Chapter 18: Staying Over

By the time Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi returned to the Jiang family, it was already past six, and the sky had darkened. The main room’s door was slightly ajar, and lights were on inside.

Jiang Liyun pushed the door open to find Jiang Liyu sitting on a bamboo chair, homework placed on a stool, engrossed in her studies, with her head almost touching the workbook.

“Li’yu, lift your head a bit,” Jiang Liyun reminded her.

Jiang Liyu immediately sat up straight and greeted Feng Yi, “Brother Feng Yi…”

Jiang Liyu was introverted, and Feng Yi wasn’t particularly outgoing either. “Hello, Li’yu,” he replied, and they began to exchange glances.

The stove in the Jiang family was situated in the northern part of this room. Jiang Liyun lifted the pot lid and saw warm water inside, with a steaming rack on top containing stir-fried eggs, soybeans, pickled vegetables, and a large pot of rice.

“Feng Yi, it’s time to eat,” Jiang Liyun called out to him.

Jiang Qiangzi and Wu Xiaochun had breakfast early in the morning, so naturally, lunch was early too. By around four in the afternoon, they were already hungry. Normally, they would wait for Jiang Liyun to come home to eat together, but today she wasn’t sure when she’d be back. Before leaving, she had instructed them to go ahead and eat without waiting for her.

Now, Jiang Qiangzi and Wu Xiaochun had probably finished their meal and returned to their rooms. This arrangement suited both sides.

Upon hearing Jiang Liyun’s invitation, Feng Yi immediately joined her and helped her with the food.

Feng Yi was quite familiar with everything in the Jiang family; after all, he had often followed Jiang Liyun to her home when they were children. However, he had very rarely eaten at the Jiangs’.

Back then, even as a child, he knew it wasn’t proper to eat at someone else’s house—especially at the Jiangs’, who were not well-off.

Now, sitting at the Jiang family dining table again, eating together with Jiang Liyun, Feng Yi felt quite content.

He didn’t even reach for the stir-fried eggs but kept glancing at Jiang Liyun from time to time, taking large bites of rice.

“Is plain rice so delicious?” Jiang Liyun asked with a smile.

Feng Yi nodded and said, “It’s delicious.” Plain rice was indeed tasty; he hadn’t had much of it when he was younger.

He remembered one time when he was particularly hungry; he saw the peeled sweet potato skins left on the table by Feng Laoda and Feng Laoer. He grabbed them and started eating. However, when Feng Laotou saw him, thinking he was stealing sweet potatoes, he kicked his left leg, leaving it bruised.

At that time, Feng Yi’s mother was also present; she was aware that he was only eating sweet potato skins but didn’t say a word to defend him.

Jiang Liyun gave a stern look to Feng Yi, who appreciated the taste of plain rice. She picked up a bowl, filled it with half of the stir-fried eggs, and scooped out a large portion of the steamed soybeans for him. “Hurry and eat. Afterwards, we need to find a place for you to stay.”

“Okay,” Feng Yi nodded.

Seeing him being so obedient, Jiang Liyun softened her voice to coax him: “A-Yi, thanks a lot today. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to carry so many things.”

“I’m strong,” Feng Yi promptly replied.

“Yes, you’re even stronger than me now. Really impressive. In the future, I’ll need your help in many things.”

“Sister Liyun, if there’s anything you want me to do, just let me know.”

“I will. Eat more,” Jiang Liyun said. “Without you, I really couldn’t manage. If later I have to go alone to pick up the pork, I might feel a bit scared.”

She wasn’t afraid of the dark, but initially, she had intended to do everything herself. However, Feng Yi enjoyed helping her and liked being needed by her.

“Sister Liyun, I’ll go get the pork. It’s dark now; you should rest at home,” Feng Yi suggested.

Jiang Liyun smiled. “Or we can go together. The two of us can chat while taking a stroll. It’s a nice way to spend the evening.”

Walking and talking with Jiang Liyun in the late evening… Feng Yi’s face turned warm at the thought.

Thinking that he could assist Jiang Liyun, he felt a surge of strength throughout his body.

Jiang Liyu, who was doing homework besides them, glanced at Feng Yi and couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

Feng Yi always competes with her for Second Sister!

If it were in the past, Second Sister would definitely come to check on her homework by now. But now, Second Sister is focused on Feng Yi!

She even felt a bit redundant.

In the adjacent room, Jiang Qiangzi and his wife could faintly hear the sounds coming from the main room.

In the afternoon, after Jiang Liyun left with Feng Yi, Wu Xiaochun informed Jiang Qiangzi about Jiang Liyun’s intention to date Feng Yi.

Now, the concern has shifted from one person to two.

Wu Xiaochun asked Jiang Qiangzi, “What should we do…? Feng Yi doesn’t even have a house. If our Liyun marries him, she’ll endure hardship with him.”

Jiang Qiangzi said, “Liping, Liyun has big ideas.”

Previously, when Jiang Liping insisted on marrying the town, they couldn’t do anything about it. Now, with Jiang Liyun wanting to be with Feng Yi, they found themselves powerless again. In fact, they felt even more helpless towards Jiang Liyun compared to Jiang Liping.

Jiang Liping often accused them of favouritism, claiming they treated Jiang Lihai better than her. However, they knew that among their children, Jiang Liyun was the one who suffered the most.

“From a young age, Liyun liked Feng Yi. I thought she just saw him as a little brother,” Wu Xiaochun muttered softly.

Jiang Qiangzi said, “We can’t control it. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Life was just lived one day at a time. If something couldn’t be managed, then it was best to let it be.

After dinner, Jiang Liyun took Feng Yi to visit one of her uncles.

This uncle, named Jiang Youwen, had two sons. Recently, he had just built two houses for them. His eldest son was already married and is currently raising white-feathered chickens. The younger son, like Jiang Lihai, was unmarried and worked in a brick and tile factory, seldom returning home.

Jiang Youwen and his wife were temporarily staying in the younger son’s house, and they had vacant rooms.

“Aunt Youwen, Feng Yi is back and has nowhere to stay. Can he spend the night at your place?” Jiang Liyun asked directly. “He can stay in the woodshed; I’ll bring over a mat.”

In their area, where rice was cultivated, straw was an important fuel. Each household would stockpile a lot of straw, and Jiang Liyun and Jiang Liyu’s room could be considered a woodshed.

Jiang Youwen’s house was a newly-built brick and tile house, and the room they used for storing firewood was likely better than Jiang Liyun’s bedroom.

Jiang Youwen readily agreed. His younger son’s house had two floors, with the southern side on the ground floor containing a dining room and a room for storing firewood. Behind the woodshed were the kitchen and pigsty. Upstairs, there were only two rooms: one for Jiang Youwen and his wife, and the other for their younger son. The only place for Feng Yi to stay was indeed the woodshed.

However, the conditions in the woodshed weren’t bad; the floor was cemented.

Jiang Liyun used the materials at hand to spread a thick layer of straw on the ground, place a mat on top, and add a blanket, creating a simple bed for Feng Yi.

“Just make do for now,” Jiang Liyun said.

“I won’t have to make do,” Feng Yi replied. Sleeping in a brick-and-tile house was not a compromise for him. When he worked in the brick and tile factory, he slept with a large group of people in a room, and their beds were just improvised.

Jiang Liyun obtained the key to Jiang Youwen’s woodshed and took Feng Yi to the butcher’s place to collect the pork. By the time they brought the pork back, it was already very late.

Jiang Liyun asked Feng Yi to sleep at Jiang Youwen’s place, and as for herself, she went back home to rest.

When Jiang Liyun arrived home, Jiang Qiangzi, Jiang’s mother, and Jiang Liyu were all already asleep.

She lay down on her bed, contemplating various matters. Without any means of transportation now, it was truly inconvenient. In the future, once she had the money, she would have to buy a tricycle. While a bicycle was faster to ride, only a tricycle could carry everything, including the coal stove and iron pot.

In addition, the weather was getting colder, and Feng Yi didn’t have warm clothes. Jiang Liyun needed to prepare clothes and bedding for him. There were still many other miscellaneous items missing.

In her previous life, Jiang Liyun felt that prices were lower in the earlier years. However, returning to this era, she found that everything seemed expensive now.

For instance, bicycles… Before her rebirth, an average person’s monthly salary was a few thousand yuan, and a regular bicycle could be bought for a couple of hundred yuan.

Now… The average person’s monthly salary was around one hundred yuan, and buying a bicycle would cost more than a hundred yuan.

Because of this, people in this era utilised everything and were reluctant to throw away any bottles or cans.

Calculating these things, Jiang Liyun slowly fell asleep.

On the other hand, Feng Yi couldn’t fall asleep, no matter how hard he tried. Everything that happened today was a bit overwhelming for him.

He was in a relationship with Jiang Liyun!

Feng Yi felt incredibly happy inside and couldn’t help but take out the enamel cup Jiang Liyun gave him at noon. He pulled out a dumpling and ate it.

The dumpling had turned cold, naturally not as delicious as when it was hot. Still, he found it extremely tasty!

He had to help Jiang Liyun properly so that he could be with her for the rest of his life!

Touching his ear that Jiang Liyun had pinched, thinking about the bed she had prepared for him…

Laughter suddenly echoed in the dark and quiet woodshed.

Feng Yi had a restless night. He initially wanted to sleep well and help Jiang Liyun energetically the next day, but he just couldn’t fall asleep.

Eventually, when he finally managed to sleep, he woke up not long after.

Outside, it was still dark, but he must have slept for a while now. What if he woke up late and couldn’t help Jiang Liyun in time? Feng Yi quickly got up from his bed.

The surroundings were silent, and there was not a soul on the road.

Feng Yi circled around Jiang’s house, grabbed the bucket used for carrying water and faeces, and fetched water from the river to irrigate Jiang’s vegetable garden.

Although they had watered it yesterday afternoon, giving it another round of watering wouldn’t hurt.

Jiang Qiangzi and Wu Xiaochun had stayed up late the previous night due to their concerns, and they woke up a bit late. However, next door, Feng’s old man, as usual, got up at four in the morning.

Feng’s old man was not young anymore, and in this era with no shortage of labour, the factory didn’t want him. Working on the farm couldn’t earn him much money either.

Feng’s old man’s second wife had given birth to a boy and a girl, both still young, and there would be many expenses in the future.

Feng’s old man and his wife, Zhou Qiaoxia, planted a lot of vegetables, which Feng’s old man would take to the town to sell every day.

They also raised silkworms every year, earning several hundred yuan, plus raised pigs and sheep, so their household income was not considered low.

Last night, they sorted out a lot of vegetables. Feng’s old man placed them in two baskets and fixed the baskets on both sides of the rear seat of his bicycle before heading out.

However, as soon as he left the house, he saw a figure in the neighbouring plot doing something.

Could it be someone stealing vegetables? But there were vegetables everywhere in the countryside, and generally, no one stole…

Wait a minute, that figure seemed to be watering the vegetable plot?

The person was unusually tall, obviously not from the Jiang family, yet was watering Jiang’s vegetable plot.

Feng’s old man pushed his bicycle over and only then realized that the person was Feng Yi. Suddenly, he remembered someone telling him yesterday that Feng Yi had come back carrying an iron pot.

He had scolded Feng Yi a few times at that time because the brick and tile factory paid by the day, so if Feng Yi took leave, he would earn less money.

But he thought Feng Yi had returned after giving the iron pot to Jiang Liyun. Feng Yi didn’t go back yesterday and was watering Jiang’s vegetable plot early in the morning.

Feng’s old man became angry: “Feng Yi, are you helping others instead of doing your own work? You’re watering someone else’s plot instead of your own?” He earned money by selling vegetables and took great care of the vegetables in his own field. He had been tired of watering them these days!

But Feng Yi didn’t care and just replied, “Your house is not my house.”

Feng’s house was not his home. From childhood to adulthood, he had never treated Feng’s house as his own.

But he had always wanted to be a part of the Jiang family.

Jiang Liyun was so good! Her parents were also good!

He had spent a lot of time at Jiang’s house when he was young, and Jiang Qiangzi and Wu Xiaochun never said anything to him.

Feng’s old man said angrily, “What are you talking about? If you have the ability, don’t come home!”

“I do have the ability!” Feng Yi replied. He didn’t want to go back to Feng’s house in the first place, and Jiang Liyun didn’t ask him to go back.

Previously, Feng Yi had planned to give the Feng family some money first before cutting ties with them, but now that he was in a relationship, he wouldn’t give the Feng family any more money in the future.

His money would be spent on Jiang Liyun!

“Feng, you little beast…” Feng’s old man started scolding.

Suddenly, Feng Yi thought of the martial arts stories he had read, where the protagonist, when called a little beast, would counter with a question, “Little beast scolding who?”

Feng Yi asked, “Little beast, scolding who?”

Feng’s old man replied, “Little beast scolding you.”

“Yes, little beast scolding me,” Feng Yi smiled.

Feng’s old man was furious and wanted to hit Feng Yi, but then his movements suddenly stopped.

Feng Yi was now a head taller than him.

When Feng Yi went to the brick and tile factory, he was only sixteen. Due to malnutrition, he was still quite small at that time.

Back then, both Feng’s old man and Feng’s elder brothers could easily press Feng Yi down and hit him.

But now…

Realising that he might not win against Feng Yi, Feng’s old man clenched his jaw and said, “I’ll deal with you when I come back!”

After saying that, he pushed his bicycle and left.

He still had to go to town to sell vegetables!

Feng Yi glanced at Feng’s old man and continued watering the vegetables.

He was not afraid of Feng’s old man anymore.

Before, when he was small and powerless to resist and had nowhere else to go, he had to tolerate it. But now he was different.

As for Feng’s old man wanting to hit him… He could call the police!

The times had changed!

Feng Yi hummed a song and continued watering Jiang’s vegetable plot.

When Jiang Qiangzi woke up, he found that their vegetable plot was all wet.

Jiang Qiangzi: “…”

“Uncle Jiang, what do you want to do? I’ll help you!” Feng Yi was a lively character. After opening the main room’s door, Jiang Qiangzi went back to prepare porridge.

Feng Yi immediately went up to help with the fire.

As the day gradually brightened, more and more people in Qiaotou Village woke up, and white smoke rose from the chimneys of every household.

Jiang Liyun only got up at this time and found Feng Yi was already tending to the fire.

“Feng Yi, come help me chop the pork. You chop the meat, and I’ll knead the dough. Let’s make pan-fried dumplings together,” Jiang Liyun said.

Feng Yi immediately put down the firewood, washed his hands in the water bucket, and helped Jiang Liyun chop the pork.

Jiang Qiangzi glanced at Feng Yi and silently went to tend to the fire behind the stove.

Jiang’s family originally had one knife, and during this period, Jiang Liyun bought another one. Feng Yi wielded both knives, chopping the meat.

Feng Yi chopped the meat at an astonishing speed!

Chopping meat was actually quite tiring, and in her previous life, Jiang Liyun’s shoulders would ache from chopping so much. She only found relief when she bought a meat grinder.

But for Feng Yi, chopping meat seemed surprisingly simple.

Indeed, Feng Yi felt that chopping meat was straightforward. He even chopped with a rhythm.

It was the melody of a love song that had come from Hongcheng in recent years. Sun Jinshan had bought a cassette, and he had listened to it.

Jiang Liyun didn’t pay attention to Feng Yi’s movements; she was busy kneading the dough.

“Kneading dough is quite tiring. When I have more money, besides a meat grinder, I also want to buy a dough kneader,” she thought.

Jiang Liyun and Feng Yi worked for a while, and soon Wu Xiaochun came to call them for breakfast.

After breakfast, they continued working. It took about an hour to complete all the preparations for making dumplings, but they hadn’t started wrapping them yet.

However, today they didn’t need to hurry to the town to set up a stall, so there was no rush to make dumplings.

Jiang Liyun asked Feng Yi to load everything onto the cart and said, “Feng Yi, let’s go to the brick and tile factory. I’ll make pan-fried dumplings for everyone on the spot!”

She also wanted to practice her skills.

“Okay,” Feng Yi replied, helping pull the cart.

As they left the Jiang family, Feng Yi immediately spotted his mother watering the crops in the adjacent field.

Without greeting her, he acted as if he hadn’t seen her and suggested to Jiang Liyun, “Sister Liyun, why don’t you sit in the cart? I’ll pull you along.”

Some men in the village would use carts to transport their women and children to the town. Feng Yi had always wanted to pull Jiang Liyun.