

"What about Grandpa?" Da Hu asked.

"I'll talk to him. But you need a time limit, too. Two hundred thousand to save a life is a lot, but you can't keep risking your neck forever. You're young now, but what about when you get older?" Ye Huan said.

"Mm. My boss said I'd work for him for ten years, then he'd transfer me to the company as head of security." Da Hu nodded. He might be a little simple and reckless, but he wasn't stupid.

"That's all right, then. Your boss seems like a decent man." Ye Huan nodded.

"Yeah, so I'll focus on protecting him for a few more years. Besides, I've trained a few lads. They'll take over from me later!"

"Let's go. You haven't been home yet, have you?" Ye Huan headed toward Da Hu's house.

"No, I came to see you first, Brother." Da Hu was afraid his grandfather would nag him, so he had come to get Brother Huan. Only Brother Huan could talk his grandfather around.

"Grandpa, Da Hu's back!" Ye Huan called. This house really needed repairs.

"Ah, Huwazi... you're finally back!" Da Hu's grandfather hugged him, and grandfather and grandson began talking.

After hearing what Da Hu had to say, his grandfather fell silent. It had been money to save his life. The man had handed it over without saying a word.

"Ah... all right, then. Take good care of yourself. We may be poor, but we can't throw away our backbone. You ought to risk your neck for him to repay that debt." His grandfather wasn't an ungrateful man.

"Grandpa, my house happens to be getting remodeled. Once it's finished, let's rebuild this place. This house isn't fit to live in anymore," Ye Huan said.

"Ah, what does an old codger like me need a new house for?" Da Hu's grandfather didn't want to waste money. He had saved all the money Da Hu had given him over the years.

"Grandpa, I'm bound to come back someday," Da Hu said.

That one sentence swayed his grandfather. "All right, then. Let Xiao Huan oversee it. Build my eldest grandson a little Western-style house, three rooms upstairs and three downstairs..."

Ye Huan nodded, then left them to their conversation and went home. "Come over for drinks tonight. Bring Grandpa."

"Got it, Brother!" After chatting with his grandfather for a while, Da Hu fell asleep. His grandfather watched him, smiling and smiling until his tears wouldn't stop.

"I'm the one who's burdened the boy... ah..." Da Hu's grandfather sighed. A life-saving debt-what could they possibly give in return?

That evening, there was fish with pickled mustard greens, a pot of stewed deer, a pot of stewed roe deer, spicy braised pheasant and wild rabbit, steamed cured pork and sausages, and four or five stir-fried dishes, filling a whole table.

The four members of Ye Huan's family, Da Hu and his grandfather, Little Flower, and the village chief made just enough to fill the eight-seater square table.

Ye Huan's mother didn't sit at the table, though. She took Little Flower aside and fed her, while Saihu, his mate, and Xiaobai each ate, their heads swaying.

The six men drank together. Apart from Ye Huan's grandfather, who drank medicinal liquor, everyone had beer. The weather was too hot.

"Xiao Huan, I hear your vegetables are selling pretty well these days?" the village chief asked.

"Mm, they're only just starting to make a name for themselves. I'll leave things as they are this year, then raise prices across the board next year. I expect plenty of hotel owners will come looking for me here." Ye Huan nodded.

"What good would coming here do? No one in the village but you can grow vegetables of this quality!" The village chief picked up some stir-fried greens with his chopsticks. They were delicious. Just a simple stir-fry, yet the flavor was simply incredible.

"All-natural, pollution-free, irrigated with mountain spring water-those are the bare essentials. In business, if you try to be slippery, no one will play along. So quality has to be the first guarantee." Ye Huan laid it all out plainly. He was afraid that if they worked together later, someone might try taking shortcuts. Did they really think those business owners were fools with money to burn?

"Uncle, what do you have in mind?" he asked the village chief.

"The village puts up the land and works with you. We split the profits fifty-fifty. The people doing the work get a wage, and all the other households share in the dividends!" The village chief laid his cards straight on the table.

Ye Huan nodded. It was much what he had expected, but there were several hundred people in the village. Would they agree? He would do nothing and take half?

He knew what the spirit spring could do, but the villagers didn't.

"What do the villagers think?" he asked the village chief.

"We'll plant first. At the end of the year, when everyone comes home, we'll hold a village meeting. Just consider it the village taking advantage of you for half a year," the village chief said.

"I don't really mind that. How about this? For these six months, I'll supply seeds free of charge. You grow them according to my methods and water the vegetables with pure mountain spring water. Then, when they go to market, we'll see how the quality differs," Ye Huan said with a smile.

Without comparison, there was no sting. Only once the whole village saw the gap could he collect his dividends in peace without anyone making trouble for him, though he wasn't afraid of that anyway.

Do you really think vegetables grown with pure mountain spring water are organic vegetables? Heh, once I show you the difference, you'll understand.

"All right." The village chief nodded. He could work out for himself that this nephew of his surely had a secret formula. If he didn't have that much sense after so many years as village chief, he might as well have retired long ago.

The two exchanged a smile, everything left unspoken. Ye Huan's grandfather hadn't joined the conversation. He was thoroughly pleased with his eldest grandson now. Heh, his days of comfort had arrived. He drew Da Hu's grandfather into drinking with him. Let the young people make their own decisions.

"Don't worry about Da Hu. He knows where to draw the line. Since there's a reason behind it, Da Hu hasn't done anything wrong," Ye Huan's grandfather said with a smile, reassuring Da Hu's grandfather.

"Mm, I'm not unreasonable either. A life-saving debt-there's nothing to argue about! I just hope Da Hu stays safe and takes good care of himself. I'm still counting on him to support me in my old age and see me off when I die."

"Don't worry, Grandpa, Eldest Grandpa. I know what's what!" Da Hu nodded. He was no longer some reckless greenhorn fresh out in the world.