The two walked home one after the other. Xu An and Xu Mo had already prepared the meal, including cabbage and tofu stewed with vermicelli, scrambled eggs with green onions, and two-grain flour pancakes.
After the two sat down at the table, Xu An gave each of them a pancake and said, "Sister, Brother Lu, eat quickly."
Xu Mo also looked at the two silent people, exchanged a glance with Xu An, and lowered his head to eat.
After dinner, Lu Xiaotang went to the cowshed. Xu An and Xu Mo sat on the kang playing chess, while Xu Ning sat next to them knitting a sweater.
Xu An asked casually, "Sister, did you and Brother Lu have a fight?"
Xu Mo also looked up at her. Xu Ning paused, looked at the two of them and said, "No, why do you ask, Xiao An?"
Xiao An said, "When you two were having dinner today, you didn't talk much, and Brother Lu even glanced at you secretly a few times. I thought he made you angry."
Xiao Mo also nodded and said, "In the past, when we were eating, Brother Lu would always joke with us, but today he just picked up some food for us and didn't say much."
Xu Ning didn't notice his abnormality and was just busy eating and thinking about his worries. Could it be that he discovered his worries? This is too embarrassing.
Xu Ning felt his face getting hot again, so he said to Xu An and Xu Mo, "I didn't quarrel with Brother Lu. I might have been caught in a bit of wind when I went up the mountain today, so I feel a little uncomfortable. Okay, you two should play chess, I'm going to sleep first."
Xu An asked worriedly, "Sister, are you okay? How about I go with you to the village to see Doctor Han?"
"It's okay, I'm much better now. I'll be fine tomorrow after a good night's sleep. You two should go to bed early too."
After Xu Ning finished speaking, she got up and went back to her room.
I tossed and turned in bed but couldn't fall asleep, so I sat up, lit a candle, and prepared to knit a sweater to stop myself from having random thoughts.
Lu Xiaotang was a little absent-minded when he was talking to his parents in the cowshed.
Mother Lu asked, "Why are you so absent-minded today?"
Lu Xiaotang immediately perked up and said, "Mom, I got up a little early this morning and I'm not feeling well. You and Dad should also go to bed early. I'll go back first and come back to talk to you tomorrow."
After he left, Mother Lu murmured to Father Lu, "I've never seen him stay up all night like this before. He must think I'm nagging you."
Dad Lu comforted her, "Don't let your imagination run wild. Xiaotang may not have gotten enough rest at night."
After saying that, he looked at his son's leaving figure and thought, there is something wrong with this kid.
Lu Xiaotang came back and saw Xu An and Xu Mo sitting on the kang playing chess. He looked at the time and it was only a little after eight o'clock, so he asked Xu An, "Is your sister asleep?"
Xu An nodded and replied, "My sister said she was not feeling well today, so she went to rest early. Brother Lu, why did you come back so early today?"
Lu Xiaotang said, "Your uncle Lu and aunt Lu are also tired, so I came back early. Did your sister say that she was not feeling well?"
Xu An sighed and said, "My sister said she had a headache after being blown by the wind on the mountain today. I said I would take her to the village to see Doctor Han, but she refused to go and said she would be fine after a good night's sleep tomorrow."
Lu Xiaotang remembered that she had been feeling strange since she came down from the mountain. This had never happened before. She must be feeling very unwell. So he went to Xu Ning's room and knocked on the door.
"Xiao Ning, are you asleep? Get up and I'll take you to see a doctor."
Xu Ning had just knitted two rounds of the sweater when she heard Lu Xiaotang calling her at the door. She thought she must have lied to Xu An and Xu Mo that she was not feeling well, so they told Lu Xiaotang.
Thinking of this, he quickly responded, "Brother Lu, I'm much better now. There's no need to see a doctor. You should go to bed early too!"
"Then I'll go get you some medicine," Lu Xiaotang said and prepared to go out.
Xu Ning heard it and immediately opened the door and said to Lu Xiaotang who was about to leave, "Brother Lu, it's really not necessary. I will be fine after a good sleep. If I still feel uncomfortable tomorrow, I will go see a doctor."
Seeing that she looked fine, Lu Xiaotang nodded and said, "Then you should have a good rest. If you feel uncomfortable at night, call me immediately."
"I understand, Brother Lu, I'll go to sleep first."
Xu Ning lay on the bed and wondered what was going on today! Beauty is really misleading ah
When Xu Ning got up in the morning, Lu Xiaotang and Xu An had already prepared breakfast. After breakfast, Xu An went to school.
Xu Ning was not going up the mountain today. He planned to cut the cabbage in his private plot. Old Chen brought back the sauerkraut jar at noon, and he would pickle the cabbage today.
Lu Xiaotang asked her to sit down and rest, then took the machete from her hand and chopped the cabbage in a short while. He then went to fetch water, washed the sauerkraut jar at home, and cleaned the cabbage.
Xu Ning was putting cabbage into the jar and sprinkling salt on it. The two of them were silent today. Xu Ning didn't know what to say. He felt guilty when he had that thought, and was afraid that others would notice.
Lu Xiaotang was thinking, how can he confess his feelings to the little girl so that she can accept him? He also didn't know whether the little girl would like him.
Xu Mo looked at this, then looked at that, without saying anything. He picked up his small backpack and put the dried leaves of the cabbage into it.
Said, "Sister, Brother Lu, I carried these dry leaves to the cowshed to feed the cows."
Without Xu Mo to ease the tension, the atmosphere between the two became even stranger.
Just as Lu Xiaotang was about to speak, he heard Old Chen shouting outside, "Xu Zhiqing, Xu Zhiqing, I brought the sauerkraut jar back to you."
Lu Xiaotang quickly put down the cabbage in his hand, brought the jar in and washed it, then helped put the cabbage into the jar and asked Xu Ning to sprinkle salt in it.
Although the atmosphere was a bit strange, the two of them worked in perfect harmony. After two large jars of sauerkraut were pickled, there was still a lot of cabbage left. Xu Ning planned to dry it outside for a day and put it in the cellar tomorrow.
Seeing that it was getting late and Xu An was about to finish school, Xu Ning went to the kitchen to get out the dough he had fermented that morning, planning to make a pot of brown sugar steamed cake.
In the afternoon, Xu Ning was about to go out with a backpack, and Lu Xiaotang followed with a sling.
Xu Ning asked curiously, "Brother Lu, what are you doing with a carrying pole?"
Lu Xiaotang replied, "I have nothing to do at home, let's go up the mountain to chop some firewood, let's go!"
When he passed by the cowshed and saw that the door was closed, he didn't call Xu Mo. He had eaten lunch in the cowshed today and should still be sleeping now.
When they reached the top of the mountain, they saw many women from the village picking up mountain products, and many men chopping wood.
Xu Ning found a place with few people and started picking pine cones. Lu Xiaotang was chopping wood not far from her.
When Fourth Auntie came up and saw Xu Ning, she said to her, "Xu Zhiqing, my old man said that we will cut the cabbage in two days. Are you in a hurry to pickle the cabbage? If you are in a hurry, I will cut some for you first."
Xu Ning smiled and said, "Aunt Si, I have already pickled the sauerkraut this morning. Just bring it to me whenever you chop it. Don't worry. I bought this cabbage for the winter."
Fourth Aunt slapped her thigh and said, "That's fine. I was just afraid that I would delay your pickling of sauerkraut."
After saying that, he glanced at Lu Xiaotang who was chopping wood next to him and whispered, "Xu Zhiqing, your cousin is a really good person. Does he have a girlfriend?"
Xu Ning glanced at Lu Xiaotang and found that he was chopping wood. He probably didn't hear it, so he coughed lightly and said in a low voice, "Aunt Si, I didn't ask him. He is shy and I'm afraid he would be embarrassed."
After saying that, he asked again without waiting for Fourth Aunt to speak, "Fourth Aunt, why didn't I see Aunt Dashuan coming with you?"
Xu Ning's question immediately diverted Fourth Aunt's attention and said, "Didn't her eldest daughter marry into the Wang Family Brigade? Today she came to say that there was a nice girl in their village and she wanted to marry her to her second brother. So they went to see her this afternoon, and your Aunt Dashuan also went with them."
He also told Xu Ning which family in the village was seeing which other family, and which wife and husband were fighting again.
Xu Ning also listened with great interest to what happened to his fourth aunt in Bagua Village.
Lu Xiaotang was chopping wood while listening to the two people talking, glancing over there from time to time.
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