After the lights were turned off, neither of them could sleep, each lost in their own thoughts, and Gu Nanjiao tossed and turned.
She's a little hot.
It felt like a giant furnace was lying next to her, with heat radiating outwards continuously.
They say men have a lot of firepower, and it's true.
"Can you be quiet for a while?" Lu Yanzhao was so bothered by her that he couldn't sleep peacefully.
Actually, he couldn't sleep either. Suddenly, a woman lay down next to him. They were very close, close enough to hear each other's breathing and smell her faint fragrance.
He tried to calm himself down, telling himself to fall asleep quickly, to fall asleep quickly. But Gu Nanjiao next to him kept squirming and fidgeting, making it impossible for him to concentrate.
Upon hearing this, Gu Nanjiao dared not move and lay stiffly. She did not want to disturb Lu Yanzhao's sleep, but she was a little hot, and when she was hot, her body became itchy and she always wanted to scratch.
She couldn't resist reaching out and scratching herself, then quickly retreated back under the covers.
Gu Nanjiao stared blankly at the dark ceiling for a while, becoming more and more alert, until she finally fell into a deep sleep in the middle of the night.
At this moment, Lu Yanzhao opened his eyes and listened to the even breathing sounds beside him. He was certain that Gu Nanjiao was asleep.
She fell asleep pretty quickly!
He glanced at the girl sleeping beside him, but the night was too dark to see even her general outline.
Lu Yanzhao turned over, his back to Gu Nanjiao, and stayed awake all night until dawn.
The next day, sunlight streamed in through the cracks in the window.
When Gu Nanjiao woke up, Lu Yanzhao was no longer in the room.
Upon opening the door, I saw Lu Yanzhao chopping wood, and Lu's mother had already prepared breakfast. Lu Xiaomei was playing in the still-melted snow in the yard.
Was I the last one to get up?
After dinner, Gu Nanjiao carried a hoe to her door and, full of ambition, began to dig up the buried quilts, clothes, and most importantly, the silver. Her hands ached from digging, but she finally unearthed her belongings.
The bedding and clothes were soaked through, but thankfully the silver was in a wooden box and was intact. As for the design he had drawn, not even a trace of it could be found.
Lu Yanzhao continued chopping wood, making no mention of repairing her house.
Gu Nanjiao walked up to him and asked, "Go ask someone if they can help fix it."
Lu Yanzhao remained silent and continued chopping wood, leaving Gu Nanjiao feeling awkward.
With dark circles under his eyes, Lu Yanzhao didn't dare to look up at Gu Nanjiao, afraid that she would find out that he hadn't slept all night.
At this moment, Lu's mother returned from outside. Looking at the collapsed roof, she said, "I just asked someone, and they said that our house is an old one and is not very sturdy. In this windy and snowy weather, even if it is repaired, it may collapse again at any time."
"What should we do then?" Gu Nanjiao was very worried.
Lu's mother glanced at Gu Nanjiao and said, "In this cold weather, people are too lazy to cook. We can only wait until next spring."
"Then these past few months..." Gu Nanjiao was really frustrated. She really didn't want to share a room with Lu Yanzhao. She couldn't sleep well, and it was inconvenient to do anything.
"Sigh, there's nothing we can do about it!" Mother Lu sighed, feeling helpless, but a cryptic smile flashed in her eyes.
The sky cleared, and the snow on the eaves began to melt, dripping and leaving small puddles under the eaves.
Not wanting to be idle, Lu's mother put the previously washed pig offal into a pot to braise. Her technique was now very skillful, and the taste was exactly the same as Gu Nanjiao's.
Lu's mother asked Gu Nanjiao to borrow an oxcart from Liu's house, while she took advantage of the break to scoop the braised offal into a large pot.
As Gu Nanjiao arrived outside the Liu family's courtyard, she heard a series of shouts and curses:
"You jinx! This oxcart was bought with the money my son worked hard to earn. I can take it whenever I want. Why are you hogging it and refusing to let go?"
Hearing that familiar loud voice, it was Granny Zhang causing trouble again. She really hadn't changed her ways. Or was it that she had someone backing her up, making her fearless?
Sure enough, someone stood up for Granny Zhang. Her eldest daughter, Zhang Dalan, came over and joined in the cursing:
"You slut, I haven't even settled the score with you for hitting my mother before. You've got some nerve, daring to stop us."
“What part of this house doesn’t belong to the Zhang family? It was earned through my brother’s hard work. You want to take it all and find a lover? No way!” A fat, pig-like woman with a face as big as a plate stood in front of Granny Zhang and shouted.
This woman is Liu's eldest sister-in-law, Zhang Dalan, who has married into a neighboring village.
Instead of being a good wife and mother-in-law after getting married, she insists on interfering in her own family's affairs.
Before, with Zhang San protecting her, they didn't dare to bully her openly. Now that Zhang San is gone, Liu Shi is like an ant in their hands, to be squeezed however they want.
It seems that Granny Zhang is not afraid of being beaten. Liu's fierce attack did not intimidate her at all.
At this moment, Liu rushed out of the kitchen, holding a kitchen knife.
"You old bastards, you little bastards, I'll fight you to the death."
"Liu Meihua, how dare you!"
"You're not letting me have a good life, you're trying to force me to my death, I'll take someone down with me when I die."
Gu Nanjiao rushed in and shouted at Granny Zhang and Zhang Dalan, "Why aren't you running? She really knows how to kill people!"
"Hmph, I'd like to see if she dares!" Zhang Dalan snorted coldly and stood in front of Liu Shi with her hands on her hips.
"Sister Zhang, Sister Meihua is currently traumatized. It's not illegal for her to attack people," Gu Nanjiao said to Zhang Lan, genuinely afraid that Liu Shi might do something irreversible in a moment of impulsiveness.
"What kind of shock could she possibly experience? Don't try to fool me." Granny Zhang continued to add fuel to the fire, clearly not believing Gu Nanjiao's words.
"Think about it, can an honest and taciturn person suddenly shout for violence? She's not usually like this, right?"
Granny Zhang and Zhang Dalan exchanged a glance. Yes, Liu Shi had always been unyielding before, never retaliating when insulted or hit, but now she dared to brandish a kitchen knife at them, threatening to beat and kill them. She must have been provoked.
Seeing that the two remained silent, Gu Nanjiao continued, "As you know, my father and husband are both scholars. I would never cheat you. I've heard them say that if a madman kills someone, he doesn't have to go to jail."
"Think about it, if Sister Plum Blossom were to strike you with this knife, you would all be dead, and Sister Plum Blossom wouldn't have to bear any responsibility. Wouldn't you be losing your lives for nothing?"
The mother and daughter didn't believe Gu Nanjiao at first, but when they heard the words "scholar," they were suddenly a little scared.
Yes, scholars know a lot. The man's husband is a student of the lowest level of the imperial examinations, and his father is a scholar of the second level. They certainly wouldn't lie to him.
"Hmph, I'll let you off the hook today, but that doesn't mean I'm afraid of you." Zhang Dalan said harshly, then pulled Zhang Pozi away.
As Liu watched the mother and daughter walk away, she released the kitchen knife with a clang.
Little Tiger, who had been hiding inside the house, ran out, wiped away his tears, and ran crying to Liu Shi.
"Thank you for today. Otherwise, I was really afraid I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from killing them."
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