It was a sunny day, and Xie Fei was on vacation again, so she took a bus home from the city. When she entered the house, she saw only Xie Zhao working in the yard, and an exquisite wooden cat house was beginning to take shape.

Xie Fei said with a smile: "Brother, I'm back! Where's grandma? Where's sister Yaoyao?"

"Grandma has gone to catch up, Yaoyao is still sleeping." Xie Zhao took Xie Fei's luggage and asked, "Have you had lunch?"

Xie Fei stretched lazily: "I've eaten. Brother, I'm going to sleep for a while too. I worked the night shift yesterday and worked until this morning. I'm so sleepy."

Xie Zhao touched her head and said, "Go ahead. Yaoyao is going to make goat milk pudding today. You can eat it when you wake up."

Xie Fei sighed and went back to her room happily.

Xie Zhao put away the things Xie Fei brought back, picked up his tools and started working again, the clanging sound continued. Jianjian, on the other hand, slept soundly.

Xie Zhao made a lot of toys for Jianjian according to the drawings Cheng Yaoyao gave him: cat scratching boards, cat teasers, and a luxurious seven-layer cat climbing frame. Jianjian would parkour seven or eight times a day. He was tired during the day and was not so noisy at night. Unfortunately, his appetite increased due to fatigue, and his body became more and more round, turning into a solid little fat cat.

Jianjian held his little cushion in his mouth and placed it in the warmest sunlight spot in front of the patio, spreading his short legs and snoring. As the sunlight gradually moved, he turned over and curled up into a fur ball.

Xie Zhao installed the last nail and rubbed it gently with his thumb. It was smooth and flat. He blew away the shavings on top with satisfaction, picked up the toolbox and ladder and put them back in the utility room. When he passed by Jianjian, he moved it under the sun.

As the warm sunlight shone on his body, the cat ball gradually turned over and melted into a pool of cat biscuits.

Xie Zhao fetched some water to wipe his sweat, then pushed the door and walked into the east room. Cheng Yaoyao was sleeping on the bed in the same position as Jianjian, with half of the quilt on the ground, his cheeks flushed, and his lips slightly parted, as if waiting for a kiss.

A face gifted by God, it still looks amazing even after seeing it a thousand times. Xie Zhao picked up the quilt, gently took Cheng Yaoyao's arm and stuffed it back into the quilt.

Cheng Yaoyao hummed, and his peach blossom eyes widened: "What are you doing..."

Xie Zhao said: "Get up when you wake up, Xiao Fei is back."

"I'm still sleepy..." Cheng Yaoyao turned over and put his face on Xie Zhao's palm. His dark curly eyelashes trembled slightly like butterfly wings, making Xie Zhao's heart tremble along with them.

Xie Zhao was reluctant to wake her up, but had to remind her: "Don't you want to go get goat milk? If you don't go, I will."

"...Wait!" Cheng Yaoyao finally opened his eyes, sat up sleepily and put on his clothes.

Xie Zhao fetched some hot water for her to wash up. Cheng Yaoyao took her time to get ready. Her dark hair was braided into a pigtail and hung on her shoulders. She looked like the bright and charming Guanyin again.

Cheng Yaoyao took a double-handled pottery jar with a lid, put some steamed buns in it, and picked some vegetables and put them in a basket. Xie Zhao brought two books and a pen.

Cheng Yaoyao asked: "Do you want to ask Xiao Fei to come along?"

Xie Zhao said: "She is still resting, no need to call her."

Xie Zhao closed the courtyard door from the outside, and the two of them left together.

All the stinky old ninths in the cowshed were rehabilitated and returned to the city, leaving only Li Xiangming and Qian Fu. The two of them were not worried, and they happily accompanied the sheep raised by the production team every day. Tianshui Village had always been lenient towards these stinky old ninths, and now that the situation was gradually easing, they also provided them with wooden planks to lay beds and built a stove for cooking, which made their lives much better.

Xie Zhao was very familiar with them, so he took out his book and started asking questions. Cheng Yaoyao ran to the side to watch the lamb and didn't listen at all. Anyway, Xie Zhao would teach her when he got back. If Cheng Yaoyao listened carefully, she would find that what they were discussing was not the college entrance examination questions at all, but a series of economic knowledge full of difficult professional vocabulary.

The production team had seven sheep instead of two last year. Li Xiangming and Qian Fu had nothing to do all day, except teaching Xie Zhao to read and taking care of the sheep. They kept the sheepfold clean. The three lambs were white and fluffy like clouds, bleating as they huddled around the ewes.

Cheng Yaoyao took out some tender greens to feed the ewe, and several lambs immediately came to Cheng Yaoyao and bleated, which made Cheng Yaoyao's heart melt. Cheng Yaoyao hugged each lamb and sucked them one by one. Xie Zhao brought her goat's milk and asked her to go home, but she refused.

On the way home she was still mumbling: "Why can't you raise a lamb! You can even tolerate stubbornness!"

Xie Zhao also wanted to ask himself, why did he agree to let Cheng Yaoyao raise Qiangqiang?

Cheng Yaoyao kept mumbling all the way, but Xie Zhao silenced her with a kiss and half an hour of extra sleep every day. Cheng Yaoyao also said that if Xie Zhao was willing to let her sleep half an hour longer, she would let Xie Zhao take Jianjian to the city and sell him.

Xie Zhao was deeply moved and rejected her.

The two happily returned to the door of their home. Cheng Yaoyao ran up the stairs first and pushed the door. The gate was closed. Cheng Yaoyao pushed it again: "Xie Zhao, is the door locked from the inside? Didn't you unlock it when you went out?"

Xie Zhao went forward and pushed the door. It was locked from the inside. He knocked on the door and shouted, "Xiao Fei, open the door!"

Cheng Yaoyao also felt something was wrong: "Why did Xiao Fei lock the door when she was alone at home? Open the door, open the door!"

The yard was silent. Cheng Yaoyao was anxious. Now the Xie family had a good relationship with their neighbors and never locked the door in broad daylight. But Xie Fei locked the door when she was alone at home. Could there be a bad guy?

Just as he was thinking, a round orange head popped out from the wall. Cheng Yaoyao hurriedly said, "Where's Xiao Fei? Ask her to open the door!"

Jianjian squatted on the wall with his furry tail curled in front of his body covering his two paws. He tilted his head and looked at the two anxious people innocently.

Cheng Yaoyao: "...Forget it. Xie Zhao, climb over the wall and take a look!"

Xie Zhao also had a gloomy face. He dropped his things and was about to climb over the wall. There was movement inside the courtyard gate: "Brother? Sister Yaoyao?"

"It's me!" Cheng Yaoyao knocked on the door, "Open it quickly!"

There was a sound of bolt being pulled from the door, and the gate was opened. Xie Zhao rushed in at a quick step, only to see Xie Fei standing in front of them.

Xie Zhao breathed a sigh of relief. Cheng Yaoyao pulled Xie Fei and said, "Why did you lock the door? You didn't come back when I called you. You scared us to death!"

"I was in the room just now and didn't hear it. I locked the door because..." Xie Fei looked a little strange, not knowing where to start: "Because..."

Cheng Yaoyao said anxiously, "Tell me what's going on!"

Xie Fei then said, "Sister Yaoyao, your sister came here just now."

Cheng Yaoyao was furious when he heard this: "Cheng Nonuo? Why did you let her in? Did she do anything?"

As Cheng Yaoyao spoke, he walked into the yard, and sure enough, there was a cup of tea and snacks on the table.

Xie Fei said dejectedly, "She said she wanted to see you, Sister Yaoyao, and then she barged in. I... I didn't want her to come in, but I couldn't stop her."

"A weasel is paying New Year's greetings to a chicken. How can she be so kind?" Cheng Yaoyao criticized, "You are too careless!"

She was so shameless that she sat there and refused to leave, even saying that she wanted to eat the snacks that you, Sister Yaoyao, made.”

Cheng Yaoyao raised his eyebrows: "Did you give it to her?"

Xie Fei shook her head hurriedly: "I went to make her a cup of tea for our guests and brought some snacks from the city. When I went to make tea, she ran to Sister Yaoyao's room and said she wanted to take a look. I had a hard time pushing her out."

Cheng Yaoyao's face changed drastically, and he hurried into the room. The curtains on her bed had been put away, and the pink quilt was neatly placed on the bed. The table by the window was reflecting the sunlight, and there were books and notebooks scattered around. The floor of the water-polished blue bricks was shiny, and now there were several lines of dirty shoe prints.

The footprints were on the cabinet and the bedside. Cheng Yaoyao hurriedly opened the cabinet to check. The clothes were not moved, but the snack box was moved. However, the snacks inside had been eaten long ago, and now there were some sundries.

Cheng Yaoyao ran to the bed and rummaged around. She reached into the secret compartment behind the bed and felt around. The small purse was still there. The money and bills in the mother-of-pearl box beside the pillow were also there. Cheng Yaoyao lifted the quilt and shook it.

Xie Zhao asked in a deep voice: "What's missing?"

"It seems... not." Cheng Yaoyao was confused. This was not Cheng Nonuo's character. She and her mother were full of bad intentions, but they were still not paying attention. There were two or three hundred dollars in her small box, and the clothes in the cabinet were also worth a lot of money. Even if she didn't take it, she would have ruined it.

Xie Zhao carried Cheng Yaoyao down to the ground and examined him carefully.

Seeing that both of them were very serious, Xie Fei was so scared that she grabbed the hem of her clothes and said, "I found her not long after she entered the room and pushed her out immediately. Sister, did she steal... anything?"

In the countryside at that time, "stealing" was a crime more shameful than murder, and the word "thank you" turned into "taking" when it came to your lips.

"It seems she didn't have time to do anything bad." Cheng Yaoyao said, "I see nothing is missing from the house."

Xie Zhao checked and found nothing wrong, so he felt relieved. He said casually, "Sister, the peach blossoms have dried up."

Cheng Yaoyao said casually: "Impossible, that water..."

Cheng Yaoyao's voice suddenly stopped.

On the windowsill stood a small round-mouthed jar with a shallow mouth and sweet white glaze. Cheng Yaoyao bought it on the black market for fifty cents. It was filled with water and held a peach branch with flower buds, a rare sight of bright spring scenery on a cold day. At this moment, the jar was empty, without a drop of water. But the flower buds on the branch were still pink and tender, about to bloom.

Cheng Yaoyao had a strange expression on his face, and suddenly thought of a possibility.

Cheng Nonuo suspected that there was spiritual spring in her cake last time. This time, he broke into her bedroom while she was away, without touching her money or clothes, but only rummaging through the snack box. Wasn't he after the spiritual spring?

It's just that... there are a few drops of spiritual spring water in the water for growing flowers, but she hasn't changed it for several days. When she remembered, she just poured some clean water in. Could Cheng Nonuo have drunk this water?

"Sister?" Xie Zhao saw Cheng Yaoyao's strange expression and asked, "Did you find anything missing?"

Cheng Yaoyao shook his head in a daze: "Just one bowl of water is missing."

Xie Zhao couldn't help but curl up his lips, and Xie Fei also breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "Sister, did you remember it wrong? Did you forget to add water?"

Cheng Yaoyao said: "Maybe."

Cheng Yaoyao was still in a bad mood because Cheng Nuonuo broke into the house for no reason and rummaged through things in the house.

Xie Zhaoan patted Cheng Yaoyao for a while, then said, "I have to go out for a while, you and Xiao Fei stay at home and don't run around."

"Okay." Cheng Yaoyao nodded obediently.

As soon as Xie Zhao walked out of the door, his face turned gloomy and he walked straight to the captain's house.

Xie Fei let the wolf into the house, and when Cheng Yaoyao told her about the new and old grudges with Cheng Nuonuo, she felt so guilty that she almost cried. She twisted her fingers and said, "I'm sorry, Sister Yaoyao, I really didn't know she was so bad. I thought you two just had a bad relationship, but she is your sister after all, and I can't chase her away..."

Cheng Yaoyao was about to say it was okay, but then he changed his mind and frowned, saying sternly: "You always think the best of people. You are soft-hearted, and you obviously don't want her to come in, but you are too embarrassed to refuse her firmly. Think about it, what if she brought a bad guy in today?"

Xie Fei's face turned pale: "No, it won't happen?"

"Of course not! You can never know a person's true heart by his appearance! What if she set fire to our house? What if she stole something important?" Cheng Yaoyao lowered his voice, "What if she brought bad people with her, and if she didn't rob us, she would rape us?"

At the end, Xie Fei began to tremble like a leaf in the wind and cried, "Sister, please stop talking. I'm scared!"

Seeing that she was really scared, Cheng Yaoyao patted her on the shoulder and said, "Your brother and I can't stay by your side forever. You must learn to say no to others and not always let others influence your will and decisions. Think about it yourself."

Cheng Yaoyao finished speaking, leaving Xie Fei with a thoughtful look on his face as he left the room. In the original book, Xie Fei's temper was even softer than it is now, and she half-heartedly let the scumbag do it. I hope Xie Fei can learn from this lesson and change his temper.

There were snacks and tea on the table, as well as a plate of fresh tomatoes. Cheng Nonuo drank most of the tea and moved a piece of the snack, probably because he found that there was no spiritual spring in it and stopped eating.

The tomatoes that were actually nourished by the spiritual spring were not even touched.

Cheng Yaoyao's lips twitched. What a fool. Thinking of Cheng Nuonuo touching these snacks, Cheng Yaoyao felt disgusted. She poured the tea and snacks directly into the chicken feeder and added half a basin of spiritual spring water. The hens swarmed over to peck at the food.

Jianjian jumped down from the wall. Cheng Yaoyao hurriedly said, "Come here, don't try to steal the chicken food, are you embarrassed?"

"Yeah! Yeah!" She ran to Cheng Yaoyao with her short legs and rubbed against him in a coquettish voice.

Cheng Yaoyao used Lingquan to make a bowl of goat milk powder, added some hot water to mix it, and placed it far away from the chicken coop. Jianjian sniffed it with his little nose, dove in and drank it.

Xie Fei and Cheng Yaoyao cleaned the floor of the room together, and it was already evening.

Cheng Yaoyao was cooking in the kitchen when she heard Xie Zhao and Grandma Xie come in.

"Grandma!" Cheng Yaoyao wiped his hands and ran out. Seeing Xie Zhao carrying a lot of things, he asked, "What did you buy at the market?"

Xie Zhao put the package down and let Cheng Yaoyao check it. Grandma Xie bought a lot of things from the market: tofu, blue-dyed cloth, honey and beeswax, and a small purse embroidered with colorful threads.

Cheng Yaoyao smiled and said to Xie Zhao: "Let's cook some mapo tofu tonight and make it spicy."

Seeing her so heartless, Grandma Xie sighed and waved her hand to let her go to the kitchen.

On the way, Grandma Xie heard what happened from Xie Zhao and scolded Xie Fei again. She was still talking about it until dinner time. Xie Fei was so embarrassed that she was about to cry again. Cheng Yaoyao said, "Nothing was lost. Xiao Fei has learned her lesson and will not do it again next time."

Grandma Xie said sternly, "Don't think this is a small matter! If she enters your room, what if she steals your personal belongings?"

Cheng Yaoyao hadn't thought about this and said, "This isn't a feudal society anymore..."

"That's the way it is in the countryside! Don't take it lightly!" Grandma Xie said seriously, "Especially for girls like you. If something goes wrong, it will be too late!"