3: Doig the task
Lu Laoba ran into Lu Zaiyang carrying firewood on his way home.
Father and son walked back together, chatting.
After stacking the firewood, Lu Zaiyang entered the courtyard. Seeing Sun Zhaodi had already scooped a bucket of fresh water and placed it by the water vat, he went over. Lu Laoba was washing his face and hands there.
“The food is ready. Wash up and come eat soon,” Sun Zhaodi said, smiling as she carried bowls and chopsticks into the main room.
Lu Zaiyang acknowledged her. Her mood seemed quite good.
Almost instinctively, Lu Zaiyang glanced at Lu Laoba beside him. Lu Laoba met his gaze, baffled. “What’s wrong?”
“…Nothing.”
Lu Zaiyang shook his head.
In the main room stood a square wooden table. With only four people in the household, each could sit on one side.
Lu Guoguo had Lu Laoba on her left and Sun Zhaodi on her right, facing Lu Zaiyang across the table.
As the male lead in the novel, Lu Zaiyang’s appearance was naturally quite good. He wasn’t the overly skinny type. While eating, he rolled up his sleeves, revealing nicely defined, well-muscled arms. His skin was slightly tanned, with handsome, clear-cut features. Especially his eyes—Lu Guoguo didn’t dare look directly at him.
She stole a glance at Lu Laoba on her left.
Just like in the book, he was a tall, burly man with a dark complexion—a robust fellow with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and an air of integrity.
Noticing her stealing glances at him, Lu Laoba gave her a friendly smile.
Lu Guoguo instinctively smiled back, then immediately buried her head in her food.
But this action greatly surprised Lu Laoba, who had rarely received any friendly looks from the original owner. He looked across the table at Sun Zhaodi, who gave him a silent smile.
The couple shared a good understanding. Seeing her slightly reddened eyes and gentle smile, Lu Laoba guessed most of what had happened. It seemed the child had accepted him. Remembering tomorrow was market day, Lu Laoba cleared his throat lightly and said to Lu Guoguo with a smile,
“Guoguo, go to the meat packing plant tomorrow and buy two jin of fatty pork.”
Not having to work and going to town for the market—this was excellent treatment.
But Lu Guoguo recalled they had just eaten meat a few days ago, and the family wasn’t particularly well-off. In these times, buying meat required meat ration coupons. Buying it with just money was much more expensive and not cost-effective at all. The original owner wouldn’t have thought twice about it; eating meat would have thrilled her.
She looked at Sun Zhaodi on her right.
Understanding what her look meant, Sun Zhaodi shook her head at Lu Laoba. “It’s only been a few days. Let’s wait a bit longer.”
“Right,” Lu Guoguo nodded.
Lu Zaiyang, who had been focused on his meal, raised his eyes in slight surprise. After all, since this sister had joined the household, she had practically wanted to eat meat every day, spending a large portion of the family’s meat ration coupons.
“Let’s stir-fry a few eggs tonight,” Sun Zhaodi said, her smile growing even more gratified seeing Lu Guoguo’s nod.
“The two hens at home have been laying quite a few eggs lately. Let’s stir-fry a few more. Zaiyang and Guoguo are young; nourishing them might even help them grow a bit taller.”
Seeing the situation, Lu Laoba said this.
Hearing this, Lu Zaiyang choked slightly. “Dad, I’m already twenty.”
Yeah, at nearly six feet two inches (approx. 1.9 meters), was he really going to grow any taller at twenty?
Although she thought this, Lu Guoguo didn’t speak, nor did she raise her head. She was afraid to make eye contact with the male lead. It would made her nervous.
“What’s wrong with twenty?” Sun Zhaodi laughed. “Take your Uncle Lin’s third son, for example. Didn’t he suddenly shoot up in height when he was nineteen?”
“Your Auntie Sun is right,” Lu Laoba agreed wholeheartedly. “You are quite tall, but you’re too thin.”
Lu Zaiyang wanted to say that you only saw a few plump people even in the county town, but as the words reached his lips, he noticed Lu Guoguo across the table practically trying to bury her face in her bowl.
Noticing that she hadn’t glanced at him even once today, Lu Zaiyang felt much more at ease, yet also found her behavior a bit strange. Still, no matter how strange, it was better than being stared at like a wolf.
Lu Zaiyang knew how difficult it had been for Sun Zhaodi and his father to finally get together, so he didn’t want to cause everyone unhappiness over trivial matters.
But then he thought of the sleeveless undershirt he had been searching for, for days. He glanced again at the lowered head across the table. Where on earth could it be?
Feeling the male lead’s gaze, Lu Guoguo dared not lift her head even more.
The household only had salt and soy sauce as seasonings. It wasn’t possible to make things exceptionally delicious. Moreover, the mixed-grain vegetable porridge was rather rough on the throat, but Lu Guoguo still ate everything in her bowl clean. She wasn’t an ungrateful girl. Although she hadn’t gone hungry in the orphanage, she knew food was precious in this era.
After the meal, Lu Laoba helped wash the dishes. Lu Zaiyang wiped the table, then checked the water vat. Seeing it was only a little over half full, he directly took a shoulder pole and wooden buckets and went out.
People in the production team fetched water from a small pond to drink.
Lu Laoba and Sun Zhaodi were in the kitchen. Lu Guoguo, being perceptive, didn’t go in. After leaving the main room and not seeing Lu Zaiyang, she assumed the diligent bee had gone to gather more firewood.
So, she flipped through the clothes on the bamboo poles again to air them out. Thinking about the tension of sharing a meal table with the male lead, Lu Guoguo sat on the small wooden stool, somewhat troubled.
But upon careful reflection, she felt there wasn’t much to be afraid of. The original owner hadn’t committed all those wrongdoings yet. At present, she was just a bit lazy and, ahem, had stolen one of the male lead’s undershirts.
Thinking of that undershirt, Lu Guoguo got up, returned to her room, closed the door securely, and from beneath the wooden bed, within a layer of dry straw, she pulled out a man’s sleeveless undershirt.
How should she return it?
Lu Guoguo pursed her lips. If she simply left it in the male lead’s room, he would definitely become suspicious. After all, it had been missing for several days. If it suddenly reappeared in his room, it could only mean someone in the household had taken it.
“Guoguo, we’re going to the Lin family.”
Sun Zhaodi’s voice came from outside the door.
Lu Guoguo quickly stuffed the undershirt back and called out loudly, “Okay!”
Remembering she needed to become “gradually” more diligent, she added, “I’ll cook dinner tonight!”
“Alright,” Sun Zhaodi replied, beaming as she glanced at Lu Laoba beside her. Both wore broad smiles as they left the courtyard.
“Really happy,” Lu Laoba said.
“Me too,” Sun Zhaodi nodded.
Lu Guoguo only opened her door after their footsteps had faded into the distance.
Considering she was alone in the house, Lu Guoguo simply moved the small wooden stool from the courtyard to her doorway and sat down. Then she summoned the task panel. Seeing the task was still in red text, Lu Guoguo, skeptical, stared at it a few more times.
Then she silently chanted refresh task in her mind, hoping desperately for the task to change.
But there was no change on the panel.
“Sigh.”
Life is hard, Guoguo sighs.
Lu Guoguo cupped her cheeks in her hands, watching the clothes on the bamboo poles swaying in the breeze in the courtyard as her thoughts gradually drifted far away. But soon she rallied her spirits and summoned the task panel again. Just as she wondered why she only saw the task and not the reward, a line of blue text appeared below the line of red text.
Task Reward: One domestic rabbit, five jin three liang.
Task Progress: 0
Lu Guoguo stared at the “five jin three liang domestic rabbit” and swallowed her saliva—disgracefully.
In her original world, she wasn’t wealthy either. An orphan, although her tuition was covered by poverty assistance, living expenses still depended on herself, so Lu Guoguo was naturally the frugal type.
Sometimes eating only three steamed buns a day wasn’t uncommon.
And in 1975, with its scarcity of goods, normally in the countryside, eating meat once every three to five months was standard. But the original owner was gluttonous. After arriving at the Lu household and sensing Lu Laoba was trying to please her, she practically wanted meat every other day. Counting back, it had been five days since they last had meat. When Lu Laoba mentioned buying meat earlier, she found the vegetable porridge and boiled greens nearly inedible.
Lu Guoguo wiped the corner of her mouth, feeling as if drool was about to escape.
She immediately closed the task panel, her small face turning serious as she looked toward the door on the other side of the main room. It was just stealing a pair of pants, right? Even if it was stealing the male lead’s underpants, she could do it!
Anyway, Lu Zaiyang wasn’t home.
Lu Guoguo decided to act immediately. She first went to bolt the courtyard gate.
Then, like a thief, she approached Lu Zaiyang’s room door. Giving it a gentle push, the wicker door opened.
She slipped into his room and first looked around. The layout was similar to her own room: a bamboo-plank bed with an old wooden cabinet beside it.
Lu Guoguo intended to open the wooden cabinet to find a pair of pants, but upon opening it, she found only a thick quilt and a few winter cotton garments inside.
Cotton pants were too conspicuous, not easy to take.
Lu Guoguo could only close the cabinet and look toward the bed. Spotting two folded garments at the foot of the bed, she went over and picked up a pair of black spring pants. Just as she hugged the pants and prepared to leave, she caught a glimpse of a figure silently standing in the doorway behind her!
Lu Guoguo’s heart panicked, her hands trembled. Finally, under Lu Zaiyang’s deeply dark gaze, she plopped down on the floor, then started rummaging in her pocket. She pulled out a threaded needle and began sewing up a small hole in the pants.
“Brother shouldn’t wear pants with holes in them. They need mending!”
Lu Zaiyang, who had returned carrying water only to find the gate bolted, had to climb over the wall only to discover someone in his room: “……?”
The hole in Lu Zaiyang’s pants was very small. No matter how slowly Lu Guoguo worked, it took only a few minutes to mend it.
She had to grit her teeth, turn her back to Lu Zaiyang, fold the pants neatly, and place them back. Then, pretending to know nothing, she started walking out, only to be “startled” by Lu Zaiyang standing at the door. “Brother, you’re back? Don’t misunderstand, I just wanted to mend the hole in your pants. Really!”
Lu Guoguo waved the needle and thread in her hand, then pointed softly at the folded pants by the bed.
Lu Zaiyang was somewhat skeptical, but it wasn’t appropriate to say much now. “Don’t enter my room without my permission in the future.”
“Okay, there won’t be a next time,” Lu Guoguo quickly slipped past him back to her own room.
She leaned against the door, panting heavily.
Being caught red-handed by the owner while acting as a thief! This was yet another socially disastrous situation!
Lu Guoguo, who never imagined that having just narrowly avoided one socially disastrous scene in the morning, she would face another one in the afternoon, felt like she could dig out an entire castle with her toes.
**