Chapter 16: Good-for-nothing Zhou Ye is just like her old self, a good-for-nothing...
"Aye is a grateful person. Originally, he wanted to sell himself as a slave and asked the head of the village to sign a contract. It was your father and I who saved him the trouble. Your father just wanted to find a reliable child to take care of him in his old age, not a slave to serve him. Our family is not rich, so we don't care about those things. Finally, we asked the head of the village and several uncles of older generations to be witnesses, and Aye settled down in Tianshui Village." He Guixiang glanced at Lin Shu secretly when she said this.
What is a person from another family who can take care of you in your old age and see you to the end of your life? Isn’t that a son-in-law who marries into your wife’s family?
The hint was very clear, but Lin Shu didn't react at all. She didn't know whether she didn't understand or she understood but didn't mean it in that way.
He Guixiang sighed regretfully.
After A Yao left, A Ye, in order to comfort her family, promised her and Lin Dashan that he was not lucky enough to be their son-in-law, and he would be their son in the future.
At that time, she and Lin Dashan were both upset and did not respond to this, but in their hearts they had already regarded Zhou Ye as half a son.
If Ah Shu is not interested in Ah Ye, then so be it. She will look for someone carefully in the future and pick someone for Ah Shu who has good character and whom she likes.
Lin Dashan took a quick cold shower in the yard, and He Guixiang washed the dishes. After Lin Shu and her sister got on the bed, He Guixiang brought the oil lamp into the inner room.
Seeing that Lin Dashan had already lay down, she wanted to remove the wick of the lamp, but Lin Dashan told her not to put out the light first, then he smiled foolishly and took out ninety copper coins and gave them to her.
He Guixiang was surprised and asked, "Boss, what did you do today? How did you get so much money?"
"I spent ten copper coins on two pieces of sugar cake, a total of one hundred coins. Today I helped the manager of the grain store in town unload goods. Originally, I was only paid seventy coins for the amount I unloaded, but the manager slipped and fell while supervising. I was quick and rushed over to cushion his fall, so he didn't get hurt. The manager was kind enough to give me an extra thirty coins and said he would hire me whenever I came in the future."
Under normal circumstances, he would never be willing to spend ten copper coins to buy two pieces of candy cakes, but these thirty cents seemed like free money, so he was willing to spend them. What's more, he was very happy that his daughter had returned.
The joy on He Guixiang's face faded a little. "Dad, you're not young anymore. Don't be so impulsive in the future. If that steward had fallen and hurt you, wouldn't you have been lying in bed for days? It's not worth it for those thirty cents."
"It's okay, I know what's going on. Look, I'm fine. Ah Xiang, lie down here." Lin Dashan pulled her over.
He Guixiang laughed and scolded him as she pushed him away. "You are so frivolous! What are you doing? You've been tired all day and you don't need to rest properly."
"I'm going to rest tomorrow and not go anywhere. Aye next door isn't here, so it's okay if I make a little noise..."
Zhou Ye, who was still searching for wild delicacies in the mountains, was fine, but the one who was in trouble was Lin Shu, who lived next door.
The thatched house was not soundproof, and even though there was a room in the middle, the two of them could still hear faint noises.
Lin Xiaopu was young and didn't understand, but Lin Shu clicked her tongue twice.
"Dad is so energetic. He can be busy outside all day and continue working when he comes home."
Lin Xiaopu was swallowing his saliva over the cakes, his mind absentminded. Lin Shu ate both cakes in one gulp, but Lin Xiaopu couldn't bear to finish them. He took a bite and put the rest aside, planning to eat it tomorrow. Hearing this, she added, "Brother Aye is really amazing. He can lift a large stone mortar weighing two or three hundred pounds, which takes several strong men to lift together."
"So strong?" Lin Shu was surprised and then stunned.
She thought of herself at the end of the world.
In the end times, zombies are rampant, natural disasters and man-made disasters occur, and some people awaken superpowers, such as thunder power, gold, wood, water, fire and earth power. She is lucky and also awakens a power-type power - infinite strange power.
But compared with other superpowers, this one seemed useless. She couldn't use lightning to kill zombies, nor could she dig earth to build walls. Therefore, she was often ordered by the base to do some odd jobs.
In the early days, I was doing the hardest and most tiring work and earning the least money and food.
After her infinite strange power awakened, her appetite became unprecedentedly large. The appetite of ordinary people could not satisfy her at all, and she almost went hungry every meal.
Everyone in the apocalypse was starving, but she was especially hungry. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, she resolutely joined the vanguard, using her fists as weapons, capable of crushing a zombie with a single blow. This is how she got her nickname, "Violent Flower."
When she finally had enough money to eat five big bowls of rice for the first time, it shocked the entire base. Many people complained about her appetite behind her back, but she didn't have time to pay attention to those people. In the apocalypse, having enough food was the most important thing, and everything else was meaningless.
Thinking of those days of hunger, Lin Shu asked curiously, "How many bowls of rice can Zhou Ye eat in one meal?"
Lin Xiaopu hesitated, not knowing whether to tell the truth or a lie.
Brother Aye's big appetite was a secret between the two of them. If I told someone else, would Brother Aye be angry? But Sister was different from Mom and Dad, so she should be able to tell them, right? Besides, Sister was smart, so I wasn't sure I could keep this secret from her for long.
After a fight between the two little guys in my heart, the little guy who wanted to tell the truth finally prevailed.
So Lin Xiaopu told the truth: "Brother Aye usually eats two large bowls of dry rice, three large bowls of thick porridge, and five large bowls of rice porridge. It sounds like a lot, but he is never full. To fill his stomach, he often goes to the mountains to find food. Because he is afraid that my father and mother will find out, he chews the tree bark, grass roots, and wild fruits raw."
Lin Shu was shocked. "Dad and Mom don't know about this? Did he tell you about him eating tree bark and grass roots?"
Lin Xiaopu lowered his voice, "I'm the only one who knows about this, and I discovered it myself. One time, Brother Aye came back from outside very late, and I happened to run into him when I got up to go to the bathroom. When I was talking to him, I smelled a hint of grass in his mouth. Later, I secretly observed Brother Aye and found that he would stop eating after eating a certain amount of food. When he was extremely hungry, he would go to the mountains to find food. After autumn, there were more fruits and edible grass roots, so Brother Aye could bear it a little better. In spring and summer, it was difficult, and he could only chew some flowers and plants, and he would wake up hungry every night."
As she spoke, she sighed like a little adult, "Alas, I wanted to tell my parents about this, but my brother Aye would never let me."
Perhaps because she had experienced the same thing before, Lin Shu looked sympathetic after hearing it.
She knew too well the feeling of being hungry, especially since Zhou Ye was just like her before, a glutton.
Thinking that she would have to ask Zhou Ye to dig a fish pond for her in the future, Lin Shu couldn't help but ponder.
She could guess the reason why Zhou Ye kept this secret. He must have been despised for his big appetite in his own home. Now he was living under someone else's roof and eating other people's food. If he let people know that he had to eat so much to be full, who would dare to support him?
But being a glutton also has its advantages. For example, her energy levels differ significantly depending on whether she's 50% full or 70% full. If Zhou Ye could be well-fed, he might be able to dig out the fish pond he wants in just a day or two, without delaying anything else!
The family's stored food cannot be touched. It is only enough for the family to eat until this year's harvest. She doesn't have that much spare money to spend, so now she can only look for something in the mountains that can feed Zhou Ye.
Guanyin tofu can indeed fill one's stomach, but with Zhou Ye's appetite, he didn't know how much he would need to make to feel full. However, those foods that easily make one feel full, such as fern roots and kudzu roots, were not in season for picking yet.
Lin Shu thought, if there's nothing on the mountain, wouldn't it be enough to just use the fish from the water? So, the question returned to digging a fish pond.
She was already looking forward to Zhou Ye's return soon.
The two sisters chatted for a while and fell asleep. They had exhausted all their energy running in the mountains and fields today, so this sleep was especially sweet.
Early the next morning, Lin Xiaopu changed into straw sandals with great energy and quickly took out the water bucket from home.
"Sister, where are we going to catch fish?"
"Let's find a place with lots of fish and few people. My method of catching fish is a secret recipe, and no one else can learn it."
Lin Dashan listened to her boast with amusement and offered a suggestion. "Go downstream along the river where people wash clothes and linen in Tianshui Village. Two miles past the village, the river is widest and largest there, with the most fish, but the water is also deep, so you're not allowed to go there. There's also a good spot upstream. It's less than three miles upstream, and our other two acres of paddy fields are nearby. Where the river bends, the water is neither too deep nor too shallow, and it's very clear. You can see a few fish clearly in it. You can go there."
Usually at this time of year Lin Dashan would either go to the fields or to the town, but he was exhausted from working in the town yesterday and needed to rest for half a day.
But he is a person who cannot sit still. I am afraid that he will go to the fields to check after breakfast. He does not need to weed the seedlings for the time being, but he has to dig and fill in the gaps in the fields where there is too much or too little water, and divert or drain water from the ditches.
Lin Dashan's eyes are full of work.
Lin Shu responded readily, "Thank you for your valuable advice, Dad. We'll go to the place you mentioned. Wait, Xiao Pu and I will catch a big bucket of fish for you!"
"Okay, Dad is waiting!"
Lin Shu took the empty wooden barrel from Lin Xiaopu, found a thick wooden stick from the firewood pile and threw it in, while in her other arm she held a roll of torn rattan mat that she had asked He Guixiang for.
He Guixiang prepared some dry food for the two of them to take with them, to save them the trouble of going back and forth. However, Lin Shu refused to take it and said with a smile, "You'll be back soon, just in time for breakfast. If you're a little late, Mother will heat it up for us."
"You'd better bring two cakes. You can fill your stomach when you're hungry and have a proper breakfast when you come back." He Guixiang wrapped two coarse flour cakes with clean tung leaves, tied them with a hemp rope, and asked Lin Xiaopu to carry them.
The two sisters walked for a quarter of an hour before they reached the river where the villagers usually washed clothes. The riverside was overgrown with various weeds. Lin Shu also saw a few taro plants, which were tall and green.
Early morning is a good time to wash clothes. Villagers in groups of three or four have found a good place and are squatting by the river, beating their clothes and mattresses with mallets.
Among them were older women and younger wives, those who knew each other gathered together, chatting and laughing with each other.
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