As Lu Yuanxing walked along, he suddenly realized that Li Susu was no longer beside him.
He turned around and saw Li Susu standing there, her cheeks flushed, her eyes bright and her features delicate. She looked like peach blossoms blooming in the third month of spring, yet also like the blazing midday sun.
In that instant, a wave of warmth surged into Lu Yuanxing’s heart.
Wave after wave, the heat swept through him, leaving him restless and agitated.
At that moment, Li Susu was still savoring the memories in her mind of the original owner’s wild and passionate encounters with Lu Yuanxing.
She couldn’t help marveling inwardly.
Lu Yuanxing’s physique is absolutely incredible.
That girl really knew how to enjoy herself. And she certainly had good taste!
Just as she was thoroughly enjoying her thoughts, she suddenly sensed someone staring directly at her.
Li Susu looked up and saw that Lu Yuanxing seemed to be looking at her with a hint of ambiguity in his eyes.
Her heart skipped a beat.
What does Lu Yuanxing mean by that?
Could he actually be interested in me?
Before she could think any further, Lu Yuanxing’s cool voice rang out.
“What are you dawdling for? If you don’t walk faster, it’ll be dark before we even make it back to the village!”
Fine.
She had been overthinking it.
Li Susu immediately banished all those random thoughts from her mind and quickened her pace, jogging toward Lu Yuanxing.
Seeing her run, Lu Yuanxing frowned. He sounded slightly reproachful as he said, “You’re pregnant. Don’t run so fast!”
Li Susu was practically speechless.
He was the one telling her to hurry, and now he was telling her not to hurry.
Men really are fickle.
After catching up with Lu Yuanxing, the two continued walking in silence. By the time they reached Liu Village, it still wasn’t dark.
Lu Yuanxing carried the eggs and pork into Li Susu’s room. Just as he turned around to leave, Li Susu hurriedly grabbed his arm.
Lu Yuanxing looked down at her hand, his handsome brows immediately drawing together.
Seeing his expression, Li Susu quickly let go.
“Um… I bought a little too much. Take these eggs back with you. There are more people in your family, so you can share them. I’ll keep two pounds of the pork belly, and you can take the pork leg and the pig’s trotter too.”
Lu Yuanxing looked down.
There were at least fifty or sixty eggs in the basket, with a slab of pork belly and a pig’s trotter on top.
He quickly waved his hand and refused.
“You’re pregnant. I can’t take these things.”
Li Susu didn’t give him a chance to refuse.
“It’s so hot these days. There’s no way I can finish all this by myself. Everyone can share it. When I’ve eaten it all, you can help me buy more next time, okay?”
Her tone was casual, almost as though she were joking.
Without realizing it, Lu Yuanxing relaxed as well.
Thinking that Li Susu indeed couldn’t possibly finish all of it by herself, he stopped being so polite.
“Fine. When you’ve eaten everything, I’ll get you more next time. Actually, now that you’re pregnant, I should be the one paying for these things. It’s just that…”
Before he could finish, Li Susu interrupted him.
“What’s the big deal? This child is mine too. Naturally, I have a responsibility to make sure he gets enough nutrition!”
There was actually a hidden motive behind Li Susu’s words.
After all, whether there was really a child in her belly was another matter entirely.
She had bought all these things for two reasons. First, she wanted to satisfy her own appetite. Second, she wanted to use these seemingly insignificant favors to slowly weaken Lu Yuanxing and his family’s defenses against her.
That would make it easier for her to survive in the future.
Lu Yuanxing had no idea what she was really thinking. He only felt that today’s Li Susu was very different from before.
He said nothing more, simply thanking her before picking up the things and leaving.
Just before he walked away, he seemed to remember something and turned back.
“My family will soon be moving out of the cowshed and into the abandoned house that used to belong to Landlord Zhang. It’ll be closer to your place then, and it’ll also be more convenient for me to look after you.”
Li Susu nodded.
Good.
Lu Yuanxing hadn’t asked her to move in with his family.
That made her feel much freer.
After Lu Yuanxing left, Li Susu immediately went into the kitchen and began preparing to make braised pork.
She had been craving braised pork for a very, very long time.
Li Susu glanced around the kitchen and nearly collapsed on the spot.
This huge wood-burning stove… How am I supposed to cook with this?
She even had to chop and burn firewood to start the fire!
So I’m supposed to tend the fire and cook at the same time?
For someone accustomed to cooking with a gas stove, this was genuinely difficult.
Li Susu searched through the original owner’s memories, trying to recall how she used to cook.
But there wasn’t a single scene of the original owner actually cooking.
Instead, she saw Xu Mei starting the fire and cooking, while the original owner’s only responsibility had been adding firewood.
Well…
The original owner was even more useless than she was.
At least Li Susu knew how to cook.
She stared helplessly at the slab of pork belly.
After thinking for a moment, she decided she would have to ask someone for help.
She walked over to the female educated youths’ residence next door.
Everyone was happily eating dinner and chatting.
When Li Susu approached, everyone acted as though they hadn’t seen her and continued eating and talking.
She felt a little awkward.
After thinking for a moment, she pointed at one of the female educated youths.
“Lin Jing, could you help me start a fire?”
Li Susu had chosen Lin Jing because, according to the original owner’s memories, Lin Jing was not only hardworking and practical but also warmhearted. Most importantly, she had no personal conflict with the original owner.
Cai Xiaoli, who was sitting nearby, immediately rolled her eyes unhappily.
“Can’t you see Lin Jing is eating? It’s just starting a fire. Don’t you have hands of your own?”
Li Susu looked at Cai Xiaoli, who was staring at her with obvious disdain.
Memories of the original owner mocking Cai Xiaoli immediately surfaced in her mind.
When the original owner had first arrived in the countryside, she had been extremely arrogant and looked down on everyone at the educated youths’ residence.
She especially disliked Cai Xiaoli.
Cai Xiaoli was fairly pretty, knew how to get along with people, and was well-liked by everyone. The original owner was extremely jealous of her and had repeatedly badmouthed her, both openly and behind her back.
Unfortunately, every single one of those remarks had eventually reached Cai Xiaoli’s ears.
Naturally, Cai Xiaoli had no good feelings toward the original owner either.
Whenever the two met, they were practically like needles against wheat.
Faced with Cai Xiaoli’s sarcasm, Li Susu simply said, “I wasn’t talking to you. I was asking Comrade Lin Jing. Please don’t interrupt.”
Cai Xiaoli was embarrassed by her words.
She was just about to say something in her own defense when Lin Jing spoke up.
“Comrade Li, wait a moment. I’ll come over and help you start the fire after I finish eating.”
Hearing Lin Jing’s answer, Li Susu smiled warmly.
“Okay. Thank you, Comrade Lin!”
With that, she returned to her room.
Seeing that Lin Jing had agreed, Cai Xiaoli looked displeased.
“Comrade Lin, why did you agree to help Li Susu? Doesn’t she look down on us educated youths? Why should she come asking us for help? Hmph!”
Lin Jing hurriedly said, “It’s rare for her to ask us for help. We all live here together, and we see each other every day. Helping her out isn’t a big deal.”
Cai Xiaoli snorted.
“She only asked you because Xu Mei went to town to see a doctor today and couldn’t cook for her. She thinks you’re honest and easy to take advantage of!”
“Xu Mei went to see a doctor, and she didn’t even bother checking on her!”
“She really knows how to use people when she needs them and ignore them afterward!”
“And there’s something else. When I came back to get something today, I saw that Lu Yuanxing, the educated youth who was sent down here, had brought several comrades wearing red armbands to see Li Susu. I have no idea what it was about!”
As soon as she said this, everyone fell silent.
Lin Jing said, “The Lu family really has had terrible luck. They were just about to return to the city, but something went wrong at the critical moment. I heard they’ll have to stay in the village for a while longer. Who knows when they’ll finally be able to go back.”
Cai Xiaoli sneered.
“I’ve noticed that Li Susu has been acting suspiciously lately. I’d say Lu Yuanxing’s trouble has something to do with her!”
The team leader of the educated youths’ residence, Wang Xue, quickly raised a finger to her lips, signaling everyone to keep quiet.
“Don’t say things like that without evidence. Let’s just pretend we don’t know anything.”
At that moment, Lin Jing had finished eating and was preparing to go help Li Susu start the fire.
Just then, Ma Bowen returned with Xu Mei.
Xu Mei’s entire body was covered in small red bumps, and she was constantly scratching her arms and legs.