Disturbing my mind
Li Guorong's mind was racing at this moment, completely unlike the muddled state she had when reading that morning. The bamboo forest was very lush, and bamboo rats liked to eat bamboo roots and bamboo shoots that hadn't yet sprouted from the soil. The yellowing areas in the bamboo forest indicated the approximate location of the bamboo rats. Li Guorong observed carefully and saw the marks left by the bamboo rats after they ate the bamboo, which made her feel a little more at ease. She didn't want to lose face in front of Mancang.
The two entered a somewhat secluded forest. Li Guorong signaled Qian Mancang not to move. Li Guorong listened to the sound and located the bamboo about 40 meters to her right. She walked over quietly, but the bamboo was no longer moving. She squatted down and saw what looked like capsules of feces on the ground. She secretly breathed a sigh of relief, just like in the short video.
Qian Mancang followed along. Li Guorong took a hoe and started digging. Soon she saw a hole with only bamboo leaf scraps left around it. She nodded. Qian Manduo took the wooden bucket that was originally prepared to hold fish and poured half a bucket of water into it. In less than fifteen minutes, two wet bamboo rats darted out of the hole.
Li Guorong and Qian Mancang grabbed the bamboo rat by the tail. The bamboo rat struggled desperately but could not break free. Qian Mancang quickly smashed the bamboo rat to death. [1]
Qian Mancang said excitedly, "We really caught it! Guorong, you're amazing!"
Li Guorong, his chin practically pointing to the sky, whispered, "Of course, I have plenty of ways to make money."
Following Li Guorong's method, Qian Mancang and his companion caught eight bamboo rats. As darkness fell, they were still eager to continue their journey home.
At the door, Li Lanfang was furious. When she saw her niece and the Qian family boy returning from the mountain alone, she was even more enraged and shouted, "Li Guorong, come in here!"
Li Guorong carried the bucket to his aunt's side with a fawning smile on his face and whispered, "Auntie, look, it's meat."
Although Li Lanfang was a teacher, in those days, everyone had plenty of meat. She swallowed hard and said sternly, "Even if you're going to run in the mountains, you have to finish your homework first. Besides, what family would go out with a decent girl and a respectable boy? You have brothers, don't you?"
Today, Li Guojian heard from people returning from the mountain that Qian Mancang and his younger sister had entered the bamboo forest and were already waiting outside Qian Mancang's house. They even snatched Qian Mancang's bucket, thinking it contained precious medicinal herbs, but it turned out to be bamboo rat meat. "Brother, you're not being fair, taking advantage of my little sister."
Qian Mancang scratched his head somewhat awkwardly. Li Guorong had taught him how to catch bamboo rats, a skill that used to require apprenticeship. He had indeed taken advantage of Li Guorong. It seemed that Li Guorong wasn't indifferent to him; they would be family from now on.
Li Guojian ran over at this moment, "Little sister, why didn't you call me when you went up the mountain? I could have protected you."
Li Guorong rolled his eyes at Li Guojian, disliking his second brother the most.
Li Guojian, still grinning, didn't seem to mind his younger sister's attitude at all. He said, "There's so much meat, we can't possibly eat it all, and besides, this meat will probably rot by the time we sell it at the market. I know a place where I can exchange it for money." After saying that, he went to rummage through Li Guorong's bucket.
Li Guorong took a bamboo rat out of the bucket and gave it to his aunt, saying, "Auntie, keep this for our family. I'd like to take the rest..."
Li Lanfang quickly stopped Li Guorong from saying what he was about to say, as the neighbors were all listening intently. She replied, "Go with your second brother. Some of this meat will be given to your mother later, don't worry."
After saying that, the three hurriedly headed towards the town. When they arrived, they found themselves in a maze of winding alleys, where dusk had fallen. Each stall displayed a variety of items. Although the market had been much more open now, many things were still prohibited from being bought and sold privately.
Li Guorong took a bamboo rat out of the basket. This time, he divided the bamboo rats into five, and Mancang took three.
Qian Mancang asked, "Guorong, what are you still doing with the bamboo rats?"
Li Guorong felt a little guilty and growled in a low voice, "I have my own uses, don't worry about me." After saying that, he left Li Guojian and Qian Mancang there to sell bamboo rats and then ran away.
Li Guojian touched his balding head, looked in the direction Li Guorong ran, and understood.
Li Guorong arrived at Old Li's house again. She placed her hand on the door and then let it fall down. With her other hand, she kept tugging at the fur of the bamboo rat. She turned around, took two steps, and then came back. The moonlight, blocked by the mountains, shone on her face. Some people are like this moon. You think they are not there when the sun rises, you think they are not there when the sky is full of dark clouds, but in fact, they are always in your heart.
The door creaked open, and Li Guorong turned to leave in fright, his heart pounding wildly.
Lin Shaocheng asked, "Is that you, little sister?"
Li Guorong turned around and stuffed the bamboo rat into Lin Shaocheng's hand, saying, "Fresh wild game, here you go."
Lin Shaocheng grabbed the soft object, looked down and saw it was a large rat with big teeth, and his whole body stiffened.
Seeing his reaction, Li Guorong burst out laughing. This guy was interesting; he wasn't afraid of murderers, but he was afraid of bamboo rats. She explained, "What's so scary about that? They're bamboo rats, and they're super delicious."
Upon hearing that the food was delicious, Li Xiangxi quickly took the bamboo rat inside, smiling and saying, "Thank you!"
Lin Shaocheng then came to his senses and said, "I'm sorry you had to see this."
Li Guorong shook his head, "Why are you speaking so formally? Where are you going to go out so late at night?"
Lin Shaocheng originally went to the black market to see if there were any good quality medicinal herbs. He had heard that many places selling medicinal herbs had appeared recently, but it was not appropriate to take a girl to such a place. So he shook his head and said, "The moonlight is nice. I would like to stroll around this mountain town. I wonder if you have anything you would like to do with me?"
Li Guorong blushed slightly. To be honest, in her previous life, she had lived for so many years, and most of the time when she was with Qian Mancang, her second brother and others were with her. The two of them rarely spent time together. It was only after he went to join the army and wrote her letters that she began to feel a little romantic.
Not to mention Ye Fan, their blind date and marriage happened incredibly fast. Then came the mundane realities of life, arguments and silences, and no one ever invited her for a walk.
Li Guorong nodded. In the moonlight, the man's legs were long and powerful, his shoulders broad and thick; the wind blew, revealing his muscles. She was an impatient person and began to talk about how to find and catch bamboo rats today. The man beside her remained silent. She couldn't help but look up awkwardly.
The man looked at her with a smile in his eyes and commented, "Intelligent and quick-witted."
Li Guorong remembered those words deeply and asked somewhat awkwardly, "You won't find me annoying, will you?"
The man's deep voice, like the classical music his daughter sometimes played, was unforgettable. He said, "Very interesting."
Li Guorong secretly observed the man's expression. His eyes were like the hazy, beautiful moonlight reflected in water, seemingly within reach, and she felt a little embarrassed.
Seeing that Li Guorong didn't speak, Lin Shaocheng assumed she didn't believe him and continued, "The ivy sways with its green fragrance, graceful and unaware of its own beauty." [2]
Li Guorong frowned. Was this a compliment? If she had studied hard, would she have understood? She could only pretend to be happy and say, "Thank you, I also feel that you are very chivalrous."
Lin Shaocheng chuckled softly, "Really? Then I'm very happy."
Thinking of ancient poems, Li Guorong couldn't help but complain that her aunt wanted her to memorize the multiplication tables, but she still couldn't.
Lin Shaocheng said, "You memorize it first, and I'll teach you the rest."
Lin Shaocheng began to teach Li Guorong where she didn't understand. He would read a sentence and she would recite it. Before she knew it, the boring knowledge had become interesting.
The two walked to a place where wildflowers were in full bloom. Lin Shaocheng suddenly stopped, and Li Guorong looked up in confusion.
Lin Shaocheng smirked and said, "The exam will begin now, 6*7."
“42”
"8*9"
"72"
"6*3"
"It's 18."
"63 divided by 9"
Li Guorong bit his lip, "It's 7."
Lin Shaocheng picked a wildflower from the flower bushes and tucked it into Li Guorong's hair. "Congratulations, you got it right."
Li Guorong smelled the fragrance of flowers and the scent of seaweed on Lin Shaocheng, a feeling he had never experienced with Qian Mancang.
She lowered her head and said, "You won't think I'm stupid, will you?"
Lin Shaocheng leaned down slightly, looking directly at Li Guorong, and said, "You are the smartest and most determined person I have ever met."
Li Guorong felt such sincere praise from a man, and she seemed to begin to understand why her daughter was not satisfied with the blind dates she introduced to her. She also began to understand why her daughter always said that true appreciation has nothing to do with desire.
The daughter hated it when men said she was beautiful, virtuous, family-oriented, or good at making money—words that Li Guorong longed for.
Intelligent and resolute—these words had been used to describe her older brothers and younger brother, but when it came to her and her older sister, who were always described as virtuous and family-oriented, her mind began to work. She seemed to understand something, yet she also seemed to understand nothing at all.
Li Guorong opened her mouth, feeling an urge to ask Lin Shaocheng why he had invited her for a walk and why he had praised her.
Lin Shaocheng stood up. "Does your aunt have any more exams to take?"
Li Guorong came to her senses, her courage seemed to have suddenly vanished, and she could hardly even speak loudly. Her voice was soft and gentle, "And the alphabet, I can never understand it."
Lin Shaocheng opened his mouth, seemingly a little embarrassed, but finally said, "Then I'll teach you a song, bpmf dt..."
Seeing Lin Shaocheng's slightly embarrassed expression, Li Guorong couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Lin Shaocheng lowered his eyes slightly and said, "I'm getting angry."
Li Guorong quickly stepped forward and sang out: "bpmf······ong".
Li Guorong's tune was so off-key that Lin Shaocheng turned his head away, afraid that Li Guorong would notice him laughing.
Li Guorong pouted and said deliberately, "I'm going to get angry."
"Hahahaha..." Lin Shaocheng burst into laughter, "Aren't you supposed to be singing folk songs? How can you sing if you keep going like that?"
Although Li Guorong was off-key when singing, she could still sing folk songs: "High on the mountain, there's a locust tree, I hold onto the railing, waiting for my love to come..."
A shout of cursing came from a nearby house: "Who the hell is singing love songs in the middle of the night?"
Lin Shaocheng grabbed Li Guorong's hand and ran forward. The wind was strong, just like the night before she died. He was like a hero who descended from the sky to save her from danger. The moonlight was also very bright. Li Guorong wished that time could stop at this moment and that they could hold hands like this forever.
The two, panting, heard this and, seeing the sweat on each other's foreheads, couldn't help but laugh.
Li Guorong felt a surge of immense courage. She had been given two chances; what was there to fear? She needed to find out clearly whether Lin Shaocheng had feelings for her.
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