Chapter 19
Around noon, Yu Ying borrowed a clay pot from Aunt He to cook.
Two clay pots, one for cooking and one for stewing.
When she went into the house to get rice, she found that the litchi fruits on the ground were gone.
Yu Ying thought about it for a while, seemed to have guessed something, and went to the thatched cottage next door.
Behind the straw curtain, she whispered, "I'm going in."
He entered the house only after being reminded.
In the yard, the eldest daughter-in-law of the He family was surprised to see the new bride of the Fu family coming out of another room and saying something before going to the main house.
She lowered her voice and asked her mother-in-law beside her: "Mother, why doesn't the new bride of the Fu family live with Fu Erlang?"
Aunt He looked up at Yu who had just entered the room after pushing aside the straw curtains, and explained in a low voice, "That's because these two young people haven't even properly married yet, not to mention the legs of Fu's Erlang... Hey, don't ask about it, and don't even mention it in front of them."
He's wife didn't dare to ask.
When Yu Ying entered the house, she saw the table covered with cleaned peels of Ficus microcarpa, and the new wooden basin was almost full of seeds.
Yu Ying's gaze moved from the pot of seeds upwards to look at Fu Wei.
Fu Wei's face still had a cold expression. Perhaps because the fruit was not washed clean, his originally fair hands were a little dirty.
He placed his hands flat on his chest, tilted his head slightly towards the fruit seeds on the table, glanced at Yu Ying again, and said in a light tone: "I have prepared everything for you. Please bring some water in so that I can wash my hands."
Yu Ying wanted to say something, but Fu Wei seemed to see through her thoughts and said calmly, "After doing some work, I don't feel like a useless person anymore."
Yu Ying was about to say "Do you still want it?", but after hearing what he said, she swallowed it back.
He said, "Wait a minute," and went out of the house to get some water.
After returning with the water, she glanced at the fruit peels on the table, put the water on the bamboo stool, and said, "Even if you don't want to do it, I will make you do it after you rest for a day or two. You are too arrogant, just like Fu An."
Fu Wei dipped his hands, which were covered in sticky liquid, into the basin and asked, "How can we be the same as him?"
Yu Ying: "They both love to show off. With such a skinny body, it would be fine if he only had to fetch water once, but he goes to fetch water every morning, noon and night without fail."
If you do too much heavy work, it may affect your future height.
Fu Wei didn't care much and just said, "He has been in charge for a long time, I just don't want to be idle."
Yu Ying muttered softly, "People who like to show off never admit they're showing off, just like a drunk person never admits he's drunk."
Fu Wei: ...
I didn't continue to argue with her, but just asked: "The seeds have been dug out, what should I do next?"
Yu Ying said, "I'll do the rest of the work. I'll teach you in two days."
After thinking for a moment, he said, "I'm too busy this morning. I'll come and rub you with the medicinal wine after lunch."
Fu Wei didn't say anything. After Yu Ying washed his hands, she took the basin and left the room.
As he wiped his hands with a new dry towel, Fu Wei seemed to have thought of something and frowned slightly.
He turned his head to look at the medicinal wine on the bedside, then looked down at his shoulders and chest, and was silent for a moment.
She just said that after lunch, she would come to rub him with medicinal wine... ?
*
Because the house was being tidied in the yard, Yu Ying could only bring the ceramic stove into the house, then open the curtains on the windows and doors and cook in the house, while little Funing followed her and added fuel to the fire.
Yu Ying planned to use a cabbage and more than four ounces of pork to make a pork stewed with cabbage. Cabbage is the cabbage of later generations.
Then boil the radish in water. After the radish is cooked, take it out and pour in hot lard. Finally, simply mix it with salt.
Finally, the staple food.
Because there were less than three pounds of rice left at home, if they cooked it all, they would have no food left, so Yu Ying only scooped out one and a half pounds of rice, washed seven or eight taro roots that were smaller than a fist, peeled and cut them into cubes, and put them into the pot to cook with the rice to make taro rice.
After a while, the fragrance drifted out of the house. Everyone was already hungry after working all morning, and the smell of the fragrance made them even hungrier.
Aunt He thought about it for a while and realized that the kitchen and toilet were basically done. She just needed to put the thatch on them and reinforce the two old thatched houses. It would be done in an afternoon.
After making up his mind, he said to the others, "Let's go back and rest for a while, and then do the work in the afternoon when the sun is not so strong."
The others put down their work and prepared to go back to have lunch and take a short rest.
Yu Ying in the room heard Aunt He's words and probably understood that they were concerned about the Fu family's life and did not want to burden the Fu family, so she planned to go back for lunch.
Yu Ying quickly wiped her hands, came out of the house, and shouted, "The meal is almost ready, why did you go back?"
Aunt He smiled and said, "Let's go back for lunch and rest for a while. You can save lunch for dinner."
Yu Ying was helpless: "Aunt He, I made too much. Our family can't finish it even if it goes bad."
As he spoke, he walked to Aunt He's side and said, "I've been helping a small restaurant in Yu County cook for a few days and have earned enough money to eat, so Aunt He, you don't have to worry about us going hungry."
Yu Ying went to Yu County to deliver food secretly, and now no one else in the village knew about it except the Fu family.
Now, Yu Ying also had an understanding of the He family. With their help, she told Aunt He half of the story so that she could feel more at ease.
Aunt He looked surprised: "You cook for a small restaurant in Yu County?"
Yu Ying smiled and said, "Of course. If you don't believe me, ask my mother and Fu An."
Aunt He looked at the grandfather and grandson, and saw Fu An nod. Then she heard him say, "What my aunt said is true. We ate rice and oil residue yesterday. It was delicious."
Even Mrs. Luo said, "Just do as Liu Niang asks. Stay and eat."
Aunt He was surprised. It seemed that the Fu family all sided with Yu. This was not the case a month ago.
Could it be that the Fu family's life has really gotten better?
At this time, Yu Ying continued to talk to Aunt He, "Aunt He, please wait for a moment. I will go and move the table with Fu An and eat outside. If you leave, we can bring the food to your house."
After that, he looked at Song Sanlang and said, "Song Sanlang, you too, if you don't want to stay, I will let Fu An send you to the Song family."
After saying that, Yu Ying let go of Aunt He's hand, then turned and walked into the house, and Fu An followed.
Everyone in the He family looked at Aunt He, even Song Sanlang looked at Aunt He, as if they were all waiting for her to make up her mind.
Aunt He was speechless for a while.
But now that Mrs. Yu has said so, what else can I do? I can only stay.
At most, if there is not enough food, just eat less.
Aunt He nodded: "Then stay."
After a while, the bamboo table was carried out and placed under the tree.
The Fu family's yard is very large. It was overgrown with weeds before, but now it is clean thanks to Yu Ying's tidying up.
There are two trees in the corner of the yard, the names of which Yu Ying cannot remember. She usually works under the shade of the trees during the day, which is quite cool.
Yu Ying and Fu Anfu brought out the long bamboo bench again, and then put the food on the table.
Although there are only two dishes, they are large in quantity.
Although there was little meat, He's family and Song Sanlang were stunned when they saw meat in the dish.
This stewed cabbage with meat is the main dish at banquets held in Lingshui Village.
How much money can you make by cooking for a small restaurant?
Yu must have used the dowry she brought with her to subsidize the bill. Everyone knew it but didn't expose it.
They thought that since the Yu family valued them so much, if they needed help in the future, they would definitely not refuse if they could do so.
Besides, there were not enough bowls and chopsticks, so He's wife went back to get some.
The three men who did the heavy work had big appetites, so they filled a bowl of taro rice. The women had smaller appetites after all, so they only filled it 70% full.
Yu Ying knew that Fu Wei was controlling his eating in order to avoid frequent urination, so she only gave him half a bowl, put some vegetables on top, and asked Fu An to bring it into the house for him.
After lunch, everyone went home to rest.
Yu Ying and Fu An cleaned up the dishes. Before Yu Ying could react, he put the bowls in a basin and took them to the river to wash.
Yu Ying glanced at his receding figure, then looked away and said to Luo: "Take Ningning to my room to sleep for a while. I'll go and rub Erlang with some medicinal wine."
When Mrs. Luo heard that she needed to rub the medicated wine, she asked, "Did Erlang fall hard?"
Luo Shi also couldn't stand too much stimulation, so Yu Ying didn't tell the truth: "It's not a big deal, just a little bruise on the arm, just apply some medicinal wine to remove the bruises."
"Is it really like that?" Mrs. Luo was a little unconvinced.
"I don't need to lie to you." Yu Ying looked at Fu Ning and said softly, "Help grandma go inside for a nap."
Fu Ning nodded slightly, then took her grandmother's hand, and Luo followed her granddaughter into the house.
After watching them enter the house, Yu Ying turned and went into the house next door.
Fu Wei almost didn't sleep all night yesterday, and was busy all morning. Not only did he cut a bunch of wild fruits, but he also dug out fruit seeds all morning. He was naturally tired, so he took a nap after lunch.
When Yu Ying entered the room, he was dozing with his eyes closed, but he vaguely heard some noises. He opened his eyes alertly for a moment and almost grabbed the stick beside the bed at the same time, with a look of strong vigilance in his eyes.
Only when he saw clearly that the person coming in was Yu Ying did his vigilance disappear.
Seeing him so defensive, Yu Ying knew that he had suffered a lot of torture since he went from being a favored child of heaven to the son of a traitor, not only physically but also mentally.
How could he not be heartbroken when the people closest to him abandoned him?
Because of this, he was wary of everyone. Even when he returned to the Fu family, he was always wary of his biological mother and two nephews.
Over the past ten days, Yu Ying has seen everything.
Yu Ying paused in thought and said to him, "I'll come over and give you some medicinal wine."
Fu Wei regained consciousness and said, "No need, I can do it myself."
Applying medicinal wine also requires careful attention to strength and massage techniques, so that the blood stasis can be removed faster. Yu Ying's occupational disease came back, so she said: "I will help you apply the medicinal wine and give you a massage while I am at it."
After thinking for a moment, he added, "You've been sitting for too long. You need to relax your shoulders, neck, and back. Otherwise, you'll feel stiff and uncomfortable, and it'll be hard to fall asleep at night."
Fu Wei frowned slightly: "No need, I'll do it myself."
Yu Ying was a little confused as to why this person, who usually seemed to be indifferent and had no desires, suddenly became so persistent?
After speculating for a moment, he suddenly remembered where the blood clots were on his body, and he also remembered that the book said that when he was the son of the prefect of Wuling County, he was extremely chaste, and even the people who served him were all servants, with no female maids.
Yu Ying vaguely guessed why he refused.
He glanced at her and said in a cold voice, "Men and women should not touch each other."
It is true.
Yu Ying, however, directly picked up the medicinal wine on the bedside table and said, "Although we are married in name only, we are still considered husband and wife. The saying 'men and women should not touch each other' is not suitable for us."
When she was an intern at a traditional Chinese medicine hospital, there was no distinction between men and women when doing massage. She didn't know what would happen in the future, but at least she didn't care now.
After all, the family needs someone to work. Although he is disabled, he can still use his hands. In the future, the Xiliguo will be handed over to him, and she can do something else.
Thinking of this, Yu Ying said softly but without any room for negotiation: "Take off your clothes and apply the medicine."
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