[110] Pushed Down (Seeking First Subscriptions)

Fang Chang'an had sharp eyes, but his hand wasn't quick enough. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Wang Ke toppling toward him and instinctively reached out to steady her. His hand had only just grasped her arm when Wang Ke's head collided with his chest.

Wang Ke had already noticed him standing there before she stepped into the hole. She felt his hand catch her arm and her head press into his chest. Even in the panic of losing her balance, she was overwhelmed with embarrassment at what might happen next.

To avoid this awkward situation, and also out of a natural fear of falling, she grabbed onto Fang Chang'an's other arm for support.

Fang Chang'an braced her with one arm, his chest took the impact, and her hand pressed on his other arm. In that brief moment of contact, he could clearly sense Wang Ke's body stabilizing on the edge of toppling.

But the force of her imbalance transferred to him.

Fang Chang'an had been working out for nearly a month now; the most noticeable effect was an increased appetite. This was certainly a good thing, but his larger meals had yet to translate into any visible physical strength.

So, as Wang Ke regained her balance, Fang Chang'an realized all too clearly that his frail body was in no state to bear the cost of her stumble.

"I—"

He managed just one word before he fell flat on his back. His feet scrambled backwards, just like the close-up action shots in kung fu movies, trying to stand firm. But his balance failed him; after a few staggering steps, he landed hard on his backside in the peanut patch.

"Ah—" Wang Ke's surprised cry still lingered as she saw Fang Chang'an topple over. She let out a small gasp and hurried over to help him up.

In the process, she saw Fang Chang'an sitting on the peanut vines, hands behind him supporting his weight. It seemed he wanted to show that he hadn't quite surrendered or given up the fight. His legs were spread apart, knees bent. Pushing up with his arms, he subtly raised his backside off the vines, suspended in mid-air, resembling a frog skewered over a fire. His expression was strained and helpless.

"I—sorry... pfft!" She tried to apologize, but halfway through she couldn't hold back her laughter. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... hahaha... I'm sorry, really... ha, ha..."

She truly felt guilty, but she simply couldn't stop laughing. She quickly reached out to grab Fang Chang'an's arm, trying to help him up.

Shen Mo and Fang Yanran had both watched Fang Chang'an fall and now stood nearby, laughing heartily. Some of the others had noticed earlier, some later, but when they saw the scene—and with Wang Ke and Shen Mo leading the way—they all burst out laughing, even more delighted than when Shen Mo had been called a "silly older sister" earlier.

"What's so funny?" Deep in the corn stalks, Fang Lujun and Cong Rong glanced over. The view was mostly blocked by the corn, so Cong Rong simply said, "Let them laugh. They're all classmates together."

Fang Lujun hesitated, then quietly moved closer to his wife and whispered, "Did you see... it looked like Chang'an was trying to hug that girl just now..."

Cong Rong looked at him, her face full of doubt.

Seeing her disbelief, Fang Lujun pointed at Wang Ke. "That pretty girl over there... It looked like he wanted to hug her and got pushed over instead."

Cong Rong turned to look. The girl was just about to help their son up. She wavered for a moment, but ultimately trusted her son's character. "You're mistaken. How could that be possible? There are so many people here."

She paused, then added, "Besides, everyone's watching."

“I can get up myself.” Fang Chang'an declined Wang Ke's help, turning to push himself up as gracefully as possible. Unfortunately, his khaki pants now sported green stains from the peanut vines, making even his most dignified movements seem comical.

"I'm sorry..." Wang Ke struggled to stifle her laughter. She seemed to want to help brush off the dirt from his backside, but realized it would be inappropriate, so she stood and continued apologizing. "I really didn't mean to."

"Big brother, what happened?" Fang Changming came over, carrying several burlap sacks, and asked Fang Chang'an.

He'd seen his big brother pushed over by a girl from a distance, with the others laughing and that same girl laughing the hardest. He looked a bit indignant, as if he wanted to stand up for his brother.

Fang Chang'an had always been quiet and awkward, while Fang Changming was more mischievous. Sometimes, it was the younger brother who had to stand up for the elder.

Fang Chang'an saw the look on Fang Changming's face and knew exactly what he was thinking. He calmly patted the dirt from his pants and said, "It's nothing, just stepped in a hole."

He took the sacks and turned to Chen Yu and the others. "Still laughing? Enough of that—get to work!"

Chen Yu and the rest tried to stop laughing and came over to take the sacks. Fang Chang'an instructed, "With my brother, there are eight boys in total. Each of you take a row, but don't put the corn cobs directly in the sacks. Pass them along the row to the classmate on the end, who will put them in the sack. Like an assembly line, got it?"

Fang Chang'an laid out his "brilliant plan." Fang Yanran, seeing that her second brother seemed to misunderstand, let go of Shen Mo's hand and ran over to explain in a low voice, "It was that pretty sister who almost fell. Big brother tried to catch her and slipped himself."

Fang Changming then realized it wasn't bullying after all. But seeing how everyone laughed when his brother fell, he thought maybe his big brother wasn't much of a class monitor after all.

He had thought his brother was impressive for calling so many classmates with just one phone call. Lately, Fang Chang'an's maturity had nearly won his respect, but after this, he realized his brother was still the same as ever: timid, weak, slow at everything, not good at fighting—only good at schoolwork.

But that was fine. He was already in fourth grade; in two years, he'd be in middle school and no one would bully his brother anymore.

For now, his brother would just have to endure a bit longer. He hoped Big Brother would learn that being soft only led to being picked on and that he needed to toughen up.

With these thoughts in mind, Fang Changming heard Fang Chang'an calling, "Changming, come over here. You take the end."

With so many classmates around, Fang Changming didn't talk back, lest he embarrass his brother. He obediently walked over and, in a tone full of trust, asked, "Big brother, what do you need me to do?"

"I just told you. You're on the end, collecting the corn cobs!" Fang Chang'an shot him an exasperated look, wondering if his brother had lost his mind.

Fang Changming replied with an "oh" and took the sack.

Fang Chang'an led by example, counted the rows of corn, and started down the deepest one, handing the ears of corn to Wang Chuanbiao beside him.

Ever since Wang Chuanbiao had tried to intimidate him and failed, he'd kept a low profile in class. Fang Chang'an was a bit surprised he'd come along, but since there was no real animosity, he was happy to accept the gesture.

Wang Chuanbiao picked an ear of corn and passed it to Chen Yu. Chen Yu, not yet having picked his, just stood there. Everyone was waiting for Fang Changming to collect the corn at the end, looking rather silly.

Fang Chang'an realized his assembly line plan was a bit of a flop. Chen Yu said, "Class monitor, I think we'd be better off just doing our own rows."

Fang Chang'an held back for two seconds before saying, "I think so, too."

Wang Chuanbiao had wanted to say it earlier but hadn't dared. Now that Fang Chang'an admitted it, he quietly suggested, "Why don't we each just do our own?"

Fang Chang'an nodded. Chen Yu and Lu Wei slipped out from the corn rows. "Come on, let's get our own sacks and get to work."

Fang Chang'an also got a sack and went back to work.

Fang Lujun had already filled a sack, hauled it to the south end, and dumped it into the three-wheeled cart, then drove it to the roadside so they wouldn't have to carry it far, just across the peanut patch.

Shen Mo, Wang Ke, and the other girls were just having fun; the boys were doing real work, but none were much more effective than Fang Chang'an, and nobody was particularly focused. If anyone found a bug, they'd all stop to look.

The quickest workers were Chen Yu and Zhou Yifei—they left the others far behind, quickly filling more than half a sack. Fang Chang'an called out, "Chen Yu, Zhou Yifei, don't fill the sacks too much, or they'll be too heavy."

Chen Yu replied, "It's fine, they're not heavy. I've done this before."

Zhou Yifei laughed, "Yeah, don't lump us in with you, class monitor!"

Everyone started laughing again, even Fang Yanran, who was picking corn along the edge with Shen Mo and Wang Ke, giggled. Only Fang Changming didn't laugh.

The younger brother felt more and more that he'd seen through his brother's real situation and wished he could hurry up and get to middle school to back him up, so his big brother wouldn't have to endure mockery even as class monitor.

It wasn't that he didn't understand jokes—he was just young and slow to correct his thinking. Once he'd made up his mind, it was hard to change it.

Picking corn was hardly technical. Those who knew how did it faster; those who didn't could still manage. The task was simply to pick and sack the corn, and the field was big enough that everyone could work independently. More hands meant faster work.

If only Fang Chang'an's family were doing this, it would take until noon to finish, since the real labor was just Fang Lujun and maybe one other.

Now, with a group of students—even if they joked and weren't too serious, and even the girls pitched in—their collective effort matched or surpassed Fang Chang'an's. The pace picked up several times over.

In less than an hour, the cart was filled to the brim. Fang Lujun drove it home. When he returned, another pile had already been stacked by the roadside, and only about a third of the field remained unpicked.

The girls—Shen Mo, Wang Ke, and the others—had cleared both edge rows. Knowing the corn leaves made them itch, they didn't dare go deeper. Led by Fang Yanran, they wandered down to the river, their chatter and laughter carrying back. It sounded like they'd spotted a waterbird and were arguing whether it was the kingfisher from their elementary school textbook.

After a while, Shen Mo and Wang Ke came back, holding Fang Yanran's hands. As soon as they arrived, Fang Yanran called out, "Big brother! Big brother! These two sisters are looking for you!"

Fang Chang'an, crouched among the corn, pushed aside the annoying leaves and called out, "What's up?"

Shen Mo asked, "Can we go catch fish after we're done?"

"No," Fang Chang'an refused flatly. "The water's too cold now. Summer would be fine."

Shen Mo protested, "But the sun's so strong—it'll heat up the water!"

Wang Ke chimed in, "Exactly. It's so hot out!"

"Even so, no. In summer, the water's shallow—you can make a dam and drain it quickly. Now the water's deep; it's too much work."

Hearing about fishing, Chen Yu and the others were tempted and called out, "It's fine! There's plenty of us!"

"Yeah, class monitor, what do you think?"

"I've never caught fish before—only tried fishing, but never caught anything," someone added.

"Me too," another said.

Fang Changming thought his brother always ignored everyone's wishes, which couldn't be good for his relationship with classmates. Besides, he really wanted to catch fish too. "The sun's out—it's not cold. We can bring more basins. There are so many of us; we can drain the water quickly."

Fang Chang'an considered it and said, "Alright, we'll catch fish this afternoon when the water's warmer."

Shen Mo and Wang Ke exchanged a delighted glance and rushed off to share the news with Wang Yuwei and the others. Soon, Shen Mo came back with Fang Yanran.

"What should we do now?"

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking you."

"Have you ever roasted corn before?"

"Never done it myself."

"We'll do it together later. Ever eaten roasted grasshoppers?"

"Can you eat those?"

"Doesn't matter if you eat them or not—we can roast some anyway. There are sweet potatoes, peanuts, beans. If you're not tired, we can roast them all."

"Alright!"