The two sisters each had a venison leg. They were gnawing on the grilled venison leg with their left hand and drinking a bowl of soup with their right, thoroughly enjoying their meal.
While the two women enjoyed their meal, Wang Lun was still working overtime. There was only a little bit of digging work left, about a cubic meter more, so he planned to finish before eating. Li Ling, on the other hand, continued twisting ropes inside the shelter. She was using some grass she had cut near the camp that afternoon, which had been drying in the sun all afternoon and was now ready for rope making. Li Ling had already prepared the meal, and she was just waiting for Wang Lun to finish digging so they could eat.
Wang Lun dug for another half hour, and then only a small mound of earth remained. He called out, "Li Ling, I'll be done soon, we can cook!" After shouting, he seemed to have even more energy and dug even faster. Hearing this, Li Ling immediately put down the rope she was twisting, put the pot on the campfire, tidied up the rope, took it inside the shelter, and then went to fetch the wild vegetables and meat from the pool. The water was already boiling when she arrived, as it had been boiled earlier and kept by the campfire. Li Ling put the meat in first, and then, after the meat was almost cooked, she added the wild vegetables. While she was adding the vegetables, Wang Lun returned with his entrenching tool. He put the entrenching tool at the door, washed his hands and face by the pool, and then sat down by the campfire. As soon as he sat down, Li Ling went inside to get bowls and chopsticks, preparing to eat.
When Li Ling came out of the shelter with bowls and chopsticks, she heard Wang Lun snoring. Going closer, she saw that Wang Lun, who had just sat down, was now asleep against the shelter wall. Li Ling wanted to wake him to eat before sleeping, but after raising her hand, she put it down again. She then put the bowls and chopsticks back inside and took out Wang Lun's coat to cover him. Next, Li Ling took the pot off the campfire and placed it beside it, letting the fire keep the wild vegetable and meat soup warm. She then went to retrieve the rope she had put down earlier and continued twisting it. At the same time, she kept an eye on the campfire and Wang Lun, who was now leaning against the shelter wall.
They waited and waited until the moon was high in the sky, and the wind was still a bit chilly. Just then, another gust of wind blew by. Li Ling was about to get up to shield herself from the wind, but Wang Lun suddenly shivered and woke up with a start. Startled, Wang Lun paused for a moment, then saw the campfire and Li Ling standing up. Before he could say anything, Li Ling said, "You're awake? Are you hungry? I'll go get some bowls and chopsticks; we'll eat soon." With that, Li Ling went inside to get the bowls and chopsticks. Wang Lun wanted to say something, but then remained silent. Instead, he picked up his clothes from the floor, put them on, and went to the sink to wash his face.
When Wang Lun returned to the campfire, Li Ling had already taken out the bowls and chopsticks and put the pot on the fire to heat it up before eating, so they wouldn't get an upset stomach from eating cold food. Wang Lun sat down by the fire and said, "I'm so sorry, I just suddenly fell asleep." Li Ling didn't want to say anything, but hearing Wang Lun's words, tears welled up in her eyes. She said, "You know, I almost thought something had happened to you. You know, when you suddenly fell asleep there, I was really scared. I thought something had happened to you..."
Looking at Li Ling like this, Wang Lun suddenly realized that in all the years he'd known her, this was the first time he'd seen her like this, and he was momentarily at a loss. He wanted to comfort her, but didn't know how to start; he wanted to hug her, but lacked the courage. He usually spoke eloquently to his buddies about how to woo girls, but when it came to himself, he was too intimidated to do anything. The hand he'd just raised to shrug fell back down; the mouth he'd just opened remained silent.
Until the soup in the pot boiled again, Li Ling wiped away her tears and prepared to take the pot down. Seeing this, Wang Lun quickly told her to stop, saying that this was something he should do. Li Ling, seeing Wang Lun about to take it, didn't go any further. However, Wang Lun seemed not to have realized what was happening and reached out to pick it up directly. Usually, he would hold the handle with one hand and use a piece of dry grass to cushion the other before lifting the pot. Today, he seemed not to have thought of this and went straight for it, resulting in a burn. Luckily, he was holding the pot handle with his other hand, otherwise, he probably wouldn't have been able to eat. His hand was still slightly red from the burn, and after putting the pot down, Wang Lun quickly blew on the burned area. Seeing Wang Lun's burn, Li Ling immediately grabbed his burned hand and examined it. Thankfully, it was just a red mark, without blisters. Wang Lun looked at Li Ling with astonishment; this was a side of her he had never seen before, or rather, he had never seen her like this before. Li Ling ignored Wang Lun, grabbed him, and walked towards the pool.
Upon reaching the pool, Li Ling immediately placed Wang Lun's scalded hand into the water. After a while, Li Ling lifted his hand, examined it, and then put it back in the water, asking, "How's your hand now? Does it still hurt?" Wang Lun replied, "It doesn't hurt anymore." Actually, Wang Lun had felt some pain when he was first scalded, but after Li Ling examined his hand, he no longer felt any pain. After all, his mind was completely captivated by someone, so he didn't care about the pain anymore. Li Ling continued, "We don't have any medicine right now, so we can only use cold water to alleviate the pain." Wang Lun said, "It's okay, it doesn't hurt anymore." Li Ling rolled her eyes and said, "Do you think I don't know if it hurts or not? Soak it for a while longer." Seeing Li Ling's response, Wang Lun didn't say anything more, just kept staring at his hand.
A few minutes later, Li Ling picked up Wang Lun's hand again and examined it. Then she touched the burned area. Seeing that there was no change in Wang Lun's expression, she said, "It should be fine now. If it still hurts, just let me know." Wang Lun said, "Okay, I know." Seeing Wang Lun say this, Li Ling was still worried, but she didn't say anything more and led Wang Lun back to the campfire.
Wang Lun sat down, and Li Ling took the bowls and chopsticks to the sink to wash them before returning. She first served Wang Lun a bowl of rice and handed it to him. Seeing that Wang Lun's left hand, holding the bowl, was unresponsive, Li Ling assumed he was alright. So she served herself rice. Both of them had been hungry for a long time, and neither spoke while eating, just focusing on eating. Wang Lun had fallen asleep around lunchtime, and Li Ling had wanted to wait for him to eat together, so neither of them had eaten. Now that they were finally eating, how could they not be hungry? Almost eleven hours had passed since lunchtime, and they had both done physical labor in the afternoon, making them even hungrier.
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