An Dafu borrowed a donkey cart from the village chief's family and made two trips to move Yang Cui's belongings to her new home in Anjia Village.
Large furniture items weren't moved over yet, so setting them up was quick.
"From now on, Er Ya and San Ya will sleep here, and Qiu Qiu will sleep in this bed."
Yang Cui arranged for the three children to sleep in a west wing room. The room was large and had two beds. Yang Cui placed two wardrobes side by side in the middle, dividing the room into two smaller rooms. Er Ya and San Ya slept in one room, and Yuan Qiu slept in the other, so that the children would have their own private space. Yang Cui herself slept in the east wing room.
"Xiao Cui, are you planning to hold a banquet?" An Dafu asked.
This could be considered a housewarming celebration. Normally, moving to a new house requires choosing an auspicious day, but this house wasn't exactly new, and Yang Cui wanted to get away from the Lin family as soon as possible, so they didn't bother with choosing a date. As for holding a banquet...
Yang Cui thought for a moment and said, "Let's just have a lively gathering. We can invite Village Chief Zhou, Village Chief An, and my uncles."
"Then I'll go find the blind old woman and pick an auspicious day."
The blind woman was a well-known fortune teller in the area, and was called the blind woman because she was blind in one eye.
After everything was put away, it was already past 2 p.m. The An family helped with the move today, so we definitely had to treat them to lunch here. There wasn't enough time to make anything too complicated, but we bought ten pounds of noodles a while ago, so we could use them today.
In modern times, no one serves noodles to guests, but in those times of food scarcity and hunger, noodles were the best of the best.
Yang Cui first fried eight eggs per person, then made a cucumber salad (not cucumbers, but gourds), and then cooked a big pot of noodles, one big bowl for each person.
This meal was considered quite lavish for that era.
They moved to a new house, which was so far from the Lin family's house but close to the An family's house. So the An family brothers no longer slept here at night. If anything happened, Yang Cui could just shout loudly and the An family would hear her.
In the afternoon, the sun was scorching. Yang Cui took the children for a nap. When they woke up, she found that Yuan Qiu had returned with a bundle of firewood. The already dark-skinned and thin man looked even darker, and he was covered in sweat.
"Auntie, I don't want to freeload; I can work."
Yang Cui felt a pang of sadness upon hearing this. Children being overly sensible is not actually a good thing.
"Qiuqiu, don't go out to work in the hot sun anymore, or you'll get sick. If you want to help me with chores, you'll have to wait until you're better."
"Auntie, I'm alright now."
Yang Cui sensed that Yuan Qiu lacked a sense of security and was trying hard to do something to gain Yang Cui's approval.
Yang Cui sighed inwardly and said, "Rest for two more days and get your body in top shape so you can help your aunt. Your aunt has so many things to do and I'm counting on you to lighten my load when you're better!"
Yuan Qiu's bright black eyes shone with exceptional spirit as he nodded emphatically in agreement: "Okay."
...
The next day, Yang Cui took Yuan Qiu to Shengli Village to find her uncle early in the morning.
Yang Cui didn't know where Shengli Village was either. There was no GPS navigation in those days, so she could only ask people for directions as she walked. Fortunately, Shengli Village wasn't too far away, and many older people knew about it.
After walking for an hour and a half, Yang Cui finally arrived at the entrance of Shengli Village. She felt like her legs were about to give out. Yuan Qiu, that kid, had better stamina than Yang Cui. He had walked for so long without complaining of being tired.
"Let's rest under that tree for a while."
There happened to be a big tree by the roadside, and Yang Cui and Yuan Qiu slumped down under it.
"That brat, he dared to run away! I'll catch him and break his legs!"
At that moment, a sharp voice rang out. Upon hearing it, Yuan Qiu was so frightened that he immediately shrank into Yang Cui's arms, not wanting anyone to see his face.
Yang Cui quickly realized that these two people were probably the uncle and aunt who wanted to sell Yuan Qiu.
She hugged Qiuqiu tightly, just like a mother taking care of her son, and whispered, "Don't be afraid, Auntie will cover for you."
They were several dozen meters apart, and Yuan Qiu was dressed cleanly, quite different from his previous appearance, so he shouldn't be easily recognized.
Immediately afterwards, the woman was heard complaining to the man beside her: "It's all your fault for hesitating. If you had sold him earlier, there wouldn't have been any problems. Now he's run away, and the money is gone too. What are we going to give Ma Qiugui?"
"If that little brat didn't come to Victory Village, where else could he have run off to?"
"We've been on guard day and night, but this little wolf cub still dares to run away! He must have stolen the silver too. With his skinny arms and legs, he'll die out there sooner or later! Bah!" The woman cursed venomously.
Suddenly, the woman's gaze fell on Yang Cui, and Yang Cui also looked her up and down. Their eyes met for a few seconds, and the woman, without suspecting anything, walked away muttering curses.
"Don't worry, Qiuqiu, they've gone far away." In this hot weather, the two of them huddled together, and Yang Cui was covered in sweat again. "Tell Auntie, who are they?"
"They are my second uncle and second aunt."
"They've left, they definitely won't come back. Let's go find your uncle now."
Yuan Qiu had never been to Shengli Village before, so he didn't know where his uncle lived. Helpless, Yang Cui had to ask someone else.
"You're looking for Cen Daniu?" The woman was quite surprised. She looked Yang Cui up and down. "Did I hear that right?"
"You heard me right, Auntie, I'm looking for Cen Daniu."
The woman looked at Yang Cui, then at Yuan Qiu: "He hasn't come back for seven or eight years. We don't even know if he's alive or dead. Why are you looking for him?"
"What?" Yang Cui exclaimed in surprise. "You mean he hasn't come back for seven or eight years? Auntie, is the Cen Daniu you're talking about Cen Erfeng's brother, Cen Daniu?"
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