Chapter 210 Who are you still thinking about?
Wen Wan glanced at Lu Dongcai and saw that his face was tense and he looked uncomfortable.
Lu Minghai said, "Don't stand here anymore. It's getting late. I don't know if your mother and Dongfu are home and cooking. Wait until you have a break, then bring her over to take a look around and introduce her to the family."
Lu Dongcai responded and said hello to Lu Dongping: "Brother, I'll go back first."
Lu Dongping nodded and said, "Go!" He looked at Wen Wan and smiled, then walked into the yard with a backpack on his shoulder.
Lu Chun'e followed him like a shadow and asked him, "Brother, is that brother Dongcai's wife seventeen years old? Why does she look so young?" She was not small, but thin, really like a bamboo pole. She deeply doubted that if no one took food to exchange her, she would starve to death in that family.
Lu Dongping put the backpack against the wall and said, "They say he was born in the twelfth month. This year's twelfth month is exactly seventeen, so he won't be old enough until next year."
Wen Wan asked him, "What's your name?"
Lu Dongping thought for a moment: "His surname is Hu, what's his name? I didn't notice. Ask Dongcai later."
Okay, he went to transfer food to someone, but he didn’t even know his name. Wen Wan believed him.
Lu Dongcai's wife's surname was Hu, and her name was Hu Qingqing. Originally, she had no name. Everyone in the family called her Da Ya or Er Ya. With so many children, girls were considered as worthless as weeds and could barely survive, so why bother with names? This name was given when the Hu family was planning to give her away in exchange for food. Even Hu Qingqing herself was not very familiar with it. She was used to hearing people call her Er Ya and Gao Xiulan call her Qing Qing, so it took her a long time to react.
Gao Xiulan was a tough-mouthed person with a soft heart. After experiencing Li Laiying as a terrible daughter-in-law, she swore that if she ever found another daughter-in-law, she would never be soft-hearted or open-hearted, and would always act like a mother-in-law. However, upon seeing Hu Qingqing, who looked so thin that she looked like she could be blown away by the wind, her heart softened.
"Qingqing, right? Now that you're in our family, you're one of us. I don't care what happened in the past, but from now on you're one of us. As long as you and Dongcai live a good life, we won't let you get cold or go hungry no matter how hard things are at home."
Arriving in a strange place, surrounded by strangers, Hu Qingqing felt uneasy. She knew she would be living here forever and would never be able to return. Of course, she didn't want to go back. She had been secretly observing the Lu family since they delivered food to her. Of course, the one she looked at the most was Lu Dongcai. She knew that this man would be her man from now on. No one taught her, and she didn't understand, but she knew she was going to be with this man, eating from the same pot, sleeping in the same bed, and even bearing his children.
Her heart was trembling with fear all the way. These people seemed to be dressed better than the people in their place, and their tone of voice was nicer to her than that of her family, but she didn't know if they would be the same after she got here.
She pinched the corner of her clothes, not daring to raise her head, staring at her exposed toes, and responded with an "oh".
Gao Xiulan sighed softly and called Lu Dongcai into the house: "She should take care of her own wife. Go boil a pot of water and let her wash herself. The clothes she's wearing can hardly cover her flesh. Look through your clothes and pants to see if there's anything that can't be worn. Bring them to me and I'll alter them. As for shoes, your feet don't look big. I'll go look through Dongfu's old shoes to see if they can still be worn. Let's make do with them for now and we'll talk about it later!"
Lu Dongcai responded, sighed inwardly, and called out to Hu Qingqing, "Can you light a fire? Come to the kitchen and help light the fire. I'll cook and boil some hot water for you to wash up."
Hu Qingqing nodded: "Oh, yes, I can." When she was five or six years old, she was already standing on a chair and walking around the stove. She knew how to do all the housework.
The newly married couple, one of them lights the fire and the other turns the stove, so Gao Xiulan is no longer needed in the kitchen.
She handed Chuyi to Lu Dongfu and went into the house to rummage through the drawers and found some shoes that Lu Dongfu had worn before. Hu Qingqing's feet were small at that time, so they were a perfect fit. As for clothes, they would be discussed tomorrow.
Lu Minghai's family was in a really bad situation this year. They'd struggled all year, and at the end of the year, they'd even had to make up for the shortfall in work points. This year, they'd lost another hundred kilograms of grain. Gao Xiulan estimated the remaining grain, combined with what they had in their own plot, would only last until September at best. But even so, they couldn't afford to skip food. They couldn't expect to eat every meal, but they had to at least be eight-tenths full.
The first meal Hu Qingqing had when she arrived at the Lu family was grits porridge with pickles. She ate this bowl of rice until she burst into tears. She had never eaten such thick rice in her life.
After dinner, I have nothing to do but sleep.
After running back and forth over mountains and hills carrying food for a whole day, Lu Minghai was as tired as going to work. He felt a little exhausted and went to bed early.
Lu Dongcai went to find Gao Xiulan: "Mom, where does Qingqing sleep tonight?"
Gao Xiulan was stunned for a moment, then raised her hand and slapped him on the back: "Where do you think your own wife sleeps?"
Lu Dongcai: ——He has a bit of trouble adapting!
Were they going to sleep together? They were still so young, and he really felt a headache.
"Mom, um, isn't my brother's room empty?"
Gao Xiulan snorted coldly: "Don't even think about it, I'd rather be empty."
"No, that's not what I meant. I meant that the quilt over there is still unused. Bring it—"
Gao Xiulan understood what he meant instantly. She fumbled for a stick behind the stove and started slapping him: "What do you mean? Are you looking down on me? You don't want to sleep in the same bed or the same quilt? If you don't sleep in the same quilt with your wife, who do you want to sleep with? Are you still thinking about that girl from the Li family? Let me tell you, Lu Dongcai, you better put away those little tricks in your heart. Haven't you been tormented enough yet? Haven't I paid you back for what I owed you in my past life?"
If it were Lu Dongfu or Lu Donglin, they would have run away long ago, never getting close to him. But this was Lu Dongcai, who stood there obediently, letting her vent her anger. After she finished scolding him, he said, "I'm not thinking of anyone. I'm just a little uncomfortable. It's too small, looks a little bigger than Chun'e."
Gao Xiulan said, "Isn't it good that she's still young? While she's still young, why don't you teach her well and make her the way you like her? How should I teach a woman? Is there grass in your head?"
Lu Dongcai didn't dare stay in the kitchen any longer. He went outside in the dark and walked back and forth in the main room several times. Hu Qingqing was taking a shower in the room. The kerosene lamp in the room was still on. He didn't know if she was done. There was no sound at all.
He called out, "Qingqing, are you done washing?"
Hu Qingqing responded, her voice as soft as a cat's meow: "Okay, okay."
Lu Dongcai then entered the room, took the bath water out and poured it out. He looked back at her wet hair, wrung the towel vigorously and handed it to her: "Wipe it off. Dry your hair before going to bed, otherwise it will easily get nits. I'll go to my mother's house to get a wooden comb and a brush for you to comb your hair. We don't have these things at home, so I'll buy them for you when I have time."
Of course, he had some before. When he divorced Li Laiying, he didn't keep even a thread from anything in the room that the woman had used. He rolled them all up and threw them to Li Laiying.
Two months have passed, and the house still seems to retain the atmosphere of her former residence, but it has nothing to do with her at all.
Hu Qingqing rubbed her hair with a towel until it was half dry, and then she used the comb given by Lu Dongcai to comb her hair bit by bit.
At home, no one ever cared about her or taught her these things.
She doesn't know how to comb her hair, and sometimes when it's very sticky, she just uses scissors to pick it up herself, in clumps, like something chewed by a dog.
Her hair wasn't long at the moment, just reaching her shoulders. It was messy, slightly curly, and dry. She combed it for a long time, but her scalp was numb from the pain, and she still couldn't smooth it out. Instead, a lot of the hair she had pulled out was tangled on the comb.
Lu Dongcai couldn't bear it any longer, so he lay down and sat up again. Without saying a word, he took the comb from her hand and combed her hair bit by bit: "Tomorrow, I'll take you next door. In the afternoon, my sister-in-law and Chun'e will be there. Let them teach you how to braid your hair. By the way, see if my sister-in-law has any hair ties. Ask for two for you to use first. I'll take you to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy two more later."
Hu Qingqing sat on the edge of the bed without saying a word. She was nervous and excited at the moment. No one had ever combed her hair before!
Lu Dongcai combed her hair and said, "This will be your home from now on. You don't need to be afraid. No one in our family is a bad person, and no one has a bad temper. You probably don't know me, but I was married. I divorced after the Chinese New Year, and I have a daughter named Chuyi, the one my mother is holding today. I'm twenty-three this year, which means I'm twenty-four by lunar age, seven years older than you." At this point, he sighed, "If there's anything you don't understand, just ask boldly. As long as you're obedient and live a good life, everyone in our family will treat you well, and I, I will treat you well too."
He was the only one talking, and besides nodding, Hu Qingqing only made two other sounds: "Oh" and "Yeah."
The hair is straightened and it will be almost dry after wiping it.
Lu Dongcai blew out the oil lamp and said, "Go to sleep!"
Hu Qingqing lay down obediently, took a few deep breaths quietly, and told herself that it was nothing. At home, the sisters and their younger brothers and sisters slept together. It was much better here than at home. There were only the two of them on the bed.
As I was thinking, I soon fell asleep.
But Lu Dongcai, who was standing next to him, was so stiff because he saw an unfamiliar person lying there, who was his woman, and they were in the same quilt. He could touch her if he wasn't paying attention.
He lay flat on his back, looking at the dark ceiling. He didn't know how much time had passed before he drowsily closed his eyes and fell asleep.
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