Chapter 19: So Thick-skinned

When the camels entered the pen, Zhao Xiping unloaded the grass on their backs and threw it into the corner. He turned around and felt a handful in the trough before closing the door and leaving.

"I've added water to the sink." Sui Yu said.

"Yes, I see." Zhao Xiping brushed off the dust on his body, walked to the water tank to scoop water to wash his hands and face, and said, "Serve the rice, and light the candle."

A wick fire lit in the kitchen. Sui Yu brought down the warmed food from the pot and explained everything in detail: "We were out of vegetables at home, so Liang Ge'er and I went to the river and found a bunch of leeks. When we came back, the lady at the end of the alley gave me a bunch of radish seedlings. I chopped them into small pieces, mixed them with a small bowl of gray flour, and cooked half a pot of dumpling soup."

Zhao Xiping was used to the quietness of being alone at home. He felt uncomfortable when she whispered softly in his ear. He held the bowl of rice and waited until she finished talking before taking a sip.

"The chickens laid eggs in the evening. I wanted to break them up and make some scrambled eggs, but I was afraid you'd be angry, so I didn't do it." Sui Yu sat down, looked at him with slightly lowered eyes, and said, "I thought we should celebrate. It's a happy occasion to have a new member of the family."

"Celebrate?" Zhao Xiping looked up. "Which eye of yours saw me happy?"

"I'm happy. I want to celebrate for myself." Sui Yu looked straight at him and said, "Thank you for bringing me back."

Zhao Xiping avoided her gaze, picked up the bowl and took another sip of the dumpling soup. The saltiness was just right, and the dumplings were cooked thoroughly. It tasted better than his own. Suddenly, he saw Sui Liang staring at him nervously. He lowered his eyes and said, "Eat. I'll give you money for vegetables tomorrow. If you run out of vegetables or meat, go buy some. I need strength to do heavy work, so I need to eat meat every two or three days."

"Okay, as long as you're not angry. I'm just afraid that you'll be angry." Sui Yu smiled at him.

Zhao Xiping sneered inwardly. If she was really afraid that he would be angry, she would not have mentioned the matter of the eggs. She was not as honest as she appeared.

I can't even pretend.

After three bowls of dumpling soup, he was full. When Zhao Xiping stood up, he took a look into the steamer and said, "You two should eat the rest, so that you won't get bit by rats at night."

Sui Yu was not full to begin with, and after hearing what he said, she picked up the bowl that she had put down a long time ago and tried to get more food. It was so hard to eat that she couldn't bear it any longer.

Afraid that her stomach would growl, she began to inhale and hold her breath from the moment he entered the door.

Zhao Xiping went back to the house to get a change of clothes. Standing in the yard, he glanced into the kitchen. The brother and sister, who were engrossed in their food, suddenly became reserved. He coughed and said, "I'm going to take a bath in the river and bring back some water."

After saying that, he picked up the shoulder pole, hooked up the two buckets, and strode out. Unexpectedly, as he walked out the door, he ran into the culprit who had caused this situation. The good mood that had risen a moment ago disappeared completely in an instant. He asked with a gloomy face, "What are you doing here?"

Captain Li was picking his teeth while looking into the courtyard. Seeing Sui Yu sticking her head out with a bowl in her hand, he smiled and said, "Dinner already? That's great, great. When are you two going to get married? I'm your matchmaker, and I'm eager to get married."

He just comes here to annoy people on purpose.

"Don't worry about it." Zhao Xiping picked up the bucket and was about to leave.

"That's not the case. Your parents aren't around, so it's my responsibility as a high-ranking official to worry about your marriage. Now that you have a wife, they can rest assured." Captain Li followed, chattering, "Qian Wei is already arranging the wedding banquet. They'll be hosting it in three days. Why don't you celebrate on the same day as him? You two are brothers who have sworn all your lives together, and marrying two sisters is such a wonderful event. Let's celebrate it together."

Fun together? Or embarrassing together.

Zhao Xiping flatly rejected his suggestion and said, "When the work in the fields is done, I will take her home and hold the wedding banquet in my hometown. If Captain Li has time, you can come over for a drink."

Captain Li sighed inwardly, sighing, "Then the brothers can't celebrate for you. Well, I'll just reply to Lord Hu."

The two separated halfway. Zhao Xiping went to the lower reaches of the river to wash himself clean, then went up the river to fetch water. It was late at night, most people had gone to bed, and the road was quiet. But when he returned home, the brother and sister were still sitting in the yard.

"Are you back?" Sui Yu went to greet him.

Zhao Xiping ignored her and walked around her to pour water into the tank with a bucket.

"You're not going out, right? Then I'll close the door?" Sui Yu asked again.

"Yeah." He responded.

The yard became quiet again, with only the dull sound of the bucket falling to the ground and the crisp sound of the carrying pole hitting the ground. Sui Liang stood in the darkness, staring at the tall figure, feeling uneasy.

The bedroom door creaked open, and Zhao Xiping went into the kitchen, lit a flame, and then walked into the bedroom. In a blink of an eye, the bedroom was bright. He tidied up the things in the room, took down the wolf skin hanging on the wall, and took the linen sheet from the bed and walked out.

"You two will sleep on the bed tonight, and I'll sleep in the main room. There's a washed thick linen sheet in the box, you can take it yourself." As he said that, he entered the main room and quickly closed the door.

Sui Yu stood in the yard staring at the shaking door, wondering what else she could do to him.

There were footsteps approaching outside the door. When the wooden door was knocked, Zhao Xiping said irritably: "What else?"

"I have worms in my hair. Is there anything I can use to kill them? Or maybe a pair of scissors. I'll cut my hair off." Sui Yu stood outside the door, rubbing his hands and whispering, "I'm afraid I'll turn your bed into a nest of worms and infect you later."

"Cut your hair and become a nun?" Zhao Xiping opened the door and said with a dull expression, "Young lady, open your eyes and ask everyone who doesn't have lice on their head."

Sui Yu frowned subconsciously.

Zhao Xiping was so angry that he laughed and sneered.

"Okay, okay, go to sleep, I won't disturb you." Sui Yu smiled at him.

How shameless! Zhao Xiping thought to herself as she closed the door. He was making faces and throwing tantrums, making sarcastic remarks, but this person seemed not to understand and only acted according to her own ideas.

He was struggling and sighing here, while on the other side of the wall, Sui Yu and Sui Liang fell asleep on the bed. This day was more tiring than walking on the road.

The quiet night passed by in a flash.

The dawn before sunrise is the darkest. When Zhao Xiping opened the door and came out, the sky was pitch black, with only a few dim stars dotted on the blue-black clouds.

He went into the kitchen to light a fire and cook. He stuffed hay into a tree stump to create a fire, then stuffed it into the stove hole. Flames shot out, illuminating half the mud wall. He placed dry wood in the stove and added water to wash the rice, pouring it into the pot. There were few vegetables in the food cabinet, but there were five eggs in a black pottery bowl. The eggshells were clean, obviously they had been washed.

"I'll cook, you go and rest." Sui Yu pushed open the bedroom door and walked in quickly. She woke up when she heard the noise, and when she saw that he didn't call her, she hesitated for a while before coming out.

Zhao Xiping ignored her.

"Then I'll light the fire." He ignored her, but Sui Yu wasn't embarrassed.

The kitchen fell silent again, with only the crackling sound of burning wood. Sui Yu stared at the flames in the stove in a daze. Zhao Xiping stood by the stove and stared at the wall in front of him. Only then did he realize that the cobwebs and dust on the wall were gone.

"Eggs can't be washed. They will go bad quickly if they come into contact with water." He suddenly said.

Sui Yu was stunned for a moment before she reacted, "Oh, I misunderstood you." She thought he was sloppy, so she put the eggs with blood and feces stains into the bowl.

Zhao Xiping glanced at her, strode out, opened the door, pulled the sleeping camel out, and did not return until dinner was ready.

The sky was getting brighter, and the yard was brighter than the house. Sui Yu filled the rice and put it in the yard to dry, while Sui Liang watched from the side to prevent it from being eaten by chickens.

When Zhao Xiping appeared, Sui Liang was startled and hurried to find Sui Yu.

"Are you back? Come and eat. I mixed half a bowl of radish vines to go with the rice. After dinner, we will go to the fields to work together." Sui Yu walked out.

"You don't have to get down to the ground." Zhao Xiping picked up the bowl and squatted down to eat.

"If Liang Ge'er and I do more, you'll have to work less." Sui Yu said in a very gentle voice.

Zhao Xiping didn't like hearing her say this; it was too intimate, and he didn't like it. He put a piece of vegetable in his bowl with his chopsticks, stood up and walked out, saying in a gruff voice, "If you're not allowed to go, then stay home."

"You don't want to walk with me?" Sui Yu asked in a low voice.

Zhao Xiping paused, did not refute, took the meal and squatted outside the gate to eat.

Sui Yu didn't say anything else, but when he packed up and left, she immediately pulled Sui Liang to follow. Seeing the man glaring at her, she whispered, "I come from a poor family. If I continue to be lazy and not work, outsiders will gossip. Besides, sooner or later, I will go out with you."

"You deserve to be exhausted." Zhao Xiping hated her for not knowing what was good for her.

"You deserve it." Sui Yu immediately followed with light steps.

It was the time to go to the fields to work. There were many people on the road leading camels and carrying farm tools. When they saw Zhao Xiping coming out with his wife, they all looked over.

"Captain Zhao, when are we going to invite the brothers to the wedding?"

Zhao Xiping said expressionlessly, "After the busy farming season."

Seeing him like this, those who had no grudge against him turned their eyes away and stopped looking. Whoever was involved in this would be unlucky.

After leaving the alley, the land became wider and there were fewer people traveling with him. Zhao Xiping first went to lead the camel that was grazing on the grass, and then took his two burdens through rows of millet fields. His land and house were in the middle.

"Only cut the millet ears and throw them into the basket. Step on the stalks and leave them for me to chop." Zhao Xiping patiently instructed them because he was worried that the young lady and the young master didn't know how to farm.

"Okay, I understand." Sui Yu took Sui Liang to the field. He was short, so she stepped on the pole and made him squat down to pick the millet ears.

Sui Yu was doing farm work for the first time, and she was slow to pick the ears of corn. She and Sui Liang combined couldn't catch up with Zhao Xiping alone. They also started from the edge of the field, but by the time the sun rose, he had already left the two young masters and young ladies far behind.

He was like a tireless, strong, strong ox, and apart from drinking water, he hadn't rested for half a day. Sui Yu panted heavily as she squatted on the ground and looked at him. With his strength and diligence, he would definitely be a sought-after son-in-law. It would be a real grievance for her to marry him.

"How old are you?" she asked.

Zhao Xiping was too lazy to pay attention to her and pretended not to hear.

"You look quite old, around twenty, right? Why didn't you get married before?" Sui Yu asked again.

"fight."

"Oh, I'm sorry for putting you in such a difficult position."

Sui Yu shook the wild vegetables in his hand and put them into the basket. He stood up on his knees and continued to work in the fields.

When the sun was about to rise, the millet in a field had been harvested. Zhao Xiping tied the millet ears together and put them on the camel's back. The camel was familiar with the route and transported the millet to the grain field without anyone watching over it.

Zhao Xiping picked up a machete and started chopping poles. People ate millet, and cattle and horses ate poles. This was the dry food for the livestock to survive the winter.

Sui Yu didn't use the knife. She stood by and watched for a while, then said, "Would you like to eat lunch? I'll go back and cook. I dug some wild vegetables in the fields while I was taking a break."

"I'm also making dumpling soup and beating two eggs to make egg drop soup."

"Hey." Sui Yu responded in a clear voice. She walked towards the ridge and said, "I'll bring you the meal when it's ready. You can take a rest if you're tired."

Sui Liang followed him secretly, he didn't dare to stay alone with his brother-in-law.

"Tell your sister to add more water so you two can eat too." Zhao Xiping instructed without even raising his head.