Chapter 15 My Mother Doesn't Need It

Liu Ye patted her chest and squatted down to rub corn kernels. Great! The black soil has grown bigger, and now she has seeds too. She's going to plant all the land with grain, and by the next harvest, the black soil will definitely be even bigger.

Liu Ye shredded 20 ears of corn, filled half a bag, and went to the field to sow the seeds. She placed one kernel of corn about a foot's width apart, whether it was too far or too close, it didn't matter, since she didn't know how to farm anyway, as long as they grew, that was fine. She placed the seeds in front, and the seeds behind automatically burrowed into the soil, without needing to be covered by hand, which saved her a lot of trouble.

An hour later, Liu Ye successfully planted two acres of black soil. She ate a cucumber and a tomato, then flashed out of the space. The moon had already risen outside.

Liu Ye nimbly climbed up the woodpile, pried open the chicken coop, and found five more eggs. Whose chickens laid them? Whatever, she didn't hesitate to put them into her spatial storage, then lay down on the haystack to rest. After the Bai family turned off their lights, she would go and deliver fish to Brother Bai.

Next door, at the Bai family's house, Uncle Bai stared at the black, mushy mess in the pot, nearly fainting with rage: "Fuck your mother! Didn't I tell you not to burn the food? Are you deaf? You stupid woman, get out of here! Get out of here, do you hear me?!"

Startled, Bai Wangshi knelt on the ground, wailing with snot and tears streaming down her face, "Husband, I was wrong! I really didn't mean to burn the food! Waaah, please don't send me away! A married daughter is like water spilled from a cup; I'm yours even in death. Where can I go? Waaah... Our big pot isn't working well; the straw is smoking. Husband, how about... how about you go up the mountain and chop some firewood? Firewood doesn't smoke..."

Upon hearing this, Uncle Bai exclaimed, "You've gone too far!" as he told the scholar to go up the mountain to chop wood.

He went up and slapped Bai Wangshi across the face. "Smack!" "Ouch!"

Bai Wangshi covered her stinging face and collapsed to the ground crying, "Waaah, husband, I was wrong, please don't hit me, I was wrong, I was wrong... waaah waaah waaah waaah."

Bai Zimei, leaning against the wall, secretly slipped back to her room.

As time passed, the noise from the Bai family subsided. Liu Ye sat up from the woodpile and, seeing that the Bai family's lights were off, climbed over the wall.

Arriving at Bai Zilin's door, Liu Ye took out the bowl of grilled fish from her spatial storage, gently pushed open the door, and saw Bai Zilin sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed) against the wall. He wasn't lying down; anyone who didn't know better would think he was waiting for her.

In fact, Bai Zilin was waiting for her. He had been hungry all day and was hoping that the silly girl would bring him food. Sure enough, the silly girl came: "Silly girl, you've come..."

Liu Ye handed the bowl of grilled fish to Bai Zilin: "I caught some small fish by the river and grilled them. I've already eaten them. This is for you, Brother Bai, please have some."

Bai Zilin looked at the fragrant grilled fish in the bowl and swallowed hard without making a sound: "You really ate it, silly girl? Don't go hungry just to save food for me, I won't eat it..."

Liu Ye could hear him swallowing. She shoved the bowl into Bai Zilin's hands and said, "I've really eaten. Brother Bai, you should eat now. I have some bad news for you. The stream in the mountains has dried up. The fish I caught were from the stream. And it's been incredibly hot these past few days. I'm afraid we won't last more than a few days. People in the village will probably start arranging to flee south for the famine."

Seeing that Bai Zilin was holding the bowl but hadn't touched it, Liu Ye pushed the bowl towards him: "Brother Bai, eat up, it's so hot, it'll go bad if you don't eat it soon."

Bai Zilin picked up a small fish and put it in his mouth, taking small bites: "Mmm, it's really delicious, but it's a bit fishy without salt. Silly girl, we have salt in our kitchen. Take it with you when you leave. My mother doesn't need it..."

Liu Ye smiled and nodded, "Okay." She looked at the bucket and saw that there was only half a bucket of water left. "Brother Bai, you can drink a lot of water. Did your mother make the food too salty?"

Bai Zilin couldn't help but burst out laughing. He sighed deeply, "My parents are planning to starve me to death, they won't bring me any food at all... Silly girl, I... I really don't want to trouble you. You've already had it so hard being a girl, I...!"

Liu Ye snapped out of her shock and understood what he meant: "Brother Bai, don't say that. Actually, I haven't had it easy at all. I'm quite content on my own, and I'm capable of finding food and helping you, Brother Bai. Otherwise, how do you think I grew up in Old Liu's family and is still doing so well? Hehehe." (ω) Hehe

Bai Zilin was deeply moved by her innocent and kind words. He blinked hard twice to hold back his tears and made a decision in his heart: "If my leg really gets better in the future, will you let me take care of you?"

Liu Ye nodded casually: "Okay, but there's something I don't understand. Aren't you the only son in your family? But why are your parents... not nice to you at all? The Liu family is not nice to me because I'm an idiot, hehehe. Well, actually I'm not an idiot anymore. The Liu family was not nice to me, so I pretended to be an idiot. But you're not an idiot either."

Bai Zilin smiled bitterly, took a big bite of grilled fish, and said while chewing, "I know the reason, but it's not convenient to tell you. Maybe I'll tell you in the future, or maybe I'll never tell you. It's not very honorable..."

Upon hearing his words, Liu Ye automatically conjured up all sorts of little stories in her mind. Brother Bai must be… his father's son with some random woman, or his mother married his father while pregnant, or perhaps he was an abandoned baby his mother or father picked up from outside, or…? (ω) Hey

Seeing her grinning foolishly, Bai Zilin nudged her arm and asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"Ah, I wasn't thinking about anything. Um, Brother Bai, you keep eating. I'll head back now," Liu Ye said guiltily.

Bai Zilin looked at her and reminded her, "Don't forget to go to the kitchen and get the salt."

Liu Ye nodded and quietly came out of the house, gently closed the door, went to the kitchen next door, put the salt shaker into her spatial storage. She originally wanted to find some oil, but unfortunately she couldn't find any. However, she found a large bag of rapeseed in the cupboard. Rapeseed was good, so she put it into her spatial storage without hesitation.

Then she saw a steamer hanging on the kitchen wall. She figured that Brother Bai's mother probably wouldn't need it, so she waved her hand and put it into her space without hesitation. She saw a board standing in the corner and guessed that Brother Bai's mother probably wouldn't need it either, so she put it into her space as well. She then saw a big pot on the stove and thought it looked nice, so she put it into her space without hesitation as well.

Liu Ye came out of the kitchen and saw a small cart under the window. She guessed that Brother Bai's mother wouldn't need it, so she waved her hand and put it into her space. Then she climbed over the wall and jumped onto the haystack to sleep.

The next day, Liu Ye was awakened by a piercing scream. She sat up, scratched her ear, and muttered angrily, "Who is so inconsiderate, making such a racket so early in the morning!"