Just as she was wondering how to ease the awkwardness, Song Yueying secretly rejoiced upon hearing Qi Yanjue's words. She had just done something foolish, and not only could she not show it, she had to maintain a facade.
"Okay." Song Yueying replied indifferently and went to the door to get the small box.
Carrying a small box, he was about to head towards the main room when Qi Yanjue stopped him. He was also carrying a plucked pheasant, which looked quite appealing.
Seeing that she would rather stare at the pheasant than look at him, Qi Yanjue did something quite childish, something he later deeply regretted: he hid the pheasant behind his back.
"???" Song Yueying stared at him with a face full of question marks.
Upon realizing what he had done, Qi Yanjue was completely devastated.
The pheasant hidden behind him became a hot potato; taking it out was problematic, but not taking it out was also problematic.
He silently cursed himself for being stupid, but Qi Yanjue asked without changing his expression, "Did not keeping that woman who delivered the box for you cause you any trouble?"
"No." Song Yueying shook her head, patting the small box she was carrying. "This is my first-aid kit. As for the woman who brought it back to me..."
"Her name is Wang Qianqian. She was an educated youth who came from the countryside to support our rural development."
"After two meetings, I found her quite agreeable, and she was also willing to learn."
"So I decided to teach her some simple treatments and methods for treating external injuries."
"You want to take her as your disciple?" Qi Yanjue had no objection to whether she took a disciple or not. However, was it a bit hasty to take her as a disciple just because he liked her?
“No, I don’t take on apprentices.” Song Yueying shook her head again. “I’ll just teach her some treatments and methods for external injuries. How much she learns depends entirely on herself.”
Qi Yanjue was at a loss for words. Remembering that she had just said he smelled bad, he took a step back, widening the distance between them.
"Standing under this sun feels like being roasted. If you sprinkle some cumin on me, I might be cooked through." Song Yueying shielded her forehead with her hand to block the scorching sun.
"I need to go inside and cool off. You should also hurry up and take the pheasant to the kitchen to stew."
"Okay." Qi Yanjue responded softly, watching her run into the main room as quickly as possible before turning and walking towards the kitchen.
In the kitchen.
Song's mother had already cooked the rice, and a large pot was boiling water on the stove. Seeing Qi Yanjue carrying the pheasant in, she quickly came over and took the pheasant from him.
Seeing him covered in sweat, Song's mother went back and put the pheasant on the stove. She picked up the bamboo fan from the stool and came back to fan Qi Yanjue vigorously a few times.
She chuckled and complained, "You're such a stubborn child. I told you to pluck chicken feathers in this room, but you insisted that the smell was too strong and wouldn't dissipate easily, so you went to pluck chicken feathers in the yard outside."
"It's so hot outside under the sun! You must be suffering from the heat."
The breeze from the bamboo fan was refreshing, but Qi Yanjue dared not enjoy it. After all, the person holding the fan and fanning him was his mother-in-law.
"Thank you, Mom. I'm not very hot." Qi Yanjue moved a little to the side.
Seeing that he was covered in sweat but still stubbornly insisted that he wasn't hot, and noticing that he was moving to the side, Song's mother knew that he didn't want to trouble her to fan him.
Feigning displeasure, she casually slapped him with the fan in her hand, saying, "I'm fanning you! Why are you dodging?"
Qi Yanjue was a little embarrassed. He wanted to say that he hadn't dodged, but his actions were already very obvious and he couldn't deny it.
"I'll go chop the pheasant into small pieces so it'll be ready to cook." With that, he walked towards the stove.
"No need." Song's mother reached out to stop him and stuffed the bamboo fan in her hand into Qi Yanjue's hand. "You can use the fan to fan yourself, I'll chop the pheasant."
Looking down at the fan in his hand, then looking up at Song's mother's back as she walked to the stove, Qi Yanjue couldn't describe the feeling in his heart at that moment.
He spent little time with his family in Beijing, but he had never felt this way before.
Beside the stove, Song's mother put the pheasant into a wooden basin and scooped water to wash it. As she washed it, she muttered, "I've already made you pluck the chicken feathers under the scorching sun, I can't let you stomp on the pheasant again."
"If you listen to me and pluck chicken feathers in this room, it will be hot, but at least you won't have to be in the sun."
"It shouldn't be like this, covered in sweat, looking like you've just been pulled out of the water."
"You, you! You're just too honest. You'd rather suffer yourself than let us suffer even a little bit. It's just smelling a little bit, it doesn't count as suffering at all."
Listening to Song's mother's nagging, Qi Yanjue didn't know how to respond and could only stand there helplessly.
Song's mother took the pheasant out, poured out the water in the basin, and went to fetch more water. Taking a moment to glance at Qi Yanjue, she said earnestly, "Little Qi, this is your home too."
"You don't need to be so reserved, and you don't need to rush to do every job. When you're home, relax. Rest when you should rest, and work when you should work."
"What is home? Home is a place to rest, and a harbor to dock in."
"You fledglings! When you're tired from flying outside, come home and rest for a while. Maybe then you can fly higher and farther when you go out again."
Qi Yanjue stood there, stunned, clutching the bamboo fan tightly. He hadn't expected Song's mother to notice his nervousness, much less that she would say such a thing.
Especially her understanding of home.
He joined his grandfather's army at the age of twelve, where he had to complete a lot of training every day. Even though they lived in the same unit, he rarely had the chance to see his grandfather.
He poured all his energy into training and finally achieved some success. He also gradually got used to being alone.
As his military achievements increased, so did the number of people paying attention to him. Occasionally, when he returned to his home in Beijing with his grandfather, his father would ask him how things were going in the army, and his mother would ask him how life was.
His family was very welcoming, but he always felt something was missing. He couldn't quite put his finger on it until that incident happened…
He finally understood why, despite his family's warmth, he always felt something was missing. It was the lack of warmth; their enthusiasm lacked genuine feeling.
"Hey! What are you standing here for, kid?" Song's mother's voice pulled Qi Yanjue back to reality from his memories. Before he could react, he was pushed along again.
"Go away, go away, it's stuffy in the kitchen. Go to the main room where it's cooler."
"You silly child, I gave you a fan, but you didn't use it to fan yourself. You just held it in your hand and I don't know what you were thinking. Really."
Pushed out of the kitchen by Song's mother, Qi Yanjue blushed with shame. He tried to struggle a little more, "Mom, let me start the fire."
"No need, no need." Mother Song waved her hand. "Go to the main room and see if Xiao Yingzi needs any help. You can help her if she needs anything. I don't need you to do anything here."
"Mom, Yueying asked me to stew the chicken, but I'll do it instead." Qi Yanjue had no choice but to pull Song Yueying aside to make the decision.
"Go away, do you think I can't stew chicken?" Song's mother frowned. "And you, don't listen to Xiao Yingzi in everything. She can't cook, what does she know?"
Qi Yanjue dared not respond to this. He knew from his first visit to the Song family how much Song's mother doted on Yueying.
And so, Qi Yanjue was ruthlessly chased out of the kitchen by Song's mother. As he walked towards the main room, he suddenly remembered Song Yueying saying that he smelled bad, so he turned around and went out into the courtyard.
At this moment, there was no one in the main room, except for a small medicine box placed on the cabinet.
Where did Song Yueying go? She was busy in the space experimental vehicle. She was washing the herbs with a machine and grinding the washed herbs into powder.
The bait has been cast, and we're just waiting for the fish to bite... uh, no, for the people who want to buy pills and powder to come to our door.
She needed to prepare various kinds of pills and powders, but fortunately, the space experimental vehicle was kept at a constant temperature, so she didn't feel hot at all.
It's the busy season of double harvest! Every household, men, women, and children, are all pitching in. Everyone's thinking is simple: contribute as much as you can, and earn as many work points as you can.
It was probably the first day of the double harvest season, and the scorching sun overhead couldn't dampen everyone's enthusiasm.
"It's so hot, it's killing me! This damn sun, this damn harvest!" Song Rumeng stopped what she was doing, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
They wished they could throw the sickle they were using to cut rice as far away as possible.
Wang Muxiang, who was working next to Song Rumeng, glanced at her and said sarcastically, "It's no use cursing. No matter how hot it is or how strong the sun is, you still have to work to have food to eat."
"Look at everyone, isn't everyone working hard? Even the elderly and children who don't usually have to work in the fields are out working. Aren't they hot?"
"It's hot, and in order to have enough to eat, we have to work hard."
"Unless you can become a village doctor like Song Yueying, you won't have to participate in the double harvest season or do any other work. You can just stay at home and tend to your herbs, and she will only come out when someone is sick or injured."
"What is Song Yueying? Just an idiot." Song Rumeng cursed angrily.
Wang Muxiang sneered, "She's nothing, she's an idiot, but this idiot lives more freely than anyone else in our village."
"Mom, what's wrong with you today? Why are you going against me at every turn? Every word you say is barbed." Song Rumeng's face was flushed red under her straw hat.
I don't know if it was from anger or from being exposed to the sun.
“I’m just reminding you that Song Yueying is going to take on an apprentice,” Wang Muxiang said. “If you don’t want to work in the fields and bask in the sun, you’d better be able to coax her into taking you on as an apprentice.”
"Otherwise, you'd have to work yourself to death like me to earn work points."
"Who wants to be her apprentice?" Song Rumeng scoffed.
After cutting a handful of rice and placing it aside, Wang Muxiang looked at Song Rumeng and said, "You may not care about being her apprentice, but plenty of others will, like your father who was just injured."
"Can't you see it yet? How many people have had designs on it?"
“Rumeng, I have told you countless times before that Song Yueying listens to you and you should learn about herbs and treat patients and injuries from her. It will not do you any harm.”
"Unfortunately, you ignored what I said."
"Forget it, you can't figure it out yourself, no matter how much I say, you won't listen to me. Stop standing there, get to work, it won't be good if the captain and the others see you slacking off."
"I'm not being lazy, I'm just tired and hungry, I need to rest for a bit," Song Rumeng retorted angrily, resolutely refusing to admit that she was being lazy.
"You got up early this morning and worked all morning. Who isn't tired? Who isn't hungry? Fine, say whatever you want, get to work, hurry up." After urging her, Wang Muxiang ignored her and continued working at her own leisurely pace.
Song Rumeng didn't want to work, and she especially didn't want the team leader and others to accuse her of slacking off. Having no other choice, she could only continue working while grumbling.
At noon, at the brigade leader's shout, the strong laborers continued to work hard in the fields, while some of the elderly and children went home to cook lunch.
If there were no elderly people or children at home, the women would go home to cook. The brigade leader was in a hurry to put the rice into the granary, but he also knew that one needed to be well-fed to have the strength to work.
Each household was instructed to send one person home to prepare lunch, which would then be delivered to the fields for the family to eat.
"Aunt Xu, are you cooking at home today?" Seeing Aunt Xu walking ahead, Song Rumeng jogged to catch up with her and walked with her.
Since none of the children at Old Master Song's house were home, Song Rumeng went home to cook.
"Hmm." Aunt Xu responded coldly. She had already seen through what kind of person Song Rumeng was and didn't want to talk to her anymore.
“My dad is injured, and my mom has to take his place at work. I want to help her, but unfortunately, I'm not capable enough.” Song Rumeng’s tone was filled with sadness and self-blame.
"You're so kind." Aunt Xu was a very honest person. Even if she didn't want to talk to Song Rumeng, she couldn't ignore her because they were neighbors.
That's all? Song Rumeng frowned under her big straw hat, her eyes flashing with resentment, and her throat felt even more painful.
In the past, as long as she played the victim a little, Aunt Xu would comfort her and even give her some vegetables or something. She would pretend to refuse for a moment, and then accept it.
"Aunt Xu, do you think my cousin really wants to take on an apprentice?" Song Rumeng asked casually, mentioning Song Yueying's various actions in the rice paddy.
“She had never thought of that before.”
“We’re such good friends, and she’s never taught me anything. How could she possibly teach someone else now!”
Song Rumeng went to the trouble of saying this to Aunt Xu because she wanted to use Aunt Xu's gossipy nature to let everyone in the village know that Song Yueying was just playing around with everyone today and didn't genuinely want to take on an apprentice.
This was to discourage those who wanted to learn medicine from Song Yueying, since no one would learn medicine from her and she could only teach one person.
"I don't know." Aunt Xu's response remained indifferent, but her steps quickened, as if she wanted to shake off Song Rumeng.
It was the same lukewarm attitude again, and Song Rumeng was about to explode with anger. She wasn't stupid; she could naturally see that Aunt Xu's attitude towards her was much colder than before.
In the past, when she took the initiative to chat with her, Aunt Xu would always be very supportive and chat with her.
What's wrong with Aunt Xu today? She's completely unmoved by my attempts to play the victim, and she barely responds when I try to talk to her.
Since no one responded to her, Song Rumeng didn't bother to waste her breath. She was already tired from working all morning, and then Song Yueying had been scolding her all morning. She was speaking to Aunt Xu while enduring the pain in her throat.
As I approached my doorstep, a rich aroma wafted over.
"The chicken soup smells so good." Song Rumeng felt even hungrier.
"Yes! It smells so good." Aunt Xu could smell it too.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com