Yao Hui reached out and grabbed Lyu Juncheng’s arm: "Brother-in-law, just leave her be for a while. Otherwise, she’ll think you’re pandering to her and keep pushing her luck."
Lyu Juncheng was very annoyed. Seeing Yao Hui grabbing his arm, he couldn’t help but shake it off forcefully: "Watch your words and actions."
Yao Hui, hearing Lyu Juncheng say this, misunderstood it as a reaction to her belittling Yu Xinyan, and he treated her this way, feeling a bit angry: "Who am I doing this for? You’re so ungrateful."
Lyu Juncheng took a look at Yao Hui’s hurt face and felt he might have been too harsh: "Alright, it was my fault, I shouldn’t have snapped at you."
Upon hearing this, Yao Hui felt relieved: "Brother-in-law, you’ve had a long day too; I’ll go and tidy up the kitchen and start cooking."
Yao Hui first washed the big iron pot, put in the sorghum rice that Lyu Juncheng had soaked earlier, and took three big sweet potatoes from the nearby basket. She washed them and cut them into pieces for later use.
Looking at the messy kitchen gave her a bit of a headache, but to show her brother-in-law her diligence, she reluctantly started tidying up.
She hadn’t finished tidying the kitchen when Lyu Xiangyang brought his twin siblings, brother Lyu Xiangliang and sister Lyu Xiangran, into the yard: "Auntie, I brought Xiangliang and Xiangran back, where’s my braised meat?"
Yao Hui cursed ’troublesome kids’ in her heart and brought out a basin of water from the kitchen: "Take your brother and sister, wash your hands, and wait inside."
Upon hearing this, Lyu Xiangyang hurriedly pulled his brother and sister to squat down and wash their hands. In his haste, he soaked their jacket sleeves in the water.
Lyu Xiangliang shouted, "My sleeves are wet."
But Lyu Xiangran started crying: "Big brother’s mean, my sleeves got wet."
Just as Yao Hui opened the pack containing the braised meat, chaos erupted in the yard. Frustratedly, she let out a heavy sigh: "Xiangyang, you can’t even do something as simple as this right. Besides eating, what else can you do?"
Lyu Xiangyang, hearing his aunt scold him, was upset: "You’re a liar. You said you liked me, but all you do is boss me around and scold me. I won’t trust you anymore."
After saying this, he ran off in a huff.
Lyu Juncheng had just bought a piece of tofu and came face-to-face with his eldest son running out: "Xiangyang, we’re about to eat. Where are you going?"
Lyu Xiangyang didn’t stop: "You’re all big liars."
Seeing him like this, Lyu Juncheng quickly shouted towards the yard: "Yao Hui, what’s wrong with Xiangyang?"
Yao Hui was still upset: "I just asked him to help his brother and sister wash their hands. For some food, he dunked both kids into the water basin, soaking Xiangliang and Xiangran’s jacket sleeves. I said a few things to him, and he couldn’t take it and ran off, calling me a liar."
In the yard, Lyu Xiangliang was staring at his wet cuffs, while Lyu Xiangran was still crying. Seeing this, Lyu Juncheng felt overwhelmed.
Not bothering with the fleeing Xiangyang, he first took the twins into the house and comforted his daughter: "Don’t cry, your big brother didn’t do it on purpose. Daddy will help you change. If you keep crying, you won’t look pretty."
Perhaps it’s in a little girl’s nature to love beauty, because when Lyu Juncheng said ’you won’t look pretty,’ she stopped crying, but occasionally let out a few sobs.
Lyu Juncheng rummaged through the messy bed for a long time before he found another set of jackets for the kids. However, the clothes were too dirty to wear, having been changed a few days ago and not yet washed. The sleeves were shiny with grease.
With a sigh, he started unbuttoning his daughter’s coat: "Put on this one first, and Dad will dry your wet sleeves and then change them back."