Chapter 47 I Didn’t Lie to You Zhou Ye: It’s Okay If You Lied to Me
Lin Shu was stunned for a moment, then smiled brightly, "Thank you, Brother Aye. I'll trouble you to take over these small dishes for breakfast today."
After saying that, he sat down on the bench as advised.
Zhou Ye's bench was perfectly positioned. Lin Shu sat down right in the middle without even having to move her feet. She quickly waved to He Guixiang and Lin Xiaopu, "Mother, Xiaopu, come sit with us. Brother Ye has already agreed. He'll cook these dishes, and we can just sit here and watch."
Upon hearing this, Lin Xiaopu immediately ran over with a smile and plopped down beside her. He Guixiang smiled and shook her head. "Mother won't go. I have other things to do. Oh, Xiaopu, you left early this morning and haven't taken your medicine yet. Mother kept it warm for you, so I'll give it to you."
When Lin Xiaopu heard this, his face suddenly fell, but he still said "oh" obediently.
Lin Shu pinched her paw, winked at her, and said loudly, "Mother, let's take Xiao Pu with us to the market tomorrow."
He Guixiang had already brought the medicine bowl out from the kitchen. Upon hearing this, she smiled and said, "Okay, I'll listen to Ah Shu."
Lin Shu curled her lips in satisfaction.
She had long since noticed that her mother was easily influenced by others, but she wasn't the type to be indecisive. As long as what you said could convince her, she would be willing to listen to you. She guessed that when Lin Yao was around, her mother would probably listen to her more.
Lin Xiaopu, who was happy again, took the medicine from He Guixiang's hand, drank it in a few big gulps, and then rushed to the kitchen to drink a few sips of mountain spring water to get rid of the taste of medicine in his mouth.
Lin Xiaopu sat back down, hugged Lin Shu and whispered, "Sister, I love autumn the most. There are so many wild fruits in the mountains in autumn. After taking the medicine, I take a bite of the fruit, and the bitterness in my mouth is completely covered by the sweetness. It's so delicious. Last year, Brother Ye picked so many for me that I couldn't finish them all by myself."
Lin Shu patted her little head and said, "If you can't finish the fruit in the future, I'll make it into preserved fruit for you. It can be stored for a long time."
Lin Xiaopu was looking forward to what she heard. She didn't ask Lin Shu how to do it. She thought whatever her elder sister did was normal.
Several people were happy, but when Zhou Ye looked at Lin Shu, his brows were slightly furrowed. He suddenly said, "You'd better not go to the market tomorrow."
Without waiting for Lin Shu's response, she turned directly to He Guixiang, "Aunt, Xiao Pu's medicine will last for a few days. There's no need to rush. Next time you need to buy medicine, you can stop by the town to see the doctor. Besides, there will be a lot of people at the market tomorrow, and there may not be room on Old Man Liao's ox cart. Xiao Pu and Sister Shu... Sister can't walk that far up the mountain."
For some reason, he couldn't call "Sister A Shu" in front of his elders.
He Guixiang thought about it and said, "That's right. The old doctor's clinic in town is always crowded. On market days, more people go there to get consultations and medicine than usual. Last time I went there on a weekday, and there were quite a few people there."
Zhou Ye added, "The mushrooms in the yard still need to be dried for two or three days before they can be sold. Why don't I take Ah Shu and Xiao Pu with me when I go to town? If Auntie is worried, she can come along too. We can ask Old Man Liao to rent his ox cart."
Zhou Ye's arguments continued, leaving even Lin Shu speechless. She just felt bad that if she went there on a normal day, she wouldn't be able to see the bustle of the market.
"Okay, let's listen to Aye and go in two days." He Guixiang quickly changed her mind.
After finalizing the matter, Zhou Ye went to work despite Lin Shu's resentful gaze.
He quickly sorted the mushrooms in the basket.
There were the most blue-headed mushrooms, piled up into a small hill. There were also quite a few chicken mushrooms, and then there were bamboo fungi. Because they were big, they looked quite impressive when piled together. The few clusters of straw mushrooms that Xiao Pu happily picked at the beginning could also be stir-fried into a small dish.
Lin Shu thought he was doing this for her own good, so she wasn't angry. She sat on the long board and watched him busy. The busier Zhou Ye was, the more relaxed she was. She just moved her lips and gave some advice from time to time.
"Brother Aye, these blue-headed mushrooms are prone to infestation with bugs. The ones we picked today are those whose caps haven't fully opened, so it's hard to spot bugs. Please pay attention. We don't want the ones with bug holes. Pick them out and throw them away."
Zhou Ye responded and hurried to check the pile of green-headed mushrooms. After picking and choosing, he actually found a few with worm holes.
Seeing that he had already divided the food, Lin Shu immediately arranged the next step. "Brother Aye, go out to the fields and pick some grass cloak. It's the kind of wild grass with fine hairs on the back. I was in such a hurry to get back just now that I forgot about it. These fine hairy wild grass leaves are perfect for washing mushrooms."
In fact, pumpkin leaves are the best, but pumpkins had not yet been introduced to the Dayan Dynasty, so there were fewer delicious foods to eat, which made Lin Shu feel regretful.
When she said this, Zhou Ye almost immediately remembered what the weeds she was talking about were.
When going up the mountain, Lin Shu saw the wild grass by the roadside and exclaimed that it was beautiful, saying that the raindrops dotted on it looked like transparent gem beads.
She seemed to particularly like the flowers and plants in the mountains. She could stare at a beautiful wild flower, a particularly green weed, or even the patterns on a passing butterfly for a long time. Everything in the mountains seemed to her like a rare sight.
If it was the first day, it would be fine, but Lin Shu has been in Tianshui Village for several days and she is still full of joy. She seems to really like this place.
Zhou Ye frowned, he was puzzled, but he had to admit that he seemed to have preconceived ideas at the beginning.
Sister Ashu is just delicate in body, but her personality is not delicate at all.
She is...very good.
Zhou Ye was distracted and thinking about some random things. In the process, he had picked a handful of the cloak grass.
"How do I wash these mushrooms? Go on." Zhou Ye subconsciously forgot to add his name after he finished speaking, and quickly added, "Sister A Shu."
Lin Shu didn't notice at all. Instead, his slow addition made her chuckle. She nodded with a satisfied look, "Not bad, not bad. Great progress."
He jokingly continued, "Let's wash each type of mushroom separately. For the ones with large caps, just rub them gently with your hands. For the smaller ones, you can use this grass cloak wetted with water to gently wipe them. Especially the folds under the cap, which are most likely to hide dirt, so be careful. After washing, tear them into strips along the grain and set them aside."
"Next is the bamboo fungus. It's different from other mushrooms. It's pure white. Just put it in a basin and soak it in warm water for a quarter of an hour. Once it softens, gently rub the surface. Then there's the green-headed mushroom. There's a lot of dirt at the root. Take a small knife and sharpen a piece of bamboo to make a knife. Then scrape away the dirt at the root..."
He Guixiang was chopping grass for the chicken over there, glancing at the three of them from time to time with a smile on her face.
Lin Shu looked over distractedly, "Mother, I didn't use the salt in the jar today. Although salt water can wash these mushrooms more cleanly, Brother Ye is meticulous, so hand washing will do."
He Guixiang glared at her when she heard this and said, "When has mother ever complained that you used too much salt? Use whatever you want."
Lin Xiaopu chuckled and bluntly exposed her elder sister's shortcomings, "Mother, don't promise rashly. If we really have to wash all the mushrooms in this basket today with salt water, the jar of salt at home won't be enough for you."
He Guixiang said, "We can go buy more at the market tomorrow. Mother, please bring back more salt this time."
Lin Shu immediately praised: "Mother, you are so generous!"
He Guixiang smiled, "Ashu has saved the family so much money by making so many delicious dishes. Auntie just bought some extra salt, it's nothing."
While the mother, daughter and three children were chatting and laughing, Zhou Ye had already washed nearly half of the mushrooms in silence. He took advantage of a break in Lin Shu's laughter and turned to ask, "Are you going to wash all the mushrooms?"
Lin Shu's smile hadn't faded yet as she looked at him and said, "That's up to you, Brother Aye. Can your voracious stomach hold this basket of mushrooms? If so, we'll cook them all. If not, we'll divide them into two meals, one for dinner and one for dinner. If we can't finish them in two meals, we'll dry the excess and store it. We can eat them later whenever we want."
Zhou Ye stopped eating after hearing this. "Let's leave the rest to dry. Let's eat this half first."
Lin Shu chuckled, "You really chose the third option. You're so silly! There are so many mushrooms here, we can't even pick them all, so why would you need one meal? Don't look at this whole basket of mushrooms; they only look plentiful. Once they're fried, they'll shrink like the vegetables. So wash them all, save for the chicken mushrooms, and keep half. I want to make something else, and the rest will be used for breakfast."
After hearing this, Zhou Ye said nothing more and quietly washed the rest.
Lin Xiaopu grinned, everything was done, and she could eat to her heart's content.
"Oh, by the way, Sister, I wanted to ask you before, why can I tell Aunt Li and Aunt Lin about the bamboo fungus, but not about the other mushrooms?"
Lin Shu secretly loosened her straw sandals and explained, "It's not that I'm keeping it a secret from them. The bamboo fungus has a unique appearance, so I don't think anyone would confuse it with other mushrooms. But the chicken mushroom and the blue-headed mushroom are different. I think they are easy to tell apart, but others don't. If someone accidentally mistakes a poisonous mushroom for one of these, I can't afford the consequences."
After hearing this, Lin Xiaopu's heart suddenly jumped, "Sister is smart, I didn't think so much. But I won't tell anyone anyway, because I'm afraid someone will snatch it from me, hehe."
Zhou Ye overheard these words inadvertently and couldn't help but look back at Lin Shu.
He thought of his younger self.
He was not a person who liked to keep secrets, but he was stupid and not as smart as Lin Shu. In the end, he often did bad things with good intentions. After this happened many times, his heart became cold and hard and could never be warmed up again.
When Zhou Ye was concentrating on his work, even if he was distracted, it would not affect the work in his hands at all, so in a short while, all the mushrooms were cleaned.
When he noticed the gaze behind him falling back on him, Lin Shu continued without him having to ask, "Brother Aye, cut all the tricholoma into small pieces. If you don't know how to cut, just cut it in half and then in half again. Let's make a homemade tricholoma. Actually, there are many ways to eat tricholoma, but we don't have much at home right now, so let's keep it simple. Same with the grass mushrooms, let's make stir-fried grass mushrooms."
Zhou Ye hummed and cut one for her to see.
Lin Shu looked at the two neatly cut halves of the shiitake mushroom in his hands, and the corners of her mouth curled up. "It's cut very nicely. Brother Aye has a natural talent for being a chef. They say a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen, but I don't like those gentlemen who don't do any housework. I like those who are down-to-earth like Brother Aye."
Zhou Ye's hand holding the knife suddenly tilted, and the green-headed mushroom under the knife was also cut crookedly.
He stared at the crookedly cut green-headed mushroom, cut it a few more times, and only threw it into the colander after making sure that the knife skills could not be seen.
In a short while, the chopped tricholoma not only filled the colander, but also filled half a basin.
Lin Shu praised him endlessly: "Brother Aye is really quick. He cut up so many tricholoma and straw mushrooms so quickly."
Then he quickly shouted in the direction of He Guixiang, "Mother, come and have a look. Brother Aye's knife skills are amazing, not worse than yours. In the future, you can ask him to help you chop meat and vegetables——"
He Guixiang, who was mixing chicken grass over there, smiled and said, "Aye is busy working in the fields, so he doesn't have time for this."
"Mother, your idea is wrong. No one stipulates that anyone must do what they want. Just like men don't have to work in the fields, and women don't have to stay around the stove. If I had a body as strong as Brother Aye, I could do more than men."
Wasn't that what she did in her previous life? She did a lot of dirty and tiring work, but she was also able to protect herself because of her tremendous strength.
"Since Brother Aye is so omnipotent, he can do anything. Brother Aye, do you think I'm right?"
Zhou Ye was silent for a moment, "Yes."
Lin Shu immediately laughed, her laughter was extremely clear and sweet. "Listen, mother, Brother Ye himself has no objection, what else do you have to object to?"
"You, don't bully Aye Laoshi."
"Hehe, it's precisely because Brother Aye is so honest that I like to bully him. If I don't bully him, will it be left to outsiders to bully him? Xiao Pu, don't you think this is the case?"
"Yes! Whatever my elder sister says is right." Lin Xiaopu couldn't sit still any longer and ran over to help Zhou Ye.
All the chicken mushrooms were torn into strips by hand, half of which was kept for my sister, and the other half was used to make the chicken mushroom soup that my sister mentioned.
"Sister, this chicken mushroom smells so sweet, and the flesh you tear out looks like chicken!"
"Yes, otherwise why is it called chicken mushroom? Not only because the soup made from it tastes like chicken, but also because its texture is very similar to chicken white meat."
Lin Xiaopu was already craving for food, so he quickly brought out the small stove and placed the clay pot on top. "Brother Aye, make the other mushroom dishes, and I'll make this chicken mushroom soup myself!"
Lin Shu laughed at her for being a greedy person, but when she saw her pouty mouth was so big that it could hold an oil bottle, she quickly said, "Sister is also a greedy person. We are indeed a family."
Lin Xiaopu's pouting lips finally turned into a small upturned mouth.
This chicken mushroom soup is made according to the method my sister said. It is very simple. Don’t add anything else. Just use water as the soup base. Add a small spoonful of lard to the soup base. Boil it over high heat and then simmer it over low heat. Add a little salt when it is almost done.
Zhou Ye also started to put the pot on the stove. Aunt He had already lit a fire and left some kindling in the stove. After adding more firewood, the fire grew bigger and soon heated the bottom of the pot.
Chop the grass mushrooms and blue mushrooms and stir-fry them separately. Sauté the blue mushrooms with scallions until fragrant. Add the grass mushrooms to the pan with warm oil and stir-fry. Sprinkle with chopped green onions to enhance the flavor.
There were a lot of green mushrooms, so I fried half a basin of them. There were a few grass mushrooms, so after they shrank, I only fried a small plate of them.
For bamboo fungus, make a simple bamboo fungus scrambled eggs. Cut the bamboo fungus at the root and chop it. Blanch it in water as Lin Shu instructed to remove the earthy smell, then drain it in a colander. First, scramble the eggs, adding a little water for a more tender texture. In another pan, sauté the scallions, add the bamboo fungus segments, stir-fry, mix in the eggs, and add salt and other seasonings. Serve!
After a few dishes, Zhou Ye started sweating because he was busy at the stove.
Lin Shu looked at the glistening sweat on his forehead and hesitated for a moment between moving and not moving. Finally, she got up and found a clean handkerchief.
"Brother Aye, please bend down and let me wipe your sweat."
Zhou Ye's eyes swept across the clean handkerchief in her hand and he took it casually, "I can do it myself, you go sit down." After that, he took the handkerchief and wiped his face a few times.
Lin Shu: ...What a rough guy.
"I'm sorry for tiring you today."
"I'm not tired." Zhou Ye said, and urged, "Go sit down."
"Why are you sitting here? Dad will be back soon."
Whatever Lin Shu said came true. Suddenly there was a noise outside the yard. It was Lin Dashan who came back.
Lin Dashan left early and didn't even know that a few people had gone to the mountain to pick mushrooms. When he came back and saw this situation, he immediately exclaimed in surprise.
Forget about the huge bundle of bamboo in the yard. Zhou Ye was busy at the stove with his sleeves rolled up. Xiao Pu was also simmering soup on the small stove. Meanwhile, his wife was leisurely feeding grass to the hens and chicks in the chicken coop. She usually fed them after breakfast, but today she did it early.
Wait, this soup made by the youngest brother...
This smells delicious! It smells like mushrooms, but mushroom soup didn't smell like this before.
Look at the dining table again. Wow, there is a plate of fried mushrooms and a big pot of...which also looks like mushrooms.
"Dad, please wait a moment. There are only one dish of stir-fried vegetables and one dish of chicken mushroom soup left. They will be ready this morning." Lin Shu said to him and helped Zhou Ye stir-fry the vegetables that his mother had washed earlier.
Take a look at the chicken mushroom soup that Xiao Pu is making, it’s almost ready.
"Xiao Pu, put some salt in and put out the fire. Brother Aye, wait for the clay pot to cool down and then bring the whole pot to the table."
Zhou Ye: "Okay."
"Sister, do you think this small spoonful of salt is enough?" Lin Xiaopu asked as he scooped a full spoonful of salt.
For such a big pot of chicken mushroom soup, should there be more salt?
Lin Shu said, "Remove a little more. Chicken mushroom soup needs less oil and salt so as not to take away the natural sweetness of the chicken mushroom."
"Okay."
Seeing several people busying around, Lin Dashan smiled innocently and felt that a lot of fatigue from the morning was relieved.
Lin Dashan had everything in his life except not having a son. But now he had come to terms with it. Zhou Ye was half his son, and he would be able to take care of him in his old age.
When the food was served and everyone sat down, the clever Lin Xiaopu found a bench and sat down without waiting for Zhou Ye and Lin Shu to sit down.
Lin Shu glanced at Zhou Ye, as if laughing at him because he had nowhere to hide even if he wanted to today.
Zhou Ye waited for her to sit down first, then sat at the other end of him gloomily, and even deliberately sat to the side.
But he tilted his head to look at Lin Shu and explained, "I'm big and have long arms, so I'm afraid I'll bump into you if I get too close."
After saying this, he picked up the bowl of porridge and started eating.
Lin Shu smiled and whispered to him, "I see, no misunderstanding."
Lin Xiaopu next to her was the first to scoop a spoonful of the chicken mushroom soup and drink it. After taking a sip, she suddenly exclaimed, "Sister, this chicken mushroom soup is really as delicious as chicken soup!"
After saying that, he quickly took another sip, and smacked his lips twice during the second sip.
After a few sips of the soup, I took a piece of fine white chicken mushroom and said, "Mmmmm, delicious! It has the fragrance of chicken and a hint of sweetness that is hard to describe!"
Lin Shu was amused by her, "Any food becomes a delicacy in your mouth." Although it looks like chicken soup, it is still incomparable to real chicken soup.
"It's really delicious!" Lin Xiaopu finished drinking the King Mushroom Chicken Mushroom Soup that he had been craving for the most, and immediately picked up a chopstick of the Queen Mushroom Bamboo Fungus Scrambled Eggs. After finishing it, he looked very satisfied. "It's delicious, just as crispy and refreshing as my sister said!"
Next came the stir-fried tricholoma and grass mushrooms. Every dish was highly praised.
My sister doesn't know what kind of life they lived in the past. Except for the abundant wild vegetables in spring, there were only a few kinds of dishes on Ping'er's table. It was a luxury to have an egg. Most of the time, they had pickles and porridge made by my mother, and at most stir-fried vegetables and bamboo shoots.
Unlike after my sister came, there were delicious dishes for every meal at home. Loach and snails were all cooked deliciously. Snacks like Guanyin tofu were available every day. We no longer saved eggs to sell, but kept them for ourselves.
And today we have a table full of mushrooms and mushroom soup. We can have them from time to time in the future. Just thinking about this life is so wonderful!
Lin Dashan was not as capable as his daughter, so he could not praise her enough. However, he did not stop eating after picking up his chopsticks. He only drank one bowl of thick porridge and used the rest of his stomach to drink the chicken mushroom soup, of which he drank two full bowls.
After drinking, he would still grumble a few words about his wife not making dry rice, "There are so many dishes, they taste better when eaten with dry rice, and this mushroom soup is best eaten with dry rice."
He Guixiang said helplessly, "I figured they wouldn't be able to pick many mushrooms, so they'd just fry a small plate and eat it with thick porridge. But Ah Shu knew so much and brought back all the edible mushrooms from the mountain, filling up a whole basket. But dad, don't tell anyone about these mushrooms. Ah Shu said no one else can tell the difference, and if someone accidentally picks and eats poisonous mushrooms, we can't afford the consequences."
When Lin Dashan discovered that these mushrooms tasted delicious when cooked, he did have the urge to show off, but after hearing what his wife said, he immediately gave up the idea.
Yes, yes, please don't harm the villagers. Let him and his wife enjoy this blessing by themselves.
After the meal, all the family members were full, including Zhou Ye. The only reason was that the chicken mushroom soup was so delicious that he finished the whole pot of soup.
After not intentionally controlling his food intake, Zhou Ye ate every meal with great satisfaction. Although he was still far from being full, he could still eat until he was about 50% full. This was a rare achievement for Zhou Ye, who had only eaten about 50% full for more than two years.
Lin Dashan and He Guixiang had already adapted to his voracious appetite, and no matter how much he ate, they were no longer as surprised as they were at first.
After dinner, Lin Dashan rested for a while with his round belly as usual, and asked Lin Shu with a smug look, "My dear daughter, are you coming to the fields to bring snacks to Daddy today?"
Without waiting for Lin Shu to reply, He Guixiang scolded her with a smile: "Are you addicted to eating? It's not the busiest time of year right now. If you want to eat dinner by yourself, come back and have it."
Lin Shu replied, "Don't worry, Dad. The alkaline rice dumplings are gone, but I'll make sure Dad has snacks to eat every day from now on!"
Upon hearing this, He Guixiang laughed and scolded Lin Dashan for being a greedy person, but the smile on her face became a little more intense.
"Uncle, is it okay for you to handle the farm work by yourself?" Zhou Ye suddenly asked. He was usually taciturn and rarely initiated a conversation.
Lin Dashan was slightly surprised, but he felt incredibly comforted when he thought he was being proactively concerned. He quickly said, "Of course, of course. Why not? We don't have many acres of land at home, and it's just daily weeding. Before the family split up, Uncle did a ton of work, and he's come this far. Now, it's a leisurely time for Uncle."
Zhou Ye nodded, and then he continued with confidence, "Then I'll have to work hard for a few more days, Uncle Lao. Sister Shu...Sister Shu wants to make a bamboo bed, and I'll help her make it in the next few days."
After hearing this, Lin Dashan said: ...
He wondered why Aye suddenly became as caring and considerate as Ashu today, and it turned out that she was not concerned about him.
Lin Dashan glanced at Lin Shu and gave her a shy smile, "Dad, I'll ask Brother Aye to make you a bamboo lounge chair. You can come back and lie on it every day. I guarantee you'll be so comfortable that you won't want to move!"
Lin Dashan waved his hand and said, "Do it, do it, Ah Shu can do whatever she wants!"
Lin Shu smiled sweetly, "Father is so wise and powerful!"
Lin Dashan was coaxed into laughing non-stop.
Zhou Ye was a person who could not sit still. Lin Dashan knew that he should take a break after a meal to digest the food, but he had already picked up an axe to cut bamboo branches.
When we went down the mountain, we only roughly chopped the large bamboo branches, and there were still many small branches that needed to be dealt with.
Seeing Lin Shu walking out, he hurriedly asked, "What are you going to do?"
Lin Shu said, "I just washed my hands and feet when I came back. I want to go to the back of the house and wash them thoroughly."
Zhou Ye looked down at his feet. His huge soles were covered in straw sandals. Except for the areas covered by the sandals, the rest of his feet were tanned darkly. Not to mention being dirty, although he had scraped off the thick mud on the soles of his feet when he went down the mountain, the insteps of his feet were still covered in mud.
Previously, he thought that he still had to work, so he only washed his hands thoroughly before cooking, but he didn't even bother to wash his feet.
"My feet are dirty too. I'll go with you."
Lin Shu looked at his foot and didn't refuse.
Before leaving the yard, the two walked separately, one in front and the other behind. As soon as they left the yard, Zhou Ye took a big step forward and stretched out his arm to block Lin Shu's way.
Lin Shu:?
"Help me." Zhou Ye said concisely.
Lin Shu said "Oh", smiled secretly, and thought to herself: What a reserved and introverted person.
Since they were not going down the mountain, Lin Shu did not hold his arm, but just supported him and used the force to relieve the pain in her foot.
These straw sandals should not be worn anymore.
Arriving at the vegetable patch behind the house, Lin Shu spotted the fish pond and grabbed Zhou Ye's arm in surprise. "Not only have you paved the fish pond, but you've even started planting calamus?"
"Well, we were almost done yesterday. This morning, we went to the river and brought back several loads of Acorus calamus. We chose the kind that grows on rocks. They're easy to grow and won't die if you put them near water. I don't know what the water bayberry you mentioned looks like. I'll take you to the mountains later so you can look for it."
Lin Shu looked at him with a smile and asked, "Brother Aye, do you remember every word I said? Do other people remember it like this too? Do you remember every word so clearly?"
There is probably no one who doesn't like the feeling of having people remember whatever they say.
Zhou Ye paused and replied honestly: "It depends on who the person is."
When Lin Shu heard this, a smile filled her eyes, still with a sweetness. Zhou Ye was slightly startled, then silently looked away.
Lin Shu's feet hurt, so she supported Zhou Ye and walked slowly. Zhou Ye also slowed down his pace. His long legs, which were once a big stride, suddenly became small steps to accommodate Lin Shu, which was quite funny. Lin Shu's curved eyebrows were full of smiles, and she laughed once or twice from time to time.
Zhou Ye looked at her in confusion, not knowing what made her laugh.
When they reached the place behind the house where the mountain spring water flowed through the fields, Lin Shu loosened her hand and looked at him, "I'm going to take off my straw sandals and wash my feet. You are not allowed to peek."
When Zhou Ye heard this, he glanced at Lin Shu with that kind of deep look that seemed to be able to see into people's hearts, but he didn't ask anything. He turned around consciously, with his back to Lin Shu, and continued washing his hands and feet.
Lin Shu squatted down and took off the straw sandal on her right foot. She glanced at the side of her foot. There was a finger-wide cut. There was bleeding, but not much. It would heal in two or three days. The wound must have been squeezed when she came down the mountain, which aggravated the pain.
She looked at the straw sandals she had taken off and touched the straw rope on the side of her foot. Sure enough, the rope ends woven inside were exposed. The rope ends were rough, and that was why they had scratched her foot and left a wound.
Lin Shu pushed the rope aside, put it back on after washing her feet, and then hurriedly washed the other foot.
"Oh!"
Lin Shu's sudden cry attracted Zhou Ye to come over quickly, thinking that something had happened. Before he could ask, he saw Lin Shu's white and tender foot stepping in the spring water.
Zhou Ye's eyes seemed to be burned, and he looked away without thinking too much.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his tone normal.
Lin Shu rubbed her left foot carefully in the spring water before withdrawing it. She replied, "I just suddenly remembered that the fish pond is dug, but we haven't brought in the mountain spring water yet. We need bamboo to bring mountain spring water here, and I guess it will take a lot of bamboo. We have a lot of bamboo in our yard, but it seems that they are not very durable."
Zhou Ye: "...I'll go cut some more."
Lin Shu found his speechless look funny and couldn't help but let out another "Ah!" This sound was soft and artificial, and it sounded like it was fake. "Brother Aye, I've been squatting for too long, my legs are numb, please help me up."
Zhou Ye's arm stretched out immediately, but his head turned to one side, not even looking at Lin Shu, like a heartless wooden crutch.
Lin Shu helped herself to her feet with the help of his ruthless crutch arm, and was amused by him. "My feet are really a little numb, I won't lie to you."
Zhou Ye didn't respond.
"I'm talking to you, but you're ignoring me."
Zhou Ye waited until she was steady before looking down at her. "I'm not ignoring you." He paused. "It doesn't matter if you lie to me."
"What did I lie to you about?" Lin Shu asked, pretending to be angry and asking, "Am I the kind of person who makes trouble for no reason?"
Zhou Ye looked at her feet, then stared into her eyes and said, "It's the pain in your feet, not the numbness."
For a moment, Lin Shu was speechless. After a while, she muttered, "Who said you were stunned?"
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