Chapter 144 Continue Tying the Ropes
Ye Wanning stood up and stretched, feeling a little tired but happy. Pei Zhi also stood up and rubbed her back: "Tired? You should have told me not to squat for so long, your back must be aching."
"I'm not tired, picking strawberries is a lot of fun." Ye Wanning smiled and took his arm. "Let's go back, wash them clean, and give some to the children first."
The swing in the yard was made by Pei Zhi last year—a wooden board with hemp rope. Ye Wanning liked to sit on it and swing while reading when she had nothing to do. But when she wanted to sit on it today, she found that the swing ropes were loose, and it swayed violently with the slightest pull, which frightened her so much that she stepped back.
"What am I going to do?" She stood by the swing, frowning. She was too afraid to sit on it and didn't know how to fix it, so she could only worry anxiously.
"What's wrong? Are you afraid to sit?" Pei Zhi came out of the study and saw her looking worried, so he walked over.
“The swing ropes are loose, I’m afraid I’ll fall off when I sit on them.” Ye Wanning pointed to the ropes: “Look, it wobbles when you pull it.”
Pei Zhi walked over and tugged at the rope, nodding, "It really needs fixing; it needs to be re-tied. Wait here, I'll go get a new rope."
A short while later, Pei Zhi returned with a roll of new hemp rope and a ladder. Before setting up the ladder, he specifically instructed, "Stand back, don't get hit by the rope."
Ye Wanning hummed in agreement and stood aside, watching Pei Zhi climb the ladder. He deftly replaced the old rope with the new one, binding it very tightly, and occasionally tugged at it to check its sturdiness.
"Slow down, don't fall." Ye Wanning looked on anxiously, full of worry.
"Don't worry, I'm more stable climbing ladders than walking." Pei Zhi turned around and smiled at her, continuing to tie the rope.
The rope was quickly tied, and Pei Zhi climbed down the ladder, giving it a tug: "Look, it's very sturdy, go up and try it."
Ye Wanning was still a little scared and hesitated to go forward. Pei Zhi went over, took her hand, and helped her onto the swing: "Don't be afraid, I'm holding you, you won't fall."
He stood behind the swing and gave it a gentle push: "If you're scared, just call me and I'll stop right away." The swing began to sway slowly, and the wind made Ye Wanning's hair flutter lightly, feeling warm.
At first, she nervously gripped the rope, but after a while, she found it interesting. She smiled and reached out to grab Pei Zhi's hand, which Pei Zhi quickly took.
The two held hands tightly as the swing gently swayed in the yard. Sunlight streamed down their faces, casting long shadows, and the air felt warm and cozy. Ye Wanning looked into Pei Zhi's gentle eyes and felt especially at ease.
"Higher, higher!" Ye Wanning shouted with a smile, no longer afraid.
Pei Zhi put in a little more effort, and the swing swung even higher. Looking at her happy face, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up—as long as she was happy, he would be willing to tie the swing rope ten more times.
After playing for a while, Ye Wanning got tired. Pei Zhi slowly stopped the swing and helped her down: "Are you tired? I'll get you a glass of water so you can rest for a bit."
The candlelight in the study was still burning. Ye Wanning rubbed her aching shoulders, looked at the neatly arranged medical books on the table, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She had been busy all day, organizing the medical records left by her mother and copying down all the useful prescriptions, but her shoulders ached so much from constantly looking down that she couldn't straighten them.
"Ouch—it hurts!" Ye Wanning cried out softly, reaching out to rub her shoulder blade, but she couldn't reach it no matter what she did.
"You must be exhausted?" Pei Zhi came in from the door. He had just finished dealing with military affairs and came over when he saw her rubbing her shoulders.
He sat behind Ye Wanning and reached out to press on her shoulders: "Let me massage them for you. Don't rub them yourself, or they'll just get more sore."
Ye Wanning hummed in agreement and relaxed, leaning back in her chair. Pei Zhi's fingers applied just the right amount of pressure, massaging from her shoulder to her shoulder blade. The calluses on his fingertips brushed against her sore spots, a little itchy but very comfortable, and she couldn't help but squint her eyes.
"You never seem to know how to rest," Pei Zhi said while massaging the area. "You can organize the medical books anytime; there's no need to rush it in one day. What if you ruin your health?"
"I want to prepare as soon as possible so that I can use these prescriptions when I encounter people with this disease in the future," Ye Wanning said softly, as the soreness in her shoulder gradually subsided.
Rain pattered against the eaves of the General's Mansion, mingling with the fragrance of flowers and enveloping the entire courtyard. Ye Wanning sat on a small stool in the kitchen, watching the charcoal fire in the stove, holding a freshly washed sweet potato in her hand—she wanted to roast a sweet potato herself on a rainy day.
She placed the sweet potato near the fire: "Last time I saw Xiaodouzi roasting it, it seemed like you just had to put it near the fire and wait a while."
Before fifteen minutes had passed, Ye Wanning smelled a burning odor and quickly dug out the sweet potato. Upon inspection, she found that the skin was completely black, and the inside was still a hard, raw sweet potato.
"How could this happen?" Ye Wanning frowned. The burnt sweet potato in her hand made her feel a little discouraged, and her fingertips were still covered in charcoal ash, making her look even more disheveled.
"Are you struggling with a burnt sweet potato?" Pei Zhi's voice came from the doorway. He came out of the study and smelled the burning smell. As soon as he entered, he saw her holding a burnt sweet potato with charcoal ash on her nose, looking like a little squirrel who had caused trouble.
"I wanted to roast sweet potatoes, but they're burnt and still not cooked." Ye Wanning was a little embarrassed and handed him the burnt sweet potato: "Look, the outside is all black, but the inside is still raw."
Pei Zhi took the sweet potato and squeezed it with a smile: "To roast sweet potatoes, you need to use a low fire. You have to bury the sweet potatoes in the charcoal fire, you can't just put them on the side."
He bent down, cleared the embers from the stove, took a fresh sweet potato, wiped it clean, put it in, and then gently covered it with the embers: "This way it will bake evenly."
He straightened up and wiped the charcoal ash off Ye Wanning's nose: "It will take half a cup of tea to wait, so don't be impatient."
Ye Wanning hummed in agreement and obediently sat on the small stool watching him adjust the charcoal fire. Pei Zhi sat on the stove next to him, picked up a piece of firewood and slowly burned it, the firelight softly illuminating his profile.
“We also roasted sweet potatoes on rainy days at the border.” Pei Zhi suddenly spoke, his voice particularly gentle amidst the sound of rain: “Conditions were tough back then, we could only find dry branches to start a fire, and we traded sweet potatoes with the locals. They were smaller but sweeter than they are now.”
Ye Wanning tilted her head and leaned closer: "Do you also burn your sweet potatoes when you roast them?"
Pei Zhi laughed: "Of course! The first time Deputy General Zhang roasted them, he threw the sweet potatoes directly into the fire. When he finally dug them out, all that was left were black charcoal balls. He couldn't bear to throw them away, so he broke off some of the unburnt ones and gave them to us. We laughed until our stomachs hurt."
The two chatted about interesting things at the border, and time flew by. Before long, they smelled the sweet aroma of sweet potatoes. Pei Zhi got up and carefully dug the sweet potato out of the charcoal fire; its skin was slightly wrinkled and still steaming.
He used a cloth to break it open, revealing the golden flesh, and the sweet aroma instantly filled the kitchen. "Be careful, it's hot." Pei Zhi blew on it and brought the sweet potato to her lips: "Take a bite, it's much sweeter than the ones from the border."
Ye Wanning opened her mouth and took a bite. The warm sweet potato melted in her mouth, sweet with a hint of caramel, and not dry at all. Her eyes lit up and she took another big bite, the juice getting on the corner of her mouth, which Pei Zhi quickly wiped away for her.
"Delicious! Even better than what you buy outside!" Ye Wanning smiled, breaking off another piece and holding it to Pei Zhi's lips. Pei Zhi opened his mouth to take it, and seeing his satisfied expression, she smiled too.
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