An Jingxin’s heart instantly filled with sweetness; she just knew it would be that way. She beamed, "Come in, I’ve already prepared the meal."
"Mm," Xiao Changyi tied the ox in the cattle shed, washed his hands, and then sat down at the dining table to eat with An Jing.
The next day, after breakfast, An Jing and Xiao Changyi were drying rice grains in the courtyard while waiting for Wang Youbao to arrive.
In fact, Jiuping Village had a rice drying yard, but since they were no longer interacting with the people of Jiuping Village, neither An Jing nor Xiao Changyi would go there to dry their rice grains.
Luckily, there was just a little over six dan of rice grains; it was just right to dry them in the courtyard.
Meanwhile, at Mrs. Hongxia’s place.
"Mom, did you see it? The fish in Xiao Changyi’s paddy fields—there are so many!" Liu Sanya’s eyes were filled with greed, clearly longing to feast on the fish in Xiao Changyi’s fields.
She hadn’t felt this strongly before, but ever since An Jing and Xiao Changyi harvested all the rice yesterday, the fields were empty, and the fish were more visible swimming around, making her desire them even more.
It wasn’t just her; in fact, the entire Jiuping Village coveted the fish in those fields.
Mrs. Hongxia also wanted those fish; she too had seen the fish swimming back and forth in Xiao Changyi’s fields. There really were a lot of fish, but she was mindful of her dignity and felt too embarrassed to mention it.
Now, with her daughter bringing it up, Mrs. Hongxia couldn’t help but swallow hard and then scolded, "Why do you concern yourself with his fish? Today you better come with me and your younger brother to harvest the rice. You never do any work and yet have all these desires!"
Liu Sanya immediately felt wronged by the scolding, "What’s wrong with wanting to eat their fish? What does that have to do with how much work I do? If it wasn’t for our dad, would he even be alive right now? Mother, he should be offering fish to us!"
Liu Sizi threw cold water on the idea, "Sister, even if you want to eat, there’s nothing we can do; they won’t give it to us. Remember the large rabbit from last time? They didn’t even share a bit of the soup with us, have you already forgotten that?"
Liu Sanya immediately retorted, "If he doesn’t give, can’t we just catch them from his field ourselves? Dad did him a favor, we take his fish, he won’t say anything to us."
Mrs. Hongxia thought it made sense, but she couldn’t bring herself to actually go catch them, so she said, "If you want to catch them, go yourself, I’m not going!"
Liu Sizi also said, "Neither am I."
"Fine, I’ll go myself then," Liu Sanya took a small wooden bucket and headed outside, "I’m going now to catch them, you wait to eat my fish, I’ll catch lots and bring them back."
Only when Liu Sanya disappeared from sight did Liu Sizi turn and ask, "Mother, won’t this cause trouble?"
"What trouble could it cause? There won’t be any problems. Your sister’s right, your father did him a favor; even if we take his fish, he won’t say anything about it," replied Mrs. Hongxia.
Hearing this, Liu Sizi got excited, "If that’s the case, let’s go to his courtyard and take that rice-threshing tool. Their tool threshes much faster than our rice straw cylinder. If we borrow it, we’ll surely finish threshing the rice much quicker."
Mrs. Hongxia said, "Don’t even think about it; that threshing tool is a rare item, they won’t lend it to us. Besides, I’ve already said we’re not dealing with that household anymore. Don’t make a fool out of me."
Liu Sizi immediately grumbled to himself, If we’re not interacting anymore, then why do you allow sister to go catch someone else’s fish?
However, figuring that he could also eat some if Liu Sanya caught the fish, he just muttered the complaint in his heart, never voicing it out loud.