C12: This life is enough

"Mommy, mommy..."

Lu Qing crouched on the ground, bored, as his mother climbed a tall ladder and cleaned the inside and outside with a dusting brush in her hand.

Although the New Year's party was still a few months away, the courtyard was very big. She took care of everything by herself. She thought there was no better way to start than early in the morning. Fortunately, the children were quite sensible. Except for Lu Qing, who still needs his mother's company, the rest of them had their own chores to fetch water and cook vegetables, shop and learn martial arts, no one was left behind. Thanks to Lu Yun's good teaching.

"What's wrong, are you bored?" asked Zhuang with a bitter smile, but his hands kept moving, sweeping the wall and dropping a cloud of dust.

"It's boring." Lu Qing looked like a small adult complaining, "Mom, play with me, will you? Don't sweep this dust, it will be there again tomorrow Qingqing wants you to join him!".

"Oh, that's no good, it's hard work on New Year's Eve." Zhuang thought for a moment and suddenly something occurred to him, he shouted, "Ziqu" and soon saw a young man dressed in grey, sweating and panting, a little too small, with his long hair pulled back in a high ponytail.

"Shiniang" (lady) said and turned to his side and said, "Qingqing" with extraordinarily considerate politeness.

"Ziqu, I'm afraid it's going to be a long afternoon here, but Qingqing is bored, can you stay with him for a while?"

"No problem, shiniang" Lu Ziqu thought it was a big deal, but it was just a little thing like spending time with the baby, so he couldn't help but smile.

"Qingqing, can't you take me to play?" he walked up to Lu Qing and held out his hand, the palm full of calluses from years of martial arts training, which made Lu Qing envious.

He wanted to have calluses all over his hands! But because he was so young, Lu Yun still did not teach him martial arts. He always watched his shixiongs and shijies on the esplanade, who practised their skills relentlessly. But age was no match for achievement in martial arts, and it was never humanly possible to change it, so Lu Qing could only wait.

"Ah, my hands are sweaty, sorry." Lu Ziqu thought he was upset because his hands were sweaty, so he took out a handkerchief from his pocket and dried them, also his face and arms, when he handed it (the hand) over again there were no more beads of sweat on his body.

Lu Qing didn't understand why looking at the thick calluses made him think he cared about sweat, so he smiled and stared at his brother, the slight heat and wetness on his palms couldn't be removed with a handkerchief, but Lu Qing didn't hate the strange feeling of his skin rubbing against it, so he obediently let Lu Ziqu take him outside. He was young and his pace was still unsteady, so Lu Ziqu went with light steps, like two brothers on a hike.

"Where shall we play, shixiong, what shall we play?"

"Well..." Lu Ziqu smiled mysteriously. Lu Qing shook his head after speaking several times. The two-year-old loved to play and enjoy new and exciting things. Lu Ziqu mentioned some things that didn't interest him.

"Wow, Qingqing doesn't even like it?" he said, looking distressed.

"I've done it all before, it's boring!" Lu Qing rubbed against the other man's arms, and was about to say something when he felt a violent wind hit his face, and before he knew it, the scene in front of him sank. Unexpectedly, Lu Ziqu held him to exercise his lightness skills, jumped high and darted between the trees, like a grey, fleeting shadow.

"Wow... it is so high..."

"Does Qingqing like it?" How could Lu Ziqu not understand his younger brother's desire for martial arts? Every time he practiced, he could be seen watching from the sidelines, and if he wasn't already unsteady and needed to be held, he'd probably burst in between them and follow the poses, the desire and envy in his eyes melting like the tide and Lu Ziqu often laughed.

"I love it!"

Lu Qing was so happy, every time he saw his shixiongs and shijies practicing their lightness skills, he had wanted to try it for a long time. Now that he was in Lu Ziqu's arms and flying high, not only could he see what he couldn't see before, but he didn't have to look at his feet, and everything he knew became a treasure. The huge trees were amazing and beautiful. It looked like a beating heart.

"Look, there's my shijie," Lu Ziqu said pointing to a small figure in the courtyard.

"What's he doing? Ah, he's fallen down! Funny!"

"Catching chickens." He said there would be guests later, to which the master attached great importance, so the dinner must be especially rich: "Your Er-Shixiong has gone to the market to buy fish, so you'll be lucky tonight." After saying that he pinched the boy's cheek.  He was a glutton and as he was the youngest, he was most favoured, he got all the goodies in his bowl, so he grew up to be fat and white as he is now.

"Shixiong is calling me a glutton!" he wasn't stupid, he easily understood the meaning of the words and inflated his mouth to complain.

 "Shixiong what did you do wrong?" shouted Lu Ziqu, but in his heart he smiled. He had always been a naive child, what had happened this time? He shouldn't underestimate him in the future.

 "I'm not giving you a chicken leg! I'm going to eat it! Hum!"

"Okay, okay, okay, it's my fault, I'm bad, I'll punch myself in the mouth, okay?

"Bad, bad!"

Lu Qing actually stretched out his palm and punched his brother in the mouth several times, not too hard, but inevitably in the same place. Lu Ziqu smiled bitterly. He wouldn't be like this for long, whether the anger was true or not, he would forget it in a few minutes.

"You're not angry anymore? Then I'll take you to a place so high that you can see the whole village."

With such an exciting description Lu Qing's eyes lit up with amusement deep in his heart. He shouted to Lu Ziqu to hurry up. Lu Ziqu with a low laugh and a stomp of his toes, stepped over the branches of three huge trees and climbed higher and higher, with the leaves and their shadows forming a natural barrier. Lu Qing opened his eyes and could not bear to miss any scene, but the leaves had to give up as they hit his face several times. Instead, she buried her face in her brother's shoulder and looked at the scenery and things through a slit, still, she was very happy.

"Hold on, Qingqing, I'm going to jump again."

After saying that, she kicked hard!

Lu Qing Qing only felt that there was a rush of air rushing through her body like a waterfall. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth wide for fear of biting his tongue, but his brother's hand on his shoulder kept patting him, as if to calm him down. Until his brother called out to him, "Look, Qingqing."

He opened his eyes.

 "Wow..."

The sight before him was breathtaking.

They were now standing on a hill, a little higher than the courtyard, with a grassy area at the bottom, where the children came to have a picnic, and it took about two hours to get there at ease. Lu Qing was no stranger to this, but he had never been here before. It felt like everything was new.

When he moved from his brother's arms to the grass, even the slightest touch of grass felt new to him, and Lu Qing foolishly asked where he was, and after asking a few questions, he paid special attention to the flowers and plants on the ground, even dropping down to pick them up and smell them, and then pinching some and running to Lu Ziqu with flowers to squat down.

"Is this good?" Lu Ziqu had to take his brother in his arms again and let him pin some flowers in his long hair. The white flowers matched his inky hair perfectly, and since Lu Ziqu was more androgynous than ordinary men, the flowers made him look like an immortal.

"Shixiong, you look so good, don't take them off!" proclaimed Lu Qing proudly.

"Looks good?" He didn't have a mirror with him, so he couldn't see how he looked now, but he was sure he wasn't fooling anyone.

"Beautiful! Better than mum!" he exclaimed happily.

This was a unique match!

Lu Ziqu knew how much he loved his parents and apart from the blood bond, Lu Yun and his wife loved their children, but they didn't spoil them. Everyone said they were sincere. It didn't need to be said clearly. The children felt it. This was true. Every child cared for by Lu Yun and his wife was so grateful to let them care for them, that they didn't mind not being pampered.

"Is that so? Then shiniang will be jealous."

"No! Don't take it off!"

Lu Ziqu, who had always been obedient to his little brother, didn't take off the flowers and entertained Lu Yun's guests in this somewhat comical manner, which was a bit awkward, but no one paid much attention to it after a while. Moreover, Lu Qing kept waving chicken feet to ask him to take a bite, which made the whole table laugh. 

"Take a bite, shixiong! One bite!"

"Bite... another..."

"Qingqing? Qingqing, wake up."

Lu Qing's eyes snapped open and he saw Lu Ziqu's face leaning very close to him, just a little closer to give him a kiss, and her strong exhale brushed his cheek, she smelled so good.

"Shixiong..." Lu Qing swallowed and spoke softly.

"Did you have a nightmare? You kept shouting 'Bite a bit', you must have dreamt of something delicious?" Lu Ziqu smiled at him as he wiped away the cold sweat with his sleeve. Now it was only a quarter of an hour before they got up in the morning to practice martial arts, but they were in love. How could they be willing to pass up the chance to love each other? Even Lu Ziqu couldn't say any words of rejection.

"I dreamt that a monster kept trying to eat me, screaming at me to let it bite, bite." He buried his face in Lu Ziqu's arms and rubbed it against him, relying on his brother's affection and indulgence without a care in the world, and even tilted his face upwards in an aggrieved manner, only a few tears came out of the corners of his eyes and said in a whimpering puppy voice, "I'm not afraid if you give me a kiss, brother."

These words, which usually sounded very lascivious, were now as sweet as honey, making them both smile, their faces reflecting the happiness in each other's eyes, the same happiness they had when they thought back to the day, long ago, when Lu Ziqu held Lu Qing on the hill and looked into the distance.

"Just one kiss?"

 "One kiss!"

When he saw how serious he was, the older man laughed softly, then slowly leaned down to place a kiss on the corner of his brother's mouth, then let Lu Qing take the back of his head and make love to him in the morning. It was like those little flowers pinned in his hair, nothing out of the ordinary, but so beautiful that it took your breath away, and it was still as clear as yesterday when you remembered it so long ago.

"Brother, let's..."

 "Ah... what?"

 "Let's go out into the world, okay? I want to see all the beautiful places with you, the lotus flowers of the West Lake, the yellow sands of the West and ..."

... There are so many other things that will enrich our lives.

When I have you by my side, my life is enough.

THE END

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE:

And just as I begin, it's oveeeeeeeeeeer **sobbing**.

It was a nice and short story, and from what the author says there might be another story about the secondary characters, if I find it I'll send it to you. For the moment, we say goodbye to this nice story, I hope you liked the translation, it was a hard work but we did it! :3

Thank you very much for preferring this translation and follow me in the other novels I work with. 

KISSES AND BLESSINGS!

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