Mother Wu looked at Lu Nong with surprise, then realized that the two were still talking through the door. She quickly opened the iron gate and said, "Come in quickly, don't talk outside."

Lu Nong followed her into the garden.

It was summer now. The roses had already bloomed and the peonies were withering. Only the peonies were blooming beautifully under the scorching sun. Occasionally, butterflies and bees fluttered among them, flying up and down, adding a wild charm to the messy flowers that had not been trimmed.

In fact, there are not only one or two kinds of flowers in Li Garden. It has lush flowers and leaves all year round. In spring, there are cherry blossoms, crabapples, magnolias, and gardenias; in summer, there are roses, rose hips, peonies, peonies, and lilies; in autumn, there are chrysanthemums, hibiscus, epiphyllums, and hibiscus; in winter, there are plum blossoms, camellias, and azaleas.

In addition, there are various fruit plants planted behind the villa, including watermelon, strawberry, cherry, apple...

Along the way, along the cobblestone path and through the flowers, various memories of this house involuntarily emerged in Lu Nong's mind.

One spring, I went to a cherry blossom tree with my cousins ​​to shake the petals to act romantic, but ended up eating a mouthful of flowers;

In the summer, I secretly went into the strawberry field to pick strawberries without telling my mother, but none of them were ripe.

I stayed up late at night just to wait for a night-blooming cereus to bloom, but was frightened by a rat snake and screamed, waking up everyone in the house...

Compared to the Lu family who valued the eldest son, loved the younger daughter, and ignored the eldest daughter, Li Yuan and his uncle's family were more like the original owner's family.

The original owner's childhood was happy and carefree because of this place and the people here.

When Lu Nong came out of his memory, he and Mother Wu had just walked to the gate of the villa. Mother Wu took out the key to the front door of the villa and said to Lu Nong while opening the door:

"Don't be surprised, cousin. Before the old man and his wife passed away, they were afraid that thieves would come to the house and harm me, an old woman, so they sold all the furniture and belongings. There is nothing here. I am now living in a small bungalow behind the house."

Lu Nong was puzzled. She knew that the small bungalow behind the house was originally where the gardener lived. However, the place was very presentable after being tidied up. Since Mother Wu had moved there, why would she move into the villa?

Perhaps seeing Lu Nong's confusion, Mother Wu began to explain:

"Last year, the eldest young master came back and left something for my cousin before he left. He told me to take you to the study if you come. You should know where the thing is."

"Why didn't my cousin tell me this in the letter?" Lu Nong asked.

When talking about this, Wu's mother's face showed a look of great joy:

"The young master said that my cousin must have come to Li Garden alone because she couldn't take care of herself or had a baby, so she asked me for help. But he also said that my cousin is stubborn and doesn't like to cause trouble for others. If she came to me, it must be because she really encountered a problem."

"Besides, you're going to come anyway. Whether you know it or not, you'll know it in the end."

Lu Nong blushed, the original owner was indeed stubborn.

When Gu Huai was born, Gu Weiguo went to Li Garden and asked Wu Ma to take care of him during the confinement period. After Gu Weiguo passed away, he never came to see Wu Ma again.

But Lu Nong himself is a pleasure-seeking person and he really loves the dishes cooked by Wu Ma, which are as delicious as those of a great chef.

My ideological awareness hasn’t caught up with the original owner.

But when she saw Mother Wu's happy face, she fell silent.

After not seeing her for a year or two, Mother Wu had aged a lot, with a lot of white hair and deep wrinkles when she smiled. She was completely different from the spirited Mother Wu in the original owner's memory.

For some reason, Lu Nong suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

Maybe the original owner was wrong. Mother Wu was not afraid of hard work or trouble. What she feared was loneliness and that she would no longer be of any use to others.

Thinking about it this way, Wu's mother's husband died early, and she only had one daughter, but she was not close to him. She was busy in the Pei family all her life, taking care of her uncle and his children.

She was like a piece of rubble from the old times, or just an object in this beautiful house, broken and old, and then thrown away by someone and forgotten by the tide of the times.

But she is not an object after all, but a living person.

Mother Wu was infected by Lu Nong's silence and said nervously, "I was wrong. Miss Cousin didn't come to me to do something? That, that doesn't matter..."

Lu Nong easily saw through the loss she tried so hard to hide.

"How could that be? Of course I came to see you, to ask you to go back and help me take care of Xiao Huai. Also, I love the braised pork you made."

Lu Nong quickly held Mother Wu's rough and old hand, "...I just feel that we are a little late."

"Hey! Go, I'll go," Wu's mother nodded vigorously, her eyes red, and she choked up and said, "Among the young masters and young ladies, you and Yue'er are the most greedy. Every time I make braised pork, before anyone else has a chance to eat it, you two clever little guys grab it all."

Yue'er is Lu Nong's cousin Li Xinyue. She is the only girl in her uncle's family, but she has a boy's heart. She is good at riding, fencing and fighting, but she doesn't like makeup. She has been particularly fond of her doll-like cousin since she was a child... Although she has also done many things like letting her cousin take the blame when she got into trouble.

Thinking of the vivid people in his memory, a smile appeared on Lu Nong's face.

At this time, Mother Wu opened the door and led Lu Nong into the hall. It was exactly as Mother Wu said, and there was no furniture such as sofas and tea tables.

Mother Wu stood at the door and refused to follow Lu Nong in, so Lu Nong had to go upstairs by himself and pushed open the door of the study.

The study was like everywhere else, empty and just an empty room.

But my uncle said he left something for her in the study. My uncle wouldn't lie, so the thing must be there.

That is to say, something is placed in a place that cannot be seen on the surface and is hidden in the dark.

Lu Nong paced back and forth in the study, thinking hard, hiding things, hiding things...

She paused and remembered something.

When Lu Nong and his cousins ​​were young, they liked to explore the villa. One time, someone suggested that they explore their uncle’s study, and his cousin said that there must be a secret room in the study.

In order to find the so-called secret room, several people almost turned the study upside down and broke one of my uncle's favorite vase. In the end, they did not find the secret room, but found a secret compartment under the floor in the corner of the wall, and discovered a carved wooden box with eight closed sides.

Lu Nong squatted down and knocked along the corner of the wall. Finally, she heard a different sound in the corner near the window. She went downstairs to ask Wu's mother for some wire and pried open the floor (God knows how a group of children pried open the wooden board without any tools).

There really is something under the floor.

It's the carved box that is sealed on all sides and cannot be opened.

Lu Nong took out the box and put it on the ground.

Although my uncle was very angry that day and punished everyone to copy books, in the end he still held little Lu Nong and demonstrated to the children how to open this exquisite mechanism box.

Little Lu Nong was the smartest and had a photographic memory. After his uncle demonstrated how to close the box, he was able to open it again right away without making any mistakes.

Fortunately, my uncle punished my cousins ​​and asked them to copy the book a few more times.

Lu Nong rubbed his hands and pressed the wooden mechanism. After a while, the box popped open automatically, revealing what was inside.

"!"

Twenty little goldfish in total.

It almost blinded Lu Nong's eyes. Ahhhhh, I'm rich, I'm rich.

Under the little goldfish was a letter and a passbook with three thousand yuan in it.

There were two pieces of jade. Lu Nong touched them and found that they were very rare warm jade.

The letter said that the little goldfish was given by her uncle and aunt, the money in the passbook was contributed by her cousins, and the jade was for her future children. Since she didn't know how many children she would have, she put two pieces in there. After the children were named, she could engrave the children's words on the jade. The letter also said other things, asking her to live a good life.

Lu Nong almost cried after watching this. Although the original owner had a not-so-good family, she also had relatives who loved her deeply and cared about her even though they were thousands of miles away.

Each child of the Li family has a piece of jade engraved with their name. In fact, the three brothers and sisters of the Lu family also have one, which was given by their uncle.

There is a poem engraved on the Lu Nong jade, "Exquisite dice and red beans", which is inlaid with her small character "Hongdou".

My uncle joked that maybe in the future he would meet someone with the second half of the poem in his name.

However, her jade was later taken away by Lu's mother, who said she was keeping it for her in case she lost it.

Lu Nong was thinking about going back to Lu's house to get the jade back.

After calming down, Lu Nong put the things back into the box, carried the box out of the villa, walked around the house and came to the room where Mother Wu lived.

Mother Wu was packing up her things inside. When she saw Lu Nong coming out, she quickly brought the washed strawberries and cherries to the table and said, "Eat them quickly. These are your favorites. Mother Wu has memorized them."

Lu Nong paused while holding the strawberry, feeling a little strange that her taste was exactly the same as the original owner.

"Mom Wu, you have one too." She handed a big red strawberry to Mom Wu.

"Hey, I want some too," Wu said as she took the strawberries. "We've almost finished cleaning up, and it's getting late. When are we going to leave?"

Lu Nong took a look at the luggage that Wu's mother had packed, a large wicker suitcase and a cloth package. The wicker suitcase was filled with cups, bowls, chopsticks, and coffee pots that looked like works of art. It was obvious that these things were not Wu's mother's own things. Only the cloth package was her luggage.

Lu Nong said nothing, put the carved box into the rattan box, picked up the box with one hand, held the fruit with the other and said, "Okay, let's go."

...After walking two or three steps, she stopped panting.

Mother Wu opened her mouth, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "Cousin, how about I carry the box and you hold the fruit?"

"No, I can do it. Please help me carry the fruit."

Lu Nong knew that Mother Wu felt sorry for her, but she couldn't let an old woman like her carry such a heavy thing.

Mother Wu: "Then be careful. The things inside are fragile."

Lu Nong: “…” Thank you so much, I am so touched.

Because the things in his hands were too heavy, Lu Nong walked and stopped many times, and it took him nearly twenty minutes to reach the gate. It was almost dark.

As soon as I went out, I saw Mother Wu parked on the side of the road with a bag on her shoulder. Next to her was a jeep and she was talking to someone in the jeep.

Seeing Lu Nong coming out, Aunt Wu quickly greeted Lu Nong, "Cousin, this Chief Pei said he is here to pick you up. Do you think he was sent by your aunt to pick you up?"

“……” Oops, I forgot to tell Mother Wu about her second marriage.

This is embarrassing. How should I tell Aunt Wu that my aunt’s surname is Pei?

The people in the car obviously saw Lu Nong. Xiao Zhou got out of the car, walked quickly to Lu Nong and took the suitcase from her hand.

"Comrade Lu, please get on the bus with this old comrade. I'll take the luggage."

Don't be fooled by Xiao Zhou's cheerful appearance, he is actually shocked on the inside. It is said that the more powerful a person is, the more low-key they tend to be, which is absolutely true.

Look at Comrade Lu, who can live in such a house. Just from the word "cousin", you can tell her background. She is definitely a lady from a wealthy family. Even though the daughters of capitalist families are not popular nowadays, it will take some time for ordinary people to catch up with her background.

Where did Sister Sun get the courage to mock Comrade Lu for eating for free?

Lu Nong walked to the jeep. The passenger seat was used by Xiao Zhou to store the suitcase, so she had to open the back door.

At this time, Pei Ji'an, who was sitting in the car, silently stretched out a hand. Lu Nong hesitated for a moment and held the hand which was much bigger than hers. Unlike his cold personality, Pei Ji'an's hand was slightly warm and dry.

After getting in the car, Lu Nong immediately let go of Pei Jinan's hand, turned around and pulled Mother Wu into the car.

But what she didn't notice was that after she let go, Pei Ji'an subconsciously clenched his fingers and rubbed them slightly a few times.

After Mother Wu sat down, Lu Nong moved towards Pei Jinan to make more room for her.

There was no space between the two of them in an instant, and Lu Nong's thighs and Pei Jin'an's legs were pressed tightly together. Lu Nong didn't notice it at first, but after the car became quiet, the warmth between their skin slowly came through the thin summer clothes.

There is also the ordinary, clean soapberry scent on Pei Jinan's body, which is just like him, low-key and cold, but with a presence that cannot be ignored.

“…”

Lu Nong slowly moved his body away and stayed close to Mother Wu, then he breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing this, Mother Wu also felt that it was not good for her cousin to be squeezed together with the stranger, so she moved towards the car window to make some space for Lu Nong.

She felt a little reserved after getting in the car, mainly because Pei Ji'an had a very strong aura and it was obvious at first glance that he was not an ordinary person. She didn't know how her cousin knew this person. Could he be her aunt's friend?

Lu Nong didn't know that Mother Wu was daydreaming. She was thinking about how to explain to Mother Wu about the change of aunt. After thinking for a long time, she still couldn't figure out what to say, but she thought of something else.

...How did Pei Ji'an know she was here?

"Why are you here to pick me up?" While speaking, Lu Nong turned his head and hit Pei Ji'an directly on the chin.

She was startled and stepped back immediately.

Pei Ji'an said calmly, "On the way."

Lu Nong choked, turned around awkwardly, and was unable to ask the next question.

The air fell into an eerie silence again.

In this atmosphere, the car drove all the way back to the compound.

Although Mother Wu was surprised that this didn't seem to be the place where she took care of her baby during confinement last time, she just thought that her aunt had been promoted and moved to a better place.

It wasn't until the car stopped in front of a small red building that Lu Nong said to Mother Wu, "Mom Wu, we're home."

As soon as he finished speaking, the door of the Little Red Building was pushed open, and several teenagers around seventeen or eighteen years old walked out. One of them was a handsome and upright boy holding a basketball in one hand and little Gu Huai in the other. He held the baby in a very casual manner, and little Gu Huai did not cry or make a fuss.

Mother Wu: “???”