Chapter 25

The lush green grape leaves formed a dense canopy. A big yellow cat walked back and forth on the grape trellis like a soldier patrolling the city walls. If a fly or insect flew up, it would immediately stretch out its furry paw to catch it, its paw pads forming a pink fleshy plum blossom. Under the grape trellis was an old wicker chair, where an elderly man with white hair and beard lay, slowly rocking.

Ruan Xi was sitting in front of the main house, drawing two pictures. One was of the grape trellis and the big cat on it, and the other was of the old tailor sitting in the rocking chair below. After finishing, she got up and took the drawings to the old tailor, asking how they were.

The old tailor took the drawings, glanced at them, and said, “You have some talent.”

No one had taught her; she had figured it out on her own, yet she could draw quite well.

Ruan Xi smiled and said, “Being smart isn’t just talk.”

The old tailor rolled his eyes at her and returned the drawings, “Don’t brag. You still need to practice.”

Naturally, she still needed to practice slowly, and Ruan Xi wasn’t in a hurry. Living in the mountains, there was nothing to rush about. There was plenty of time, no one urging or pushing, so everything could be done slowly. Oh, but that wasn’t entirely true. Wasn’t Ruan Yuejin always urging and pushing her?

Ruan Xi took the drawings back to the front of the main house and glanced inside. She saw Ruan Yuejin under the sewing machine, pulling out the bottom thread. Without looking, she knew he must be sweating profusely again.

The old tailor had recently let him practice stitching properly, using old threads and some mostly useless fabric scraps. Ruan Yuejin could operate the machine without fabric, but he struggled when it came to actual sewing. He stepped on the machine a few times, and the thread broke. When the thread didn’t break, it was tangled, and the bottom thread often got stuck. When the bottom thread got stuck, he didn’t dare let the old tailor know and secretly took it out to fix it.

Ruan Xi pretended not to see and continued drawing.

At noon, Ruan Yuejin went home for lunch, while Ruan Xi stayed at the old tailor’s house to cook and eat. In the afternoon, Ruan Yuejin returned, and the three of them continued their tasks. Feeling bored at home, the old tailor went out for a walk.

After the old tailor left, Ruan Yuejin lost patience with the machine, stood up, and went to talk to Ruan Xi, asking, “Hey, is Third Aunt really planning to get a divorce?”

Not wanting to deal with him, Ruan Xi continued drawing, “None of your business.”

Ruan Yuejin, taken aback, said, “She’s my third aunt. Can’t I care about her?”

Ruan Xi sneered, “You should care about yourself.”

Ruan Yuejin, speechless, said, “Can’t you talk nicely?”

Ruan Xi put down her pen, turned to him, and said, “What do I have to say to you? Did you forget your mom reported me? You came here to learn the craft to push me out of the old tailor’s house, right?”

Ruan Yuejin, taken aback again, finally said, “My mom misunderstood you. She didn’t really want to harm you. She just has a righteous heart and can’t stand such behavior. I came to learn the craft for myself.”

Ruan Xi laughed, “Righteous heart?”

Sun Xiaohui has a righteous heart? This was the funniest joke Ruan Xi had heard since she arrived here.

Ruan Yuejin, seeing Ruan Xi’s sarcastic attitude, felt a surge of frustration. But he didn’t turn back to the house. Instead, he continued, “I still suggest you all persuade Third Aunt not to make such a fuss and embarrass our family. The most important thing is to live well. Everything else is secondary. What’s so serious that it has to be this way? Family matters should be resolved at home. Why make such a scene? Which couple doesn’t fight? One side always has to endure. Living well and making others envious is the most important thing.”

Ruan Xi’s gaze grew colder. She even wished the pen in her hand could turn into a hammer to smash this heartless person. So, in their eyes, Ruan Cuizhi was just making a fuss?

Ruan Cuizhi was truly unfortunate to have such a brother and sister-in-law like Ruan Changgui and Sun Xiaohui, and a nephew like Ruan Yuejin. Not only did they not help, but they also added to the chaos.

Seeing Ruan Xi’s cold gaze, Ruan Yuejin felt a bit uneasy. He cleared his throat and said, “What’s wrong? Am I not right?” His parents said the same thing at home, and there was nothing wrong with it.

Ruan Xi stared at him and said, “Get lost! If your family interferes with Third Aunt’s affairs again, I’ll have Grandpa and Fifth Uncle beat you! Mind your own business and keep your mouth shut!”

Ruan Yuejin, his eyebrows raised in anger, said, “Ruan Xi, how can you talk like that? I’m still a few months older than you, your cousin! We’re doing this for the good of the family, for Third Aunt’s sake, and you take our good intentions as ill will?”

Ruan Xi felt like she wanted to shoot this idiot. She stood up from the bench and faced Ruan Yuejin, saying, “For whose good? Are you Afraid Third Aunt will drag your family down? Tell Ruan Changgui and Sun Xiaohui not to worry; no one will rely on you!”

Furious, Ruan Yuejin turned and walked towards the house, muttering, “Women are indeed unreasonable!”

Ruan Xi couldn’t hold back and kicked Ruan Yuejin in the butt.

Caught off guard, Ruan Yuejin stumbled forward and fell to the ground with a thud.

Afraid that Ruan Yuejin would get up and hit her, Ruan Xi grabbed her backpack and ran, disappearing outside the courtyard gate in an instant.

Ruan Yuejin got up from the ground and shouted, “You brat! Just wait!”

Ruan Xi left the courtyard with her backpack and went straight to find Ling Yao.

Finding Ling Yao on the hillside, she called out to him from afar, “Zai Zai.”

Ling Yao looked up at her voice, stood up, and closed his book.

When Ruan Xi reached him, he asked, “Why are you here so early today? And alone.”

Ruan Xi sat down on a rock, slightly out of breath, and said, “I had a fight with my cousin, who has a big hole in his head.”

Ling Yao sat down beside her, “What happened?”

Ruan Xi said, “Because of my third aunt’s situation.” She looked at Ling Yao and asked, “You know about my third aunt, right?”

Ling Yao nodded, “I know a bit.” His mother, Zhou Xueyun, had mentioned it at home, but she didn’t say much as she disliked gossiping about the villagers.

Ruan Xi didn’t want to talk about those unhappy things, so she didn’t say more.

Ling Yao, however, took a small pig out of his bag and handed it to Ruan Xi, saying, “Cheer up.”

Seeing the pink pig, Ruan Xi’s eyes lit up. “Pink Piggy?” She took the pink pig, looked at it, and smiled brightly.

When Ruan Jie arrived on time, the three of them sat down to study.

In the evening, they herded the pigs home and parted ways at the fork in the road. Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie walked home hand in hand.

As they were almost home, they suddenly heard, “You brat! Stop right there!”

Ruan Xi turned to see Ruan Yuejin calling her, and she ran towards home.

She hid behind Liu Xinghua at the door and said, “Grandma, Ruan Yuejin wants to hit me!”

Seeing Ruan Yuejin approaching, Liu Xinghua slammed the kitchen knife on the cutting board and asked, “Who do you want to hit? As an older brother, you don’t know how to protect your sister and want to hit her?”

Ruan Yuejin, out of breath, said, “Hit her? She hit me!”

Liu Xinghua said, “How strong can a girl be? What’s wrong with her hitting you once? Did she kill you? As an older brother, don’t you know you should let your sister be?”

At this moment, Sun Xiaohui poked her head out of the small kitchen.

Seeing Liu Xinghua scolding Ruan Yuejin, she didn’t dare to speak up and just called Ruan Yuejin, “Come back.”

Ruan Yuejin didn’t say anything and went back to his own house.

After Ruan Yuejin went inside, Sun Xiaohui withdrew her head back into the small kitchen. Liu Xinghua asked Ruan Xi, “Did you hit him?”

Ruan Xi whispered, “I kicked him.”

Liu Xinghua lightly tapped her and then turned back to continue chopping pig feed.

Ruan Cuizhi came back from outside with a backpack. After putting it down, she wanted to help with the chores. Liu Xinghua didn’t let her and told her to pour a bowl of water and sit down to rest.

During these days at her parents’ home, Ruan Cuizhi seemed to particularly enjoy chatting with Ruan Xi. After sitting down to drink water and rest, she called Ruan Xi over to sit with her and asked, “You go to learn the craft from the old tailor every day. How’s it going?”

Ruan Xi smiled and said, “It’s going well.”

Then she lowered her voice, “Anyway, I’m learning better than Ruan Yuejin. He’s just a fool!”

Ruan Cuizhi couldn’t help but laugh, “That’s good. It’s good to have a skill.”

Ruan Xi looked at Ruan Cuizhi’s face and suddenly remembered something, so she said, “By the way, Third Aunt, you seem to be very good at needlework, right? When I master the craft, I’ll teach it to you. In the future, when my master… um… when I leave, you’ll be the only tailor on the mountain. You’ll definitely be in high demand. You don’t know how well my master lives.”

Ruan Cuizhi laughed, “Can I do it? I’m already this old.”

Ruan Xi said, “How old are you? Just a little over thirty, still very young!”

In her era, people at this age hadn’t even married yet.

Ruan Cuizhi laughed at her words, “I’m afraid I’m too clumsy.”

Ruan Xi patted her hand and said, “As long as you want to learn, leave it to me. Once you become a tailor, no one on this mountain will dare to look down on you. Look at the old tailor; he never got married and is an old bachelor, but isn’t he still highly respected? Everyone on this mountain respects him and calls him ‘Master’ politely.”

Ruan Cuizhi nodded as she listened, “You’re right.”

Ruan Jie, helping Liu Xinghua with chores outside, laughed and whispered, “Sister is brainwashing Third Aunt again.”

Liu Xinghua didn’t understand, “Brainwashing with what?”

Just as Ruan Jie was about to explain, they heard a throat-clearing sound, followed by a voice saying, “Mom.”

Liu Xinghua and Ruan Jie looked up together and saw that Liu Xiong had arrived. Not only did he come, but he also brought his youngest son. He put his son down and said, “Quick, call Grandma.”

Little Tiger called out, “Hello, Grandma.” Then he said, “Dad and I came to find Mom.”