Lei Tie reproached: "Don't drink too fast. Have food."
After Qin Mian took a bite of spinach to dampen his mouth, he felt slightly more comfortable. He ate another piece of steamed pork with rice flour, picked up his wine cup and clanked it with Lei Tie's as he said: "Drink." This time, he drank slowly and tasted a bit of flavour. The heat on his face gradually became heavier and he hurriedly clipped dishes to eat.
Lei Tie drank a big mouthful and did not urge him.
As the dusk sunk deeper, and the room turned darker, he got up to lit the oil lamps in each corner of the central room, lighting up the room.
Qin Mian touched his feverish face and felt a little discontented. If you are a male, you need to know how to drink (alcohol). How can only one sip turn your face red? Alcohol tolerance should be exercised when young. Thinking of this, he raised his neck and drank up the rest of the wine in the cup.
Lei Tie frowned and put dishes in his bowl.
"Wine is nothing good. Why do so many people like it?" Qin Mian said that and yet he poured another cup.
Lei Tie took away his cup. "Eat more before drinking."
"Oh." Qin Mian's head was a little dizzy and his reaction was also a little slow. He obediently took a few clips of dishes and dug in.
Lei Tie took advantage of his muddle-headedness to put some of the three dishes into his bowl.
Qin Mian wiped out more than a half [bowl]. Seeing the wine cup from the corner of his eye, he picked it up and took a mouthful. Then he held it up, "Another cup."
"Drink less, eat more." Lei Tie said.
"No, I want to practice drinking." Qin Mian reached for the wine jar.
Lei Tie picked up the wine jar first and only poured him half a cup. Qin Mian clucked his tongue, held his (LT) hand with both hands, and then released it when the wine cup was filled up. He smiled satisfactorily and emphasized: "I can drink it."
Lei Tie put the wine jar farther away.
Qin Mian finished his drink in one shot. Thinking that it was not a big deal, he went to pick up the wine jar again. Accidentally, he knocked down the wine jar and it dropped onto the ground. With a "pa" sound, it broke all over the floor.
"En? Not on purpose..." Qin Mian stood up, but his legs went soft and he trembled.
Lei Tie quickly supported the person with his hands, placed him on a chair at the side, and looked at him carefully. The youth's body went soft, his eyes looked misty with an expression that was hard to make out distinctly and his cheeks were flushed.
"Drunk."
"Is it? Oh..." Qin Mian blanked for quite a while before reacting. He wanted to stand up, "I'm going to sleep."
Just as he stood up, he trembled. Lei Tie simply hugged him.
Qin Mian dizzily fell on him. With both hands on his shoulders and his mouth dried, he subconsciously licked his lips.
Lei Tie's eyes darkened and the arms wound around the youth's waist tightened. After quite a while, he suddenly lowered his head, took an enduring gentle breath, slowly approached the youth's lips, and carefully dropped a light kiss on the youth's forehead.
The slight itch on his forehead made Qin Mian shake his head uneasily. It happened that Lei Tie lowered his head and his lip accidentally brushed the tip of his (QM) nose. The alcohol smell in their mouths intertwined together, fermenting all the more intense smell like an incapacitating drug.
All the heat in Lei Tie's body instantly spread to his chest and finally gathered into an impulse. His left palm clasped the back of Qin Mian's head and his lips sealed Qin Mian's lips without any gap.
Qin Mian's brain was in a state of chaos. He opened his eyes with great effort and opened his mouth to say something, but his tongue was suddenly caught. The hot temperature and the speed of churning dispelled his doubts and his remaining strength.
It was not until the other person had difficulty breathing that Lei Tie regained his senses. His dark eyes returned to clarity as he looked down at the person leaning on his chest meekly. He raised that person's chin and was stunned. He had actually fainted.
Lei Tie flicked the hair on the forehead of the person in his arms and pecked at it gently before picking him up horizontally and walking to the bedroom.
......
Qin Mian opened his eyes with difficulty and closed them quickly. His head felt heavy and stuffy. There was a small hammer on both temples that kept beating. He stretched out two index fingers and rubbed them, "Hurts, hurts, hurts!"
A pair of big warm hands moved his hands away and helped him rub his temples.
Qin Mian opened his eyes and unexpectedly saw that Lei Tie was still in bed. He turned to look out of the window. It was bright outside.
"You actually didn't get up, too?"
Lei Tie's eyes swept down his body.
Qin Mian realized that his leg was on his (LT) lap and quickly drew it back. His stomach growled. He sighed and sat up.
Lei Tie pressed down his shoulder. "Wait."
Qin Mian stared blankly at him when he got dressed, set a small table on the heatable brick bed, and walked out. After a while, he came in with a tray and put three dishes and a bowl of rice on the table.
Qin Mian looked at him curiously, "You made it?"
Lei Tie said: "Just warm it up, I can. Put on your outer garment."
Qin Mian was really hungry. Regardless of whether he had not washed his face and rinsed his mouth, he took up the rice bowl to eat.
Lei Tie scrutinized his expression and knew that he did not remember about last night.
"Why are you in a daze? Don't you eat?" Qin Mian asked in a puzzled way.
"I'm going to practice fist [boxing] first."
Qin Mian felt that he was a little strange. He sped up, put on his clothes quickly after he was full and came to the yard.
The sun was already three poles high, but Lei Tie was still practising fist in the yard with sweats hanging on his angular handsome face.
Qin Mian thought it was not his own illusion that the changing style speed of Lei Tie's fist practice was faster and fiercer than before, which seemed like he was venting something. He picked up a stone and threw it over. Lei Tie, as if he was not aware of it, continued to finish his fist practice.
Qin Mian's chest felt a little stuffy and his tone was not very good, "Who provoked you?"
Lei Tie looked at him for a moment and caught the grievance that he (QM) was unaware of in his (QM) eyes and felt immediately relieved.
"No one. Going to the shop later?"
Qin Mian's heart loosened, "I'll go wash up."
When he finished washing, Lei Tie had taken the food out of the room and was sitting at the table, eating.
Qin Mian saw White Spot lying in the corner and writhing uneasily. It seemed very uncomfortable. He went to squat down and kneaded its head. "Lei Tie, what's wrong with it?"
Lei Tie pondered: "Yesterday's food was a little spicy, maybe––"
Qin Mian was worried, "It's my fault. I remember that wolves don't seem to eat salt, and they should have never eaten cooked food before. Maybe its stomach and intestines aren't adapted to it?" He quickly went to the kitchen, took a bowl of water, poured it into White Spot's food bowl, and fed it.
"What are you doing?" Lei Tie asked.
Qin Mian beat around the bush: "I give it some water to make it clean its stomach and intestine. It'll probably be all right." In fact, this water was mixed with the spiritual spring water, which could alleviate White Spot's discomfort more or less.
Lei Tie was noncommittal. He ate while watching Qin Mian feed it water.
White Spot slowly drank the water and then lay down for a while. As expected, it recovered its lively appearance.
Qin Mian took some boar meat, cut it into small pieces and put it in its food bowl. With its head down, White Spot ate with gusto.
"Afterwards, feed it raw meat." Lei Tie said.
Qin Mian nodded, "This time I was negligent."
When Lei Tie finished the meal, the two men loaded the ox cart and were ready to go out. White Spot butted out of the hole in the wall and quickly jumped into the ox cart.
There is a gate, but you insist to bore through. Did White Spot like the hole in the wall? Qin Mian closed the courtyard gate and locked it with an amusing look.
Today was a fine sunny day without wind. The sunshine was warm on the body. On the way, they met an old man and his six-year-old grandson from the same village walking to town. Qin Mian politely invited them to get on the cart.
"Grandpa, little dog." The little child pointed to White Spot as he spoke.
White Spot was very clever. Except for watching the old man and the little child warily, it had no sign of attacking.
The grandpa squinted and looked for a long time, "Why does it look like a wolf?"
Qin Mian's heart thumped for a moment before he said solemnly: "It's a wolfdog."
"Oh." The grandpa did not doubt. After all, a wolf would not get close to human beings.
Qin Mian admired his own quick wits. Later, if some people thought that White Spot was a wolf, he would insist that it was a wolfdog.
When the ox cart reached the door of the shop, Zheng Liu and Wang Shun came to greet them and carried the things on the cart down.
Lei Tie sat on the shaft and did not go down to the ground. He said to Qin Mian, "I'm going to the county."
"For what?" Qin Mian wondered.
Lei Tie said: "Buying a thing. There isn't in town."
Qin Mian saw that he had no intention to say more. Although he was upset, he also resisted asking and casually waved his hand, "Go."
Lei Tie nodded and drove away.
"Small boss, you're here." Yue Dong came out.
Qin Mian took back his gaze and walked to the shop. "How's business these days?"
"Not bad." Yue Dong said, "There are still a lot of hot pot customers. Barbecue customers, mainly ask to package for takeaway, but there are two fewer customers who eat spicy hot soup. Because the weather is getting colder, many people are reluctant to catch a chill outside the shop."
Qin Mian frowned, "It can't be helped. It's not easy to rent a bigger shop in such a small town. Well, I'll think about some new dishes, hopefully, it can attract more customers."
Yue Dong revealed a smiling expression, "This method should be feasible. To be honest with small boss, I've been thinking about it with the others these days, but we couldn't come out with any."
Qin Mian was happy, "That'll do! If you come up with a feasible one, your boss I will reward you."
Yue Dong smilingly responded: "All right. I'll tell them the good news in a while."
"En, also tell them that the closer to the end of the year, the more they can't be negligent. If everyone performs well, we'll close our shop on the 24th and give a year-end bonus so that everyone can have a good New Year." Qin Mian said while walking to the counter to check the account book.
There was joy on Yue Dong's face as his response echoed.
More than two hours later, Lei Tie came back.
Qin Mian did not ask him what he bought. They sat in the shop for a while and went home together.
Lei Tie went out with his bow set, a saw and a carpenter's plane. White Spot followed him.
Qin Mian was angry. He did not ask what he was going to do or when he would come back. Instead, he wrote and drew with a pencil and paper.
It was only when it was dark that there was movement in the yard.
Lei Tie put a pheasant on the ground.
Qin Mian took a casual glance and raised his eyebrows. "Is that tooth print?"
White Spot wagged its tail, walked to his legs and rubbed against him.
"White Spot hunted it." Lei Tie then explained, "We can't keep it like a dog."
Qin Mian nodded and was somewhat listless, "I understand."
Lei Tie came up to him, took out something from behind, and handed it to him.
Qin Mian's eyes brightened. In Lei Tie's hand was a delicate bow. The arm of the bow was polished to be as smooth as jade, and the colour was bright yellow. He did not know what kind of wood it was, but he could see faint golden threads in it.
"This is..."
Lei Tie said: "The string was bought in the county and the bow was made by me. Like it?"
The suffocation in Qin Mian's chest suddenly disappeared. He accepted it with joy, "I like it. So you went to the county to buy a string..."
Lei Tie said: "The string sold in town is not good enough."
Qin Mian fondly stroked the little bow and suddenly noticed that there were still some small determined and cursive characters carved on the arm of the bow. After a closer look, it was "Tie Gifts Wife". There was a line of small characters at the bottom of the bow about a certain day, a certain month and a certain year. His heart leapt and he looked up at Lei Tie.
Lei Tie was staring at him intently.
The two looked at each other for a long time, unable to move their eyes.
White Spot raised its head, rubbed against Qin Mian's legs and glanced at the dining table. It seemed to be asking why the meal had yet been served.
Qin Mian pulled himself together, "Right, what kind of wood is this? Why are there golden threads in it?"
Lei Tie answered: "[Chinese] Mulberry wood."