Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Yezhi lay on the kang, crying out in pain, "Ouch! Ouch!" "Aunt, can you be gentler?" she pleaded pitifully. Aunt Zhou was being too rough, almost to the point of being ruthless!
Without holding back, Aunt Zhou pushed and rubbed Yezhi's back vigorously, saying, "This is light; the medicinal wine won't take effect. Tomorrow, you still won't be able to straighten your back!"
Yezhi bit her lip, thinking to herself: If she had known that Village Uncle would tell her to rest, she wouldn't have insisted on working until the end with everyone. The difference between someone who does farm work regularly and someone like Yezhi, who only occasionally helps out, was significant. Everyone, including little ones like One Egg, felt a bit tired after an afternoon of work; they might have initially struggled to straighten their backs but recovered after a bit of mutual encouragement. But for her? After planting the seedlings, she was completely drained, hunched over with legs that felt as heavy as lead. She barely managed to climb up the ridge and even fell flat on her face when Aunt Zhou reached out to help her. As if that wasn't enough, she ended up in the mud without the strength to get up, and finally was carried home by One Gun Brother amidst the villagers' panic.
After rubbing for a quarter of an hour, Aunt Zhou wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, "Alright, just lie down and sleep well tonight. I've applied the special medicinal wine sent by your Barefoot Aunt; I guarantee you'll feel better tomorrow!" Yezhi mumbled a "mm" in response and closed her eyes to sleep.
When Aunt Zhou finished washing up and returned to the room, Yezhi was already snoring loudly. This girl often complained about how loud Aunt Zhou's snoring was and insisted that she had a respiratory issue. She even wanted Aunt Zhou to see Barefoot about it. Yet here she was, snoring just as loudly. Aunt Zhou thought to herself with a smile as she drifted off to sleep.
After a good night's sleep, Yezhi woke up to find the sun shining brightly. As she moved her stiff limbs from sleeping on her stomach, she couldn't help but marvel at how effective the medicinal wine was; her back didn't hurt anymore, and her legs felt quite nimble. She walked into the kitchen, lifted the wooden pot lid, and found steamed egg custard and corn cakes inside. She devoured them hungrily. Disgusted by the lingering smell of medicinal wine on her body, she boiled a large pot of hot water and took a refreshing bath with soap before changing into clean clothes, feeling completely rejuvenated.
Slowly walking towards the rice fields, she saw villagers happily sitting by the edge of the field eating their packed meals. One Egg spotted Yezhi and jumped up excitedly to greet her: "Sister Ye! Sister Ye!" Yezhi waved back at him.
Looking at the once barren rice paddies now filled with rows of green seedlings gave her a sense of accomplishment; this was also a result of her hard work. However, thinking about how everyone had been busy all morning while she arrived late empty-handed just in time for lunch made her feel embarrassed.
"Yezhi, are you feeling better?" Besides Village Uncle's concerned inquiry, everyone else looked at her with worry, eager to hear her response.
"I'm fine! I'm doing well! I'll go plant seedlings now; you all take your time eating!" Yezhi replied loudly with flushed cheeks as she kicked off her rubber shoes and prepared to roll up her pants when Aunt Zhou pulled her back firmly. "You don't need to do anything; there are so many of us here; we will definitely finish planting today." While saying this, she shoved a corn cake into Yezhi's hand.
Village Uncle shouted nervously: "Yezhi, you're our expert guide; there's no need for you to pitch in! Just watch us closely so we don't make mistakes; that's enough work for your eyes!"
"Sister Ye, you're not as fast as I am at planting..."
"Dad! Why are you covering my mouth?" One Egg finally wriggled free from One Gun Brother's big hand and asked angrily.
"You silly child! Look at her!" One Gun Brother pointed at Yezhi's face which kept changing colors from blue to red helplessly.
In fact, One Egg wasn't wrong; all the kids around were helping with replanting in the rice fields just like him. These children were quick learners; they got better and faster at it with practice—truly quicker and better than Yezhi!
Feeling hopelessly dejected, Yezhi stood there in the field lost in thought: She really felt useless—worse than a child—and instantly lost all confidence. She even feared that one day Aunt Zhou, Village Uncle, Cart Master, One Gun Brother, One Egg... all the villagers would abandon her. At that moment... where would she go without anyone to rely on?
The more Yezhi thought about it, the more frightened she became; it felt like she was all alone in this vast world. In her heart, she silently called out: "Xiao Fang... Xiao Fang!"
"Master~!" Xiao Fang's soft voice rang out.
"Xiao Fang, will you always stay with me?"
"Of course! Xiao Fang will always be with you!"
"Sister Ye, what's wrong? If I said something wrong, just hit me, but please don't ignore me!" One Egg rushed to Yezhi's side, grabbing her hand and forcefully slapping it against his own face.
Startled, Yezhi quickly regained her composure and used all her strength to pull her hand away from the powerful grip of One Egg. "One Egg, do I really need to get angry with a little kid like you?" "Girl! What's wrong with you?" Aunt Zhou and Everyone looked at her with concern and a hint of confusion.
Yezhi feigned disappointment and expressed her worries: "I really feel useless. I've been in the village for so long, and I can't even plant the basic crops properly. It's enough to make people look down on me! I usually just eat and do nothing, contributing nothing! Everyone sees it and understands it in their hearts. Now you won't even let me plant seedlings; are you starting to dislike me..." Before Yezhi could finish her sentence, Aunt Zhou slapped her face hard. Covering her face, she looked at Aunt Zhou, who was glaring at her like an angry deity. "Yezhi, dear! When I call you 'dear', do you think I'm being sincere or insincere? At such a young age, why do you think so heavily? Village Chief, if One Egg doesn't let you plant seedlings, what do you think that means? Looking down on you! Disliking you!" Aunt Zhou scoffed. "I've only heard that city folks look down on us country people; don't turn the tables and insult us while insulting yourself!" Wiping away the tears she couldn't hold back, Aunt Zhou continued painfully, "We care about you. We worry about how tired you were last night that you couldn't even straighten your back... We care about you...!" Aunt Li and Mei Zi stepped forward to support Aunt Zhou and comfort her: "Alright, alright! Don't say anymore; Yezhi understands."
Village Uncle, Cart Master, and the villagers finally snapped back to reality; Everyone was stunned by Aunt Zhou's slap directed at Yezhi.
Yezhi's face was burning with pain as she lowered her head. Yes, she understood! She could distinguish between sincerity and insincerity; she just lacked confidence in herself and in people's hearts. What she said wasn't truly believing that the village chief and villagers disliked her; she was merely analyzing herself while feeling very insecure, deliberately twisting her words to make Everyone feel sorry for her. It was despicable! Just like when her parents talked about divorce; she would say it was good to separate. When they fought over custody, she insisted on living alone, claiming everything was fine and not letting them interfere while feeling incredibly lonely! She stubbornly endured living alone just to make her parents feel more guilty and more concerned!
"Auntie, I'm just afraid that one day everyone will hate me!" Yezhi cried out while covering her face. Village Uncle disagreed: "Yezhi, you're a kind girl; everyone in Zhoujiatun likes you. How could they hate you!"
"That's right! The first time I saw you, I liked you; otherwise, why would I let you wear my girl's red battle outfit? Besides, you're our village's lucky star and savior." Aunt Ren Er's voice was the loudest amidst the villagers' enthusiastic agreement.
"Sister Ye, I like you the most! You saved my life!" One Egg chimed in eagerly while shaking Yezhi's hand.
Zhou Xiaomu, who had been happily playing in the grass by the field, heard everyone talking about Yezhi and ran over excitedly, shouting in a baby voice: "Sister Ye! Sister Ye! I like... you..." Zhou Xiaomu burped and continued shouting: "I like your candy... candy...!"
Suddenly everyone burst into laughter. Zhou Xiaomu's mother ran over and picked him up, giving his bare bottom a couple of pats. "You little rascal! Your sister Yezhi won't like you if there's no candy..."
Zhou Xiaomu struggled to escape his mother's embrace and shouted: "No way! Zhou Xiaomu still likes Sister Ye the most! I like Sister Ye's chicken meat and pork meat!"
Er Zhu and a group of kids cheered loudly in agreement while the adults laughed so hard they couldn't stand up straight!
Yezhi stood there in disarray amidst the wind! Aunt Zhou couldn't help but laugh as well; feeling sorry for Yezhi, she walked over to check her face. Seeing Aunt Zhou made Yezhi's eyes instantly moist. "Auntie...!" she called timidly.
Looking at Yezhi's swollen cheeks filled Aunt Zhou with heartache as she scolded herself for being too harsh!
"Does it hurt?" Aunt Zhou asked regretfully; wasn't that a silly question?
Yezhi shook her head vigorously, saying, "It doesn't hurt, really!"
Aunt Zhou held back her tears and said with great concern, "You're lying! Your face is swollen like a steamed bun, and it doesn't hurt?"
After the commotion and laughter, Everyone finished their dry rations and got busy with the serious work of transplanting rice seedlings. Yezhi was still excluded from the group, but at this moment, she had no negative feelings; after getting slapped, she had to learn a lesson!
Cart Master drove the cart and took Yezhi home. Yezhi repeatedly reminded Cart Master to remember to take her back to the rice field later.
"You troublesome girl, with that bun-like face, still thinking about wandering around. Stay home and reflect on yourself!" Cart Master joked about Yezhi.
“Cart Master! Hmph! If you don’t take me with you later, I won’t talk to you anymore!” Yezhi threatened with her hands on her hips. After Cart Master chuckled and nodded in agreement, he drove away.
Taking out all the wild boar meat that Aunt Zhou had preserved with salt, Yezhi began to stew the meat soup. At noon, she noticed that the villagers were only casually eating some dry rations. Even a strong man like One Gun Brother only nibbled on two flatbreads made of coarse grains. The women and children ate even less, indicating that Everyone had started to consciously save food. This wouldn't do! High-intensity labor required ample nourishment! She decided to prepare an extra meal for Everyone tonight; although there wasn't much available, she would stew some wild vegetables and meat soup to increase the calories.
Due to time constraints, as soon as the meat was cooked, Yezhi added wild vegetables and mushrooms into the large pot. She stewed four big pots in total and used everything at home that could hold food for serving.
When Cart Master came to call for Yezhi, pulling a cart full of wood, he saw three large buckets and two big basins of meat soup and exclaimed excitedly, "Yezhi, are you emptying your pantry?"
“Cart Master, stop chatting! Once the soup cools down, it won't taste good! I still have things to discuss with Village Uncle,” Yezhi urged.
Together they lifted the soup onto the cart. Yezhi sat on the wood while Cart Master cracked his whip, and the cart started trotting along the village path at a leisurely pace!
Comment 0 Comment Count