Chapter 19
A tool has become popular in Luohe Village: by carving several grooves into a washboard, it can be used to remove corn kernels. It's very convenient, since everyone has a wooden board at home.
It was Aunt Liu who first discovered this when she came to Chen Qing's house. She walked around the village, and soon everyone in the village knew that this was how you could do the work.
As a result, the villagers praised Zhou Yuan even more, saying that he was kind-hearted, skillful, and good at raising cattle; in short, Zhou Yuan was good in every way.
When the farm work wasn't so demanding, Aunt Hua visited Zhou Yuan's house again. This time, Zhou Yuan didn't refuse her; he simply said that he had someone he wanted to propose to, and that he would ask Aunt Hua to help with the proposal once he had news of her.
The news of Zhou Yuan's impending marriage spread throughout the village in no time, but it didn't seem to be a secret. After all, everyone in the village could see that he and Li Xin, the son of the blacksmith Li, were getting along very well, and marriage was only a matter of time.
Chen Qing breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the news, just as Li Xin came to invite him to go mushroom picking.
Thanks to the tools Zhou Yuan provided, Chen Qing's family harvested their corn quickly. After drying it for a while, they could put it away. They were faster than the other families in the village, so only the two of them were up the mountain at this moment.
"Aren't you bringing Niu Niu today?" As they climbed up the mountain path, Chen Qing asked curiously why he hadn't brought Niu Niu. Li Xin's mother was in poor health, and Li Xin usually took care of Niu Niu.
"Oh, he went out to play with that Qi Shuning."
Chen Qing then stopped asking.
The mountains in Luohe Village don't look very big, but they actually stretch endlessly. The best time to go up the mountain to pick mushrooms is after a rain, but it hasn't rained for days. Li Xin couldn't sit still any longer, so he came here eagerly. Chen Qing wouldn't let him make a wasted trip, so he followed him up the mountain.
Before going up the mountain, Aunt Sun knew she wouldn't be back for at least a day, so she asked Chen Qing to bring her some food and drink so she wouldn't go hungry.
Each of them carried a basket on their back. Although the sun was blazing today, the dense shade of the trees in the mountains provided a refreshing coolness.
Chen Qing followed behind Li Xin and listened to her speak. Li Xin said, "I told my dad the other day that I wanted to learn blacksmithing."
Chen Qing missed a step, stumbled, and grabbed a tree in front of him to stop: "Huh? You? Learning blacksmithing? No, what kind of boy learns blacksmithing?"
Li Xin stomped her foot unhappily: "Why are you saying the same thing as my dad?"
Chen Qingqing cleared his throat and then pulled Li Xin's arm: "But look at Uncle Li's physique, and what about yours?"
Li Xin pretended to raise her arm, but that was hardly convincing. Li Xin lowered her head and said, "My dad has always wanted a son to take over his job, but Niu Niu is too young. By the time Niu Niu grows up, my dad will be old. So he wants to find me a strong man."
Chen Qing nodded: "Uncle Li wants to teach her future husband how to forge iron, right?"
"Um."
Chen Qing added, "Zhou Yuan's physique is quite suitable for blacksmithing."
Upon hearing his words, Li Xin jumped up in fright: "What nonsense are you talking about! What does this have to do with Zhou Yuan?"
"Hmm?" Chen Qing asked, somewhat puzzled. "You don't need to be shy with me anymore, aren't we getting married soon?"
"Aaaaaah!" Li Xin broke down. "What are you saying? My relationship with him is completely innocent. Don't try to play matchmaker like this!"
"Huh?" Chen Qing was also stunned. "Didn't you two get along really well? He cares about you a lot. Didn't he even tell Aunt Hua last time that he was going to propose marriage?"
Li Xin was still screaming, "No, that's not true, don't talk nonsense."
He originally wanted to tell Chen Qing everything about Zhou Yuan's feelings, but after thinking about it, he felt it wasn't appropriate for him to say such things. He also thought about Chen Qing's personality and didn't want to scare him. Finally, he said very seriously, "I will absolutely, absolutely, absolutely not marry Zhou Yuan. I don't like someone like Zhou Yuan. You know, I like men who are more delicate."
Seeing Li Xin's serious expression, Chen Qing scratched his head, wondering what exactly was wrong.
Let's leave that topic aside for now. They went deeper into the mountains. Li Xin followed the place he remembered and, after walking for almost an hour, finally reached the deep mountains and found the location he had memorized over the years. Sure enough, there were several clusters of hazel mushrooms.
Li Xin happily picked the mushrooms and covered them with some withered leaves, saying, "Don't let anyone find out."
They had indeed made quite a bit of progress along the way, but they were also getting further and further away. Chen Qing glanced at the sky and said, "Let's head back."
The two baskets they carried were almost full, and they couldn't hold any more, so the two sat on a large rock, shared a piece of bread, and then headed down the mountain.
Just moments ago, the sun was shining brightly, but suddenly the weather changed, and a strong wind picked up in the mountains. Chen Qing helped Li Xin up, saying, "We need to hurry."
A storm was brewing, and the wind in the forest made the surrounding branches sway wildly. Li Xin nodded, and the two of them helped each other walk back the way they came.
Chen Qing was worried. There was still corn drying at home, and his mother definitely couldn't bring it all in by herself. But they were still at least an hour away from home. What if the corn got wet and sprouted?
Seeing Chen Qing's anxious expression, Li Xin noticed it and the two quickened their pace considerably. Soon, large raindrops began to fall, and almost instantly, they were soaked. Fortunately, they had picked many leaves along the way to cover the mushrooms, preventing them from being damaged by the rain.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier. The mountain road was already rugged and difficult to walk on. The two of them were walking forward with one foot in the deep water and the wind and rain were hitting their faces so hard that they could hardly see the road. Chen Qing resolutely pulled Li Xin into a cave for shelter.
"How scary." Li Xin wiped the rain off her face. "Why is it raining so hard? Is it going to keep raining all day?"
Chen Qing shook his head: "Summer rain comes quickly and goes quickly."
Just as Chen Qing had said, the heavy rain finally stopped after half an hour. After the rain stopped, they rushed home without stopping. However, the mountain road was really difficult to travel after the rain, and the way back took much longer than the way they came.
Both of them were a little tired, but they dared not linger any longer. If they couldn't get down the mountain before dark, they would have to spend the night in the mountains. Chen Qing was a widow and it was fine, but Li Xin was not. He was still an unmarried man, and if he didn't go home for one night, the villagers' gossip would drown him.
"We need to get down the mountain quickly," Chen Qing said.
Li Xin nodded, feeling as if the basket on his back weighed more than a thousand pounds. He took a deep breath and he and Chen Qing helped each other up.
Chen Qing could clearly feel that Li Xin's breathing was heavy and hot on his forehead.
"Li Xin?"
Li Xin hummed in agreement.
Are you feeling unwell?
"It seems so." Li Xin let out a heavy sigh. "How could I be so useless? How about we spend the night on the mountain?"
Chen Qing had no choice but to support him: "No, if you don't go home tonight, there will be gossip in the village tomorrow."
Li Xin grunted an "oh" and stopped talking, trying to put all his energy into walking. However, half of his strength was on Chen Qing, who had to look after him and walk as well. He didn't notice the ground and lost his footing, a sharp pain shooting through his ankle.
Li Xin panicked. He had also just fallen, but thankfully nothing serious happened. As he got up, he saw Chen Qing clutching his ankle: "What happened?"
"It looks like he sprained his ankle." Chen Qing looked at the mushrooms scattered on the ground. "Pick up the mushrooms. It's getting dark, we need to get down the mountain quickly."
After Li Xin finished picking the mushrooms, she went to help Chen Qing up. He himself was dizzy and lightheaded, and the two of them rolled around in a ball. They looked at each other helplessly, and then they both laughed.
"Otherwise, we can just stay on the mountain." Li Xin rubbed her forehead.
Chen Qing was naturally unwilling, but he forced himself to get up. By then, it was completely dark. Chen Qing leaned against a tree and took a deep breath. But as he leaned against the tree, he saw a figure in the distance.
Although they were quite far apart, Chen Qing knew it was Zhou Yuan just by looking at his figure.
The instant Chen Qing looked over, Zhou Yuan also looked in his direction, and their eyes met.
Zhou Yuan walked over quickly, his gaze sweeping over Li Xin before looking at Chen Qing: "Are you alright?"
Li Xin pouted.
Chen Qing shook his head: "It's nothing, why are you here?"
Thinking that Zhou Yuan might have come for Li Xin, Chen Qing fell silent after speaking.
Li Xin snorted: "How come you're alright? You twisted your ankle and can't walk."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuan squatted down to check Chen Qing's foot, but Chen Qing quickly hid it behind his back, saying, "It's just a sprain, it's nothing."
Zhou Yuan looked at the pile of mushrooms next to them before saying, "It was Auntie. She said you went up the mountain and haven't come down yet, so she asked me to come up and look for you."
Actually, what Aunt Sun originally said was to tell Zhou Yuan to go up the mountain to find Li Xin, and Chen Qing was just a side trip.
"Hey, can we go down the mountain first?" Li Xin asked weakly.
“Okay.” Zhou Yuan helped Chen Qing up, picked up a basket and carried it on his chest. Then, with a forceful movement, he threw Chen Qing onto his back.
Chen Qing felt a sudden dizziness, and then he found himself on Zhou Yuan's back.
Zhou Yuan glanced at Li Xin again, then picked up his basket again, holding it with one hand and placing the other on Chen Qing's knees: "Hold on tight, let's go."
Chen Qing instinctively hugged Zhou Yuan's neck, but after seeing Li Xin out of the corner of his eye, he let go as if he were on fire. However, Zhou Yuan had already started walking, and Chen Qing almost strained his back, so he climbed back onto Zhou Yuan's back.
Li Xin walked behind them, his mouth almost stretched to the back of his head in a grin. He felt his headache had disappeared, his body felt lighter, and he could even keep up with Zhou Yuan's pace.
By the time they came down the mountain, it was completely dark, so no one saw them come down. When Grandma Sun saw Chen Qing being carried back by Zhou Yuan, she was startled: "What happened?"
When Li Xin saw Aunt Sun, she clung to her completely, saying, "Auntie..."
"Oh dear, you look so disheveled. Auntie has boiled some water, why don't you wash up first?"
Li Xin shook her head: "I'll just wash my face. My parents must be very worried."
Grandma Sun went to the kitchen and brought out some ginger soup: "All three of you should drink some ginger soup quickly."
Zhou Yuan didn't put Chen Qing in his own room, but instead put him in the main room. Right now, the three of them were drinking a bowl of ginger soup.
Just as Li Xin finished drinking, footsteps sounded outside the door. Upon closer inspection, it was Li the Blacksmith.
"father."
Li Xin ran up to Li the blacksmith and found that there was someone following behind him, Qi Shuning. Both of them were covered in sweat, probably because they had been searching for someone for a long time.
Li Xin pouted, looking at Qi Shuning's sickly appearance. She thought that getting caught in the rain would definitely make him sick. Instead of staying at home in such heavy rain, he would have to make medicine for him if he got sick.
Grandma Sun brought out the rest of the ginger soup and made sure they all drank it.
After they finished drinking, Li the blacksmith carried Li Xin home on his back, while Qi Shuning, who was walking behind, carried Li Xin's basket on his back.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
