117, Thunderstorm Night
117, Thunderstorm Night
“Boom—”
That night, a series of thunders sounded in the sky, rumbling loudly and waking up many people who were sleeping.
The first thing Lu Mingfei did when he woke up was to get out of bed and close the window. After closing the window, he felt for the tinder on the table, took it out and lit the oil lamp. Then he put the oil lamp into the lantern and went out with the lantern.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw his father running out.
"Father."
"Ming Fei."
The voices of father and son sounded at the same time.
Lu Youtian said, "I'll get up and close the doors and windows of the donkey shed."
"Okay, I'll go with you to lock it up." Lu Mingfei said.
Then the father and son came over in tacit understanding and lowered the two large windows of the donkey shed. Otherwise, if it rained heavily later, the rain would drift in and wet the donkey shed.
"Ah—uh ah uh—"
The donkey in the shed was frightened by the thunder and kept making "ah-ah-ah" noises.
Lu Youtian reached out and patted the donkey's head, pushed it inside, and told it, "Don't bark, it's just thunder. It's going to rain. We've closed the windows for you. Just sleep here quietly. You can sleep a little later tonight. We'll go out later."
The donkey seemed to understand what people were saying and actually stopped braying.
Lu Youtian closed the door of the donkey shed.
Looking at the lightning flashing in the sky, Lu Mingfei said with some concern: "This rain is likely to be quite heavy. It's almost the Dragon Boat Festival, and I'm afraid the weather will be like this for the next few days."
"Yeah, that's right." Lu Youtian was also a little worried. As business people, they dreaded rainy days the most. This kind of weather would definitely affect their business. However, they had already brought back the meat and vegetables for tomorrow's stall yesterday, so they had no choice but to set up the stall today.
Lu Youtian also knew his eldest son's concerns, so he said to him, "Your mother said that we should braise the meat and tofu today, and prepare less vegetables and rice. Otherwise, the meat might lose its flavor if left out for too long. We should braise the meat first and sell as much as we can later. As for the vegetables, they can be kept for a day or two longer."
"We'll see what the weather's like later. If it doesn't rain too hard, your mother's stall will open as usual. If it does, we might have to take a few days off." In the past, they would have considered a break from business. But now, having just bought the land, if they didn't trade, they would have to spend money later on buying ducklings and running a workshop. So, every day without business, they felt anxious.
Lu Mingfei also knew this situation, so he nodded and asked his father, "Are you and your adoptive father going out of the city at dawn?"
"Let's see if it rains heavily later. If it doesn't rain too much, we'll go out. If it rains too heavily, we won't go out for the time being." These days, Lu Youtian and Lu Qingfeng have been tidying up the land they bought. Although those lands do not need to be plowed and cultivated, they have to be tidyed up before they can buy ducklings to raise there.
"Your adoptive father suggested that we go to the duck farm sometime and see if we can find suitable people. Otherwise, if it's just your adoptive father and I, it'll take us days to finish the job, which will affect our duck farming later."
Lu Mingfei also knew that the weather here would start to get cold in October. If they didn't buy the ducks early, they might not be able to be slaughtered before winter because they would not be able to live long enough. Raising ducks in winter was a very troublesome thing. The monthly feed for so many ducks alone would be a huge amount of money.
Moreover, they are still waiting for the duck meat and duck feathers to be processed, which will also affect their second step plan.
So after thinking about it, Lu Mingfei agreed to his father's suggestion of buying people, "Then you and your adoptive father will go to the pawnshop and take a look. If there are suitable people, pick a few and bring them back." They are just buying a few people to do the work and they will not abuse others. It is better than following a bad master.
Thunder rumbled in the sky, and a bolt of lightning split the sky in two.
Even at night, you could see dark clouds rolling in the sky, making it seem as if ink was about to drip. The wind started to pick up outside, but the father and son were still standing there talking, not going back into the house.
Thinking of his wife sleeping with him last night, Lu Youtian mentioned it to his eldest son: "Your mother told me what happened yesterday. I will go talk to your adoptive father later about this matter and see if your adoptive father has any solution."
"Ling Xuan said that his family knows someone from the Cai family. He will ask his family to help make some connections. Then he will let me go and meet Cai Renjun's brother. We can greet each other and talk it out face to face if we have anything to say." Lu Mingfei said to his father.
"We have no evidence. What if the other party denies it?" Lu Youtian asked.
"...That's true. I'll discuss this with Ling Xuan later." Lu Mingfei thought about it and realized that they really didn't have any evidence to prove that those people were hired by Cai Renjun. If he were Cai Renjun, he definitely wouldn't recognize him, let alone Cai Renjun himself.
He knew with his toes that Cai Renjun would definitely not admit what he had done.
"Crack—crack—"
“Tick-tock—”
Liu Sanniang had just finished soothing the two little ones who had been startled awake by the thunder. When she came out and saw her husband and eldest son still standing outside talking, she shouted, "Why are you two still standing outside?"
"I'll be back soon." Lu Youtian had just finished shouting when a drop of rain fell on his face. "It's raining, Mingfei, go inside quickly."
"Okay, Dad, you should go back soon."
The rain also dripped on his face, and Lu Mingfei and his father ran away separately.
Liu Sanniang, standing at the main door, saw her eldest son running back to his room. Then she saw her husband running back in the rain and said to him, "It's almost raining, but you didn't even bother to come back inside. What are you talking about with Mingfei outside?"
"We didn't say anything, just chatted for a few minutes. It's still early, let's go back to the house and lie down for a while." Lu Youtian closed the door of the main house and pushed his wife back to their house. He then went to the house opposite to see the two Zhang Qi brothers.
Seeing that the two brothers were also awakened by the thunder, he came in to comfort the two children, telling them not to be afraid, and asked them if they wanted to sleep in their room.
"Uncle, I'm not afraid of thunder. We can sleep in this room. There's no need to go to your room or your aunt's." Zhang Qi was a little scared at first, but when he saw the adults coming, he was no longer so scared. He was holding his younger brother who was awakened by the thunder in his arms.
His younger brother is still young, and like when he was little, he gets scared when it rains or thunders. But with him around, he will take good care of his younger brother.
"You are a good brother, take good care of your brother." When Lu Youtian saw Zhang Qi hugging his younger brother and coaxing him, he felt relieved that the child knew how to take care of his younger brother at such a young age. But when he thought about the two children who had no relatives around them at such a young age, he felt sorry for them.
Knowing that the child would get up early every day to work with them, he said to Zhang Qi: "We will get up to work when the rain is lighter. You can sleep a little longer. You don't have to get up too early today." The caravan would not travel far on a thunderstorm day, so they could sleep in a little later and then go out to set up the stall in this kind of weather.
"Okay." Zhang Qi responded.
After seeing the two brothers, Lu Youtian went back to their house.
Seeing the adults leave, Zhang Xiaobao, who was hiding in his brother's arms, shouted in fear, "Brother."
"Don't be afraid, brother will read to you, okay?" Zhang Qi patted his brother's back.
Zhang Xiaobao snuggled a little closer into his brother's arms and hummed.
Hearing his brother's voice, Zhang Qi quietly recited the Thousand Character Classic that his brother had taught them, "The sky and the earth are dark yellow, the universe is vast and boundless..."
Not long after, the younger brother fell asleep to the sound of his older brother reading.
But after his brother fell asleep, Zhang Qi could no longer fall asleep. He stared at the dark roof with his eyes open, listening to the sound of rain outside.
However, the sound of thunder and rain tonight was like a lullaby to Lu Mingfei. He went back to the room and lay down and fell asleep soon after.
When he smelled the aroma of braised meat during his sleep, he knew that his father and mother had gotten up at this time to make the braised meat, so he got up, dressed, and prepared to go to the kitchen to help.
He could hear the sound of rain hitting the tiles in the house, so he knew it was still raining heavily outside.
The timer indicated that it was already a little after five in the morning. Perhaps because of the rain, the sky outside was still dark.
After getting dressed, he took his lantern and umbrella and went outside.
When he arrived at the kitchen, Lu Mingfei saw his father and mother busying around inside, so he called out, "Father, Mother."
"Why are you up too?" Liu Sanniang, who was in the kitchen, heard her eldest son calling them. She turned around and saw her eldest son coming into the kitchen with an umbrella and a lantern, so she asked.
"I woke up after a nap." Lu Mingfei put down the lantern and umbrella and came over to help.
"Brother." Zhang Qi inside shouted.
"Yeah." Lu Mingfei responded and came over to work with his father and mother.
By the time their braised food was ready, the rain outside had subsided a bit.
"You guys stay at home and don't come out with me." Lu Youtian moved the braised food they had prepared onto the cart, covered it with oilcloth, and said to the two children who were following them out.
Remembering that the children at home were going to the escort agency to practice martial arts in the morning, Lu Youtian said to Zhang Qi, "If it keeps raining, Xiaoqi, go to the escort agency and tell the master that we can't practice martial arts in the next few days while it's raining. We can go back when it's clear."
"Okay." Zhang Qi responded after hearing this.
Seeing his father send his mother out, Lu Mingfei did not follow him out. After sending his father and mother to the door, he closed the door and returned to the yard. Seeing that the other children were still asleep, he called Zhang Qi to the study to read with him. Author's words: Thank you Bole 9492239 (9492239) for your support, muah! To know more exciting content, please leave me a message on Liancheng Reading
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
