35
As dawn breaks and the rooster crows at daybreak.
Zheng Nanle went to the cowshed.
She calmly tapped on the curtain.
Although curtains are practically useless in terms of security, they do add a sense of ceremony.
At least she's a prospective daughter-in-law who's come to live with the family.
"Come in." An aged voice rang out from inside.
Zheng Nanle lifted the curtain and went inside.
The university professor couple in the cowshed calmly nodded to Zheng Nanle and greeted her, "Erya's here. Guangbai just went out. Sit down and wait."
As they spoke, the two took their mouthwash and went out.
Old Lu got up and went to pour tea for Zheng Nanle.
Zheng Nanle had been to the cowshed several times and knew its layout and furnishings by heart. As soon as he saw that Old Lu was facing down, he guessed what he was going to do and quickly got up to stop him, "Grandpa, I don't drink tea."
Upon hearing the word "Grandpa," Old Lu's fingers trembled slightly. He gave a kind smile, but it was a smile he hadn't given in a long time, making it somewhat strange. However, his eyes were kind, not fierce. "Good, good."
"Grandpa, please sit down." Zheng Nanle took the initiative and invited the old man, who had gotten up, to sit across from her at the table.
Old Lu paused for a moment, then quietly sat down.
Well, I feel like I've been completely controlled by this granddaughter-in-law.
Zheng Nanle raised her hand and extended her wrist to Grandpa Lu. "Grandpa, could you take my pulse? Of course, it's not that I don't trust Guangbai, but your medical skills are better than Guangbai's. I'll feel more confident. After all, old ginger is spicier."
Old Master Lu: "..."
Because Zheng Nanle's request was illogical, outrageous yet reasonable, Lu Lao's awkwardness and caution dissipated, and he laughed and said, "Haha, alright, let this old ginger diagnose you and see if the young ginger is ready."
Lu Guangbai walked in from outside the cowshed carrying a food box woven from bamboo, and was speechless upon hearing this.
He said to Zheng Nanle, "Didn't you say that my medical skills are the best, the best you've ever seen? What you usually say is just to fool me?"
Zheng Nanle showed no guilt at being caught by Lu Guangbai of her slight distrust of him. She spoke confidently, "That's right. In all my life, before I met you, you were indeed the most capable. But after meeting Grandpa, you can only take second place."
"You can't argue with me, you always have a point." Lu Guangbai slammed the food box on the table. "Take care of your own dinner."
Zheng Nanle immediately changed his tune, "Although objectively your medical skills are not the best, in my heart, you are the best."
Lu Guangbai was pleased and opened the food box, taking out two bowls of Poria and Yam Porridge from the first layer. Zheng Nanle and Old Master Lu each had one bowl.
Both of them need to nourish their spleen and stomach.
Looking at his grandson, who was emotional and prone to tantrums, and finally possessed the vitality of someone his age, Old Lu sighed inwardly, and the resentment he felt for his grandson marrying into the family completely dissipated.
He suppressed his emotions and said, "Guangbai is recovering very well. His five internal organs are in harmony, and his yin and yang are thriving. After taking the medicine for another half month, he will be no different from an ordinary person. If you want to consolidate his recovery, you can take the medicine for another half month."
"You are young and full of energy, so you don't need to take a lot of supplements. Codonopsis pilosula is enough to nourish you."
Old Master Lu nodded repeatedly, his words filled with approval of his grandson.
Lu Guangbai couldn't help but feel happy. It was an extremely satisfying and honorable thing for his abilities to be recognized and praised by the elders.
He smiled and said, "Grandpa, Nanle, have some porridge."
Lu Guangbai's culinary skills were as good as ever. Even the most ordinary medicinal porridge was stewed with a rich aroma of rice, thick rice grains, and the fragrance of bamboo, indicating that it was cooked in a bamboo tube.
After finishing his congee and medicine, Old Master Lu said goodbye to Lu Guangbai and Zheng Nanle, then got up to go to work.
The people in the cowshed start work half an hour earlier than the village's official start time.
If it were still winter, and the sky were still dark, Lu Guangbai would secretly go to help the people in the cowshed with their work. But now that it's summer, the sky is already light enough to see people clearly from a distance. The people in the cowshed are worried about giving others something to talk about, so they won't let him help them anymore.
Lu Guangbai then took care of logistical matters, ensuring that they had food to eat, hot water to drink, and firewood to use when they returned, so they didn't have to worry about these trivial matters.
The cowshed was empty, so Zheng Nanle gave Lu Guangbai some dried meat. Zheng Nanle wanted to eat this dried meat and asked Lu Guangbai to buy it. Lu Guangbai felt that other people's dried meat was not clean, so he asked Xie Ronghua to buy beef, which was homemade.
Chewy and flavorful, spicy and refreshing, Zheng Nanle loves it and always keeps some in his pocket.
Zheng Nanle took a bite and chewed slowly in his mouth, saying, "I want to work in the county, in the public security bureau."
Lu Guangbai's smile faltered, and he slowed his eating of beef. "You're not going back to the village anymore?"
“Of course I’ll come back. You’re here, how could I not?” Zheng Nanle said. “I’ll come back to see you when I have a holiday.”
Lu Guangbai felt a moment of disappointment, but then he was happy for Zheng Nanle. "It's good to work in the county. Working in the fields is tiring and doesn't pay much. If there's an opportunity, we should still go out."
Lu Guangbai came from the city. He didn't mean to look down on the countryside, but objectively speaking, the countryside was inferior to the city in every way. Farming could not earn as much money as working in the city.
Ultimately, the problem stems from insufficient land output.
Even if the land produces a lot of output, the money earned is still hard-earned.
Lu Guangbai has seen the vast world and hopes that Zheng Nanle can also go out and see it, so that she won't be trapped in the countryside, with only her small plot of land in sight.
Lu Guangbai's understanding of the bigger picture displeased Zheng Nanle again. "Are you that happy?"
Lu Guangbai was puzzled. "Of course I'm happy."
Zheng Nanle gave an "Oh," and said sarcastically, "You're as happy as if it's New Year's Day because no one's exploiting you, right?"
Lu Guangbai chuckled and stepped forward to grasp Zheng Nanle's hand, "I'm happy to be exploited by you."
Zheng Nanle tapped his palm with her fingers and glared at him.
It felt as if his palm had been tickled by a feather, a tingling electric current surged to his heart, and a burning fire rose from his waist. Lu Guangbai pulled his hand back as if he had been burned, his cheeks flushed, and he looked rather uncomfortable.
He didn't dare look at Zheng Nanle; young people are hot-tempered and can't stand the slightest teasing from their crush.
Zheng Nanle rested her chin on her hand, admiring his innocent appearance. Her smile grew wider and wider. She had been hesitant about whether to marry him later, after he had finished university and matured.
But at this moment, the scales have completely tipped to one side.
It's good for people to be a little selfish.
Why should we let the other person go and grant their wish?
Is she some kind of pure and good person?
If you're lucky enough to find someone you like in two lifetimes, you should stick by her side forever.
If he dares to change his mind, she has plenty of strength and means.
Ring ring—
When the work bell rang, Zheng Nanle got up with Lu Guangbai. The two left the cowshed and stepped onto the edge of the village center. Lu Guangbai suppressed his reluctance and said to Zheng Nanle, "Nanle, you go that way."
Zheng Nanle didn't even glance at the path and continued walking towards the main village road. "What am I that you're ashamed to show me?"
Lu Guangbai caught up with him, saying, "My identity is not good. If you walk with me, people will gossip about you."
Zheng Nanle put his hands behind his back, turned his head to meet Lu Guangbai's eyes, and chuckled softly, his tone disdainful and arrogant.
Lu Guangbai smiled and raised his head.
This is the kind of person he likes: confident and flamboyant, bright and domineering.
"Do you think I have a good reputation in the village?" Zheng Nanle asked disdainfully, raising his chin.
Lu Guangbai: "..."
Oh, I almost forgot, in the eyes of the villagers, Zheng Nanle is either an idiot or mentally ill.
Its reputation is indeed poor.
But is this something to be proud of that you have to say it so proudly?
"Or are you pretending to be afraid of me being talked about, but actually afraid of being talked about yourself?" Zheng Nanle asked him.
Lu Guangbai quickly shook his head, "No, no, no, I don't care about my reputation."
If he cared about his reputation, he wouldn't have lived in a cowshed with his grandfather back then, even though he was a sent-down youth.
"Then why do you think I would care about my reputation?"
Lu Guangbai: "..."
He got flustered because he was too concerned.
Zheng Nanle is even less concerned about his reputation than he is.
He had never seen anyone pretend to be stupid.
The two walked side by side, encountering villagers along the way. A villager's gaze lingered on Zheng Nanle for a moment, then, remembering he was a simpleton who only knew how to laugh foolishly, she lost all desire to communicate. She looked at Lu Guangbai and smiled, "Little Lu, you're with Er Ya from our village?"
"Sister-in-law Guihua," Lu Guangbai called out, nodding in agreement, "Nanle and I are getting married next month, Sister-in-law Guihua, come to the wedding banquet."
"Nanle, who?"
"Er Ya".
"Oh, you even gave Er Ya a new name? A name chosen by a cultured person, it sounds so nice." Sister Guihua replied with a smile, then said seriously, "Young Lu, although Er Ya is mentally challenged, she is a good girl. You can't let her down. Everyone in our village is her family. Let me make this clear from the start: if you ever wrong Er Ya, don't blame the people of our village for beating you up."
"Don't worry, Sister Guihua, I won't let Erya down."
Seeing that Lu Guangbai's attitude was serious and he even mentioned marriage, it was clear that he wasn't just playing around. Of course, that wasn't necessarily true. These city kids were quite cunning. For example, Zhao Shu, who, even with a girlfriend, still tried to seduce Qingmiao in order to get a worker-peasant-soldier quota.
If Qingmiao hadn't been upright and immediately recognized Zhao Shu's true colors and started a relationship with him, the reputation of all the girls in the village would have been severely damaged.
shameless.
That's what she thought, but of course, Sister Guihua wouldn't be foolish enough to say it out loud. She just turned around and decided to remind the village chief to let Er Ya and Xiao Lu, the educated youth, get a marriage certificate. Once they got the certificate, Xiao Lu wouldn't be able to abandon his wife and marry someone else.
The women in the village are experts at spreading gossip. Once a piece of news reaches one of them, everyone except the young children will know about it within a day.
Some busybodies even asked the Zheng family about this.
Old Mr. and Mrs. Zheng looked bitter. They had learned about their granddaughter's important life event from outsiders, but they still had to brace themselves to deal with the villagers' inquiries.
He said, "Yes, yes, yes, Xiao Lu is a filial and good child. That's why we married Er Ya off to him."
"Dowry? We don't need a dowry. What we value is Xiao Lu, the educated youth. We just want him to treat Er Ya well. Only a person with a conscience can ensure that Er Ya will not go astray in the future."
"After the wedding, we won't live at the Zheng family's house. We plan to build a house for Er Ya and her husband so they can live separately. We've already obtained land approval from the village chief. We'll start building the house after the double harvest season. Once the house is finished, they'll get married."
When Zheng Nanle heard what Old Man Zheng said, she nodded secretly. Not bad, Old Man Zheng was quite sensible.
She was sitting on the edge of the field, wearing a hat made of wild grass on her head, watching Lu Guangbai harvesting rice in the field. She had originally planned to come and help, but she had to give up after harvesting for a short while.
My lower back hurts so much it feels like it's going to break.
My back is so hot from the sun it's almost melting.
Where did she get the courage to quit her job and work in the fields for six months as a temporary measure?
This farm work is more tiring than fighting zombies in her previous life.
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