Chapter 28: Slippery Ground
Yang Xiaoxi thought for a long time, shook his head, and said in a muffled voice: "No, they are usually a bit overbearing, and they are always right and never let others off. There is no...nothing that is against the will of heaven and earth."
Yuan Lingling kept staring at her eyes and felt like she was lying, but then she denied her guess. It would be of no benefit for her to lie.
After all, I'm here to help her.
Thinking of this, Yuan Lingling's heart sank.
"Then... has anything unusual happened in his house? For example, someone suddenly came back injured outside, or someone suddenly got injured near his house... or something like that."
If she continued, she would be about to confront Yang Xiaoxi, so Yuan Lingling stopped talking at the right time.
But the heroine is young now, not stupid, she quickly noticed the abnormality and asked: "Sister Lingling, do you know anything?"
Yuan Lingling shook her head. "I heard someone say that people like them who do evil things would not do only one evil thing. There is a saying that goes 'nothing is unique'. They are like this to you, so are they kind and friendly to others?"
"Hmm..." Yang Xiaoxi seemed to be wondering if there was such a thing. After thinking for a while, she said, "Something happened to the family next door before."
The man who had the accident was called Lai Si. Lai Si was a hardworking man. His wife died when she gave birth to their third child. He was left to take care of an elderly person and three children in the family.
The only problem this guy had was that he loved to drink. It was said that he went to the supply and marketing cooperative that day to buy a bottle of liquor, and while drinking on the way, he ended up falling into the river and drowning.
"That river only reaches me at most." Yang Xiaoxi stood up and gestured to the position of her thighs. "How can someone drown here?"
"They all said he was drunk, but I don't really understand."
Yuan Lingling understood her doubts. If she was drunk, the water might be deep enough to drown her. However, the journey from the supply and marketing cooperative to their village was only twenty minutes at most. In twenty minutes, how drunk could she be?
How could a person who drinks all year round get so drunk with just one bottle of soju?
There might really be a problem.
"Two days before Lai Si died, he and Niu Shengnan had a conflict, and it was quite a big fight, but it was also strange." Niu Shengnan is the youngest daughter of the Niu family.
After all, she is a little girl. When Yang Xiaoxi talked about these gossips, she forgot all the grievances she had just felt, and she spoke with great interest.
According to her, Niu Shengnan used to like Lai Si, and everyone in the village knew about it. Later, after Lai Si got married and had children, she often caused trouble for the Lai family.
Then, when Lai Si's wife died, she still wanted to move in, but Lai Si refused, and the relationship between the two families became even more strained.
The two families lived next to each other, so naturally a lot of the land they were allocated was shared.
What? Your fruit trees are blocking my crops, and your sweet potato vines are absorbing the fertility of my soil.
They can cause quarrels over the smallest matters.
It was summer when they had the argument, and everyone was busy harvesting their own corn. Coincidentally, the two families' corn harvesting time coincided with the same time.
No one knew what happened between Niu Shengnan and Lai Si in the cornfield. Everyone only heard the noise and Niu Shengnan ran out of the cornfield crying.
Some people thought that Lai Si bullied her, but everyone in the village and neighbors knew what Niu Shengnan was thinking, so some people said that she wanted to do something to Lai Si, but Lai Si was unmoved because she was ashamed.
In short, there are all kinds of opinions.
"At that time, the Niu family wanted Niu Shengnan to say that Lai Si bullied her so that they could go and cause trouble for her. But Niu Shengnan disagreed and she fell ill. Lai Si died within two days."
Yang Xiaoxi was a good storyteller. Many scenes emerged in Yuan Lingling's mind, and she had almost sorted out the whole thing.
"Do you think Niu Shengnan's illness is real or fake?" Yuan Lingling asked.
Yang Xiaoxi nodded affirmatively, "It's true."
Facing Yuan Lingling's puzzled look, she said, "I went to see her at the time, and she was a little confused due to the fever."
Seeing that Yuan Lingling seemed to be still confused, she quickly added, "I have a pretty good relationship with her. She is a very good girl. She helped me when I was bullied. She really likes Lai Si, but the people of the Niu family look down on the Lai family."
"So, if Lai Si was murdered by someone, then it couldn't be Niu Shengnan's doing out of love turning into hatred?"
"Of course it can't be her, how could it be her?" Yang Xiaoxi was surprised, "She is not that kind of person."
Yuan Lingling didn't know the so-called Niu family, so she couldn't be sure how credible Yang Xiaoxi's words were, but there was one thing that Yuan Lingling felt was 80% likely, that is, this Lai Si was most likely murdered by someone.
Yuan Lingling asked a few more questions, and Yang Xiaoxi answered them one by one, but did not find any valuable information.
"Oh, you're here. I thought you were gone." Yang Ying walked into the kitchen and said with a smile, "Just now a mutton seller came to the door. Caisheng bought a big piece and said we should have mutton hotpot later."
Hearing this, Yuan Lingling couldn't help swallowing, and this little action was seen by Shen Caisheng who had just arrived at the door.
Shen Caisheng curved his lips and asked, "What else do you want to eat? I'll ask Lao You to buy some more."
"I want to eat mint, do you have any?" Yuan Lingling thought about the mint leaves soaked with soup, and tears were about to flow from the corners of her mouth.
"That's the way of eating in the south. You, little girl, know a lot about it." Yang Ying looked at Yuan Lingling with some surprise.
Shen Caisheng also looked over and saw Yuan Lingling's sparkling eyes. He lowered his eyes and pursed his lips, then raised his eyes and said, "You can't eat it. Mint has a cool nature."
Yang Ying agreed, "It is indeed cold in nature. Girls should not be too greedy for cold foods. You should not eat them now that you are pregnant. Mutton is dry, so you should not eat too much."
Hearing this, Yuan Lingling's face fell, "It's just this once, it shouldn't be a problem."
"No, that won't work. You have to pay more attention to your diet. You have to eat less irritating foods like beef. This is all for the baby in your belly. Just be patient. And..."
Yang Ying kept muttering like an ordinary elder. Yuan Lingling felt helpless at first, but when she looked up and saw Shen Caisheng's slightly smiling expression, she found it quite heartwarming.
When Shen Caisheng's parents were alive, he never received much love. Now that his parents are gone, he probably has rarely experienced such a scene.
Yuan Lingling smiled and said, "I know, Auntie. If you keep talking, I won't have anything to eat. Let me help you with what to do."
"Hey, there's no need for you to do anything. Just sit here and light the fire and teach us." Aunt Yang T pressed Yuan Lingling on the small stool in front of the stove door.
"How could I do that? Let Chen Caisheng come. You can take a rest, auntie." Yuan Lingling was not being modest. It was obvious that what they were going to make was the flavors of Beijing. Yuan Lingling could eat but could not cook much. Chen Caisheng's cooking skills were obviously better than theirs, so she could just let him do it.
As a man, you have to be diligent.
Shen Caisheng did not refuse, and started to prepare the things needed for the shabu-shabu with a smile.
"Sister Lingling, I'll go get some tofu too. Today I'll let you taste my cooking skills." Seeing that they were all busy, Yang Xiaoxi stood beside Yuan Lingling and whispered.
Yuan Lingling didn't refuse. She said she couldn't eat too much of this or that. Tofu should be fine. "I also want to drink soy milk."
Yang Xiaoxi smiled brightly, "No problem."
This meal took quite a long time to prepare. Even though Shen Caisheng's knife skills were very skilled, slicing such a large piece of mutton was not an easy task. Just watching him slicing the meat was quite a pleasure to watch.
The mutton was sliced and side dishes such as cabbage and radish were prepared.
I don't know where Shen Caisheng got the idea from. He went out before eating hot pot and came back more than ten minutes later. He had a chill on his body, but held a handful of tender mint leaves in his hand.
Yuan Lingling's eyes lit up, "Where did you get it?"
She went forward but was stopped by Shen Caisheng, "You go sit over there, I feel cold." He didn't say where the mint came from.
Yuan Lingling obediently did not move forward, but her eyes were fixed on the mint, her eyes shining.
God knows, ever since she became pregnant, she really doesn’t want to eat anything when she feels uncomfortable, but when she wants to eat something, she is really greedy. However, it is normal that she cannot eat it, and she is used to it.
She had just asked casually just now. Yuan Lingling knew something about mint. It seemed that it was not resistant to low temperatures. In later generations, mint was mostly grown in greenhouses in winter. How could it be possible in this era?
So Shen Caisheng is truly an amazing person.
But didn’t he just say that he didn’t let me eat it?
Is this to make yourself jealous? If that were the case, she would be really angry!
When Shen Caisheng came out of the backyard, he didn't have mint in his hand. Yuan Lingling asked in confusion, "Why didn't you take it out?"
"Let's eat meat first." Shen Caisheng said in a low voice.
Yuan Lingling glanced at him, warning him with her eyes that he must give her some, but he acted as if he didn't see anything and just focused on preparing his own bowl of dipping sauce.
Seeing this, Yuan Lingling snorted and ignored him. She picked up a piece of freshly blanched mutton and put it in the bowl of sesame sauce to coat it. She took a bite. The aroma of the mutton and the taste of the sesame sauce blended together. It was hot and it was a feast for the tongue.
The golden tofu made by Yang Xiaoxi is also very good. Small pieces of tofu are coated with egg liquid and fried in a pan until golden brown, then put back into the pan and poured with some sauce. It is very fragrant.
Yuan Lingling couldn't stop eating once she started and picked up piece after piece.
"Eat some meat, don't just eat tofu." Although he said that, Shen Caisheng picked up a piece of meat and a lot of cabbage for Yuan Lingling with his chopsticks, as if he was afraid that she was a picky eater.
Yuan Lingling: “…”
Considering that Shen Caisheng knew to use public chopsticks to pick up food for her, Yuan Lingling decided to forgive him reluctantly.
Probably because there is a lot of mutton, the cooked cabbage is also extremely fresh.
The cabbage absorbed the mutton broth and was dipped in some of the sauce added by Yuan Lingling with red oil, which made it very fragrant.
She was so absorbed in eating that she didn't even notice when Shen Caisheng left.
When Yuan Lingling saw the mint put into the pot, her eyes widened.
"This must be mint, right? I heard about this from my husband. He used to go to the southwest and saw that people there ate it this way." Yang Ying was also quite interested. "He said it tasted really good. I want to see how good it tastes."
"Delicious!" Lao You smacked his lips and asked Shen Caisheng, "Why don't you make more? This little bit is not enough to fill my stomach."
Old You is not a stingy person. He planted such a large piece of land just for shabu-shabu. He doesn't understand why Shen Caisheng only planted such a small piece.
"You're the only one who talks too much." Chen Caisheng said calmly, "That's all, share it with everyone."
After saying that, he picked up a piece of food from the serving chopsticks and gave it to Yuan Lingling. Yuan Lingling couldn't help but sighed after a moment's hesitation. It was at most five pieces.
But there was only that much in the pot, and it would be inappropriate for her to ask for more.
She could see that Shen Caisheng just wanted her to eat less. Although it was a bit excessive, it was still well-intentioned.
Yuan Lingling was thinking about this in her mind and the mint had already gone down her throat without her even tasting it.
"I'll make it for you later. I can also make mint beef."
Shen Caisheng leaned back and suddenly said this to Yuan Lingling.
Everyone was talking and no one noticed their little actions.
Yuan Lingling tilted her head to look at him, and when her eyes met his affectionate gaze, she couldn't help but pursed her lips, but the smile was quickly suppressed.
Yang Ying wanted to help clean up in the evening, but everyone disagreed and told her to go and rest. She then made the excuse that there were two people waiting for her at home and left first. While speaking, she did not forget to wink at Shen Caisheng, as if she was afraid that Shen Caisheng did not understand that she was giving him and Yuan Lingling a chance to be alone together.
By the time I finished cleaning up the store, it was already dark.
When he went out, Shen Caisheng raised his arm naturally.
"The ground is slippery, hold on to me."
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