The sky was dark and snow was falling heavily. Li Xiaoxiao walked uphill with her arms crossed, thinking about going back to get pig offal. She hadn't eaten any delicacies in the apocalypse, so she had to make up for it here. The two figures, one tall and one short, walked on the snow-covered stone path. She stepped on a small stone, her ankle twisted outward, and she stumbled and fell downhill. In her haste, she grabbed Qi Yu's long sleeve, and the two of them tumbled down the slope again.
As she tumbled around, all she could hear was the howling wind and a loud thud. Li Xiaoxiao had already opened her mouth to cry out in pain, her face prepared with a look of agony, when she heard a muffled groan from the man beside her. Her body didn't hurt at all?!
The man was clearly holding her protectively in his arms, and Li Xiaoxin was completely overwhelmed with tenderness. She quickly pulled her hands away from his embrace and got out. Her husband was frowning and looking pained. She pulled him up and helped him sit on the ground. Qi Yu was panting heavily from the pain. "Qi Yu, are you stupid?" He should have let me be on the bottom. After all, I'm in better shape.
Ignoring the man's comfort, Li Xiaoxiao turned him over to look at him. The pebbles on the roadside had torn his clothes, and there were traces of blood at the edges. There were pieces of cloth hanging on the protruding pebbles next to him.
"Go home." Qi Yu endured the pain and tried to get up by supporting himself on the ground, but he couldn't muster any strength.
The awkward man, Li Xiaoxiao had already seen through his true nature. Without saying a word, she grabbed his arm, pulled him onto her person, and hurried towards the village's barefoot doctor's house.
"Li Xiaoxiao, you're not allowed to go." Qi Yu still had a sliver of reason left, his vision was blurry and he could barely see. He rested his head on the woman's shoulder, and a sweet fragrance wafted into his nose.
That's right. The barefoot doctor in the village might not be as effective as the spiritual spring in her space. Li Xiaoxiao had only run a few steps when she turned around and carried the man home.
Qi Yu vaguely saw that it was the way home, and he breathed a sigh of relief. If people knew that he, a grown man, was being carried by a woman, they would spread all sorts of rumors in the village.
As luck would have it, a hunter was coming down the mountain with a basket on his back. It was Li Dazhuang, who lived on the opposite hill and often came here to hunt. He probably knew that the game on the hill behind the Li family was mostly preserved.
Everyone knows that the son-in-law of the Li family is weak and can't hunt. He can only wash clothes, catch some pheasants, and do things that women do.
"Li family, what happened? Oh, was he beaten again? Ouch, so much blood. Li Xiaoxiao, are you trying to beat your man to death? It's the dead of winter, and it's already freezing to wash clothes."
Li Dazhuang looked at Qi Yu with a sympathetic gaze.
Li Xiaoxiao was busy going home when she heard someone call her. She subconsciously stopped, but the snow was too heavy and she was thinking about things, so she couldn't see clearly or hear everything. In front of her was a man with a full beard, and she had no idea who he was.
Qi Yu heard it very clearly, and his previously drowsy mind immediately became clearer. His eyes became even uglier, and he felt a metallic taste in his throat. He tried to ignore the taste of blood in his mouth and explained, "I fell, cough cough cough."
Li Dazhuang obviously didn't believe it and walked closer, just in time to see a trace of blood coming from the corner of his mouth.
"Oh dear, Mrs. Li, you're really putting me through a lot of trouble! You've tormented a grown man to the point of near death." It took Li Xiaoxiao a while to realize that the person was probably from the village, but they didn't seem to be very close.
"Okay, I'll be careful. It's snowing heavily. Goodbye." After saying that, Li Xiao carried Qi Yu home on her back. The wound could easily worsen in the snow, so it was better to get back and treat it as soon as possible.
"Oh dear, Madam Li, you've already vomited blood no matter what. You should go see Doctor Bai."
After Li Dazhuang finished speaking, he turned around, and the figure had already disappeared into the wind and snow. He sighed and said, "Alas, I'm about to die and I'm not even allowed to go see him. What's the difference between being a live-in son-in-law and working in a brothel these days? You'll be tormented anyway. At least you get money in a brothel. I'd rather die than be a live-in son-in-law. How pitiful."
The wind and snow blew even more fiercely, the tree branches were whipped and shook wildly, and the howling wind sounded like the roar of a ferocious beast.
Qi Yu was still somewhat conscious as she lay on Li Xiaoxiao's bed. The woman was busy at home. She had just poured herself a bowl of water and drunk it. She didn't know if it was sugar water, but it was sweet and refreshing. The pain in her body wasn't as bad as before. When she turned around, she could see Li Xiaoxiao busy tidying up the house, and steamed egg custard was cooking on the stove.
A cold wind was still blowing outside, but the blankets were warm and still had that same crisp, refreshing scent, like the golden flowers by a mountain spring.
After the steamed egg custard was cooked, Li Xiaoxiao started cooking rice porridge. The fire continued to burn. Li Xiaoxiao found the pig offal that the man had washed during the day. She found the pig stomach and intestines and turned them inside out and rubbed them repeatedly with water made with salt and vinegar. She put the pig heart in clean water to squeeze out all the blood and dirt. She blanched the pig tongue in boiling water, rinsed it with cold water, and scraped off the white skin and tongue coating.
"What a wonderful day! Tomorrow we'll have braised pork!" Li Xiaoxiao blurted out while working.
Qi Yu's eyes suddenly reddened. This was a scene he had longed for for a long time: a wife and a stove that was always burning.
Before being sold to Li Xiaoxiao, his life was like hell.
He turned around despite the pain. A man doesn't easily shed tears, and he clearly didn't have this many tears when he almost died before. The blizzard outside intensified, and the small, dilapidated door creaked and rattled.
Li Xiaoxiao sat on the wooden board by the earthen stove, eagerly waiting for the rice porridge to cook, her stomach rumbling.
To the left of the small, dilapidated door was a messy quilt. Today, the wind and snow were so heavy that even the roof of the woodshed where Qi Yu slept was blown off. If she hadn't returned early, this quilt, worth eight or nine hundred coins, would have been blown away by the wind and snow and buried somewhere in the snow.
"Life is tough, so I'm crying." A gust of cold wind suddenly blew against Li Xiaoxiao's back, making her shiver.
After a stick of incense had burned, Qi Yu was still a little sleepy when Li Xiaoxiao's sweet voice came, "Qi Yu, wake up soon, eat something before you sleep again." Qi Yu woke up with a start, his body twitched, and he opened his beautiful eyes. Li Xiaoxiao was sitting beside him, feeding him porridge and steamed egg custard. Qi Yu swallowed with difficulty, his throat a little sore.
After feeding her, Li Xiaoxiao finished eating and washing the dishes, then crawled into bed, a little embarrassed. "Qi Yu, let's just make do with this tonight. The blankets are covered in snow and so cold."
The next day, just as dawn broke, Qi Yu came to the bedside and used the same trick to shake the sleeping Li Xiaoxiao. She groggily opened her eyes and looked at the man, suddenly remembering that it was time to get up and make a fortune. She looked up and rubbed her eyes hard, "Ah, I need to make money." Her soft, sweet voice tickled people's hearts. The morning light shone into the dilapidated little house, making Li Xiaoxiao's face bright and smooth.
"Qi Yu, how did you wake up? Are you alright?"
Qi Yu turned around, coldly interrupting her, "Hmm." Li Xiaoxiao lifted the blanket, and the man was already standing at the door, dressed neatly, with one hand behind his back, like a gentle breeze and a clear moon.
Li Xiaoxiao got up to pack her clothes, found the prepared fish ball bowl in the room, put it in her backpack, and was about to squat down to carry it when Qi Yu snatched it away, saying, "I'll do it."
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