Begging You to Break Off This Engagement! Chapter 5

Translated & Edited by Dan-Dan

The next day, the sky was still sunny, and the temperature was a little higher than the day when Luo Fei transmigrated.

Luo Fei got up early, originally he wanted to walk around and move, stretch his out muscles, but he just took the first step and felt a fire under his ass. He could only take back the foot he had taken out, wondering what excuse to find to lie in bed for the day.

Luo Yi at that moment shouted from outside: “Second brother, come out to eat!”

Luo Fei almost blurted out and asked, “What time is it?!”

Well, he also got up at this time yesterday, and was not much later than the other people, but how come the rhythm today seemed different?

Sure enough, after toughing out the pain in his chrysanthemum to go out and see, the food on the table was all set up – each place had a bowl of “confused” porridge. (It's explained later down.)

In the middle was even a small dish of salty pickled radish, this was the whole of today's breakfast.

Speaking of “confused” porridge, there may be many younger generations who don't know what it is. All it is, is boiling cornmeal with water to create a soupy texture. (Basically cornmeal porridge/congee). If your house was better off, you could add some sugar, but sugar was a relatively expensive thing in ancient times. Generally, country people couldn't afford it.

“Mother, aren't there any pancakes?” Although Luo Ru was a girl, her mouth was able and she could eat. Looking at the bowl of porridge that couldn't be thinner and the small dish of pickles, she suddenly showed a sad expression.

“There is no more flour at home, and the rice is almost gone. Just hold out for now.” Li Yuehua poured some porridge from her bowl. “Mother will give you some more.”

“It's all right Mother, give some more to Father and eldest brother.” Although Luo Ru liked to eat, she was a conscientious girl. She went to pour from her bowl into the other bowls. She knew that Father and eldest brother did the most work every day and that for them, eating only that much was definitely not enough.

“You are still growing, don't have to give it to brother.” Luo Yi stopped his sister's movements.

“Stop giving, let's all eat our own, it's getting cold now. But I can't finish it, so I'll give some to Luo Ru.” Luo Fei divided his in half and gave it to his sister, thinking with a sad heart. Eating cornmeal porridge wasn't enough to be full, and it was hard enough these days. Although he was in a single-parent family in modern times, his grandma was a folk artist. She taught classes before he transmigrated. Their income was good, and his mother was a strong woman, so he had never struggled too much in life… Compared to the present… these circumstances were hard to compare.

“Spring is beginning, now every family is struggling.” Luo Tian said, “The intake of the family is too small, so I discussed it with your mother yesterday and decided to plow more land this year. If we can get more food, it should become better than now.”

“Today, I am going to go up with your Father and older brother, and you will stay at home.” Li Yuehua said, “Darling (at Luo Fei), life will get a little harder in the future. The small vegetable garden was originally taken care of by me. You will have to take it over this year. The corn roots are all gone, and today you should plow the land, and plant some cabbage and corn seeds.”

“I, by myself?” Luo Fei almost spit out the cornmeal porridge.

“Isn't there still your sister and brother? You can do it together.” Li Yuehua said with a heavy heart, “You don't want to get married now, and we don't want you to force you. But if you don't find someone you can depend on, you can only rely on yourself. Before, Mother and Father were worried because you are a ger. You are weak and your body is delicate, we tried to prevent you from having to do much work. However, seeing the situation of our family, now it can't be avoided."

“Working is fine, but can we wait until tomorrow?” Even if they let him rest more for a day it would be better. He felt that he still had a laceration on his chrysanthemum. Today, if he had to plow and sow the land, he would go crazy.

“What are you going to do today?” Luo Tian looked suspiciously at the second son who had a “criminal record.” (Referring to when Luo Fei had gone off to drown himself.)

“I'm not doing anything, I just…” Luo Fei did not know how to say it. He knows that saying he's going to the Xi house is the best plan because his new mother is eager for him to exchange feelings with Xi Yanqing. But going there was too far away. If he walked there, his chrysanthemum would have been rubbed raw.

“Let me tell you the truth!” Luo Fei said, “I don't feel very well today, and I want to rest.”

"Not feeling well?" Li Yuehua became nervous. When he was young, her second son fell ill easily. Later, after listening to a fortune teller, they changed his name (remember in a previous chapter he was like oh if LF didn't change his name then all the kids' names would have spelled out a phrase meaning good luck) and he got a little better. How could he have gotten ill again?

"Do you want to find a Doctor to examine you?"

“Don't! I don't need to!” He couldn't even afford to eat this bowl of porridge. If he had to suddenly go see the doctor wouldn't he have nothing but wind to eat? Luo Fei refused, “Mom, I just want to rest a little, by the way, I will go to the Xi House. When I sent Xi Yanqing the seeds, I left the cloth bag, I will go and get it back. "

“Listen to this one!…” Luo Tian did not even finish, before he was smacked by Li Yuehua under the table, and his voice was suddenly cut off halfway.

“That's fine.” Li Yuehua said, “But you have to guarantee Mother to have the vegetable seeds planted, you hear me?”

“Don't worry Mom, I will be sure to plant the seeds.” Luo Fei secretly sighed, thinking that during these kinds of times he would have to eventually move in with Xi Yanqing, but this time he wouldn't let his parents proceed. He drank the corn porridge, as he pondered for a while and waited for both parents to leave. He could ask Luo Yi to go to the Xi House and get the cloth bag back. As for whether he himself went or not, that didn't matter.

After a while, Luo Tian and Li Yuehua, and Luo Ji went out. The tiger was not at home, and thus Luo Fei became the king of the mountain.

Luo Fei called his younger brother: “Lil bro, haven't you always wanted to hear Xi Yanqing tell you about the war? This brother will give you a chance, if you go to his house and get the cloth bag to bring back, you can ask him to tell you those stories. Tell me, what do you think?”

“Second brother, how can you do this? You have told Mother and Father that you were going to go to the Xi house. And now you are making Little brother go. Isn't this having little brother lie? You aren't even afraid that Father will beat you!” Luo Ru disagreed. Her parents were usually very kind to every situation except for two things: One is deception, the other is concealment. Her second brother wanted to pluck fur from the tiger's head.

“What should I do? Your second brother is really really uncomfortable right now.” Luo Fei pointed to his waist. “My back hurts, I dare not walk.”

“But if Father finds out, we will be punished for sure.” Luo Yi's face was ashen. “And he always said, to help people to deceive people and do bad things are called uhh, what are they called? Oh right, an accomplice!”

“What “accomplice” thing, trying to scare people.” Luo Fei did not care.

“Dad beating people is even scarier!” said Luo Yi.

“Hey, if I don't tell and you don't tell, God won't know and neither will the devil, who will know?”

“Hey!” The door was suddenly pushed open, and the old man who said that he was going to go up the mountain actually came back!

“Well, Luo darling, your courage is not small, still dare to lie to this one?!” Luo Tian rolled up his sleeves.

“F-f-f-f-father?!” Luo Yi was so scared he could barely speak. “Y-you, why are you coming back so soon?” Luo Yi walked around the table to stand next to Luo Fei.

“Is it still early? If I didn't want to come back so early. I wouldn't have known that you two little rascals would dare to lie to this one!” Luo Tian was angry. “My son! Telling me, what does ‘God won't know and neither will the devil' mean? Ahh what even? It's against you!" Luo Tian picked up the ash poker and came as if he was going to beat the two of them.

“What are you doing in a daze Second brother?” Luo Yi said, “Run!”

“Ah! Ahhhhhh?! Hey, wait! Fourth Son, y-you!!"

"Stop right now! Ahhhhhhh!” Luo Fei was going crazy. He couldn't even prepare his heart when he was pulled to the door and rushed out. His agitated chrysanthemum under the shock was suddenly unable to withstand this powerful friction, it was a searing pain, and it hurt so much!

“Stop? What stop! Hurry and run! If Dad catches up, we will definitely die!” Luo Yi did not know from where came his strength and courage, pulling Luo Fei did not even hinder, and they sprinted from the house.

Luo Fei wanted him to stop, but the powerful younger brother ran as if his legs had an electric motor, so mighty was the force! So the background music of their escape became Luo Fei's “Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“stop, stop, stop! Fuck!”

And so it was like this that the two brothers ran all the way to the door of the Xi house when the two brothers stopped. Luo Fei panted heavily, and Luo Yi turned back to look. Turning he saw that there was a lot of people, but none of them was the one they expected!

“No, how come, cough, cough…” Luo Yi pounded on his chest. “How did Father not catch up?”

Luo Fei suddenly wanted to throttle Luo Yi's heart!

At another place, at the entrance of the Luo House, Li Yuehua looked strangely at the direction in which her two sons had disappeared: “You really didn't beat them? Why are the two of them running like you're slaughtering pigs?”

Luo Tian was also a bit miffed: “If I wanted to beat them, would they still be able to run away? Besides, what if Second Son's back really does hurt?”

“I don't believe so. I think he ran very fast.” Li Yuehua was perturbed, but quickly laughed. “But it's good, he went to the Xi house.”

“Second darling is spoiled, and that Xi Yanqing is a good guy, but he is still not satisfied.” Luo Tian thought that his second son's brain had to have been kicked by something.

“It may still be because of that Zhang family's business. Forget it, there will be a day when he gets over it.” Li Yuehua rolled up the sleeves of her clothes and went to the vegetable garden.

“Where are you going? Aren't we going to the mountain to plow land?” Luo Tian asked.

“Plowing the land? The kids have gone to the Xi house. Today, I will plant the cabbage first, so as not to delay the eating. You can go plow with our eldest son.” Originally, when she wanted to have the children help out more, he would hide because her Second Son was spoiled and never liked to work. She thought that it would take a little bit of thought and bribery to let her Second Son learn to go hide at the Xi house, however she did not expect it would be so easy.

Luo Tian also thought about it, and then took his eldest son and went to the mountains.

But at the door of the Xi house, Luo Yi finally found that his second brother was a bit strange: “Second brother, are you okay? Why is your complexion so bad?”

Luo Fei waved his hand, his whole face damp with sweat. It was so painful he couldn't say anything. His complexion was comparable to a newspaper!

Luo Yi suddenly thought about how Luo Fei was uncomfortable at home. He got nervous and banged at the door, shouting: “Brother Xi! Are you at home?”

Xi Yanqing was at home. He had boiled some water and was preparing to take a bath. It was too dark at night, he was not used to it, and at this time, people would generally not come, so he locked the door. He did not expect that just as he was about to take off his clothes, someone came to the door.

Hearing a voice that wasn't Luo Fei, Xi Yanqing did not go to the door immediately, but after a while, he vaguely thought he heard Luo Fei's voice, so he put the clothes back on, and responded: “Coming!”

Luo Yi said: “Second brother, how uncomfortable are you?”

Luo Fei took a look at his younger brother, and a strained sound came out of his teeth: “Shut up, and go home with me!”

It was better to die rather than lose face in front of Xi Yanqing! He thought that Xi Yanqing was not at home, so he was able to regain his breath at the door of the house. Now, hearing his voice, he doesn't want to stay anymore.

“Don't be like this second brother, you are pained to this extent, let's go in for a break and then go.” Luo Yi was busy pulling Luo Fei. “Don't we need to take back the cloth bag?”

“Is it to bring back the cloth bag?” Xi Yanqing came quickly, but when he saw Luo Fei's pale white face, his expression changed,  and his brows wrinkled worriedly. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing!” Luo Fei gritted his teeth and rushed to say, “We're here to get back the small cloth bag, the one we used to send the seeds.”

“Brother Xi, my second brother seems to have a backache.” The most helpful younger brother struck again. “He's just embarrassed, will you let him come in to take a break?”

“I said to go home!” Luo Fei did not want to let Xi Yanqing discover too much. The strength of the ever so “helpful” younger brother could not be underestimated, so he latched on to the door frame.

“Second brother, if you go home now, Father will definitely punish us well. Let's just stay here at  Brother Xi's. Then let's go back and let Brother Xi send us back. He can say a few words to him, and maybe Father will let it go.” Luo Yi was able to see it: in the past, his father always approved very much of Brother Xi, and even after a few years had passed, he still looked upon him positively.

“Luo Fei, were you beaten?” Xi Yanqing's brows furrowed tighter. He had a desire to lift Luo Fei up, but watching Luo Fei's muscles tighten, instinctively ready to resist his touch, he did not try to help.

Luo Fei now felt moving even one step was extremely painful. He deeply doubted that his poor chrysanthemum only had one injury. When he was running fast, he didn't have time to feel it, but now that he moved, and he felt that something was not quite right. It felt like a blister had formed, or it was swollen, and it was particularly painful.

“No please…” Luo Fei's groaned. It couldn't have gotten infected?

“Are you sure you want to continue to standing out here showing others what you're saying and how you're uncomfortable?” There was no shortage of people who passed gossip in the village. What Luo Fei said at the doorway could very likely be spread around later.

“Why do you bother to say that? Do you just want to be contrary?! What is there to even say?” Luo Fei glared at Xi Yanqing: “I said that it's just a backache!”

“Is it?”

“Why would I lie about it to you?” Luo Fei clasped his hands and pressed on where he had “pain”—it was just too painful. He definitely couldn't walk home like this. He could only take a break at the Xi's house. As for why stand at the door? The spring breeze is cold ah!

“Why does he have a backache?” Xi Yanqing looked at his back for a while and asked Luo Yi. He felt that how Luo Fei walked did not look like he had a backache.

“He didn't say, he said it's just backache.” Luo Yi was also a bit embarrassed.

Luo Fei entered the house and immediately saw a large wooden tub in the kitchen. Although the basin was not new, it was half-filled with hot water, it was cold outside, and steam rose up invitingly, looking like it would feel comfortable.

After he transmigrated, he didn't get to properly wash. Last night, he sneakily took some water and rushed to the outhouse. When he went out, the water was quite hot, but it quickly cooled down when he got to the chrysanthemum tree. At the end of March, the temperature in the night was still very low, and the water would get cold in a short while. All that hard work, he didn't want to remember it at all. Anyway, the reality was that there was no such thing as a bathtub in his home. To clean the body was to just use a small tub to hold the hot water, and use a cloth to wipe the body. In the summer, simply wash outside, or wash in the river.

He couldn't wash twice a day, now…

Luo Fei eagerly looked at the hot water in the tub for a while.

Why? When Xi Yanqing transmigrated, he had his own house, own field, vegetable garden, and his own tub! As for himself, he even had to cut his own toilet paper!

However, his personal one had not even been cut properly and his chrysanthemum had been scraped!

The more Luo Fei thought, the more he felt depressed, he heard Xi Yanqing ask: “Do you want to wash?” Xi Yanqing said: “I boiled a lot of water.”

This was simply an undeniable temptation!

Luo Fei almost instinctively asked: “R-really could I?”

Luo Yi, who secretly observed the two people's communication, instantly opened his eyes: Second brother, are you crazy? Second brother?! You haven't even gotten married and you want to take a bath Brother Xi's house. What should I do at this time?! Should I stop you or should I find a reason to turn around and find a reason to leave? You are wrong, Brother Xi, do you know!

Luo Yi felt that Xi Yanqing did not leave his second brother with an option to retreat. If he took the bath, then his second brother would not have a choice? !

But… Isn't this what the family wanted? Especially Father and Mother, they would be very happy to hear it! Besides, as long as you don't let outsiders know it, it would be fine! The most most most important thing was that if his Father is happy, he will probably not beat him!

After Luo Yi thought it through, his heart suddenly became clear: “Hey, Brother Xi, Second brother, I suddenly have a stomachache, I have to hurry home!”

Luo Yi had already begun running out before he finished his words, and Luo Fei wasn't even able to pull him back.

Xi Yanqing saw that Luo Fei was still a bit on the fence. He took a piece of clean cloth and placed it on the table next to the tub: “I still have things to do in the garden, you are free to wash, but it is best not to get your hair wet.”

Luo Fei asked: “Why?”

As Xi Yanqing went to the door, he heard the words and faintly smiled, did not answer but rather asked back: “Why do you think?”

Notes:

Lol LY is such a good wingman~ LF will probably be tempted to marry XYQ just because of hot baths!

Here's a recipe to “confused” porridge lol

Google translate should work fine for it but if not, it's basically just cornmeal, water, maybe a little corn starch to thicken it up and then sugar to taste~ 

Chapter end