Chapter 11: Repairing the House

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Lin Xiujuan was still brooding over it. “That’s really strange. Tell me, how do they always catch big fishes then?”

Liu Liangcai snorted. “What’s so strange about that? Catching fish with a fish basket is all based on luck. That’s because Little Li is lucky. Everyone said she’s a jinx but look what happens! In my opinion, Little Li is clearly very lucky.”

Looking at the fish soup given to them, Lin Xiujuan didn’t say anything else.

Liu Fengfeng was young and simple-minded. He was happy when there was good food. At this moment, he was semi-lying on the table and eating happily. He did not forget to praise Zhou Xiaoli. “Sister Xiao Li’s fish soup is delicious.”

Liu Yuanyuan rolled her eyes at him and said angrily, “You’ve only eaten her cooking a few times and you’re already calling her ‘Sister Xiao Li’? How useless.”

Liu Fengfeng did not care about Liu Yuanyuan’s scolding at all. He drank the fish soup heartily.

Liu Yuanyuan was very depressed about Liu Fengfeng’s ‘betrayal’. She stopped eating and put down her bowl and chopsticks. “Mother, I’m done eating. I’m going to look for Guihua and the others to do handkerchief embroidery.”

With that, she took the sewing basket and left.

At the same time, the Zhou family had just finished eating as well. Zhou Xiaoli and Zhou Yu were tidying up the dried thatch in preparation to repair the house.

The storm in her illusion should happen tonight.

Watching the father and daughter duo climb up to the roof, Zhang Lan repeatedly reminded them to be careful.

“Don’t worry, Mother. We’ll be careful.”

Zhou Xiaoli answered while explaining to Zhou Yu what to do.

Zhou Yu had never worked on the roof before, and Zhou Xiaoli was afraid that he would fall off again. As such, most of the repairs were done by Zhou Xiaoli while Zhou Yu assisted from the side.

At this moment, Liu Liangcai was about to go out to work. When he saw the father and daughter on the roof, he could not help but say, “Ah, Little Li, why are you repairing the roof now? I’m on my way to work at the Wan family, so I can’t help you. I don’t think there’s a hurry to do the repair as well. Why don’t you come down first? I’ll help you repair it tomorrow morning.”

Naturally, Zhou Xiaoli declined. The storm was coming tonight, and they could not wait until tomorrow.

Her gaze swept across the empty courtyard of the Liu family and she could not help but ask, “Uncle Liu, didn’t you cut thatch for the roof?”

Liu Liangcai shook his head. “That’s right, I didn’t. I’ve been so busy these few days that I didn’t cut the thatch.”

Zhou Xiaoli thought for a moment. “How about this? Father and I cut a lot of thatch, and we can’t use it all. Why don’t you take some to use? There are many thunderstorms in this season. You should repair the house today so that you won’t panic when the time comes.”

Their area does have a lot of rainfall, so there was no harm in strengthening the roof. Looking back at Zhou Xiaoli, a little girl who was not even as big as his Yuanyuan, and yet she was already sensible enough to climb up the roof and repair the house. Just looking at her made one’s heart ache.

Hence, Liu Liangcai said, “That’s fine. Anyway, it’s not a bad thing to repair the roof. How about this? I’ll get Zhu Zi to tell Steward Niu that we won’t be working this afternoon. I can help you repair your roof as well.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Xiujuan ran out of the kitchen and said in disbelief. “Dad, what nonsense are you talking about? It’s not like you don’t know that Steward Niu is in charge of your work this time. He hates people who laze and report being sick. Today is the last day. If you take leave this afternoon, the work that you have done over the past few days will be in vain.”

“Besides, even if you’re afraid that a storm will break the roof, just take a look at the sun today. It’s so strong so there won’t be a storm tonight for sure! If you want to repair it, you can repair it tomorrow after this job is done.”

After hearing Lin Xiujuan’s words, Liu Liangcai hesitated. Indeed, Steward Niu was not as easy-going as Steward Wan. On the contrary, he was very harsh and many villagers had their salary deducted by him for various reasons such as not doing their work well or for applying for leave.

The taxes they paid to the Imperial Court every year were extremely high. Without this salary, it would not be easy for their family to survive through this winter.

After thinking for a moment, he said, “Little Li, your aunt is right. We’re not in a hurry. The house can be repaired anytime. Come down first. There’s still time to repair it tomorrow.”

Zhou Xiaoli naturally could not tell him that there was going to be a heavy rainstorm tonight. Putting aside whether he would take her words for it, she could not explain it even if she tried. In the end, she could only give up.

Only then did Liu Liangcai rush out to work.

Lin Xiujuan had finished washing the pots and bowls by then and went to the field to weed. Only Liu Fengfeng was left at home to guard the house.

After a while, Liu Fengfeng ran to Zhou Xiaoli’s house and looked inside.

Zhou Xiaoyu, who was feeding the ducklings in the yard, called out to him in a childish voice. “Do you want to play with us and the ducklings?”

Liu Fengfeng nodded at the door and jogged in. “Can we play with the bamboo dragonflies later too?”

Zhou Xiaoyu nodded. “Of course. Sis said that it would be more fun to share toys with our friends.”

Zhou Junjun nodded in agreement.

Liu Fengfeng was instantly happy. “Then I’ll share my little wooden horse with you.”

As he spoke, he took out a palm-sized wooden horse and said proudly, “Father made this for me.”

“This little wooden horse is so beautiful. Brother and I will be friendly to you in the future.” Zhou Xiaoyu said happily as she took the little wooden horse.

With that, the three children ran out of the house with their toys to play.

Seeing this, Zhou Xiaoli, who was on the roof, could not help but smile. Liu Fengfeng was about the same age as Zhou Junjun, and he was only six years old this year.

The world of children was not that complicated. Over the past few days, Liu Fengfeng, who had gotten delicious food from Zhou Xiaoli several times, was no longer as afraid of her as before.

In addition, Zhou Xiaoli made bamboo dragonflies for Zhou Xiaoyu and Zhou Junjun to play with, which made Liu Fengfeng extremely envious.

After Zhou Xiaoyu generously invited him to play together, the three children naturally played well together.

Zhou Xiaoli no longer paid attention to them. She turned around and immersed herself in her work.

This house had not been inhabited for a long time, and many parts of the roof needed to be filled in with new thatch. They have a lot to do.

At that moment, the three little fellows who were playing outside the door suddenly stopped.

It turned out that Zhou Junjun had accidentally bumped into a passerby. This passerby was none other than Wei Chiyu.

When Liu Fengfeng saw who it was, he was terrified and shouted, “Xiaoyu, Junjun, run! Run!”

With that, he rushed back to the courtyard.

However, Zhou Xiaoyu and Zhou Junjun did not listen to him. On the contrary, not only did Zhou Xiaoyu not run, he even walked towards Wei Chiyu.

After Zhou Junjun steadied himself, he gestured a few times at Wei Chiyu. “My brother is apologizing to you.” Zhou Xiaoyu translated in a childish voice.

This was the first time that the children in the village were not afraid of him. Wei Chiyu could not help but to ask, “Aren’t you afraid of me anymore?”

He remembered that the first time he met these two little fellows, they were still hiding behind their sister in fear.

Zhou Xiaoyu and Zhou Junjun looked at each other. It was obvious that they were still a little flustered, but they did not run away.

Zhou Xiaoyu nodded and said, “S-Sis said that Big Brother helped Father last time. We have to thank Big Brother. We can’t run away when we see Big Brother. It’s impolite.”