Dark clouds swept across the sky like a black cloth, and the surrounding light instantly dimmed.
Zhou Shuqing looked up at the sky and exclaimed, "Oh no, it's going to rain heavily! There's a pile of grain drying at home, but only my wife and grandmother are there. They can't manage to collect it all. I have to hurry back!"
Wang Zhao, who had a rather delicate appearance, glanced at the sky and, since it was on the way anyway, quickly caught up with him. "Cousin, I'll go back with you. It'll be faster if there's another person."
Zhou Shuqing looked at his cousin and nodded, "That's fine then."
A fierce wind howled around them, and the swaying trees on both sides of the mountain road looked like a chaotic dance of demons. The swirling sand stung their eyes, but the two of them didn't care. They ran towards Zhoujia Village without daring to stop along the way. When they reached the village entrance at top speed, the downpour had already started before them, splashing into the pond and creating ripples.
Zhou Shuqing looked at his neighbor's millet soaking in water, while his family had even more millet drying in the sun, so their situation was probably even worse.
He braved the rain to return home, and as soon as he entered, he saw bags of grain perfectly preserved in the storage room, not a drop of water on them.
Hongmei, her grandmother, and Aunt Xiuju's family all sat under the eaves, their faces covered in fine sweat.
Seeing this, Zhou Shuqing felt relieved.
When Hongmei saw him and his cousin Wang Zhao running in, soaked to the bone, she quickly found a clean handkerchief and handed it to them. "The rain is so heavy, why didn't you find somewhere to take shelter? Aren't you stupid?"
Wang Zhao took the handkerchief and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, my brother was worried that you and Grandma wouldn't be able to harvest the grain at home, so he ran all the way back without getting wet in the rain."
Hongmei, puffing out her cheeks, walked up to him and said, "Luckily, Aunt Xiuju, Baoyu, and Chenyu helped us. By the time you came back to harvest the grain, we would have been soaked to the bone."
"Wife, it's my fault, it's my fault." Zhou Shuqing comforted his wife and thanked her repeatedly, "Auntie, thank you so much."
Li Xiuju didn't know how to say such polite things. She smiled and shook her head, "We're all neighbors, why say such things?"
Sitting quietly to the side, Zhou Chenyu exposed her limp leg, tilted her head, and questioned Zhou Shuqing: "Brother Shuqing, shouldn't you thank me? I'm disabled but determined, you can't forget me even if you forget someone else!"
Baoyu, always eager for excitement, chimed in, "Me too! Me too!"
Zhou Shuqing blushed with embarrassment, scratching his head and grinning foolishly, "It's my fault, it's my fault, I apologize to Chen Yu Baoyu here."
Li Xiuju gave each of them a tap on the forehead, saying, "You two are fooling around again."
Zhou Chenyu and Baoyu looked up and giggled.
Wang Zhao stared intently at the bright and beautiful girl from afar, her smile so captivating that he couldn't bear to look away.
After laughing, Hongmei noticed a large basket placed to the side and faintly smelled a fishy odor. "What's that?" she asked.
Zhou Shuqing snapped out of his daze and came over with a basket. "The employer we worked for today is a large pig farmer. He slaughtered a pig today and left a lot of offal and bones. He gave us a lot because he saw that Wang Zhao and I worked hard. Wang Zhao thought it was too much trouble to deal with these things and refused to take them with him, so they're all here with us."
Hongmei lifted the lid and looked inside. There was a whole lump of pig liver, pig lungs, pig intestines, and several large bones. "So much? It's hot, it'll spoil if we don't finish it."
"Yes, that's what I'm worried about too. Honey, what do you think we should do?" Zhou Shuqing doesn't cook often, but his eyes were fixed on Hongmei, and he did whatever his wife said.
Hongmei looked around the room, silently counted the heads, her eyes lit up, and she smiled, "Why don't all of you stay here tonight and eat at our house before you leave?"
Zhou Shuqing patted his cousin Wang Zhao's chest. "Did you hear that? Your cousin's wife told you to stay for a meal before you leave."
Wang Zhao chuckled twice, partly out of respect for his cousin and sister-in-law, and partly out of his own selfish motives, and replied, "Since my cousin and sister-in-law have already put it this way, if I still insist on going back, and you report me to my parents one day, I'll surely get a scolding."
Having dealt with Wang Zhao, Hongmei looked expectantly at Li Xiuju and Zhou Chenyu.
They came to help with the rice harvest out of instinct; how could they eat before leaving?
Li Xiuju shook her head and stood up. "How can this be? Our whole family is here. How much rice will we waste? Besides, we have leftover vegetables at home. They'll spoil if we don't cook them. Chenyu, Baoyu, we should go back too."
"Grandma, don't go!" Hongmei couldn't stop her, so she pulled out Grandma Wang, this big shot.
Grandma Wang handed the child to Hongmei, stood up shakily, and took Li Xiuju's hand. "Xiuju, this year's harvest is plentiful. A few more bowls from you won't bankrupt us. How often do we have time to get together for a meal? You may not be hungry, but the child is. Please stay. Chenyu, Baoyu, please stay for my sake. I'm so old. It would be nice to have a lively gathering together."
With the old lady personally intervening to keep them, how could the younger generation dare to refuse?
After hesitating for a while, Li Xiuju finally gave up the idea of going home and went into the kitchen to help Hongmei prepare the pig offal.
Zhou Chenyu has disliked eating pig offal since she was a child, and she dares not even touch it. Afraid of spoiling everyone's fun, she secretly told Li Xiuju and used an injury on her foot as an excuse to stick to Grandma Wang's side and help pick vegetables.
The firewood at home was almost gone. Before he could shower and change, Zhou Shuqing went out to the woodshed to fetch some more firewood. Wang Zhao saw this and secretly followed him. "Cousin, wait for me?"
Zhou Shuqing told him to go back, "Wang Zhao, I can manage on my own. You sit down and rest for a while."
Wang Zhao ignored him and shamelessly followed him to the woodshed. Seeing that no one was around, he asked in a low voice, "Cousin, what was the name of the girl sitting next to the old lady just now?"
Zhou Shuqing, being an experienced man, immediately understood the hidden meaning behind his words. He laughed and scolded him, "So, that's what you're planning, kid? No wonder you agreed so readily just now."
"Shh! Brother, keep your voice down!" Wang Zhao's heart pounded nervously. Now that his purpose was clear, he decided to get straight to the point and asked with a smile, "Brother, I saw that the girl is about my age and so beautiful. Why don't you ask your cousin-in-law to put in a good word for me? If things really work out, I will be eternally grateful!"
Zhou Shuqing widened her eyes and poked his forehead hard. "Good news? This is nothing, and you're already thinking so far ahead? What kind of pipe dream are you having?"
Wang Zhao chuckled, touching his neck. "Isn't it true that when you meet a good girl, you have to make your move first? If you're too slow, someone else will snatch her away, and you'll regret it!"
"How come I didn't know you were full of bad ideas!" Zhou Shuqing laughed at his pathetic appearance for a while, then calmed down.
Looking at Wang Zhao's delicate appearance, he frowned and said, "Brother, I'm not trying to be pessimistic, but Chen Yu is a good girl, but most men can't handle her."
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