Xiaoyue knew perfectly well why Ge Erping wasn't coming into the courtyard. The Ge family was still shaken by what had happened to Old Man Ge last time. Ge Erping, however, came up to Xiaoyue and said shyly, "Did you run into Liang Qi this morning?"
"Liang Qi, um, we ran into him, what's wrong?" Xiaoyue was getting a little impatient after being stopped by Ge Erping.
Ge Erping, seemingly oblivious to Xiaoyue's impatient expression, continued, "What time does Liang Qi usually go up the mountain? I heard from the villagers that you're quite familiar with him."
Xiaoyue was getting impatient, so she said to Ge Erping, "Liang Qi will go to the market tomorrow too, and we'll sell mushrooms together."
Upon hearing this, Ge Erping's face immediately lit up with a smile. Xiaoyue pushed open the garden gate, and Ge Erping was about to go in when Xiaoyue pulled him back, asking, "Is there anything else?"
Ge Erping said, "My second brother asked me to come and see you and your third sister-in-law."
Xiaoyue's expression grew increasingly unpleasant: "Tell Ge Erlin to stay away from me, and to stay away from Third Sister-in-law and Little Bean. And when you get back, don't forget to tell Aunt Ge to hurry up and get Ge Sanlin to sign the divorce papers."
Otherwise, I'll come to your house to collect grain and silver during the New Year."
Upon hearing Xiaoyue's words, Ge Erping glared at her resentfully before leisurely leaving.
Xiaoyue entered the courtyard, pulled out ten thick logs, put the rest into the gatehouse, and then went to the front yard.
Picking up her rice bowl, Xiaoyue said to Yun Xingfei and Yun Ba, "Yun Ba, has your wound healed? It doesn't matter if it hasn't healed yet. I'll arrange some work for you and Young Master Yun. If you're not healed, you can give the orders and let Young Master Yun do the work."
Yun Xingfei was eating when Xiaoyue suddenly wanted to assign him work. He raised one eyebrow in protest, but he couldn't say: Yesterday, Yun Ba told him the theory that when you're under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head.
Turning his grief and anger into appetite, Yun Xingfei filled another large bowl with rice, picked up some vegetables, and bit his chopsticks, looking angry as if Xiaoyue were the chopsticks in his hand.
Xiaoyue glanced at Yun Xingfei, ignored him, and continued, "After I finish eating, I'll draw a diagram for you. Just follow the diagram. Make a kang cabinet for Third Sister-in-law and me. Once the kang cabinets are done, I'll consider making a few chests."
Yun Ba waved his hand with the hand that was picking up food, and smiled at Xiao Yue, "Don't overestimate us. Actually, besides practicing martial arts, we don't know much else. Young Master, on the other hand, you have the extra skill of just loafing around and waiting to die."
Yun Xingfei immediately kicked Yun Ba, who laughed and clutched his stomach, crying out in pain.
Xiaoyue was sitting opposite Yun San and saw him smile, which put her mind at ease. Yun San's mood had been off ever since he was injured, and he had never given Xiaoyue a kind look.
Before he was injured, Yun San looked down on Xiao Yue and had a hint of arrogance. But after Xiao Yue saved him, he became dejected and his will to live was not strong.
Xiaoyue finished eating and put down her chopsticks, looking at Yun Xingfei and saying, "Young Master has been resting for a few days now. From now on, you will be in charge of washing the dishes, and Yun Ba will be in charge of tending the fire. When Third Sister-in-law is cooking, just call Yun Ba. He can't do anything else, but he can still tend the fire."
Yun Xingfei gritted his teeth and said to Xiaoyue, "You despicable person, you despicable person."
She jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed) in a flash and went to tidy up. Lu Xiaomei looked at her and burst out laughing.
Xiaoyue replied, "The canes in the garden are all secured. Besides, people who aren't familiar with us wouldn't dare come to our house. Old Man Ge once fell into my trap; everyone in the village knows that."
With the cane upright, you won't have to worry about people on the road seeing you coming into the yard. You'll have more space to move around, and you won't have to stay in the shack all the time. You can also help your third sister-in-law with odd jobs. Your third sister-in-law has to cook for you and make clothes for you.
"It wasn't easy." Xiaoyue drew out her words and sighed.
Lu Xiaomei hugged Xiaoyue and said softly with a smile, "It's okay, I can do it."
Xiaoyue turned to look at Lu Xiaomei, and with a smile pinched Lu Xiaomei's nose, she said, "You made my third sister-in-law sick, and now I have to pay for her medicine."
Yun Xingfei, who had just finished clearing the table, overheard this and scoffed, "I knew it! She wouldn't be that kind."
Xiaoyue looked down and saw that Yun Xingfei's shoes were all worn out. She sighed and said, "Third sister-in-law, why don't you teach them how to make shoe covers? Make four or five layers, they're all practicing kung fu, they wear out their shoes."
"We'll discuss making the cabinets after we've finished pasting the plaster."
"Oh! The more I say you're stingy, the stingier you get. You use this and then you want that. Did you take us in so we could work for you? You've already shown your true colors in less than five days," Yun Xingfei said sourly.
Xiaoyue didn't take it to heart like him, knowing that Yun Xingfei was joking, so she said, "You don't have to do it either, then Third Sister-in-law won't make his shoes."
Yun Xingfei stubbornly said, "I never said I wouldn't do it."
Xiaoyue then said to Lu Xiaomei, "I need to buy an awl for patching shoes, and some hemp rope. What else do you need?"
"And buy some wallpaper, it's not expensive."
Xiaoyue slapped her forehead. "Look at my memory! Without flour, how am I supposed to make the lining?"
After Xiaoyue finished making arrangements for the others, she went over to Yun San and looked at him. He was already able to lie on his side, and he had finished the medicine Liang Qi had given him. All that was left was to let him rest, and she couldn't let him see a doctor.
Seeing that Yun San was alright, Xiao Yue went out of the house, took a carrying pole, carried two wooden buckets, and headed to the village well to fetch water.
He carried water seven times to fill the kitchen with water.
Yun Xingfei then helped Xiaoyue clean the large vat in the shack, and after five more trips, he finally filled the vat with water.
Xiaoyue sorted the mushrooms she picked in the mountains by type. Some were dried, so she put them directly into her basket. She left the uncooked ones out to be taken to the market to sell the next morning.
Xiaoyue looked at the rice in the rice jar again. The cornmeal was gone, and there was only enough millet for one meal.
Xiaoyue thought of cassava and decided to go to the mountains to find some before dark. The villagers didn't recognize cassava, and some people had even been poisoned by eating it, so few people went up the mountain to dig for cassava unless there was a major disaster.
Xiaoyue only took a sickle and a shovel, intending to dig up cassava and weave a basket on the spot.
We searched from the front of the mountain to the back, circled half of the mountain, and finally found a cassava plant on the ridge of a ditch on the back of the mountain.
Xiaoyue started digging in the direction she was going. After an hour, she finally dug it all out. It was such a big lump that there was no need to make a basket, since they all came from the same root. So she just carried the rootstock home.
When she got home, she put the cassava in the porch. Xiaoyue thought that after she finished going to the market, she would have to dig a cellar. There were so many chores to do.
The next morning, Xiaoyue arrived early with a basket of dried mushrooms on her back, and she and Lu Xiaomei carried another basket of mushrooms together.
Ge Erping followed Xiaoyue unsteadily.
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