Xu Lanting was initially quite happy about the elder sister's affection, but when he heard the little girl's words, he became unhappy again. He dodged her hand and said, "I am a man, not a little girl."
Xu Lanyin smiled and said, "Okay, I was wrong, you are a man."
She went to the east room and said to Qin, "Mother, the sun is shining brightly outside. It will be good for your health if you go out and bask in the sun."
Qin had long wanted to go out in the sun, and hesitantly said, "But the doctor said we can't go out in the open."
Xu Lanyin said, "There's no wind now. Put on your waistcoat and cover yourself with your vest. When the wind starts to blow, go back to the house."
Qin nodded, and Xu Lanyin went to the cupboard to find a thin vest for Qin to wear, and then helped her to the yard to sit in the sheltered place.
Xu Lanting was very happy to see his mother, who had not left the house for a long time, come out, and he said all kinds of nice things to her.
Seeing the little boy like this, Xu Lanyin felt even more distressed. She stood up and said, "I saved four cents and gave it to you to keep. When the peddler comes to the village, I'll go buy some candy."
She handed the four coins to Xu Lanting. Xu Lanting's eyes lit up with joy, and he immediately ran to give it to Qin, saying, "I won't eat alone. Mother, lock up the money and wait for my eldest brother to come back to buy food for the whole family."
Xu Lanyin felt ashamed, feeling she didn't have the overall perspective of a child. She was even more ashamed for the original owner, as the little boy put her in the dust.
Moreover, the little boy betrayed her as soon as he turned around, and her flattery hit the wrong horse.
As expected, Qin took the money and glanced at Xu Lanyin indifferently, asking, "Are you planning to save it and give it to Gu Xiucai secretly again?"
Xu Lanyin hurriedly explained, "I didn't intend to give it to Gu Xiucai, and I won't give money to his family anymore. Isn't this just giving it to my younger brother?"
Xu Lanting didn't want to let her go either, and asked, "If you don't want to give it to Gu Xiucai, why are you secretly saving money? Why don't you give all the money from selling medicine to mother?"
Well, there is still a long way to go to win over the little boy's heart.
Seeing the sun was shining, she went to the fields and pulled up all the growing white radishes and picked some cucumbers. She cut the radishes into strips and dried them in the sun, and pickled the cucumbers. The original owner had picked a lot of wild vegetables, so she dried most of them in the sun, so she could still eat them in the winter.
In the afternoon, Xu Lanyin went to the foot of the mountain to collect some firewood and came back to find a nest of pheasant eggs in the bushes. There were four of them. This was because the original owner had a good nose and could smell the eggshells.
She took it home excitedly and took credit for it, saying, "I'm making steamed egg custard for Mom and my little brother. Haha, I'm thinking of you, right?"
The little boy smiled sweetly, quickly took the eggs, and asked tentatively, "Aren't you going to keep them for your brother-in-law to nourish his body?" But the expression on his face was full of "Don't give them to me, don't give them to me..."
Xu Lanyin's mouth twitched. The dumbest person in this family was the original owner. Even Xiaodouzi was much smarter than her. She could only say bluntly, "Don't worry, I've grown more prudent and won't betray my family anymore."
Xu Lanting was surprised and satisfied. He looked at Xu Lanyin approvingly and said sagely, "I won't eat it. I'll leave it all for mom."
In the evening, they cooked corn porridge with wild vegetables and steamed two pheasant eggs, which Qin and Xiao Zhengtai shared. Xu Lanyin had a different opinion from Xu Lanzhou, believing that Xu Lanting needed more nutrition than Qin.
Xu Lanting saw that there were more eggs today, so he said a few humble words and ate them anyway. He scooped another spoonful for Xu Lanyin, this time giving it sincerely.
Xu Lanyin tasted it with her mouth but didn't really eat it.
Qin was very surprised by Xu Lanyin's behavior. She didn't know if she had really changed for the better or if she had some other ideas. It wasn't that she didn't want to believe her daughter had changed for the better, but this silly girl always did things that were unexpected.
Qin still insisted on giving half of the egg custard to Xu Lanyin, "I ate an egg this morning, and if I eat more at night, it will be hard to digest."
Xu Lanyin was a little excited to sleep with the little boy tonight. She was an only child in her previous life and had never slept with a child.
However, the little boy was not affectionate with her, and always kept a distance from her. When Xu Lan approached the little boy, he would roll inwards, and when he reached the wall and there was no place left to roll, he would press his little body against it, with the back of his head facing her.
Xu Lan was so angry that she poked his little head with her index finger and had to move to the edge of the kang.
The next morning, I woke up to find it had rained lightly. It was a gentle rain, so soft it made no sound, but it had been falling all night and was still falling. I wondered what had become of the people who had gone into the mountains.
The three people in the family were very worried.
Since the afternoon, the two siblings have been sitting under the eaves, anxiously waiting. Xu Lanting's eyes are red, and his small hands are tugging at Xu Lanyin's skirt, trembling slightly. As far as he can remember, his mother has mostly been in bed, his sister has mostly been thinking about the Gu family, and his brother is his only support.
Xu Lanyin comforted him from time to time.
At the end of the 4th hour, Xu Lanyin went to the kitchen to make a large bowl of ginger soup and boiled water. At the end of the 5th hour, the gate finally rang.
Xu Lanyin ran to open the door, and it was indeed Xu Lanzhou who had returned. In the rain and fog, he was wearing a bamboo hat, a straw raincoat, straw sandals, and rolled-up trousers, looking exhausted.
Xu Lanyin was extremely happy to see the child return safely. She smiled and said, "Come in quickly, drink the ginger soup first, and then take a hot bath."
Xu Lanzhou drank ginger soup and took a hot bath, then secretly talked with Qin and Xu Lanting in the east room.
Xu Lanyin knew that they were going to carry her on their backs, so she didn't go in and get in the way.
Xu Lanzhou handed the sixty wen he'd earned over the past two days to Qin Shi, watching her lock it in the box. A smile crossed his face. Even adults working outside usually only earned a dozen or twenty wen a day, but he'd earned thirty wen a day. Although it was exhausting, it was worth it.
He laughed heartily and said, "I'll buy half a pound of pork liver and half a pound of suet some other day to satisfy my craving."
Xu Lanting took a sip of saliva and reported on Xu Lanyin's performance in the past two days. Xu Lanzhou was also surprised by the four cents and four pheasant eggs.
Xu Lanzhou talked about going into the mountains to cut wood, and said that Master Tian gave him two sips of liquor, with his nose raised in pride.
Xu Lanting was extremely supportive and kept exclaiming in amazement. His admiring eyes made Xu Lanzhou feel that all the hard work was worth it.
Qin saw that the child was overworked, his face was green, and his eyes were red with heartache. He said, "Don't do anything tomorrow, just rest. You're still young, and you can't make up for the damage you do."
Xu Lanzhou nodded. He was really tired.
Xu Lanyin was about to cook dinner when the door rang again. It was Xu Dashi's son Xu Yuan, who had just turned three and was chubby. He wore a firecracker and straw sandals.
The rain had stopped, and the first and second rooms were not far away, but the little boy still got his trouser legs dirty.
As soon as he came in, he shouted, "My dad made a lot of money, and grandma asked me to call Uncle Zhou and Uncle Ting to my house to eat meat." He then stopped and glared at Xu Lanyin, "Grandpa also told me not to call you, a prodigal son."
His articulation was not clear, but he expressed what needed to be expressed clearly.
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