It was already dinnertime, but Li Man remained in her hut without going outside. She sat on the bed and looked at the small vegetable garden through the back window. Her thoughts were in a total mess as she tried to think of how she would walk down the path of her life in the future.
Li Hua had made dinner tonight. He gave a portion to Little Five to bring to oldest brother, then he went to the western hut to bring over Li Man’s serving.
The lighting was dim. Li Hua put the bowl of food by the bed. “I’ll bring over a lamp.”
Li Man turned her head and squeezed out a smile for him, then she silently picked up the bowl. “No need. Thank you.”
Li Hua glanced towards the doorway. Second brother and third brother were taking their dinner to the eastern hut to eat with oldest brother.
“I have to go back to school tomorrow.” He sat down near the bed. In the dim room, his eyes were like stars. It looked as if he was worried and also unwilling to part from her.
The hand that was holding the chopsticks paused. A moment later, Li Man resumed picking up the rice to eat.
Li Hua didn’t continue to look at her. Instead, he lowered his eyes halfway and implored her, “Oldest brother is injured. Please take care of this household.”
“En,” Li Man lightly assented. While he had been talking, she had been digging a hole in the bowl of rice.
“If there’s ever a problem, look for oldest brother. He’ll help you.”
“En.”
“Little Five is still young and likes to play around too much. Watch over him please. When you have free time, teach him how to write. He’ll like that.”
“Okay.”
“Third brother is a bit too hot-headed, but his inherent nature is the simplest and purest one. If he offends you, please pardon him.”
“I know.”
“Second brother -” Li Hua stopped. He didn’t know what to say.
As soon as Li Man thought of that wicked person, she lost her appetite. The way he had treated her today, she couldn’t be sure that he would do something worse to her in the future.
“Stay around Little Five more. Try to keep out of second brother’s way.”
“Oh.” Could she really avoid him? Even though that wicked person looked like a refined scholar, he was really an unreasonable barbarian.
“I…. At latest, I won’t be back until next month.”
“En.” Li Man bit her chopsticks. She was still thinking about what Li Yan had done.
Li Hua raised his head to look at her. “You… is there nothing that you want to say to me?”
“Huh?” Li Man looked at him in confusion.
Li Hua felt a pang of disappointment. “Never mind, take good care of yourself. If you’re going out, take Little Five with you.”
Li Man suddenly realized something. The reason this teenager was bidding her with so much advice was because…
“Wife.” Li Shu suddenly came into the hut with a bowl. Seeing that Li Hua was also here, he laughed and said, “Fourth brother, why haven’t you eaten yet? Your bowl of food is getting cold.”
After saying this, he walked to the bed and transferred a large piece of a vegetable from his bowl to Li Man’s.
“I already have some.” Li Man wanted to refuse.
“This is newly matured pumpkin. It’s really fresh. Fourth brother was the one to stir-fry it. It tastes pretty good. You should eat more of it.” Standing nearby her, Li Shu said this while eating.
“Oh.” Li Man took a bite. She had been so focused on eating the rice before that she hadn’t eaten any of vegetables. Once she tried some, she thought that the flavor was pretty good too, so she complimented, “Yummy.”
Li Hua slightly smiled. “There’s a cherry tree in my school. In a few days, those cherries will be ripe. When I come back next month, I’ll bring more back for you.”