Chapter 52
After making money, Meng Xueyuan didn’t prioritize building a new house for the family. Everything was done in batches by lottery, so they were still living in a low tiled house, with brick walls and wooden floorboards.
The room was small but cozy. His mom had changed the bedding to a light blue four-piece set.
To make space for a desk and a wardrobe, the bed was a single.
Meng Xueyuan: “Isn’t this a bit cramped? Should I go sleep at someone else’s place tonight?”
Lu Xiao: “All the beds are taken. Where are you going to sleep?”
Half the village houses had been torn down, two families were temporarily sharing one place, and with the young people who’d gone out returning home, there wasn’t a single empty bed at the moment.
Meng Xueyuan could sleep on the bamboo bed in the courtyard for a night. Summer nights in the countryside were perfect for sleeping outdoors, counting stars in the evening breeze, and there were no mosquitoes anyway. Today hadn’t been a waste of chatting—Lu Xiao was very familiar with Baihua Village—so Meng Xueyuan said, “You sleep next to me.”
Lu Xiao: “Exactly. It’s still early—want to watch some videos?”
Meng Xueyuan refused to watch videos of bees dancing.
…
Lu Xiao had learned his lesson well. On the first night of having his wife back, he was extremely civilized.
If Meng Xueyuan hadn’t insisted on getting to the bottom of things, even his language would have been civilized.
The next morning, as soon as Meng Xueyuan woke up, he saw Lu Xiao coming back with a bowl of soy milk and two buns.
Lu Xiao: “I ground the soy milk myself, using the big stone mill in the village.”
Lu Xiao had gotten up at four in the morning to work around the village, as if there were dozens of mothers-in-law waiting to be impressed by a new son-in-law. Baihua Village generally rose early. Lu Xiao had asked around about everyone’s routines the day before, then secretly got up at four to work and stunned everyone.
From four to seven—three full hours of universal praise.
He wanted to be the best new son-in-law and completely outshine the next one. Hopefully, the next one would be his older brother.
Meng Xueyuan asked doubtfully, “Don’t we have a soy milk machine at home?”
Lu Xiao: “It’s too noisy. It would disturb your sleep.”
Stone-ground soy milk tasted richer, and he’d even added peanuts while grinding it. Meng Xueyuan thought it was incredibly delicious.
Getting up at four also served another purpose for Lu Xiao. He needed to head out in the morning for a bit—the place was only half an hour away from his family’s ancestral graves. He needed to go fulfill a vow and thank his great-grandmother for her blessings.
“Baby, my family’s ancestral graves are nearby. I’m going to sweep the tomb. I’ll be back by noon.”
Meng Xueyuan: “I’ll go with you.”
Lu Xiao hesitated. “The road’s bumpy, and we’ll have to climb a mountain.”
Meng Xueyuan grabbed a small bottle from the bedside. “Look, the clan doctor prescribed me herbal pills for pregnancy nausea.”
Before Lu Xiao could say anything, he poured one out and swallowed it, immediately pulling a bitter-gourd face and gulping some sweet soy milk.
“Alright, it works for a whole day. I’m going.”
Lu Xiao felt like a delinquent trying to skip class and get into a fight while his little boyfriend stubbornly insisted on tagging along. That mountain didn’t even have proper steps… But seeing Meng Xueyuan’s expression, he couldn’t bear to refuse and said, “There are snakes on the mountain.”
Meng Xueyuan raised his brows. “All living things have spirits. They won’t bite me.”
“Fine, you’re basically a mountain-climbing saint.” Lu Xiao turned around and called the caretaker of the mountain, telling him to prepare an electric boat.
The low rumble of a motorcycle engine sounded outside. Lu Xiao said, “My ride’s here.”
Meng Xueyuan’s eyes went wide. “Oh? Is it a motorcycle?” What man doesn’t love motorcycles?
Lu Xiao nodded coolly.
Meng Xueyuan: “I like it!”
Lu Xiao rode the motorcycle into the mountains. Meng Xueyuan sat behind him, arms around his waist. They rode between emerald waters and green hills, the wind roaring in their ears, carrying the coolness of the mountains.
The hard helmet rested against Lu Xiao’s shoulder; the hands around his waist were soft and warm. Lu Xiao didn’t dare ride fast. A motorcycle capable of high speeds was driven by him like a speed-limited electric scooter.
An off-road vehicle followed them unhurriedly, carrying the tomb-sweeping tools.
As they rode, Meng Xueyuan found the road increasingly familiar. In the last century, the Bee Clan had migrated several times; originally, they’d lived at the foot of these very mountains.
Connecting that with Lu Xiao’s identity, Meng Xueyuan suddenly understood—if things had remained peaceful for a hundred years, without being forced to scatter, with the Bee Clan, Flower Clan, and Vine Clan living together, he and Lu Xiao would have been neighbors.
The motorcycle stopped by a stretch of water, smooth as a mirror, reflecting the towering peaks.
Lu Xiao: “We still have to climb to the top. How about you wait down here?”
Meng Xueyuan: “I want to climb too.”
For the first time, Lu Xiao thought it would be pretty nice to buy the neighboring mountain and turn it into a helipad. “My brother wants the neighboring mountain for a helicopter landing pad. If you come again next time to sweep graves, I’ll have to negotiate—”
Meng Xueyuan: “That’s my ancestral mountain.”
Lu Xiao: “—negotiate to add a zipline between the two mountains. I’ll sweep mine, slide over, and sweep yours too.”
No wonder his second brother had told Lin Xilan to buy the mountain and failed! Turns out Lin Xilan had refused outright without negotiating!
They’d trusted Secretary Lin’s negotiating skills too much, thinking they’d run into a landowner unmoved by money, without thinking further.
Who would agree to have their ancestral graves bulldozed for someone else’s helipad?
Lu Xiao criticized, “My useless older brothers just act on whims, benefiting themselves at others’ expense.”
Meng Xueyuan looked at him with amusement. You’re benefiting yourself at your wife’s expense—why not mention that?
Lu Xiao added, “But it doesn’t look like there are graves on the neighboring mountain.” It was all flowers and trees, clearly maintained. If there were graves, his brother wouldn’t have had such a heartless idea.
Meng Xueyuan said, “Because the Bee Clan is a collective. We hope to rest eternally on one mountain.”
But descendants are endless, while land is limited, so they don’t set up graves. Ashes are buried directly beneath favorite flowering trees. Even in eternal rest, flowers fall with fragrance.
In difficult times, it’s also cheaper—cough—the Bee Clan focuses more on life before death.
Lu Xiao decided on the spot: “When I die, I want to be buried here too.”
He could stay with his wife forever and be a filial descendant at the same time.
Lu Xiao briskly opened the back of the off-road vehicle, took out the tomb-sweeping tools, and an inflatable boat.
Meng Xueyuan: “We’re taking a boat across? It looked like you didn’t plan to use one at first. How were you going to cross?”
Lu Xiao pointed to a tree by the water. “Grab a vine and swing across.”
Meng Xueyuan looked closely. At the narrowest point of the water stood a large tree. From the opposite mountain, vines grew everywhere, aggressively throwing branches over to wrap around the treetop.
Maybe they’d originally been blown over by the wind and hooked onto the branches, then climbed across.
Lu Xiao cut a thick vine, tied a knot at the end to grip, backed up for a running start, bent his long legs once he left the shore, and swung over the water, landing steadily.
Meng Xueyuan stared in awe. Worthy of the Vine Clan’s spiritual lineage—the vines were sturdy, and Lu Xiao’s grip strength was incredible.
Before, he’d only known Lu Xiao was handsome, like a peony flower. But maybe Lu Xiao had indeed inherited Lu Fengge’s vine lineage—just look at how good he was at climbing mountains.
Meng Xueyuan said, “Th-then how are you coming back?”
You could swing over going there because the vines grew high on the rocky mountain. But coming back—was he going to slide over like a monkey?
Before the words even finished, Lu Xiao dove straight into the water and swam back in five seconds.
Meng Xueyuan: “…”
Lu Xiao: “Going over soaked would make it hard to work. Coming back doesn’t matter. The two of us should use a more advanced way to cross.”
First, set up the inflatable boat, then put a life jacket on his wife.
He took out a spare set of clothes from the off-road vehicle and changed, then wiped his hair.
The off-road driver—the mountain caretaker—was a nearby villager who only needed to patrol occasionally. He watched, utterly speechless, as Third Young Master finished showing off like a peacock and then started setting up the inflatable boat. When Second Young Master used the boat, he never acted like this.
Meng Xueyuan was eager. “Don’t bother with that. Let’s swing over and swim back.”
Lu Xiao refused. “No.”
Meng Xueyuan picked up a utility knife and tried to pull down a vine from the tree himself.
Only after he’d cut one down, holding it and playing with it excitedly, did Lu Xiao go over, grab his disobedient wife by the back of the neck, and say, “If you can’t hold on, you’ll fall into the water and catch a cold.”
Meng Xueyuan: “I can just change clothes right away.”
Lu Xiao: “When you reach the other side, you won’t be able to brake and you’ll fall onto the rocks.”
Meng Xueyuan: “I’m wearing long sleeves.”
Lu Xiao: “Wife, please. If I don’t return you home exactly as you are today, I’m finished.”
His parents’ impression points would be gone.
Lu Xiao sighed. “You good students don’t understand the fear we delinquents have when we take a good kid out to play and can’t return them intact.”
“You make it sound like we’re high schoolers in early romance.” Meng Xueyuan let go. A faint bluish mark from the vine’s bark remained on his palm. Fine—he’d be considerate of School Tyrant Lu.
They crossed the river by boat. Lu Xiao led the way, hacking through thorns, turning back now and then to pull Meng Xueyuan along. The vines became excellent climbing aids. Midway, they really did run into a wild beehive. Meng Xueyuan said, “This time, bees won’t sting you.”
Lu Xiao: “Then sting me yourself later.”
Meng Xueyuan: “Okay.”
At the mountaintop, Lu Xiao worked hard to clear the weeds around the ancestral graves.
Meng Xueyuan was ordered to just watch. With no tools in hand, he could only squat in front of a stone altar and poke out fallen leaves inside with a stick.
While poking, he found a broken phone.
“Lu Xiao, why is your phone here?”
Lu Xiao stiffened. “That day, didn’t you trend and get attacked online? I got the news and wanted to help, but the signal was bad and I couldn’t make calls. I got so mad I smashed it.”
Meng Xueyuan: “No wonder it’s in pieces.”
After his post and Lu Xiao’s post collided, he’d lost contact with Lu Xiao completely. Unsure what to do, Meng Xueyuan had just played turtle.
Wait… Meng Xueyuan quietly leaned up behind Lu Xiao. “You’re not usually that irritable. You didn’t even smash your phone when you were cuckolded.”
Lu Xiao: “…”
Lu Xiao could only tell the truth. “When I saw our posts collide in timing, and netizens misunderstood and thought I was secretly happy, I was afraid you’d contact me and tell me to delete the post.”
Meng Xueyuan: “…Did you also think it was the ancestors showing their power?”
Lu Xiao: “Yes!”
Meng Xueyuan: “Then do a proper sweep.”
After a while, Meng Xueyuan took the phone fragments out of the pit and asked again, “If it were now, how would you handle it?”
Thinking of his wife’s frugal nature, Lu Xiao corrected himself. “I wouldn’t smash the phone. I’d just turn it off.”
Meng Xueyuan felt a pang in his chest. He wasn’t teaching a three-year-old not to smash phones. “I mean—your post back then said I was with you, which was the truth. Why were you afraid I’d tell you to delete it? Just tell the truth. Then we’d have been together right away.”
Lu Xiao thought for a moment and answered honestly. “Wife, I still wouldn’t dare say I was squatting downstairs at your place. What if you called the police?”
Meng Xueyuan: “…”
Lu Xiao didn’t clean too meticulously this time, afraid Meng Xueyuan would get wilted from the sun. Once it looked passable, he took Meng Xueyuan back down the mountain.
Meng Xueyuan looked up at the opposite peak. This was the first time he’d seen the summit from such a height. Spring flowers withered, summer flowers flourished—it was as if he could hear the sound of bees vibrating their wings as they gathered nectar.
Lu Xiao stayed with him for a bit, then opened a bottle of peach juice. “Have some water.”
Meng Xueyuan took a sip. From now on, they were people who had met each other’s ancestors.
At the foot of the mountain, Lu Xiao had Meng Xueyuan sit in the inflatable boat, shut off the motor, and pushed his wife along in the water.
Meng Xueyuan sat cross-legged. So childish.
Lu Xiao: “What’s childish about this? If we were poor and couldn’t afford a motorized inflatable boat, we’d have to make a big wooden basin. You’d sit in it, and I’d push you across the river.”
Rich people imagining being poor was extremely punchable.
Meng Xueyuan asked excitedly, “You can’t carry a big wooden basin everywhere, right? I could swim across with you.”
Lu Xiao pushed Meng Xueyuan ashore and deflated the boat. “Impossible. Unless it’s a swimming pool or a bathtub, I won’t let you get wet.”
Meng Xueyuan: “What if it’s really urgent and we have to cross a river? You still wouldn’t let me swim?”
Lu Xiao lifted a very large transparent waterproof bag, about to put the deflated boat inside, then thought for a moment. “If you trust me, I’ll put you inside the bag and carry you across.”
Letting go in the water would mean a plastic-bag body dump, so it required immense trust.
Meng Xueyuan said, “That works too.”
Deeply trusted by his wife, Teacher Lu drove the motorcycle even more like a little electric scooter.
He was no longer Alen the racer. He was Lu · Married · Xiao.
“Let’s go swimming together next time, wife.”
Meng Xueyuan nodded shyly.
…
Back in Baihua Village, everyone’s first reaction was, as expected, to check whether the Queen Bee was completely unharmed.
“Yuanyuan, your hair’s messed up—you’ve got grass roots in it.”
“Your face is all red from the sun—drink some mung bean soup.”
Lu Xiao once again felt he’d been farsighted.
At noon, the variety show Farming Squad released a teaser for the next episode. Replacement contestant: Meng Xueyuan.
Fans immediately felt sorry that the main idol was going to do real farming, compiling all kinds of farming tips and sun-protection methods for him. The more worried the fans were, the less interested passersby became.
[Didn’t they say real farming? Can Meng Xueyuan even farm?? Why invite a pretty vase??? So small-minded.]
[Wasn’t it Lu Xiao doing all the work on the last variety show?]
The director understood the strategy of first suppressing, then elevating. He greeted Meng Xueyuan and said they’d let netizens talk first.
Meng Xueyuan: “Okay.”
He was about to go from an idol-type to a strength-type o(???)o
[Are you and Lu Xiao having relationship problems? Why would Lu Xiao agree to let you farm?]
As the rumor spread, divorce rumors trended.
Lu Xiao nearly twisted his nose out of anger after reading it.
It was clearly the honeymoon phase—what divorce?!
He immediately had the director hint, “There’s also another civilian joining, with not much screen time.”
Director: “…”
Fine.
[@Director Jiang Mumu (Farming Squad): Two left last episode, two replacements are joining. Besides Yuanyuan, there’s also a civilian with not much screen time joining.]
[First time I’ve seen someone say ‘no screen time’ for a civilian so bluntly. The entertainment industry really lives up to its snobbery.]
[The director is obviously saying this to reassure Meng Xueyuan’s fans—guaranteeing your idol won’t have his screen time stolen.]
[Not watching anymore. You fans enjoy.]
[Wait… wait… think carefully about the word ‘joining two.’]
[Damn, it’s not Lu Xiao, is it???!!!]
[Alright, alright, you really exploited this retire-and-return bug.]
[Fans couldn’t keep him, but wife farms and he returns to the industry in one second. Lighting a cigarette.]
[If you want to see the civilian bro, you still have to rely on sister-in-law.]
[President Lu, long time no see.]
[Retracting my earlier words. As a working stiff, I’m definitely watching capitalists farm—slacking off at work while supervising. One strike, two capitalists down (Lu Xiao and my boss).]
