Xiaoyue sensed that Gao Lei's voice was hoarse and filled with a distressing pain. She glanced at Gao Lei, whose long robe was tucked up above his knees, and whose pitiful expression made her chuckle. "That's a good thing!" she said.
Seeing that Xiaoyue was unmoved by his words, Gao Lei pulled up her sleeve, and ramie fabric spilled from her knees. Xiaoyue shook off Gao Lei's hand, and Gao Lei, being a scholar with no future, couldn't hold her back even when he tried to pull her away.
Xiaoyue easily shook him off. She then draped the peeled ramie leaves from the stool onto the clothesline. Gao Lei, being observant, noticed that as Xiaoyue draped the leaves, he took peeled ramie leaves from the stool and handed them to her.
After all the ramie shears had been peeled and stacked, Xiaoyue rubbed her hands together and leaned against the windowsill of the main room, one leg supporting her body at an angle, the other leg raised and unconsciously bent.
When Xiaoyue saw Gao Lei come over and lean against her, she turned to Gao Lei and asked, "What's wrong with you? Why are you being so mysterious? You've never been like this before."
Gao Lei said mysteriously, "Two things."
Gao Lei lowered his head slightly, looking at Xiaoyue's neck, which was soaked with sweat from working and glistening in the sunlight. He wanted to take out a handkerchief to wipe it for her, but then he thought about it and could only silently clench his fists, his knuckles turning white from the force. He sighed helplessly and continued:
"I heard from Xu Fanyuan that you'll soon have neighbors. Ge Sanlin swapped land with the Zhu family and plans to build a house to the east of yours. They even asked my dad to draw up the plans. I heard from my dad that..."
Their house was to be built with red bricks, costing twenty taels of silver, and the garden was also to be built with bricks. Even before the house was built, my father had already found a well-digger for them.
Xiaoyue felt uncomfortable when she heard that Ge Sanlin wanted to build a house next to hers. When she heard about digging a well, she casually asked Gao Lei, "How much does it cost to dig a well?"
"My father said it was two ounces, right?"
"Why is it so expensive? It's almost as expensive as building a house! I wouldn't even spend four ounces on building a house, how come digging a well is so pricey?" Xiaoyue muttered to herself. She had originally planned to fetch water from the village well.
But ever since Xiao Sun jumped into the well, Xiao Yue has never gone to the village's big well to fetch water again. She always goes to Yang Danian's house to fetch water. If Ge Sanlin has dug a well, then it wouldn't make sense for her to go to Yang Danian's house to fetch water.
So Xiaoyue steeled herself, considered her finances, and finally decided that she had to dig a well. But then she thought about raising a dog.
Getting a dog is now even more urgent. Uncle Liang said that his plan to get two puppies for her has fallen through. Xiaoyue thought that she should go to the market again and take care of buying a dog first.
“It’s always been this price,” Gao Lei replied calmly.
"Oh," Xiaoyue replied absentmindedly.
Suddenly, Xiaoyue turned her head and looked up at Gao Lei, "Didn't you say there was one more thing?"
Gao Lei's face flushed red instantly, and he didn't know what to do with his hands and feet. Fine beads of sweat appeared on his face. Seeing Gao Lei like this, Xiao Yue took a step forward, turned to the right, and stood firmly in front of Gao Lei.
Looking up at Gao Lei with her head tilted to the side, Gao Lei's eyes shone with a moist light, and the lines on his lips gradually deepened. The few pearly teeth that were exposed as he bit his lip looked as white as jade under the reflection of his red lips.
Xiaoyue suddenly realized that staring at a man like that was beneath her dignity, and her face flushed red. She quickly took a few steps back, covered her burning face, and said, feigning nonchalance but also with a hint of embarrassment and anger:
"What exactly are you here for? Just tell me, what's wrong with you, a grown man? Why are you so slow?"
Gao Lei was initially pleased to see Xiaoyue's face flush red, feeling that she wasn't completely clueless. However, upon hearing what Xiaoyue said, his joy vanished instantly.
On the contrary, with a pale face and looking quite helpless, Gao Lei timidly and tentatively asked, "Aren't you engaged yet?"
Xiaoyue glared at Gao Lei and said angrily, "Who are you engaged to? There isn't even a suitor." She finally found someone she wanted to marry, but that person was stolen away by someone else.
Gao Lei, extremely serious, raised his right hand as if making a vow, and said, "I'm proposing to you, and I promise I'll only marry one person."
Xiaoyue looked Gao Lei up and down, suppressing her anger, and said, "Do you think I'm stupid?" Even if Gao Lei could get promoted in the future, as things stand, Aunt Gao would never agree to marry him.
I am just a delaying tactic used by Aunt Gao. Aunt Gao might not be able to persuade Gao Lei to agree to the engagement. By the time the exam is held again, Gao Lei's standards will have risen, and I might be jilted by then. I will also be too old by then.
It's like trying to win chicken but losing rice instead.
Gao Lei quickly stepped forward and explained to Xiaoyue, "Before I came, my mother said that as long as you agree, she will send a matchmaker to your house to propose marriage and settle our relationship. Then I will go to school in the county."
Xiaoyue chuckled to herself, thinking to herself, "Aunt Gao is indeed shrewd enough to be considered a maid in a large family. No one in the village can match her shrewdness."
She only thought about her son's future, without considering how she, an orphan, would cope with the gossip and rumors three or six years from now after their engagement was called off.
Xiaoyue adopted a serious expression and said to Gao Lei, word by word, "I disagree, and even if your mother agrees, I still disagree."
Gao Lei grabbed Xiaoyue's hand, "Why, why? My mother agreed, why?"
Xiaoyue rolled her eyes at Gao Lei and pulled her hand away: "You have a better match, and I have my own. It's impossible for us."
"What did I do wrong? Can't I change?" Gao Lei's angry, dejected, helpless, and confused expression was completely different from the spirited young man he had been when he first came in.
Xiaoyue looked at Gao Lei helplessly, sighed, and said earnestly, "There's really no chance for us. You deserve better." After saying that, Xiaoyue sat down on the stool where she hadn't finished peeling the ramie and continued peeling it.
Gao Lei angrily rushed up to Xiao Yue, grabbed a pile of unpeeled ramie heaps, and threw them all over the yard. Xiao Yue also jumped to her feet and yelled at Gao Lei:
"Get out of here, you're not welcome in my home."
Seeing Gao Lei's stunned expression, Xiaoyue added, "Get out of here, get out, and don't ever come to my house again." As she spoke, Xiaoyue threw the book that Gao Lei had given her onto the road.
After Xiaoyue chased Gao Lei onto the road, she looked to her right and, sure enough, Ge Sanlin was directing the well-digging operation, surrounded by a group of young men.
They were carrying stones to the well; the stones were all pulled by oxcarts. Xiaoyue watched from her front door for a while, wondering where they got so many identical stones.
He decided that once Ge Sanlin left, he would have to talk to the man who dug the well.
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