Chapter 14
Shu Wanxiu dared to keep quiet and secretly put the meat into the Pang family's house, but she didn't dare to approach the Xun family without saying a word.
Standing at the entrance of the Xun family's residence, she and Shu Shouyi exchanged a glance, and as usual at noon, they obediently called out to each other.
There was no movement in the furnace room. Shu Wanxiu called out twice before someone came out of the main room.
Seemingly surprised that the visitors were the two of them, Xun Yi paused for a second before closing the door to the main room behind him.
In recent months, Shu Wanxiu's ability to read people has improved. From Xun Yi's action of closing the door, she realized that he had something he didn't want them to know, so she wisely stood still.
When Xun Yi came over, she puffed out her cheeks and thanked him for lending her the knife and salt. Then, holding the bowl of meat, she said, "You said you didn't lack meat, but this is the only way we can express our gratitude."
She held the bowl up to a height where Xun Yi could easily reach it, and looked at him with the most sincere eyes, hoping that he could more clearly feel her heartfelt gratitude.
It's unclear what Xun Yi was thinking, but thankfully, before Shu Wanxiu's hands got sore from holding the bowl up, he reached out and took the bowl of meat.
In an instant, Shu Wanxiu breathed a sigh of relief and continued in a light and quick tone, "The knife is very sharp, making it easy to chop bones. The salt is also very good; I added some when I was cooking the meat. In short... thank you so much for lending us these."
After saying that, she quickly put the cleaver and the salt wrapped in oil paper into Xun Yi's hands, then pulled Shu Shouyi back two steps and bowed deeply to him.
At this point, Xun Yi was already surprised that Shu Wanxiu would bring her nephew over. What's more, as soon as he approached, she thanked him, offered him meat, returned the knife and salt, speaking quickly and acting nimbly, leaving him little room to refuse.
This man, who was used to hunting, was gradually driven to the point of chaos, his formation completely thrown into disarray.
Xun Yi remained silent for a long time, and after two encounters, Shu Wanxiu knew that Xun Yi was not a very talkative person.
Now that she has said what she wanted to say and done what she wanted to do, there is no reason for her to stay any longer.
Xun Yi held a handful of things, feeling he should say something, but then realized he had already missed his chance to speak.
After several attempts to speak, they stopped themselves and went quite a distance.
He remained where he was, and when he could no longer see anyone, he finally moved and pushed open the door to the main room that he had deliberately closed not long ago.
In fact, this main room is no different from the main rooms of other houses in the village.
There were neither valuables displayed, nor was there any mistress kept in a golden house.
It was lunchtime, and there was a bowl of rice on the table, with half a roasted rabbit, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, already taken a bite of.
...
The dishes prepared for the evening meal at the Pang Village Chief's house today were not particularly lavish.
When children come home from playing outside, they lose interest in the two stir-fried vegetarian dishes on the stove.
Chen Sanhe was serving rice to everyone in the family when he saw his grandson being picky about his food, so he couldn't help but scold and educate him.
For example: People should be grateful. It's so good to have rice to eat. Not every family in the village can have rice to eat every meal.
For example, which of the dishes we cook at home doesn't have oil?
For example, Grandma's cooking skills are top-notch; even her stir-fried vegetables taste like meat.
...The child understands his grandmother and knows that once she starts nagging, she won't stop for a while.
To escape, the child quickly picked up a dish and placed it on the table in the main room.
Huh!
Oh, a dish had already been placed on the table! The child's gloomy face immediately turned into a beaming smile.
Why didn't you say so sooner, Grandma! There's meat to eat!
Chen Sanhe, regardless of anything else, certainly remembered the bowl in his own house. Knowing that Shu Wanxiu had sent the meat, he signaled to Pang Zhishan and Chen Lian not to make a fuss, especially not to mention the origin of the meat in front of the children.
It wasn't until she went back to her room and lay down that evening that she began to say to Pang Zhishan, "Wanxiu, what do you think she did with such a big bowl of meat? Why didn't she keep it for herself?"
Pang Zhishan covered his stomach with a quilt, but held a palm-leaf fan in his hand, slowly fanning himself and his wife. Hearing this, he said, "She has always been honest, and besides, you even sent salt upstairs."
Upon hearing the second half of the sentence, Chen Sanhe couldn't help but slap Pang Zhishan's arm. "Hey! How did you know I delivered salt to her?"
Pang Zhishan, with an air of nonchalance, crossed his legs and said, "I may be old, but I can still taste it. Besides you, who else in the village could deliver salt to her?"
"You're so clever!" Chen Sanhe snorted twice and added, "Shu girl is clever too. They weren't there when I delivered the salt up the mountain. They must have gone into the mountains to gather firewood, so I left the salt on the stove. But I guess she probably guessed that it was me who delivered the salt."
The elderly couple talked for a long time before both of them grew sleepy.
Chen Sanhe closed his eyes, and his consciousness quickly became hazy.
Just as I was about to drift into a dream, someone, whether beside me or from afar, said, "...That rabbit, is it related to Xun Yi?"
...Is there any connection? Who is it related to? What is the connection?
During the day, Chen Sanhe is quite willing to chat with people about these relationships.
But in her dream, she was capable of flying and disappearing into the earth, practically a goddess. Why would a goddess care about worldly affairs?
...
Shu Wanxiu stocked up on firewood for two days and cut down the trees Xun Yi wanted and sent them over. That evening, Pang Zhishan came up the mountain again after a long time and told her that he would start bringing the village laborers to repair her house the next day.
Knowing that their family had no food, there was no need to provide meals, but it was important to boil enough water so that they wouldn't be thirsty and have nothing to drink.
Shu Wanxiu readily agreed, then cautiously inquired about how she should prepare the materials needed for the repairs.
Pang Zhishan was about to tell her about this.
“Your roof hasn’t been repaired for years, and the straw on it is probably all unusable. It will take about a dozen bundles of straw to re-lay the straw over the two spacious rooms. You’ve just arrived, and you have no land or fields, so let’s help you repair and replace the roof without any complaints.”
However, since you come from a poor family, you should know that straw is quite useful to farming families. Therefore, I hope that after your family's harvest next year, you will dry the straw after threshing the grain and return it to each household in accordance with the agreed amount.
Upon learning that it was a temporary loan, Shu Wanxiu felt relieved.
"Don't worry, I will definitely pay it back."
Pang Zhishan now trusted her character, so he continued to discuss with her how to repair the stove that had collapsed halfway and how to repair the wooden shed on top of the stove.
The next day, Shu Wanxiu got up exceptionally early.
Pang Zhishan said that he divided the work among the able-bodied men in the village. Today, some of them will repair the roofs of the houses, and others will repair the sheds and stoves. He will try to finish all the repairs within one day.
She had to empty all the things in the houses and sheds before all the laborers went up the mountain, otherwise the dust would fall down during the repairs and all the items would get dirty.
So she moved everything from the main room and bedroom outside in the dark.
As dawn broke, after cooking breakfast, I went to the stream to fetch water, boiled several pots of water, and poured them into wooden basins and buckets that had been washed clean the day before. I also moved all the pots, pans, and other utensils out of the wooden shed.
At 5:45 AM, smoke began to rise from the chimneys of almost every household in the village. At 5:00 AM, Pang Zhishan led the laborers who had gathered at the foot of the mountain, carrying ladders, straw, saws, hoes and other tools, and they all went up the mountain.
A note from the author:
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There was no update, just some minor revisions.
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