Chapter 18 – Teasing
After the disturbance caused by the pheasant head persisted for a little bit, everyone went back to peacefully eating dinner.
Li Man didn’t let them add any more food to her bowl. Anyways, she had been the one that cooked this food. Why should she feel timid about eating it? Moreover, this pheasant truly tasted delicious.
After dinner, just like the past times, they wouldn’t let Li Man wash the dishes and pots.
Li Man happily returned to her hut to rest. The quilt had already been spread over the bed, and there were even neatly stacked clothes that she could wear at the head of the bed.
Remembering that flower-like teenager, Li Man smiled. Picking up the clothes and holding them in her hands, she sat down on the heated bed and became lost in her thoughts.
An indeterminate time later, she heard the sound of knocking at her door. She said, “Come in.”
Li Xiaowu brought in a small bucket of warm water for her to use to wash up.
Li Man thanked him. After he had left and closed the door, she somewhat blankly looked at the warm water.
Weren’t they treating her a little too nice? They had been delivering warm water to her hut every day so that she could take a bath.
Were they really her brothers?
But then, thinking of what had happened on the day she transmigrated here, she thought they were most likely just feeling bad for her because of how she had suffered on that day, so they were taking extra good care of her.
This was just like when she had been a child. If she got sick or had been bullied, her parents would go overboard in pampering her.
Oh well, regardless if they were her real family or not, she would just treat them like her family members in the future.
As Li Man finally discarded her confused emotional state and was about to wash up, she heard hoots of laughter from the kitchen. What were they doing over there?
In the kitchen, Li Mo’s handsome face was smeared with an expressed of wanting to laugh and cry. How could he have known that was a pheasant head? Once all of his younger brothers found out that it had been him who added the pheasant head to Li Man’s bowl, they all had a good time of teasing him. Ai…
After his younger brothers had finished laughing, Li Mo finally put away his earlier expression and seriously said, “Alright, let’s discuss serious matters now.”
“Huh?” Li Shu still hadn’t been able to stop his lips from smiling yet.
But, Li Mo was looking at Li Hua as he asked, “Fourth brother, how many days did you request to take off this time?
“Teacher Xu had to go to a provincial city to do some business. It’ll take him ten days before he can come back, so it doesn’t count as me taking time off this time,” Li Hua answered.
Li Shu was pleasantly surprised. “Oh, that means you can stay home for longer then, fourth brother.” He placed his hand on Li Hua’s shoulder and said with a smile, “This time, you’ll be able to finish telling the story from last time, right?”
Li Hua smiled and lightly nodded. Soon after, he asked Li Mo, “Oldest brother, is something the matter?”
Leaning against the top of the cooking range, Li Yan looked at Li Hua with a smile on his lips. “You seem to have hit it off with that woman.”
Something flickered in Li Hua’s gaze. “Second brother, why would you say something like that?”
“Fourth brother,” Li Mo suggested, “Go with third brother tomorrow to sell fish at the market. Bring her along with you. The money from selling fish doesn’t need to be brought back. Use it to buy some clothes for her.”
“En.” Li Hua thought of the clothes that Li Man had been wearing. Not only was it coarse, it was also their mother’s old clothing before she had passed away.
Hearing that they were going to go to the market, Li Xiaowu hurriedly pleaded with Li Mo, “Oldest brother, I want to go too.”
Li Mo affectionately looked at his youngest brother. “It’s too far away. You won’t be able to walk that far.”
Li Shu dearly cared for his youngest brother and hastily said, “That’s not a problem. Oldest brother, if he can’t walk that far. He can sit on the cart too.”
Li Hua nodded. “Oldest brother, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of them.”
Li Mo finally consented.
Li Yan faintly smiled and said, “Fourth brother, there’s not much rice left. Buy some more tomorrow. Also, if there’s anything that she wants to buy, buy more of it for her.
Li Hua made a sound of agreement.
Once the brothers had properly discussed this amongst themselves, they all went to sleep. Tonight, because the quilts had soaked up the sunlight and the sheets were all clean and soft from being washed, it felt especially comfortable.
Everyone also slept especially well. As they had expected, life was better when there was a woman around.