Wu Sicheng thought that every time he saw An Moxue, it was different. This time, she was like a sword drawn from its sheath, sharp and piercing, which could not be ignored. What had she gone through since she left last time?
An Moxue mixed the pickled vegetables while watching the fire in the stove.
Seeing that An Moxue had already mixed the pickled vegetables, Wu Sicheng quickened his pace. The rice in the pot had boiled, and he had also cleaned the pheasants on his side.
He quickly cleaned up the chicken feathers and entrails, and said to An Moxue, "I'll take these chicken feathers with me when I leave. Just leave them outside for now." With that, he carried a small bag of chicken feathers out of the house and placed it in the corner outside.
Seeing him come in, she asked, "How would you like to eat this pheasant?"
He replied, "Keep it for yourself and eat it slowly."
An Moxue smiled and said, "No need. I'll just bring two small ones with me. We can catch them on the mountain. It's very convenient. Besides, there are quite a few. Let's stew two of them. Do you want to wash up? I've already washed and mended the clothes you left here last time. The towel and toothbrush are in the closet. Go get them yourself."
Wu Sicheng went inside to get a washbasin and a toothbrush cup filled with water before going inside again.
An Moxue chopped the pheasant in the kitchen with swift, rhythmic chopping, "bang, bang. bang." Wu Sicheng chuckled softly as he washed his hair inside the house. He couldn't help but find the sound of An Moxue chopping the chicken to have a pleasant rhythm!
The truth is that An Moxue had a sudden inspiration. While chopping chicken, she circulated her internal energy cultivation technique and unconsciously applied it to the knife. This opened another door for her cultivation. Chopping chicken was fine, walking was fine, running was fine, and doing farm work should be fine too, right?
When Wu Sicheng finished washing up and came out with a basin, An Moxue's chickens had already been put into the pot. She sat by the tin stove, her hands supporting her chin on her lap, staring unfocusedly at the fire in the stove, lost in thought.
Wu Sicheng called out to her, "Mo Xue."
She snapped out of her reverie, saw him, and asked, "Um, what's up?"
"Do you have soap? I want to wash my clothes."
An Moxue was about to say no, but she swallowed the words, stood up, went into the house, took out a bar of soap, and handed it to him.
Wu Sicheng took it from her and saw that it was a bar of soap. He quickly handed it back to her, but she didn't take it. She looked at Wu Sicheng with a puzzled expression. Wu Sicheng asked helplessly, "Don't you have any soap? This is a bar of soap. Isn't it a bit of a waste?"
An Moxue said playfully, "It's okay, this will smell nice after washing. It's just that I ran out of soap."
The truth is, she didn't have any soap at all. The musty smell after washing clothes was something she only used for a short time when she was at the educated youth settlement. She never used it again after moving out. The last time Wu Sicheng used it at this time, it was what she had left over from that time.
Wu Sicheng had long known that this girl was used to being extravagant, but even so, he was still not used to her generosity. She was completely different from ordinary girls and he had never seen her stingy. It was hard to imagine what kind of parents had raised her like this, which made him feel ashamed of himself.
Wu Sicheng squatted down with soap and started washing clothes. An Moxue found him much more pleasing to the eye now that he looked clean and neat, and asked, "You didn't go back to the army, you came directly to my house, is that okay? Won't it delay your handover of duties?"
While washing clothes, Wu Sicheng replied, "No, I'll only be back half a day late, it won't cause any problems. Mo Xue, I feel like you've changed a lot since I last saw you. Has your martial arts improved a lot?"
"Is it that obvious?" An Moxue herself didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
"Yes," he answered confidently.
"Oh, it's probably because I have Uncle Li's guidance. And recently I've had a feeling that I'm about to break through."
Seeing that she was unwilling to elaborate, Wu Sicheng didn't press the matter further and instead asked another question: "Mo Xue, you said that I've passed the best age to learn ancient martial arts. Is there any way to make up for that?"
An Moxue thought for a moment and replied, "I don't really understand this either. It seems that it's easier to lay a foundation when you're younger. When you're an adult, your muscles and bones are fully developed, so you might have to pay a higher price and it might be more difficult."
"It's okay, just keep trying. As long as you can learn, that's fine."
"Yes, I think so too. As long as you have perseverance, your efforts will always be rewarded."
"Aren't you going up the mountain at this time because you have work to do?"
"There are still some odd jobs, but I don't like doing them, so I took leave. At this time of year, it's mostly men working, and there are very few women. I'll have to work after the threshing in a couple of days. Right now, I have to go to the educated youth settlement to study ideology every morning, and the rest of the time is free."
"I thought I would have to work every day."
"No, but I've heard that in some places there are very few rest days throughout the year, and it's true that some places are not friendly to educated youth. Our village is alright, you can tell by looking at me. The village cadres are the key."
"Are you used to being here in the countryside? There are many things in the countryside that the city can't compare to."
"It's alright. It's just that it takes several hours to go to the county, which is a waste of time, and the town is too small. Everything else is fine."
"Working? Aren't you tired?"
"I'm tired, but it's within my acceptable range. It's alright. That's just how the environment is. For me, there's not much difference between the city and the countryside, so it doesn't matter."
"And you? You joined the army at such a young age, you must have suffered a lot."
"My family is all in the military, so I've been used to it since I was a child and never thought it was anything special. Later, I went to military academy and joined the army. Before I knew it, all these years had passed, until now."
"Since you live in the north and south, do you rarely see each other?"
"Yes, we only see each other a few times a year, and sometimes only once every few years."
"Okay, being alive and well is more important than anything else."
Wu Sicheng thought she was thinking of her sacrificed parents, but in reality she was thinking of her past and present lives. All her relatives were dead, and she was all alone.
He suddenly didn't know what to say next. He didn't know whether to comfort him or not. For a moment, the two fell into a brief silence until Wu Sicheng finished washing the clothes and changed the water.
An Moxue also stopped burning the fire. She got up and went into the house. Wu Sicheng came back from hanging up the clothes and came into the house. She said to him, "Give me your hand, I'll take your pulse."
He walked over and sat on the other side of the table, placing his hand on it. She placed her hand on the inside of his wrist, gently feeling it, then lifted it up and put it down again. After a while, she released his hand: "Alright, your pulse is much better. You'd better find an experienced traditional Chinese medicine doctor to take a good look at you. My pulse diagnosis is usually not very good, and I'm afraid it might leave some hidden ailment that you'll suffer from later. I'll get you some qi-tonifying and blood-nourishing medicine to take first; these nutritional medicines are quite beneficial."
"Mo Xue, thank you." Wu Sicheng said sincerely.
"There's no need to be so polite between friends."
He simply smiled faintly and replied with a "okay".
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