17: I’m a little scared
Lu Guoguo didn’t ask where Lu Zaiyang had bought the corn flour, but she knew in her heart that the male lead knew quite a few people on the black market. He would occasionally go to them to buy things, and he even secretly sold some stuff himself.
It was just the two of them at home. After sitting and resting for a while, Lu Zaiyang went to check the water vat, then picked up the buckets and headed out.
Lu Guoguo yawned. They had walked quite a bit today, and sitting down to rest made her feel sleepy. It wasn’t time to cook dinner yet, so after thinking for a moment, Lu Guoguo decided to go heat up water for a bath.
When Lu Zaiyang returned with the water, he noticed the level in the water vat had dropped a bit again. He poured the water in and went out with the buckets once more.
When he came back with another load, he found the water level had dropped again. He was just wondering what Lu Guoguo was using the water for when a round little head poked out from the kitchen doorway.
“Brother, help me carry some water, please.”
Lu Zaiyang entered the kitchen and saw the two large buckets of hot water. Understanding dawned on him, and without a word, he helped carry them to the small side room.
“Brother, your water is keeping warm in the pot. We’ve been walking almost all day, so a wash will make you feel fresher.”
Lu Guoguo, holding her change of clothes and a comb, said this to him before entering the small side room.
Lu Zaiyang raised an eyebrow slightly. This time, before going out to fetch water, he closed the courtyard gate.
After a nice, comfortable bath, Lu Guoguo also washed her hair using the other bucket of water.
When she had finished and was sitting at the main room’s entrance drying her hair, she found herself thinking, when would she be rewarded with some toiletries? At home, they used a simple soap pod paste. If your hair was a little oily, you needed a lot of it to get it clean.
Lu Zaiyang soon scooped out some water and went into the side room as well. Lu Guoguo ran to check the water vat, and seeing it completely full, she smiled contentedly and sat back down to continue drying her hair.
The male lead really was a hardworking little bee.
Lu Laoba and his wife returned just as it was getting dark. They had gone out to chop firewood, and this time they had brought back logs – sturdy ones that, once dried, would last for many days in the bamboo basket.
As soon as they reached the doorstep, they were met with a delicious aroma. They exchanged a smile and entered the courtyard one after another.
“You can lower the fire now,” Lu Guoguo directed Lu Zaiyang, who was tending the flames.
Lu Zaiyang hummed in acknowledgment and moved the excess kindling into the wood ash to extinguish it.
“Why aren’t Mom and they back yet? Should we go look for them?”
Lu Guoguo asked, a little worried.
“I’ll go now,” Lu Zaiyang said, getting up. This was the last soup course, so there was no further need to tend the fire. He walked to the kitchen doorway and saw the couple emerging from the woodshed. “Dad, Auntie, where have you been?”
“It didn’t rain this afternoon, so we went to chop some firewood,” Lu Laoba said with a smile.
“When did you two get back?”
Sun Zhaodi asked.
“We’ve been back for a while,” Lu Zaiyang replied, going back into the kitchen to fetch a bucket of hot water for them to wash their faces and hands. Hearing their voices, Lu Guoguo also felt relieved.
Dinner that evening was lavish, and the family ate with great relish. Setting aside Lu Guoguo’s persistent praise for his straw sandals, Lu Zaiyang described the commotion at Third Aunt’s place to Sun Zhaodi and Lu Laoba.
Hearing that he hadn’t accepted the return gifts Third Aunt had prepared, Sun Zhaodi nodded. “Your Third Aunt has a hard time.”
“Yes,” Lu Laoba agreed. “You don’t know, before your Third Aunt gave birth to a son, your Third Uncle wasn’t very good to her either. Your Second Uncle and I, and the others, would go over every so often and give your Third Uncle a beating to make things better. After she had the son, the mother and son calmed down a lot, but it’s that mother-in-law’s mouth, always badmouthing your Third Aunt, making her out to be the villain no matter what.”
“We also ran into Seventh Aunt’s mother-in-law,” Lu Guoguo chimed in. “She was complaining to us about Seventh Aunt too. Brother told her to go make a scene at Xiao Shi’s grandfather’s place, and she agreed.”
Back then, both aunts had been married off to families chosen by Old Man Laoda and his wife, so wasn’t it only right to take it up with him?
Sun Zhaodi had a particularly vivid memory of Seventh Aunt’s mother-in-law. “Every time I see her, she pulls me aside and goes on and on about Seventh Sister for ages. The more I try to smooth things over, the more worked up she gets. Zaiyang’s method is a good one. Next time I run into her, I’ll say the same thing.”
“And also today…”
Lu Guoguo went on to tell them about the Li family and the deputy team leader’s mother going to Old Man Laoda’s place to cause a scene. Hearing this, Lu Laoba and his wife beamed with delight.
“That Xiao Shi kid just hasn’t been raised right. First, he peeps on that widow taking a bath, and now he’s tricking other kids. How old is he? Who knows what he’ll grow up to be like.”
Sun Zhaodi shook her head and also brought up what had happened that morning. “Cuihua next door has been betrothed. It’s to the Liu family from the Sanyan Production Team. The young man is handsome and seems nice. But because someone in their family passed away at the beginning of the year, the wedding won’t be until next year.”
According to their local custom, if a family has had a death, they wait until the following year to hold a wedding.
Lu Guoguo thought to herself, it was just as she suspected. In the original story, her destined match was indeed with the Liu family. But it seemed the timeline had been moved up significantly. In the original text, Cuihua only gave up on her feelings and agreed to meet someone else not long after the male and female leads got together.
Now, before the female lead had even appeared, Cuihua’s matter was already settled.
The deviation was indeed quite significant.
Noticing Lu Guoguo sneaking glances his way, Lu Zaiyang shot her a warning look.
Lu Guoguo gave an awkward smile and quickly averted her gaze.
The next day dawned bright and clear. Lu Guoguo hung her and Sun Zhaodi’s quilts out in the courtyard to air before heading out. Lu Zaiyang glanced at the quilts airing in the yard, and Lu Guoguo, seeing this, said, “Brother said I’m not allowed to just go into your room.”
Lu Zaiyang nodded.
Lu Guoguo went to find the bookkeeper to get her assignment for the day. Having observed her changes over these past few days, the bookkeeper pointed to an entry in his ledger. “Over at Dawan’kou, we need some more winter melon seedlings transplanted. You’ll be working there for the next few days.”
“Okay.”
Lu Guoguo first went to the nursery to pick up the winter melon seedlings, then headed towards Dawan’kou.
Dawan’kou was also a hillside area. Lu Guoguo looked up and estimated that planting all the winter melon seedlings on this hillside would take at least three days.
Although not every spot needed planting, she also had to tend to the already planted sorghum and corn. Factoring in the time needed to go back and forth for seedlings, three days was the result if she didn’t slack off.
After working all morning and realizing she was the only one here, Lu Guoguo returned home feeling a bit bewildered. Today, Sun Zhaodi was cooking. The work she’d been assigned was easier than Lu Guoguo’s, so she was the one to come back and prepare the meal. The two men always had the heaviest workload, and by the time they got home, the food was already on the table.
“For tasks like filling in with seedlings, they’re usually assigned to one person. One person can work for several days, and the daily work points are about the same,” Sun Zhaodi explained to Lu Guoguo.
“That explains why I was the only one there,” Lu Guoguo said, taking a sip of the pickled vegetable and dried bamboo shoot soup. “That whole slope, just me alone. I was pretty scared at first.”
Hearing this, Lu Zaiyang glanced at her.
That afternoon, not long after Lu Guoguo had arrived at Dawan’kou with the winter melon seedlings, she saw Lu Zaiyang approaching with a large bamboo basket, collecting stones by the river at Dawan’kou. She trotted over to the riverbank and asked in surprise, “Brother, aren’t you supposed to be collecting stones over at Liushu Bay?”
“There are too many people collecting stones over there. Fewer people here,” Lu Zaiyang replied without looking up, continuing to pick up stones and put them in his basket.
During this time, the team leader had everyone working on reinforcing the mountain ditches to prevent floods from washing away the field ridges again. Using a mixture of clay and stones to build the facings was quite sturdy, so Lu Zaiyang and the others assigned to this task spent their days collecting stones from the river and piling them up, waiting until they had enough to start building the ditches.
And so, Lu Zaiyang would appear by the river at Dawan’kou every half hour. Knowing someone was there, Lu Guoguo wasn’t scared at all anymore.
When Sun Zhaodi finished work and came over, Lu Guoguo told her that Lu Zaiyang had been working here in the afternoon. Sun Zhaodi looked at Lu Guoguo, who hadn’t caught on, and shook her head. “Your brother heard what you said at noon, so he specially came over here to collect stones. Liushu Bay isn’t crowded at all, he specially came to keep you company.”
Lu Guoguo was stunned and asked foolishly, “Really?”
“Why else would he come all the way over here?”
Sun Zhaodi poked her forehead. “See how good your brother is to you. From now on, argue with him less.”
Lu Guoguo pursed her lips and lowered her head, deeply touched. She wanted to give the male lead an extra special meal. “Let’s cook noodles for brother tonight. He loves noodles.”
“Okay,” Sun Zhaodi agreed with a smile.
When Lu Zaiyang got noodles that evening, he was a bit surprised. But seeing Sun Zhaodi’s beaming face as she told Lu Laoba about what he’d done that afternoon, he understood. “I really just collect stones there incidentally.”
“I know, brother. Eat up, and if it’s not enough, I’ll cook you more!”
Lu Guoguo, genuinely touched by the male lead’s actions, said enthusiastically.
“…”
For the next few days, Lu Zaiyang continued doing the same, right up until Lu Guoguo finished her task and was assigned other work where she had company. Only then did Lu Zaiyang go back to collecting stones at Liushu Bay.
On her way to work, Lu Guoguo happened to pass by the river at Liushu Bay. Seeing the familiar figure among the crowd, her fondness for Lu Zaiyang grew. She also became more convinced that her current approach was correct. As long as she didn’t court death in front of the male lead, she’d be part of his camp, and then she could definitely live a long and happy life!
Then she could find a paper man with compatible values to marry and live happily ever after…
The more she thought about it, the happier she became, and even her work seemed more cheerful.
This puzzled the onlookers.
“I say, Guozi’s mother, has your family had some good news lately? Look how happy your girl is.”
Sun Zhaodi was working not far from Lu Guoguo that day, and someone teased her with this question.
They were also wondering if perhaps the girl had gotten engaged? But they hadn’t heard of any red cloth tied on Lu Laoba’s courtyard gate, unlike at Cuihua’s place.
“She’s just happy for no reason. She’s happy when the weather’s nice, happy when she sees pretty wildflowers,” Sun Zhaodi said with a laugh.
“Oh, is that so?” The person hadn’t expected such an answer, so she switched to another topic. “Have you seen the person Cuihua is betrothed to? Our family lives far away, I haven’t met him yet. I wonder what kind of young man he is…”
While they were discussing Cuihua’s intended, Lu Guoguo was also listening to the people around her talking about Chuncao, the daughter of their Third Uncle Tang.
“It was almost settled, but then her father wanted to add another ten yuan to the bride price, and the other side backed out.”
“How despicable! Chuncao’s older sister was ruined by him, and now he won’t even let Chuncao go!”
Seeing Lu Guoguo eavesdropping, the girl coughed lightly and asked her, “Lu Guoguo, isn’t Chuncao’s father your Uncle Tang? Do you know what happened behind the scenes?”
“I don’t know,” Lu Guoguo shook her head, then leaned in and whispered, “So Chuncao’s marriage was almost settled, and Third Uncle Tang messed it up again?”
“Exactly,” the girl said, her tone softening a bit now that she saw Lu Guoguo was on Chuncao’s side. “Chuncao’s eyes are swollen from crying, but her father just won’t budge. Either add another ten yuan to the bride price, or forget the whole thing. He even said a capable girl like Chuncao would have no trouble finding a husband. Isn’t that just forcing the other side to give up?”
“I bet he found someone else who can offer a fifty-yuan bride price, that’s why he changed his mind.”
Another girl chimed in.
Lu Guoguo cursed, “How shameless! For the sake of money, he doesn’t care about his own daughter’s happiness at all.”
“Well said!”
“That’s right! Does someone like that even deserve to be called a father? Some stepfathers are more like real fathers than he is!”
Lu Guoguo deeply agreed, “My uncle is especially good to me.”
Just as they were talking, they heard the team leader’s displeased voice. “Why don’t you just go home, sit in your yard, eat peanuts, and gossip? This is work time! Separate right now! Or I’ll deduct your work points!”
Lu Guoguo and the other two quickly separated and silently continued working with their heads down.
After the team leader had walked a bit further away, the three of them looked at each other, then all smiled with pursed lips.
And so, Lu Guoguo made two friends. The one who had first spoken to her was Huang Chunfeng, and the girl behind was Qi Shenshen.
Huang Chunfeng was quite close with Chuncao, so she felt wronged on her behalf. Qi Shenshen was close with Huang Chunfeng and also often spent time with Chuncao; the three of them were good friends.
After a couple of days getting along, Lu Guoguo had become familiar with them. Huang Chunfeng, who lived closest to her, would wait for Lu Guoguo at the fork in the road in the mornings and at noon. Then the two of them would walk through the small woods to Qi Shenshen’s doorstep, and all three would go together to the bookkeeper to get their work assignments.
“Chuncao has been working with her mother lately. We haven’t seen her for days,” Huang Chunfeng sighed when Lu Guoguo wondered why she hadn’t seen Chuncao.
“Yeah, I wonder how she’s been these past few days,” Qi Shenshen said, quite worried.
Lu Guoguo, the newcomer, scratched her head. “Her mood certainly can’t be good. You both said she cried, so she must have liked that guy quite a bit.”
“Yes,” Huang Chunfeng had just nodded when she felt something hit her back. She turned around angrily and saw Xiao Shi making a face at them before running off.
“You little bastard! Are you crazy?”
Huang Chunfeng cursed.
Lu Guoguo frowned slightly. “That kid is really naughty!”
“He’s so annoying! The day before yesterday, he hit me with a slingshot,” Qi Shenshen also cursed. “He runs faster than a rabbit, can’t even catch him!”
“Didn’t their family just have to pay compensation? Didn’t they teach him anything?”
Lu Guoguo asked, puzzled.
Qi Shenshen looked around, then lowered her voice and said to the two of them, “My grandmother says that on the day Xiao Shi was born, his grandmother found something valuable, so she thinks Xiao Shi is a money-attracting child. That’s why she spoils him so much.”
Lu Guoguo snorted inwardly. If Xiao Shi was a money-attracting child, then her system was the God of Wealth!
[Today’s Task: Praise the system ten times.]
[Task Reward: One 2L bottle of K-brand shampoo.]
Lu Guoguo: ???
**