Chapter 152: Taking a Nasty Spill
“Anyway, no one here has ever seen anything like this before. Even if someone took it and took it apart, they wouldn’t be able to figure out how it works. We just need to put some thought into how to explain where it came from.” A flashlight wasn’t just any regular item; it ran on batteries, and once you turned it on, it was incredibly bright. He didn’t expect the flashlights to do anything miraculous, but thieves were generally a skittish bunch who would lose their nerve the moment a light shone on them.
Wen Xiuyi had only thought to ask Wen Yao for them because he saw how wholeheartedly the Wang brothers were helping tend to their fields.
“Dad, are the Wang brothers really trustworthy?” It wasn’t that Wen Yao didn’t want to bring them out; she was just worried that if the wrong person saw them, it would bring trouble to their family.
Wen Xiuyi, however, had full confidence in the two men’s character. He nodded. “Old Uncle Wang and your grandpappy grew up together, so there’s a lifelong bond there. And besides, if you don’t trust your dad, you should at least trust your grandma. She was the one who personally handpicked these two.” Wen Xiuyi even wagged his eyebrows at Wen Yao. The old lady’s eye for judging people was sharper than a knife.
If she said someone had good character, it was absolutely guaranteed.
Wen Yao hesitated for a moment. In that case, since they had these things lying around, they might as well use them. Otherwise, the space was nothing more than a glorified storage locker, and if they couldn’t use the items inside, it was completely useless.
“Hold on,” Wen Yao said, and in the blink of an eye, she vanished on the spot.
Wen Xiuyi looked around frantically. Only after confirming that no one had noticed anything amiss did he finally let out a sigh of relief. Patting his chest, he muttered to himself, “This whole vanishing-into-thin-air business is still pretty terrifying when it happens out of nowhere.”
Just as the words left his mouth, Wen Yao popped right back up right in front of his eyes. This time, she gave Wen Xiuyi such a genuine fright that he nearly keeled over backward.
“Dad, what’s wrong with you?” Wen Yao was holding two flashlights—the most old-fashioned kind that required heavy-duty batteries. She looked at Wen Xiuyi’s slightly pale face with a bizarre expression.
Wen Xiuyi patted his little heart, which was thumping wildly from the scare. “My dear daughter, could you give me a heads-up the next time you go in and out?”
Wen Yao immediately realized she had scared him half to death and burst into a roaring laugh. “Dad, I didn’t know you could actually get scared!”
“A whole living person vanishing and reappearing in broad daylight—if it were you, wouldn’t you be scared?” Wen Xiuyi shot her a glare before taking the flashlights to test them out. Not bad; the batteries were already installed.
Wen Yao smirked like a sly little fox. “It’s even scarier at night. I’ll give you a demonstration later.”
“Go, go, go, off with you. You sure love playing pranks on your old man. Alright, I’ll take these. Go mind your own business and take good care of the things in the backyard. I’m going to take a stroll down to the fields to check on my precious darlings.” Wen Xiuyi tucked the flashlights away and walked off with his hands casually resting behind his back.
Wen Yao let out a playful snort, then went inside to grab her two young friends before heading to the backyard to tend to her own treasures.
Looking at the vibrant, energetic rows of chili pepper seedlings and tomato plants, Wen Yao couldn’t be in a better mood. Even the ring of sunflowers planted along the perimeter of the courtyard wall had grown quite tall.
At the thought that this courtyard would be completely surrounded by golden sunflowers in the near future, Wen Yao felt incredibly cheerful.
These were all going to turn into cold, hard silver.
The various ornamental plants and saplings that Qiu Rongrong had sent over had also been planted. Under Professor Wen’s meticulous care, their leaves had started to regain their vitality over this past period. As long as their roots took hold, surviving wouldn’t be an issue at all.
Wen Xiuyi stayed out until long after dark before finally making his way back. The moment he walked through the door covered in filth from head to toe, he gave the entire household quite a shock. Even Sanxi, who was being forced to read his books under Wen Jun’s strict watch, couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing.
“Dad, did you go play in the mud?” Wen Yao stared in astonishment at the mud-caked Wen Xiuyi. Anyone who didn’t know better would think he had gone for a roll in a swamp.
Old Madam Luo, who had stayed behind to wait for Wen Xiuyi with them, also knitted her brows. “What on earth did you do to get covered like this? Xiao Jun, hurry up and grab a set of clean clothes for your father to change into.”
Defenseless against their stares, Wen Xiuyi let out a helpless sigh. Deflated, he trudged into the bedroom to change into clean clothes first before coming back out to explain the situation to everyone.
“I wasn’t watching my step on the way back from the fields, tripped, and tumbled straight into a ditch.” Wen Xiuyi felt a headache coming on just thinking about it. He had originally used the cover of darkness after everyone else had left the fields to secretly teach the Wang brothers how to use the flashlights.
It had taken him quite an effort to calm the brothers down from their overwhelming excitement, only for him to take a massive, embarrassing spill on the pitch-black walk back. It truly infuriated him. He was absolutely going to make his daughter get him a mini-flashlight later, one he could keep in his pocket exclusively for walking at night.
Old Madam Luo held back a smile. “Alright, there’s food kept warm for you in the kitchen. Yaoyao, go fetch some food for your father. I’ll be heading back now.”
Realizing that his fall had been rather severe and that his leg was still throbbing with pain, Wen Xiuyi worried about the old lady walking back by herself so late. Even though it wasn’t a long distance and the paths inside the village were all flat, he still felt uneasy.
“Mom, let me walk you back.”
Seeing that he was limping just from walking across the room, it would be a lie to say Old Madam Luo didn’t feel a pang of worry for him.
“Enough, I walk this path every single day. Do you think I’m going to get lost? Just stay at home; I’ll head back by myself.” Old Madam Luo turned and walked out, completely decisive and without a shred of hesitation.
Since Wen Xiuyi couldn’t walk her back himself, he certainly wasn’t about to let the old lady walk home alone either. “Jun, quick, go walk your grandma home. Make sure you see her safely inside the house before you come back.”
Wen Jun quickly hurried after her. Although Old Madam Luo grumbled about how nagging they were, the upward curve of her lips proved she was in an excellent mood.
Once they left, Wen Xiuyi slowly sat down, rubbing his leg while groaning, “Ouch, ouch… I didn’t realize how much it actually hurt until I took this spill. From now on, your grandpappy and grandma definitely shouldn’t be walking these night roads alone.”
Wen Yao finally understood why Wen Xiuyi insisted on having Wen Jun walk the old lady back.
People in this era couldn’t even dream of streetlights; they couldn’t even bear to burn their own kerosene lamps at home for too long. Once night fell, the outside world became a canvas of absolute blackness. Wen Yao rested her chin in her hand and mumbled, “If only we had streetlights.” Then no one would have to fear walking at night, no matter how late it was.
Wen Xiuyi wished for the same, but he countered, “How could it be that easy? The cities are brightly lit because every household hangs lanterns at their doorways for both illumination and aesthetics. But look at the countryside; who could bear the expense? Aside from hanging lanterns during the New Year, nobody does it.”
“If others won’t hang them, we can just hang them ourselves. We can put them up along the path between our house and Grandma’s house, just to keep Grandpappy and Grandma from tripping,” Wen Yao suggested.
Wen Xiuyi looked up at her. “Do you want to bet that your grandpappy and grandma would scold us to death before anyone else in the village could even say a word?”
Wen Yao shrunk her neck back and shrugged. Fair point.
Wen Xiuyi slid his small wooden stool a bit closer to Wen Yao. Glancing over at his son and two nephews across the room, he reached out his hand and whispered, “Daughter, give me another small flashlight, will you? Look at your dad—old arms and old legs, I can’t afford to take another fall.”
Wen Yao also felt bad that her dad had fallen, so she didn’t argue with him this time. She purchased a small-sized flashlight from the space and secretly slid it into Wen Xiuyi’s hand.
“It runs on batteries, and this is the smallest one available. I don’t know if we can recharge things inside the space, so I didn’t dare buy a rechargeable one.” Otherwise, rechargeable flashlights came in all sorts of convenient designs, some even as small as a finger. A flashlight like that could be tucked away in a pocket without anyone ever noticing.
