Chapter 19: The Whole Xie Family Are Rough Men

Every year during the harvest season, they would act very filial and enthusiastic.

The local rice harvest was in August, and they happened to be on vacation. They told their neighbors that there was only their old father and a few children at home, and their old father’s legs were bad, so they would come back to help every year.

But they wouldn’t come early, they would only come when the work was almost done. After the harvest, they would carry large and small bags of grain back to the city.

When they got back, they would tell their neighbors that the old man insisted on giving them these things, and they couldn’t refuse because he would be sad.

This would earn them a good reputation and benefits at the same time.

This was something the original owner often heard Ye Zhengguo and his wife complain about.

They said that the sons raised by Lin Laogui were only successful on the surface, they all looked prosperous, but they were not filial at all, they treated him like a fool and took advantage of him.

It was better to raise a dog than to raise them, at least a dog would bark.

They were so proud of talking about others, but they never hesitated to take advantage of and bully the fool.

Ye Xiaozhen came out of the kitchen and saw Lin Xinghua sitting under the eaves eating buns.

They were the two that Xie Wen had thrown away.

“Grandpa, it’s time to eat.”

“Okay, Xiaozhen eat first, Grandpa will come later.”

Ye Xiaozhen didn’t say anything more.

He was a survivor of the famine years, even though they didn’t lack food and clothing now, he would never waste food.

The buns had a little dust on them, it didn’t matter, he could just brush it off and eat them.

He finished the two buns before going into the house, he drank some porridge and ate some pickled vegetables, but he didn’t eat a single bite of the scrambled eggs with wild herbs on the table.

…

Ye Xiaozhen was about to go to sleep when Xie Lin’an came back.

Hearing the sound of the courtyard gate opening, Ye Xiaozhen put down the door bolt she had picked up.

It was so late, she thought he wasn’t coming back.

“Xiaozhen, come and see what I brought back for you.”

Ye Xiaozhen thought, maybe he really bought fruit candies?

Ye Xiaozhen pulled the rope behind the door, and the light under the eaves turned on.

Xie Lin’an had his hands behind his back, smiling like a big fool.

“Guess what it is, it’s something good.”

Ye Xiaozhen was speechless, she had to play along, “Fruit candies.”

Xie Lin’an’s smile froze a little, he shook his head, “No, no, it’s better than fruit candies.”

Heh, what could be delicious in this poor place?

Ye Xiaozhen was too lazy to pretend, she turned around and left.

Xie Lin’an quickly caught up, “Hey, hey, why are you turning your face away just because there are no fruit candies? It was busy at the dam today, I couldn’t leave. When I went to the store after work, they were all closed.”

Wow, sure enough, buying fruit candies was another empty promise.

Luckily, she didn’t have any expectations.

“Look, isn’t this better than fruit candies?”

He held a wild rabbit in front of Ye Xiaozhen, it wasn’t a big rabbit, it must have been a young one, a half-grown rabbit, it looked kind of cute. Xie Lin’an was holding it by its long ears, and it was struggling and kicking violently.

Ye Xiaozhen thought, it’s so lively, I can put it in a cage and raise it for a few months.

But as soon as she reached out to touch it, Xie Lin’an took the rabbit back.

“Don’t touch it, rabbits bite when they’re scared.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he slapped the rabbit on the head with his big hand, and the rabbit stopped moving.

Ye Xiaozhen was stunned, “You…” Why did you kill it?

It almost cured her mental illness.

Xie Lin’an said, “Didn’t you see how wild it was? It would hurt you.”

Ye Xiaozhen: “…”

“Go to the kitchen and get a knife, I’ll take care of it while I’m home, you and Grandpa can eat it tomorrow.”

Ye Xiaozhen was in a daze.

The rabbit is so cute, how can you eat it?

Okay, in his eyes, it’s not a rabbit, it’s meat.

Anyway, it’s already dead, might as well eat it.

Ye Xiaozhen turned around and went to the kitchen to get a knife.

When she came out, she saw Xie Lin’an had hung the rabbit on the peach tree in the yard, and he had also pumped half a bucket of water from the well.

Perhaps their voices were too loud, they woke up the old man who had already fallen asleep.

Soon, the old man came out.

“Lin’an, what are you doing?”

“Grandpa, I caught a rabbit, this thing almost hit my bike wheel when I came back.”

“Oh, this rabbit isn’t big, maybe two pounds.”

“It’s definitely two pounds, you and Xiaozhen can eat it tomorrow.”

Xie Lin’an rubbed his hands together, “Xiaozhen, quickly give me the knife.”

Ye Xiaozhen gave him the knife.

She thought he had killed the rabbit with a slap, but it wasn’t dead, it must have just fainted.

He used the knife to bleed the rabbit, the rabbit woke up and struggled violently.

Ye Xiaozhen was a chef herself, but she had never seen such a bloody slaughter scene with her own eyes.

She was used to showing off her skills in live streams, someone else would help her with the process of turning a living creature into food.

After the blood was drained, the rabbit stopped moving.

He then cut open the rabbit’s limbs and started to skin it.

But the rabbit wasn’t completely dead, it struggled a few more times, making Ye Xiaozhen’s scalp tingle.

Xie Lin’an didn’t notice her, he was talking to Lin Xinghua while working.

Lin Xinghua saw Ye Xiaozhen’s expression and said to Xie Lin’an, “Next time you kill a rabbit, drown it in water first, don’t make it so bloody.”

“Ah? How is it bloody? The fur is beautiful, it’s not stained with blood at all. Grandpa, when it’s winter, I’ll make you a pair of shoe insoles with this skin.”

“Hurry up and do your work, don’t talk so much.”

Xie Lin’an quickly finished processing the rabbit.

Lin Xinghua took the rabbit meat to salt it.

Xie Lin’an found a few bamboo strips and stretched the rabbit skin out to dry on the peach tree.

He went to get soap to wash his hands, but he found that the soap was much smaller, there wasn’t much left.

“Grandpa, the soap is almost gone, remember to buy some tomorrow.”

“Didn’t we buy some just a few days ago? It’s gone already?”

“There are more people in the house, of course, it’s used up quickly.”

Hearing this, Ye Xiaozhen quickly said to him, “Brother, I want to wash my hair.”

Xie Lin’an smiled and asked while washing his hands with soap, “Do you want brother to wash your hair?”

Ye Xiaozhen: “…” I’m reminding you to buy shampoo, speechless.

She thought that they had never used shampoo before, they always used soap nuts to wash their hair.

So she said to Xie Lin’an, “I didn’t see any soap nuts at home.”

“Soap nuts?” Xie Lin’an suddenly realized, “You have such long hair, soap really won’t do. I remember my older sister used shampoo, we won’t use soap nuts, how about we use shampoo?”

Ye Xiaozhen breathed a sigh of relief.

He finally got it.

She wanted to ask for a lot of things at once, so she wouldn’t have to keep reminding him.

So she said pitifully, “Brother, can Xiaozhen use shampoo too?”

Xie Lin’an was startled, “Why not?”

“But, Mom and Dad said Xiaozhen doesn’t deserve to use these good things. Shampoo, soap, cream, toothbrush, toothpaste, only my brother and sister are allowed to use them.”

She could endure everything else, but she really couldn’t endure not having a toothbrush and toothpaste.

She saw Xie Lin’an brushing his teeth every day.

God knows how she solved her brushing problem these past few days.