Chapter 466

For the next few days, the three of them didn't go out much.

Zhao Chengan was ordered by Chen Qiusheng not to leave the house. Chen Pingan would go out for a while in the late afternoon and return quickly, while Chen Qiusheng would sneak out every night for several hours. To ensure Zhao Chengan wouldn't feel it was unfair that only he couldn't go out, Zhao Chengan was given plenty of food while under house arrest.

He picked the best things to eat, eating whatever was expensive. Smoked chicken, cured meat, pig's head meat, offal, white rice, white flour, pastries, candied fruit, and nuts—he ate his fill of everything, and most of it ended up in Zhao Chengan's stomach.

Because Chen Pingan had poor health, his appetite was small, and Chen Qiusheng couldn't eat too much meat due to his age. Only Zhao Chengan was firing on all cylinders, wishing he could eat Xia Mubing's share as well.

When they weren't eating or going out, the three stayed in Chen Pingan's room, with Chen Qiusheng watching Chen Pingan teach Zhao Chengan how to write.

Zhao Chengan only had a problem with his brain; at his core, he was a spirit. He hadn't been able to shift his thinking to be like a human, but that didn't mean he was stupid. From Chen Pingan's skilled teaching state, Qin Huai could see that Chen Pingan had taught Zhao Chengan to write quite a bit over the years. Zhao Chengan wasn't illiterate; he recognized the characters in Chen Pingan's textbooks, and he could even do math, knew quadratic equations, could read English, and understood some physics formulas.

He was just too lazy to practice calligraphy. He didn't write normally, but now that he was stuck at home with nothing to do, he could only honestly practice calligraphy with Chen Pingan. He practiced both brush and fountain pen calligraphy, but the characters he wrote were all crooked and twisted, looking like standard elementary school handwriting at a glance—so ugly it was hard to look at.

Chen Qiusheng stood on the side watching Zhao Chengan write, shaking his head continuously. After Zhao Chengan wrote two pages of large characters, he complained that it was fortunate he hadn't been foolish enough to send Zhao Chengan to a school for children to learn calligraphy, otherwise it would have been a waste of money.

This angered Zhao Chengan so much that he shouted on the spot that he wouldn't write anymore, not a single character.

Chen Pingan asked with a smile, under normal circumstances, shouldn't one be inspired to practice two more pages of characters to prove that one wasn't rotten wood but a talent worth molding after receiving such mockery? Why did Zhao Chengan throw his pen down and quit?

To this, Zhao Chengan argued forcefully: "That's something only that stubborn fool Xia Mubing would do. If others say he's no good, he has to secretly practice until he's good. What's wrong with people saying a few words? There are plenty of things that don't work. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. If it doesn't work in this life, won't it work in the next?"

Chen Pingan couldn't help but laugh: "Ah Sheng, you still believe so strongly that people have a next life."

Zhao Chengan shook his head solemnly: "It's not that people have a next life; none of you have a next life. Only I have a next life."

"To be precise, I don't have a next life yet either. Once I work hard for a while longer, I will have a next life."

"So only I can die whenever I want; none of you can. I promised Xia Mubing before he left that I would definitely take good care of you, and if I have to die, I must die before you."

"Pah, pah, pah, what kind of nonsense are you spouting?" Seeing Zhao Chengan start talking nonsense again, Chen Qiusheng gave him a hard smack on the head—his favorite kind of big slap. "The Master did not speak of strange phenomena and supernatural occurrences; you can't talk nonsense like that."

"Father, I don't think that's what 'The Master did not speak of strange phenomena and supernatural occurrences' means," Chen Pingan said weakly.

Chen Qiusheng glared at Chen Pingan: "Don't be pedantic at a time like this."

Zhao Chengan took a slap, and his thoughts drifted back to what to eat later: "Master, do we still have white flour at home? Let's eat dumplings tonight, wrap a few more."

"We have white flour, but there's no more meat. There's only a little bit of cured meat left in the kitchen. If we want to wrap dumplings, we can only dice the cured meat, steam the potatoes to make the filling, and wrap potato dumplings," Chen Qiusheng said.

"Potato dumplings are delicious too, Master, let's stop practicing calligraphy and go wrap potato dumplings. I'll knead the dough!"

Chen Pingan also smiled and helped Zhao Chengan speak: "That's right, Father, we've been staying at home for several days. Either I read stories to you or I teach Ah Sheng how to write; we should do something else."

"I can't help you and Ah Sheng with the cooking, but I can still contribute a little to wrapping dumplings. At least I can help peel the potatoes."

Chen Qiusheng stared at Zhao Chengan with a straight face for a while, his expression softened, and finally he nodded in agreement: "Fine, let's wrap dumplings."

"That's great! Finally, no more writing!" Zhao Chengan cheered and ran toward the kitchen. Chen Pingan and Chen Qiusheng followed behind. When Zhao Chengan had already run out of sight, Chen Pingan asked with some concern.

"Father, I heard that Beiping won't be able to hold out. Langfang is already gone, and the defending troops are all retreating toward Nanyuan. The situation seems very bad. Is it... okay for us to let Ah Sheng stay in Beiping?"

Chen Qiusheng shook his head, signaling Chen Pingan not to say any more: "It's already at this point, we can't run even if we want to. I snuck out the night before last to scout the situation, wanting to see if I could pull some strings to send Ah Sheng out. Even when Langfang was still there, we couldn't leave the city, and now it's even more..."

After finishing, Chen Qiusheng sighed: "At first, I thought Ah Sheng wasn't very bright, and if he escaped to the south, he wouldn't know anyone. Mubing wouldn't be able to control him, and he'd easily offend people by stealing, so it wouldn't be safe. After sending Mubing away, I've been regretting it these past few days."

"The south isn't safe, but is it safe to stay in Beiping? Won't those animals do in Beiping what they did outside the Great Wall?"

"I have my own selfish motives. Your health is poor, and I'm at this age. If Ah Sheng and Mubing had both gone south, it would be somewhat unsafe for just the two of us to stay in Beiping. With Ah Sheng here, you would at least have some protection. But these past two days, the more I think about it, the more I regret it. I toss and turn in bed every night and can't sleep, always feeling that by letting Ah Sheng stay in Beiping, I've harmed him."

Chen Pingan lowered his head in disappointment: "Father, it's me who's dragging you and Ah Sheng down. If it weren't for me, you would have gone to Jin Ling long ago."

"Silly child, there's no such thing as dragging down."

Seeing the atmosphere becoming increasingly heavy and sad, Chen Qiusheng and Chen Pingan stood in the room in silence. Zhao Chengan suddenly burst in from the doorway, whispering: "Pingan, Master, why haven't you gone to the kitchen to wrap dumplings yet? I've already washed the potatoes. Don't tell me you've changed your minds and aren't wrapping dumplings anymore? I really want to eat dumplings."

"What's the rush? Once the potatoes are washed, knead the dough. If you want to eat dumplings, put in some effort. Pingan and I have something to discuss," Chen Qiusheng said with a straight face.

"Oh." Zhao Chengan left silently to knead the dough in the kitchen.

Chen Qiusheng continued from the previous topic: "However, the situation isn't too bad. I've looked over the house the Li family left us these past few days. There are two cellars, and one of them is very hidden and can be used to hide people."

"According to the current situation, it's only a matter of a day or two before those devils break in. We can't stay here. After we finish wrapping the dumplings, pack up everything we can in the house, and we'll move there after midnight tonight."

"Once we go there, we'll live directly in the cellar. Don't let people think there's anyone in that house; that's the only way to be safe."

"Alright, Father."

After discussing, Chen Qiusheng and Chen Pingan acted as if nothing had happened and went to the kitchen. In the kitchen, Zhao Chengan had already started kneading the dough. Seeing the two arrive late, he pointed to the work he had just finished to claim credit: "Master, look, I washed and cut the potatoes, and I'm kneading the dough. Today's dumplings can be counted as my work alone."

Chen Qiusheng laughed: "Yes, yes, yes, counted as your work alone."

The only work Chen Pingan could do had already been finished by Zhao Chengan. With nothing to do, he could only stand by Zhao Chengan and watch him knead the dough. After watching for a while, he couldn't help but ask: "Ah Sheng, you used to call my father Master Chen, why have you started calling him Master these past few days?"

Hearing Chen Pingan ask this, Chen Qiusheng didn't have much of a reaction, but his head tilted slightly toward them, clearly wanting to hear how Zhao Chengan would answer.

"Who told Xia Mubing to leave? Once he left, there was no one to call Master Chen 'Master'. I see Master Chen hasn't been sleeping well these past two nights. Either he's tossing and turning in his room making the bed creak so I can't sleep, or he's sneaking out in the middle of the night. He must be missing Xia Mubing. Since no one is calling him Master, I'll call him that a few times for Xia Mubing," Zhao Chengan said.