Chapter 17

After Lu Shili and Little Ear left, Jiang Tian still asked Xie Chen whether he minded. Even though she was the one running the household now, she still wanted to know if he had any reservations.

Hearing this, Xie Chen smiled faintly.
“It’s fine. Your cousin staying here can help out a bit too. But you should be more careful when you take things in the future.”

Jiang Tian felt a warmth in her heart. She leaned in and kissed his cheek.
“Mm, I know.”

The pork bones were done simmering, so Jiang Tian added in the stir-fried pickled vegetables, seasoning it before covering the pot to stew for another twenty minutes.

In the meantime, she used another pot to steam a big pot full of rice.

Xie Chen didn’t stop her, only quietly reminded her if there would be enough.

“It’ll be plenty.”

Lu Shili and Jiang Er first went to the village head’s house to let him know about staying with Jiang Tian.

Of course, Lin Jingguo was happy to hear it. Jiang Tian’s husband still hadn’t fully recovered, so having an older brother around to hold things up was naturally a good thing.

After leaving the village head’s house, Lu Shili went back to the educated youth spot to pack his things.

As soon as he entered, Gu Zhiguo and Wang Dayou greeted him cheerfully.

Lin Muyu sat nearby, lost in thought.

Lu Shili didn’t have much stuff. He had gone to the village head’s house without even packing, so now it was easy to gather his belongings.

When Wang Dayou saw him carrying things out, he asked in surprise,
“Comrade Lu, where are you heading?”

“I’m going to live with my sister,” Lu Shili replied casually.

“Your sister?”

Lin Muyu, who had been thinking about how to approach Lu Shili, perked up his ears immediately. After all, Lu Shili was the best-dressed among the educated youths, and he was from Beijing—clearly from a wealthy background.

If he could get close to him, maybe Lu Shili would look after him in the future.

Wang Dayou continued pressing,
“Your sister? Your sister lives here?”

“Mm.”

Just as Lu Shili answered, Jiang Er ran in.
“Cousin, let me help you carry something.”

“Here, I’ll take the small one for you.”

Hearing this exchange, Wang Dayou instantly understood who Lu Shili’s sister was—Jiang Tian.

Lin Muyu and Gu Zhiguo, who were new and not very clear on things, came closer wanting to help.
“Comrade Lu, want me to give you a hand?”

Lu Shili subtly avoided them.
“No need, my little brother and I can manage.”

He then led Little Ear away.

On the way, Jiang Er whispered,
“Cousin, that male educated youth just now had bad intentions. You’d better stay away from him.”

Seeing the boy talking like a little adult made Lu Shili both amused and a little pained.

The child wasn’t wrong—Lin really was up to no good. On the train, he had already been pretending and putting on airs, and the girls in the carriage seemed to fall for it. A grown man mooching food and drinks off young women—shameless.

Lu Shili nodded seriously.
“Next time I see him, I’ll steer clear.”

Jiang Er went on to gossip about the village.
“That educated youth Jiang isn’t good either. She tried to rent a room at my house before, and it looked like she wanted to seduce my brother-in-law…”

At this, Lu Shili snorted coldly to himself. Earlier, Little Ear had told him that his brother-in-law’s condition was due to being poisoned in the womb, which had stirred some sympathy in him.

But if that man turned out to be ungrateful, Lu Shili wouldn’t sit by and watch.

“Besides those educated youths, Cousin, you need to be careful of others too. I heard from the village that Granny Guo married Grandpa Guo by being shameless. She already had five kids when she married him, and the whole village was in an uproar about it…”

When he had lived in the compound, Lu Shili hadn’t heard of such juicy stories. Listening now, he found them quite entertaining.

Unknowingly, the two of them—one big and one small—arrived back at the Jiang household.

After bolting the courtyard gate, they went inside.

Jiang Tian served everyone rice, and the four of them started eating.

Lu Shili took a bite and praised endlessly,
“Sister, your cooking is better than the chefs at the state-owned restaurant.”

Xie Chen also said her braised pork was tastier than the one he bought last time at the state-owned restaurant.

As for Little Ear, he was already busy gnawing on a pork bone.

Once again, all the dishes were wiped clean, not a scrap left.

Jiang Er mentioned that the mixed cabbage was delicious, and Jiang Tian promised to make it again another time.

The dish wasn’t just shredded cabbage—it also had dried tofu, glass noodles, egg, and even some sugar.

She had used seasonings from her space, so naturally, it was delicious.

Lu Shili leaned back rubbing his belly with a smile.
“Sister, next time you go to the county, take me along. We can buy more together.”

Jiang Er chimed in too, saying he wanted to go.

Jiang Tian grinned.
“All right, we’ll see next time. We still have plenty of food at home.”

Washing the dishes was done by Xie Chen and Little Ear together, while Jiang Tian cleared the table and went to maintain her bow and arrows.

When Lu Shili came back inside, he noticed the target in the courtyard. He’d seen such things before in the compound, but what puzzled him was—how did his sister know about these?

He squatted nearby, watching her work on the bow.

Little Ear, after finishing the dishes, ran over to chat with Jiang Tian.

“Sis, let’s take Cousin hunting with us tomorrow morning. That way we can catch more game.”

Lu Shili’s eyes widened in surprise.
“What do you mean? Sister, you know how to hunt?”

Jiang Er jumped in,
“My sister’s amazing! Every morning when we go up the mountain, we bring back several pheasants or rabbits. Let me tell you a secret—there are already ten pheasants and five rabbits in our backyard jars.”

Seeing his smug little look, Jiang Tian couldn’t help but grin too.

“Mm, I made the bows myself. I go up the mountain with Little Ear every morning.”

Lu Shili was excited.
“Sister, why don’t you make one for me too? I’ve trained before.”

Jiang Tian nodded.
“I’ll find materials later and make you one. You can bring the target inside to practice your aim.”

“Okay!”

Meanwhile, at the educated youth spot during dinner, Lin Yue asked Gu Zhiguo,
“Comrade Gu, where did Comrade Lu go?”

Wang Dayou sighed.
“He went to stay at his sister’s house.”

Lin Yue was surprised.
“His sister? He has a sister here?”

Since Lu Shili had the best conditions among them, naturally everyone wanted to get close to him.

“Yep. But this sister—you’d never guess who it is.”

Everyone’s gossiping instincts flared up. The others stayed quiet, but Lin Yue couldn’t hold back.

“Who is it?”

“The Jiang family at the end of the village. Jiang Tian—she’s his sister.”

Lin Yue shook her head in amazement.
“What luck Jiang Tian has had lately. First, her mind cleared up, and now she’s got a powerful relative. Tsk, tsk.”

The biggest reactions came from two people.

One was Jiang Ying. She had wanted to rent a room at Jiang Tian’s house but failed, and yet another male educated youth had been taken in instead.

In her past life, she’d never seen Lu Shili come looking for Jiang Tian.

The other was Lin Muyu. He had thought Jiang Tian, being once a fool, would be easy to manipulate. But now hearing she had recovered her wits, he realized things might not be so simple.

Still, he decided to give it a try. After all, if he could latch onto Lu Shili, his own path ahead would surely be much smoother.