Chapter 044: Drop a Visit

044 – Drop a Visit

These days, Qin Mian cooked more rice every day so as to make sure Lei Tie could have meal at any time he returned. The remaining cooked rice in the evening was just right for making fried rice. He took two eggs and stirred them into liquid, next he grabbed a carrot and a handful of vegetables to wash before the carrot were diced and the vegetables were chopped, and then delicious fried rice was made. At the same time, strong aroma of sour and spicy soup was cooked on the charcoal stove.

After taking a bath, Lei Tie put on clean clothes and came to the kitchen. He saw the wife was putting the fried rice on the table, so he bent over and carried the earthenware pot on the stove and followed after him.

“Is it enough?” Qin Mian asked. The fried rice piled high on the plate was full of color and flavor. Because of his love of food, Qin Mian had a special love for all kinds of dishware. The dishware at home was of different shapes, sizes, and the plate for the fried rice was very large.

“Enough.” Lei Tie went to the kitchen and took four bowls; two rice bowls and two soup bowls. “You have some too.”

Qin Mian was really hungry and scooped a bowl of fried rice.

“Enough?” Lei Tie sat down beside him and asked. Seeing the wife nodding, he moved the rice plate to his front and began to eat.

It could be seen that he was really hungry, but although his movement didn’t lose the former grace, it was somewhat urgent. The corner of Qin Mian’s lips gave a tiny smile, yet his words were blunt, “No one’s robbing you.” He said that, however his hand picked up the soup bowl, scooped a bowl of soup and put it on Lei Tie’s left hand side.

“Hadn’t eaten for a day.” Lei Tie replied briefly. After a sip of soup, he continued to eat.

Qin Mian couldn’t bear to say anything more and bowed his head to eat. After he finished a bowl of rice, he drank half a bowl of soup before putting his chopsticks down and watched Lei Tie eat.

Then Lei Tie drank the rest of the soup.

Qin Mian asked uncertainly: “Are you full? If you aren’t, I’ll make two more pancakes.”

“Full.” Lei Tie got up to collect the bowls.

Qin Mian beat out a yawn, “Wash them tomorrow.”

Lei Tie was taken by surprise. He had always known that the little wife liked cleanliness and neatness, especially in the kitchen. The used bowls absolutely were not allowed to be left for the next day to wash. This was the first time.

The black pupils under the light were covered with soft tinge as he agreed and only put the bowls and chopsticks on the stove before he came out of the kitchen.

After they both rinsed their mouths, they returned to the bedroom together.

Qin Mian put the banknote into a money box, locked it, put away the key and got into the bed.

Lei Tie put out the light and took someone into his arms. Qin Mian wasn’t in the mood to be contentious and adjusted to a comfortable posture, carefully avoided the man’s injuries as he enjoyed the man’s body temperature far higher than himself. Once again, he ascertained that this man was the best stove in winter.

“How are you these days?” Lei Tie was still able to objectively touch the wife’s face in the dark, and he gently caressed and stroked it.

Remembering Lei Daqiang, Qin Mian hesitated for a moment before he said it. He was sure that Lei Daqiang would drop a visit tomorrow.

“I haven’t seen you for a few days and it’s raining, so I scolded you to the mountain and your father scolded me back. Then, I returned with ‘it’s none of your business’.” Qin Mian said calmly, but he felt a little perturbed. After all, Lei Daqiang was Lei Tie’s father. He quickly added, “There was no one else around at that time.”

“There’s no harm.” Lei Tie apathetically said, “Just tolerate on the surface will suffice.”

Qin Mian didn’t like the suddenly roused lonesome atmosphere. He turned over in the man’s embrace and said in a loud voice, “Sleepy. Sleep, sleep.”

Lei Tie enclosed his arms and held the person in his embrace more tightly as he also closed his eyes.

The next day, the sky finally cleared up and the cool wind was gentle. It was a clear and refreshing autumn weather. Although the chrysanthemum in the yard had been hit by the autumn rain, it looked more vigor with dewdrops. The newly blossomed flowers were bigger and the fragrant was more concentrated. The ground in the yard was soaking wet and whenever the feet trampled on, it would get muddy. Previously, he had no money thus he didn’t spend any effort on the yard. At present, he had the 500 taels brought back by Lei Tie, he had enough confidence. This yard needed to be sorted out.

“Lei Tie, where are you?” Qin Mian looked at the open gate and shouted out, knowing that the man wouldn’t go far away.

Lei Tie’s voice came from outside the courtyard wall, “Here.”

Qin Mian turned and went into the kitchen. As expected, he saw that the bowls and chopsticks of yesterday had been washed, and the cooking wok and stove were also cleaned up.

After making breakfast, there were two additions of osmanthus trees in the yard with luxuriant flowers and sweet smell that assailed the nostril.

Qin Mian walked over in surprise, “Where did you dig it up?”

“On the mountain.” Lei Tie had seen the chrysanthemum in the yard and guessed that he didn’t like the empty space in the yard.

“Plant it after breakfast.”

Lei Tie washed his hands and sat down at the table. There were two portion of stir-fried noodles and two bowls of soup on the table. Both of them consumed a large amount of food, so their bowls were large, but Lei Tie’s bowl was larger than Qin Mian’s.

Lei Tie emotionally sighed in his heart that the wife’s craftsmanship was good. Since they lived alone up to now, basically, breakfast wouldn’t be repeated within five days. Today’s stir-fried noodles were added with golden eggs, bright red shredded chili and green pakchoi’s leaves, which aroused people’s appetite.

He was thinking thus much but his face had been consistently expressionless.

However, Qin Mian could still see from his eyes that he liked today’s breakfast. He was secretly being cocky: You bastard should thank your ancestor for ‘marrying’ this young master.

“The road is full of mud, it’s inconvenient to go to town. It’s better to wait until the ground is dry. Today, let’s go to the river bank to pick up some stones to pad the yard. At least, there has to be a walkway. How about it?”

“En.”

“Plant the two osmanthus trees next to chrysanthemums. Leave some room for some fruit trees.” Qin Mian glanced at the yard, but still felt that the yard was a little small. He had lived in the city for a long time in his previous life that he didn’t like narrow space. Well, he would have to wait until he made a lot of money.

“Fruit trees, find in the mountain later. Eat quickly.” Lei Tie gently tapped his (QM) bowl with his chopsticks.

While they were eating, there were two people outside coming in. They were a man and a woman that looked less than 30, with smile on their faces.

Qin Mian recognized that the woman was the one who had been prying when he came to see the house site, that lived next door to them and her man was called Zhou Erhao.

“Lei Tie and Lei Tie’s wife are eating ne.” Erhao’s wife’s smiling expression seemed to be forced out and both corners of her eyes outlined with deep lines.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie got up and invited them to come in to sit down, unclear of their purpose of coming.

“Hah-hah, thank you for your hospitality.” Zhou Erhao put his hands in his sleeves as his triangular eyes kept looking east and west, rounding the whole circle before his eyes fell on the oily stir-fried noodles on the dining table and secretly swallowed his saliva. He’d heard that Lei Tie’s treat to the guest was very generous. However, when Lei Tie was building the house, he was delayed by his father-in-law’s family affair and when Lei Tie family’s was having house warming, he was yet again dragged by his brother-in-law’s affair and failed to eat that meal which made Zhou Erhao regretful. Last night, he heard something from his neighbor’s house and he knew the opportunity was coming. Today, as soon as his wife urged him, he followed her coming over here. The breakfast of the people in the villager was basically porridge, steamed cornbread and pickles vegetables. Lei Tie’s family’s livelihood was really prosperous. That stir-fried noodles weren’t only filled with eggs but also a lot of oil, which made it smelled delicious.

Qin Mian intuitively disliked them. He thrown a meaningful glance at Lei Tie and lowered his head to eat his noodles. He couldn’t always be the one to get them out of predicament.

“Is there something?” Lei Tie was suspicious.

Erhao’s wife quickly waved her hand and looked concerned, “It’s nothing, nothing. It seems that you two had a quarrel in the middle of the night. We came to see if there is anything we can do for you. Since we are going to be neighbors hereafter, please don’t be polite to get our help.”

“Thank you very much.” Lei Tie nodded his head as he said in low voice.

“Looking at the style of your furniture,” Zhou Erhao touched the settee with greedy eyes as though he was staring at a beautiful woman. “It must not be cheap? Your family is the only one in our village who has these things.”

Lei Tie frowned and sat down to eat his noodles.

Qin Mian kicked him under the table, “Thank you for your concern but there’s nothing wrong with Lei Tie and me. You guys can sit anywhere. The weather is getting colder and the food cools quickly, so you’ll have to wait for us to finish our meal before we accompany you guys.”

He and Lei Tie looked at each other and very tacitly slowed down. After they unhurriedly finished eating the stir-fried noodles, they dilatorily drank the soup.

Zhou Erhao and his wife sat for a while and felt bored. Eventually, they were aware that they weren’t welcome and stood up while smiling dryly and said few words of farewell before leaving.

Qin Mian hit Lei Tie with his knee, “These two people don’t seem good. Afterwards, be cleverer.”

Lei Tie glanced at Qin Mian with unclear meaning, he drank his soup in one gulp and watched him drink it. He waited patiently for Qin Mian to finish drinking before self-consciously collected the dishware.

“Spicy hot soup or hot pot for lunch?”

He still remembered. Qin Mian squinted at him, “Sure.”

After Lei Tie washed the dishes, they planted the osmanthus trees, put on old shoes and went to the river bank to pick up stones.

Plain Water River was one of the main water sources of Green Mountain Village, which flowed from north to south close to the west of the village. It was basically this place where the villagers irrigated their farmlands, watered their vegetables, washed clothes, fished in their leisure time and so on.

Beside the greenish-black stone slab by the river, two women were chatting while washing clothes. They were Zhou Cuihua and Fang Hongliu. When they saw Qin Mian and Lei Tie passing by, they smiled kindly.

Qin Mian was taken by surprise and smiled back. No matter why they changed their attitude, it was not a bad thing.

There were many large and small stones on the river bank, which had been washed away by rain all the year round. Not a while later, they picked up to half a basket.

“Eldest, you are here.” An ill-meaning voice sounded from behind them.

Qin Mian’s movement paused before he seamlessly retreated behind Lei Tie.

Lei Tie straightened up, “Father.”

Lei Daqiang snorted coldly, stepped closer with large strides and yelled with his rough voice: “You know I’m your father! Do you know what attitude your wife taken in front of me?”

Lei Tie looked as usual as he casually lifted his right hand and the goose warm stone in his hand fell accurately into the basket in the distance.

Translator’s side note: Hi! I just want to thank you for the few people who are generous with comments. Comments keep the translators motivated believe me it does. Also, thank you for reading this novel. That’s all.