Chapter Twenty-One: What an awesome space!
Bi Yuntao suddenly raised his head, his eyes fixed on Lin's mother in the crowd: "I was engaged to Lin Baozhu before, but the breakup didn't go very well..."
"Bi Yuntao, stop spouting nonsense!"
Lin's mother immediately jumped out, pointing her finger at his nose and scolding, "Don't you know why we're having this disagreement? You're engaged to my daughter, yet you're flirting with a female educated youth. Shouldn't we break off the engagement quickly, or are we just waiting to be cuckolded?"
She then turned to the police, patted her chest, and said, "The police..."
"Zhi, you must stand up for us! My eldest son and daughter-in-law are both border guards, now they're battalion-level officers. Our family has impeccable revolutionary credentials, heaven and earth can bear witness! He, Bi Yuntao, is trying to frame us for theft? In my opinion, your things were probably secretly given to Zuo Shuanzi by Old Lady You, so he could elope with someone else!"
Lin's mother unleashed her fury, not forgetting to steer the trouble elsewhere. Several police officers tried to calm her down while questioning the surrounding villagers. Listening to the villagers' chatter, the police officers' brows furrowed even more—this matter certainly had a sinister edge to it.
As the sun gradually set, it cast a pale, stark light on the empty courtyard of the Bi family. The villagers, watching Bi Yuntao's distraught state, couldn't help but sigh, "People really shouldn't do such wicked things; look at the Bi family's fate..."
The police left with their men, and the villagers who had come to watch the commotion also moved home in small groups, trampling the soil on the ridges of the fields into a mess.
“I say, strange things have been happening to the Bi family these past few days. Could they have offended something?” An old man in a blue cloth jacket stood by the roadside smoking his pipe. He then lifted his foot, tapped the pipe against the sole of his shoe twice, and continued, “There might really be a deity hiding in the back mountain of our area.”
The woman next to him, carrying a shopping basket, quickly spat out, "Don't talk nonsense! These days, saying things like that will get you criticized!"
"Go! Go home quickly! You've been watching the excitement all day, just wasting your time."
After saying that, he lifted his leg and walked towards the village.
Lin Baozhu, arm in arm with her mother, walked briskly and interjected with a smile: "Mother, today we caught a wild rabbit with a trap on the mountain. It weighed five or six pounds. We also picked up a pheasant and collected more than ten wild eggs. Tonight we'll make a tomato and egg stir-fry for Hu Zi and Tian Tian."
She also likes to eat it; the sour and salty flavor is very appetizing.
"Wow, my daughter is so capable. She caught a rabbit on her first time digging a trap. She's incredibly talented, you can't find anyone like her for miles around."
Lin Baozhu proudly puffed out her chest: "That's because my mother is good at giving birth; every child she gives birth to is exceptionally talented."
Yang Aiguo, holding Huzi's hand, watched with an awkward expression as the mother and daughter flattered each other.
But this kind of family atmosphere is really nice.
When the group returned to the Lin family home, Yang Aiguo chuckled and said, "Auntie, it's getting late, I have to go back, the mountain road will be difficult to travel if it gets any later."
"Why are you leaving?"
Lin's mother grabbed his arm: "You've taught Baozhu all your skills, so you absolutely have to stay for this meal! If it gets too late, you can stay at my house for the night; I have bedding ready!"
Yang Aiguo couldn't resist the enthusiasm and was practically dragged to stay. Soon, the aroma of pickled cabbage, pork, and vermicelli wafted from the kitchen. In those days, being able to eat a dish with a speck of oil was already a great honor, let alone this dish, which had almost no pickled cabbage or vermicelli, and was all meat.
By the time we finished eating, the moon was already hanging on the willow branches.
“Auntie, we really can’t keep her here,” Yang Aiguo pushed his bicycle against the wall. “I have to go up the mountain to check the traps first thing tomorrow morning.”
Seeing that he was determined to leave, Lin's mother did not force him. She turned around and had Lin Baozhu scoop out thirteen or fourteen catties of rice, put it in a coarse cloth bag, and tie it to the beam of the cart: "Take this! I heard that your second sister-in-law is about to give birth. Eat some fine food to help her produce enough milk."
After saying that, as if afraid that Yang Aiguo would refuse, he said in a deep voice, "If you refuse this again, you will be a bit unreasonable."
"Then...then I'll thank you on behalf of my second sister-in-law, Auntie!"
Yang Aiguo blushed and agreed, then secretly glanced at Lin Baozhu before stomping his foot and the bicycle sped off with a clang.
The night wind rustled through the rice stalks as Yang Aiguo pedaled his bicycle, his heart pounding like a rabbit in his chest.
Baozhu is clever, strong, and incredibly lucky! Most importantly, she broke off her engagement with that scumbag Bi Yuntao. When she gets back, she'll send over the tanned sheepskins and deerskins—she has to send a lot!
Aunt Lin's needlework skills were the best in the village. After finishing her work for her older sister and brother-in-law, she could also make new clothes for Baozhu, Huzi, and Tiantian.
After seeing Yang Aiguo off, Lin Baozhu scooped up a basin of well water to wash her face, handed Huzi and Tiantian to her mother, and went back to her house. As soon as she entered the space, she stared blankly at the livestock in the pen.
The sow in the pigsty, probably weighing over a thousand pounds, had her belly swollen like a small mountain, and was snoring in the haystack. The chicken coop was even stranger; pheasant and speckled hen eggs were mixed together, and there were at least a hundred of them.
She remembered there were only seven chickens in the space! How much time has passed? Seven chickens laid over a hundred eggs? Who would believe that?
The most outrageous thing is the wild rabbits. A few were thrown in at first, and now there are dozens, and some of them look pregnant again!
She had thought that her space might be extraordinary, but she never expected it to be this extraordinary.
If this continues, within a month, the wild boars, chickens, and rabbits in her space will probably become an infestation.
She originally planned to go up the mountain to "hunt a few" animals after getting her hunting license, to improve her family's life and earn some money on the black market. Now it seems that this plan will have to be brought forward!
Besides, the space is just sitting empty anyway, so I'm thinking of going up the mountain tomorrow to dig up some fruit tree saplings and medicinal herbs to plant here. The spiritual energy in this space is plentiful, so they'll definitely grow better than outside.
Lin Baozhu went to bed in the supermarket and slept until the early hours of the next day.
She was awakened by the crowing of chickens. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. Looking out the window, she saw that the grass in the pen had just been gnawed bare by the livestock, and new shoots were sprouting up everywhere, growing at an astonishing speed.
That's great, I don't have to worry about feeding them every day anymore.
When they stepped out of the space, it was just dawn. Lin's mother was filling her military water bottle with cooled boiled water. Hearing the door open, she didn't even look up and said, "Baozhu, Huzi and the others haven't woken up yet. You take care of the cattle with them for a while. We'll just grab a quick bite at the field for lunch; we won't be back for dinner."
The original owner used to herd cattle, earning three work points a day, but it was a case of working three days and resting two. When she was feeling lazy, Tiger would take Sweetie to the river to graze.
"Okay, you guys wear straw hats when you go to the fields, so you don't get sunburned and your skin peels."
The summer sun in the north is scorching. People working in the fields at midday have arms that are sunburned dark, peeling in layers, itchy and painful. She has some ointments made by her former teammates in her online space, but none of them are sunscreen. Fortunately, she has an old book in her space with many beauty recipes, which she can try to make into a sunscreen for her family later.
Lin Baozhu scooped water to wash her face and brush her teeth, took out two warm cornbreads from the pot, and ate a couple of bites with some pickled vegetables. Then she found Hu Zi and Tian Tian's little jackets, lifted the curtain of the kang (heated brick bed), and called out, "Get up, today your aunt will take you to herd the cattle."
Tiger sat up groggily, rubbing his eyes and muttering, "Auntie, what's so fun about herding cattle? Why not go up the mountain to hunt wild boar? If we hunt a boar, we can eat meat every day."
He ate his fill last night, and his dreams were filled with the smell of meat.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com