Chapter Nineteenth: Simple Love

  "Take a message back, tell your mother-in-law to cook dinner, you can also accompany Yiyen here." Ye Shi knew the situation of their family. Since Xiaohua married in, all the household chores, big and small, fell on Xiaohua's shoulders.

  Yu Xiaohe hesitated for a moment before saying, "Alright then, I'll call Xiaoxi back to tell Huizi about it later."

  "Then I'll go cook." Su Xiaofan turned around and was about to leave, but was once again caught by Xiao Yimeng's small hand grabbing her skirt. She frowned and looked back, asking in confusion: "What's wrong?"

  "Little master, I'll go with you." Xiao Yi's bright eyes stared at Su Xiaofan, he was unwilling to stay alone with the old, weak women and children in this house.

  Su Xiaofan hesitated for a moment before saying: "Isn't it said that men can't enter the kitchen?"

  Xiao Yi Mo's eyes narrowed slightly: "Who said that?"

  "In our rural area, we don't have so many taboos. The men from the city families never enter the kitchen, and since Young Master is still young, it's better for him not to mess around in the kitchen." Yu Xiaohua stood up, wanting to go forward and carry Xiao Yimeng to sit on the bed.

  Xiao Yimeng quickly dodged and ran out of the room with her short legs.

  "Hehe, Aunt Tang, you sit and play for a while, I'll take him away." Su Xiaofan smiled and walked out of the room, saying to Xiao Miao standing at the door: "So, little treasure, you stay here and guard these things."

  After finishing speaking, Su Xiaofan walked forward and picked out a chicken, then turned around and entered the kitchen.

  Yu Xiaoxi and Su Bing brought the wood and tools they needed, and started bustling around in a corner of the yard. After wandering around them for a few laps, Xiao Yu felt extremely bored and began to examine the mud wall again. It seemed that Su Xiaofan's father had often repaired it when he was alive, although it was old and worn out, but very solid.

  The old house was also dilapidated, but it had returned to its former state without any damage, although the repair work was a bit rough.

  As the sky grew darker, the two busy people in the yard finally finished their work satisfactorily and put all the chickens that Leng Mo had bought back into the coop.

  "We're still short of a shed." Yu Xiaoxi looked up at the sky and said, "Hopefully it won't rain recently."

  "Uh, when it rains, I'll get Xiao Fan to catch them and bring them inside. In a few days, I'll think of a way to set up a shed for them." Su Bing wiped the sweat from his forehead, although it was still early summer, the weather had already started to heat up slowly, and the air was filled with a hint of sweltering heat, looking like it was about to rain.

  "Ah, you've worked hard, eat more later." Yu Xiaoxi stood on tiptoes and gently wiped the fine sweat beads from his forehead with her handkerchief.

  "Heh heh, Xiao Fan's cooking must be really delicious." Su Bing raised his eyes and took a glance at the kitchen. Since earlier, he had been smelling the rich meat aroma, which was several times more fragrant than what the chefs in the wine house usually made.

  Yu Xiaoxi nodded and said: "Yes, Aunt Ye said before that Xiao Fang's wild vegetable porridge is almost comparable to those delicious dishes."

  Su Xiaofan came out of the kitchen, ready to call everyone to eat, but saw this extremely warm scene.

  Under the warm sunset glow, Su Bing was smiling foolishly, while Yu Xiaoxi's face turned slightly red as she tried to lift her hand to wipe away his sweat.

  Simple yet beautiful love, in the once noisy and luxurious city where I lived, has almost disappeared. My past self always thought I was a soloist, plus being busy with work, so until my death, I had never experienced romance. Although there were always suitors around me, no one could ever move my heart.

  Watching this scene, I suddenly want to have a romantic relationship like this, ordinary yet down-to-earth.

  Xiao Yimeng stared at her, and in her eyes, there was a hint of envy mixed with jealousy. Her bright eyes gradually became dull, and an invisible chill crept over them.

  "Let's eat, you two come here to wash your hands first." Su Xiaofan said after she went into the house and brought out a basin of water, placing it on the edge of the steps. Then she said to Xiao Yiming: "Baby, go tell Grandma that we're ready for dinner."

  Xiao Yimo silently stepped into the house with a raised foot.

  Su Xiaofan brought the chicken soup and several stir-fried dishes to the table one by one, but her mind was filled with some doubts. Since that water bucket full of holes was repaired overnight, the broken table legs and stool legs at home seemed to have been fixed overnight as well. The kitchen also had some not-so-new bowls and chopsticks added.

  Who brought it after all?

  Isn't there someone secretly acting as Lei Feng, silently helping this family?

  Couldn't think of a reason, Su Xiaofan decided not to think about it anymore, who cares who he is...

  After dinner, Ye Shi followed Jia Shi to send a few people home. Su Xiao Fan tidied up and then pulled Xiao Yuemo back to the room to prepare for sleep. Having been busy all day, she was exhausted, and he, being smaller, must be even more tired.

  Lying on the bed, Xiao Yi Mo was shrinking into the wall corner as usual, staring at Su Xiao Fan with an unpleasant face.

  "What's wrong?" Su Xiaofan asked inexplicably, feeling that something was off about him since dinner.

  "I want to take a bath..." Originally, Xiao Yimeng took a bath every day, but since coming to their house, he hadn't taken one yet. Although the weather wasn't hot enough to be unbearable without bathing, his whole body still felt uncomfortable.

  Su Xiaofan sat up straight, pulled open her collar and sniffed, then let out a sigh of relief, saying in a low voice: "Fortunately, it hasn't started to stink yet."

  After thinking for a moment, she said to Xiao Yimeng: "Baby, wait on the bed for a while, sister will go boil water." After finishing speaking, she got up and walked into the kitchen.

  Next to the kitchen, there was a small side room with a simple stone sink that Su Xiaofan's father had carved out of a large stone over a long period of time, which everyone used for bathing.

  Su Xiaofan filled a pot with water and then stacked firewood on the stove. After that, she carried the bucket to the well in the backyard to fetch water.

  "Want to fetch water, son? I'll hold the lantern for you." Ye stepped into the courtyard and saw Su Xiaofan carrying a bucket of water just coming out.

  "Alright, thank you grandma." Su Xiaofan handed over the kerosene lamp in her left hand, thinking to herself that from now on she must prepare everything before nightfall, otherwise it would be inconvenient to do anything after dark.

  "What's the point of fetching water now?" Ye Shi carefully led the way in front, holding a lantern.

  Su Xiaofan smiled and said, "Little treasure wants to take a bath. I'll boil some water and bathe with him. It's been ages since he last took a bath, his body almost smells of stench."

  Ye's family leaned in, sniffed a few times and said: "Where does the stale smell come from? I only smelled a faint fragrance."

  Su Xiaofan blinked her eyes, fragrance?

  She then lifted her arm and sniffed it a few times: "There's no fragrance, Grandma, but I think it's the smell of all the delicacies from the competition venue that got on me today."