The Taming of the Ruffian Hero

Chapter 90 (That’s Also My father’s Name) The Past of an Officer Touched the Heart of a Teenager

When they finished speaking, both of them sank to the ground. Looking at each other, Lin Wenxi and Zhao Yuan smiled and then shook their heads. In an instant, they couldn’t figure it out. “Why did we run away?”

They were very clear that it was not surprising that Zhao Yuan would never choose to abandon his father who had just recovered from a severe illness. While Lin Wenxi, even if he was willing to part with his parents for a few years, he knew he couldn’t prevent Lin Ziwei from digging deep to find him. If that happened, everything would go out of control.

However, if Lin Wenxi was back, when would they meet each other again? No matter how Zhao Yuan was good at making connections, he couldn’t leave Jifu University and get transferred to the school that Lin Wenxi would go. Or Zhao Yuan could drop out of his school to accompany Lin Wenxi in other provinces. But Zhao Ming was obsessed with the wish of Zhan Yuan’s future success, so he would never allow that!

In addition, at present, it seemed that they had not quite come to the situation that needed them to escape from everything and give up everything.

“Live each day as it comes.” Lin Wenxi said.

“Okay, live each day as it comes! I will... I will think of a way.” Zhao Yuan said.

Zhao Yuan carried all the wild vegetables on his back and walked Lin Wenxi down the mountain step by step. Lin Wenxi had meant to bounce around but at this moment he was extremely docile. He just let Zhao Yuan lead him to here and there. He always felt that no matter which direction Zhao Yuan went, it would also become his direction.

When they were close to the house, Zhao Yuan let go of his hand. Zhao Yuan checked him three times until he was sure that Lin Wenxi was okay, he was finally relieved.

It was a cool night. On their way back, Lin Wenxi enjoyed it a lot. They walked along a lotus pond, full of joy. Lin Wenxi threw a stone at the mirrorlike surface of the pond, and the stone skipped across the surface, leaving a string of lovely ripples. Zhao Yuan also threw a stone freely, and a much longer string of bigger ripples reached to the distance. The string alarmed two water birds. They fluttered their wings and flew across the clouds. The shadows of the shattered thick clouds covered the ground. A bolt of lightning triggered by the birds flashed across the deep sky.

After that, there came the thrilling thunders. An unexpected gust of wind suddenly washed away all the hustle and bustle of the day. In an instant, the night fell like the coming of doomsday. The trees not far away became blurred. A thunderstorm storm was just brewing in the dark clouds now.

It was still far away from his aunt’s home. Zhao Yuan immediately grabbed Lin Wenxi’s hand. Following a vaguely recognizable trail covered with wild grass, they ran to the fisherman’s farmhouse.

Soon came down the raindrops as big as beans, dropping onto their faces and backs, rather painful. After a while, these raindrops turned into a hazy rain curtain. The road became more difficult to identify. Zhao Yuan had no other choice but to slow down, and he carefully strode across every ditch on the road.

The wild wind with the heavy raindrops blew the grass and trees by the roadside hither and thither. Zhao Yuan and Lin Wenxi stumbled all the way. The raindrops were beating against their bodies. Zhao Yuan felt very painful, but he worried about Lin Wenxi even more. Thus, he took off his coat and covered Lin Wenxi with it. While he was topless and was busy in protecting Lin Wenxi, they were running wildly in the rainy night. When Lin Wenxi felt that Zhao Yuan’s cloth was covered on his body, the pain on his body disappeared inexplicably, and waves of warmth and an impulse upsurged in his heart all of a sudden.

This impulse made him simply tear off his coat without unbuttoning. He raised his cloth and called out with ease and satisfaction.

At this time, Zhao Yuan finally set his heart at rest. It seemed that in the depth of Lin Wenxi heart lived another person, a teenager who was stronger, brighter and more open-minded.

Zhao Yuan and Lin Wenxi waved their clothes all along the way. They were topless but they still displayed themselves in the rain. Holding each other’s hands, they were whistling, running, and jumping. When the two approached the farmhouse, they even tightly held each other’s hands and started to run in circles, shouting at the top of their voices. Eventually, with his arms over Lin Wenxi’s chest, Zhao Yuan couldn’t help but lift Lin Wenxi up in the air.

Lin Wenxi felt that his whole person was in a serene and vast universe. The thunderstorm not only failed to stop their pace but let them fly all the way to the light in the dark night.

The light in the dark night belonged to a fisherman’s house.

“Teacher Lin!” The couple in the fisherman’s house cheered for a moment. “Many thanks to you!”

Obviously, Lin Wenxi was not familiar with them. He kept searching his students who looked like the couple in his mind.

The fisherman went to the bedroom and waked up his child who was already in bed. It turned out that he was Xiaofeng who gave Lin Wenxi a headache for a while. This child usually liked to bully the children in lower grades. Lin Wenxi let him understand by reasoning while moved him with emotion. It was unknown how much effort Lin Wenxi had taken to make him behave well. Originally, he had quite bad study and living habits. Thanks to Lin Wenxi’s tight rein on him in the past few months, he had passed the semi-annual examination of the countryside in the town. Now he was able to enjoy formal primary education in the town.

For a while, they had a pleasant talk together. After Xiaofeng had greeted them, the couple coaxed him to sleep in the bedroom. Then the couple came to accompany Lin Wenxi and Zhao Yuan. They chatted about the rain that had dropped during all these years, the wind that had blown and the snow that had fallen.

On the thunderstorm night, a few people, though young and old, they talked a lot about the ponds in the snow, the mountains, the lonely birds, the harvest after the snow, and the marten that came out to hunt in the snow. Someone said that if you heard a creaking sound from pine trees when they were crushed by the heavy snow, you could then find a lot of firewood in the mountains. It was certain that when the snow was falling heavily, the ponds would be covered with thick ice layers the next day. However, you could only see the ice layers at a distance and you couldn’t step on the ice. Some wild birds which needn’t fly south would peck holes on the ice. After that, they would wait aside quietly until the fish under the water couldn’t hold their breaths anymore and get hooked automatically.

“There is plenty of fish below the ice. That kind of birds is very clever. One bite for one fish at a time. The shining white fish bellies were rolled over there. In the past few years, I have thought about raising some cormorants to catch fish such that we can have something to harvest even in winter. Thus, we won’t worry about for the whole year. Perhaps we can also stock up a lot of the Spring Festival goods. Our child will go to school soon.” The fisherman became very happy when he talked about the days ahead. He added, “This place is one of the dozens of remote mountain areas in the town of the forest. It’s true that when the officers and the people united as one, even the rivers will become a bit purer!”

“Uncle Wei? Since you called him uncle, the person should be about eighty or ninety years old. He actually has the same last name as my father’s!” Lin Wenxi smiled.

The fisherman said happily, “It’s not like that. Uncle Wei is younger than me. He is called Uncle Wei only because we respect him a lot. Though he worked in the town, he often went to the countryside. It has been a dozen years since he was transferred. I will go to the town every year during the Spring Festival. His several cousins are still there, waiting for the preserved meat we make. In previous days, when he had an interview with people here, he liked the preserved meat made by my wife! It’s a pity that I haven’t seen him for several years. I heard that he had become a high-ranking official in the city now. It is a blessing for people in the city.”

It looked like that Lin Wenxi had perceived something but he couldn’t discuss it. Zhao Yuan suddenly understood but he didn’t say it.

At the thought of “Uncle Wei”, the voice of the fisherman was louder and his courage also increased. He stood up and smiled, “You should also have heard about him. Nowadays, there are fewer officers who are willing to bring benefits to people!” The fisherwoman was knitting a small and thin sweater for her child in silence at one side. She also nodded contentedly and added, “Previously, all we knew was farming. As a result, if there was a disaster like a plague of insects, we could not survive. Uncle Wei led us to dug lotus ponds, build fish ponds and open fish farms. When the water was connected to the water in the Yang River, everyone saw an honest way to make a fortune. Being an official should truly have a great mind!” The fisherman couldn’t help nodding with agreement. Zhao Yuan saw that Lin Wenxi’s face became more and more solemn and he listened very carefully when the couple was talking about his father’s previous things.

“What’s more, even if he is in charge of education now and has become Director Lin and also the deputy secretary, he never forgets us who live in the remote and backward place. You see that in every six months, the schools in the town will hold an enrollment examination especially for students in the countryside. Usually, the number of students to be enrolled is only four to five per village in a half year. But this year, fifteen students in our village managed to get in! Director Lin opened the gate of policy for us, and you are the savior who led us to stride across the threshold!” Obviously, the fisherman was still very excited.

Lin Wenxi almost made a detailed inquiry about what his father had done in this village in all these years. The fisherman and the fisherwoman certainly loved to share these things with him. So they told him all the things they could think about, including hearsay.

Lin Wenxi suddenly understood the meaning that his father asked him to teach here. In the past, he had never thought about what it meant to be the son of Lin Ziwei.

Somehow, the peasant woman suddenly mentioned, “I heard that Uncle Wei’s child is very naughty. But I suppose a naughty child should also have great achievements after he grows up!”

The rain outside became smaller. Liu Lanhua had already called several times to urge them to go home. Now it was midnight already and it was still dark outside. The farm was too small to put up guests. Therefore, Zhao Yuan and Lin Wenxi stood up to say good-bye.

The fisherman thought for a second and took something like a wooden stick off the wall. It should be a bamboo stick, the tip of which was tied with black silk cotton. He sent it in the fireplace and turned a circle. After a while, flames were coming from the top of the bamboo stick and this torch with bright flames lighted up the whole room. The wind blew through the window, the flames on the torch swayed and jumped. This was the first time that Lin Wenxi saw a real torch.

“The flashlight is out of power. I have to go to the market to buy a new one tomorrow. This stuff is old, but it is very practical.” With this, he handed the torch to Zhao Yuan. Zhao Yuan held the torch and pointed to a pile of flutes in the corner. Those were ready-made flute models but they were not painted yet. Zhao Yuan asked for one. The fisherman laughed happily, “It never occurred to me that you also are interested in this. They were rough made by me. I still wanted to learn the skill from a good craftsman in the town and after I practice for half a year, I will sell my flutes in the city. If you don’t mind, just pick up one!”

Zhao Yuan picked a bamboo flute and turned around it for a couple of times. Fully satisfied, he led Lin Wenxi out.

Soon after they went out, the fisherwoman saw some money on the stool that Zhao Yuan had just sat down on. They chased out quickly while yelling. However, Zhao Yuan and Lin Wenxi had long gone. The fisherman saw that the money was deliberately stuck in the crack on the stool. He knew in his heart that they intentionally left it behind. He said impressively, “Nowadays, wherever I go, I can always come across nice people. It is to be regretted that we let two students help us. I feel quite ashamed of myself.” The peasant woman grinned. “Take it easy. We need the money to send our child to school. The village is not very big so we can find them sooner or later. We will return them the principal plus the interest then. In this way, we won’t owe them a debt of gratitude!”

The couple then talked about some trivial things of life for a long time, and they went to sleep.

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