Xia Youyou looked at the wood stove in the kitchen and felt a little hesitant to start it. She had a fire in her space, which she had lit directly on the outdoor stove in the morning, but she didn't know how to light this stove.
Seeing her embarrassed, Liu Hui smiled and took a match to light a fire in the stove. "Here, add some thin firewood first, and when the fire starts, add some big pieces. We've already chopped all the eucalyptus trees for me and stacked them neatly over there. If there's any left, come over and get some."
She turned her head and looked at the place she pointed. Sure enough, there were firewood neatly stacked against the wall. She nodded in her heart and praised him, thinking that this person must have obsessive-compulsive disorder!
He lit the fire smoothly, added a piece of firewood from time to time, and looked up to chat and laugh with Liu Hui.
After a while, there was a knock on the door in the yard. Xia Youyou guessed that it must be Cao An who had returned. Suppressing the tension in her heart, she said, "Auntie, I'll go open the door."
"Okay, go ahead. It should be Eucalyptus time for her to come back." She was busy frying the dish in the wok. It was the goose eggs that Youyou brought. If she didn't pay attention to the heat, they would definitely get burnt. She didn't have time to open the door.
Xia Youyou stood up and nervously unlocked the door. Cao An, who was standing at the door, was thinking about how to tell his mother about the little girl. When he opened the door, he saw the little girl right in front of him. He was stunned for a moment, then he looked at the door number and confirmed that it was his home. He asked suspiciously, "Why are you here?"
She smiled awkwardly, "It's a long story..." She turned aside and said, "Come in first."
Cao An closed the door, bolted it, and looked at the little girl standing there with her neck hunched in embarrassment.
"Come in first, I'll go say hello to my mom." After saying that, he walked towards the kitchen.
Xia Youyou followed him like a quail. "I didn't mean to come to your house. I went to the black market this morning and suddenly ran into the red armbands. I ran to this alley and hid there until the afternoon. I wanted to go out, but the red armbands were guarding the intersection. I didn't dare to go out, so I had to find another way out. I didn't expect to run into my aunt. It was my aunt who helped me."
Cao An turned around and said, "You are so brave, running to the black market in broad daylight!" He supported the little girl who was about to bump into him unexpectedly, and let her go as soon as she stood firm. "Don't go there during the day. You are so thin, what if you can't outrun those people?" Every time his mother went there, it was in the evening. At that time, the people with red armbands would not go there, so it was relatively safer.
Xia Youyou steadied herself, listening to his whispered reproach. She knew she was taking a risk, but there was no other way. She wanted to settle down here, so where else could she rent a house if she didn't urgently raise money? Just as she was about to retort, Liu Hui emerged from the kitchen with a spatula.
"What are you doing standing at the door? Come over and serve the dishes." After saying that, she glared at her son. What's wrong with him? He started scolding people as soon as he got home!
Cao An turned around and got a glare, then resigned himself to his fate and went into the kitchen.
"Youyou, ignore him. He's used to scolding people at work, and he wants to scold people again when he gets home! Go sit down quickly, let's eat."
Xia Youyou smiled at her gratefully and wanted to go to the kitchen to help.
Liu Hui stopped her and said, "Go sit down in the main hall. We'll be there soon. Two people are enough."
Xia Youyou had no choice but to go to the main room.
Liu Hui waited until she entered the main hall before turning back to the kitchen. She glanced at her son, who was still standing at the doorway, and whispered, "I heard some noise this morning and closed the door, so I didn't go out. This afternoon, I wanted to go to Old Zhao's house to get the box, and then I opened the door and saw her. This kid isn't lying. Put away your interrogation tactics. Don't think everyone looks bad."
Cao An was indeed a little suspicious when he suddenly saw Xia Youyou appear at his home. With the recent crackdown on spies, he had to be especially cautious of strangers with unknown origins. Xia Youyou's sudden appearance, coupled with her connection to his family, made it hard for him not to think that way. He had invited her to his house that morning, and she had originally declined, but now she was here again. It was hard not to wonder if she was doing it on purpose.
Seeing that he was still thinking about something, Liu Hui patted him on the back and said, "Don't stand there like an idiot. Go and serve the food." Seeing that he moved, she took the fire out of the stove and put it into the brazier beside it. She also took away the cooking pot and put the hot water pot beside it. She used the residual heat in the stove to wash herself in the evening.
The three of them sat down in the main hall. Xia Youyou was a little reserved. She hadn't eaten at the same table with anyone since her parents passed away. This mother and son were the first people to sit at the same table in this strange era.
"Eat quickly. Come, try the goose eggs I made. Didn't you say you liked them?"
Xia Youyou pursed her lips and picked up the bowl to catch the egg she had picked up. "Thank you, Auntie. You guys eat too."
"Eat, eat. I haven't eaten this before. Thank you so much for bringing it here so we can try it."
Cao An was eating the rice in the bowl silently. After hearing these words, he looked up at Xia Youyou who was eating with her head down, and then continued eating without saying a word.
Xia Youyou felt his gaze and knew that her behavior was full of loopholes. Now she just wanted to finish her meal quickly and leave.
"You know what, this goose egg is really good. It tastes better than chicken eggs and doesn't have the fishy smell of duck eggs." Liu Hui took a bite of the goose egg and smacked her lips to savor it.
"Yeah, I picked it up by the river." Xia Youyou could only tell a lie, and one lie had to be covered up with a hundred lies. She really didn't know how to deal with such a situation.
"Which river?" Cao An asked in a deep voice.
Xia Youyou was frightened by his suddenly cold voice. She shrank back, put down her bowl and chopsticks, and quickly thought of a countermeasure.
Liu Hui glanced at Xia Youyou, put down the bowl, and said to her son seriously, "Do you want to eat or not? If not, get out."
Not wanting to cause a disagreement between the mother and son, Xia Youyou stood up. "Auntie, I remembered I had something else to do. I'll be leaving now. Thank you for helping me today." After saying that, she picked up her bag and left the main room.
Liu Hui hurriedly grabbed her and said, "Youyou, don't go. We haven't finished our meal yet. Let's eat first!"
"No, I'm full. Thank you, auntie, I really have something to do." She pried her away with her skinny hands, opened the door and walked out without looking back.
She heard her aunt's angry voice behind her, but she didn't hear it clearly. She just walked quickly towards the main road.
"What's wrong with you? Are you really trying him like a criminal?"
Cao An put down his chopsticks. "Mom, she's not right. Don't be angry." He helped his mother sit down and explained to her in a low voice. He recounted her life story. "I saw her this morning. She went to the Public Security Bureau to register her household registration and told her about her life story. I believed her at first and felt very sympathetic towards her. I even invited her to live with us first, but she refused. Then she ran to the black market. You know what the black market is, Mom. A little girl with a miserable life, all alone, ran to the black market. You said last night that you bought flour from her. Where did she get the flour?" He glanced at the goose egg on the table. "And this goose egg, she said she picked it up. Tell me, where does anyone raise geese? How could she pick it up?"
Liu Hui was speechless after hearing what he said. She stammered for a long time but couldn't find any words to refute.
"Mom, listen to me. Wait until I find out more about her before I help her. We can't act rashly now, otherwise both of us will be implicated."
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