Chapter 659: 659.[(Asking for monthly tickets ah)] _1 Chapter 659: 659.[(Asking for monthly tickets ah)] _1 But Zhu Xin had no idea about any of these.
He just felt his butt stuck to the sofa, unable to move at all now. Fortunately, the words “thick-skinned” were not part of his life motto, so he spoke naturally:
“That’s just perfect! Fate, isn’t it, Auntie? You say, coming across our genuine home-cooked farm meal, it would be such a pity not to try it!”
Wu Lan: … I must say, this young man is really smooth-talking! Why can’t he be one of my own kids? How do others educate theirs?!
With this dawdling, Zhu Xin made himself completely at home, and he even rode Qiaoqiao’s rainbow tricycle around the yard as the sun set, looking utterly content.
It wasn’t until Sister Tian Tian and her brother returned with two whole baskets of Yuxing Grass.
Seeing Zhu Xin riding the tricycle in the courtyard, the siblings were stunned for a moment, but didn’t mind, merely wiping the sweat from their foreheads and taking the already sorted Yuxing Grass to the edge of the pool to rinse again.
These had clearly been cleaned up beside the pond earlier, spotless and damp, without a speck of dirt.
One basket was filled to the brim with leaves that had green tops and red undersides and slender stems, now piled up in the basin barely fitting.
The other, more than half a basket, full of yellowish roots that were also fresh and spirited, were being washed under the tap.
Seeing the amount, it was obvious they had finished picking the green beans in the morning and then listened to Wu Lan’s advice to clean up these in the afternoon.
After two days of work, Tian Ye returned and said that the teachers all communicated directly in English, which filled Tian Tian with even more gratitude.
Now, speaking to Wu Lan, she didn’t feel like an outsider, but sincerely started making plans for them:
“Aunt, the Yuxing Grass won’t dry out right away, we still have plenty of time, why don’t I go pick more Yuxing Grass tomorrow, and have Tian Ye loosen up the soil where we previously planted beans?”
She considered: “I see there are many people at home, so planting more vegetables isn’t wrong. The field on the mountain can’t be worked on because we need to dig ditches, right? How about we clean up those plots? Whether for germinating or for planting vegetables, that would be great.”
Although it was hot today, taking advantage of the opportunity to plant autumn cucumbers, cowpeas, water spinach, and the like, they would be just in time for the autumn harvest.
Wu Lan exclaimed, “Aiyoh”!
She had completely forgotten, always thinking about the many vegetables in the garden–the garden that didn’t have many vegetables to harvest now! Take those cucumbers, for instance, it was about time to pull up the vines and replant!
Sigh, back when Old Li was well, he would help think about these things… but now…
Thinking of this, she gave Tian Tian a set of instructions before turning to ask Song Tan, “Is Old Li still hospitalized in the city?”
Song Tan was taken aback, then replied, “He’s still there. His family isn’t around, so I reckon it will be a few more days–during the argument the other day, I heard his son and daughter-in-law saying that the checkup was too expensive, and since the old man had nothing to do at home, it might be better to have him hospitalize… Isn’t hospitalization reimbursable?”
Wu Lan muttered to herself, “Is our village’s feng shui bad or something? What have these people raised… Who brings a perfectly fine person to stay in the hospital!”
Especially for elderly people, the idea of going to the hospital when not ill was a big taboo. Alas, since it was their own family, they had no say in the matter.
Song Tan was rather speechless, thinking to herself that the air in their village was so much better than when she came back, so if someone’s children weren’t filial, what did that have to do with their feng shui?
Could it be her Spiritual Energy was scattered only here and nowhere else?!
Zhu Xin, typically a chatterbox, now tactfully kept his mouth shut, while Qiaoqiao, hearing about Old Li, couldn’t help feeling a bit sad again: “Dahuang misses him…”
Then she asked, “Mom, is it true that Grandpa Li doesn’t want Dahuang anymore? Dad said that the cowshed could be finished tonight.”
Wu Lan sighed, “Your Grandpa Li is old, he can’t handle Dahuang, that’s why he gave Dahuang to you to take care of… You need to be responsible, you can’t give him to anyone else.”
As for the cowshed… it’s actually just a spot next to the pigpen with a shelter from the rain. After all, Song Tan had said that they would fence in a cattle pen on the river beach in autumn. This was just a temporary solution.
Qiaoqiao sighed, then glanced at Zhu Xin, who was sitting on the tricycle: “Brother Xiaozhu, you ride it yourself. I have to go work now.”
Today there were guests at home, and Seventh Uncle didn’t ask him to cook. Qiaoqiao’s tasks were to feed the dogs, pigs, chickens, and ducks–the tricycle with dog food and pig feed was quite fitting!
When Qiaoqiao was preparing the dog food, Song Tan approached and asked him, “Why do the dogs get to eat small dried fish today?”
The small dried fish weren’t plentiful, the big eaters at home could finish a basin in one meal–where would there be extras?
Today’s mix of wheat bran, rice bran, and dog food must mean Qiaoqiao was treating them specially again.
But Qiaoqiao instantly turned his head away, not daring to look into Song Tan’s eyes, merely huffing and puffing:
“Uh… uh… Those fish fell on the ground, got dirty and couldn’t be eaten, that’s why I gave them to the dogs.”
While saying this, he hurriedly scooped from a bucket a separate pot with corn kernels, pumpkin, winter melon, and stewed meat bones, with a layer of Yuxing Grass floating on top–an oily green layer.
With so many dogs, you’d have to make a separate pot for them each meal!
Alright then, children tell lies sometimes, it’s no big deal. Anyway, she needed to find out the reason behind it these past couple days.
She watched Qiaoqiao, who had set a few bowls on the corridor and now was going into the living room. She first touched Princess’s head: “Good girl, does your eye still hurt? Come here after eating, and I’ll apply the medicine.”
Then she looked at Yingjun–who walked with a slight limp, but healing takes time, so she also patted its head: “Go eat.”
As for the poor Duoduo…
With no one in the living room, Song Tan simply squatted down and gently ran her palm over its injured belly–
She gave it some not excessive Spiritual Energy, not enough to heal it instantly, but enough to help the repeatedly torn wound to heal so that Duoduo whimpered softly, and soon it slowly stood up.
Staggering a few steps, it was able to snuggle next to Song Tan and sit down.
“Silly Duoduo,” Song Tan smiled, “hurry up and eat, after eating you’ll need a fresh application of medicine and bandaging.”
It was just healing, not a complete repair, those dogs would need a good bit of recuperation time.
After the other dogs left, Song Tan finally touched Cang Er’s large ears:
“Good boy, I know you can hear a little, can’t you? It’s just that the explosion was so severe, you were scared, right?”
Poor Cang Er, it had been trained and had overcome its fears. But the explosion was so close that it trembled in fear…
Once its wounds were healed, it could no longer withstand such terrifying noises.
It was a scaredy-cat… but… but…
It whimpered and kept burrowing into Song Tan’s embrace, its eyes looking at her pitifully and guiltily, as if it was about to cry.
“I know, I know,” Song Tan stroked its ears, “Cang Er didn’t mean to be a scaredy-cat, you just couldn’t help it, right?”
“It’s okay,” she hugged Cang Er’s fluffy head, “it’s okay.”