Chapter 39 is too much.
Molly can't make dumplings, but she can make steamed buns; she made them once in her past life with an older sister. She's quick, and the buns she makes are big and beautiful. By the time Mo An came out of the room, her buns were already finished.
"Go get a piece of cured pork, wash it with hot water, and then put it directly into the water to boil." Molly put the wrapped buns back on the stove; they need to rest for a while before cooking.
"To pay respects to our mother?" Mo An asked.
Molly nodded. "I'll take two eggs to Aunt Guihua's house to exchange for incense and candles. Keep an eye on your brother-in-law. If anyone comes to visit, don't open the door, and don't tell anyone that your brother-in-law is back."
Mo An didn't understand why; he was used to listening to Molly. "What if it's the eldest sister who comes?"
“Then you can relay what I said to your eldest sister.” Mo He was the kind of person who was very tactful, so Molly wasn’t worried that she would tell anyone.
Molly tucked the two eggs into her sleeve, put on her suede shoes, and went out. Some of the snow outside had melted, the ground was wet, and it was even colder than the night before.
There weren't many people outside, but the village wasn't deserted; voices and laughter could be heard coming from the houses from time to time.
Several neighbors came to visit Aunt Guihua's house. They gathered around the fire, chatting and laughing from time to time. When they saw Molly, they were all taken aback.
"We were just talking about you, and here you are." Aunt Guihua pulled up a chair next to her and let Molly sit down.
Molly then asked, "What did you say about me?"
"The brigade leader agreed to let you raise pigs next year. He said that if you can raise the pigs well, he will give you ten work points a day."
Even an adult male might not earn ten work points in a day, so the brigade leader's decision to give Molly ten work points shows that he highly values Molly's abilities.
Besides, raising pigs is not as hard as working in the fields. In previous years, the elderly people in charge of raising pigs earned eight work points a day, and if you didn't have some skills, you couldn't even get this job.
Molly hadn't expected this. She wasn't opposed to raising pigs; compared to working in the fields, it was indeed less stressful. So she didn't refuse. "That's great. I'll try my best to make sure everyone can eat big, fat pigs by the end of the year."
"Oh dear, then we'll wait to eat a big fat pig next year." Aunt Guihua trusted Molly. Don't underestimate this girl because of her young age; she's methodical and never says anything without certainty.
Aunt Guihua leaned closer to Molly, "Did you come to my house for something?"
It's no wonder Aunt Guihua asked that question; Molly never comes unless she has a reason.
"Do you have incense and red candles at home?" The custom here is to use red candles for sacrificial rites.
Aunt Guihua blinked. "Yes, come with me."
Ji Hefeng was shivering from the cold in bed, and he couldn't help but call Mo An to bring him a brazier.
“My sister said you can’t cough, the brazier is smoky.” Mo An refused. He turned around and went back to his room, grabbed his blanket and covered Ji Hefeng with it. “You cover yourself with my blanket first. When my sister comes back, we’ll see what she says.”
"Thank you." Ji Hefeng felt much warmer. "Your sister knows medicine?"
Mo An shook his head. "No."
Ji Hefeng narrowed his eyes. "Do you know that your sister removed a bullet from my body yesterday?"
Mo An was shocked. "Brother-in-law, you've been shot!"
Ji Hefeng was somewhat speechless. Was that the point?
"How did your sister remove the bullet from my body?"
"I don't know, I didn't see it." Mo An told the truth. He thought about it carefully and said, "Although my sister doesn't know medicine, she is very skilled with a knife. She can butcher a wild boar in a few minutes."
Ji Hefeng's lips twitched. Dissecting a wild boar and performing surgery on a person are not the same thing. Putting aside the fact that the lighting here is not good enough for surgery, how did she manage to perfectly avoid so many blood vessels in the heart?
Furthermore, he didn't smell of medicine at all, which shows that Molly didn't give him any medication. Without medication, he didn't have a postoperative infection, which cannot be explained by science.
Moreover, given the severity of his injuries, it's baffling that he feels no discomfort other than pain.
How did Molly manage to do that?
When Molly returned home, Mo An was helping Ji Hefeng to the outhouse. He was not wearing any clothes, only a quilt draped over his shoulders.
Upon seeing Molly, a hint of unease flashed in Ji Hefeng's eyes, but Molly remained composed. "I'll help you dry your clothes in a bit."
"I have to leave the day after tomorrow," Ji Hefeng suddenly said.
Before Molly could speak, Mo An became anxious, "Brother-in-law, your injuries are so serious, why don't you stay a few more days?"
“I have a reason to leave,” Ji Hefeng said, looking into Molly’s eyes.
Molly's face hardened. "Even if the injuries worsen, and I die on the road?"
Ji Hefeng nodded, "Yes, even if my injuries worsen and I die on the road, I will still leave."
Molly exhaled a breath of stale air. "Then go ahead. Your injuries won't worsen unless you get hurt again."
Her tentacles merged with Ji Hefeng's body. She could not sense any pollution source fluctuations on Ji Hefeng's body, indicating that Ji Hefeng had not become a pollutant. However, the benefits of the tentacles to Ji Hefeng were also visible to the naked eye, as they were rapidly repairing Ji Hefeng's body.
Having received Molly's approval, Ji Hefeng breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry, I have a reason why I have to leave; it's my duty."
Molly declined to comment. "Will they come back?"
Ji Hefeng remained silent; he didn't know either.
Molly chuckled softly, "If I turn eighteen next year and you're still alive, remember to apply for marriage."
Ji Hefeng didn't quite understand why she was so determined to marry him, knowing he could die at any moment. With her current looks and abilities, she could live a good life even without him.
“We didn’t get a marriage certificate, and we didn’t register our marriage. If you die, I won’t get any compensation. Besides, things are so chaotic outside right now. Being a martyr’s widow is a glorious status, and no one will bully you,” Molly said, half-jokingly.
Ji Hefeng's gaze darkened. "Fine, if I live to see your eighteenth birthday."
Molly lit incense and candles in the yard, arranged the offerings, and prayed. Then she turned and went to the kitchen to steam buns. After starting the fire, she sat by the brazier and put Ji Hefeng's clothes on it to dry. Mo An sat down opposite her, hesitated, and finally gritted her teeth and said, "Sister, weren't what you said to brother-in-law a bit too much?"
"How else can I put it? I was indeed after his status as a partner. Without that status as a military dependent, our family wouldn't be as peaceful as it is now." It wasn't that Molly was overconfident, but once her looks and abilities were revealed to the public, they would inevitably attract people with ill intentions.
She will treat the Ji family and Ji Hefeng well, but Ji Hefeng should also give her appropriate protection.
Mo An still couldn't understand, "But if you weren't legally married and your brother-in-law died, wouldn't it be easier for you to remarry?"
Molly blinked. "Why do you want to get married? Look at our brigade, a whole family of relatives, a dozen or twenty people crammed into one house. It's inevitable that there will be arguments and disputes. Don't you find it annoying?"
Mo An: "Then you can find a family with a small population like your brother-in-law's."
Molly countered, "Why is your brother-in-law's family so small?"
Mo An remained silent for a long while before asking again, "So you don't plan to have children?"
"Of course I'll have one." This isn't the apocalypse; we don't have to live on the brink of death. She wants a child who is connected to her by blood. Why wouldn't she have a child? She can't help but feel joy at the sight of an innocent child. A soft, cuddly little one—just thinking about it makes her happy.
“But you’re not getting married.” Mo An really couldn’t understand what her second sister was thinking.
"What's the rush? I'm still young. When I want to have children, I'll naturally consider these issues."
Mo An: "......"
In rural areas, many girls get married at seventeen or eighteen. Second sister, if you don't consider these issues at your age, when will you?
Molly's buns had thin skins and generous fillings; each one was as big as an adult man's fist. Molly ate three of each type of filling, and was full after six. Mo An was not to be outdone, eating five.
Ji Hefeng ate the most; he ate eight.
"Your sister's cooking is pretty good," Ji Hefeng praised. Molly was generous with the ingredients; two-thirds of the filling was meat. The smoked meat was savory and fragrant, and when paired with green vegetables, it was so juicy that it was even more delicious than the meat buns from state-run restaurants.
If he hadn't had an urgent matter, he would have loved to stay a few more days just to enjoy all this delicious food.
"Of course," Mo An said proudly. "We still have steamed buns and dumplings. Brother-in-law, what would you like to eat tomorrow? I'll cook it for you."
"I'm fine with either, they're all delicious." Ji Hefeng prefers large meat buns, but it's true that he's not picky.
"Then I'll cook steamed buns for breakfast and dumplings for dinner, so you can have both." A married woman returns to her parents' home on the second day of the Lunar New Year, and given her sister's temperament, she definitely wouldn't go back to the Mo family. But since killing animals is permitted on the second day, everyone takes this day seriously, so her sister probably has other plans for lunch.
When evening came, Mo An took his quilt back to his room, and Ji Hefeng felt uncomfortably cold again.
"Could we put a brazier there?" he asked Molly.
Without saying a word, Molly brought him a brazier, saying, "Close the doors and windows, or there will be a lot of smoke."
Ji Hefeng felt he would rather die from the smoke than from freezing. Besides, the thatched roof, the windows sealed with burlap sacks, and the door with a gap of only two fingers wide were hardly airtight; the smoke wouldn't kill him.
Molly, wearing her thermal underwear, crawled into bed. Ji Hefeng slept on the outer side, while she slept on the inner side. Because the brazier was burning, she ignored Ji Hefeng, closed her eyes, and fell asleep on her own.
She always falls asleep easily.
Ji Hefeng sighed, unable to suppress his envy. Last time, he stayed home for a while because of his leg injury, and Molly did the same, falling asleep almost the moment her head hit the pillow. It was he who, on the other hand, hadn't adjusted at first and suffered from insomnia for several nights.
Ji Hefeng slowly turned his head and saw Molly lying perfectly straight, her hands crossed over her lower abdomen, extremely proper. Her lips were full, a pinkish hue that matched the pink hue of her skin. Her nose was beautiful, slightly pointed at the tip, upturned, exquisitely delicate. Her eyelashes were dark and long, even the curve of their curl was just right. When her beautiful eyes opened, they were clear and bright, like the purest lake water; her ink-black pupils seemed to have been washed by the purest spring water, so clean that not a single impurity could be found. Her forehead was full, her ears were fair and tender, her hair was jet black, smooth, and thick…
Ji Hefeng had never considered himself a person who cared much about color, but Molly had perfectly grown into the kind of woman he liked.
That night, Ji Hefeng didn't smell any smoke. Instead, he was surrounded by a faint fragrance, which he couldn't quite place. It was either the scent of grass and trees or the fragrance of some kind of flower. As he fell asleep with this fragrance, his pain seemed to lessen, and he slept soundly until dawn.
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