Xu Lai went home to cook dinner at 5:30. On her way back, she saw the neighbor driving home. Through the car window, Xu Lai nodded slightly to him.
Seeing that she looked exhausted and her face was flushed, Zhao Qingyun deliberately lingered for a while before getting out of the car, considering that he had no reason to talk to her.
When Xu Lai reached the gate of the courtyard, he opened the car door and asked, "You went to plant rice seedlings? You're covered in mud."
Xu Lai looked down at herself and realized she was indeed a bit dirty. There was a lot of water in the field, and the mud was quite wet. Every time she took a few steps, mud and water would splash onto her.
She sighed, "There is a lot of mud, but it's okay, I can wash it off when I get home." After saying that, she pointed to her front door and said, "I'm going home now, I'm busy making dinner."
Zhao Qingyun nodded and walked home, his brows furrowed, an expression he often wore when he was thinking. Now he was unsure of Xu Lai's attitude towards him; her casualness made it seem like they were just friends.
If Xu Lai had even a slight interest in him, she would have felt somewhat awkward in front of him, covered in mud, rather than displaying her usual relaxed demeanor.
Xu Lai was unaware of his thoughts; all she wanted was to take a good shower and get some sleep, as she hadn't felt this tired in a long time.
Before going to the fields, she cooked porridge in a rice cooker, which had now cooled down quite a bit. She stir-fried some soy sauce eggs to go with the porridge, and then took out some pickled radishes and pickled chili peppers that her grandmother had made to make a side dish to accompany the porridge.
There was some rice left over from lunch, so she took three eggs and made fried rice. To make it look nicer, she also picked some scallions from the yard. Since the braised chicken from lunch wasn't finished, Xu Lai heated up the dishes and added some noodles to cook.
By the time dinner was ready, it was already getting dark outside. Grandpa and Grandma had returned. Xu Lai sat down at the door with a bowl of porridge. The sunset was slowly fading. It wasn't summer yet, and the sky didn't have any fiery clouds.
After finishing a bowl of porridge, Xu Lai was already half full. She then ladled out another half bowl of fried rice with eggs, some noodles, and a spoonful of broth.
Xu Lai took a bite of rice, then a bite of noodles. Seeing her eat like this, her grandmother asked with some surprise, "Lai Lai, this way of eating noodles with rice is quite novel. Is it delicious?"
Xu Lai almost laughed out loud, swallowed her rice, and replied, "Grandma, you don't understand. This is the joy of carbs with carbs. After the busy farming season is over, we'll have a hot pot meal, and you'll see me eating rice with it."
Grandma laughed: "Good, good, you young people have such different ideas. Grandma will try it this way next time."
Xu Lai often eats like this. In the past, whenever there were noodles, she would eat them with rice.
At the neighbor's house, Zhao Qingyun brought a clay pot to the table, and Grandma Jiang asked, "What delicious food did you make tonight? Why are you bringing the whole pot?"
Zhao Qingyun had just accidentally burned her ear and was touching it when she heard this, she said, "Tofu casserole, recommended by the neighbor, I'll make some to try."
Grandma Jiang said "Oh—" and then said, "No wonder, why are you trying to imitate Xiao Lai? You don't have that kind of cooking skill."
Zhao Qingyun picked up his bowl and chopsticks, sat down to eat, and took a bite. The taste was alright, not particularly delicious, but edible.
After finishing her meal, Xu Lai went upstairs to take a shower and sat on the balcony in a daze. She felt a terrible pain in her back; she had been bending over all day and was exhausted.
She remembered that she should have brought back the fascia gun and massager, so she hurriedly went to the pile of packages and searched for them.
Xu Lai found the two items inside the delivery box. She pressed them.
The fascia gun still had power, but the massager wouldn't turn on at all. She found the charger, plugged in the dead one first, and then took the fascia gun to the balcony to massage her calves and waist.
Xu Lai couldn't turn over and kept pressing on the painful area in her back. When Zhao Qingyun came out, he saw her sitting in a strange position on the chair.
Xu Lai felt a little uncomfortable when she saw him appear. She quickly put her hand back. The fascia gun was buzzing and vibrating. She hurriedly tried to turn it off, but the more anxious she became, the more confused she became. She pressed it several times before she was able to turn it off.
Zhao Qingyun asked hesitantly, "What are you doing?"
Xu Lai smiled awkwardly and said, "It's nothing, just a little back pain, I'm just relaxing my muscles."
Zhao Qingyun understood in an instant that this was why her posture was so strange—she couldn't reach behind her.
He politely asked, "Do you need my help?"
Xu Lai readily agreed: "Sure, I was just worried about not being able to reach it and having no one to help me."
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