CH 42

May 20 2022

The busyness of spring ploughing did not last long. It was lively, and the farming season came and went quickly. The work in the hands of the farmers also became easier. They usually just went to the field to look at the crops and took care of the vegetable seedlings. There was a lot of rain in the spring, and the soils were fresh and tender. The crops were slowly growing. Please read this on h olo lo no vels, otherwise, there will be spoilers embedded throughout the chapter.

Lin Fangliang went back to town after helping the Xie family with the farm work. He had been out for several days. There was only his father, the old Doctor Lin, at home, and he was not at ease. Although he was engaged with farm work these days, he often made excuses to talk to Brother Xie and try to get along with him, making him so busy that he had no time to go to the back mountain to collect herbs. Before leaving, Brother Xie gave Lin Fangliang a pair of straw sandals. Well actually, it was Lin Fangliang who saw Brother Xie making it and asked for it specially, but still, He was very happy, and with reluctance and longing, he went back. If you’re not reading this on h ol olo no vels, the ending might be missing.

In the Xu family’s yard, the chickens occasionally made a “chirp” sound, and the piglet in the pigpen also echoed a few times from time to time, making the original two-person yard full of farmhouse characteristics. Old man Chen put the hoe away, listened to his wife’s words, and looked at the room where Chen Hong lived, “Xiaohong hasn’t come out yet?”

Li Changfeng was making the wardrobe that Wei Lao Er wanted, Xu Qing was sitting on the side and earnestly making straw sandals. He has made three pairs of sandals in the past few days. Li Changfeng is now wearing a pair of straw sandals made by Xu Qing.

“Do you suppose our chickens will be ready to eat any time soon?” Xu Qing has already started to think of his own chickens that have only grown up a little. He hasn’t eaten chicken for a long time, and he sees a group of little chickens in front of him every day walking around made him think more and more about chicken dishes.

Li Changfeng pushed away a lump on the wooden board and replied: “Okay, these fifteen chickens are all red-hot!”

“But, I also want to eat eggs!” Xu Qing thought of the steamed golden egg custard, sprinkled with chopped green onion, God, just thinking about it makes his mouth water. Chen A-Mei was so angry, “Not only him, but even Chen Qi and his wife are gone! What time has this happened, and the two of them are still arguing, it’s a bit of a worry!”

This made it difficult for Li Changfeng to continue. These chickens are so small, it is still a long way before they could lay eggs. It seems that Xu Qing wants to eat eggs, and he has to go and see who has some for sale.

“Knock! Knock!”

“Is anyone there?”

Xu Qing put down the half-finished straw sandals in his hand and patted the dust on his body, “Coming!” He was not very familiar with this voice. After Xu Qing poured the thin stack of pig food to the piglet, he looked at the fifteen chickens jumping around in the chicken coop, and suddenly found that one of them was a little sullen.

“Hello Xiao Qing!” Xia Yu, carrying a basket and with a bright smile on his face, called out to Xu Qing who opened the courtyard door.

(T/N: ‘Xiao’ is an endearment term you use in front of a name of someone you’re familiar with.)

This title made Xu Qinglei a little bit, making him inexplicably think of the little green snake in *Bai Suzhen! “Who are you?” It was understandable that Xu Qing didn’t know who the guest was, the original owner didn’t interact with many people and he himself was new to this place.

*(T/N: Bai Suzhen, also known as Lady Bai, is a mythological figure in Chinese folk religion. She is a one-thousand-year-old white snake spirit and the title character of the Legend of the White Snake, one of China’s “four great folktales”. Source: Wikipedia).

Xia Yu didn’t mind, and introduced himself with a smile, “I’m from the Xia family, my name is Xia Yu!”

Xia family? Oh! Li Zheng’s home! Xu Qing reacted immediately, and this is the village where they have this surname, “Come in, our house is a little messy, makes you laugh.”

Seeing that Xia Yu had not entered the courtyard, Xu Qing began to look around, thinking that the guest had seen something he threw when he was making straw sandals.

Xia Yu hurriedly shook his head, “No! No! Oh, by the way, this is the handkerchief I embroidered myself, for you!”

Xu Qing watched Xia Yu take out a few handkerchiefs from the basket and hand them to him. Xu Qing didn’t know how to react at this time. He and Xia Yu could be said to have no intersection at all. What wrong medicine did this person take?

“Not coming in? What are you doing standing at the gate of the courtyard?” Li Changfeng shouted loudly without seeing Xu Qing come in for a long time.

“Com, come! Come inside, this is not the place to talk.” “Changfeng, this is Zeng Ame from the village. The family also does woodwork.”

The sun was just right today, it was warm, but not hot. It was very comfortable. Xia Yu and Xu Qing sat in the yard, facing each other, a little embarrassed.

“Cough! Do you have anything to do with me? Let’s be honest, we’re both from the same village, what’s the matter?” Xia Yu saw Xu Qing motioned to the basket, and immediately his face became a little hot – he came to someone’s house he’s never been to just like that.

“It’s like this, I heard Wei Ama said that you can make spiny fish, so I want to come and learn.” At first, Xia Yu didn’t believe that spiny fish can be made into delicious dishes, but many people in the village said so. He didn’t trust their words, so he thought to come and learn from Xu Qing. After all, it was Xu Qing who first spread the method of prepping the spiny fish. Xu Qing looked at the pine wood in front of Zeng Amo, and thought about it. Uncle Zeng from Zeng Amo’s family was a woodworker, and he thought he came to the mountain to find wood.

Xu Qing did not expect that the purpose of Xia Yu’s visit was actually to learn how to cook fish, “I see, that’s not a problem. I’ll tell you, and you can ask me if you don’t understand anything.”

Li Changfeng listened to Xu Qing carefully explaining the steps to cook the spiny fish, and the voice made him inexplicably fascinated. He raised his head and saw Xu Qing’s smiling face, which moved his heart, his wife is indeed the best!

“Understood? Any other questions?” “How can you! Why don’t you stop and chat with Brother Qing and the others!” Xia Yu let Uncle Zeng take the things in his hand.

Xia Yu nodded immediately, “Understood, Brother Xiaoqing, you are really amazing, you even thought of this method.”

Xu Qing thought that he would be happier if he wasn’t called Brother Xiaoqing, “You can call me Xu Qing, or Brother Qing.”

Xia Yu didn’t think much, he thought Xu Qing just didn’t like it, so he changed his words immediately: “Brother Qing! I understand!”

Children can be taught, Xu Qing is more and more satisfied with his teaching ability, “Brother Qing, do you know the young Doctor Lin?” Xia Yu asked Xu Qing in a low voice cautiously. Xia Yu has only two brothers in total, both of them are married, and there are only husband and wife in the family.

When Li Changfeng heard this, he didn’t have to wonder what was going on. When Lin Fangliang left, he broke the heart of an unmarried ger! Finally, a man from the town came to the village, why did he leave without staying for a few days! Now several gers in the village have caught a “cold”, and they all like to go to Lin Fangliang’s clinic to “see a doctor!”

“Uh, yes, my family’s Changfeng and the young Dr. Lin are good brothers, what’s wrong?” He didn’t know that Lin Fangliang was really good, the little gers even have come to them to ask about him.

Xia Yu bit his lip, “No, I just heard that *Dr. Lin Xiao from the town came to our village a few days ago, and I wondered why he wanted to come to our place and help with farm work.”

*(T/N: Dr. Lin Xiao = the young/little doctor Lin. I’ll leave it as this from now on).

Xu Qing can’t just speak the truth. He can’t say that Lin Fangliang came with a purpose. “As a doctor, he thinks differently from us. This is also a common thing.”

Xia Yu saw that he couldn’t pry any useful information from Xu Qing’s mouth, so he said goodbye and left after sitting for a while. Looking at the back of Xia Yu and the others leaving, Li Changfeng looked at Xu Qing thoughtfully, “Do you really want to go to their house?”

“Tsk tsk, my brother Xie Yu has a rival in love!” Xu Qing was keenly aware of Xia Yu’s hidden agenda and began to worry for Xie Yu. This time it was Li Changfeng’s turn to be puzzled, “They haven’t even acquainted yet, what love rival?”

Xu Qing closed the courtyard door and began to work on the things in his hand again, “I just have a feeling…”

“Knock! Knock!”

“Is anyone home? It’s me, Chen Qi!”

Before Xu Qing could finish speaking, the courtyard door was knocked again.

“Chen Qi! His visit must be definitely about his little brother!” Xu Qing asked Li Changfeng, who was resting, to go open the door, while he packed the mess from making the straw sandals and got ready to make lunch. Chen Qi came from another village, he couldn’t let the guest leave with an empty stomach.

“Changfeng.”

“What’s wrong with you!” As soon as Li Changfeng opened the door, he saw the tired face of Chen Qi, whom he had not seen for a few days, with a wry smile on his face, “Come in.”

Xu Qing put the tea on the table in the main room and was also surprised by Chen Qi’s state. He remembered that this person, like Uncle Xie, was smiling and straight-talking all day. Obviously, something’s going on in his heart, “I’m going to cook, you guys talk.” The Chen family and the Ma family broke off their engagement, but Chen Hong insisted on marrying Ma Fugui.

Li Changfeng pulled the stool and sat opposite Chen Qi, “Tell me, what’s going on? Make it into this virtue!”

Chen Qi rubbed his face vigorously with both hands, “After you told me about Ma Fugui that day, I went back and told my family. They were also surprised. They didn’t believe it at first, but they went to town by themselves. I also secretly inquired about it, and that bastard really lied to us! So, I found the Ma family that night and wanted to break off the marriage, who knows…”.

Who knows why the Ma family refused to agree to break off the marriage, and even called Ma Fugui’s cousin who was working in the yamen in the middle of the night, saying that the Chen family is not allowed to speak up, and if this was placed in the yamen, they would be punished.

“Tried to bully us as peasants and thought we don’t understand the affairs of the yamen. In order to prevent Chen Hong from marrying that kind of person, it took us a lot of effort to make the Ma family let go and cancel the matter.”

Li Changfeng felt that this matter was not that simple. If it was cancelled like this, Chen Qi would not be what it is now. “And later they regretted it?” It was already noon now, and there were smoke from the cooking on the roofs of the farmers’ houses, but the Chen family had a cold pot and a cold stove.

Chen Qi shook his head wearily, “I still can’t believe that until now, Xiao Hong still wants to marry Ma Fugui, you say, what’s with that?! It took us a lot of effort to let the Ma family cancel from their side. But this little kid, he … alas!”

Because Chen Hong still insisted on marrying Ma Fugui, the Chen family was in a tough place. They did their best to get the Ma family to withdraw from the engagement, but this Chen Hong has made a mess again knowing what the other party was like.

The Chen family was not worried about Chen Hong marrying in the past. But now that they finally let the Ma family retreat, Chen Hong insisted on marrying Ma Fugui, and wouldn’t it cause a backlash! The Chen family strongly opposed and now, Chen Hong is angry at home, saying that if he doesn’t marry this rich horse, he will not marry anyone in the future!

“I’m really going crazy these days. Tell me, what the hell is Xiao Hong thinking! He didn’t have this kind of attitude before!” Chen Qi really couldn’t understand why Chen Hong made such a decision, and, because the source of Ma Fugui’s divorce was because the ex-wife couldn’t give birth, it also caused Chen Qi’s wife to be in a low mood these days.

“Did you talk to the Ma family later?” Li Changfeng frowned. He didn’t expect that things would turn out like this because of Chen Hong. In his memory, Chen Hong was not the kind of person who would say that if he couldn’t marry Ma Fugui, he won’t even get married.

Chen Qi shook his head, “How could it be possible to go to their door to talk about this matter? We insisted on dissolving the marriage, so we retreated and later went to the door to beg. Isn’t this a slap in the face?!” Chen Hong was sitting in the room, with a gorgeous red robe in front of him, his slender fingers dexterously moving in the red robe, his eyebrows were calm.

And even if the Ma family agrees, but Chen Hong wouldn’t have a good time in the future because their Chen family initially broke off the engagement.

Li Changfeng nodded, this matter is really difficult to handle, but it is about the Chen family’s affairs, and he can’t help directly, “So what are you here for today?”

“To thank you for telling me about Ma Fugui. Last time I left in a hurry, I didn’t have time to thank you. Besides, it’s too depressing at home, so I came out to breathe.” The eldest brother said that this was what Li Changfeng told him. Then, Brother Changfeng will tell the eldest brother this matter. Is it in his heart that he still has some positions.

Chen Qi’s wife has not talked to Chen Qi very much these days, and his communication with the Chen family has become less and less. Chen Qi is busy with Chen Hong’s affairs, and has not paid much attention to the reaction of his wife. He wanted to communicate with his wife, but unexpectedly, “My wife returned to my father-in-law’s house this morning. I went to find him, but my father-in-law told him to stay at home for a few days, and there was nothing I could do, so I left.”

The Translator has something to say: Really, a lot of things going on, and I’m in no mood to do anything, including translating. On the side note, I am now rooting for Chen Hong and Ma Poopgui, two stupid people will make a great stupid couple lol.

Thank you to all those caring readers who commented in the previous post. I’m feeling very fatigue these days, maybe it’s PMS or maybe it’s covid … maybe it’s even maybelline XD