166 – Land of Idyllic Beauty + Grand General Lei
Should have done all the bonuses, so no updates or the rest of the month, but I’m diligent or more like bored of staring at the wall of my aquarium.
Qilin Summer Mountain Villa was not suitable for ordinary people to live in winter. It was chilly everywhere. Qin Mian and Lei Tie were not afraid of the cold, while Yuanyuan and Manman had heating spiritual tools with them. Therefore, it was fine for them to stay there for a few days.
When Yuanyuan and Manman found out that the name of the mountain villa was the combination of their names, they were so happy they explored everywhere with White Spot and Golden Fur. White Spot and Golden Fur especially liked it here – it felt like they were back in the mountains.
“White Spot; Golden Fur,” called Lei Tie.
White Spot and Golden Fur ran back quickly.
“Look after Yuanyuan and Manman.”
White Spot nodded and returned to Yuanyuan and Manman’s side with Golden Fur.
Lei Tie grabbed Qin Mian’s hand and went in another direction.
“Where to?” Qin Mian didn’t understand. He guessed that Lei Tie couldn’t wait to do something. His heart beat faster. In recent months, both of them had been busy with the summer villa, so they hadn’t been on intimate terms with each other for some time. It was not hard for him to admit that he missed Lei Tie, so very much. Just thinking about it, his whole body felt hot and dry.
Lei Tie didn’t speak. His steps were still very steady but he was obviously eager.
Qin Mian faced Lei Tie and put his arms around the man’s waist. After he kissed Lei Tie’s lips, he looked at him with a smile on his face.
Lei Tie hugged him and flew up. He flew through the branches that stretched out, flew higher and higher, and after a few breaths, they both appeared in a treehouse.
“When did you do it?” Qin Mian was so pleasantly surprised. He looked around, not forgetting to pull the man’s hand.
The treehouse was about 2 zhang long, 2 zhang wide, and 1 zhang high [6.6mX6.6mX3.3m]. It was very spacious. The roof, wall, and floor were made of green bamboo with the thickness of an adult’s arm. There were doors and windows. It was a marvelous creation excelling nature; green, sparkling, and clean. If one lived here in summer, it must be especially cool.
In the middle of the floor was a thick rug about the size of a bed. Qin Mian gave a deep meaningful look at Lei Tie. He came to the door, stretched out his head, and looked down. The treehouse was nearly 8 chi away from the ground. He could see Yuanyuan and Manman in the mountain villa, happily running around Golden Fur and White Spot.
As he watched them, Lei Tie held him from behind and said with a hoarse voice coated with a suggestion, “Wife, miss you.”
As though Qin Mian fell into a hot stove, he turned around and pushed down Lei Tie hard.
The two men rolled onto the rug and soon got entangled……
Yuanyuan and Manman had been playing for a long time. When they didn’t see Qin Mian and Lei Tie all of a sudden, they didn’t panic. They came to Cool Summer Residence they were going to stay in tonight. After eating some snacks in their bags, they felt a little sleepy. They took off their shoes, climbed the bed to lie down, and even covered themselves with the quilt consciously.
White Spot and Golden Fur lay down beside the bed, closed their eyes, and guarded the children.
The noise in the treehouse took a long time to cease.
At the end of a hearty movement, Qin Mian felt as if some raw embroidered part in his body had been reactivated. He was energetic and full of strength. He turned his head to look at Lei Tie. Like him, from inside to outside, the man exuded pleasure and satiety. He couldn’t help but pounce on the man and kissed his lips. His body unconsciously rubbed against the man.
Lei Tie let out a low roar in his throat. Beyond endurance, he overturned Qin Mian on the rug and pressed him again……
“Wife?”
Qin Mian buried his head in Lei Tie’s chest with his limbs all wrapped around the man tightly – a silent protest. Really can’t come a third time.
Lei Tie didn’t struggle while being bound by his wife. Only his head could move. He lowered his head and pecked a few times on his wife’s soft hair. “Wife, this is our [two people] place.”
Qin Mian opened his eyes, raised his head, and teased, “Can’t even say to the sons?”
“En.” Lei Tie looked steadily at him.
“Alright.” Qin Mian chuckled and put his arms around Lei Tie’s neck. Even if Lei Tie asked him to tell his two sons about the existence of this place, he would be ashamed.
After a little while, they dressed up and went back to the ground.
Yuanyuan and Manman had woken up. As soon as they saw their two fathers, they ran over.
Yuanyuan looked up and down at his Dad and Old Dad. His Dad was smiling, which was not odd, but his Old Dad’s eyes seemed to be smiling, which made him quite curious, “Dad, Old Dad, where have you been?”
“Cough…” Qin Mian looked away with a guilty heart and said, “Just walking around to see if there is any place that needs to be modified.”
Manman crossed his arms and meaningfully uttered, “Oh—”
He and Gege were not stupid. Other little friends lived with a father and a mother. He and Gege had two Dads and no mother. Nevertheless, their Dad was ten times more powerful than the father of all their little friends, and their Old Dad was one hundred times more powerful than the mother of all their little friends!1
If Qin Mian and Lei Tie knew that the two little boys were thinking like this, Qin Mian would be so complacent that he would laugh with a swagger because the two little boys obviously put Lei Tie in the position of a “mother”, while Lei Tie, who wouldn’t speak up, could only be depressed in his heart.
Lei Tie effortlessly picked up Yuanyuan and Manman at the same time, “Wife, go back to the house.”
“Dad, Little Luobo’s family is already preparing New Year’s goods. When will our family do it?” Sitting on Lei Tie’s shoulder, Manman asked Qin Mian.
Qin Mian said, “Tomorrow. Your Old Dad and I will take you to town tomorrow.”
As time went by, the new year had come again.
Lei Xiangzhi, the fifth extended family of the Leis, and the others still wouldn’t come back this year.
Winter gave place to spring. Yuanyuan and Manman had reached five years old.
In the middle of the 2nd month, Qin Mian and Lei Tie began to lead the whole village to transform Green Mountain Village. Qin Mian also had to lend money to some farmers who had poor financial conditions and could not afford too many flowers and fruit trees. As long as the farmer’s character was alright, Qin Mian would lend money and write down a debit note.
Having less time for Yuanyuan and Manman, the couple sent the boys to the imperial examination class in Green Mountain Village. The two boys became the youngest students in the imperial examination class.
In the beginning, Teacher Chen was reluctant. He felt that the two boys were too young and worried that they would not be well disciplined. Qin Mian did not argue with him but suggested that he allow Yuanyuan and Manman to attend two days of class.
Two days later, Qin Mian wanted to take Yuanyuan and Manman away, but Teacher Chen was not happy again. This was because he discovered that Yuanyuan and Manman were not only obedient but also very smart. In this way, Yuanyuan and Manman, like other children in the village, went to school after breakfast, carried a small schoolbag, went home for lunch, went to school again after an hour’s rest, and finished class at the beginning of rooster hour [5:00 pm].
Although Qin Mian and Lei Tie were very busy, they still spent an hour every day tutoring the boys’ studies and teaching them some modern knowledge.
By the beginning of the 3rd month, all the flowers and trees in Green Mountain Village had been planted. Qin Mian quietly sprinkled diluted spiritual spring water to ensure the survival of all flowers and fruit trees. Then, he hired four people, who knew how to take care of flowers and fruit trees, and Grandpa Fang to teach the villagers how to take care of flowers and fruit trees.
In the late of the 3rd month, all kinds of flower trees and fruit trees bloomed one after another in pink, white, yellow, purple… beautiful flowers, splendid in many postures. Green Mountain Village suddenly changed from an ordinary girl to a descending celestial maiden. The villagers walked in the brocade of luxuriant flowers and smelled all kinds of fragrance that were so refreshing their waists and backs were straighter than before. From a distance, Green Mountain Village was even more beautiful. The houses with different heights and continuous undulations were hidden in the red flowers and green willows, like a fairyland on earth.
The changes of Green Mountain Village attracted the villagers of other villages. They were all envious. Almost every day, people came to see the flowers. They could look but absolutely not allowed to pick it. Otherwise, the dogs in the village would chase people out for a few li away before they gave up.
In the 6th month, the peaches ripened and tasted sweet. Li Zheng and the villagers were completely relieved.
Apart from a few of the matured fruits was transported to the town to sell, the rest were transported to other places. Qin Mian did not teach the villagers to make jam or canned fruit. In this respect, he had selfish motives. Merely by the means of his family’s power alone, he couldn’t supervise all the villagers. If a villager sold inferior jam and canned fruit as goods, it would lead to big trouble. It was not that no villagers had figured out a way to make jam, but because the brand of Glimmer of Paradise was so powerful, they couldn’t open up the market at all. The jam they made was mostly sold to local people to taste fresh, and couldn’t be sold to other places as far as Glimmer of Paradise’s jam was. However, because the fruits tasted very sweet, the villagers still made a lot of money by selling fruits alone, which was much better than planting only grains.
Besides that, the fruits of Green Mountain Village were sold to the villagers at an internal price. For example, Family A grew peach trees and Family B grew pear trees. For people outside the village, they bought the peaches for 3 Wen per Jin and pears for 4 Wen per Jin, but Family A bought Family B’s pears for only 1 Wen per Jin and Family B bought Family A’s peaches for only 1 Wen per Jin. In this way, the villagers could eat cheap fruits. The children could also fully absorb all kinds of nutrition, which made them significantly whiter, tenderer, and healthier than the children in other villages.
Flowers were also sold to other places at different prices with different varieties. A pot of wild chrysanthemum was only 10 Wen, but a pot of crown-mold double-petal white camelia could be sold for 200 Wen.
The life of the villagers in Green Mountain Village got better and better, and the relationship between the villagers was more harmonious.
Li Zheng was right. In the past, girls from other villages didn’t want to marry into Green Mountain Village, but now they all wanted to. So much so that even the girls’ parents secretly picked certain young men in Green Mountain Village and then hired the matchmaker to mediate. The local young men were happy. Even if they looked crooked, as long as they were hardworking, there were still girls who liked them. The local girls were not willing to marry out of the village. They preferred to marry fellow villagers. The parents also hoped that their daughters could live a good life. They were no longer unwilling to marry their daughters to fellow villagers as before.
Not only that but some people from other villages who shared relatives and friends with the local villagers even secretly gave gifts to Luo Li Zheng2, hoping to move to Green Mountain Village. Li Zheng didn’t agree. Teacher Chen was an exception; he planned to move his family to Green Mountain Village, where he was warmly welcomed by the villagers.
In the 7th month, when the weather began to get hot, Qilin Summer Mountain Villa officially opened. Almost all of the guests came to Qilin Summer Mountain Villa for their trust in Double Xiang House’s strength. When they came, they found out that the accommodation, meals, drinks, pastries, and leisure activities in the mountain villa were the most special experiences that other summer mountain villa had never had. In just five days, a total of fourteen small courtyards in the six establishments were full.
The arrival of these people had also led to the economic development of Green Mountain Village. For example, when some guests wanted to go to some family’s flower garden to pick some flowers, or to some family’s orchard to enjoy the fun of picking fruits in person, or to some family’s pond to pick lotus seeds or dig lotus roots, they had to pay not only for the flowers, fruits, and lotus roots but also for “picking”. What the rich people bought was enjoyment. How would the people who could even afford to live in the expensive Qilin Summer Mountain Villa be reluctant to spend money on flowers and fruits? In this way, those who spent money were happy, so were those who earned money.
Until the hot summer was over, people still came to Qilin Summer Mountain Villa one after another, not to avoid the summer heat, but to enjoy the beautiful rural scenery.
Amid bustle and joy, another year had passed.
In the 3rd month, spring had come and the flowers were in bloom.
Li Zheng called on the villagers to plant what Qin Mian called “made green with trees” on both sides of the road out of the village, making the road into Green Mountain Village more beautiful.
Qin Mian’s whole family, who had made important contributions to the development of Green Mountain Village, was exempt from all collective actions.
It was the Green Mountain Village School’s holiday once every seven days. Yuanyuan and Manman wanted to see the trees. Qin Mian and Lei Tie took them, White Spot, and Golden Fur to the mountain behind the village to see the villagers planting trees.
On the mountain, iron hooves clanked. A squadron of dignified armored soldiers galloped on their fast horses and stopped in front of the villagers who were buzzing with activity.
The villagers stopped working and peeped curiously at them.
Li Zheng put down the spade in his hand and walked over quickly, “Excuse me—Xiangzhi boy?”
Lei Xiangzhi didn’t pay attention to Li Zheng. His complicated eyes fell on Lei Tie, who stood side by side with Qin Mian and watched Yuanyuan and Manman play.
Lei Tie looked over without a thought and slightly frowned.
The leader of the armored soldiers was about 40 years old with a white face and looked somewhat arrogant. He looked around and upon seeing Lei Tie, he looked happy and urged his horse to go over. He turned quickly upon his saddle and dismount, bent with hands cupped in obeisance to Lei Tie and politely yet flatteringly said, “This inferior one pays respect to Grand General Lei! Hope that Grand General Lei have been well since we last met?”
——End of Volume 3——
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Footnotes
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