Xu Yan was taken aback; she hadn't considered that.

Shi Guang thought that instead of helping her knit a sweater, she might as well go to the fields and help Xie Zhuo with some work.

“She really does have a big mouth,” Li Aihua said, reaching for the money to give Xu Yan.

"Hey, sister-in-law," Xu Yan quickly pushed her hand away, "What are you doing?"

Li Aihua chuckled, "You're really good with your hands, I can't just take advantage of you for nothing, can I?"

"What are you saying?" Xu Yan grabbed her hand. "It's what I wanted to knit for Xiao Shuanzi. I did it willingly. I won't be happy if you pay me."

The puppy, who had been huddled behind the stove, slowly crawled out and barked when it heard its name called.

“I wasn’t calling you,” Xu Yan said.

Kaixin shrank back behind the stove.

“Well,” Li Aihua said with a hint of helplessness, “we won’t charge for the craftsmanship, but we should at least charge for the yarn, since yarn is so expensive.”

“We won’t charge you any fees. Hurry up and pack it back,” Xu Yan said. “Those yarns were leftovers from knitting for Da Bao and Xiao Bao. They’re not needed now, so they’re perfect for Xiao Shuanzi. Otherwise, they’d just be taking up space.”

Li Aihua: "..."

Others can't even buy it, so who would complain that yarn takes up space?

But Xu Yan made it clear to her that she thought the yarn took up too much space.

Li Aihua didn't give out the money in the end, but she wasn't the kind of person who liked to take advantage of others, so she sent Xu Yan chili sauce for several weeks in a row.

At this time, when there wasn't much food available, Xu Yan felt she could eat an extra bowl of rice thanks to the chili sauce Li Aihua had given her.

Later, after the wild vegetables sprouted by the edge of the field, Li Aihua delivered some wild vegetables to the field several times.

Xie Zhuo has been busy and tired lately. After taking a shower when he got home, he fell asleep in less than ten minutes while holding Xu Yan. Occasionally, when Kaixin called out in the room, he couldn't hear her.

Xu Yan felt a little sorry for him.

Even though his family is well-off, he never slacks off when he works, earning full work points every day. I don't know what he's after.

Tonight was no different. After Xu Yan finished telling the two kids a story and returned to the room, he was already asleep on the kang (a heated brick bed). Xu Yan quietly climbed onto the kang and was about to pull the light cord when the man behind him suddenly reached out and pulled her into his arms.

"Not asleep?" Xu Yan looked up at him.

"No," Xie Zhuo rested his head on Xu Yan's shoulder and gently sniffed her skin.

Xu Yan felt a little ticklish from being rubbed and stepped back a little. "I need to tell you a story to lull you to sleep for a while?"

Xie Zhuo paused, then laughed, "Then tell me a story, baby. If you can't get me to sleep, do something else to lull me to sleep."