Chapter 79: Catch the Bull and Chat

After dinner, Lu Chengjing looked at Yuanyuan, who was hanging her head, and waved for the little guy to come over.

Yuanyuan obediently climbed onto her father's lap and sat down, blinking her big eyes curiously, "Daddy?"

Lu Chengjing turned the wheelchair and took the little guy to the wooden shed to talk.

At this distance, Shang Wan could hear the conversation between the father and daughter clearly.

Lu Chengjing was using storytelling to help Yuanyuan understand what Shang Wan said at the dinner table.

A faint smile appeared in Shang Wan's eyes as he eavesdropped on the story while carving wood.

Shitou used the method he learned from the Zhang family to prepare some fodder for the yellow cattle, and dug a hole in the bushes farther away to bury the cow dung.

Xiaohuan boiled the medicine and brought it out. While Lu Chengjing was drinking the medicine, she went to the kitchen and brought out an old wooden barrel.

The barrel was dark as if it were filled with vinegar, but if you got close you could smell the scent of herbs.

Lu Chengjing looked at the wooden barrel expressionlessly. Don't tell him to drink the whole barrel.

Obviously he was overthinking it. The medicinal juice in the wooden barrel was used for foot soaking.

Xiaohuan placed the wooden barrel in front of the wheelchair, and brought a wooden basin filled with hot water. She added a small half of the medicine juice and stirred it.

"Brother-in-law, this is the medicine specially prescribed by Doctor Yuan. It is said to open up the meridians. Soak in it for half an hour every night." Xiaohuan squatted down to help Lu Chengjing remove his shoes and socks. Lu Chengjing waved his hand, "No, I can do it myself."

"Then I'll take Yuanyuan to take a bath first." Xiaohuan stood up and held Yuanyuan in her arms. "Doctor Yuan instructed that the water must not be cold. If the water gets cold, brother-in-law, just call me. There's still hot water in the pot."

Lu Chengjing nodded, "Thank you."

"We are all family, brother-in-law, please don't be polite."

Xiaohuan was not used to calling Lu Chengjing "brother-in-law" at first. Like Shitou, she always called him the wrong name. But after a while, she got it right.

They could feel that Lu Chengjing now really treated them as his younger brothers and sisters, and would carefully teach them some things that he would not explain to them in detail before.

The feelings between people are mutual.

Xiaohuan and Shitou's lives were saved by Lu Chengjing. Before, they regarded Lu Chengjing as their benefactor and were willing to repay him even if they were kicked out of the house. But now they regard Shang Wan and Lu Chengjing as their real relatives.

Soaking my feet in the medicine juice, I felt a warm sensation with a slight stinging pain.

Lu Chengjing leaned against the wheelchair, his gaze shifting from the stove with the flames on, to the curtain covering the area, then to the gray wolf dozing with its eyes closed on the stone slab, the old yellow cow chewing grass beside the tree, the stone shoveling cow dung, and Shang Wan sitting by the fire and cutting wood.

The flickering firelight warmed the woman's fair cheeks, giving them a healthy pink hue. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead, and whenever they threatened to slide down, she would raise her sleeve to wipe them away.

Holding an axe in one hand and a piece of wood in the other, the woman wielded the heavy tool as deftly as a dagger.

Lu Chengjing watched, gradually becoming absorbed in it, until the woman suddenly looked up and asked him, "Is the water cold?"

Lu Chengjing was stunned and moved his feet in the wooden basin, trying to create some warmth.

"Wait." Shang Wan put down what he was doing and went to the stove to scoop up some hot water. He first poured the cooled medicinal juice in the basin onto the bushes, then added fresh medicinal juice and let Lu Chengjing soak in it.

"I should change it again." Shang Wan estimated the time and said, "If it gets cold later, just shout. Don't be embarrassed."

"Okay." Lu Chengjing agreed, with a faint smile on his eyes and eyebrows.

Shang Wan was a little curious about his expression. After staring at him for a while, the corners of his lips curled up and he asked, "Do you want to go over to the fire?"

She has a fox she wants to pet.

As soon as Lu Chengjing nodded, Shang Wan picked him up sideways. When she bent down, her lips gently touched his face. The soft touch was gone in an instant.

Lu Chengjing suddenly thought it was an illusion. When he met Shang Wan's smiling eyes, his ears turned slightly red, but the smile at the corners of his lips slowly deepened, like the first bloom of a nightshade.

Shang Wan: Is this fox trying to seduce her on purpose?

She glanced down at Lu Chengjing's white calves and sighed that it was not the right time. She had to wait for the fox to heal its wounds and grow some meat, otherwise the experience would be bad.

After Shitou finished his work, he wanted to sit by the fire. When he looked up, he saw two people who looked particularly well-matched by the fire. For some reason, he felt a little dizzy when he sat over there.

"Ah Huang, I'd better chat with you."

He patted the ox's back three times, and when the ox lay down, he sat beside it, leaned back on the ox's back, and muttered to himself.

"Ah Huang, do you know the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl? They also had a cow that helped the Cowherd find a wife. But the Cowherd was a dishonest man and deceived the fairy. When the fairy's mother found out, she drew a line of the Milky Way with her hairpin."

"One day in heaven is one year on earth. The fairy can see the cowherd every day, but the cowherd has to wait a year to see the fairy. Do you think this is retribution?"

The ox mooed, and Shitou laughed. "You think this is retribution too? Let me tell you another story. Do you know the Bull Demon King? He..."

Shang Wan was busy beside the fire. He raised his chin in the direction of the stone and the yellow cattle and asked Lu Chengjing, "Did he also chat with the cattle like this before?"

Lu Chengjing raised his head and recalled for a moment, then hesitated and said, "Probably not. There are no cows in the Lu Mansion."

Shang Wan: "So?"

Lu Chengjing said helplessly: "He talks to Ma."

Shang Wan: “…”

"Forget it, as long as you are happy." Shang Wan decided to respect other people's hobbies. He glanced at the water in the wooden basin and saw that it was not hot anymore, so he changed it again.

In a moment, Shang Wan had finished whittling the wood beside her. She washed her hands, sat back down, and looked at Lu Chengjing. "Do you want to tell me now or when we go to bed?"

Lu Chengjing was stunned for a moment, and just as he was about to speak, the round little boy who was taking a bath was brought over by Xiaohuan.

The round little face was steamed pink by the hot water. She was not obedient at all in Xiaohuan's arms. She twisted and turned, refusing to let Xiaohuan wipe her hair.

"I'll do it." Shang Wan took the handkerchief and covered Yuanyuan's little head. Yuanyuan immediately became obedient, tilted her little face up and giggled at her mother.

Shang Wan pinched her helplessly and put the little girl in Lu Chengjing's arms so that Xiaohuan could wash up.

When Xiaohuan came back after washing up, Yuanyuan had already fallen asleep holding the milk bottle.

Xiaohuan brought Yuanyuan over and said, "Sister, I'm going to take Yuanyuan to bed."

Shang Wan nodded and turned to look at the man and the cow leaning against each other, "Stop chatting, go take a shower quickly."

"Here I am." Shitou patted the ox's back with an unsatisfied look on his face. "Ah Huang, tomorrow I'll tell you more about how the Bull Demon King took his thirteenth concubine."

Shang Wan: ???

Lu Chengjing: "..."

Shang Wan turned to look at Lu Chengjing, "Did you hear that, he..."

Before Shang Wan finished speaking, Lu Chengjing nodded and said, "Starting tomorrow, I will assign homework to Shitou."

He shouldn't have allowed Shitou to look at so many street picture books before.

Shang Wan waved his hand, "No, I just want to ask, does Bull Demon King really have thirteen concubines?"

Lu Chengjing: "..."

This issue is indeed beyond his scope.

Seeing the expressions of the people around him constantly changing, Shang Wan couldn't help laughing and poked Lu Chengjing's cheek, "Forget it, I'll change the question, you should talk about that matter."

(End of this chapter)