Chapter 413 Chapter 414: Mud cannot be helped

Zhang Xiuxiang immediately understood what she meant, "I've thought about it a long time ago. She had this idea when our family was poor. Now that our family is better off, it would be strange if she didn't want it."

Yang Chunyan: "If the three families in Xiaoshulin didn't come, we are far from the village, and they wouldn't be able to find her hiding at home. By the end of the year, the houses of the three families will be repaired, and there will be many people and eyes, so anyone with a discerning eye will be able to see her at a glance."

She felt that Li Qiuyue hated her grandmother's preference for boys over girls. In fact, she was also following the same path as Li's grandmother, but not as extreme as her.

Zhang Xiuxiang: "If that gossipy woman Ma Chunhua finds out, the whole village will know about it."

Zhao Huifang: "Yes, but she is hiding it from us now, so it's hard to ask!"

Yang Chunyan thought for a moment and said, "Maybe she's not sure yet. She'll tell us when she's sure."

"Oh!" Zhao Huifang sighed, "It would be great if that bitch Xiang Qunying was like the women's director of the Guanyin Brigade."

Zhang Xiuxiang nodded, "Yes, I heard that someone from the Guanyin Brigade even helped tip off the situation! It would be great if we could have someone like her instead."

Zhao Huifang suddenly remembered something, "Is Lai's second daughter-in-law going to give birth?"

Zhang Xiuxiang nodded, "She should be giving birth."

After hearing this, Yang Chunyan suddenly thought of the Lai family who had more children than allowed.

Lai Laoer and his wife married off their three daughters. Whenever they needed to plant rice seedlings, thresh grain, or pick corn, their daughters and sons-in-law would come back to help. They lived a better life than the two families with sons.

Li Qiuyue tried to commit suicide and left Zhou Xiaolin at home to find a son-in-law, but their life was in chaos.

…

Li Qiuyue cleaned up a room in the west wing at home, took out a long bench, laid a few wooden boards on it, picked up two straw mats and laid them on top, then spread an old cotton quilt on the straw mat and covered it with a quilt before going to the kitchen.

I looked at the wild boar meat hanging in front of the stove and decided to cut a piece off. After washing it, I braised it with star anise, bean paste and potatoes.

After the rice was steamed in the rice steamer, Li Qiuyue went to Zhou Huairong's house and took Zhou Xiaoru and Zhou Xiaolin back home.

Just after arriving home for a while, Li Hongxing came back with a basket of pig grass on his back. "Fourth Miss, the pig grass here is not good at all. I walked a long way to cut so much."

Zhou Xiaoru looked at him curiously, "Mom, who is he?"

Li Qiuyue said, "Your second cousin from your second uncle's family, help your sister wash her hands, and we'll have dinner when your old man comes back."

"Oh!" Zhou Xiaoru took her sister to wash her hands.

Li Qiuyue checked the pig grass in the basket and saw that she had not cut crops from other families' fields to make up for the shortage. She took Li Hongxing to the west wing and said, "You sleep in this room. Wash your hair and change your clothes at night."

Seeing that he was alone in his own room, Li Hongxing didn't want to leave anymore. "My mother didn't bring me any clean clothes. She said you, your family..." He saw that her face was getting darker and her voice was getting lower and lower.

"Your mother and husband are like leeches. Once they get stuck, they can't be pulled off..." Li Qiuyue was so angry that she scolded Li Laoer and his wife. She went back to the house to find Zhou Huaishan's old clothes and threw them to him, "When your uncle's clothes are too big, tie them with a rope."

"Oh oh!" Li Hongxing said without disdain, "Fourth Miss, are you cooking meat? It smells so good! I'm hungry, is it time for dinner?"

Li Qiuyue glared at him and said, "Wait until your uncle comes back before eating."

After a while, Zhou Huaishan drove a tractor into the yard. Li Hongxing looked at him with shining eyes, "Fourth Miss, your family can even afford a tractor. You must have made a fortune!"

Li Qiuyue said angrily: "That's Xiaoru's father's house, you are not allowed to mess around with it, you can't afford to pay for it if you break it."

Zhou Huaishan glanced at him, thought of Li Laoer's tutor, put the crank under the seat and locked the seat.

"It's time to eat!" Li Qiuyue said to Zhou Huaishan after setting the table.

"Here we are!" Zhou Huaishan said as he sat down at the table. "The old man said that we will start transplanting rapeseed seedlings the day after tomorrow."

"I understand."

Li Qiuyue turned around and saw Li Hongxing impatiently picking up the chopsticks and constantly scooping the braised pork from the ceramic bowl into his own bowl. He didn't stop until the bowl was full and he kept smacking his lips as he ate.

The Zhou family members were all stunned. Zhou Xiaolin held the spoon and said, "Mom, my brother is trying to grab something to eat."

Zhou Xiaoru was stunned, "Mom, my brother's eating noise is so loud!"

Li Qiuyue was so embarrassed that she wished she could find a hole to crawl into.

Li Hongxing acted as if he didn't hear anything. He finished the meat in the bowl, kept putting vegetables into his own bowl, and even picked up the clay bowl to roll vegetables into his own bowl.

There is a saying that is quite true: as long as you are not embarrassed, others will be embarrassed.

Zhou Huaishan frowned and glanced at Li Qiuyue, "Give Xiaoru and Xiaolin some vegetable soup to mix with their rice."

"Oh!" Li Qiuyue blushed and took a spoon to scoop some soup into the bowls for Zhou Xiaoru and her sister. "We won't follow his example. Just eat it obediently!"

Zhou Xiaoru took two bites of rice, thought about it and said to Li Hongxing: "Brother, grandma said that only piglets smack their lips when eating. Those who smack their lips should go to the pigpen and eat with the piglets."

Li Hongxing looked up at her and said, "How can a country bumpkin be so particular?"

Zhou Huaishan put down the bowl and said to Li Qiuyue: "Talk to him carefully later, so that Xiaolin won't learn from him in the future."

"Oh!" Li Qiuyue was so angry that she put down the bowl and went to feed the pigs.

Seeing that everyone had left, Li Hongxing took the clay bowl to the stove, scooped the rice from the rice cooker, mixed it with the rice inside, ate it with a smacking noise, and finally wiped his mouth with a feeling of being unsatisfied.

She said to Li Qiuyue who came in with a pig feed bucket, "Miss Si, your food is so delicious. I haven't eaten so much during the Chinese New Year."

Li Qiuyue said unhappily, "Eat your fill and work hard tomorrow, or I'll tie you up and take you back."

"I understand." Li Hongxing went back to the room, crossed his legs and lay on the bed, talking to himself, "My mother was right. As long as I stay here and don't leave, Fourth Miss can't do anything to me." He swung his legs complacently and fell asleep soon.

After finishing her housework, Li Qiuyue saw that Li Hongxing had not come out yet. She went to the west wing and was so angry that her teeth itched, "He is a useless piece of shit. There is no hope for him."

After Zhou Huaishan fed the pigs, he saw Zhou Xiaoru taking her sister to wash their faces and feet. "Where's your mother?"

"Mom went to see my brother." Zhou Xiaoru looked at him puzzledly, "Old man, why did he come to our house?"

Zhou Xiaolin pouted, "Brother is not a good boy, he is grabbing the meat and eating it."

"Our Xiaolin is good!" Zhou Huaishan pulled her little hair and took the washcloth, "Xiaoru, take your sister back to the room to sleep."

"Oh!" Zhou Xiaoru took her sister away.

After returning to his room to rest, Zhou Huaishan said to Li Qiuyue, "If you are really determined to have another child, you can't leave Li Hongxing at home. If he finds out and tells your brother and sister-in-law, he will definitely come to blackmail us."

Li Qiuyue said angrily, "Look at him, is he here to work? Jiakang and Xiaoru can find a full basket of pig grass, but a 17 or 18-year-old guy can only cut half a basket of pig grass, not even as good as the kids."

The more she spoke, the angrier she got. "She fights for food and smacks her lips. She doesn't wash her face or feet after eating and just lies on the bed to grow fat. Since my grandmother married into the Li family, none of the men they raised are good except for me, my old man."

Zhou Huaishan thought so too, "Isn't it better for him to be like this? We don't even need to find a reason to drive him away."

"It's better to drive her away. If Li Laoer and his wife find out..." Li Qiuyue touched her belly, "We won't know if it's a boy or a girl!"

"If we can avoid it, whether it's a boy or a girl, it's our destiny." Zhou Huaishan thought about it and said, "I think we should talk to my mother, husband, and sister-in-law about it, so that if anything goes wrong, there will be someone to help cover it up."

Li Qiuyue thought for a moment and said, "Wait a little longer. After this month is over, we will go and tell them."

"That's great!" Zhou Huaishan blew out the oil lamp, "Go to sleep, we have to get up early to deliver food tomorrow."

…

The next day, before Zhou Huaishan got up to deliver vegetables to the city, he took Li Hongxing to the mountain, arranged what needed to be done, and then went down the mountain to deliver the vegetables.

Seeing him walking away, Li Hongxing dropped his axe and sat on a rock with his arms folded. "It's freezing cold in the morning. You asked me to chop trees before I even had breakfast. I'm not your farmhand."

Li Qiuyue woke up at dawn, cooked dinner and went up the mountain. She saw Li Hongxing curled up on a rock and sleeping soundly. She was so angry that she picked up a branch to wake him up, pointed at the way down the mountain and shouted, "Get out!"

Li Hongxing rubbed his eyes and looked at her. "I've never gotten up so early at home. The dew in the forest is heavy this morning, and I'm hungry. How can I work? I'll get started right after I eat!"

"If you don't leave, you'll just live in the mountains and don't expect me to give you another bowl of rice." After saying that, Li Qiuyue picked up the machete and axe on the ground and turned to leave.

Li Hongxing saw her leaving, so he stood up and followed her, "Fourth Miss, is the meal ready? I'll do it after I eat..."

Li Qiuyue was so angry that she picked up a piece of mud and threw it at him, "Get lost..."

She also hoped that Li Hongxing could be more diligent and do something worthwhile here. She could then talk to Zhou Huaishan and teach them how to dig some herbs to sell so that they could make a good living at home and she would not have to be embarrassed in front of Zhou Huaishan.

Who knew that mud is just mud. When he came, he didn't even bother to pretend. He just slept when he was supposed to, and ate when he was supposed to. Raising a pig would be more useful than him.

After going down the mountain, Li Hongxing didn't even need Li Qiuyue to call him. He went to the cupboard to get a bowl and started eating. After finishing his meal, he burped and went to get a machete and walked up the mountain.

She asked Zhou Xiaoru to tell Yang Chunyan and the other two to go up the mountain without waiting for her.

Li Qiuyue finished her housework and went up the mountain. Seeing Li Hongxing still dawdling on the mountain, she was too lazy to go over to him and turned back down the mountain. When Zhou Huaishan came back, she said to him:

"There's no hope for this kind of person! He's still slacking off on the mountain. Go and call him down. We'll send him back to Li Laoer and his wife."

Zhou Huaishan curled his lips after hearing this, "It's better to send them away early, so as not to teach Xiaolin and the others bad things."

Li Qiuyue thought about it and said, "I'm telling you, when you go up the mountain, don't tell him you're sending him back. Tell him..."

"Got it." Zhou Huaishan took two steps and then retreated. "We go to your second brother's house. What if they block us and don't let us go?"

Li Qiuyue thought for a moment and said, "When we get there, wait for me at the bottom of the hill. Don't turn off the tractor. I'll trick him into getting off and then we'll go."

“Yes!”

(End of this chapter)