Chapter 52: Break Zhou Ye: Ah Shu, I'm not as stupid as you think...
Lin Xiaopu was greatly shocked and stared at the honest man Zhou Ye in a daze.
"Brother Aye, what flavor can you get from eating the tip of the tail? I'll give you some from this end too." Lin Shu broke the cucumber in her hand into two pieces and gave one to him.
Lin Xiaopu: ...
Been taught a lesson.
In this way, both people can eat both ends!
Zhou Ye didn't want to answer the call at first, but he knew Lin Shu. If he didn't answer the call, she would have a lot to say.
When I took a bite of the pointed end, my mouth was filled with fragrance. The flesh of the melon was crisp, juicy, moist and refreshing.
He hasn't eaten cucumber for a long time.
Most villagers were self-sufficient, eating whatever they grew. If they craved something else, they would trade it with other families. However, Uncle Lin and Aunt He rarely traded cucumbers or other fruits. Zhou Ye didn't have a big appetite; he couldn't even fill his stomach, so he didn't care what he ate.
After everyone had shared the cucumber, Zhou Ye, who couldn't sit still, asked Lin Shu how to use the bamboo tube for drawing water.
Lin Shu laughed at him, "Why can't you rest for even a moment? It's already noon, it's time to take a break. Why don't you rest with me for a while? I'll get up and we'll continue working."
Before Zhou Ye could call her, Lin Shu had already gone into the inner room.
Lin Xiaopu said to him, "Don't worry, Brother Aye. I'll help you look after my sister. I'll call you when she wakes up. Just listen to my sister and go get some rest."
Zhou Ye, however, couldn't rest. After Lin Xiaopu entered the house, he asked He Guixiang, "Auntie, do you know of any family that has some unwanted large jars or pots that are broken or have holes in them?"
"Why are you looking for this?" He Guixiang wondered.
Zhou Ye said succinctly, "Ashu's fish pond needs to be used."
He Guixiang didn't ask any more questions, but simply said, "If the big jars and pots are just chipped, they can still be used and will definitely not be left unused. But some of the jars and pots have holes in their bottoms due to dents, and these are useless. I don't know about other families, but the Wang family has a rice pot that was accidentally smashed by their son Wang Yingen. You can go ask your Aunt Li if she threw away the holed rice pot."
As for why He Guixiang knew all this, it was because Wang Yingen's mother chased him all over the village, beating and scolding him. I'm afraid few villagers didn't know about this.
Zhou Ye nodded and was about to leave.
He Guixiang stopped him and said, "Ashu told you to rest, so just rest. I'll go to the Wang family and ask. Your Aunt Li just got well from Ashu. I'm going to ask for the broken jar now. If she hasn't thrown it away, she'll definitely give it to me."
Before the farmers around them split up, they all lived together as a whole family. However, the Wang family was different. For several generations, they had only one son. It was not that the Wang family did not want to have more children, but they could not have a second child after having one. Therefore, the old couple in the Wang family only had one son, Wang Da, and one grandson, Wang Yingen.
The Wang family had a small population but a lot of land, and they lived a more comfortable life than other farmers. The old couple in the Wang family had borrowed a lot of money from relatives. The mother-in-law of the Wang family asked for it back several times but failed to get it back. In a fit of anger, she married her son to a daughter-in-law who was known for her fierceness, who was Li Chunmiao.
Li Chunmiao was indeed fierce and aggressive. Just a few years after she got married, she asked for back all the money the old couple had lent her.
Because of this, Li Chunmiao's status in the Wang family was very high. Even the old woman gave her some respect. In the Wang family, she was the one who had the final say. Not to mention asking for a large jar with a hole in it, even if it was to borrow money, as long as Li Chunmiao agreed, the old couple of the Wang family would listen to her.
During the most difficult days after the separation of the family, He Guixiang asked Li Chunmiao to borrow money with a smug look on her face. Although Li Chunmiao was a little hesitant at the time, he still lent her the money. Later, even though she knew that her family member Wang Yingen was a bad mouth and called Xiaopu a medicine pot, He Guixiang just asked Xiaopu to stay away from that boy and never said a bad word about the Wang family in outside.
Zhou Ye didn't like socializing, especially women who loved chatting with others. But he thought Aunt He wasn't one to socialize either, and she was too gentle. If he went, he might not be able to come back for a long time. So he declined her offer, "Aunt, don't bother you. I'll go talk to Aunt Li myself."
He Guixiang knew his temper and didn't try to persuade him, "Okay, go ahead."
Zhou Ye was a man of few words. He listened intently to what others said, but rarely responded. He would lose interest after a few words, so he returned quickly. He was carrying a large jar on his shoulder. Just as He Guixiang had said, there was a hole in the bottom of the jar, and it was quite large.
Actually, the broken hole in the jar could be used by plugging it with something else. I'm afraid that's why Li Chunmiao hadn't been willing to throw it away. But when Zhou Ye asked for it, she was very happy to give it to him. Not only did she give him the jar, but she also stuffed it with a handful of fried soybeans she had made.
Families with children in the village were reluctant to waste the two copper coins on candy, so they made some fried soybeans themselves. The soybeans were fried until they were golden brown and tasted very fragrant when chewed. They were a snack that many children liked.
Zhou Ye was a tall and strong man, so naturally he didn't take the snacks from the child. He just picked up the big jar and left. No matter how Li Chunmiao shouted, it was useless.
Zhou Ye, who had borrowed the big jar, looked into the yard. He Guixiang was the only one in the yard. She had found a shady place and was sitting on a wooden stool, spinning hemp leisurely.
Zhou Ye suddenly fell silent.
The Wang family was not very close, and Aunt Li was talking a lot before borrowing the big jar. It had been two quarters of an hour since he responded, but he didn't expect Lin Shu was still taking a break.
The break she mentioned was probably different from what I thought?
When working in the fields, the sun was strong at noon, making people thirsty and sleepy. Sometimes Lin Dashan would call Zhou Ye to take a break together, but the two of them just looked for a cool place to take a nap, and two quarters of an hour was enough.
Zhou Ye looked at the open hall silently and heard no sound.
He Guixiang looked over with a smile. "Ashu must have been tired from picking mushrooms in the mountains this morning. Let her rest for a while. If you really have nothing to do, why don't you help me spin hemp?"
Zhou Ye replied, "I'm used to doing rough work, and I'm afraid the hemp will be damaged."
He Guixiang said, "It's very simple. Look, I've already peeled the bark of the hemp stem and cut it into thin threads. I'll connect these threads together and twist them into thread. I'll then wind the twisted thread into a tassel like this."
Zhou Ye preferred chopping wood to spinning hemp, but he thought that chopping wood would make a loud noise and might disturb the people in the house, so he listened to He Guixiang and sat on a bench nearby to twist hemp rope.
He Guixiang had initially thought Zhou Ye would be clumsy at twisting the twine; she had simply wanted him to sit down and rest. Even if the twine got damaged, she could always tear it apart and start over. Unexpectedly, Zhou Ye was just a little unskilled at first, and the thickness of the twine he twisted was uneven. But as he continued to twist, his work improved. While still not as good as hers, it was better than Ah Shu and Xiao Pu's!
He Guixiang was a little surprised, but thinking about A Ye's usual behavior, she felt it was natural.
Aye seems to have always been like this. He looks careless, but he is actually careful in doing things. It's just that he is so tall and strong that people subconsciously think that he is a rough person.
Playing mahjong is a delicate job and it also kills a lot of time. When Zhou Ye had wound a fist-sized tassel of thread, there was finally some noise in the house.
Lin Xiaopu ran out from the inner room, shouting, "Sister, wake up~"
Lin Shu, who had just woken up, felt embarrassed when she shouted at her.
She was just taking a nap, why was she shouting so loudly as if she was reporting to her superior?
Zhou Ye looked up and saw two faint blushes on Lin Shu's fair face. There was still a hint of laziness on her face. He said, "I'm not in a hurry. Wake up first."
"Brother Aye, please wait a moment. I'll go to the kitchen to wash my face and come back."
After Lin Shu ran to wash her face with cold water, Zhou Ye took his time to twist the last bit of twine in his hand, wrapped it around the tassel, and handed it to He Guixiang to see. "Auntie, take a look at these twines I've twisted. Is it okay? If not, I'll untie them later and you can twist them again."
He Guixiang smiled and praised: "Why not? This ball of twine that Ah Ye twisted is very good, we can use it directly."
Zhou Ye then left his things with peace of mind. When Lin Shu came out, he had already sorted the bamboos in the yard according to thickness and length.
"Big jar?! Brother Aye, when did you find it?" Before Lin Shu got closer, she saw the big jar that Zhou Ye placed in the corner of the yard.
She had just taken a nap for a little over half an hour at noon, and unexpectedly, a large urn appeared in the yard!
Zhou Ye turned around and said, "I remember you said you wanted a large vat to store water at the source. It doesn't matter if the vat is broken or has holes. This large jar just has a bigger opening, but it can still store water. Take a look at it. Is it useful?"
Lin Shu hurriedly said: "Of course it is necessary!" She was used to calling them "jars". In fact, jars are jars and weng is weng. Weng is cheaper. Most of the people used in Tianshui Village are weng. She didn't make it clear. Using weng is enough. Weng can also store water.
"I've checked. The spring behind our house has quite a large flow. We should choose thick bamboo, hollow out all the bamboo septa inside, and then split it in half. For the section at the source, we'll use a whole bamboo, choose a slightly thinner one, and only cut the two ends diagonally. This way, we can store more water and keep it cleaner. We'll place each section of the bamboo a little lower than the last, and lead it all the way to our fish pond..."
After the break, Lin Shu was full of energy and instructed Zhou Ye on how to deal with bamboo. After estimating that the spare bamboo was almost enough, Zhou Ye carried a large bundle of bamboo on his shoulders, and Lin Shu followed behind him, holding the axe for him, and the two ran away one after the other.
Lin Xiaopu did not follow, but sat with He Guixiang spinning hemp.
He Guixiang asked, "Why don't you go with Aye and Ashu?"
Lin Xiaopu squinted at the sun. "The sun is so strong, I'm afraid of getting tanned. My sister said I'm still young, and as long as I don't stay in the sun, I can get whiter if I take more care of myself. I also want to be as fair and tender as my sister."
He Guixiang smiled after hearing this, but she didn't know whether she believed her or not.
On the way, Zhou Ye asked Lin Shu, "Since you want to divert water, why don't you just dig a ditch to bring in the mountain spring water? Why do you have to use this bamboo?"
Lin Shu: "The flow of this mountain spring water is not as strong as that of a stream. If we dig a ditch, do you believe it will seep into the ground before it reaches my fish pond? Otherwise, why would I pave the fish pond with gravel and pebbles? It's to prevent seepage. Besides, I have other uses for this mountain spring water."
As she said that, she smiled and said, "Brother Aye, why don't you take a guess?"
Zhou Ye paused and said, "You want to divert some of the water to the courtyard, so that you can use the mountain spring water directly for washing rice and vegetables instead of scooping it from the water tank?"
Lin Shu's eyes suddenly opened, and she asked in surprise, "How did you guess that?"
Zhou Ye's mouth corners twitched slightly, "A Shu, I'm not as stupid as you think."
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