Chapter 18 Li's Little Actions
He grabbed the unused wooden stick and handed the lantern to Dou, "Mom, stand behind me. No matter who it is today, don't try to bully us."
Gu Rongyu slowly approached and looked at Chang Xixi, who was on edge. "What's going on?"
"fine."
Chang Xixi chuckled, put down the stick and wiped his hands. "Why are you here so late at night? The wind in the mountains is so strong at night."
Gu Rongyu took out the cloak in his hand and handed it to Chang Xixi. There was no emotion in his eyes, but he just tilted his body slightly.
Seeing that the two children had something to say, Dou asked for a lantern and went back the same way. She didn't know whether the big black dog was dead or had gone somewhere else.
"Go in and take a look." Gu Rongyu held up a lantern and motioned Chang Xixi to open the door. He clasped his slender white hands on the vermilion door and pushed it gently.
The elegant moonlight sprinkled in the yard. A path paved with small stone slabs led to the main gate of the house, and they walked in together.
Gu Rongyu looked around and whispered thank you.
Chang Xixi thought she had misheard. The quiet and aloof scholar actually spoke to thank him, and she was at a loss for what to do.
"This is our home." She patted her chest and said righteously, "Don't worry, no one will dare to bully you in the future. I, Chang Xixi, will protect you."
One fine day, the eldest brother came back with a message and also bought a few pounds of meat from Panzhi City to celebrate.
There were jealous people and envious people in the village. Some even felt that Gu Rongyu was lucky to have climbed onto the Zhou family's throne, and that Chang Xixi must have taken a lot of money with her when she left the Zhou family.
Mr. Zhang didn't succeed in coaxing him, but instead he took advantage of him.
Chang Xixi ignored the expressions of those people and hired an ox cart to load all her things onto the cart. Dou stood at the door, wiping her tears and sobbing.
"Mom, why are you crying? It's only a few steps away. I have to come back every day from now on."
Changsheng picked up the piece of meat and threw it directly onto the ox cart, then sat on it and asked the driver to go faster so as not to delay the auspicious day.
This look is even more anxious than Chang Xixi.
They arrived at the bridal chamber in a grand procession. Mrs. Li was standing at the doorway, holding a piece of cloud cake in her hand. Seeing the two approaching, she greeted them from a distance, "Oh! The new son-in-law is here. Today is the day of the housewarming, and I came specially to give him something."
Li only talked to Gu Rongyu without looking at Chang Xixi, her eyes were full of earnestness.
Chang Sheng got off the ox cart, took the cloud cake, put it under his nose and smelled it, "This is from your family, you can't finish it, right?"
"You, you are such a disrespectful boy." Li smiled awkwardly, reached out to take the Yunpian Cake back from Changsheng's hand, and stuffed it into Gu Rongyu's arms.
He turned around and went into the new house, looking around casually. Seeing that there were only simple furniture and no valuable furnishings in the house, he frowned.
Chang Xixi pushed away the people blocking the way and said, "A good dog doesn't block the road. I've only heard of people scrambling to pay their respects to the birthday boy, but I've never seen anyone scrambling to see the world."
"Aunt, you've lived in the city for a while, why are you so superficial?"
Li's face turned blue and red due to the ridicule and she was speechless. She stood in the courtyard in a bad mood and gestured at the height of the courtyard wall for no reason.
Chang Xixi put the wooden box into the cabinet and locked it. She turned around and saw this scene through the window, with a gloomy smile on her lips.
"Eh..." A dark shadow descended from the eaves, entered the small study next door, and quietly walked to the side of Gu Rongyu who was sorting books, muttering, "Young Master, Chang Xixi's smile just now was so sinister."
"oh?"
Gu Rongyu paused for a moment while arranging the books. Without his reminder, the black shadow automatically described the scene he had just seen. That Li was indeed annoying and irritating.
However, a few days ago, Chang Xixi was cooking in the kitchen. She had just put the rice in the pot and was about to beat an egg and stir-fry some vegetables when Li came in with some tea.
After knocking on the door once and then firing, Chang Xixi opened the door and rolled her eyes unhappily, "Auntie, how come you have time to come here?"
"It's not far. This isn't your mother's house. I came to see you while I was out for a walk. I brought you some tea just in case you ran out of food."
Chang Xixi took the things and didn't intend to let Li into the house. She just stood at the door and said, "Auntie, thank you for your kindness. My husband and I will never be so poor that we have to eat tea even if we run out of food."
"You, you kid, why are you so ungrateful?"
"Thank you for the compliment, Auntie. I have rice in the pot so I won't accompany you." She slammed the door shut and reached out to throw the tea leaves under the eaves.
Li was upset after being turned away. On the way back to Dou's house, she cursed Gu Rongyu to die early so that she could make a fortune.
Gu Rongyu looked so sickly, and they were newlyweds, so they would definitely not live long!
The money earned from copying books was not enough to pay for his medical treatment and medicine. His illness was serious. Everyone knew that the wife of the Gu family had given medicine to this eldest son who was not related by blood. It was a blessing that he was still alive.
Who knows if we can survive this winter month.
Half a month passed, and under Chang Xixi's careful care, Gu Rongyu took two drops of spiritual spring water every day, and his complexion was getting better and better.
His pale face and the coughing and asthma that had been bothering him were gone. Instead, he was able to go back to the Dou family's house with Chang Xixi, and help carry some things from time to time.
This made Li extremely anxious. Wasn't he supposed to be dying soon? How come he was getting better and better?
The Li family, who hated the two of them so much, and Uncle Pang's family, who was engaged to Gu Rongyu, who knew that the shabby house looked so beautiful after renovation and became the only good one in the village.
Miss Pang cried all day at home. Seeing that Gu Rongyu's complexion was getting worse day by day, and seeing his appearance, she felt even more regretful.
"Tell me, this is strange, isn't it? That scholar Gu was about to die, but unexpectedly he got better. Look at how healthy he is, even you can't compare to him."
Several women working in the fields started to tease each other.
Li happened to pass by here. She turned her eyes and took out a bag of betel nuts from her sleeve and invited a few people to eat.
"Here, this isn't some fancy thing, it's just a snack that city folks like. Come and try it, okay?"
The women looked at each other, wiped their hands, took a piece from Li's hand and started eating. One person ate it, and the others were not restrained either.
As we ate, we started to talk more.
"Do you think the Chang family hired a doctor to cure my son-in-law's chronic illness? I passed by the door a while ago and smelled a strong smell of medicine."
"That's not barbaric!"
Another person agreed and also said that he saw Chang Xixi going to the mountains to dig herbs. Li was shocked and remembered that Chang Xixi had asked for a huge amount of money to treat Chang Hai.
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