Chapter 249: Dirty Tactics

Lu Yichen noticed Luo Qiao’s changing expressions as she looked at the rabbit and wild chicken on the ground. He asked, “What are you planning to do with these?”

Luo Qiao gathered her thoughts and said, “Prepare them all. We’ll have chicken soup tonight. Please handle the rabbit and cut it into cubes. After dinner, I’ll make some meat sauce that you can take with you tomorrow.”

When Shitou returned and saw Lu Yichen preparing the chicken, he asked, “Brother Lu, where did you get that?”

Lu Yichen looked up at Shitou, who suddenly remembered something. “Oh, ^[1]Calling someone “哥” (gē, meaning “brother”) without their name in Chinese culture conveys affection, respect, and closeness. It creates a sense of a familial bond and … Continue readingBrother, I didn’t mean to blurt it out. I just got excited when I saw there was meat.”

He then gave Lu Yichen a silly grin.

Lu Yichen’s expression didn’t change. “You should control your excitement in the future. This habit of blurting things out isn’t good.”

Shitou laughed. “I won’t do it again. I’ll remember to call you ‘Brother’ from now on.”

Luo Qiao called out to the two in the courtyard, “Are you done? I need to start cooking!”

Lu Yichen cleaned the chicken in the courtyard and then went to the kitchen. “Give me the knife. I’ll cut it into pieces so you don’t have to handle it.”

Luo Qiao stepped aside and watched as Lu Yichen skillfully cut the chicken into evenly sized pieces, cleaned it, and handed it to her in a basin.

Luo Qiao thought to herself that this person was indeed meticulous and becoming more considerate.

—

Since returning home last night, Gao Suhua had been acting strangely. Zhao Pulin asked at noon, “You’ve been restless all morning. What’s wrong?”

Gao Suhua was afraid that Zhao Pulin would become suspicious so she replied, “What could be wrong? It’s just the land distribution after the autumn harvest. The cadres have started preparing, and we don’t know if we’ll get any good land.”

Zhao Pulin’s attention was diverted by this explanation. Indeed, the villagers had been talking about the land distribution lately, wondering how much land they would get and whether it would be good.

Zhao Pulin said, “The village cadres said that good and bad land will be allocated together. There’s no need to worry so much.”

In the courtyard, only Zhao Xiaomei knew that her mother must have arranged something for today, otherwise, she wouldn’t be so distracted.

After Luo Qiao and the others finished eating, Lu Yichen washed the dishes while Luo Qiao started making the sauce. Since Shitou and Lu Yichen could handle spicy food, Luo Qiao added a lot of chili peppers.

With the main ingredients being mushrooms, rabbit meat cubes, and chili peppers, the aroma was so strong that even people cooling off by the bridge could smell it. Someone remarked, “Who’s cooking meat? It smells really good.”

Another person jokes, “You’ve got a nose like a dog.”

“I’m not kidding. If you smell it properly, someone is really cooking meat. It’s so fragrant.”

After the meat sauce was cooked and cooled, Luo Qiao transferred it into clean jars that Lu Yichen had washed, filling up five jars in total.

Originally, Luo Qiao intended for them to take all the jars, but Lu Yichen and Shitou insisted on leaving two jars with her. They agreed to take the bus to the city together the next morning before leaving.

Luo Qiao closed the gate and tidied up, then stored the two jars of mushroom meat sauce in her space before locking the house and entering the space.

At night, two dark shadow figures entered the village from the entrance, communicated with someone, and then headed towards Luo Qiao’s courtyard via a small path.

The contact person confirmed that the two had found the right place and then left to wait below.

After finishing her workout and yoga in the space, Luo Qiao enjoyed a hot bath and then went to the study on the second floor to continue reading, letting her hair dry naturally.

While reading, she sensed movement outside. She quickly changed clothes and left the space. Due to her enhanced abilities, her hearing, vision, and sense of smell were more acute than others.

She quietly opened the door and went out into the courtyard. She overheard voices outside saying, “How are we going to get in with such a high wall?”

Another voice replied, “Why don’t you stand on me? Once you’re in, open the main gate for me to get in.”

“Damn it, she didn’t even inform us about the situation with the courtyard and ran away so quickly.”

“Why don’t we scout around first to see if there’s another way in? We must avoid making any noise that could alert the people inside the courtyard.”