NH chapter 031

Chapter 31 Three-Wheeled Vehicle

When Shen Tingyu saw the location that Huo Ye had sent him on WeChat, which was deep in a mountain valley, he had already mentally prepared himself.

But clearly.

He was still underprepared.

Shen Tingyu changed his flight ticket, took the plane to the high-speed train station, then transferred from high-speed train to regular train, and then took a taxi after getting off the train… until he reached such a remote place that he couldn’t even find a taxi anymore, and all that was left was the option of a motorcycle taxi.

For someone like him who drives everywhere, the motorcycle taxi was quite a novel option.

However, novelty aside, he didn’t really want to understand it.

The countryside breeze, carrying the scent of fresh grass, tousled Shen Tingyu’s hair, which had been styled neatly before he set off but was now a complete mess from the long journey. Several stiff strands were sticking up and flaring out like sunflowers.

He stood by the roadside in the fields, watching an old man driving two yellow cows lazily pass by him. One of the cows flicked its long tail and suddenly stopped without warning.

—And then left a pile of “gifts”.

Impressively large, at least five pounds. Even in the 21st century, one could still witness the invasion of cobras.

Yes, those kind that coil tightly, incredibly hardcore.

Damn it, it could even stand up and look at you.

“……”

Shen Tingyu had never looked so dumbfounded.

After being frozen for about three or four seconds, he turned away, rushed to the side, and leaned against the tree trunk, vomiting, “Ugh!!”

A million alpacas galloped through Shen Tingyu’s mind, even contemplating calling someone to chop off that cow’s butt. How dare it commit such primitive acts of defecation right in front of him!

After throwing up, Shen Tingyu pulled out his phone, angrily opened Huo Ye’s chat window, and began typing a long string of messages that were easy to imagine.

But as he typed the last few words, he trembled and stopped, recalling what Huo Ye had said before he came: “You know this is a mountain valley; you can’t expect anything good to appreciate here—only poor mountains, bad waters, and a bunch of troublesome villagers.”

“If you insist on coming, you can’t complain; otherwise, you’re just asking for trouble, why bother?”

At this thought, Shen Tingyu gritted his teeth and deleted the entire long message. There’s a saying that people who care too much about their image are bound to suffer.

To avoid seeing the sight of that cow’s “gift” again, Shen Tingyu decided not to walk back to where he had gotten off but to find a motorcycle taxi instead.

From his discreet observation, motorcycle taxis generally fell into two categories: the two-wheeled and the three-wheeled. The two-wheeled ones were regular motorcycles with two wheels in the front and back, exceedingly small, and the drivers were mostly middle-aged men, meaning one had to sit uncomfortably close; the three-wheeled ones had an extra wheel and resembled a carriage, with older grandpas as the drivers. However, they were indeed much more spacious—at least one didn’t have to be so “intimate”.

After weighing his options, Shen Tingyu ultimately chose the three-wheeled taxi because he felt that the extra wheel seemed safer.

And besides, there should be a sense of personal space between people.

You stay in your area, and don’t come even an inch into mine.

The grandpa driver was a bit hard of hearing, so Shen Tingyu could only gesture to him, indicating the village’s address.

“Oh, you’re from the old Huo family!”

Shen Tingyu let out a sigh of relief and nodded vigorously like a chick pecking at rice.

The three-wheeler wobbled along the mountain road, and Shen Tingyu clung tightly to the handle of the door, feeling nervous at every turn, afraid the old man might accidentally take him away somewhere.

Finally arriving at the destination, Shen Tingyu felt dizzy from the bumps and his face turned pale as he forced himself to get off the three-wheeled taxi.

When he reached the front of the vehicle, he opened his WeChat payment code, and then both he and the old man stared at each other wide-eyed.

One waiting for the QR code to be scanned, the other waiting for cash to be handed over.

“……”

It was the old man who spoke first: “Kid, where’s the money?”

Shen Tingyu replied, “Grandpa, where’s the code?”

The old man was confused: “I don’t have a horse; I have cows.”

Shen Tingyu: “?”

“Hey, do you have any money? I’m in a hurry, don’t joke with this old man,” the old man said somewhat impatiently, worried that Shen Tingyu would skip out on paying.

“I…”

Shen Tingyu was sweating as he gripped his phone, rummaging through his pockets, top to bottom. The old man was glaring at him, and eventually, Shen Tingyu pulled out a tissue from his last pocket to give him.

The old man exclaimed: “This isn’t money.”

“I know, because I used it to wipe my sweat,” Shen Tingyu said despairingly, “I don’t have the kind of money you want.”

“What? No money!!” At this moment, the old man’s hearing was suddenly sharp, and his voice rose by several degrees. “No money, what’s the point of taking the taxi then! I’m over sixty, do you have no shame?”

Shen Tingyu, fair-skinned, felt his ears burn from embarrassment, looking just like a desperate peach with nowhere to go.

His face taut, he stammered, “I have money, but I don’t have cash; I really have money… I will pay you.”

“Don’t give me that! Are you trying to dodge payment? Listen here, don’t think I’m easy to bully; if you don’t pay, you won’t leave today!”

The old man was aggressive and surprisingly strong, gripping Shen Tingyu’s wrist tightly, yelling so loudly that the whole village square echoed with his shouts, even saying he would take him to the police station to have him arrested.

In just an hour since arriving here, Shen Tingyu had a firsthand experience of what it meant to be “poor mountains, bad waters, and a bunch of troublesome villagers.”

Left with no choice, Shen Tingyu considered using his watch as collateral; it was the only valuable thing on him. But the old man dismissed it, saying he wouldn’t fall for such tricks, grabbing him and yelling for help.

Trash? Rubbish??

Shen Tingyu was immediately triggered, his hands shaking with anger. This “trash” could buy at least ten thousand of your three-wheelers, okay?!

But how could he say that? Shen Tingyu feared that if the old man called for a bunch of troublesome villagers, they would join forces to drag him into some unknown dark village to dig out his heart, kidneys, and even take his spine; that would be a huge loss.

So, Huo Ye lazily rode his bicycle, gradually approaching, witnessing this awkward and ridiculous scene.

He stopped, gripping the handlebars, and without saying a word, stretched his neck like a bystander watching a quarrel.

Oh, but it wasn’t exactly a quarrel; it was Shen Tingyu getting scolded unilaterally.

“Are all the kids nowadays so shameless? Whose child are you? Are you from the Lai family?”

“I’m not, I…”

“I don’t care what your last name is! Even if you’re a Wang or an Aisin Gioro, you better pay up today! Otherwise, I’m calling the police!”

“You… go ahead!”

They were embroiled in a heated argument, completely unaware of Huo Ye peering in from behind.

Huo Ye listened silently for two minutes before finally speaking up.

“Uncle, how much does he owe you?”

Huo Ye finally opened his mouth.

“……”

Both of them stopped abruptly and turned their heads to look over.

Shen Tingyu had a grim face, lips pressed straight down, his chest still heaving violently. Upon seeing Huo Ye, he didn’t feel like he’d found a savior; instead, he looked even more embarrassed, as if encountering such a foolish situation in front of Huo Ye was quite humiliating.

The old man, however, was very pleased and grabbed Huo Ye’s wrist with the other hand, saying, “You’re from the old Huo family; you’ve come just in time! This well-mannered little rascal, is he from your family?”

Shen Tingyu unconsciously said, “Who are you calling little…”

Huo Ye nodded, smiling as he answered, “He’s my family.”

Shen Tingyu fell silent, “……”

This farce ended with Huo Ye taking ten yuan out of his pocket to pay on Shen Tingyu’s behalf, and the old man carefully folded the crumpled ten yuan bill, placed it in a red plastic bag, and stowed it away meticulously.

The old-style three-wheeled vehicle huffed and puffed as it arrived, then huffed and puffed away, leaving a cloud of dust behind.

They exchanged glances.

Shen Tingyu looked at Huo Ye, and Huo Ye met Shen Tingyu’s gaze.

Huo Ye sat on the bicycle, rang the bell which chimed, “What are you looking at? Get on the bike.”

Shen Tingyu still had a sour expression.

“I came all this way to find you, and you’re just having me ride this broken bicycle?”

“Is it really that broken?”

Huo Ye took two or three serious looks. This bicycle was an antique from his grandfather’s youth, older than he was, and visibly rusty. He admitted, “Alright, it’s a bit broken.”

“How much further?” Shen Tingyu said impatiently.

“Hmm, maybe about eight hundred meters.”

Upon hearing this, Shen Tingyu turned and walked away, and Huo Ye called out, “Hey, aren’t you going to sit?”

“Not sitting!”

Shen Tingyu was angry again. The young master had so many angers to vent every day, and Huo Ye felt particularly innocent, clearly not provoking anyone.

However, he seemed to have endless patience for Shen Tingyu. With a gentle sigh, he continued to ride slowly behind Shen Tingyu, keeping a careful distance.

The road was silent, and Huo Ye watched the road ahead, guessing that Shen Tingyu must have fallen out with his family, feeling like he resembled a homeless child no one wanted, especially with the New Year approaching in just a few days.

Though he had never met the “mother” Shen Tingyu often mentioned, Huo Ye could vaguely imagine that she must be a very strict person, quite different from Song Jianlan’s gentle image.

Huo Ye didn’t ask much about the reason for their fallout.

After walking a significant distance with a cold face, even Shen Tingyu didn’t know how many eight-hundred-meter segments he had traversed. He began to feel a little breathless and struggled through a stretch of muddy road until he could take it no more.

The person in front of him suddenly stopped, forcing Huo Ye to hit the brakes, and one long leg stomped on the ground.

“What’s wrong?” Huo Ye asked leisurely.

Shen Tingyu turned around with a poker face and plopped down on the bicycle’s rear seat, wrapping his arms around Huo Ye’s waist without any courtesy.

It felt like being chained together. Huo Ye couldn’t help but let out an “Ah” as he lowered his head to pry Shen Tingyu’s broad, strong hands away, gasping, “Let go, it’s too tight!”

“Not letting go. Who told you to have an agenda? I’ve already walked about five thousand meters, right? Huo Ye, you tell me the truth; this isn’t actually your hometown, is it? Are you planning to sell me?”

Huo Ye chuckled as he gasped for air, saying, “I didn’t lie to you. It is eight hundred meters in a straight line; it’s still eight hundred meters.”

Only he would dare to calculate it that way on these winding mountain roads.

Shen Tingyu, tall and long-legged, sat in the rear seat without any footrests, feeling more constrained than ever in his life.

Not wanting to walk and fearing a fall, he wrapped his hands around Huo Ye’s skinny waist from behind. In January, in Western Guangdong, the temperature was nearly ten to twenty degrees during the sunny noon, and both he and Huo Ye were only wearing hoodies and thin down jackets.

The two young, enthusiastic bodies pressed closely together, warmth transferring through the fabric. Despite it being winter, no one felt cold, as if being together would always keep the temperature from dropping.

The sunlight filtered through the drifting clouds, scattering like fragmented gold on their hair swaying in the breeze. In this moment, time seemed to slow down, and they looked like a paper airplane chasing after freedom.

Much later, when Shen Tingyu recalled it, he realized that Huo Ye had shown him so many unrestrained wildernesses.