Chapter 133 133 Dining Partner

Thinking of Qin Ye and the Qin family's excessive pampering of Qin Xiaoxiao, Su Lu couldn't be more envious.

They're both older brothers, so why is there such a huge difference in how they treat others?

One was spoiled rotten, while the other was completely ignored and even harbored hatred towards him; their attitudes toward their younger siblings were diametrically opposed.

He just couldn't understand it. What had he done to offend them? Why were they treating him like this?

Was it because he didn't give enough money, or were they too greedy?

Su Lu sometimes didn't dare to think about what would happen to him if he didn't bring money home regularly. Would they cruelly kick him out of the house and disown him?

Over the years, even the most passionate heart gradually grows cold, and even with parents mediating, it is impossible to salvage the fading family bond.

Fortunately, it will be soon. He will soon have enough money to build a house. Once he has his own house, he will take his grandparents and parents away from that suffocating home.

"What are you thinking about? I've been talking to you for ages and you're ignoring me?"

Qin Xiaoxiao looked at Su Lu with a puzzled expression, then grabbed Su Lu's sleeve and stopped walking.

Su Lu was taken aback, then turned to look at Qin Xiaoxiao, "It's nothing, let's go."

Qin Xiaoxiao didn't let go, and amusedly raised her chin, pointing forward. "Where are you going? To jump off a cliff with me?"

Su Lu turned around and looked straight ahead. At his feet was a steep slope, not very high from the ground, but more than two meters high. If he fell down, he would definitely sprain his ankle, and might even break a bone.

Su Lu was startled, and cold sweat broke out on his brow.

Fortunately, Qin Xiaoxiao was by his side; otherwise, he would have been seriously injured if not killed.

"Thanks, I was distracted and didn't notice."

Su Lu quickly calmed down, grabbed Qin Xiaoxiao's wrist and walked to the side. After walking for more than ten meters, they returned to the path leading down the mountain.

"I'm not trying to be mean, but you follow me wherever I go. Aren't you afraid I'll sell you off?"

"You woke me up just in time, otherwise we would both be in real trouble if we had fallen."

Qin Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes at Su Lu, "It's clearly your fault, yet you still act like you're right. Besides, don't you know I'm not familiar with the mountain paths here? I've gotten lost twice in the mountains, haven't you heard?"

"I know, didn't you rescue the dog when you got lost last time? I even went down the mountain with you."

Qin Xiaoxiao suddenly remembered what Su Lu had said; it was indeed Su Lu who accompanied her down the mountain that time.

"You remember you were hoping I would take you down the mountain? You're really something else."

Su Lu chuckled, "I'm just testing you, to see if you've grown up. If you've grown up at all, you'll have gotten familiar with Cat Mountain in these two short months and won't let yourself fall into that predicament again."

"You're just lying. You can always find an excuse to benefit yourself. You're the kind of person who can argue even when you're wrong."

"Okay, I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks."

"Thanks, was I praising you? I was clearly criticizing your sophistry."

"How could that be? I clearly felt that you were praising me."

"No, that's not true..."

The two argued as they walked down the mountain. Su Lu protected Qin Xiaoxiao the whole way, holding her wrist tightly until they reached the foot of the mountain and saw figures moving in the distance. Only then did Su Lu let go of her wrist and let Qin Xiaoxiao walk behind him.

The two greeted the villagers coming up the mountain naturally, without any embarrassment. Although the villagers were puzzled as to how the two had gotten together, they didn't think much of it or say anything. After all, Qin Xiaoxiao had taught them a lot these days, which would make this winter more comfortable.

Su Lu very responsibly escorted Qin Xiaoxiao to the back gate of the educated youth compound. Only after Qin Xiaoxiao entered did he turn back.

Back at the educated youth compound, Qin Xiaoxiao first put the shovel inside to prevent it from getting lost, since it belonged to the collective and she would have to pay for it if it got lost.

Then I washed my hands and put the persimmons that I had dried a few days ago into a box to frost them. I laid a layer of persimmon peels at the bottom, then arranged the persimmons neatly, laid another layer of persimmon peels on top, and finally sealed the box. That's how you frost them out.

The bacon had already been dried. Qin Xiaoxiao glanced at the sky, preparing to light a fire and stir-fry a pot of it before cooking the rest of the meal.

The first batch of roasted sunflower seeds was plain. I poured in about half a pot of sunflower seeds and stirred them back and forth. The heat couldn't be too high, otherwise they would burn if I didn't stir them in time. Burnt sunflower seeds don't taste good.

After the first batch of sunflower seeds is roasted, spread them out on a cloth to cool. Once cooled, they can be stored away.

After the sunflower seeds were roasted, Qin Xiaoxiao began to prepare dinner.

I made celery and egg stir-fry, a tomato soup, and some vegetarian buns from my storage space. That solved my dinner problem.

After dinner, Qin Ye came over.

"Why didn't you come home for dinner today? Grandma asked me to come over and ask if you ate anything for dinner. What did you eat? Do you want to go home and eat something else?"

Qin Xiaoxiao shook her head, "Today I went up the mountain and dug two traps to catch some rabbits and pheasants to nourish Grandpa and Grandma in the winter. I was too tired and didn't want to move, so I didn't go back."

By the way, bro, I ran into Su Lu on the mountain. He also said that there's not much prey on Cat's Ear Mountain, and if you want to catch rabbits or something, you have to go to Cat's Ear Mountain.

"How about we take the milk with us and go sometime?"

Qin Xiaoxiao tried to trick Qin Ye into taking her to scout out the cat ear-shaped shop, but Qin Ye refused without even thinking about it.

"No, Grandma won't let you go. Besides, Cat Ear Mountain is indeed quite dangerous. I'm not lying to you."

"Listen to me, we're not going. I'll go myself in a few days when I'm less busy."

Qin Xiaoxiao quickly waved her hand, "No, you can't go if you don't take me. You said it's dangerous yourself. What if we run into wolves or wild boars? With me here, I can run back and get help for you."

Brother, please take me there. I promise I won't run around.

Qin Ye refused to agree no matter what Qin Xiaoxiao said, and remained unmoved no matter how much she begged him.

Qin Xiaoxiao had no choice but to give up for the time being and wait for another opportunity.

From then on, Qin Xiaoxiao and Su Lu would sneak up the mountain almost every week to roast pheasants or rabbits. Even if they didn't catch anything on Mao'er Mountain, Su Lu would still go to Mao'erduo Mountain and bring back wild game for Qin Xiaoxiao to enjoy.

After several encounters, the relationship between Qin Xiaoxiao and Su Lu quickly warmed up, and they both tacitly accepted each other as dining buddies and friends who could eat, drink, and have fun together.

As the weather grew colder, Qin Xiaoxiao put on a cotton-padded coat and trousers. The coat she was wearing now belonged to the original owner of the body. Although Qin Xiaoxiao didn't mind, she felt a little awkward. Besides, one coat couldn't last all winter, so Qin Xiaoxiao thought about making another one.

The cotton in the space was readily available, but it was different from that of this era. If it were taken out, something bad would definitely happen. So, when Qin Xiaoxiao went to the city to collect her subsidy, she found Sun Zhirou and asked her to see if she could buy more cotton.

Unfortunately, Qin Xiaoxiao's idea failed. Cotton in the supply and marketing cooperative could only be purchased with coupons, and Sun Zhirou had no choice but to accept them.

(End of this chapter)