Shuangling: Braving the Rapids

The Spring Equinox has arrived, and the weather is warming up.

Flowers are blooming in profusion on Shuangling Mountain. These delicate flowers on the branches are bathed in sunlight and look so playful and lovely!

During this time of year, more and more people are going on spring outings. On the hillsides, people enjoy the warm spring breeze and the romantic fragrance of flowers. When they are in a good mood, a few opera enthusiasts will spontaneously perform a piece. For a moment, the hillside is filled with the bold and unrestrained opera tunes. This is a hymn to spring.

Enjoying the flowers and listening to the opera, people don't forget to pick a few peach blossoms on their way down the mountain. These beautiful branches, symbolizing peace and joy, are either placed in vases or hung on door lintels. Some even place them under the bedding at the head of the bed to help them sleep.

Leisure time is fleeting, and farm work in the fields certainly can't be neglected. The hardworking people of Qinjiazhuang shoulder their farm tools and head to the field ridges to weed and thin out the wheat seedlings…

After the work is finished, the weeds are cleared away and the ridges are trimmed straight and neat. Farmers treat their fields like their children, as this is the only source of income for most of them!

That day, Aimin carried a hoe to the sandy field beside Shuangling Creek. Unlike other villagers, the green plants under his feet were not wheat seedlings, but chamomile seedlings transplanted from a greenhouse.

Under his careful cultivation, these chrysanthemum seedlings not only survived the winter but also completed the division of the plants. As a result, Aimin's chrysanthemum cultivation plan has finally achieved a stage victory.

Before the flowering season arrives, there is still a lot of work to be done in the experimental field. However, Aimin is a teacher with a formal position. Except for winter and summer vacations, he cannot spend all day in the field. Therefore, he specially found Qin Geda and Ma Xiangju, hoping that the two of them could help him take care of the two acres of hard-won chrysanthemum seedlings.

Geda is a skilled shepherd, but it's a bit much to ask him to take care of these delicate herbaceous plants. Most of the time, it's Ma Xiangju who does the daily care. Of course, this isn't to say that Ma Xiangju is particularly kind-hearted, but rather that Aimin's chrysanthemum field is right next to her family's land, so weeding and watering are just things that come naturally to her.

As a result, Aimin and Ma Xiangju naturally had more interactions, and those filthy rumors resurfaced. Needless to say, the one spreading the rumors was still that annoying old bachelor—Qin Ergou!

"Have you heard? The public school teacher and Ma Xiangju are getting together again!" In a gossip center in the village, Qin Ergou started spreading rumors again.

When he got to the more explicit parts, Qin Ergou loosely clenched his left hand into a ring shape, repeatedly weaving his right middle finger through it. This lewd and obscene gesture, combined with his vivid and engaging speech, immediately sparked heated discussion among the audience.

"Qin Ergou, you're really going on about it. Did you actually see them sharing a bed or something?" The one who asked the question was the eldest daughter-in-law of the old hunter's family. She was a gossip by nature, and hearing such a scandalous story made her feel like she had been injected with chicken blood, and she became very excited.

"Of course! Didn't you see I could talk nonsense? Xiangju and Aimin were doing *that* inside the house, and their dogs were doing it outside too, tsk tsk tsk, it's unbelievable!" Qin Ergou tugged at his mustache, looking as if he were there and savoring the moment.

"You mean Aimin's big yellow dog and Xiangju's black dog got together?" The gossipy woman had become the straight man, and she worked with Qin Ergou to stir up the topic.

Seeing that everyone around him was intrigued, Qin Ergou deliberately lowered his voice and said, "I have something else to tell you, but don't spread it around... Huozi's son, Maodan'er, is actually the child of Ma Xiangju and Aimin!"

These words immediately caused an uproar in the gossip center. After a moment of gasps from the crowd, the gossipy woman smoothed her hair and said, "I was wondering why Huozi, who has a cleft lip, is perfectly fine with his son Maodan. Now that you mention it, I understand! I never expected it! I never expected it! Ma Xiangju actually cheated on Huozi!"

The "gossip" may have a long tongue, but her intelligence is definitely her weakness. If she knew even a little bit about genetics, she wouldn't say such foolish things. But such an absurd and ridiculous rumor, when it fell into the ears of a group of gossips, became a disaster.

Initially, this explosive news only circulated in a few gossip centers, but eventually it reached the ears of Ma Xiangju's husband, Qin Gensheng.

Qin Gensheng was born with a cleft lip and was also lame. The villagers called him "Qin the Cleft". He was usually quiet and never argued with anyone, but after being instigated by Qin Ergou, he actually began to doubt his wife.

One Sunday, Ma Xiangju went to the fields to do farm work, and Qin Huozi secretly followed her.

When Qin Huozi saw Ma Xiangju and Aimin weeding in the chrysanthemum field, his face turned green. Although he had a low status in the family and was afraid of his wife, he was still a man. At this moment, he shrugged, pointed at his limping leg, and cursed:

"Damn it! You idiot! You fool! You haven't even weeded your own field properly, and you're running around working in someone else's! You shameless woman! Get...get the hell home right now!"

Qin Huozi spoke with a lisp, making his speech unclear and somewhat comically muddled. Aimin couldn't understand what he was saying, but Ma Xiangju knew that the man had come to interrogate her!

Ma Xiangju had nothing to hide and wasn't afraid to confront her husband. She first threw the hoe aside, then stormed up to Qin Huozi, yelling, "What are you making a scene for? Don't you know how Old Hai'er has treated our family? Oh, now they're asking us to help them with some farming, and you're just making a fuss here?"

Ma Xiangju's words make perfect sense. If it weren't for the help of the old team leader Qin Yunhai, their family would never have been allocated these few acres of irrigated land in Shuangxitian. Everyone knows that this land is close to the water source and has a high yield. If such a good thing happened to them, they would definitely be benefiting from someone else's good fortune.

Qin Huozi was furious and wouldn't listen to anything anyone said. He mustered his courage and leaned close to his wife, yelling, "The whole village...everyone's talking about it! They're saying you slept with Aimin, you slut! And you're even defending him..."

Before he could even finish hurling his insults, Ma Xiangju slapped him hard across the face. "Qin Huozi! I gave birth to your child! I cooked for you! I even took care of your mother's bodily needs! Tell me! I did everything for you! And you still gossip with others, I think you're asking for trouble, huh?"

Ma Xiangju was not a woman who could swallow her anger. At this moment, she had already pinned Qin Huozi down and was grabbing the man's hair and beating and scolding him.

Seeing that the tigress had already unleashed her fury, Qin Huozi dared not say anything more. He covered his head with his hands to protect his face, but even so, he still got several bloody scratches on his face and neck.

Seeing the couple fighting, Ai-min, who was completely unaware of what was going on, stood frozen in place. Only now did he realize that he had been mistaken for a "third party"!

Aimin was somewhat at a loss. As an educated young man from a prestigious university, he had ideals and ambitions, but when he tried to put his dreams into practice, he realized that he was nothing more than a hothead who was all talk and no action and out of touch with reality!

If he knew how to avoid suspicion and had basic common sense, he wouldn't have caused such a mess. How could this chaotic situation not give him a headache?

The couple were at war, while our dear Aimin stood still, actively engaging in self-criticism. Just then, a small, thin figure in open-crotch pants suddenly ran to Ma Xiangju and Qin Huozi's side, "Mommy...Mommy...please don't hit Daddy anymore, boohoo..."

The little boy, whose nickname was Maodan'er, was crying out "Mom and Dad" and was the only son of Ma Xiangju and Qin Huozi.

When Mao Dan woke up, he didn't see his parents, so he cried and ran to the field. When he saw his parents fighting, he cried loudly.

"Stop fighting! Stop fighting! Fighting in front of a child, aren't you afraid of traumatizing him?" At this moment, Aimin finally reacted and rushed to Maodan's side, shielding him behind her.

Upon hearing this, Ma Xiangju was the first to calm down. She quickly stood up, picked up her son, and Qin Huozi, his face bruised and swollen, stared at Aimin with a complex and strange expression. He was about to say something when Ma Xiangju turned and kicked him. "Go home quickly! The child's head is burning hot; he must have a fever again!"

Upon hearing this, Qin Huozi disregarded everything else, touched his son's forehead, and then limped after his wife and son.

Watching the family of three leave, Aimin felt a mix of emotions. Although he had a clear conscience about what had happened, he had ultimately caused a bad influence on others.

He struggled internally for a while before finally picking up the long-handled pruning shears. Aimin suddenly remembered a quote from Lu Yao:

A certain kind of mental crisis can only be relieved through intense physical labor. Labor is always the best medicine for healing his mental wounds.