Liang Xiaoyu’s face turned even redder, "You guys... I’m not talking to you anymore." Then, she stomped her foot and ran away.
"The girl is shy." Li Xiang quickly waved at Yang Ruxin, "Well, I’m off too, I’ll come to play another day." Then she chased after Liang Xiaoyu.
Yang Ruxin watched the two figures disappear at the alley entrance before she laughed and closed the door. She then called her siblings to start cleaning up and told them, "These gifts came just when we needed help the most. Remember this, in the future, we must repay this kindness, and repay it double."
"Mm." Yang Rufeng, like a little adult, nodded his head, "I’m the family head now, I’ll repay it when I grow up."
Yang Ruxin chuckled and patted her brother’s head, "Alright, we don’t need to cook tonight, we have enough to eat with these."
"Big sister, I was just worried we would go hungry tonight..." Erni said happily, efficiently tidying up, "But everyone gave so much, there must be a pound of pork belly, I bet they can’t have this much themselves often..."
"These things must have been spared from their own tight supplies." Yang Ruxin glanced at the many items, "You all need to remember this..." She was like that, clear about who owed whom; if someone was kind to her in the slightest, she’d surely return it tenfold, and of course, if someone harmed her in any way, she’d return that tenfold too.
"Mm." The younger ones obediently nodded their heads.
"Big sister, are Brother Little Liuzi and Xiaoyu really..." Sanni asked during dinner, curious.
Yang Ruxin shook her head, "That was just a joke. It’s hard to say how things really are, it could be Li Xiang too. But this is something we can only say amongst ourselves at home, we can’t speak of it outside, or it would ruin Sister Xiaoyu and Sister Xiaoxiang’s reputations..."
"I know." Sanni nodded, "But I think Sister Xiaoxiang is less likely."
"Why is that?" Yang Ruxin raised her eyebrows slightly.
"Aunt Hehua’s family only has Xiaoxiang as a daughter and they will definitely want to take in a son-in-law." Sanni spread her hands, "Brother Little Liuzi definitely won’t become a son-in-law..."
"You sure know a lot." Yang Ruxin ruffled Sanni’s hair.
"Now my hair is all messed up." Sanni quickly pulled Yang Ruxin’s hand away, "Many people in the village know this, everyone but you..."
Yang Ruxin shrugged her shoulders. Alright, the old her really didn’t know anything, but these were matters that outsiders couldn’t influence, so they could only casually talk about them after all.
Though they didn’t cook that evening, the food given by everyone allowed them all to finally enjoy an unadulterated, hearty meal.
As for the pound of pork belly, they decided to cook it the next day. But with the hot weather and the fear of it spoiling, they rubbed it with a bit of salt and hung it from the house beam. To protect food from theft by mice and cats, everyone would hang food in mid-air; every household’s beams would have ropes dangling from them. The ropes in this house had rotted away long ago, but it was Yang Ruxin who tied a fresh one for them. Hanging a basket from it, they could now place food inside it.
"So delicious." Sini held her little stomach and smiled happily, "Big sister, I’m not dreaming, am I?"
"It feels like a dream to me too..." Erni also smiled.
"Do you want me to pinch you to see if you’re dreaming?" Yang Ruxin reached out and pinched Sini’s cheek, "Still a dream?"