Chapter 616 — Childhood Playmate
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Hello? Xixing Mountain Village — who are you looking for?" Widow Wang's voice came over the line, her Mandarin thick with the accents of the countryside.
"Auntie Wang, this is Little Yi from Old Man Lin's family. Could you call Ergoudan for me?" Wei Zhao said.
"Oh? Little Yi from Old Man Lin's house! Hold on, I'll go fetch him right now!" Widow Wang answered, and set the phone down.
Xixing Mountain Village was small; practically everyone knew everyone else, and since everybody bought their goods from Widow Wang's shop, she was happy to let them take their calls there.
Right beside Widow Wang's grocery was the village office, which had a loudspeaker. In the village, finding someone basically meant shouting — once the loudspeaker sounded, it could wake a person from the deepest sleep.
"Ergoudan, it's your Auntie Wang — come take a call!" After bellowing into the loudspeaker, Widow Wang went back into the shop.
Before long, a great brute of a man, strong as an ox, came running into the grocery. This was Ergoudan, standing one meter eighty-five tall, planted in the shop doorway like a wall. "Auntie Wang, a call for me?"
Ergoudan had run all the way from his family's fields, a distance of about a kilometer, yet his face was not flushed, his heart not racing, and he was not even breathing hard. Anyone could see at a glance that he was a man of uncommon physique.
"It's Little Yi calling. Hurry up and take it — it's long distance on his end, and that's expensive!" Widow Wang said, pointing at the phone on the table.
"Brother Wei Zhao?" At the sound of Wei Zhao's name, Ergoudan rubbed his hands excitedly and picked up the phone. "This is Ergoudan!"
"Heh... Ergoudan." Wei Zhao laughed. "Busy back home these days?"
"Not too bad. We sowed the seed a while back, and now we're weeding and fertilizing, just waiting on the autumn harvest. I reckon we'll have a good crop this year!" Ergoudan said.
"Good, good. Got a girlfriend yet?" Wei Zhao asked with a smile.
"Who'd want the likes of me?" Ergoudan chuckled guilelessly. "My family's so poor, and I'm no looker either. I'll be a bachelor all my life!"
"Well, if you've got nothing on your hands these days, come by my house. My old man has my address. Bring me a few things, and while you're at it, see a bit of the world," Wei Zhao said, laughing.
"What? Really? That's wonderful!" Hearing that Wei Zhao wanted him to go see the big city, Ergoudan was instantly overjoyed. "Then I'll set off as soon as I've finished the farm work in the next few days... But Brother Wei Zhao, our harvest isn't in yet, so I've got no travel money!"
Ergoudan and Wei Zhao had grown up playing together, so he felt not the slightest embarrassment. No money was no money — nothing to be ashamed of.
"Heh heh, my old man will sort out your travel money. Whatever you need, just tell me before you set off," Wei Zhao said with a smile. "No need to stand on ceremony with me."
"Of course! You're my Brother Wei Zhao — of course I won't stand on ceremony!" Ergoudan had always been single-minded, and had been since childhood. Apart from his father, he listened only to Wei Zhao.
So in Ergoudan's eyes, Wei Zhao was much the same as his own father, and it was only natural that Wei Zhao should give him money to spend.
"Heh..." Wei Zhao laughed. He could not remember how many years it had been since he had last played with Ergoudan. The days of their childhood, catching fish and hunting prawns together, were long gone, never to return.
Even after he hung up, Wei Zhao was still lost in memory... If he had to say which times in his life had been the happiest, there were three.
The second had been in the training camp, with his few teammates. He had been the squad leader, leading the other six through trial after trial, cutting down every obstacle in their path, until at last they came out on top! Those years had been hard and exhausting, but also the fullest he had ever known.