Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Liu Duo heard Liu’s voice while she was brushing. She looked over and said, “You’re making a fuss!”
The two men approached the well, and the family of five was all crowded around the same spot.
They had a simple breakfast. Liu Duo fried a potful of bamboo shoots and placed them in other smaller pots of the same size, so they wouldn’t be dirtied.
“Yang, you’re really not coming with us?” Liu Duo asked. The few of them had carried the bamboo shoots filled in wooden barrels to the village entrance and placed them on Wang Tuozi’s ox-cart.
“You guys go,” Ye Yang repeated. He was no use where they were going.
Ye Ling didn’t go either. He claimed he wouldn’t be of much help, since he didn’t know how to sell things. Ye Mo wanted to go, but Liu Duo never asked him!
“Mo, you come with us,” Ye Ling turned to speak to him. He knew Mo wanted to join them.
Ye Mo looked at Liu Duo silently, pulling a long face.
Li Wazi arrived to help carry the wooden barrels after he had eaten his fill. He joined in, “Yes, Mo, you come too. It’s not enough with only Liu and your wife. I’m not a good talker, so I can’t help, even if I go.”
“Mo, why are you standing there like a blockhead and not coming?” Ye Liu called out again. After all, the more help the better, since Ye Yang and the other two men wouldn’t go anyway!
Ye Mo didn’t budge. He kept looking at Liu Duo adamantly. Feeling his gaze, Liu Duo rolled her eyes, “Uncle Wang, let’s go!”
Did you need others to convince you to come with us? Are you the master or something?
Wang Tuozi took a last look at Ye Mo, and only pulled out his whip when he saw that Ye Mo really wasn’t coming. The cart trudged along.
“Liu, are you sure you can sell these bamboo shoots? They really don’t taste bitter?” Wang Tuozi asked, manoeuvring his cart.
“Yes, Uncle Wang, you’ll see before long,” Ye Liu said mischievously and wrapped his arm around Liu Duo.
Liu Duo looked back at the village entrance. They hadn’t gone far yet, and she could still see the three men standing there to see them off.
“Mo, are you coming or not!” Liu Duo yelled out of the blue.
She didn’t know why she did that. A voice in her heart had told her to let him come.
With that, Ye Liu cued Wang Tuozi, who stopped his cart and waited for Ye Mo. While Liu Duo calling him was unexpected, Ye Mo felt immensely happy. This proved that he held a certain position in her heart after all!
His lips couldn’t help but twirl upwards when he heard her call him. The irritation, dismay, and anger that he had been hoarding vanished without a trace.
“Mo, Duo Er’s calling you. Go on,” Ye Ling gave his brother, who wasn’t moving, a gentle push, urging him to hurry.
“Yes, get going. Uncle Wang stopped his cart just for you,” Li Wazi pushed him as well, a bit harder than Ye Ling, so that he wouldn’t stay rooted to the ground.
He really hoped his good friend could have a better relationship with his wife, and not be isolated. Otherwise, when would he stop living a monk’s life and start having children?
Ye Mo touched his nose and walked forward with an air of coolness.
He had barely sat down on the cart when Ye Liu said, “Gee, Little Mo, I thought you had stubbornly refused to come. What changed your mind?”
“So I did. Why not?” He turned his head but didn’t look at the weird expression on Ye Liu’s face.
“Sure, sure, sure. Not like my opinion matters. Right, Little Duo?” Ye Liu looked at Liu Duo playfully.