Seeing that the man didn't move, Li Shuanshu turned around, walked back to the man's side, and warmly put his arm around the man's shoulder, saying, "Fatty Ren, what are you looking at? They've all gone far away. I think that back view doesn't even have a butt, it's not good-looking either."
Fatty Ren waved his chubby hand, pulled Li Shuanshu's arm off, and asked impatiently, "Do you know who the person in front of you is?"
Li Shuanshu smiled disdainfully, revealing a set of yellowed buck teeth: "Ge Laosan brought him back from outside. If you want to ask this person, Ge Erlin will know the answer."
“Ge Erlin?” Fatty Ren looked hesitant.
Li Shuanshu poked Ren Pangzi in the ribcage. "You forgot? He's the one who came with me that day, the one who threw up like crazy at the dinner table, you know?"
Seeing that Fatty Ren still looked puzzled, Li Shuanshu leaned closer and winked frivolously, saying, "It's the one who slept with Monkey Three's wife."
"Oh, I remember now, tall and thin, but a bit hunchbacked." Fatty Ren's eyes darted around, and without even entering the courtyard, he pulled Li Shuanshu up: "Come on, let's go meet Ge Erlin."
Li Shuanshu, with his two stick-like legs, led Fatty Ren straight to Ge Erlin's house. Fatty Ren had been tracking Xiaoyue's whereabouts, his eyes revealing a malicious glint.
When Xiaoyue arrived home, she went straight to the front yard. As she entered, Xiaodouding sat at the kang table, Yun Xingfei sat facing Lu Xiaomei, and Yun Ba also sat up against the pillows. The area near the entrance was empty, reserved for Xiaoyue.
Lu Xiaomei was supporting Yun San, who was holding a bowl with rice and vegetables in his hands. Yun San had to rest after every bite of rice, his head was lowered, and he didn't even lift his eyelids when he saw Xiaoyue come in.
Lu Xiaomei, who was helping Yun San eat, said, "The food is ready and on the table. You can eat first."
Yun Xingfei enthusiastically pointed out the seat and bowl to Xiaoyue. Xiaoyue picked up the bowl but didn't eat. She asked Lu Xiaomei, "Third sister-in-law, are you a pillow?"
Lu Xiaomei helped Yun San up, but glanced at Yun Ba.
Yun Xingfei chimed in, "You have cloth, you can't keep making us use tree branches as pillows, that's so stingy."
Xiaoyue glanced at Yun Xingfei, annoyed, and joked, "I'm stingy, I provide you with food and lodging, and you still call me stingy?"
Upon hearing this, Yun Xingfei chuckled and feigned grievance, saying, "I still remember the time I injured my foot and went to Old Man Ge's house to ask you to treat it. You even hit me with a broom!"
Xiaoyue was so angry she laughed: "You're perfectly fine, yet you're trying to extort money from me. How could I not beat you up?"
Yun Xingfei turned her head and pointed at Yun San with the finger holding the chopsticks: "It was his bad idea that I came up with."
Xiaoyue also looked at Yun San. At this moment, Lu Xiaomei put him down. He glared at Yun Xingfei and said, "Who knew you would take it seriously? Xiaoyue hit you lightly. If it were me, I would have broken your legs."
Everyone in the room burst into laughter.
When Xiaoyue saw Lu Xiaomei come over to eat, she also started eating. After taking a bite, she instructed Lu Xiaomei, "Make one for yourself and one for Xiaodouding."
Lu Xiaomei nodded.
Xiaoyue added, "The fabric I washed this morning bled color badly, but I prefer the faded color."
Looking at Yun Xingfei, who was enjoying his meal, he said, "Third Sister-in-law, if you're feeling alright, don't rush to do anything else. Use this faded cloth to make a set of short clothes for each of the three of them, just like the people in our village."
Lu Xiaomei pulled back the cloth and looked up at Xiaoyue: "My body is fine, it's just that I've had three sets of clothes for almost six days."
"Okay, no rush. They'll stay at our house for at least ten days to half a month."
Yun Xingfei stared at Xiaoyue with wide eyes and said, "Could you be any more obvious and kick us out?" Then she angrily added, "Didn't we say we were friends? How can you be so heartless? You're just like when we first met, you ungrateful wretch."
Yun San then interjected, "We usually wear guard uniforms too, it's all the same."
Seeing Yun Xingfei throwing a tantrum, Xiaoyue was both annoyed and amused. She pointed at Yun Ba and said, "You should talk to your young master. You need to make things clear, otherwise I won't be able to save you, but instead I'll become your enemy."
Yun Xingfei rolled her eyes: "Who treats you like an enemy? I just feel like you're indirectly trying to get rid of us."
Xiaoyue took another bite of food and said, "If we don't kick you out, you can stay here forever."
Yun Xingfei, utterly shameless, casually retorted, "Why is it impossible?"
Yun Ba winked at Xiao Yue, who laughed in exasperation. After finishing their meal, she and Lu Xiaomei cleared the table, while Xiao Douding went to take care of her chicks, goslings, and geese.
Xiaoyue went to Lu Xiaomei's room and saw her cutting clothes. She was thinking about the three people again. On the day of the accident, they were all soaked in the rain. Their outer clothes were washed, but what about their undergarments? After hesitating for a moment, she said, "How about we make an undergarment for each of them, using white fabric?"
Seeing that Lu Xiaomei didn't need her help, Xiaoyue said to Lu Xiaomei, "I'll go up the mountain and chop two bundles of firewood, and then I'll pick up the sticks in the yard too."
As she spoke, Xiaoyue found a basket and rope, put the axe and sickle into the basket, and then filled the gourd.
When they got to the mountain, Xiaoyue picked up some firewood that could be used to make walking sticks, and carried two bundles back. She put down the basket, tidied up the rope, and started using the walking sticks along the gravel path. Because the ground was still damp, Xiaoyue inserted the sticks one by one, which was easy and quick. Finally, she did the middle one more time.
Before evening, the sticks were all used up. Xiaoyue then put trellises on the green beans and cucumbers, cleaned up the chicken coop, and the pens for the ducklings and goslings. Xiaodouding led the ducklings and goslings to the water's edge every day, and they all grew very healthy and plump.
The next day, before dawn, Xiaoyue looked out the window and saw that it was foggy, indicating that autumn had arrived. Xiaoyue quickly got out of bed without disturbing anyone. Thinking that she would have to train again at dawn, Xiaoyue made the most of her time, picked up her basket, and headed up the mountain.
Xiaoyue thought she should pick as many mushrooms as possible before dawn, since tomorrow was market day. Under the thick fog, she picked chanterelles, milkweed, long-legged mushrooms, and Murraya paniculata, filling a whole basket by daybreak.
Just then, Liang Qi arrived carrying his basket. Xiao Yue was worried that the mushrooms in the basket would break when she ran up the mountain, so she put the basket down at the foot of the mountain. But Liang Qi actually put two large stones in his basket and handed them to Xiao Yue to carry.
Xiaoyue sighed silently. Since their conversation last night, Liang Qi had become even stricter with her.
After morning training, I parted ways with Liang Qi.
Xiaoyue arrived at the cleared land where the ramie seedlings had already been planted. She started thinning the seedlings from scratch, bending over to remove any weeds or wormwood that grew. She put the pulled-out weeds and seedlings at the edge of the field and then piled up the dead trees in the field in another pile.
They piled up the long, withered branches, thinking they could carry some firewood. Xiaoyue picked out ten pieces of wood as thick as her arm, chopped them down, and carried them home.
As they approached home, they saw Ge Erping loitering at the gate. Xiaoyue, carrying firewood on her back, hurried to greet him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com