8: Xiao Shi
Lu Guoguo happily returned home, first cleaning out the chicken coop, scooping a ladle of clean water into the stone trough, then going to the vegetable garden to pick some greens. After taking in the air-dried bedding, she started preparing dinner.
“Is anyone home?”
Just after she started cooking the mixed-grain rice, Lu Guoguo heard someone calling from outside.
She hurried out and saw a little boy standing at the courtyard gate. “It’s you. What’s up?”
This little boy was the youngest grandson of Lu Laoda. Lu Guoguo had no fondness for Lu Laoda’s family at all—she hadn’t liked them when reading the novel, let alone now that she was facing a flesh-and-blood of Lu Laoda.
The little boy gave her a disdainful look. He was quite spoiled at home, and because he was young, he didn’t work. Plus, Lu Laoba’s house was at one end of the village, while his family lived in the middle, so they were quite far apart. He hadn’t had much contact with the original owner.
But from listening to the adults at home, he knew the person before him was the “burden” brought along by his eighth granduncle’s wife.
“My grandpa said to tell Eighth Grandpa to come to our house tonight. He has something to say.”
The little boy stood with his hands on his hips, his eyes constantly wandering around the courtyard.
“Oh, got it,” Lu Guoguo replied, her expression very indifferent.
Don’t let this kid’s young age fool you—he showed no respect for Sun Zhaodi at all. Behind her back, he followed the adults in calling her an old vixen, and whenever he met Sun Zhaodi, he would secretly play tricks on her, like grabbing a handful of watery mud and smearing it on her back.
So, Lu Guoguo had no good feelings toward him.
The little boy stuck his tongue out at her, then turned his back, made a face, and even patted his buttocks while sticking his tongue out at her over his shoulder. Finally, as Lu Guoguo grabbed a shoulder pole to chase him off, he ran away shouting “burden” at her.
“Stinky brat!”
Lu Guoguo yelled.
“Burden!”
The little boy retorted, unwilling to back down. But in his triumph, his left foot tripped over his right, and he fell flat on the ground. Seeing this, Lu Guoguo burst into loud, gleeful laughter.
Feeling humiliated, the boy got up, spat a couple of times, and limped away, continuing to run.
By the time it was almost dark, Lu Laoba and the others had returned.
Lu Guoguo mentioned the message the little boy had relayed during dinner.
“Don’t pay it any mind. No matter what it is, if it’s about their family, our family shouldn’t get involved.”
Lu Laoba let out a cold snort.
“Okay.”
Lu Guoguo nodded.
Seeing the same look of disgust on Lu Zaiyang’s face as on Lu Laoba’s, she confirmed that the relationship between the two families really was very poor.
In the original story, it was only mentioned that after their parents died, Lu Laoda and his wife immediately divided up the younger brothers, forcing them out. Their sister was simply married off to whoever offered the highest bride price, with the couple taking the lion’s share. The brothers received only a pittance—not even enough to build a house. It was only when Lu Laoer and the other brothers came together that they managed to build houses for the brothers who had been kicked out.
Later, Lu Laoda’s family also clashed with the female lead, and of course, it didn’t end well for them.
Sun Zhaodi didn’t have any good feelings toward Lu Laoda’s family either. Who would like people who called her a vixen behind her back?
Lu Laoda waited and waited at home, but Lu Laoba never showed up. He grew furious. “This Laoba is getting more and more outrageous. His eldest brother invites him home, and he doesn’t even come!”
Hearing this, Lu Laoda’s wife scoffed. “So, he didn’t come. What’s the big deal? And you, why are you trying to arrange a match for that lazy girl anyway?”
“The person said they’d give us a twenty percent cut. The bride price is sixty yuan. Twenty percent—do you know how much that is? It’s just a matter of making an introduction. No matter how much Laoba likes that vixen, would he really care about that burden? He has Lu Zaiyang as a son, he definitely won’t value that stepdaughter!”
In Lu Laoda’s view, Lu Laoba would absolutely agree to this marriage proposal. That twenty percent cut was practically money delivered to their doorstep.
But who knew Lu Laoba wouldn’t even show up!
“Xiao Shi, are you sure you delivered the message?”
Seeing it getting later and later with no sign of Lu Laoba, Lu Laoda grew anxious and grabbed his little grandson to ask.
“I told the burden.”
Xiao Shi stated firmly.
“It must be that burden who didn’t tell Laoba!”
Lu Laoda’s wife believed she had found the reason.
“I’ll go myself!”
Lu Laoda stood up, about to take an oil lamp and go to Lu Laoba’s place, but Lu Laoda’s wife stopped him. “Can we bring this up in front of Sun Zhaodi? Just a few days ago, someone said a few words about her daughter behind her back, and she stood at her door cursing for half the day. If you go there to propose a marriage, she’ll definitely drive you out with a beating! This has to be discussed with Laoba alone.”
“You’re right. That woman is fierce,” Lu Laoda couldn’t understand why Laoba had been pining after such a ferocious woman for so many years.
Completely unaware that someone was scheming about her marriage prospects, Lu Guoguo had just finished bathing, dried her hair, and sat on the edge of her bed, checking her balance one more time before lying down contentedly to sleep.
Since arriving here, with no electronic devices to distract her, her days were fulfilling, she went to bed early, and her routine was incredibly regular.
The next morning, Lu Guoguo was awakened by the sound of water being poured in the yard. She sat up and gave a small yawn, then put on her clothes. With her hair still a messy tangle, she opened her bedroom door and saw Lu Zaiyang pouring water into the water vat.
“Brother, you’re up so early.”
Truly the diligent male lead.
Lu Zaiyang set down the wooden bucket and glanced at her, amused by her disheveled appearance. Before he could say anything, she told him to wait.
Lu Guoguo quickly combed her hair, washed up, then grabbed a small bucket. “I’ll go fetch water with you!”
[Today’s Task: Go with Lu Zaiyang to fetch a bucket of water and bring it home. Task Reward: Twenty cents.]
That’s weird. Getting a compliment from the male lead was worth fifty cents, but hauling a bucket of water from far away was only worth twenty cents?
Lu Guoguo internally cursed the system for being unreasonable but wore a sweet smile as she urged him, “Let’s go.”
Seeing she really wanted to go, Lu Zaiyang didn’t say anything else. “Let’s go.”
From their home to the water source took about fifteen minutes. Carrying water back, someone as robust as Lu Zaiyang still took fifteen minutes, but for someone like Lu Guoguo, it was closer to twenty-five.
The early spring morning was damp with moisture. It had rained the night before, and the air carried a faint scent of wet earth. Lu Guoguo followed behind Lu Zaiyang with her wooden bucket. Neither spoke, but the atmosphere wasn’t as awkward as when she first arrived.
When they reached the water source, Lu Zaiyang glanced at Lu Guoguo, who was carefully stepping across the stones. “Wait over there.”
Lu Guoguo immediately pulled her foot back and retreated.
The stones by the water source were covered in moss, and people who didn’t come here often could easily slip and fall. Lu Guoguo knew her limits and backed away without hesitation.
Hearing laughter behind her, Lu Guoguo didn’t turn around—her quick retreat had indeed been a bit too eager.
Soon, the person who had laughed at her walked past her, carrying a shoulder pole with buckets.
She glanced over and saw it was Yang, an educated youth from the educated youth dorm.
In the original story, he was a male cannon fodder character.
Remembering how he had taken the college entrance exam multiple times and failed, becoming one of those “left-behind” educated youths who stayed in the production team for years, Lu Guoguo was the one laughing this time.
Educated Youth Yang turned around in confusion to look at Lu Guoguo, who was suddenly laughing heartily.
In the next moment, Lu Zaiyang, holding half a bucket of water, stepped in front of him. “Educated Youth Yang?”
“Oh, I was just thinking it looks like it might rain again today. Maybe last night’s rain wasn’t enough,” Educated Youth Yang said, then turned around, set down his bucket, and began drawing water—it was his turn today.
Lu Zaiyang brought the half-bucket of water over to Lu Guoguo. She took it and waited for him to fill both his buckets and shoulder his carrying pole before she started walking ahead with her half bucket.
She walked a bit slowly, mainly because the half bucket was still quite heavy. Having grown up in the new century—though poor, she’d never done heavy manual labor—she was still slowly adapting since coming here.
Lu Guoguo didn’t want to spill the water, so she walked slowly but steadily.
She thought the person behind might get annoyed by her pace, but he remained silent the whole way.
While feeling relieved, Lu Guoguo gradually quickened her steps.
When they arrived home, voices were coming from the kitchen—Sun Zhaodi and the others.
Pouring the half bucket into the water vat didn’t complete the task, so Lu Guoguo went with Lu Zaiyang again. This time, at the water source, they ran into Xiao Shi and his two older brothers. The two brothers, about Lu Guoguo’s age, were carrying water, while Xiao Shi had just tagged along to play.
“Burden, you’re getting married! To a sickly guy! He he he he!”
Xiao Shi tossed this sentence at Lu Guoguo as he passed by and then ran off.
“What?”
Lu Guoguo was stunned. She turned around and shouted after him, “What do you mean?”
“Not telling you!”
Xiao Shi held a grudge. He had fallen yesterday because he was afraid the burden would hit him.
“What’s wrong?”
Lu Zaiyang, who had just given her another half bucket of water, asked in confusion.
“He said I’m going to marry a sickly guy,” Lu Guoguo felt very uneasy. “Yesterday he made me relay a message that they had something to discuss with Uncle. Could it be about my marriage? I don’t want to get married!”
Whether in her previous world or in this body, she wasn’t an adult yet!
Marriage? No way!
Lu Zaiyang’s face darkened. Xiao Shi and the others were already out of sight, but seeing Lu Guoguo’s troubled expression, he said softly, “Why panic? Would we let you marry a sickly guy? Besides, you’re still just a girl. What marriage?”
“Exactly! I’m still a kid!”
Lu Guoguo nodded hurriedly.
After pouring the water this time, Lu Guoguo didn’t even check the task interface. She ran into the kitchen and desperately tattled to the two adults.
Lu Laoba threw down the firewood in his hands, angrily called Lu Zaiyang, and headed straight to Lu Laoda’s house.
Sun Zhaodi was also furious. Looking at her pitiful daughter, she patted her head. “They’re daydreaming. Don’t be scared. Mom won’t let you get married so early. Even if you do marry someday, it’ll be to someone healthy!”
She herself had been forced by her parents to marry a sickly man. She would never let her daughter repeat that kind of dark, stifling life.
“I believe you, Mom, and Uncle, and Brother.”
Having someone to back her up felt incredibly good!
Lu Laoba kicked the courtyard gate of Lu Laoda’s house and bellowed, “You old fossil, what kind of scheme have you gotten involved in outside? You actually dare set your sights on my daughter? Come out! I’ll beat you to death!”
“What old fossil? I’m your eldest brother!”
Lu Laoda, nearly sixty-five, hid fearfully behind his sons.
“Pah! I only recognize Second Brother and the others. You’re not a brother worth shit!”
Lu Laoba spat, grabbed Xiao Shi, and before Lu Laoda and the others could react, swatted the boy’s buttocks twice.
Xiao Shi, suddenly hit, burst into loud wails. Lu Zaiyang blocked the men trying to rush forward to snatch him back, pinched Xiao Shi’s chin, and looked at him coldly. “Repeat what you just said at the water source. Otherwise, after my dad finishes with you, I’ll give you another beating—one that will break your butt.”
Xiao Shi was terrified. He was already afraid of Lu Zaiyang, so between sobs, he repeated what he had said to Lu Guoguo.
Lu Laoda: …
Seeing the grim expressions on Lu Laoba and his son’s faces, Lu Laoda stammered, “The child’s just talking nonsense! How can you listen to a child’s words? Let him go, let’s sit down and talk this through properly.”
**