“Wife, it’s so dark over there.” Li Shu walked over to her while carrying his bowl.
Li Man secretly rolled her eyes. It was exactly because this spot was dark, and she wanted peace and quiet so she had come here to hide. She wasn’t an imperceptive fool. The recent burning look in Li Yan’s eyes felt as if he was stripping off her clothes…
Gah, no, no, no. What was going on today? Was Li Yan confused from his fever, or was there something wrong with her eyes? Although that rascal had previously looked at her with strange gazes, it wasn’t as wantonly wicked as right now.
“Wife, what are you thinking about?” Li Shu crouched down by her side. He saw that she was lost in thought with her head dropping down. She didn’t even notice that her soup was going to spill out soon because she wasn’t holding the bowl level. He hurriedly steadied the bowl for her.
Sure enough, Li Man showed a reaction to his movement. As soon she raised her head, her eyes met with Li Shu’s doubtful gaze. She hastily stood up and said, “The soup is a bit bland. I’m going to go add some salt.”
After saying this, she moved away from Li Shu and headed outside. She darted straight into the kitchen. Once her butt touched the stool by the stove, she breathed a long sigh of relief.
Ah, the kitchen was preferable. She felt more at ease being alone in the peaceful and quiet kitchen.
Li Shu wanted to follow after her, but Li Yan stopped him by saying, “Third brother, drink your soup.”
“What?” Leaning against the doorway, Li Shu turned his head back to look at his second brother.
Li Yan was leaning against the heated bed with his head lowered to eat the dough drop soup. He didn’t answer Li Shu’s question.
Li Mo glanced at his second brother, then looked at his third brother before finally saying, “Third brother, come sit here and eat.”
Li Shu suddenly laughed. “Oldest brother, second brother, are you guys worried about me spending time alone with wife?”
Li Yan finished drinking the soup and went back and forth with picking up the lumps of cooked dough. “I said that for your own good. If you don’t believe me, you can go after her. Wife will definitely shoo you away.”
“Why?” Li Shu was somewhat unconvinced.
Li Yan slightly raised his right eyebrow. He didn’t say the answer right away. Instead, he took a bite of the cooked dough and suddenly said, “It’s a bit too salty.”
“Huh?” Li Shu came to an abrupt mental halt.
Li Mo doubtful took a few bites. “It’s okay.”
Little Five added, “It’s yummy.”
However, Li Hua understood the meaning of his second brother’s words. When Li Man had recently fled from the hut, she had said she was going to add salt but that had obviously been a fabricated excuse. Was she feeling oppressed because all five of them were here?
Second brother didn’t let third brother follow after her because he wanted to give her space to relax. Although they couldn’t provide her anything particularly good to eat or drink, they hoped that she could at least eat her fill and enjoy mealtimes more.
—
A while later, the brothers had emptied their bowls. As the oldest sibling, Li Mo took the initiative of collecting the bowls. Then, he went to the kitchen to get more food.
Li Man ate slowly. When he came over, her bowl was still more than half full. Seeing him with the empty bowls, she was about to stand up. “I’ll fill those bowls.”
Li Mo hastily said, “You can sit. I can do it.”
“Oh.” Li Man shrank back and quietly resume eating the dough drop soup by the stove.
Once Li Mo was done filling the bowls, he brought the bowls over to the eastern hut in two trips. On his return trip to the kitchen to get the remaining bowls, Li Man kept her head lowered and didn’t acknowledge him.
And so, Li Mo took the initiative to tell her, “There’s one bowl’s worth of soup left in the pot. You should eat quickly while it’s still warm. It’ll get cold soon.”
Briefly stumped for words, Li Man uttered, “Oh, okay.”
Li Mo picked up the three bowls and carefully went to the eastern hut.