She had never made stir-fried pig's head before, but her grandmother made it better, so she called her grandmother over.

Render the fat from the pork head meat in a pan, then add garlic cloves and stir-fry until fragrant. Add garlic sprouts and chili peppers, stir-fry for a few minutes, and it's ready to serve.

After dinner, the group chat started calling for a meeting again. Qin Huan had created a group chat before, where villagers could discuss anything.

Qin Huan: "Everyone, come to the village committee at 3 pm for a meeting. We have important matters to discuss."

Xu Lai turned off her phone, set an alarm for 2:30, and then set it for 2:40 in case she didn't wake up.

At 2:40, she got up and Xia Ning was already waiting for her in the yard on his electric scooter.

She quickly got dressed and went downstairs, saying, "Why did you come so early? You'd just be waiting anyway."

Xia Ning honked the horn twice: "Who cares, get in the car."

When they arrived at the village committee, they found a spot near the air conditioner. Xia Ning looked left and right, and when she didn't see Zhang Ye, she felt relieved. Then she slumped in her chair and played on her phone.

Zhang Ye came in when everyone was almost there. He didn't actually need to attend this kind of meeting because he wasn't from the village; he just worked here.

But Xia Ning had been avoiding him for a long time, and he had to get to the bottom of it.

He patted Xu Lai on the shoulder, "Could you give me a seat?"

When Xu Lai saw it was him, she knew there was some awkwardness between Xia Ning and him, so she shook her head and said, "I'll switch with Xia Ning on her right. I won't switch." After she finished speaking, she thought to herself, "See how loyal I am to you."

Qin Huan arrived right on time and said, "Today I want to tell everyone that the village roads are going to be widened. Everyone contributed money before, but this time it's the government's money, so you don't need to worry about the cost."

The villagers all nodded in agreement: "This is good."

Then she continued, "The village needs someone to help everyone take out the trash, specifically the trash cans in front of everyone's doors. They need to empty the trash every other day, and that would cost 40,000 yuan a year."

Xu Lai rested his chin on his hand, thinking to himself, "This is not bad. It can provide some income for the villagers who have nothing to do."

A dozen minutes later, the meeting ended. Xia Ning got on her electric scooter and rode off without waiting for Xu Lai to get on. "Xiao Lai, I'm sorry, I'm leaving first."

Xu Lai turned around and saw Zhang Ye standing with his hands on his hips, looking somewhat helpless.

She didn't bring an umbrella, so she had to shield her eyes from the sun with her hand as she walked back, cursing Xia Ning for running so fast and not even giving her a ride home.

People were playing cards under a big tree by the roadside. It was hot, and many people didn't go to work, so they got together with their friends to play a few rounds of cards.

Xu Lai saw her grandmother watching others play cards. She went over to her and said, "Grandma, why don't you play a round yourself? If you win, it's yours; if you lose, it's on me."

When others heard this, they all laughed and said, "Xiuying, your granddaughter is wonderful. You can play without worry, everything will be on her side."

Grandma patted her hand: "I know, I haven't been having good luck these past few days, so I won't send them any money."

Xu Lai stood there for a while, then went home with her grandmother.

This morning, she bought a pig's head and a skeleton. She took her grandfather's old pig-slaughtering knife, chopped the bones, and then blanched them.

This butcher knife might be even bigger than her. According to her grandparents, she pieced together their stories from their youth.

Her grandfather had served in the army when he was young, and she was very excited at the time because she had indeed seen bullet casings and military uniforms.

When she asked him more carefully, her grandfather said embarrassedly, "Back then, I was a soldier in the mess hall."

Grandma said that Grandpa's former unit passed by her house, and the two hit it off. After Grandpa retired from the army, he came to her house to propose marriage.

She didn't know how her grandfather learned to slaughter pigs, but the pig-slaughtering knife was kept. Now that her grandfather is old, he no longer slaughters pigs.

She remembers that when she was a child, her grandfather would help others slaughter pigs and bring back a piece of meat. The other party would then treat them to a feast of pig slaughtering. She can't remember what it tasted like, but she still misses her childhood very much.

She bought a white radish, cut it into chunks, and stewed it with pork bones to make soup.

After the soup started simmering, she took a water ladle and went to the field to water the plants for the evening.

Grandma carried a bucket over, and Xu Lai scooped the water into the bucket. Then Grandma used a small water ladle to water the seeds.

At dinner, she ladled a large bowl of soup and took it to the next room. Her grandmother warmly invited her to stay for dinner.

Xu Lai looked at the person cooking over there. He was wearing an apron and his movements were quite skilled, looking like a good family man. She looked away and said, "The family has already cooked dinner, and Zhao Qingyun's cooking is probably not as good as mine."

Lying in bed after taking a shower that night, she was still wondering why Zhao Qingyun hadn't come to her room for two days. Was he not coming today either?

As she was thinking, she heard a noise from the balcony. Xu Lai's lips curled up. She had locked the balcony door, so he couldn't get in at all.

She quietly counted, "Three, two..."

Before she could even count to one, there was a knock on the door. She rolled out of bed. "They're really in a hurry."

She opened the door, and Zhao Qingyun picked her up, walked to the bedside, and put her on the bed.

He settled scores later: "You complained that my cooking is bad, but have you ever tried it?"

Xu Lai stepped back slightly: "I didn't say your cooking was bad, I just said it wasn't as good as mine."

Zhao Qingyun unbuttoned his pajamas, and Xu Lai glanced at his abs, swallowing hard. This guy was really cheating.

Zhao Qingyun pressed her hand down, "Touch me if you want. You practiced so that you could see me."

Xu Lai's eyes widened. "Are you admitting you're seducing me?"

Zhao Qingyun nodded: "You just realized that?"

Xu Lai felt like she had been tricked, but she honestly touched her twice.

Zhao Qingyun breathed heavily in her ear, and Xu Lai felt a ticklish sensation. She leaned close to his ear and asked, "Is everything ready? You're so tempting."

Zhao Qingyun chuckled: "I believe you can control yourself."

The two kissed, but Zhao Qingyun stopped just before they were about to kiss. He kissed Xu Lai's eyes and said, "I'll carry you to take a bath."

When they got to the bathroom, Xu Lai shooed him out, saying, "You can leave now. Go back to your own place to wash. I don't have any of your personal items here."

Zhao Qingyun felt that Xu Lai was really a scumbag woman, someone who would use someone and then throw them away.

He took good care of her, and then climbed over the wall to go home.

Zhao Qingyun took a shower and rolled over again. Xu Lai was lying on the bed. He grabbed her feet and said, "I want to sleep in the same bed with you."

Xu Lai kicked her ankle. "You're not allowed to sleep holding me. It's too clingy."

Zhao Qingyun didn't care and pulled the person over, saying, "What are you afraid of? There's air conditioning."

Xu Lai thought to herself, "I'll come out once you're asleep."

She fell asleep first, without even turning off her phone, and just drifted off to sleep.

Zhao Qingyun gently took her phone out, placed it on the bedside table, then turned off the light and said, "Goodnight."