As soon as Jiang Shi heard, he was indeed unhappy again. “Cheng Ye, what do you mean, ‘you can’t help’?”

Sometimes, Cheng Ye’s words could make Jiang Shi half-dead with anger.

“Those tasks, you can’t do them, and they’re not suitable for you to do.” The young master only needed to sit nicely and wait for him to serve.

It was clear that these words meant something entirely different to Jiang Shi. He slung his backpack and bumped Cheng Ye with his shoulder. “Oh, you’re so great. You can do everything. Just say it if you look down on me.”

Cheng Ye stumbled from the impact and reached out to grab Jiang Shi’s arm. “I’m not…” Before he could finish, Jiang Shi shook off his hand and walked away without looking back.

Cheng Ye: “…”

---

When they returned, Gao Xinhuo also came along.

There were only the last three seats left in the seven-seater van when they arrived. Jiang Shi was the first to get in, sitting by the window. Seeing Cheng Ye follow, he said to Gao Xinhuo, “Big cousin, you sit here.”

Gao Xinhuo was stuck between the two, looking at Jiang Shi, then at Cheng Ye, and finally sat tremblingly between them.

As soon as the car started, Jiang Shi closed his eyes, whether he was truly asleep or just pretending.

Gao Xinhuo leaned closer to Cheng Ye. “Brother Cheng, did you make my little cousin angry again?”

Cheng Ye: “…” He said coldly, “Are you very idle? Why do you always come home with us?”

Gao Xinhuo felt wronged. “I was just thinking of having company.”

“How old are you? Still need company?”

“…” Gao Xinhuo burst into tears, crying very sadly.

From school to Xiliu Village, Jiang Shi, with great backbone, didn’t say a word to Cheng Ye. He held his backpack and rushed forward as soon as he got out of the car, arriving home with a cold face and brisk steps.

This startled Jiang Xue, who had just returned home.

“Why are you back today? Your face looks so bad, did someone bully you?”

“No one,” Jiang Shi said. “I heard that planting has started, so I came back to help.”

Jiang Xue was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed, “Who told you to help? This is adult business. You just need to study well at school.”

Jiang Shi now couldn’t stand hearing the words “don’t help.” He immediately pursed his lips unhappily. “Why not? Do you also think I can’t do the work?”

Jiang Xue: “…” She stammered an explanation. “It’s not that I think you can’t do it, it’s just that Mama can do it by herself. I don’t need your help. What if it delays your studies?”

Jiang Shi said, “Anyway, my studies aren’t good.”

Jiang Xue: “…” What kind of stimulation did this child receive? Why does he insist on going to the fields?

“Uh… listen to Mama first…”

Jiang Shi interrupted her. “We’re both human, if Song Jian’an can do it, why can’t I?”

Jiang Xue wanted to exclaim again. “Even when Jian’an was at home, I never made him do any work.”

“You’re lying to me. If he doesn’t work, how did he get so dark?”

Jiang Xue: “…” That’s just how he was born.

Seeing that he was determined to go to the fields, Jiang Xue no longer tried to persuade him. She just said, “Alright then, you can come with me, but the sun is strong at noon, so we leave very early, at six o’clock.” On weekdays, Jiang Shi usually woke up around ten. Jiang Xue deliberately set the time earlier to make him back down.

But Jiang Shi nodded, carrying his backpack into the house. “I’ll wake up.”

“…” This troublesome child.

---

The next day, at dawn, Jiang Xue carried her basket, ready to leave. She didn’t call Jiang Shi and didn’t expect him to wake up, nor did she need his help. But as soon as she was ready, Jiang Shi stood sleepily at the door, watching her. “Why didn’t you wake me up when you got up?”

Jiang Xue: “…” What kind of stimulation did this child receive?

He insisted on going, so Jiang Xue had no choice. She found him a neutral, work-appropriate jacket and took him along.

At the end of March, the temperature rose. Although it wasn’t extremely hot, it would still be warm when the sun was out. Jiang Xue couldn’t manage alone, so she hired Gao Quan and his wife to help. Gao Quan also brought Gao Xinhuo along.

Gao Xinhuo and Jiang Shi stood in the field, staring at each other. “Little cousin, you’ve also come to plant?”

Jiang Shi was wearing a loose black denim jacket. His neck, slender and fair, emerged from the collar. The morning light fell on his face, his pores so fine they were almost invisible. He was utterly white, completely at odds with the soft yellow soil.

Gao Xinhuo’s mother’s surname was Liu, and her name was Liu Yuying. She grew up with Jiang Xue. She was about 1.7 meters tall, and true to her name, she exuded a heroic spirit. Seeing Jiang Shi standing in the field, she nudged Jiang Xue and spoke to her in Yi language, “I’m telling you, Da Xue, if the field isn’t finished, you can take your time. Why bring the child here to work? Look at Jiang Shi, does he look like someone who can work?”

Jiang Xue was thin, and the nudge made her bones ache. She rubbed her waist and whispered back in Yi language, “I didn’t ask him to come. I don’t know what stimulated him yesterday, but he insisted on coming to plant with me.”

Jiang Shi overheard them. They sounded like they were speaking a foreign language, jabbering away. He poked Gao Xinhuo. “What are they saying?”

Jiang Shi insisted on coming to plant, but Gao Xinhuo didn’t want to do any work at all. Unfortunately, he had no human rights at home and was woken up before he was fully awake. He was so sleepy he yawned madly, wishing he could just fall into the dirt. “They’re… speaking Yi language. I heard them. They’re gossiping about you.”

He explained to Jiang Shi, “Xiliu Village is all Yi people. We’ve spoken Yi since we were little, so most people don’t speak Mandarin very well.” Jiang Shi had heard Jiang Xue mention this when he first came. He grew up in a predominantly Han environment and rarely saw such concentrated minority villages. He never expected to one day become one of them.

He asked suspiciously, “Then why haven’t I heard you speak it?”

Gao Xinhuo scratched his head. “You don’t understand it, so of course we wouldn’t speak it in front of you. And now, isn’t Mandarin becoming popular? Everyone gets used to speaking Mandarin, so we rarely speak Yi outside.” Unless they were gossiping about someone else.

Gao Quan led the ox up, and Jiang Xue and Liu Yuying stopped talking, beginning their day of labor.

Jiang Shi was assigned the simplest task: dropping corn seeds. It was a very simple job; he didn’t even need to bend over. He just needed to estimate the distance and drop them into the plowed furrows.

This was Jiang Shi’s first time doing such work. Above him was the clear blue sky, below him the soft earth, and in the field stood people working hard for a year’s harvest, simple and pure. When the wind brushed his face, he felt completely at peace.

Until the sun climbed overhead, the lingering moisture evaporated, and the sunlight became scorching. The soft soil underfoot dried out from the sun, and fine dust flew up with each step. Jiang Shi could feel dirt in his shoes, and his fingers were stained red by the red pesticide on the corn, making his fingertips feel sticky. He couldn’t even wipe his sweat. Sweat seeped from his fine hair and ran onto his eyelids. Jiang Shi blinked.

Everyone was busy, rushing to finish planting before the Qingming rains. Even Gao Xinhuo was grunting and carrying a bag of compound fertilizer through the field. Jiang Shi lifted his foot and walked forward.

He never knew he could sweat so much. Finally, unable to bear it, he raised his hand and haphazardly wiped his face with the denim jacket Jiang Xue had given him. He wiped once, but the sweat was still sticky. Just as he was about to wipe a second time, a hand suddenly grabbed his arm.

Jiang Shi froze, looked up, and met Cheng Ye’s dark eyes. The bag of corn seeds rustled in his hand. His grasped hand curled its fingertips. After a few seconds, Jiang Shi reacted. “Why are you here?”

The young man’s face was flushed from the sun, sweat dampened the fringe of hair on his forehead, and a grayish mark from his not-so-clean clothes was smudged on his clean face. Cheng Ye dragged him towards the camphor tree nearby.

Jiang Shi stumbled, dragged by him, but didn’t forget his work. “What are you doing? I haven’t finished yet.”

Cheng Ye’s face was frighteningly dark. “Don’t plant anymore.”

“No, who are you? Why should I do what you say?”

Cheng Ye turned his head and looked at him. Jiang Shi’s heart skipped a beat under his gaze, and he reluctantly shut up. Then he felt indignant again and secretly kicked him from behind. Such a sour face, who are you trying to scare?

Cheng Ye took off the jacket that wasn’t his and spread it on the field ridge, then pushed Jiang Shi to sit down. Although very reluctant, when the sun was no longer on him and his feet, which had been standing all morning, found relief, Jiang Shi secretly sighed in relief.

He flexed his stained, sticky palm. Suddenly, someone squatted in front of him, took his hand, twisted open a bottle cap, and poured water over it. Jiang Shi instinctively pulled his hand back. “This is drinking water…”

Cheng Ye held him firmly. “I brought some. Wash your hands.” Jiang Shi obediently washed his hands.

After he finished washing, Cheng Ye told him to tilt his head back, wet a tissue with water, and wiped his face clean. The hair on the young man’s forehead was all pushed back, his face was white with a reddish tint, and there was a small black mole on the tip of his nose. The little dirty cat finally became clean again.

Finally, Cheng Ye placed the water-soaked tissue on Jiang Shi’s sunburnt, reddish nape. “You’re sunburnt. Keep this on; take it off later.” He looked down at the red mark on his nape and couldn’t help but curse, “Stupid, aren’t you?”

Jiang Shi immediately sprang up as if on a spring. “You…”

Cheng Ye raised his hand and pressed him down. “Don’t move.”

Jiang Shi: “…” Jiang Shi stiffened his neck, angered, and kicked him again.

Cheng Ye looked at the two yellow footprints on his pant leg. “You made a mistake today and kicked me twice. I’ll remember that.”

Jiang Shi kicked again. “What, you want to fight me?”

“Three times. I won’t fight you, but I’ll get it back in other ways.”

“Cheng Ye! I want to fight you one-on-one!”

Cheng Ye pushed down the head that was flailing. “You can’t beat me.”

Jiang Shi: “…” Jiang Shi yelled loudly, “Mom! Cheng Ye is bullying me!”

Cheng Ye: “…”

Jiang Xue from afar: “What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Jiang Shi, talk to Cheng Ye properly. Why are you bullying him?”

Jiang Shi: “…” Who’s bullying whom here?

Cheng Ye let out a chuckle from his throat and finally released his hand.

Like a magic trick, he pulled out a bottle of Jiang Shi’s favorite drink from his pocket, then grabbed a handful of snacks. After a moment’s thought, he took off the sun hat he was wearing and placed it on Jiang Shi’s head. He bent down, adjusted the hat, and tied the string.

“Little young master, I told you, you can’t do this work. Sit nicely and eat your snacks. Leave the rest to me.”