In the latter half of the night, Lin Shu’s calf didn’t cramp again.
Gu Jun waited until the oil lamp in the room across the way had gone out, and only fell asleep after nearly half an hour.
Gu Jun hadn’t slept well that night, and he was up before five the next morning. He didn’t rush to wash up, but went to find Daman first.
Daman came out of his house yawning and said, “The sky’s not even light yet, Brother Jun, why’re you here so early? Something wrong?”
Gu Jun said, “Bring the fish basket, come with me to the fields to catch loach and catfish.”
Daman perked right up. “What, Brother Jun, you got connections?”
Gu Jun said, “Just come with me and don’t ask so much.”
Hearing this, Daman really didn’t ask further, and immediately went back for the basket.
The two of them carried kerosene lamps and walked to the fields.
On the way, Gu Jun asked him, “You said before that when your wife was seven or eight months pregnant, her legs would cramp. How did that get eased back then?”
Daman caught on almost instantly and asked, “Brother Jun, your wife’s legs are cramping too?”
Gu Jun nodded.
“So how’d it get eased?”
Daman thought carefully and replied, “Asked the doctor at the clinic. He said at night use a hot water bottle or a hot towel to warm it up, then massage it a bit. Best would be to supplement with that stuff — being able to drink some bone broth would be ideal.”
“But we probably only get bone broth during New Year, that’s hard to manage. Though the doctor also said drinking more soybean soup, or soy milk, works too.”
Gu Jun silently committed all these points Daman had said to memory.
The two walked to the grain-milling hut near the riverbank, and before long, Qi Jie and another male sent-down youth arrived too.
Daman hadn’t asked, but the moment he saw Qi Jie, he knew there was something to this!
Everyone knew this Sent-down Youth Qi had connections in the city — his channels were far broader than anyone else’s in the whole production brigade.
The four of them groped around in the dark catching loach and catfish in the fields. Since Qi Jie had a watch, they knocked off close to six, and everyone took their haul home.
Lin Shu had just finished making breakfast when Gu Jun got back.
He dumped all the fish from the basket into a basin. Lin Shu glanced at the half-basin of catch and exclaimed, “This much?!” — B L A C K L O T U S Novel — Black Lotus Novel
Gu Jun explained, “Not all of it’s mine. Some of it’s Qi Jie’s and the other sent-down youth’s. There’s not much room to keep it at the collective housing, so it came here.”
Hearing this, Lin Shu’s thoughts immediately turned complicated.
Looking at it this way, the male lead still trusted Gu Jun quite a bit right now.
If it weren’t for the adversarial setup in the novel, and the prison disaster to come, following a male lead with resources around might actually let one get by on the scraps.
But along with resources came not just opportunity, but danger, in equal measure.
She pressed again and again, “Are you really sure the deal’s clean?”
Gu Jun looked at her, puzzled. “You think Qi Jie’s unreliable?”
She used to have feelings for Qi Jie before — she shouldn’t have thoughts like this.
Lin Shu shook her head. “That’s not it. It’s just that even Sent-down Youth Qi could get cheated, so we should be careful and double-check.”
Gu Jun thought to himself, sure enough, that’s how it is. Still, he mulled it over seriously before saying, “Then tomorrow morning when we go catch fish again, I’ll ask Qi Jie more carefully.”
Lin Shu made an “mm” sound, then said, “Let’s eat breakfast first.”
This morning it was steamed cornbread again.
The closer it got to grain distribution, the more Lin Shu economized — breakfast was steamed cornbread every morning now, no more porridge, to save a little rice for lunch.
Lunch was the most important meal. Eat well then, and there’d be strength to keep working in the afternoon.
After breakfast, as the two of them walked to the banyan tree together, Gu Jun told her, “I asked Daman this morning. He told me how to ease leg cramps.”
Lin Shu asked him, “What method?”
Gu Jun: “Hot compress at night, and massage.”
He paused, then said, “During the midday break, I’ll go find Daman, have him teach me how to press properly. Tonight… I’ll do it for you.”
Lin Shu caught the hesitation in the back of what he said. She immediately said, “Let’s just do what you said. As long as it works, it’s fine.”
In such a conservative era, this kind of contact was still quite intimate by the standards of the time. As a modern person, Lin Shu naturally didn’t feel embarrassed by it.
First, because of the difference in mindset.
Second, because the pain from last night’s cramp had been far too vivid — she didn’t want to go through that every few days. It was too much to bear.
She agreed readily, almost without hesitation, which made Gu Jun suspect she hadn’t heard him clearly.
He had to say it again. “It’s like yesterday, pressing your calf for you. You have no objections?”
Lin Shu shook her head repeatedly. “What objections could I have? Last night nearly hurt me to death. I thought someone was cutting my Achilles tendon with a knife.”
Gu Jun understood then — she was afraid of the pain, so she wouldn’t mind.
They talked the whole way, and arrived at the gathering spot under the banyan tree.
Once most people had gathered, the team leader picked up his megaphone and said, “There’s a work unit in the city that wants to buy catfish and loach, so whenever you’ve got free time, go catch some. One catfish for one piece of candy, two loach for one piece of candy. Of course, ones that are too small don’t count.”
Hearing that candy was the trade, everyone said, “We all know which is worth more, meat or candy. Trading with candy — isn’t this work unit being a bit stingy?”
The team leader said, “This candy comes out of the brigade’s public assets. The city unit’s leadership said they’d trade some coupons and daily necessities with us. Those will go to the collective for now, and get distributed at year’s end.”
Someone in the crowd said, “At the end of the day, we still don’t see anything concrete. And these slippery fish are hard to catch anyway — not to mention we still have to work. If we really put in the effort to catch them, do we still get to keep our work points?”
Everyone said it wasn’t worth it, but the kids who tagged along with their families to work — who barely earned any work points to begin with — perked up at the mention of trading for candy.
Catfish and loach could be eaten every few days anyway, and since the family couldn’t spare the oil and wasn’t great at cooking, it never turned out especially tasty — sometimes even had a muddy smell.
Compared to catfish and loach, they’d much rather have sweet candy.
All year round, kids in the countryside might only get to eat one or two pieces during New Year, so candy was a real rarity to them.
Hearing the team leader’s words, Daman looked over at Gu Jun.
He’d finally figured out the angle.
This morning when Brother Jun called him to catch loach and catfish, it had the team leader’s approval — meaning it was aboveboard, not speculation or profiteering. At most, they’d earn a bit of a margin.
But even that little margin might be a huge boon for someone like him who just grinded for work points.
Gu Jun’s gaze met Daman’s by chance.
When Daman saw him looking over, his eyes immediately filled with gratitude — if they weren’t in the middle of a brief meeting, he probably would have run over and kept calling him “brother.”
Gu Jun quietly looked away, not much in the mood to deal with him.
After a day of busy work, when the sun went down, it was time to knock off.
Gu Jun and Daman washed the mud off their hands and feet by the river. · black lotus novel Novel — Black Lotus
Gu Jun said to Daman, “I’ll come to your place later, teach me again.”
Daman’s face immediately fell. “Brother Jun, honestly I just press by feel. As long as my wife feels comfortable, that’s it.”
Gu Jun was silent for a few seconds before saying, “I just want to use you to practice. I’m worried I won’t get the pressure right.”
Daman: …
So his wife was the treasure, to be handled with care. And he was just grass, to be trampled however.
Sensing Daman’s reluctance, Gu Jun stared fixedly at him and used morality to pressure him. “Am I still your brother or not? Whenever there’s something good, I think of you first. You see me taking anyone else in the brigade to catch fish?”
Daman: “…”
With that said, could he still refuse?
He couldn’t.
By the time Gu Jun made it back from Daman’s place, the sky had already dimmed.
Lin Shu had long finished cooking dinner. She waited over half an hour before seeing him, and asked, “Weren’t the seedlings planted properly in the fields, did you have to redo the work?”
Gu Jun answered honestly, “Went to Daman’s place, used him to practice on.”
Lin Shu didn’t catch on right away and asked, “Practice what?”
Gu Jun glanced at her leg, and she immediately understood.
Lin Shu couldn’t help but laugh. “You could’ve just asked me directly. Have you forgotten? You had shoulder and neck pain before too, and I massaged that for you.”
Gu Jun had genuinely forgotten — he only remembered what Daman had said about his wife.
“Then I didn’t do a good job tonight. Teach me.”
Lin Shu said with a smile, “Sure.”
Once night fell, around eight o’clock, Gu Jun wrapped heated pebbles in cloth and carried them into the room, setting them on a stool.
Lin Shu sat on the edge of the bed, her calf resting on the cloth bundle. If it got too hot, she’d lift her foot a little.
After about six or seven minutes of the compress, the stones had cooled to only slightly warm, so Gu Jun went back to the kitchen to switch out the stones.
She did the compress twice altogether, then stepped onto it, warming the soles of her feet.
After the hot compress, though Lin Shu had broken out in a sweat, her legs really did feel much looser, no longer as tight as before.
Gu Jun took the stones out to soak, and it was a good while before he returned to her room and sat down in front of her.
Lin Shu said, “Sorry for the trouble,” then put her foot on his leg.
The moment she set it down, Gu Jun’s back straightened abruptly.
Lin Shu: …
Quite the innocent one.
Gu Jun gripped her calf, his voice tight. “If it hurts, say so.”
“Got it.”
Gu Jun pressed his hands to her calf and slowly kneaded.
Except his whole face was expressionless, brows furrowed, as if braced for battle.
It was clearly just a massage, but watching his serious expression, Lin Shu felt like he was handling some grand undertaking.
Gu Jun kept his strength controlled, pressing through the fabric of her clothes. Probably because he was so focused on controlling the pressure, there wasn’t a shred of any other thought in his mind.
Seeing him so tense, Lin Shu said, “You don’t have to be so nervous, you can relax a bit.”
Here she was, the one getting the massage, ending up telling the one giving it to relax.
“Don’t talk for a bit.” Gu Jun didn’t even look up, fully absorbed in the massage.
Lin Shu: …
Fine, guess she’d disturbed him.
Gu Jun pressed in the right spots, and it still hurt a bit, but she could bear it. Compared to the pain last night, what couldn’t she bear?
Time passed minute by minute. Gu Jun worked from her calf down to the sole of her foot. It hurt and felt good at once, and before she knew it, drowsiness crept up on her.
Lin Shu yawned, pulled the pillow over, and said, “I’m tired of sitting, gonna lie down a bit.”
Gu Jun made an “mm” sound.
He’d gradually gotten the hang of it, and knew how much pressure to use now — tomorrow should go smoothly. B L A C K L O T U S Novel Archive | black lotus novel
Feeling he’d done enough, Gu Jun stopped and asked her, “How do you feel?”
No response. Gu Jun looked up and found she’d fallen asleep with her eyes closed.
Gu Jun didn’t wake her. Instead, he gently moved her legs onto the bed, and pulled the blanket up over her rounded belly.
His gaze fell on her stomach, and he found himself staring for a moment.
Hard to imagine a small life was growing in there.
The corner of Gu Jun’s mouth slowly curved upward. Just as he was about to look away and turn off the light to head back to his own room, he saw her fling the blanket he’d just covered her with straight off to one side.
Gu Jun paused for a moment, then pulled the blanket back over and covered her belly again.
Though Lin Shu was sleeping deeply, she still felt unbearably hot.
It was already hot enough without air conditioning or a fan, and now she kept feeling someone covering her with a blanket over and over. She was furious, but couldn’t wake herself up no matter what.
She flung the blanket off again, brows furrowed, and mumbled out the word “hot.” For a good while after, no one covered her again, and there were bursts of cool breeze, and her brows gradually relaxed.
After fanning her for over ten minutes, Gu Jun finally exhaled, set the fan down, and got up to return to his own room.
He stepped out lightly, closed the door, turned and walked back to his room, rolling his sore shoulders along the way.
Probably from being so tense the whole time he was massaging her, which was why his shoulders had gone sore.
Tomorrow night he’d have to relax a bit more, or he’d be too worn out for work in the fields.
