Before Lu Xi's day of rest arrived, Yuan Doudou asked An Rong to prepare in advance to postpone closing time until Lu Xi returned.
It was late at night. Lu Xi carried her pack and walked through the snow, her steps uneven. A heavy snowfall before the New Year had lasted for a day and a night.
A timely snowfall promises a bumper harvest.
Lu Xi's hands and feet were freezing cold, but a fire was burning in his heart. He had been abducted and separated from his family when he was a child, and he had no memory of his family. It was Lord Lu who saved him from his predicament, and it was Sister Dou Dou who gave him a complete and warm home.
Without his parents by his side, Lu Xi regarded Dou Dou and the others as his parents. When he went out to learn his craft, Dou Dou was the one he missed the most.
Many times, he wanted to sneak back to the tavern to see them, but a strong will stopped him. He knew that to learn real skills, one had to be completely dedicated.
Single-mindedness is key to learning a skill.
Not far away, Lu Xi saw two dim yellow lanterns with the character for "wine" written on them in calligraphy. He smiled, feeling excited and uneasy.
The DouDou Tavern he had been longing for was now right in front of him, and it was hard for him not to be excited and feel his blood boiling.
Normally, the lantern would be extinguished, or he would extinguish it himself, but at this moment the dim candlelight looked exceptionally bright, illuminating his way home.
Lu Xi pulled back the curtain, but to her surprise, the door was not closed.
The room was brightly lit, and sparks crackled and popped from the fireplace, making it warm and cozy.
On the table in the very center was a hot copper pot, with a stove underneath burning. The pot was making bubbling noises and emitting a layer of white steam, like a cloud of mist.
Yuan Doudou led the way out of the kitchen, cheering, "Welcome home!"
Behind him were Brother Anrong, Anji, and Huang Rong, each with a warm smile on their face, like the winter sun shining on his cold heart.
Lu Xi stood there blankly, not knowing where to begin with all the words he wanted to say, until Dou Dou hugged him and gently patted his back. Suddenly, his eyes welled up with tears. Perhaps this was the embrace and caress of his mother.
"DouDou, I miss you all." He held back his tears; he was the older brother and couldn't let his younger brother Anji laugh at him.
Huang Rong stepped forward, nudged his head, and pretended to be angry, saying, "You know you miss us, but you don't even come back to see us."
Lu Xi blushed and stared blankly at Huang Rong. She hadn't seen her for a month, and Huang Rong had become more beautiful, or more accurately, more mature.
"Alright, you must be hungry and tired after a long day. Come sit down and have something hot. I asked your brother Anrong to leave some hot water. After you eat, take a hot bath and have your brother Anrong rub your back. Get a good night's sleep."
Yuan Doudou acted like a doting mother, showering Lu Xi with concern and care.
Lu Xi let her lead him to the table, where he looked at the dishes, all of which tasted familiar to him.
No matter how much face he tried to save, he couldn't stop the tears from flowing down his face.
"How ugly! You're so old and still crying," Huang Rong mocked, but a pang of sadness lingered in her heart. He must have suffered a lot.
Yuan Doudou took out a handkerchief and wiped away his tears.
She noticed Lu Xi's hands. The thumb and index finger of her left hand were covered with numerous wounds, some old and some new, some knife wounds and some burns. Meanwhile, a thick layer of calluses had grown on the web of her right hand.
Lu Xi, don't cry. Yuan Doudou started crying.
An Rong quickly took out his handkerchief and wiped Dou Dou's tears.
"What's going on? We haven't seen each other for a month, and it's not easy to finally meet. We should all be happy." An Rong was, after all, a man who wouldn't cry even if he bled.
He visited Zuixianlou three or four times a month, and each time he would bring some food for Lu Xi and give some small gifts to Huang Daxian, asking him to take good care of her.
Yuan Doudou finally stopped crying, ate dinner with Lu Xi, and then went back to the house.
An Rong took Lu Xi to take a bath, and An Ji also ran over to join in the fun, leaving her alone in the room.
Yuan Doudou sat on the edge of the bed, sometimes crying and sometimes laughing. She cried because she felt sorry for Lu Xi who had suffered a lot as an apprentice, and laughed because her own mindset had changed. She had the heart of a college student in her twenties, but she had developed a lot of womanly compassion.
Thinking back to my college entrance exam, the first two years were relatively easy, but in my senior year, the atmosphere in the whole class changed. Like an arrow on a bowstring, everyone was giving it their all and dared not slack off at all.
While others studied until 11 o'clock, she stayed up until midnight; while others got up at 5 o'clock, she got up at 4 o'clock.
Everyone was learning with the belief that they would succeed or die trying.
Perhaps she had exerted too much effort, because on the day of the college entrance examination, she relaxed and entered the examination room with ease, answered the questions calmly, and left the examination room gracefully.
The final results were quite satisfactory; I got into an ordinary first-tier university, but it wasn't a 985 or a 211 university.
Thinking back on that experience and looking at Lu Xi's efforts, I feel so naive.
Lu Xi was only twelve or thirteen years old, even younger than when she took the college entrance examination, but she knew how to set goals, strive forward, never back down, never slack off, and forge ahead bravely.
If that kind of drive were applied to studying, it would surely get you into either Tsinghua or Peking University.
Now, she's a mother with one child and a baby with another, clearly an old woman. She can't stop crying when she sees her younger brother suffering, acting like a teenager.
That's so embarrassing.
Yuan Doudou wanted to change herself, but she never expected that her condition was largely due to her pregnancy.
A pregnant woman's emotions fluctuate due to changes in her hormone levels, making her prone to overthinking and extreme reactions.
Of course, this can happen to people with unstable emotions even if they are not pregnant. Hormones in the body can fluctuate throughout the month. People who are more emotional than rational are often completely controlled by hormones. Hormones can make them cry or laugh.
Yuan Doudou considers herself a rational person. She can remain calm and composed in the face of life's ups and downs, successes and failures.
An Rong helped Lu Xi take a bath and brought Anji back to the bedroom. There they saw Yuan Doudou sitting at the table, her hand supporting her chin, her eyes vacant, seemingly lost in thought.
It was late at night, and Anji fell asleep in Anrong's arms.
"An Rong, am I too cruel?" Yuan Doudou lay on her side on the bed, a more comfortable position than lying flat.
An Rong knew what she was talking about and comforted her, "How could that be? This is what Lu Xi wants to do. You're helping him so diligently; he'll be grateful to you in the future."
Lu Xi is a sensible child; he will understand Dou Dou's good intentions.
DouDou's wild thoughts stemmed from seeing Lu Xi cry, leading her to believe that Lu Xi was suffering too much outside.
It is a good thing for a boy to suffer a little when he is young, in the long run.
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