Chapter Sixty: The Puppy, the Fool, the Madman, the Dullard, and the Old Hag [Part One]

Woof, woof...
The dog is barking!
It is late at night!
Grandmother coughed from inside the house and called out a few times, "Ni'er! Ni'er!"
"Grandmother is calling me."
With a final lingering look into Huo Qitai's watery, bright eyes, Li Yangyang turned around and hurried back into the house.
"Coming, Grandmother! I'm coming!"
Huo Qitai then patted his trousers, stood up, and accompanied all the way by Ah Huang's watchful gaze, walked back home along the rural path.
Clatter, clang!
As he entered the front yard, he accidentally startled his mother, who had just fallen asleep not long ago.
"Xiaotai, you didn't say you were coming back today! Where on earth have you been so late?"
Mother Huo poked her head out, wearing a thin cardigan, and asked.
Before Huo Qitai could even reply, his father chimed in with the answer:
"Where else could he have gone? He must have gone to see that Li Yangyang again.
I heard people talking when I went to the little grocery store to buy wine this evening.
Someone saw this brat carrying a large bag of something and heading toward the back of the village.
Who else could that be for if not for that Yangyang?"
Usually, his father wouldn't utter a peep around the house, but today he couldn't help adding an extra remark.
Upon hearing this, Mother Huo immediately furrowed her brows. After a brief hesitation, she spoke to Huo Qitai with earnest concern:
"Xiaotai, now that you've grown up and made something of yourself, you have your own mind, and your parents shouldn't interfere too much.
But this Li Yangyang... her reputation is simply too poor. If you associate so closely with her, people are going to start gossiping."
As a proud and respectable people's teacher, Mother Huo had always strictly observed propriety and was never one for idle chatter or gossip.
Yet she couldn't ever stem the endless tide of village whispers. Ever since Li Yangyang returned to the village with her grandmother from Shenzhen, the forefront of economic reform and opening up,
the gossiping women in the village had said all sorts of things—nasty, vicious things.
So much so that many families who originally intended to send matchmakers to propose marriage had quietly backed down.
One could easily imagine what kind of reputation Li Yangyang held in the village.
"Mom! You said it yourself, those are just idle words, petty gossip, and groundless rumors.
If my conduct and principles were to be constrained by the gossip of a few village women, what kind of life would that even be?"
Huo Qitai smiled indifferently, "Coming back this time, my purpose is precisely to help Li Yangyang and her grandmother.
I'll be going over there again tomorrow, so you both should prepare yourselves mentally!"
With that, Huo Qitai went off to wash up and go to sleep.
Yet his words left his mother somewhat unable to sleep.
She nudged her husband, who had already turned over and fallen fast asleep, and asked, "Old Huo! What do you think our son means by this?"
"Even you, a teacher, can't guess. How would I know?" Father Huo shifted his body and muttered.
"It's just that the boy has grown up and become a man!
Don't you understand a man's mindset? I'm genuinely afraid that our Xiaotai will have his soul hooked away by Li Yangyang's siren-like eyes."
Mother Huo said with deep worry.
Father Huo, however, turned over in bed as well, suddenly spirited, and spoke solemnly:
"Aiji, let me tell you! You're just thinking too much and meddling where you shouldn't.
In my view, our Xiaotai has a very firm head on his shoulders!
Besides, are there really that few 'sirens' hovering around him?
Take Liu Ruomeng, who actually got accepted into Peking University—isn't she pretty?
Then there's Lulu, from the city's richest family, the Changs, who clings to Xiaotai all day long.
Not to mention the foreign girl who kissed Xiaotai right in front of us the other day.
If you really want to worry, go ahead and worry to your heart's content!"
Father Huo wouldn't have minded if he hadn't counted them, but with this tally, Mother Huo found it even harder to stay in bed.
She had never expected that generations of the Huo family had been honest, down-to-earth farmers; how was it that when it came to Xiaotai, he managed to provoke so many romantic entanglements all at once?
The night was deep and slightly cool.
Putting aside Mother Huo, who tossed and turned unable to sleep, Huo Qitai returned to the bed he had missed for so long and slept with exceptional sweetness.
It wasn't until the morning sunlight streamed through the wooden window and the chirping of insects and birds reached his ears that Huo Qitai slowly blinked awake.
Inhaling the fragrant aroma of rice cooked in a wooden bucket by his mother, along with the fresh scent of dew on the bamboo leaves outside the window, Huo Qitai rolled out of bed and rubbed his eyes, feeling an immense sense of ease and comfort in his chest.
"In my pre-rebirth life, this old family home was already dilapidated and covered in spiderwebs.
Yet right now, it remains just as it used to be—everything is so wonderful!"
Going downstairs to heartily eat his mother's uniquely crafted barrel-cooked rice and pickled radish greens, Huo Qitai pulled out a bank passbook and handed it to his mother.
"Mom! There are five hundred thousand here. You and Dad can spend it however you like, and you won't have to work so hard from now on."
"Good heavens! Didn't I tell you to keep your money safe yourself? How much could your father and I possibly spend? Besides, we have our own money, and it's enough."
Mother Huo immediately pushed it back.
However, Huo Qitai firmly shoved it back into her hands. "Only when you accept this money can I go off to university with peace of mind.
No matter how I toss and turn with the rest of my money, I won't have any fears.
Besides, with this sum here, Dad can just do some casual odd jobs from now on, and stop taking risks carrying heavy logs up the mountain."
After spending a considerable amount of persuasion, Huo Qitai finally managed to get his parents to keep the passbook.
Still, like most parents, they couldn't bear to spend it, viewing it merely as temporarily safekeeping it for their son to return to him in the future.
Yet that didn't matter to Huo Qitai; as long as his parents held onto this sum—even if they never touched a single cent—they would have a sense of security in their hearts.
After finishing his meal and stepping outside, Huo Qitai headed straight for the Li family's small courtyard at the back of the village.
Sure enough, Li Yangyang was already in the courtyard, splitting firewood while waiting for him.
Also in the courtyard was a slightly timid young girl with facial features typical of Down syndrome—her eye spacing was somewhat wide, and at around fifteen or sixteen years old, she looked much thinner and smaller than her peers.
She was Li Wowo, a girl who had been despised by almost everyone since childhood, growing up by scavenging for trash and eating leftover scraps.
The children in the village also bullied her, throwing stones and mud at her, and calling her a "crazy lunatic" in their local dialect.
However, ever since Li Yangyang returned, she had made sure Wowo ate three meals a day with her, taught her how to maintain personal hygiene, and even helped her bathe.
The moment Li Wowo saw Huo Qitai, she felt a trace of fear.
Yet when she looked closely and recognized him, she immediately walked over with joy, clapping her hands and crying out:
"It's Qitai Big Brother! Qitai Big Brother is the best to Wowo.
He helped Wowo beat away the bad kids and even bought candy for Wowo to eat."
Huo Qitai was momentarily stunned upon hearing this; as it turned out, Li Wowo still remembered that incident.
About five or six years ago, when Li Wowo was less than ten years old, she had been bullied by a group of children and pushed to the ground. Huo Qitai hadn't been able to stand by and watch, so he had chased them off.
Then, seeing Li Wowo sniffling and crying, he had run to the grocery store and bought her a lollipop.
Huo Qitai truly hadn't expected that Li Wowo, who had been so small back then, would remember the matter so deeply.
"Wowo originally didn't want to learn filming, but when I told her it was something you wanted her to learn, she agreed immediately."
Li Yangyang smiled like a spring breeze, explaining from the side.
"Wowo is a good girl. Big Brother is going to teach you today how to play with a really fun toy that can capture people inside it..."
Huo Qitai nodded, then picked up an entry-level, simplest-to-operate Sony DV camcorder and began demonstrating it to Li Wowo first.