18: Chuncao
Lu Guoguo praised in her heart, [System, you are the most amazing I’ve ever seen!]
The task interface showed no reaction.
Lu Guoguo clicked her tongue. It seemed she had to praise it out loud. But now wasn’t the right place to praise the system. She had to suppress her desire for the shampoo and work diligently all morning before hurrying home.
While cooking, Lu Guoguo praised the system in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft.
“System, you are the most powerful system I’ve ever seen!”
“System, you’ve helped me so, so much. What would I do without you?”
Lu Zaiyang finished work early today and thought he’d come back early to help with lunch. But when he reached the kitchen door, he heard an exaggerated tone coming from inside.
Who was Xi Tong?
Lu Zaiyang frowned deeply, carefully thinking about the people in the production team and the one Lu Guoguo originally came from. He hadn’t heard of anyone with the surname Xi.
While he was pondering this, Lu Guoguo, having finished her praises and received her reward, was humming something cheerfully.
Lu Zaiyang walked into the kitchen.
“Brother, when did you get back?”
Startled by his entrance, Lu Guoguo quickly asked.
She wondered if he had heard what she’d just said.
“Right around the time you were praising someone called Xi Tong. Who is Xi Tong? Why haven’t I heard you mention him before?”
Lu Zaiyang rolled up his sleeves, sat down by the stove to tend the fire, and asked casually.
Lu Guoguo gave an awkward laugh. “He’s a good friend.”
She couldn’t just blurt out what the system really was, right? Who knew what the next task’s reward would be? So, being cautious, Lu Guoguo defined it as her friend.
“The close friend kind.”
Lu Guoguo’s voice was a bit louder this time.
Lu Zaiyang pursed his lips. “Why haven’t I heard you mention him before? Where is he from?”
“We just got to know each other recently. He’s around here. Oh, by the way, brother, how about stir-frying some tofu for lunch? I cut some chives from the ridge in the backyard. They’ll go perfectly together,” Lu Guoguo said, clumsily changing the subject, afraid that the more she said, the more mistakes she’d make.
But Lu Zaiyang was thinking, around here, with the surname Xi, he really hadn’t heard that name before.
So, during work that afternoon, Lu Zaiyang asked Li Shan, “Is there anyone named Xi Tong in the production teams around here?”
“Huh? I’ve never heard that name,” Li Shan shook his head. “Why, who is this person?”
“Nothing. Just help me find out,” Lu Zaiyang told himself he was afraid Lu Guoguo was young and might be deceived by someone with ulterior motives. As her brother, worrying about his sister was normal.
Later, Lu Zaiyang also asked a few other young men he didn’t usually interact with much. After inquiring, he found that none of them knew this person, which made him even more convinced that this so-called Xi Tong was a swindler.
So, right after work, he went straight to Sun Zhaodi and mentioned Xi Tong to her.
“Guoguo’s good friend? I haven’t heard of this person.”
Sun Zhaodi was startled. Seeing this, Lu Zaiyang grew even more worried. “I’m afraid the other party might have bad intentions. Better to be cautious.”
So, after dinner, Sun Zhaodi pulled Lu Guoguo into her room and asked softly, “Guoguo, have you made any good friends recently?”
“Yes, Chunfeng and Shenshen,” Lu Guoguo replied.
“Besides them? Anyone around here, a new good friend?”
Lu Guoguo caught on and forced a dry smile. “Brother told you, right? There is such a person. He’s a good person, Mom. Don’t worry.”
The male lead really was sensitive.
“Guoguo,” Sun Zhaodi took her hand, “Mom is happy that you’ve made a good friend, but you’re also getting to the age where marriage discussions begin. You’re naive, and you don’t know that some people, who seem decent on the surface, are actually very wicked…”
“It’s a female comrade, not a male comrade,” Lu Guoguo silently apologized to the system in her heart, then held Sun Zhaodi’s hand back. “Mom, it’s a female comrade.”
“Oh my, it’s a female comrade? Then Mom misunderstood. Don’t be angry at your brother for telling me about this. He was also worried about you. Not to mention anything else, take your Fifth Uncle Tang’s second daughter, for example. She found her own partner, but only after marrying did she find out the guy had no stable livelihood at all, just a drifter who grew up relying on charity from various families…”
After listening to Sun Zhaodi talk for nearly an hour, Lu Guoguo finally saw her out of the room.
Lu Zaiyang had just come out of the small side room. Lu Guoguo cleared her throat lightly. “Brother, I’ll cook you noodles tomorrow morning.”
After all, it was out of goodwill.
Lu Zaiyang had seen Sun Zhaodi come out of Lu Guoguo’s room, and from her words, he understood that Lu Guoguo was in a good mood and wanted to “take care” of him, since he loved noodles.
“Alright,” Lu Zaiyang raised an eyebrow and nodded.
After entering the main room, without Lu Zaiyang even asking, Sun Zhaodi lowered her voice and talked about her daughter’s new good friend. “It’s a female comrade.”
Thinking of Lu Guoguo’s attitude just now, Lu Zaiyang no longer doubted. If it had been a male comrade, and he had brought it to his aunt’s attention, that person would have certainly been embarrassed and angry and would have needed to explain themselves. There was no way they’d be offering to cook noodles.
For some reason, the matter that had been on his mind since the afternoon, now that he had the answer, Lu Zaiyang felt much more at ease.
From outside the courtyard came the sounds of insects chirping and the wind blowing. Lu Zaiyang lay with his hands behind his head, his deep eyes staring at the dark ceiling, lost in thought.
Meanwhile, Lu Guoguo, afraid the system might be unhappy about being assigned a gender, was hugging her quilt and softly apologizing to it.
When she saw a string of little white flowers pop up on the task interface, Lu Guoguo was first startled, then smiled, and finally, content, hugged her quilt and went to sleep.
It was half a month later that Lu Guoguo saw Chuncao again, when she was assigned to work alongside her weeding a cornfield.
Chuncao gave her a shy smile, and Lu Guoguo smiled back.
After dividing up the work, they shouldered their hoes and went to opposite ends to start working.
Throughout the morning, they really hadn’t exchanged many words. First, they weren’t familiar with each other, and second, Chuncao was just too quiet. Every time Lu Guoguo started a conversation, the other would only shyly hum in response, and that was the end of it.
Lu Guoguo then stopped trying to make conversation, and after noticing that Chuncao seemed more at ease this way, she continued the same approach in the afternoon.
“She’s really so thin,” Lu Guoguo mentioned Chuncao as she walked home with Sun Zhaodi. “I doubt she weighs eighty jin.”
“Their family is extremely frugal. Our family eats meat once or twice a month; they eat it once a year,” Sun Zhaodi shook her head. “Lu Nenghuo said so himself when he was bragging outside. He said he wasn’t destined to have sons, so he needed to save up as much as he could while he could still work, so he could live comfortably in his old age.”
Lu Guoguo gave a light snort and said nothing.
“You should see her mother. She’s a bit taller than Chuncao but even thinner,” Sun Zhaodi’s mood grew even more complicated thinking of Chuncao’s mother.
“When will Chuncao’s days ever come to an end?” Lu Guoguo sighed.
“Yeah, when will they ever come to an end?” Sun Zhaodi sighed too.
The next day, it rained heavily, so the family didn’t go to work. Qi Shenshen, wearing a raincoat, ran over to their house, her face full of smiles. She grabbed Lu Guoguo excitedly and said, “The guy’s family sent someone! They’re willing to add ten yuan to the bride price!”
Lu Laoba had heard Sun Zhaodi talking about Chuncao’s situation before bed last night. Hearing this now, he immediately got up and started putting on his straw rain cape. He said to the puzzled Sun Zhaodi, “I’m going to find Second Brother and the others to go to Lu Nenghuo’s place. I’m afraid that old bastard might change his mind again and ask for more money! After all, we share the same surname. We can’t let him ruin the reputation of other girls in our Lu family.”
“You’re thinking ahead. Go quickly,” Sun Zhaodi nodded, watching him leave before asking Qi Shenshen for more details. Qi Shenshen lived closer to Chuncao’s family, so she knew more. After telling them, she went to Huang Chunfeng’s house.
Lu Guoguo was overjoyed. “That’s great! Chuncao can leave that family!”
“Yeah,” Sun Zhaodi also smiled.
Lu Zaiyang continued sitting to the side, weaving straw sandals. This time, Lu Guoguo hadn’t begged him to weave butterfly-knot sandals, but he had taken the initiative to weave a pair himself. After Lu Guoguo finished her excited celebration, he casually placed the sandals on the stool beside her.
Everyone in the family had different shoe sizes, and Lu Guoguo’s feet were the smallest. It was clear these sandals were woven for her.
Lu Guoguo held the sandals and gently touched them. “Thank you, brother.”
“Mm.”
Lu Zaiyang nodded slightly, picked out some usable straw, and continued weaving.
By the time Lu Laoba returned, it was almost noon.
Lu Guoguo had soaked some dried bamboo shoots and cut up some tofu. Lu Zaiyang had gone out and cut a large bunch of chives. For lunch, they had stir-fried dried bamboo shoots with tofu, chives stir-fried with eggs, and pickled vegetable and dried bamboo shoot soup.
During the meal, Lu Laoba talked about what happened when he and his brothers went to Third Uncle Tang ‘s house.
“That shameless old man really tried to change his mind on the spot and ask for another ten yuan. Second Brother hadn’t even made a move yet, but his own older brother did, nearly knocking his teeth out! Being hit by his own brother right in front of the groom’s family, Lu Nenghuo jumped up, but he was held down by me, Second Brother, and the others.”
“In the end, that extra ten yuan he tried to add didn’t count. They settled it according to the original terms. Afraid he might pull some other trick, Chuncao temporarily moved to her uncle’s house for a couple of days. The wedding will be held the day after tomorrow.”
Although the date was rushed, it was for Chuncao’s own good.
“How did he have the nerve to ask for more money again?”
Sun Zhaodi couldn’t understand it.
“Greed,” Lu Laoba cursed a few times. “It’s also because that young man went home, couldn’t bear to lose Chuncao, and borrowed from his own uncle to make up the amount. But Lu Nenghuo, seeing they could come up with the extra ten, thought they could come up with another sum, so he opened his mouth again.”
“Truly evil!”
Lu Guoguo took a bite of rice. “If neither daughter ever returns to their natal family in the future, how well can his life really be?”
“That’s exactly it. When parents behave like that, you can understand why the children aren’t filial. Take that couple over at Sanyan Gate, they beat and scolded their children from the time they were little. The husband and wife ate well and dressed well, while the kids all crowded together sleeping in the woodshed. Later, when the children grew up and the parents got old, not one of them was willing to support them. What do you call that? They brought it upon themselves!”
Lu Laoba shook his head.
This was the first time Lu Guoguo had heard this story. Still holding her bowl, she pressed for more. “What happened to them in the end?”
“The production team stepped in, built them two thatched huts, and made their sons deliver some grain every month,” Lu Zaiyang knew about this because the production team his mother had remarried into was over at Sanyan Gate.
Their mother-son relationship wasn’t the kind where they never spoke again. Lu Zaiyang visited his uncle’s family every year and also went to pay New Year’s respects at his birth mother’s place, treating it like relatives visiting each other.
**