Chapter 38 ☆ Listen to you (Part 2)

Xie San said: “At that time, my grandmother always pleaded for me and took me out early. My grandmother loved me very much, and I made her angry.”

Cheng Yaoyao said worriedly: “It’s all my fault… What if Grandma doesn’t like me?”

“Grandma will like you.” Xie San gently lifted a strand of her hair and tucked it behind her ear, revealing her delicate face, and said firmly: “No one will dislike you.”

Then he said, “Get out now; it’s not good for Grandma to see you.”

When Cheng Yaoyao walked out of the west room, she covered her burning ears in a daze, not noticing that she had been tricked by Xie San.

Grandma Xie prepared lunch. A bowl of black wild vegetable dumplings with two mixed flour steamed breads in it, a dish of mixed platycodon^[1]also known as Platycodon grandiflorum, a type of Korean root vegetable., a plate of fried zucchini, and a dish of chili paste. In addition, there was a large bowl of pickled vegetable soup.

Cheng Yaoyao has never known what stage fright is, but she was a little nervous when facing Xie San’s grandmother. Xie Fei pulled her to sit down and asked her to eat first, but she refused and had to wait until Grandma Xie came to the table before she would pick up her chopsticks.

Xie Fei brought a steamed bread made of mixed flour to Cheng Yaoyao, but Cheng Yaoyao grabbed a wild vegetable dumpling and took a bite. She smiled and said, “I had a bowl of noodles in the morning, so this is enough for me. You and Grandma can eat it.”

Xie Fei refused and handed it to Grandma Xie. Grandma Xie was an old-fashioned person. Although she didn’t want her grandson to get involved with Cheng Yaoyao, she didn’t want to embarrass others. She said kindly, “You are a guest. This little thing is really not a good treat.”

Cheng Yaoyao said sweetly: “No, these side dishes taste great.”

There were three dishes on the table, which were quite good by the standards of Tianshui Village.

The zucchini on the plate was not cooked in any oil; they were just stir-fried in water with a little salt and garlic, so the taste was indeed not that good.

The chili paste made Cheng Yaoyao open her eyes wide. Green peppers were finely mashed with salt and tasted sweet and a little spicy, which was very different. Mixed with platycodon was the authentic Korean flavor, and it tasted crispy, spicy, and slightly sweet. It would be even better if more sugar was added.

The wild vegetable dumplings were really hard to chew, so Cheng Yaoyao chewed them in small bites, her white and tender cheeks moving slightly, and swallowed them, eating the vegetables and drinking the soup without making any sound. She sat in such a simple and empty kitchen, and the sunlight leaking from the roof fell on her face, which was a pleasing picture of a beautiful woman.

Xie Fei was so stunned that her eating manners became involuntarily elegant, secretly imitating Cheng Yaoyao’s every move.

Seeing this, Grandma Xie sighed even more in her heart. No wonder her grandson was so distraught for her. In the past, how could Grandma Xie be unwilling to fulfill her beloved grandson’s wish? But now, the more she looked at Cheng Yaoyao’s face, the more worried Grandma Xie felt.

After lunch, Cheng Yaoyao wanted to help clean up the dishes. When Grandma Xie went out, Xie Fei immediately snatched the dishes from Cheng Yaoyao’s hand and winked, “I’ll do it. Brother will scold me if he sees you working.”

“He won’t do that.” Cheng Yaoyao couldn’t compete with Xie Fei, so she leaned against the stove and fiddled with the ends of her braids, pouting and saying, “The first day I went to the fields with him to work, he asked me to sow the beans, and I did it by myself for a long time.”

“Really?” Xie Fei’s eyes widened, “Is my brother so bad?”

Cheng Yaoyao nodded vigorously, thinking that you didn’t know when your brother was even worse. She looked around the Xie family’s kitchen, which was very large, with a three-burner stove, and a pile of firewood and some pine branches for kindling next to the stove. There was a long table by the window.

In the past, this long table was used by servants to eat in the kitchen, but now it is not so special. The Xie family’s kitchen is very clean, without any dust.

Cheng Yaoyao praised: “Your kitchen is so clean.”

Xie Fei smiled and said, “My grandmother grew up with a Korean aunt, so the house had to be kept very clean.”

Cheng Yaoyao immediately said, “No wonder the mixed platycodon tastes so authentic. Is the chili paste also a Korean side dish?”

Xie Fei said: “That’s not it. It’s a traditional dish in our village. We make this in the summer when we can’t eat. My brother loves it.”

Cheng Yaoyao’s eyes moved: “How do we do that?”

The dishes and chopsticks were not stained with oil or water, so they were clean after washing with water. Xie Fei put the dishes and chopsticks in the cabinet and said with a smile: “It’s very simple. I’ll teach you when I make it in the evening.”

Cheng Yaoyao hummed and said that she didn’t really want to learn; she just said it casually. The two walked out of the kitchen, ready to take a nap, but saw Xie San coming out of Grandma Xie’s room, his knees a little stiff when he walked.

Cheng Yaoyao looked at him, and Xie Fei ran over: “Brother! I saved some food for you; it’s in the cupboard!”

“Yeah.” Xie San nodded, his eyes still looking at Cheng Yaoyao, “I’ll go out to get food and eat when I come back.”

The food that Xie San mentioned was Cheng Yaoyao’s food rations and the reward for accepting the educated youth.

Xie Fei knew her brother’s temper, so she kept silent.

Cheng Yaoyao pouted: “There’s no rush to get food. Can’t you eat first?”

Then Xie Fei saw her brother, who suddenly turned around and walked into the kitchen without saying a word.

“…” Xie Fei pulled Cheng Yaoyao and whispered, “Sister, my brother really listens to you!”

Cheng Yaoyao raised an eyebrow: “Is he usually very disobedient?”

Xie Fei took a breath. When Cheng Yaoyao used the word “disobedient” to describe her brother, she felt a burst of admiration. Xie San was actually very good to her, her only sister, but he was silent and cold, and always kept his word. Even his grandmother had no way to deal with his stubborn temper.

Cheng Yaoyao could make him obey with just one sentence, which really made Xie Fei admire her very much.

There were only two steamed buns made of mixed flour left in the cupboard. Xie San ate them with chili paste and a bowl of pickled vegetable soup. He rinsed the bowl and chopsticks and walked out, holding up a bag and saying, “I’m going out.”

Cheng Yaoyao and Xie Fei sat on the doorstep, talking and laughing head to head. Cheng Yaoyao tilted her bright and beautiful face, and the teardrop mole on her face caught Xie San’s eyes. She glanced at him sideways: “Go away.”

Xie San was embarrassed for a moment, and the brick went out, with his ears slightly burning.

In front of Xiao Fei, she really loves to act like a spoiled child.

At twelve o’clock in the threshing floor ^[2]a flat surface used for separating grain from the chaff., the sun was so hot that it almost melted people. The accountant sat in the shade of a tree, with several bags of grain piled beside him.

Xie San walked over and said, “Get the food.”

“For Cheng Yaoyao?” The accountant picked up a pen and ticked Cheng Yaoyao’s name. “Two hundred and fifty kilograms. If you want fine grains, you can get a discount. Thirty kilograms of white rice and one hundred and thirty kilograms of coarse flour.”

Xie San hesitated for a moment, then said, “Break.”

The accountant glanced at Xie San in surprise. The 4:1 discount on coarse and fine grains would definitely not be welcomed by other people. Even if they could calculate it, it would take them a while to figure it out. However, Xie San agreed without any hesitation.

Thirty kilograms of white rice and one hundred and thirty kilograms of coarse grains were put into the cloth bag that Xie San brought and tied up. Several other families came to collect food, and the accountant asked Xie San to help out, and Xie San did not refuse and helped out.

Most of the people who came were villagers. The educated youth could not carry anything on their shoulders or hands, and they were not expected to work. Only Liu Minxia came.

Liu Minxia lived in Lin Gui’s house. When Lin Gui came to carry food, she wanted to follow him, which made Lin Gui very unhappy. No other educated youth came, but she did. Wasn’t she on guard against him?! As if her family valued her little food!

The other family that came to carry the grain were women, Zhang Aihua and her mother-in-law, Lin Wangshi.

As soon as the accountant saw her, he whispered to Xie San: “The woman in Lin Wuxing’s family is difficult to deal with!”

Lin Wangshi put her hands on her waist and said, “I’m here to get my family’s food! Two hundred and fifty kilograms, not a bit less!”

The accountant rolled his eyes. Xie San remained silent and said, “Pocket.”

“What pocket?!” Lin Wangshi pointed at the others and said, “Don’t they all have pockets?”

Lin Gui rolled his eyes: “We took all this from our own home! Why, your eldest son built such a nice blue brick and tile house for your family, and you have to take even a rag bag from the production team?”

Lin Wangshi rolled her eyes, pointed at Lin Gui, and said shrilly: “What? Are you jealous of my eldest son who has a golden rice bowl ^[3]a phrase used to describe someone who is very wealthy or fortunate. in the city? No matter how nice that blue brick and tile house is, it was built with my family’s money, it’s not your turn to say anything! You are so poor that you can only wear your pants, you deserve to dig in the dirt for your life!”

She kept yelling, making Lin Gui’s face turn blue. Then she turned to Xie San and said, “Xie San! Hurry up and fill me with food!”

Without even raising his eyelids, Xie San said coldly, “Bring the sack.”

“You dog…” Lin Wangshi was about to curse as usual, but suddenly she met Xie San’s eyes, which were heavy, dark, and cold. A chill went down Lin Wangshi’s spine and she suddenly shut up.

Lin Wang turned around and scolded her daughter-in-law: “What are you doing standing there? Take out the cloth bag!”

Zhang Aihua grinned, took out the cloth bag she had tucked in, and said, “I told you earlier that others had brought cloth bags, but you insisted on getting them from the production team…”

Two hundred and fifty kilograms of coarse grains were poured into the bag. Lin Wangshi’s cloudy eyes were as bright as a snake, staring at the scale bar: “It’s still level, put more, put more!”

Finally, when the scale bar finally tilted high, she tied the bag tightly with satisfaction and called her daughter-in-law: “Hurry up, hide the grain in the west room before the female educated youth comes back…”

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were dragging and pushing each other, and their breathless discussions could be heard from a distance.

The accountant muttered to the side: “That young educated youth Cheng has fallen into a den of wolves.”

Xie San frowned. Isn’t that Cheng Yaoyao’s sister?

The food was finally distributed. Xie San picked up the remaining bag, put it on his shoulder, and strode home.

The realization that Cheng Yaoyao was waiting for him at home made Xie San more eager to go home.

After returning home, Xie San put the food into the house, went to the yard, scooped a bucket of water, drank a ladle of water, and washed his face. Then he felt a little cooler.

The room was silent. Grandma and Xiao Fei always had the habit of taking a break. Whenever they did, the house would be so quiet that it seemed as if time had stopped.

Xie San stood quietly at the door of the east room where Cheng Yaoyao was sleeping. This feeling made his chest surge with a strange softness.

The door suddenly opened a crack, and a slender, snow-white hand stretched out and grabbed his collar.