RSDH CH77

Duan Xingye once declared he had an irreconcilable feud with Cheng Duzhou.

That blue flax flower was carried back by Duan Xingye from the kindergarten all the way with his small hands.

He selected a treasured feng shui spot in his own yard and started digging, determined to grow the most beautiful flower in the entire kindergarten.

Kan Dashan pushed the lawnmower past and peeked: “Xingxing, if you plant the flower here, everyone might step on it if they’re not careful. Can I give you a flower pot to put in your room?”

“No.” Duan Xingye buried his head and worked hard, saying, “There is no future in staying at home all day. She needs friends.”

“……”

Kan Dashan, who stayed at home writing all day, felt implied/insulted and pushed the lawnmower away.

In Xing-chan’s cultivation view, spiritual nourishment was as important as sunlight, rain, and dew. His little flower wanted to be a social butterfly.

He also named the blue flax flower.

Xing-chan wanted to name everything he loved. His pile of plush toys were called Mao Mao, Huan Huan, Xiao Ben… a bustling dozen or so.

“She is called Jia Hui.” Duan Xingye introduced to everyone passing by, “The Book of Songs says, ‘The mountains have Jia Hui (fine plants), Hou chestnuts, and Hou plums.'”

The aunties didn’t understand but gave a thumbs up.

Kan Dashan smiled until his eyes narrowed, firmly believing that Xing-chan would definitely inherit his legacy when he grew up.

Naming is the beginning of emotional investment.

That afternoon, Jia Hui was absorbing sunlight in the garden when “Splat”, the newly arrived Cheng Duzhou stepped on it.

“……”

“……”

The two children met for the first time and looked at each other in dismay.

Jia Hui died.

Duan Xingye lay on the floor of his grandfather’s study, pounding the floor, raising his head, teardrops falling on his pink cheeks: “I will be irreconcilable with him!”

“……”

Kan Dashan stopped writing, lifting the legs of his reading glasses upwards.

Compared to Xing-chan, the protagonists in his books who bore blood feuds seemed slightly inferior.

Let alone under the same sky, Xing-chan and the new kid had to coexist under the same roof.

Irreconcilable wasn’t just talk. As long as Cheng Duzhou entered his vision, Duan Xingye would start crying and throwing tantrums.

The family doted on Duan Xingye and feared his naturally loud golden voice. They either coaxed him away or covered Cheng Duzhou’s departure, ensuring the two children didn’t see each other.

Cheng Duzhou intentionally avoided him. Duan Xingye hadn’t seen him for several days, so he gradually forgot the grief of losing the little flower.

When the weekend arrived, Duan Xingye was lively again. He went to the park, played to his heart’s content, and went home.

Unexpectedly, he bumped right into Cheng Duzhou, who was about to return to his room.

“……”

“……”

Cheng Duzhou seemed to have stepped on a landmine, his feet fixed on the ground.

Duan Xingye looked at him for two seconds, suddenly lay on the ground, dry-howled without tears, rolled around, and pedaled a bicycle in the air.

“……”

Xing-chan had forgotten the little flower, but hadn’t forgotten that Cheng Duzhou stepped on his flower.

Meeting such a top-notch grudge-holder, Cheng Duzhou couldn’t say he wasn’t wronged. The thought of going home popped up in his mind countless times.

Cheng Duzhou’s enrollment procedures were completed; he was in the same class as Duan Xingye.

On Cheng Duzhou’s first day of school, Kan Dashan held Xing-chan’s hand and instructed kindly: “Take care of the little friend and help him get familiar with the kindergarten environment.”

Duan Xingye turned his head to glance at Cheng Duzhou, then quickly turned away, raising his small face like a pink and white dumpling, humming incessantly, his voice milky: “I’m not a kindergarten teacher; I’m just a child too.”

Kan Dashan: “……”

Cheng Duzhou looked elsewhere, silently hugging his small schoolbag tightly.

The teacher led Cheng Duzhou into the class and introduced him to everyone.

The children looked at the new classmate curiously and applauded.

Amidst the applause, a lively little girl covered her mouth and laughed, bursting out: “He’s so handsome!”

Immediately followed by collective laughter.

Cheng Duzhou lowered his head, his expression unclear. His face shape followed his mother’s, delicate and smooth, with a pair of standard peach blossom eyes. Being a child, the eye shape was relatively round. Like Duan Xingye, he belonged to the type who looked awesome since childhood.

—”What about me?”

Amidst the noise of the class, a clear child’s voice sounded unconvinced.

Everyone’s gaze focused on Duan Xingye in the center of the classroom. Cheng Duzhou also looked up.

Duan Xingye had a face carved from pink jade, snow-white skin, pitch-black pupils, and full, bright red lips. At a glance, he was a very bright and spirited child. Because he didn’t like his limelight being stolen, his soft eyebrows were furrowed at this moment.

The little girl hurriedly said: “You are very beautiful!”

Cheng Duzhou looked at Duan Xingye for a while, then lowered his head again.

He was quieter and more mature. From the first meeting, he knew Duan Xingye was very beautiful.

During morning exercises in the kindergarten, children stood in rows on the playground.

Cheng Duzhou was tall and stood at the back of the line. When the teacher passed by, she encouraged him to follow the children in front to do exercises, but Cheng Duzhou raised his arms twice and gave up on the spot.

He didn’t know the morning exercises of this kindergarten.

When the broadcast reached the jumping exercise, all the children jumped and bounced, only Cheng Duzhou stood there like a pestle, out of place and lonely.

After morning exercises, children went to the sink by class to wash their hands.

The long sink had more than twenty faucets, one pit per child.

The kindergarten auntie held a blue basket and quickly placed a box of juice on the tiled countertop in front of everyone.

The auntie’s hand speed was too fast. The juice box wasn’t placed squarely in front of Cheng Duzhou, but between him and the classmate next door.

Cheng Duzhou only glanced at it and lowered his head to wash his hands.

Cheng Duzhou didn’t know if he could take it, if his father had ordered juice for him, if the auntie gave it wrong… He had always been a thoughtful child. In a strange environment, he was cautious in everything he did.

Other children in the class skillfully inserted straws and drank juice.

Cheng Duzhou glanced several times at the box no one touched.

Just then, a chubby little hand took the box away.

Cheng Duzhou looked over.

A little fatty, holding his own juice in one hand and sucking fiercely, held the newly acquired one in the other, looking at him with squeezed-together eyes, revealing a malicious smile.

Cheng Duzhou withdrew his gaze, turned off the faucet as if nothing happened, and shook off the water droplets on his hands.

—”What are you doing!”

A crisp child’s voice sounded, attracting the attention of children in the water room.

Duan Xingye stood in front of the little fatty, domineeringly snatching the juice from his arms: “Not allowed to snatch from others!”

Duan Xingye’s appeal in the garden had always been strong. A circle of children around pointed at the little fatty, making accusatory sounds.

The little fatty flushed red, stammering in defense: “He said he didn’t want it.”

“Liar!” Duan Xingye said, “He can’t speak at all!”

Cheng Duzhou: “……”

Duan Xingye was justified: “Taking things without others’ consent is snatching!”

The little fatty couldn’t stand the pressure of public opinion and burst into tears with a “wah”.

Duan Xingye ignored him, stuffed the juice into Cheng Duzhou’s hand, turned his head, and left.

In Xing-chan’s small view of good and evil, injustice was not allowed to happen before his eyes. As for personal grudges, talk about it later.

A group of small followers followed Duan Xingye out the door.

Cheng Duzhou looked at the door, then at the juice, and put the juice in his pocket.

The sense of loneliness and helplessness that had tightly surrounded him since stepping into the kindergarten this morning dissipated a lot.

Every workday noon was the demon hour for the Kan family auntie.

Xing-chan recognized beds; it was hard to fall asleep in a bed that wasn’t at home. So he was a difficult nap household in the kindergarten. Whenever Xing-chan made a fuss, the teacher would call the family auntie, and everyone would half-coax and half-trick the child to sleep.

At noon today, the family auntie received a multimedia message from the teacher, containing a photo.

The pixels weren’t high, but two children could be seen sleeping on a small bed. Duan Xingye lay beside Cheng Duzhou, lips slightly parted and chubby, sleeping soundly.

Teacher: [The new kid coaxed him to sleep.]

Cheng Duzhou napped in the kindergarten for the first time. The teacher knew he came with Duan Xingye, so she arranged their beds together.

All the children lay down to sleep. Sure enough, Duan Xingye popped his head up, looking left and right, meeting the eyes of Cheng Duzhou in the next bed.

Lunch break was boring with no one to play with. Duan Xingye had to temporarily put aside the grudge, extending five fingers to Cheng Duzhou across the wooden railing, showing five soft flesh dimples on the back of his hand.

Cheng Duzhou hesitantly extended a fist.

Seeing the kid was sensible, Duan Xingye approached the railing and silently played Rock Paper Scissors with Cheng Duzhou. After playing less than two rounds, he broke out of prison and climbed onto Cheng Duzhou’s bed.

Cheng Duzhou made room for him and cooperated with whatever game he played.

Later, Duan Xingye got a bit tired. Detecting the scent on this kid’s clothes that only existed in his home, he yawned, rubbed his eyes, and fell asleep.

The music for the end of the lunch break sounded, and the dormitory became noisy.

Duan Xingye woke up but didn’t get up. His dark eyes observed the surroundings, then buried his face in the quilt again.

Because he couldn’t distinguish left from right for shoes, Duan Xingye had to wait for the teacher to put on his shoes every time he woke up from a nap. This little thought had never been discovered by others.

Xing-chan had idol baggage since childhood.

Cheng Duzhou saw Duan Xingye pretending to sleep and arching coyly under the quilt, seemingly having difficulties, delaying and unwilling to get up.

He asked Duan Xingye in a very light voice: “Did you wet the bed?”

“……”

Duan Xingye looked back at Cheng Duzhou, both ashamed and annoyed.

So he can speak!

“Not at all!” Duan Xingye retorted.

Cheng Duzhou got out of bed to observe and realized Duan Xingye’s shoes were still under the next bed.

He brought Duan Xingye’s shoes over and placed them properly on the floor.

Duan Xingye wrapped himself in the quilt and looked under the bed, his milky face flushed, and said, “Is the order correct?”

Cheng Duzhou looked at Duan Xingye and nodded.

Looking at him now, he didn’t seem so proud and difficult to get along with.

Once children get familiar, the relationship during the initial period is very good.

Duan Xingye no longer rejected seeing Cheng Duzhou at home. Before, he always complained no one played with him when he came back from kindergarten. Now he didn’t; there was always a little partner at home who accommodated him in everything.

Later, Duan Xingye spent three nights teaching Cheng Duzhou the kindergarten’s morning exercises.

The teacher never looked for the Kan family auntie because of Duan Xingye’s nap problem again.

One evening, Cheng Duzhou found Duan Xingye holding a flower pot.

Inside was planted a flower stem supported by a small twig. Fresh branches and leaves sprouted from the broken top.

It was Jia Hui.

—Cheng Duzhou asked the gardener uncle in the kindergarten and saved her back.

Duan Xingye held the flower pot fondly, curved his pitch-black eyes, and said to Cheng Duzhou: “Let me give you a name?”

Cheng Duzhou said: “I have a name.”

Duan Xingye insisted: “It doesn’t matter, I’ll give you another one.”

“No need, my name is Cheng Duzhou.”

Duan Xingye changed his face in a second, faster than flipping a book. He jumped off the swing bench, turned around holding the flower pot, and left: “Hmph.”

“……”

Cheng Duzhou never knew where he offended him.

Duan Xingye sat on the somewhat dated swing bench, withdrawing his gaze from a cluster of lush blue flax in the yard. Recovering from the memory at the same time, he gently rocked the swing and said lazily: “Cheng Duzhou, let me give you a name.”

Time flew to September. Cheng Duzhou’s spy drama wrapped up. Taking advantage of the break, the two returned to Yu City to visit relatives as agreed.

Cheng Duzhou was sitting beside him peeling a tangerine, removing the white fibers, and said without looking up: “Nickname?”

Duan Xingye tilted his head, blinking indifferently, ambiguous: “About the same.”

A name exclusively for him, for Cheng Duzhou.

Cheng Duzhou stuffed a freshly peeled tangerine segment into Duan Xingye’s mouth and said, “Just call me Hubby. I like you calling me this name.”

“……”

High-sugar juice exploded in his mouth. Duan Xingye licked his lips and glanced at Cheng Duzhou.

He accumulated virtue and did good deeds all his life, what kind of person did he find in the end.

__

Author’s Note:

Teacher Duan: Really more disdainful than when he was a child.