Cucummato (TianShan)

18. Their Weekend

Mo Guan Shan

Weekends were the best days for him. The morning starts at full battle mode while he helps his mother clean their tiny apartment. He takes care of the laundry because his mother keeps on complaining about things being out of the usual order or not as how she usually arranges it. The woman would drive anyone crazy with her almost obsession to order and cleanliness.

The thing he likes about it is the distraction. He becomes too absorbed in his chore and forgets about time.

"The best thing about a small house is that it's so easy to clean," his mother would always say. But Mo Guan Shan wants to give her a bigger house. The kind of house that looks so sterile so his mother would finally feel at ease.

"The best thing about having a small house is that we see each other every day," Mo Guan Shan would always tell his mother ever since he started working at the He garden.

The family house was too big. It's possible to be at home but not see each other in days and for Mo Guan Shan, it isn't something he'd like for his family. Sure they looked like they got along very well and there seemed to be no big problems. But everybody's doing their own thing, going their own way and running at their own pace. They set aside a limited time to spend on their garden.

It's always the old man, diligently working on his garden as if his life depended on it.

When his chores were finally done, he called Xue Chen and asked if she'd want to see a movie with him. It's not like he really wants to see a movie, nor he badly needed to see her. He's just feeling guilty for not thinking about her in everything he does. They say when you're in love, the other person is all you ever think of. But he's thinking about different things, so he wonders if it's not normal.

He texted Jian Yi. He called him back and laughed on his ear like he'd eaten a poisonous mushroom.

"It is not required to think about your girlfriend 24/7, all right? Trust me, I'm an expert. Like, I think about Xixi 23/6 and the rest is for thinking about assignments and stuff."

Dazed by Jian Yi's answer, Mo Guan Shan stared at the ceiling for several minutes before his phone rung again and it's He Tian.

"Fuuuck?!"

"What? Hurry up and get over here."

He stared at nothing, eye wide with surprise and panic, clutching his chest.

He should avoid thinking about unnecessary things, really.

He Tian

That was quick. He's all smiles when he opened the front gate. But it wasn't him, but a girl, whom he knows by face. One of his grandfather's friends' granddaughter.

"Hi, uhmm. . ." He Tian inwardly cursed. He's gonna need to take her to Starbucks.

"Just call me Ling Ling," she said without looking at him directly.

Now he remembers her from her last year's birthday party. Old Hong's only granddaughter, Hong Luli. She seemed shy and way tiny, which might explain the timidness.

"Sorry for the trouble but my grandfather told me to visit your grandfather."

"But he's not here."

"My grandfather told me to visit you too."

"I'm not sick though. Or dead," He Tian said but motioned for her to get inside. She just giggled, taking his sarcasm as a joke.

It's not that he's suddenly allergic to girls because he'd played with girls before. The problem lied in his anticipation. Imagine craving for cake and someone forces a vegetable stir-fry on you.

He led her to the living room while fighting the urge to roll his eyes. So is this "I might die anytime soon so give me a great grandson pronto!" trope? Is his grandfather losing his marbles?

"I'm into gardening too," she said. He Tian looked back at her with a raised eyebrow.

She pointed at the gardening gloves in his pocket. He uses those when he prepares the soil that needs heavy tools.

"Oh. Yeah?"

"My grandfather. . ."

"Told you, I get that. But are you gonna do everything he says?"

"I'm his only granddaughter so I don't have a lot of options."

Poor kid, He Tian thought.

"Want to help out?"

She jumped up and smiled at him. She's more like a little sister than a marriage candidate.

"I'd be delighted."

He led her to the back. Mo Guan Shan is already pacing back and forth to place the fertilizers sacks by each plot. It was so He Tian wouldn't need to stand up to get it each time he moves to the next plot. Out of habit, the idiot's treating him like an old man.

"Yo! The gardening club has recruited a new member!" he called and Mo Guan Shan acknowledged her by nodding. "That guy's a part-timer gramps hired to help out."

"Wow, your field is pretty big!" she said as she surveyed the place with sparkling eyes. There were plots for green peppers, big round cabbages and spring onions. "It's like a secret base!"

"It's sort of like that," He Tian answered as he gathered manure to the plot that he prepared earlier. Ling Ling fixed her long hair into a bun and picked up her own station without another peep.

Mo Guan Shan looked his way and gave him a thumbs up.

The girl didn't talk much after she immersed herself into the work. He Tian could see why his grandfather approved of this. She might look timid but once surrounded by plants, her confidence shines through and so his grandfather thought that maybe he'd like that kind of girl.

Mo Guan Shan

Watermelons are great. Mo Guan Shan reached for another slice and munched away, the watermelon juice dripping down his chin. He Tian raised an eyebrow so he laughed.

"Too much sloppiness for my entire lifetime," He Tian commented wryly. The girl nodded, chomping on her slice like a hamster.

"It's sweet. You can't relate because you're not eating any."

"It doesn't taste good to me," He Tian answered. The boy shifted his attention to his visitor. "So, Ling Ling, how's the work?"

"I'm used to this so I'm not a bit intimidated. I mainly grow flowers, you see."

Mo Guan Shan nodded in approval when the girl looked at him. She's the gentle, good-natured kind and her hair glimmers like gold threads in the sun. Her demeanor reminds him of Alice in Wonderland.

Then he looked at He Tian. Definitely the Cheshire cat. So what is he? A flamingo?

"You will marry me right, He Tian?" she blurted out all of a sudden. "The love I only care about is to make our families happy, so you don't have to love me."

Mo Guan Shan dropped his watermelon while beating his chest and coughing. He Tian stared at her, as if asking whether she's serious or just being silly. Ling Ling just smiled while waiting for a reply.

"Try again later, when there are no outsiders around," He Tian answered as he lit his cigarette.

Strange. Mo Guan Shan was sure He Tian would outright reject her no matter how charmingly cute she is.

He left immediately so they would rid themselves of the outsider, him, and go on to continue their proposal game. It's none of his business anyway. None of his fucking business.

He stopped by the side of the road and bent over, retching all that precious watermelon into the smouldering pavement. Something is wrong with his throat because it felt too clogged for him to breathe.

He pressed his palm heels on his watery eyes until he could see fireworks.

So this is how it feels when it is said directly to your face. Being an outsider sucks like hell.