The father and son, Liu Quanyan and Liu Qing, worked together to encourage Grandma Liu to severe relations. They did not want to share the eight hundred taels of silver with Liu Quanfu and his wife.
And so, Grandma Liu really did agree, unexpectedly. All of them went over to the village chief to separate their household registration. They stamped their signatures on the documents for severing ties and took it over to the government office to get an official seal so it would take effect.
After lunch, Liu Quanfu took the documents the village chief had given them and went to the government office in town to get an official seal.
Liu Qing and his dad already had already gone to town while the others were finding the village chief.
Grandma Liu still hadn’t realized her purse was gone. She started preparing a meal right after she returned. Liu Liushi had already stopped taking her instructions and wasn’t doing any chores.
On the other side, Liu Duo had just finished lunch and, enduring her afternoon tiredness, brought Liu Ran, Ye Liu, and the others to town.
“Ran Er, I’m going to get some shut-eye for a while, so wake me up when we arrive in town.” The trotting rhythms of the ox-cart brought back the drowsiness she was suppressing.
Liu Ran nodded very obediently. “Okay, sister you go ahead and sleep.”
When Ye Liu, who was driving the ox-cart, heard her, he said to Ye Mo, “Mo, let Little Duo lean against you, or else she might fall.”
Ye Mo nodded. He stretched his hands, held Liu Duo’s shoulders and asked her to lean against him. “You sleep so much in a day!”
Liu Duo heard him, looked at him, and didn’t reply. She closed her eyes to rest for a while.
Liu Ran cast a glance at him and muttered softly, “Can’t my sister sleep if she is tired?”
Although he spoke very softly, Ye Mo still heard him. He also cast a glance at Liu Ran.
Li Wazi sat at the side and watched Ye Mo as he carefully held Liu Duo to prevent her from falling. He scooted over and whispered softly into Ye Mo’s year, “Mo, have you and sister-in-law consummated your marriage yet?”
“What?!” He stared at him very angrily and also replied very quietly.
The two of them shifted positions so they could talk privately away from Liu Ran.
“It’s nothing. I’m just asking out of concern. So have you done it?”
“I did it!”
The black-faced Ye Mo bit down on his teeth and spoke.
It would be too embarrassing to admit again that they hadn’t consummated their marriage yet!
Li Wazi became very excited when he heard him. “Really?”
Due to his excitement, Li Wazi didn’t properly control his volume. Ye Mo immediately rebuked him with a stare that said, Why are you being so loud?
He lowered his head and saw Liu Duo was just frowning. She didn’t look like she had been woken up by the noise, so he let out a sigh.
Liu Ran looked at the two of them muttering and occasionally looked at Liu Duo. “Uncle Li, what are you guys talking about? Don’t wake my sister up.”
“I’m not talking about anything with your Brother Mo. You should sit tight so you don’t fall.” Li Wazi shifted his position nearer to Liu Ran again and spoke to him with a smile.
Liu Ran knew they didn’t want to tell him, so he didn’t ask anymore. He just sat quietly and looked ahead.
When they reached the town, they delivered the bamboo shoots to the restaurants and then went to the government office to get the official seal to transfer Liu Ran’s household registration to theirs.
Liu Duo, however, took Liu Ran to walk around and didn’t follow them to the government office.
“Ran Er, do you want to get a sugar person made?” Liu Duo saw him staring at a sugar person, so she brought him closer.
“Can I?”
“Of course you can.” Liu Duo then said to the vendor, “Boss, make a sugar person for my brother.”
The vendor asked Liu Ran what he wanted and then made it with his skilled movements and handed it over. Liu Duo paid him and walked away.
“Ran Er, why aren’t you eating it? Why do you keep looking at it?”
Liu Duo saw him holding it instead of eating it and felt puzzled.
Liu Ran smiled and said, “I can’t bear to eat it. I feel like eating it is such a waste.”
This was the first time she had seen him smile since they left the village chief.