"Mom, I'll go in and get her some water first." Cao An put the bag on the ground in the yard. "Have you been free these days at home?"
Liu Hui paused as she closed the door. "No, what could be wrong? Go quickly. She's in such a hurry. Did something happen on the train?"
Cao An didn't notice anything was wrong with her and shrugged. "What could she possibly touch? She's been leaning against the window the whole way and won't let go. It's just that the other smells in the car have absorbed her." He walked into the kitchen and saw her scooping hot water into a bucket. He took it with his big hand and said, "Go in and empty the bathtub. I'll carry it for you."
"Okay!"
Xia Youyou placed the bathtub on the bathroom floor, took out a cleaning bag and poured water into it, waiting for Cao An to bring hot water. These past few days in the guesthouse, there was no place to take a shower, so she just wiped herself down briefly. Now, she could finally take a good bath.
An hour later, she came out of the shower. She had done a full set of skin care in there. After so many months of careful care, her skin was finally white and tender, as if you could squeeze out water.
Liu Hui was cooking in the kitchen, while Cao An was squatting in front of the stove, lighting the fire. Seeing her come out, her hair wrapped in a towel, her face small and rosy, he urged her to go inside, "Come in quickly and blow dry your hair!"
"Mom, what delicious food are you going to make? I'm so hungry!" Xia Youyou stared at the hair bag, put on a nightgown and came out, hugging Liu Hui and refusing to let go.
"They're all your favorites, go!" Liu Hui pushed her hand away. "If the fumes get on you again, your shower will be wasted!"
He went back to the room to dry his hair before coming out to help bring the food to the table in the main hall, and then the family sat down at the table to have lunch.
As soon as Xia Youyou sat down, she complained to her mother. Liu Hui looked at the two of them with a smile, and pretended to help her get revenge, raising her hand to beat Cao An.
"I'll help you beat him, let's just ignore him!"
Cao An didn't dodge or evade, receiving a slap on his shoulder that wasn't too heavy or too light. He looked at Xia Youyou threateningly, put down the bowl with his hand, and squeezed his hand, "You deserve to be punished!"
"Mom! Look! He can threaten me right in front of you. Tsk tsk, let's throw him out!"
"Ha ha ha ha……"
The room was filled with joy and laughter. Liu Hui was so amused by Xia Youyou's cleverness that she touched her loose hair and said, "Eat well and don't bully your brother anymore!"
In the afternoon, Cao An reported back to the bureau and then went outside the city to check on the greenhouse. Xia Youyou was at home showing off her night-shining pearls to Liu Hui. When she got tired from playing, Liu Hui pushed her into her room for a nap.
Cao An came back very late in the evening, and Xia Youyou put the food into the space to prevent it from getting cold.
Only after he sat down in the main room was he allowed to eat a hot meal.
"How is it? Is everything okay? When will the harvest be?"
Cao An shoveled rice into his mouth and chewed it a few times before filling the emptiness in his stomach.
"Everything is fine. We'll be able to harvest in about ten days. I have to run to the Red Star Brigade tomorrow, so I won't take you with me this time."
"I'm not going. I have to go to work now. I haven't been to the scrap yard for a few days!"
Cao An nodded with satisfaction. It was safest for her to stay in Bao City. Although Liu Laiwang's family was no longer in the Red Star Brigade, there was no guarantee that other people would point fingers at her after seeing her.
It was late at night and the whole family had gone to bed.
Old Zhao didn't know Cao An was back, and that he was going to knock on the widow's door again tonight. As usual, he carefully approached the door, knocked three times with the door knocker, and called a few times.
He appeared anxious, but inwardly he was disdainful of Liu Hui's ignorance. He had a regular job, so how could he live a miserable life following her? This woman, like a wolf in her thirties and a tiger in her forties, how could she sleep at night without a man?
Cao An was still in the room, enjoying a massage in a massage chair, when he heard a faint knock on the door. He didn't pay much attention. Unexpectedly, after the knock, there was a sound pretending to be a bird. With a little thought, he knew who it was.
"Ha! There's no door to hell, but you still came here. I beat you up in the dark. You can't blame me, right?"
The last time I went to his house, I just gave him a small warning. I didn't expect him to harass me when I was not at home.
He quietly got up, took out a baseball bat from the space, opened the door and went out without making any noise.
Old Zhao was still knocking on the door, making bird noises. Why hadn't she come to open the door yet? I'd been pretending for a few days, and it was no use going on like this! I had to get her while her son wasn't home, or it would be hard to do anything when that big guy came back! Oh, I really regretted not getting her the first time I came that day, and waiting for so many days in vain!
Just as he was about to knock again, there was a noise at the door. Old Zhao was delighted. Hey, it's finally going to bloom! He waited for the bolt to be pulled out, then pushed the door open. Unexpectedly, the person inside opened the door, and he fell directly to the ground in the yard without noticing.
"Ah! It hurts, stop hitting me!"
Cao An hit him without any hesitation, controlling the strength to avoid any loss of life.
Old Zhao's howling attracted the surrounding neighbors to light up their lights and stick their heads out to see what was going on.
Cao An waited for someone to come over, put away the baseball bat, picked up the big broom in the yard and hit him a few more times. When he saw people gathering around him, he finally spoke: "Come here, catch the thief."
"What's going on?" Neighbor Aunt Wang stood at the door, holding a coal lantern and looking inside. More and more people followed behind her, all looking into Cao An's yard.
Liu Hui also came out, draped in her clothes. She knew the noise in the yard was Cao An's. When she heard someone ask about it, she quickly spoke up. "Oh, there's a thief in our house, and he's been caught by our Cao An." She ran to the kitchen and pulled out a bundle of meat. "Look, he almost stole this meat!"
"Oh, how could this thief be so stupid to steal into the police officer's house." The crowd gathered around the gate and chattered about the person on the ground.
Old Zhao was beaten so hard that he was twitching with pain and had no strength to refute. He lay on the ground crying "Ouch, ouch".
"Aunts, I heard some noise at night and came out to find the thief. I hit him a few times with a broom." Cao An rested his elbow on the broom handle and put one hand on his waist, looking calm and composed.
Xia Youyou also came out with her clothes on, but Liu Hui stopped her and said, "Don't go out."
"What happened, Mom?"
"Let your brother handle it first, we'll talk later."
The mother and daughter looked at Cao An. Seeing that it was almost done, Cao An threw away the broom and pulled Old Zhao up from the ground.
"Get up, thief."
"Hey, isn't this Lao Zhao? How come he became a thief?" Lao Zhao was recognized in the crowd. He was not hit on the face, but the pain was all over his body.
Old Zhao was grabbed by the arm and lifted up, raising his other arm to shield his face. "I didn't steal anything. It was Cao An who arrested me and beat me up. You guys have to help me. I don't know how I offended him." The eyes under his arm were full of calculations. "You know, Liu Hui and I have been in love for a long time. It's her son who has always disapproved of us, so I came to meet her in the middle of the night. I didn't expect to get beaten up like this. I accept it. I hope Cao An will agree to my relationship with Liu Hui in the future and stop obstructing us."
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