"A girl so arrogant and unruly, even more vulgar than a man, I want to see which man will dare to marry her in the future!"
After they left, the female shop owner continued to curse them at the top of her lungs, even throwing out the most offensive words like "whore" and "slut."
Baoyu was furious when he heard this, and wanted to go over and kick them a few times to teach them a lesson.
Zhou Chenyu held him down, her heart unmoved. "Alright, look at your face, swollen like a pig's head. Let's see how you explain this to the old lady when you get back."
Baoyu raised his head, blinked his dark eyes, and looked as obedient as a puppy: "Sister, that old woman cursed you so that you would never get married."
Zhou Chenyu rolled her eyes. "I don't see getting married as my life goal, so I won't stoop to their level. Don't move, let me see your wound."
Baoyu's eye was scratched by a fingernail, and the wound had already scabbed over. "Ouch, that hurts."
“Here, these are some herbs I found at the foot of the mountain. Apply them to your face and massage for half an hour, and the swelling will go down by the afternoon.” Chen Tongsheng brought over the herbs, which he had mashed into a paste, and considerately applied them to Baoyu’s face.
Looking at his thoughtful concern, Zhou Chenyu felt a little guilty that he hadn't neglected her at all because of her previous actions. "Brother Chen, thank you so much. If it weren't for you protecting me just now, they wouldn't have been able to swallow their anger so easily."
Baoyu also said, "Yes, ever since Father left, we've only ever been bullied. It's been a long time since we've been this tough."
Chen Tongsheng glanced at her and recalled his original intention when he saved Baoyu. He still held onto a last glimmer of hope and wanted to take this opportunity to leave a good impression on her as someone she could rely on.
But just now, she single-handedly confronted that family of three without the slightest hesitation or fear; her courage was something even he, a grown man, couldn't match.
At that moment, all his liking turned into heartfelt respect and admiration.
He laughed heartily, "Little sister, why are you thanking me? Have you forgotten that we've already sworn brother and sister? How can I, as the elder brother, stand idly by when my younger siblings are in danger?"
Seeing that he was completely open and honest, without any romantic feelings, Zhou Chenyu finally felt less awkward than before.
She laughed too, "That's great! With our big brother backing us up, let's see who dares to bully us now!"
They laughed heartily, and Baoyu laughed along with them, but every time he laughed, he aggravated his wound, and could only look miserable. "Sister, Brother Chen, I'm injured like this, and you're still laughing so happily."
"Who told you to be so useless? You couldn't even beat those two weaklings, you deserved to get beaten up!"
Zhou Chenyu scolded him irritably, but Chen Tongsheng comforted him, "The deeper the love, the harsher the criticism. Baoyu, don't be sad."
"Brother Chen is the best." Baoyu immediately switched sides, "I should have made you my brother-in-law!"
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Zhou Chenyu kicked him, making Baoyu's injury worse and causing him to howl in pain. Chen Tongsheng laughed for a while and then hurriedly tried to mediate between them.
"Brother Chen, you haven't tried my cooking before, have you? Sit here, and I'll get you a bowl."
Chen Tongsheng sat under the sun, and in the midst of his vigorous youth, his face was soon covered in sweat: "What is this?"
"Our shop's signature dish, mung bean and taro ball sweet soup." Zhou Chenyu scooped a full bowl of sweet soup over. Chen Tongsheng glanced at it, took a sip, and his brows relaxed: "It's so hot today, this bowl of sweet soup is just in time! Little sister, your cooking skills are truly amazing. You can turn anything into a treasure in your hands."
Zhou Chenyu was merely using things common in modern times but not in ancient times to fool people. He dared not boast about himself and said some self-deprecating words. A few barks from dogs reached his ears.
"Where did that dog barking come from? Did you hear it?"
"They're my dogs, I almost forgot!" Chen Tongsheng quickly finished his food, picked up the two winnowing baskets he had left aside, lifted the cloth covering them, and revealed five one-month-old mongrel puppies. They were probably hungry and were howling loudly.
Looking into the dogs' innocent, big eyes, Zhou Chenyu's heart melted. "Oh my god, they're so cute!"
Chen Tongsheng picked up a small dog by the scruff of its neck. "Our black dog had puppies, and we can't keep so many at home, so I have to sell them on the street. Little sister, the other day when you were at my fruit tree hut, you seemed to really like the dogs. If you really like them, why don't you pick one from here to take home and raise? It would be great if you could raise it to guard the yard."
"Really? Can I really pick one? Wouldn't that be a bad idea?" Zhou Chenyu and Baoyu looked at each other.
Chen Tongsheng was annoyed with them, saying, "Since my little sister likes it, how could I not give her a gift? You gave me some sweet soup, so I'll give you a dog. We're even."
"Then thank you very much!" Zhou Chenyu replied with a smile. After looking at the dogs for a while, she noticed that the other dogs were either trying to climb out of the basket or hiding in the corner from her, but the chubby little yellow dog let her pet it. "Who hasn't had a big yellow dog in their childhood? This is the one!"
After Chen Tongsheng left, seeing that Baoyu was badly injured, Zhou Chenyu suggested that he take the dog home first, while she would stay here and watch over it.
Baoyu was afraid that she wouldn't be able to push the cart, so he insisted on staying there to keep her company.
Zhou Chenyu had no choice but to lower the price by one coin, sell out all the sweet soup ahead of time, and rush home early.
Several days after the rice harvest began, a lot of rice was collected along the way. The straw from a field was piled up, and a few straws were tied up and carried to the cattle pen to be used as feed for the cattle.
The remaining haystacks were piled up into small hills. The children who had finished their chores would stand on the haystacks and bounce around on them like springs. They would bounce so high that they would roll off into the muddy fields without feeling any pain.
The adults, fearing that the children would scatter the haystacks, burned them before it rained. When the new round of planting began, water was drawn into the fields, and the ashes from the fire spread to every corner of the fields with the water flow, soon becoming fertilizer to nourish the rice seedlings.
Piles of straw were set ablaze, wisps of smoke drifted into the sky, the blue sky was shrouded in smoke, and even the air seemed to smell of ash.
As soon as she entered, Li Xiuju saw the wound on Baoyu's face, dropped the fish she was holding, and rushed over, "Oh dear, what happened to Baoyu's face? How did it get so badly injured?"
"Mother, it's me." Baoyu stammered, not daring to speak.
Li Xiuju's heart tightened immediately. "What's wrong?"
Zhou Chenyu noticed that the slap mark on his face was gone, leaving only a scar at the corner of his eye. Seeing Li Xiuju's anxious expression, she knew she couldn't easily fool her. So she decided to start by downplaying the incident and then exaggerate the whole thing about dealing with the mother and her two children to put her mind at ease.
Baoyu recalled how the man had been slapped and dared not utter a sound, and smiled smugly: "That's right, Mother, Sister has already retaliated, they definitely won't dare to bully us again!"
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