Chapter 20 Do you think I want to seduce you?
The footsteps approached, Zhao Xiping looked up, and saw that it was Sui Yu and her brother.
"Why are you back again?" he asked.
"Brother Liang dragged me back. Didn't you have something to say?" Sui Yu was puzzled.
Zhao Xiping glanced at Sui Liang. His face turned red with anxiety and he looked a little dejected. It seemed that he really couldn't speak and didn't seem to be pretending.
"Give me some more gray flour, and you two can eat some too," he said.
"Oh." Sui Yu smiled and said in a cheerful voice, "Okay, I'll go back and cook."
The brisk footsteps gradually faded away. Zhao Xiping stood up and wanted to drink some water. When he reached the edge of the field, he found that the water bag was gone.
"Going back?" asked a passerby.
Zhao Xiping waved his hand and asked, "Is there any water left in your water bag?"
"Yes." Du Xiaojiu casually tossed the water bag to him, looked around, and asked, "Are you alone?"
"She went back to cook."
"It's better to have a wife. With someone at home, you don't have to worry about food and drink every day." Du Xiaojiu joked.
Zhao Xiping didn't like these jokes, nor did he want to talk to others about Sui Yu. He had no interest in mentioning her, and even felt a little humiliated.
He threw the water bag over, squatted down, picked up the machete and continued to chop the green pole.
"Then I'll go back first, you work for a while."
"Um."
Half of the ridge of land was cut flat, and the camel came back. Sui Yu and Sui Liang followed the camel, carrying porridge and water in the scorching sun. They walked all the way and were sweating profusely.
"It's time for dinner." Sui Yu called out, "You've been working since we left? Didn't you take a break?"
"Did you take the water bag back?" Zhao Xiping asked.
"Well, the water got heated up in the sun, so I took it home and filled it with cold water." Sui Yu put the basket on the ground and said, "Liang Ge'er and I have already eaten. These are all yours."
Gray flour mixed with chopped vegetable leaves, cooked through, the leaves' green hue showing through. Golden frangipani flowers floated on the porridge. Zhao Xiping took one look and felt instantly hungry. He didn't care about cleanliness or quality. He rubbed his hands on his pants, sat down on the grassy edge of the field, and started eating from his bowl.
Small insects rustled from the grass, about to fall into the bowl, following the scent. Sui Yu quickly fanned them away. She was too close, and it touched the man's heart again. He stood up quickly and fled to the field to stand with the camel.
"Do I stink?" Sui Yu froze.
Zhao Xiping ignored her.
Sui Yu squatted on the ground and glared at him, his eyes full of embarrassment and anger.
Sui Liang looked left and right, then he slowly squatted down, curled up into a ball and dug the soil.
The two men were in a stalemate. After finishing his meal, Zhao Xiping put down his bowl and chopsticks on the ground and plunged into the millet field to continue working.
"It's really hard to please." Sui Yu muttered in a loud voice, but the person who heard it didn't respond. She had no choice but to go over and pick up the dishes, wash them quickly with the water she brought and put them back in the basket.
Sui Liang stood up and saw his sister getting off the ground, so he followed her.
"I looked for the machete at home, but I don't have it anymore." Sui Yu walked over to the man as if nothing had happened and said, "Why don't you take a break and I'll do the chopping."
"The land next to it is also mine. If you don't want to go back, you can go and harvest the ears of corn." Zhao Xiping didn't even raise his head.
"Okay, what do you want to eat tonight?" Sui Yu asked again.
Zhao Xiping then looked up and said, "There are five copper coins in the box. Go to the market and buy some."
"Is there anything you want to eat? Pork?" Sui Yu asked.
"Don't buy all meat." He stared at her.
"I'm not stupid." Sui Yu picked up the sickle and said, "Brother Liang, put on your bag and get to work."
The three of them worked on two plots of land. For the next half day, Sui Yu remained quiet and didn't say a word to Zhao Xiping. As the sun began to set, she put away her sickle and said, "I'm going back to buy some groceries and cook."
Zhao Xiping was baling the millet stalks after cutting all the millet stalks for an acre of land. He was going to use camels to transport them to the hay barn. When he heard her voice, he didn't even raise his head and responded vaguely.
Sui Yu picked up the basket and saw that the water bag was empty. She stared at the person and asked, "Should I go back and ask Liang Ge'er to bring you another bag of water?"
"No need." Zhao Xiping refused.
It was really a piece of hard rock. Sui Yu took a deep breath and called Sui Liang to leave.
As soon as the two people's footsteps disappeared, Zhao Xiping immediately dropped the work in his hands and dived into the uncut millet field to urinate.
After coming out, I continued to work.
Sui Yu took Sui Liang back. As soon as the door opened, two hens raised their necks and clucked. She threw the grass she had cut from the road on the ground, and the two chickens immediately flapped their wings and ran over to peck at the grass seeds.
He dug out a string of copper coins from the box. Five coins equaled five hundred copper coins. Sui Yu shook it in his hand and turned to ask, "Brother Liang, did your cousin take all the silver I gave you?"
Sui Liang nodded.
Sui Yu smacked his lips and said, "We're so poor! Tomorrow I'll go to the fields and cut some more vines and grass and see if I can make a cage to catch fish."
As they were talking, the two went out again, this time going to the market along the same route they came. When they arrived at the market stall, Sui Yu found that Grandma Sun, who had given her radish seedlings yesterday, was selling radishes, so she hurried to buy six.
"Mother-in-law, did your family plant a lot of radishes this year?" she asked.
"Yes, there are quite a few. Next time you buy radishes, just come to my house and I will give you more radish seedlings." As she said that, Grandma Sun grabbed two handfuls of vegetable seedlings and stuffed them into Sui Yu's hands.
Sui Yu agreed readily, and left with the radish in her hand. She went to the next stall to buy some dried vegetables. The aunt selling the vegetables said that they were bitter vegetables from spring, and they could be stewed with meat to relieve greasiness and reduce internal heat.
Sui Liang saw the fish and turned his head to stare at it. Sui Yu noticed and walked over to ask, "Hey, how much are the fish?"
"There are only four left, worth two cents."
"It's quite expensive," Sui Yu said with a sense of anticipation. She said she'd wait and see. The oil tank at home was almost empty, so she wanted to buy some fat pork to make oil for cooking. However, when she went to ask, she was disappointed. A pound of pork cost five cents, so she couldn't afford it.
"Are you still going to buy it?" asked the pork seller.
"Buy." Sui Yu counted out three hundred copper coins and handed them over, saying, "Cut this much for me, I only want the fat."
She turned around and went to buy two small fish and a piece of tofu.
"Meat is so expensive. I might as well just raise pigs." Sui Yu muttered to himself on the way back.
"Sister Yu."
Sui Yu turned around and saw Sui Ling, who had run out from the third alley in Shisantun.
"Are you buying groceries and cooking?" Sui Ling asked. "My home is in this alley. Come visit me when you have time."
"Don't you have to work?" Sui Yu asked in confusion.
"I can't. Qian Wei won't let me go out either. He told me to rest at home." Sui Ling was very happy. She looked at Sui Yu and felt very lucky. "By the way, Sister Yu, I came to see you for something. The Qian family is going to hold a wedding banquet in two days. You can come and be my maiden family member."
Sui Yu shook her head and said, "That won't work. Zhao Xiping won't let me associate with you."
"Ah?" Sui Ling was stunned. "It's okay. I'll ask your brother-in-law to go over and talk to him."
Sui Yu didn't think Zhao Xiping would change his mind for anyone's sake, so she excused herself, saying she had to go back to cook, and left. Before leaving, she kindly reminded him, "Remember our identities. Don't stay at home and act like a wife. If you can't cook, learn. Cutting grass and harvesting millet isn't difficult either. Everyone hates useless things."
"What a bummer." Sui Ling was unhappy and turned away.
Sui Yu glanced back before entering the house, instantly forgetting Sui Ling's thoughts. She dove into the kitchen, smelted pork into a spoonful of oil, poured salt into the oil, and then placed it in a can of oil along with the pork to preserve it. The meat would stay in the salty oil, keeping it from spoiling. This was a memory from her past life, when her grandmother hadn't had a refrigerator at home, and she used this method to store meat.
The remaining oil at the bottom of the pot is used to fry the fish. After it has slightly colored, add water and boil it. Add a ladle of water to two small fish the size of a palm, and pour the tofu in so that the fish are completely invisible.
Sui Liang sat by the stove and lit the fire, staring at the steamer without blinking. When Sui Yu was not paying attention, he leaned over to the pot and inhaled the white smoke.
It was getting dark, and the two chickens were put into the cage after eating the fish scales and gills. Sui Yu carried water and poured it into the trough in the camel pen. When she came out, she picked up two pieces of clothes on the clothesline. She didn't know whether the mud on the clothes had been washed off, but the smell of sweat was still there.
"Pah." She thought the clothes were Zhao Xiping's stinky stone and spat at them.
In the kitchen, Sui Liang quickly retracted his head.
"Brother Liang, stop making the fire and come out to comb your hair." Sui Yu shouted.
It was hot working in the fields, and the lice in Sui Yu's hair were running rampant. She was almost going crazy with itchiness, and she almost scratched her scalp. At that time, she was determined to kill the lice. If she couldn't kill them, she would cut her hair, wrap her head with cloth when it was cold, and her hair would grow back when spring came.
…
"Open the door." Zhao Xiping came back.
"I'm here." Sui Yu tied up her hair, washed her hands, and ran to open the door, muttering, "You're back so late again. I thought you were taken away by a wolf."
Zhao Xiping ignored him. Sui Yu took away the farm tools. He led the camel back to the pen and went to scoop water to pour it out.
"I said I should let Liang Ge'er bring you water." Sui Yu said as he passed by.
"I'm not thirsty in the fields," the man said stubbornly.
Sui Yu didn't argue with him. She opened the lid of the pot and poured out the fish soup, then took out the radish cake from the cupboard. She called it radish cake, but in fact it was just steamed radish mixed with gray flour and then steamed in a pot. It saved more flour than making steamed buns.
"I didn't cook porridge tonight. Porridge doesn't taste good with soup. I steamed radish cake and it tastes good with fish soup." Sui Yu said.
Zhao Xiping nodded. The young lady was very knowledgeable about food and clothing, and as a rough man, he would not offer any opinions on this matter to avoid embarrassment.
The radish cake was cold, so they soaked it in fish soup to absorb the juice and ate it with tofu. The three of them ate without looking up until the fish soup was gone, then they straightened up.
"If you don't go to the fields tomorrow, I'll stew another pot at home." Zhao Xiping was not satisfied yet.
Sui Yu smiled slyly and asked, "What do you mean by running in the fields at noon? Why are you running?"
Zhao Xiping looked at her with a stern face. They stared at each other, and he was the first to lose the upper hand. He stood up and walked out, saying, "Just stay away from me."
"You think I want to seduce you?"
There was a sudden thud in the yard, and no one knew what he had kicked over.
Sui Yu got up to clean up the dishes and the stove. She heard no sound outside, so she went out and saw that the shoulder pole and bucket were gone. She knew that he had gone to the river to take a bath and fetch water again.
She also scooped water to take a bath, thinking that she would wash her hair when it was hot at noon tomorrow. After washing her clothes, she hung them on the line. Sui Yu found an old man's clothes and put them on.
"Go open the door when your brother-in-law comes back later." Sui Yu said to Sui Liang.
Sui Liang nodded.
Whenever he heard any movement outside the door, he would run out quickly. After two runs, he finally found the person.
"I caught two fish in the river. You can make fish soup tomorrow at noon." Zhao Xiping said while standing in the yard.
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