The man was wearing a woven straw hat, and his healthy, dark skin shone brightly in the sunlight. Looking at his big white smile, Zhou Chenyu felt that he looked somewhat familiar. After thinking hard for a while, she suddenly remembered the experience of being mentioned like a little chick a few days ago.
"Oh, it was him," she asked. "What was his name again?"
Zhou Baoyu gave her a dirty look and said, "Sister, someone saved your life, and you don't even remember that? You heartless bastard."
"Oh dear, I'm just a sucker for good looks. My brain can only hold so many men." Zhou Chenyu muttered to herself, then, seeing the man walking towards them, she quickly kicked Zhou Baoyu. "Who are you calling heartless! Tell me his name right now, or I'll embarrass myself!"
When Baoyu first tried to outwit his sister, he calmly replied, "A student, his name is Chen Tongsheng."
Chen Tongsheng, carrying a sack of things, strode over and said with a smile, "What a coincidence, I actually met you here."
Zhou Chenyu brushed aside the wet hair on both sides of her face, revealing her rosy cheeks from being exposed to the sun, and greeted him with a sweet smile: "Good afternoon, Brother Tongsheng."
Baoyu also chimed in.
“That day, all I remember is that you were called Zhou Baoyu, right?” Chen Tongsheng glanced at Baoyu, who nodded. He then turned his gaze to Zhou Chenyu and asked like a friendly older brother, “I still don’t know your little sister’s name.”
She smiled politely, "My name is Zhou Chenyu."
Chen Tongsheng nodded and said earnestly, "I only went to school for a few days, so I'm not sure if I'm mistaken. Are you the legendary beauty who could make fish sink and geese fall from the sky?"
Zhou Baoyu squeezed through the crowd and grinned, "Brother Tongsheng, you guessed right! That's my sister's name. Brother Tongsheng, don't you think my sister's name suits her perfectly?"
Chen Tongsheng laughed heartily, “Brother Baoyu is right.”
The words used to describe such a beautiful woman made Zhou Chenyu blush with embarrassment.
"What are you doing?" Li Xiuju asked after listening for a while, then leaned out to look at the people who were speaking. "And who is this?"
Baoyu told Li Xiuju how they met, and Li Xiuju thanked him again solemnly. After chatting for a few more minutes, he left.
Li Xiuju watched him walk away. "His surname is Chen, and he's passing through here again. Could he be from Chenjia Village, the one below our village? Chen Tongsheng, whose child is he?"
Zhou Chenyu's expression changed.
Why ask such a detailed question?
Would you consider him your future son-in-law?
She's not into that type of guy, so don't try to set her up with anyone.
Zhou Chenyu tensed up, her eyes darting around, and chuckled, "I don't know about that, but I think I heard he has a girlfriend and they're getting married soon. Well, a tall and strong man like him must have a lot of girls interested in him."
"You've found someone?" Li Xiuju asked with a regretful expression.
lover?
Baoyu frowned. How come he didn't know about this?
He looked puzzled and turned to look at his sister. Zhou Chenyu stepped on his foot and smiled faintly, "Isn't my sister right?"
Baoyu gritted his teeth in pain, his face flushed, and nodded, "No... mistake."
The three of them spent the whole morning cutting grass, removing half of it, leaving the other half. They went back for a quick lunch and rested, then immediately returned to the wasteland to remove the remaining weeds.
When Zhou Chenyu first arrived in the morning, she was only a little traumatized by the cut; she thought it would be a minor issue once she finished these tasks.
After lunch, I came back feeling like my whole body was falling apart; every movement ached.
With her remaining strength, she gritted her teeth and persevered. The three of them attacked from several directions, cutting the weeds down to the size of a table.
Finally, each person received a small handful, and together they leveled the weeds.
As evening approached and the sunlight weakened, the women who were sowing seeds in the fields washed their feet and rushed home to cook, while the others stayed behind to clean up.
As it gets darker, the chickens are roaming freely outside, and we need to find them before sunset.
Li Xiuju stopped working to find chickens, while Baoyu went home to start a fire and boil water. Since they still didn't have any food for tonight, Zhou Chenyu went to find some wild vegetables.
She handed the knife to Baoyu and was about to leave when Li Xiuju called her back, "Chenyu, you've been eating wild vegetables these days, aren't you getting a little tired of them? When you go looking for wild vegetables, you can also check if there are any water ferns by the river. We still have the eggs we picked up the day before yesterday, they'll be perfect to stir-fry with the water ferns."
Water fern.
She remembers that when she was a child, her grandmother in the countryside would often go to the river to pick water ferns, which she would stir-fry or mix with eggs. They tasted incredibly delicious.
After leaving the countryside, she rarely gets to eat this anymore.
Zhou Chenyu went around to the village road behind the kitchen. There was a slope down there, and on the right was a large vegetable garden surrounded by bamboo. The garden was divided into several parts and planted with all kinds of fruits and vegetables.
I wonder what the wasteland they're mining today will look like in the future.
She admired him for a moment, then continued walking.
A country path leads out to the side, covered with scattered pebbles, with weeds and wildflowers on both sides. Follow the path to the end, and a crystal-clear stream flows gently down.
Zhou Chenyu picked some wild vegetables and placed them on a flat boulder used for washing vegetables and clothes.
After washing up, I walked along the woods by the riverbank, looking at the scenery on both sides of the stream. At a glance, I saw a few familiar water ferns in the dense greenery.
It hides among weeds and thorns. The older ones have opened their leaves and are inedible, while the tender ones, like a straw, sprout straight, tender green stems that are a few inches long and have rounded, serrated tips that break easily when gently bent.
Zhou Chenyu thought it would take some time to find water ferns, but he didn't expect them to be everywhere.
She couldn't wait to run over and pick them. She walked along the riverbank for only a few dozen meters before she had a very good harvest, so much so that she couldn't hold them all in her hands.
Zhou Chenyu returned home with wild vegetables and water ferns. The sticky smell of sweat on her body was unpleasant. Baoyu had already boiled hot water, so she quickly took a refreshing bath.
Baoyu washed the vegetables, and Li Xiuju quickly heated the wok, scooped a small spoonful of lard mixed with cracklings into the wok, poured in the yellow and white bamboo shoots, stir-fried them until they were about 70% cooked, and finally added chopped green onions and stir-fried them before serving.
After Zhou Chenyu finished showering, he came out smelling the aroma and saw Li Xiuju lift the pot lid, a wave of steam rushing towards him.
Li Xiuju picked up a spatula and stir-fried the pork fat scraps and green water ferns until they were golden brown. The pork fat and green water ferns absorbed the oil and became coated with a thick, clear sheen.
The afterglow of the setting sun shone into the courtyard, covering the ground with a layer of golden light.
Li Xiuju looked out the window at the scenery. In recent years, she had been so worried about making a living that she hadn't paid attention to the beauty of nature for quite some time.
She finished cooking, her face beaming: "The weather's nice today, and the scenery outside is beautiful too. How about we eat out later? What do you think?"
"I'll go right away." Baoyu smelled the aroma of the food and immediately ran back into the house, bringing out a table and a low stool.
Li Xiuju carried the dishes out, and Zhou Chenyu followed behind with bowls and chopsticks.
Stir-fried bamboo shoots and stir-fried eggs with water ferns are both dishes she likes to eat.
After a long day of work, I come home to find someone cooking delicious meals for me.
This is just too wonderful!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com