Smoke Rises from the Kitchen Deep in the Mountain Hollow

[Dual Native Farming Story]

In the third year of Qixing, the war ended.

Two people followed the troops being sent home to Qinzhou, keeping a short distance behind.

A tall, sturdy man pushed a wheelbarrow piled with two bedrolls, pots, bowls, and miscellaneous belongings. Beside him sat a slender young man, one leg slightly curled up.

The people walking ahead kept glancing back at them, then turning around to whisper under their breath.

“Squad Leader Liu… is he really taking that man back to his hometown?”

Someone beside him curled his lip. “What squad leader? He was stripped of his rank ages ago over his relationship with that man!”

“Speaking of which, I wonder what he sees in him,” the first man said. “He threw away a perfectly good future, and now that fellow can barely walk. Yet he still treats him like a treasure.”

Someone winked, his words turning crude. “Tsk. Song Zhu is so fair and delicate. What do you think he sees in him?”

The men burst into laughter. More of them turned to look back, their gazes full of all kinds of meaning.

Under those stares, Song Zhu lowered his already bowed head even further. His hand hanging at his side kept picking at the ankle of his right leg.

The cart suddenly stopped.

Liu Qingfeng bent down and handed Song Zhu a bamboo flask, his voice as gentle as if coaxing a child. “A Yun, have a drink of water.”

Song Zhu didn’t move. After a long while, he raised his bloodshot eyes, tears welling in them, threatening to fall.

“Am I… only holding you back now?”

“You’re not holding me back.”

Liu Qingfeng crouched down and looked up at him, his tone firm.

“Don’t worry. Once we get there, I’ll take you into the mountains. You won’t have to hear any more of this gossip or put up with people staring.”

He reached for the hand at Song Zhu’s side and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“From now on, it’ll just be the two of us. We’ll build a good life together, all right?”

A tear fell onto the back of Liu Qingfeng’s hand.

Song Zhu hurriedly lifted his hand to wipe his eyes, but the tears only kept coming. After a long moment, he finally answered in a thick, tearful voice.

“…All right.”

Only then did Liu Qingfeng smile. He reached out to wipe the corner of Song Zhu’s eye. His fingertips were rough, but his touch was gentle.

“My precious boy.”

A little advance notice for my upcoming story, "A Two-Way Game", a sweet little showbiz romance. Here’s the blurb:

Zhou Chang is the entertainment industry’s resident sex symbol, radiating charisma with every move. Rumor has it he likes to have fun, doesn’t care about gender, and has never been single.

Shen Yan has been in the industry for three years, filming one movie after another, yet his love life is a blank slate. It’s not that no one has pursued him. He figured out his sexuality early on, but has never met anyone who made him dare to take that first step.

Then, by a twist of fate, the two of them join the same film crew.

Shen Yan is bold enough to think, “Actors hooking up on set is common. So why not two men?”

They say alcohol gives cowards courage. The first time Shen Yan knocked on Zhou Chang’s door, he downed a huge glass despite never touching alcohol.

The result?

He spent half the night making a drunken scene in Zhou Chang’s room.

After learning his lesson, Shen Yan tried again.

This time, he’d dressed for success: a fresh white T-shirt, athletic shorts, and a bare face. He stood at the door and spoke as casually as he could. “Teacher Zhou, I bumped my lower back while filming this afternoon. Could you… help me apply some medicinal liquor?”

The man inside looked at him for two seconds, then stepped aside. “Come in.”

Plan: success!

Shen Yan’s heart pounded like a drum, but his face stayed perfectly composed.

And yet…

As Zhou Chang crouched to apply the medicine, his loose lounge shorts clung to him, revealing an unmistakable outline. Shen Yan “accidentally” glanced at it, and his breathing immediately went haywire.

The next second, he sprang off the sofa, stammered out an excuse, and fled in a panic.

The first rush of courage fades, the second falters, and the third is gone.

Shen Yan… was all out of courage.

After filming wrapped, he was sprawled on the sofa waiting for someone to bring him food when a knock came at the door.

“Finally.” Shen Yan got up, muttering as he opened it. “If you hadn’t come soon, I’d have starved to, ”

Click.

Zhou Chang stood outside wearing nothing but a bathrobe.

His wet hair was still dripping, and water slid down his jaw into his collarbone. The robe was loosely tied, its neckline hanging open to reveal a flushed chest.

“Teacher Shen.” He looked up, his voice carrying just the right note of regret. “The water heater in my room suddenly broke. Could I use your shower?”

“Y-yes, of course.” Shen Yan heard himself reply. His voice was tight, and his heart beat so fast it felt ready to burst out of his chest.

The bathroom door closed, and the rush of running water filled the room. Shen Yan stood outside, completely dazed.

What was he supposed to do now? Rehearse his lines? Read the script? Play on his phone, or… maybe change his clothes first?

Before he could decide, the water stopped.

Zhou Chang came out, toweling off his hair. His bathrobe was even looser than before, its neckline wide open. Water trickled along his collarbone and disappeared beneath the carelessly tied belt at his waist.

Shen Yan took only a quick glance, but his ears were already burning.

“Teacher Shen, your body wash…” Zhou Chang seemed completely unaware, walking toward him as he dried his hair. His eyes still glistened with moisture. “It smells so good.”

Shen Yan was so flustered that his tongue tied itself in knots again. “D-does it?”

“It does.”

Zhou Chang nodded and moved imperceptibly closer, until they were close enough to feel each other’s breath.

“No wonder you always smell so good whenever I’m near you, Teacher Shen.”

Theme: Find a peaceful corner of the world, and grow old there with the one you love.