Edited by Relendria
"Hong Jia Yi, there's no need to!" Wen Shen panicked.
"It's okay, you have a family to feed," Hong Jia Yi insisted.
Wen Shen bowed thankfully and accepted the gift.
"Thank you."
"No, don't bow. I'm only returning kindness with kindness," Hong Jia Yi said firmly.
Wen Shen nodded. It was time for him to get back to his family. He left and Liang Meng Yao looked at Hong Jia Yi, folding his arms in front of him. The atmosphere immediately became serious.
"Why are you wet?" Liang Meng Yao asked grimly.
"I fell into the river," Hong Jia Yi said.
"Did you just happen to fall in into the river?" Liang Meng Yao asked, already knowing the answer.
"No, but don't worry I wasn't bullied," Hong Jia Yi said hurriedly.
"Hmm, okay... Never allow anyone to bully you. If they won't stop, come and get me," Liang Meng Yao said sternly.
After that Liang went inside and started to make mayonnaise. He had eggs, lemon, milk, no vinegar - but that wouldn't drastically change the taste.
When he finished making a huge big jug of mayonnaise he grinned. He was going to be rich.
Liang Meng Yao hugged Hong Jia Yi.
"Is everything okay?" Hong Jia Yi asked, concerned by the unexpected embrace.
"Yep! Well, I'm going to work on the carriage," Liang Meng Yao told him.
The day passed quickly as both men were working on their own projects and chores. That night they slept in each other's arms, as had become their usual practice. The next morning...
"Mr. Liang! Mr. Liang!" Wen Shen shouted.
"Maybe we came too early," Wen Shen's brother said.
It was just after 6:00 in the morning after all.
"Maybe we are really too early..." Wen Shen worried.
"You're here," Liang Meng Yao said, exiting the house, "good morning."
"Good morning," they both said simultaneously.
The two men entered the yard and followed Liang Meng Yao to the back yard. Liang Meng Yao grabbed two picks and two shovels.
"For today I'll pay you 80 coppers each if you could dig a deep hole here," he tapped the ground. "It must be wide and deep. Don't worry about food - that will be provided," Liang Meng Yao grinned at them.
The two men nodded happily. This was a great deal for them.
"Oh, this is my older twin brother, Wen Shan." Wen Shen introduced them. "He has 3 children," he added.
Three children at eighteen years old?!? Liang Meng Yao was nineteen but those two were shooting more sprouts than him! He was still a virgin even though he was now married.
"Ah, hope your family is well. They can come visit tomorrow if you'd like. After all, Jiajia could use some company," he smiled.
"Yes, we'll tell them."
The boys immediately went to work as Liang Meng Yao continued working on the carriage. It wasn't very neat since Liang Meng Yao didn't have anything to measure with - he had to rely entirely on his instincts. But Liang Meng Yao had been a hard worker since young and he was able to put together a working carriage anyway.
He had been working since the age of seven and he had worked hard to help provide for his father and grandfather. Liang Meng Yao's mother had never been around and his father wouldn't talk about it. Liang Meng Yao had come to the conclusion that she had either died or she abandoned him.
His grandfather was extremely cranky and evil. His father had disappeared from the life of his relatives for seven years and then one day he just came back with Liang Meng Yao, who had been a two-year-old baby. His grandfather had beaten, abused, and taken advantage of his father until his father was so stressed he could barely keep up with everything. He had basically worked himself to death, developing cancer thanks to constant overworking. And even while his father was sick Liang Meng Yao's grandfather didn't have any mercy on him. At the age of ten Liang Meng Yao lost his father to death, becoming his grandfather's slave until he turned eighteen. Then he put the bastard in a care center for old people and never spoke or visited him.
His last year in his old world was free and relaxing. He could laze around if wanted to and he didn't have to constantly hide information about his true age. He didn't have to put up with a slave driver or take hits from a cane and he didn't have to work himself to the bone to get food.
Liang Meng Yao had been free but it now it seemed that God doesn't want him to be lazy. Once again has to work himself to the bone to provide for himself and another but unlike those prior years, he can relax at times with a handsome wife.
If his grandfather could see him now, he'd beat him to death with cane. His grandfather was extremely homophobic and when he discovered that Liang Meng Yao's father was bisexual, he raged at him, beating him mercilessly with a cane. Those days had been awful but he had been happy to have his father.