After the three days of Tet, Sang and Binh returned to their work. This time, I only saw Binh once. On the third day, early in the morning, my mother was busy in the kitchen preparing offerings for my father, and at mealtime, she urged me to go to Binh’s house.
This year, although my mother and I weren’t home for Tet, thanks to my salary, the celebration was quite comfortable. But I only saw Binh near the end of Tet because during the holiday, he was already out at the district market with Uncle Tu before I even woke up.
I was angry with Binh because he didn’t ask how I was doing for a whole week, even though everyone in the village knew about the house being burned down.
Seeing me hesitate to leave, my mother said, “Poor thing, son. His parents aren’t coming home for Tet this year. Anyway, Binh’s family is our benefactor; we can’t even repay them enough, so why be angry at this little guy?”
Out of respect for my mother, I went to Binh’s house to invite him over for dinner. I stood in front of his door, shouting like I was calling a boat: “Binh, are you awake yet? Why are you sleeping so soundly at the beginning of the year?”
From inside, Binh replied in a sleepy voice, “Is that you, Phuc? Come in, the door isn’t locked.”
It had been a while since I’d visited. His house used to be like mine, but now it felt a little strange. I went inside and walked to his bed. He was lying naked in his mosquito net, his penis erect like any young man’s in the early morning.
I grumbled, “Grandpa, you went to bed without clothes on and didn’t even lock the door! A thief might come in, steal everything, and then rape you!”
Binh crawled to the edge of the mosquito net, beckoning me to sit down. I hadn’t even been sitting for two seconds when he pulled me inside. He hugged and kissed me passionately, babbling, “When did you get back? Oh my god, I missed you so much!”
I clicked my tongue, “You’re such a liar! Down here you’re out raving all over the neighborhood, and you’re pretending to miss me?”
He slyly replied, “That’s my younger brother’s business. He sleeps with other people, but I’m the one who misses you!”
I pouted, and he pulled my lips down for another quick kiss. I yelled, “Oh my god, go brush your teeth! Hurry up and come over to my house for dinner, my mom’s waiting for you over there!”
Binh stretched and crawled out of the mosquito net, standing upright on the ground and stroking his erect, dripping penis. He looked at me with a lecherous gaze and said, “After you eat, come over and let me fuck you. I heard you’re really skilled at thrusting!”
Just hearing that made me feel ticklish, and I stammered, “Nonsense… who said that?”
Binh leaned closer and whispered, “Who else? Whoever fucked you last night said it. You even let them stretch your ass all night, who knows, maybe it’s all wide open now! Hey, between me and Sang, who gave you better sex?”
I blushed with embarrassment, because I never imagined Sang and Binh were closer than I thought, just like those straight guys boasting about their sexual exploits. But Binh didn’t seem bothered or upset at all; he probably knew I’d become as “corrupt” as he was back in the countryside when I came to the city.
Before Binh and I even entered the house, my mother hurriedly scooped rice into our bowls: “Binh, come eat!”
As always, Binh politely replied, “Thank you, Auntie Hai.”
The four of us gathered around the New Year’s meal, with fragrant braised pork and eggs, and sour pickled cabbage mixed with chili and lime. My mother also cut up the huge watermelon that Aunt Tam had given us the day before so we could eat whatever we liked.
Binh couldn’t help but feel guilty about the incident the day before when Hanh’s mother came and burned down our house. He grumbled while chewing, “Luckily I wasn’t home that day, otherwise I would have made sure those people were dead here.”
I clicked my tongue, “That was easy, wasn’t it?”
Binh replied, “Easy? I tied them up and threw them into the pond for the shrimp to eat. In three days, not even a claw would be left!”
My mother burst out laughing, not saying anything more, just occasionally putting food into our bowls so we were all full.
Seeing that it was already the fourth of the month and I still hadn’t packed up to return to the city, my mother looked even more anxious than I did: “When are you going back to the city, Phuc?”
I whined: “Mom, are you saying I eat too much rice at home?”
My mother came and sat next to me on the bed, stroking my head and saying: “Your father! Still being so childish?”
I sighed: “I think I’ll just stay here. I can’t go to work with Mom alone.”
My mother reassured me: “It’s alright, son, everyone has their ups and downs in life. Surely Hanh’s mother won’t come back here to cause trouble again, will she?”
As someone who witnessed everything from beginning to end, I really had no reason to guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again. I said: “She’s held a grudge for twenty years and still hasn’t forgotten, Mom. Who knows, maybe there will be a second time.” My mother kept trying to reassure me, but I think my mind was made up. If a similar incident happened again, at least I wouldn’t leave my mother here to suffer alone.
The next morning, I called Auntie Ba to ask for time off. My mother didn’t object at all. At most, my mother and I would just keep working odd jobs as we always did. I don’t know why, but I had faith that somehow my mother and I would be better off than before.
Uncle BayWhen I left, he said, “Well, it’s good that your mother lives nearby. Now she doesn’t need to raise someone else’s child anymore; she can save up little by little, and she’ll have more than enough.”
Uncle Bay’s voice held a hint of resentment, clearly he hadn’t forgotten what happened the day before. Then he stood looking at the sky and called out, “Thang, take this newly made basket boat down to Mr. Hai Lu’s house for me. Hurry up, or it’ll rain, and if we’re late tomorrow, they’ll be angry.”
Thang shook his head, “Mr. Hai Lu on the sandbank? It’s already noon, Uncle Bay, the sun will set by the time we get there. I’m scared of ghosts, I’m not going!”
Uncle Bay was annoyed with the boy, who was at a rebellious age; he’d say one thing and Thang would retort with ten.
Since I had nothing to do, I said, “Okay, let me go for you, Uncle Bay. I’ll go over there and see if they hire anyone for anything.”
Uncle Bay nodded and then told X: “Your brother Phuc is with you, quickly carry the baskets down to the boat. Take good care of them, otherwise they’ll get wet and you’ll lose a lot of money, understand?”
I said: “No, I can go alone.”
Uncle Bay clicked his tongue: “Let him get used to it. If I die unexpectedly, he can survive on his own. Thang, remember to bring your conical hat and plastic bag, it’s going to rain.”
In my village, it’s like that; every child from a farming family goes to work early, before reaching adulthood. Partly to learn the ropes, and partly to get to know the business opportunities.
After loading the baskets onto the boat, Thang and I paddled as if there were crocodiles behind us. From beginning to end, he didn’t say a word to me, making me think he must hate me. We paddled along the canal to the dike of the rice fields behind the house, for about half an hour, before finally reaching the main river.
Since returning to my hometown, I’ve been talking non-stop, never staying silent for more than an hour. Back then, when Thang met me, he was so friendly. I’d only been gone a few months, and he’d become incredibly distant. Feeling suffocated, I asked, “What grade are you in this year, X?”
Thang replied curtly, “I quit a long time ago.”
Perhaps this was why he was upset. It’s understandable; a child of school age being forced to quit school to make a living—it would be unusual if they were happy about it. But I didn’t ask the reason, because no one wants their children to drop out of school when they have plenty of money.
I asked again, “Do you have a girlfriend?”
Thang asked back, “Why are you asking?”
I awkwardly replied, “I’m just asking to know. Why are you so tense?”
Seeing that he didn’t want to talk, I wisely didn’t bother him further. I sat behind, watching the oar move as if it had an engine attached to it; it clearly wanted to get back quickly to avoid running into me.
While I was still lost in thought, dark clouds gathered in the sky. Uncle Bay’s prediction couldn’t possibly be wrong. Without saying a word to each other, Thang and I knelt on the boat and rowed faster.
Thankfully, the boat docked at Mr. Hai Lu’s house just as a light rain began to fall.
After carrying the pile of baskets ashore, I said, “Uncle, please check the goods for me. If anything is missing, I’ll let Uncle Bay know.”
Mr. Hai Lu waved his hand, “No need, I’ve been doing business with him for so long, what’s there to check? How much is it? I’ll pay you now.”
I was confused because I’d forgotten to ask the price, thinking we’d already agreed on it. While I was still flustered, Thang said in a low voice, “Three hundred.”
I took the money and nodded in thanks. I asked, “Uncle, are there any jobs for people working here?”
He shook his head, “There’s nothing to do this season. Up south, you have fields and crops to work on, but out here, the money isn’t enough to live on all year round, so who would hire us?”
I hadn’t even finished the sentence when Thang snapped, “Are you done? The rain’s coming!”
Oh, I almost forgot, if we don’t go back now, we might end up sleeping on the sandbank. Seeing us hurrying down to the boat, Uncle Hai Lu shouted from behind, “It’s raining, guys! Stay here until it stops, then come back!”
take shelter from the rain
If I were alone, I would have stayed, but seeing Thang’s angry face, I decided against it. The two of us quickly pushed the boat back out and hurried back to avoid the heavy rain.
The wind howled in our ears, and the crashing waves made rowing even harder. The two of us struggled to reach the end of the canal, our arms aching from exhaustion. But fate was cruel, and it started raining heavily.
Thang hadn’t listened to Uncle Bay, so he hadn’t brought a straw hat or raincoat. As soon as the rain started, his shirt turned a dark, somber color.
I shouted, “Thang, pull over to the bushes!”
But Thang didn’t listen; he just kept rowing as if he had no other choice. I got so annoyed I stood up and walked towards him, the boat immediately spinning in a circle.
I stepped forward, took off my straw hat, and put it on his head. Then I took off the plastic sheet covering his back and draped it around his neck. I felt him stiffen for a moment, then he raised his hand to take it off.
I grabbed his arm and yelled, “Whatever you hate about me is none of your business. Just wear that on your hips, you’ll get terribly sick!”
He hesitated: “You wear it…”
I interrupted: “You hate me so much. If you hate me, then let me take the rain off. Put it on, if you take it off again I’ll drown you!”
After scolding him, I turned back to the other end of the boat. Just as I sat down to paddle, I saw the rainwater rising above my ankles.
I called out to X: “You bail out the water, I’ll swim. It’s raining.” “If you don’t bail out the water like this, the boat will sink!”
I don’t know why, but after I scolded him, Thang became strangely well-behaved. Although he didn’t say a word, he did whatever I told him to do.
He crawled out and squatted in the middle of the boat to bail out the water in the rain, facing me even though he didn’t dare lift his head to look. The conical hat and plastic sheet only covered his head and back to keep him warm; from his waist down, it looked like he’d just been submerged in river water.
Even though it was a bit dark, I could still clearly see the huge bulge between his legs. The thin, water-soaked elastic pants clung to his skin, making it easy for me to distinguish between his testicles and his penis.
After sitting for a while, his legs got tired, so he turned his back to me to bail out the water from the other side. But his butt was so round, and despite the tight pants, there wasn’t a single “vein” visible.
I blurted out, “Why didn’t you wear underwear when you went outside, you little rascal?”
I didn’t expect a reply, but Thang unexpectedly said, “I don’t have any underwear to wear.”
I was stunned for a moment. Perhaps Uncle Bay was too busy and forgot that his nephew was already seventeen this year. And Uncle Bay was a man, raising five or six mouths to feed all by himself; expecting him to be as meticulous as a woman was a bit too much to ask.
I sighed and said, “Tomorrow I’ll take you to the market to buy some. You’re a grown man now, people will laugh at you if you don’t wear underwear.”
Thang’s eyes widened as he asked, “Are you serious?”
I nodded to reassure him, then asked, “But if Uncle Bay forgot, you should have told him, or your mother, or Sang, instead of just silently enduring it?”
Thang shook his head, “I’m too embarrassed. I plan to save up money and buy some myself when I have enough.” “Besides…”
She only continued after I pressed her further: “Besides, a few days before Tet, I was planning to ask Sang to take me shopping, but Sang was always clinging to you like a leech, he didn’t even bother to look at me…”
I rolled my eyes three times and understood everything. I stood up from the boat and ran to her, whispering in her ear: “Ah… Don’t tell me it’s because of Sang that you’re annoyed with me, okay? You… you’re infatuated with him, aren’t you?”
Seeing that I’d hit the nail on the head, she blushed, but then immediately clarified: “It’s not what you think. I only see Sang as my older brother…”
I glanced at her and asked: “Really? Or have you already slept with him? I suspected it from the moment I saw you in his mosquito net!”
Thang shook his head like a motor, saying, “No, he and I just gave each other oral sex…”
Realizing he’d let slip something, he immediately covered his mouth. I clicked my tongue and grinned mischievously, feeling incredibly relieved that everything was now crystal clear.
I steered the boat into a smaller canal, a little less crowded, so we got home faster. The rain had stopped, leaving only a few scattered drops like when we left the riverbank. I asked him in a low voice, “Just gave each other oral sex? I thought it was just oral sex…”
He interrupted, “He’s huge, who could possibly give him oral sex! Besides, I’m a top, I’m not into oral sex like that.” Then, suddenly, he leaned closer to me and whispered, “But is oral sex really that good, brother?”
I nodded, smiling, and said, “Of course it is. Ask Sang to try it sometime.”
He pouted, “I asked him a few days before you left, but he said I was too young, and we’d talk about it when I’m older.” “But I’m seventeen this Tet, I’m not a child anymore.”
After a few more words, it was getting dark. Thang turned back to the front of the boat to swim faster because the rain had stopped. The rice fields were darker than the road now; we’d have to wait for the moon to come up to see things dimly.
Thang sat in front, feeling a chill down his spine. He asked me, “Are you sure this way we can get back?”
I glanced around for a while, even though it was pitch black and I couldn’t see anything, but I reassured him, “I used to swim in the rice fields all the time. If it’s not the right way, we can swim back out.”
The night wind rustled through the reeds, and the frogs croaked loudly all along the dike. Every few strokes, Thang would turn his head to look back at me, as if afraid I’d leave him alone on this deserted canal. Seeing his wary, shifty demeanor, I knew he rarely went out at night, so I said, “Are you scared?” “Come sit here.”
As soon as I said that, Thang immediately picked up the oar and cautiously approached me. He sat so close to me that there was no space for me to move the oar to the other side.
He mumbled, “Are we almost home, brother?”
I teased him, “Not far yet.” “Keep swimming!”
Hearing that, the little guy swam headlong. I didn’t have time to steer and almost got caught in the bushes. After a little further, I saw the moon rise, and at this point, about twenty more minutes of swimming upstream would bring us home.
Suddenly, a foul smell assaulted my nose. Thang covered his nose with his hand and turned to me urgently, asking, “What’s that terrible smell, brother?”
I gestured towards the embankment with my chin and replied, “It’s the duck coop, of course.”
In my area, we occasionally see people raising ducks in the fields at the end of the harvest season, but this season the rice is just starting to grow, so this duck coop must be used for raising ducks year-round.
Thang swam headlong, only wishing to escape this large duck coop as quickly as possible. Finally, when we saw the makeshift duck shed made of thin rubber sheets, our nostrils were finally freed from that “toxic air.” Inside the hut, there was a small lamp burning, probably powered by a battery. Because of the light, the shadow of the person inside was clearly visible on the wall. That person was lying down, one hand holding a phone, the other hand masturbating, their erect penis pointing straight up.
Even just seeing the shadow, I felt incredibly aroused. The boat had passed, but Thang and I kept turning back to look, feeling a little regretful.
Suddenly, Thang asked me, “Brother, did you see that earlier…?”
I replied, “Of course I saw it. The guy in the hut was clearly masturbating.”
Thang hesitated, “Maybe…”
Without needing further confirmation, I said, “Then let’s turn the boat around?”
Thang nodded without speaking; surprisingly, we both had the same idea. After the boat returned to the area near the hut, we moored to the opposite bank and tied a rope to a branch that jutted out from the shore.
Inside the hut, the young man was still vigorously masturbating, even moaning loudly. Thang and I silently watched the constant movement of his hand, my penis hardening in my pants from the obsessive images.
Thang whispered, “Do you want to masturbate with me?”
Before I could answer, he climbed onto the boat’s lid and sat next to me. With one hand he squeezed his own penis, and with the other he reached over and squeezed mine a few times.
The guy in the hut thrust his penis into the air, moaning as if shouting, “I’m so horny… Suck my dick…”
I was about to say something when a similar sound came from right next to me: “I’m horny too… Can you suck mine?”
I jumped and looked over, seeing that Thang had already pulled his erect penis out of his pants. I was shocked because his penis was no less impressive than Sang’s, if it was any less, it was probably only less veiny.
But at this point, I couldn’t refuse even if I wanted to. I had Thang sit on the boat’s lid, while I knelt in the cabin and leaned my head down to suckle.
As soon as my mouth was full, Thang gasped, “So warm…” His lower body was already soaked from the rain, and now being warmed up was undoubtedly the best feeling ever.
I gently moved my mouth, and Thang immediately propped himself up with his hands, tilting his head back to breathe heavily. With each up-and-down suckle, the boat bobbed up and down on the water’s surface, creating ripples. After a while, I let go, and Thang immediately lifted his head, looking at me questioningly, “Why did you stop, brother?”
I laughed, “Nothing, I just let go to ask if you enjoyed it.”
Thang didn’t answer directly, instead he said, “If I had known this beforehand, you would have been lucky to have Sang sleep with me in the hut these past few days.”
I said, “There’s no need to compete. Sang has gone back to work, he won’t be back until the end of the week.”
Thang grinned mischievously: “So, you’ll sleep with me tonight, okay?”
I scoffed, the kid hadn’t even finished the first time yet and he was already thinking about a second. I pulled his pants down to his knees and continued to suck him, this time Thang couldn’t hold back and let out a soft moan in my ear. Inside the hut, the young man was about to reach his climax. He yelled: “Damn, this feels so good… Ah… So amazing… Mmm… Mmm…”.
Following the moans, he ejaculated in bursts onto the wall. The semen then flowed down the rubber sheet, while the shadow of his penis hadn’t yet subsided.
Thang was doing the same out here, I sucked faster, causing him to immediately whisper: “Brother… I’m about to come… Stop a little…”
Thang gestured for me to sit on the boat’s lid, and it was his turn to go down into the cabin to suck my dick. It was her first time giving oral sex, and she was so greedy, she swallowed so deeply that not only did her teeth touch my penis, but she herself gagged and coughed violently.
Immediately after the coughing, the figure in the hut sat up. I quickly untied the rope and threw it into the boat, then signaled Thang to lift the oar and row away first.
As we swam away, the young man also came out of the hut, shining his flashlight and looking around nervously. Thang breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Thank goodness, we almost got caught!”
I said, “What’s the big deal? At most, we’ll just have to beg him to let us go.”
Thang nodded, “Seriously. I almost died from pleasure. Maybe after I finished sucking him, he’d even give me some ducks to take home and make porridge.”
I asked again, “So you plan to just swim home like that?”
Earlier, the two of us were just running ahead and thinking later, we didn’t even have time to pull up our pants that had slipped down earlier. He stood up, preparing to pull up his pants, and I saw his still erect penis pointing straight out.
I said, “Come back here.”
Thang did as I said, so I paddled the boat while giving him oral sex. Thang used both hands to fondle his own breasts, and after about two minutes, he shuddered and ejaculated profusely. Before ejaculating, he pulled his penis out of my mouth, and the semen gushed into the water. Thang couldn’t stand steady and plopped down in the boat, panting and laughing with delight.
That night and many nights after, whenever Sang wasn’t home, he would bring his blanket and pillow down and whine, demanding that I give him oral sex. In return, he was very willing to give me oral sex, even asking me to teach him how to give it the best pleasure. I suddenly wondered what Sang would do if he knew about this? He’d probably punish me with three rounds a night. One round as usual, one for daring to flirt with someone else without telling him, and another for daring to take care of his little brother instead of him. His innocent fawn entered the world.