Chapter 30: Rowing 3/3

“Then let’s eat at home,” said Li Qingzhi. “Can’t I eat now?” Li Laogen asked.

Li Laogen’s hair was gray, his face was wrinkled, and he had lost most of his teeth. There were sparse hairs left on his pointed chin.

He held onto the boat’s edge, looking eagerly at Li Qingzhi, a sight that was a bit discomforting.

Li Qingzhi didn’t want to attract too much attention in the village, as it could lead to resentment from others. “Dad, let’s eat at home.”

Fortunately, by now Jin Xiaoye had explained her situation to the villagers, and they had made way for her. “Xiaoye, go home and have your meal. When you’re done, come back and tell us about this boat,” they said.

“Okay!” Jin Xiaoye smiled and agreed.

The group returned home, and Li Laogen couldn’t wait to ask, “Aqing, what delicious food did you bring back today?”

Li Qingzhi said, “I brought back several delicious dishes.” He invited Li Laogen and Jin Xiaoshu into his room, then took out a bamboo tray and opened the oil paper packages on top.

Li Laogen’s eyes widened as he looked at the array of food. “So many things…”

Li Qingzhi explained, “Mr. Ding treated me to dinner at the restaurant today, and since there were extra dishes, I brought them all back.”

These were actually dishes from the restaurant! Without hesitation, Li Laogen picked up a piece of chicken and put it in his mouth.

Seeing this, Jin Xiaoye said, “Dad, go get a bowl. I’ll share some with you. And don’t go eating outside, at most, take one dish out to show others, so they won’t feel envious.”

Li Laogen fetched a bowl, and Jin Xiaoye gave him a portion of each dish, about a quarter of each, letting him eat.

Li Laogen was very satisfied. With four people, dividing by four worked perfectly!

He took the bowl, ate some in his own room, and then took the rest to boast to others by the riverside.

Jin Xiaoye specifically shared some with Li Laogen, fearing that if she didn’t, he would eat most of it without regard.

After Li Laogen left, she divided another quarter of the food and asked Jin Xiaoshu to take it back for her parents to taste. Then she and Jin Xiaoshu ate together.

Li Laogen had cooked the rice a bit early, so it had cooled down. Of course, in the hot summer, it didn’t cool down much, but cold rice tends to be a bit hard, that’s for sure. 

But today, the delicious dishes made it easier to eat! Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu ate a lot of rice and finished all the remaining dishes.

Jin Xiaoshu even chewed and swallowed the bones of the duck necks, saying, “Even the bones have flavor, so tasty!”

Jin Xiaoshu became quite talkative while eating, repeatedly praising the food and saying that when they had money from rowing, they must go back to the restaurant again.

“We’ll definitely have the chance in the future,” Li Qingzhi said.

“Yeah!” Jin Xiaoshu nodded seriously.

After dinner, Jin Xiaoye went to the riverside.

When she rented the boat, she indeed had to inform the villagers, and her boat had to be parked in a small pond dug out by the villagers next to the riverside. This small pond was also connected to the irrigation canal for the paddy fields.

The connection between the small pond and the river was very narrow, and there was a fence. Mr. Yao usually parked his boat in the small pond at night.

By parking the boat inside and taking away the oars, there was basically no risk of theft. Their village was rarely visited by outsiders, and even if they came, they weren’t familiar with the area. It wasn’t easy to open the fence in the middle of the night.

Jin Xiaoye didn’t like chatting with people, but she was somewhat excited today after renting the boat. So she lingered a bit at the riverside until it was dark before returning home.

When she got home, Li Qingzhi had already bathed the two children and put them to bed.

Seeing Jin Xiaoye return, Li Qingzhi asked about her day’s events and praised her while listening.

Jin Xiaoye was truly proactive. As a girl like her, she would always strive to make her life better, which was quite likable.

After hearing Jin Xiaoye’s experiences, Li Qingzhi mentioned the matter of Yao Zhenfu having a lover.

“Oh, this… I’ve known about it for a long time, and so does Jin Moli,” Jin Xiaoye said.

“She knows?” Li Qingzhi was somewhat surprised.

“She does! She knew before marrying Yao Zhenfu, but still went ahead with the marriage. I don’t know what kind of potion Yao Zhenfu used to bewitch her,” Jin Xiaoye said.

Before Jin Moli got married, her father had already seen Yao Zhenfu with his lover in the county town. He hurried back from the county town to inform her uncle’s family.

Although the Yao family was fairly well-off, if Yao Zhenfu had a lover… who knew where he would spend his money? If that person had another child…

The Yao family wasn’t wealthy enough to support two mistresses… It was simply uncomprehensible!

Jin Xiaoye felt that if she were Jin Moli, she would either find another man to marry or find a way to go to the city. Alternatively, she would take her brothers to Yao’s house to cause a scene, forcing Yao Zhenfu to break up with his lover from the county town, and then demand adequate compensation. You couldn’t let Yao Zhenfu continue like this.

But Jin Moli acted like she didn’t know about this matter at all…

In recent years, Yao Zhenfu hadn’t given Jin Moli a penny, but perhaps she had gotten some money from Yao Zhenfu from the county town. Otherwise, why would she stay with Yao Zhenfu? Yao Zhenfu was so ugly!

Hearing Jin Xiaoye say this, Li Qingzhi asked, “Does Mr. Yao know about this?”

“My uncle mentioned it to him, and he said there was no such thing,” Jin Xiaoye replied.

Li Qingzhi felt somewhat helpless. If that was the case… then he would pretend not to know about this matter.

Li Qingzhi and Jin Xiaoye talked about Yao Zhenfu. Yao Zhenfu was also talking to Jin Moli about Li Qingzhi: “Li Qingzhi is becoming more shameless. He even takes home leftovers as treasures! Jin Xiaoye is a woman, yet he lets Jin Xiaoye show her face by rowing…”

Jin Moli echoed Yao Zhenfu’s words and scolded along with him. After a while, Yao Zhenfu finally felt relieved and went to sleep.

Jin Moli had gone to the riverside today and saw the leftovers that Li Laogen had brought back to boast about.

Indeed, they were leftovers, but they smelled really good!

When she was at Yao’s house, she occasionally had tofu to eat, and before cooking, she could put some oil in the pan. But she hardly ate meat throughout the year.

She wanted to eat the meat that Li Laogen was eating!

Unfortunately, Yao Zhenfu didn’t want her to…

Forget it, eating someone else’s leftovers was indeed not respectable. She would be a rich person in the future; she couldn’t do something like this that would make people look down on her.

As for Jin Xiaoye, in her past life, she didn’t rent a boat, but she always showed up with Mr. Yao when they went out on the boat. Her quarrels and even fights with Yao Zhenfu had this reason.

She wouldn’t do such a thing; she had pushed Yao Zhenfu away for no reason.