Zhao Qingyun reached out and brushed aside the gardenia leaves. He noticed Xu Lai's retreating movement and asked, "Why are you hiding? Do I look scary?"
Xu Lai looked up at him, the streetlight shining on his face. She thought to herself, "Is he in Versailles? If Zhao Qingyun is ugly, then I've really never seen a handsome man."
Xu Lai picked up the watering can and said while watering the plants, "I wasn't hiding from you, I just lost my balance. Also, do you have some kind of misunderstanding about your appearance? Or were you never pursued by anyone in your school days?"
Zhao Qingyun was stunned by her series of questions. He stood there for a moment before realizing that she was praising him indirectly.
Zhao Qingyun tried to find a topic to talk about: "I fried some of the tofu you sent today, and the old lady said it was delicious."
Xu Lai smiled meaningfully and asked, "Don't you like to eat it?"
Zhao Qingyun didn't expect her to ask so directly, and for a moment he didn't know how to respond. Ever since he met Xu Lai, he had never won a verbal battle.
Xu Lai successfully amused him, getting her revenge for being teased earlier. She had just finished watering the flowers, and mischievously sprinkled some water on her hands, then, taking advantage of Zhao Qingyun's inattention, flung it at him.
Before Zhao Qingyun could react, water droplets splashed all over his face. Xu Lai blinked and smiled, saying, "It must have suddenly started raining. I'm going back now. Goodnight."
He wiped the water droplets from his face, rubbed his fingertips together a couple of times, and then went back to his room.
Xu Lai got up early the next day as usual. It wasn't that she deliberately got up early; she was just used to going to work and her biological clock was a bit hard to adjust, so she woke up as soon as it was time to go.
She cooked noodles. Her grandparents had already eaten and gone to work in the fields. Today, the family was transplanting rice seedlings, and they should be pulling up seedlings in the paddy field now.
Xu Lai quickly ate her meal, then went upstairs to change into a set of long-sleeved shirt and trousers for work. She tied her hair up, applied sunscreen to her face and neck, put on a sun hat, grabbed some water, and went to help in the fields.
When they arrived at the fields, they saw people pulling up rice seedlings everywhere, mostly uncles and aunts. Xu Lai greeted them one by one and then walked to her own field.
When Grandpa saw her arrive, he said, "Lai Lai, come and pull the seedlings. I'll just carry these seedlings to the field to plant them."
Xu Lai rolled up her trousers and went down to the field. She skillfully pulled up the rice seedlings, having learned it from her grandmother before. She pulled them out one by one, pinched them, and when she had a handful in her hand, she tied them up with straw and put them aside.
She remembers when she was little, she thought her grandparents worked hard in the fields, so she insisted on going to help in the fields. Her grandmother could only let her come down and play for a while. At that time, she was small and her hands were small, so she often couldn't hold a handful of seedlings. So she pulled a little smaller seedling and leaned against the seedlings that her grandmother pulled, just like she used to lean on her grandmother.
Xu Lai and her grandmother worked very quickly; within an hour, they had pulled up all the rice seedlings needed for one field.
Grandma carried the rice seedlings over on a shoulder pole. Xu Lai wanted to try, but after trying, she couldn't lift them at all.
Grandpa had already planted a third of the seedlings, and the seedlings were almost gone. Grandma put the seedlings down on the ridge, held the leaves of the seedlings in her hand, and gently flicked them to the middle of the field.
Xu Lai thought it was amazing because her grandmother didn't seem to use much force, but she swung it a long way.
She was eager to try it out, so she took a seedling, but before she could even shake it, the leaves broke off and the seedling fell straight to the ground.
Xu Lai clapped his hands, picked up the rice seedlings, and obediently went to the field to transplant them.
She used to plant rice seedlings, but she planted them crookedly. Now she's skilled and her speed is just as fast as her grandparents'.
As noon approached, she had to go back to cook. Xu Lai washed her slippers by the river and then headed home.
Passing by a pond, Xu Lai happened to see the owner draining it. She asked, "Uncle, are you going to drain this pond?"
The pond owner nodded and continued to drain the water, saying, "This pond belongs to the village. It just happened to be someone else's turn. I put some fish in here, and now I'm catching them to sell."
Xu Lai stood there and looked around. There were many snails and clams in the pond. She asked, "Are you selling these snails and clams too?"
The pond owner shook his head: "I'm not selling these. They're hard to pick up and hard to clean."
Xu Lai's heart skipped a beat, and she continued to ask, "Why don't you sell it to me? I don't need to wash or pick it up myself. I'll go down and pick it up myself, and then I'll pay you."
The pond owner laughed heartily: "Just come by yourself. We're all from the same village, why talk about money?"
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