Chapter 134. Face-saving work must be done openly!
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It's natural that not everything in life goes smoothly, but what's wrong with making some compromises and avoiding major setbacks?
Life goes on as usual.
Of course, if you really encounter something that touches your bottom line and affects your own interests, you must never compromise; you must draw your sword and fight!
After chatting with her mother for a while, Li Shiyue finally fell asleep while cursing her scumbag father.
The next day, the weather was not good; the wind was not strong, but the temperature dropped significantly.
Li Shiyue was feeding the horses in the stable with a handful of roasted beans when, after a while, snowflakes began to fall from the sky.
Li Shiyue fed all the beans in her hand to the horse. She walked out of the stable, came to the middle of the yard, looked up at the gray sky, and reached out to catch the snowflakes.
Li Shiyue put down his hands and called out to Shi Tou, who was still chopping firewood in the yard, "Brother, stop chopping. It's snowing. What you've chopped will last you for a while."
As the two were talking, the courtyard gate was pushed open, and Li Wangming returned carrying a lot of things.
Li Shiyue stepped forward and took a bundle from Li Wangming's hands. The bundle was not light. Li Shiyue then looked at the items in Li Wangming's hands. The basket slung over his arm contained incense, candles, and joss paper.
Li Wangming felt a little embarrassed for a moment, but thinking of what Li Shiyue had said last night, he explained to Li Shiyue, "I went to Qin Tao's house and asked for my elder brother's clothes."
"These," Li Wangming raised his arm to lift the basket, "we went to Aunt Lan Hua's house to get money to buy them."
They had some left over from their household expenses, so I bought them all.
October, you…
Hearing this, Li Shiyue nodded and turned to go into the main room. "Second Uncle, come inside quickly. It's snowing and cold outside. You need to take care of yourself."
After entering the house and putting down her things, Li Shiyue turned to Li Wangming and asked, "Second Uncle, have you found a good place? Where should we buy the coffin? Have you inquired with Old Man Liu?"
Seeing that Li Shiyue was as usual, Li Wangming finally felt relieved.
“The location is easy to find. It faces the riverbank and is not far from the place that Brother Shiyang chose. It is a bit higher up, and I think that is also a good place. It will be used as the burial site for my branch of the family in the future.”
Li Shiyue nodded, "If Second Uncle says it's good, then it must be good."
“However,” Li Shiyue looked up at Li Wangming, and heard Li Wangming look at Li Shiyue with embarrassment and say, “Old Liu said that there is a family surnamed Tian in Sunjia Kiln at the east end of Qingsong Town. They specialize in this business. He said that if I need it urgently, I can go to them to buy it ready-made.”
"Has Second Uncle chosen an auspicious date?"
"These are not days to rush, but Brother Shiyang's calculations are correct; today and tomorrow are both auspicious days for the burial."
October, what do you think?
Even though Li Shiyue was unwilling, she absolutely did not show it on her face. She immediately said to Li Wangming, "Second Uncle, let's go now and come back before dark. We'll build a tomb for Father tomorrow."
Going out on this day will definitely be a nightmare, but this face-saving job has to be done, and done beautifully!
Li Shiyue first told Li Wangming to quickly find the thick coat and put it on, and then told Li's mother to dress Shitou in more clothes. Naturally, this was something the three of them should do.
Then she went out.
Yes, she went out, and you did this, so of course you have to tell others about it, but you can't make it too deliberate in announcing it to others.
Li Shiyue quickened her pace and knocked on Li Wangshui's door.
During the day, the whole family was warming themselves in the kitchen. Hearing a noise, Li Wangshui pushed open the door and saw Li Shiyue standing in the wind and snow at the door.
"October? What's wrong? Has something happened? Come in quickly, it's cold outside, come in and warm up."
Li Shiyue naturally did not go inside. She stood still, bowed to Li Wangshui and Zhou Lanhua who had already come out, and then raised her head and asked with a little embarrassment, "Uncle, Aunt, I won't go in. I'm in a hurry to get out."
I just came to let you know that I might not be back until dark once I'm out.
If we get delayed on the way, we won't be back until tonight.
My brother, my second uncle, and I are all going out, leaving my mother and aunt at home. If anything happens, I'll trouble you to look after them.
"Oh dear, it's going to rain heavily in October. What are you all going out to do?"
"We can go when the weather is nicer."
Li Shiyue lowered her head and whispered about Li Wangming's plan to build a cenotaph for his scumbag father.
She deliberately lowered her voice with a nasal tone, and Li Shiyue, as if choking up, lowered her head and continued to say to the two of them, "No matter how much Father has wronged us, he is still our family. It is our duty to do this."
After receiving affirmative answers from Li Wangshui and Zhou Lanhua, Li Shiyue braved the wind and snow to return home.
After eating a large bowl of rice with finely shredded radish that Li's mother had cut in the kitchen, Li Shiyue wrapped herself in thick clothes and pulled the horse, which had already been fed by Li Qiutian, out of the stable and onto the cart.
"Good buddy, I'm sorry to trouble you again."
Li Shiyue patted the horse's neck and whispered these words in its ear.
When Li Shiyue escorted Li Shiyang and his group back from the mortuary outside Sanshan County last time, he knew that in this harsh weather, the only way to get there quickly was by horse, as donkeys and mules were simply not as fast as horses.
Because Li Shiyue was light, Shitou rode Li Qiutian's horse, while Li Shiyue and Li Wangming rode together on one horse, pulling the cart out of Liujiatun.
It's strange, though. Stone isn't very bright in other areas, but when it comes to riding horses, wielding knives, and sticks, he learns by himself without needing anyone to teach him.
Li Shiyue thought that this was probably because Shi Tou's skill points were allocated elsewhere, which made him different from ordinary people.
Li Shiyue and his group made quite a commotion when they left the village; people from every household they passed opened their doors to see what was happening.
Erdan's mother stood at the door watching Li Shiyue and the others walk away. She turned around and took Erdan to Zhou Lanhua's house, letting Erdan, Dazhuang, and Xiaozhuang play on the kang (a heated brick bed). Only then did Erdan's mother ask Zhou Lanhua and Li Shiyue why they had to go out in such weather.
Zhou Lanhua was worried about who to talk to about this, but as soon as Erdan's mother asked, she immediately started talking non-stop.
As the two were talking, Dog Lao San knocked on the door and came in. He didn't go inside, but squatted down in the kitchen of Li Wangshui's house and talked to Li Wangshui.
After a while, Ma Zi and Mo Zi, who lived a little further away, also braved the wind and snow to come looking for them.
Before Li Shiyue even returned, almost everyone in Li Family Village knew that Li Shiyue, Shi Tou, and Li Wangming had gone out in the snow to buy a coffin for their scumbag father.
Li Shiyang had just presided over the burial of his relatives in the morning and had planned to leave in the afternoon, but then the snowstorm hit.
It wasn't safe for him to travel alone, so he stayed home, thinking that if the snowstorm subsided the next day, he would ask someone to drive him back to Sanshan County.
He was sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), facing Li Youfu, who was also sitting cross-legged on the kang.
Yu Zhenniang brought a pot of hot water into the house, told the two of them about it, and then called Yue Niang out of the house, leaving only Li Youfu and Li Shiyang inside.
Li Youfu smacked his lips, then habitually reached for his waistband, only to find it empty. He then remembered that his pipe had been gone since the very beginning of the famine.
When Li Shiyang saw Li Youfu like this, he said, "Next time I come back, I'll bring Grandpa something good. The tobacco here shouldn't be any worse than the tobacco from our hometown."
Li Youfu nodded in agreement, then said, "Shiyue is quite filial; she knows her surname is Li."
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