Jiang Danhe felt a burning gaze on him and could not help but frown. He turned to look in Yu Zhizhi's direction.
At that very instant, Yu Zhizhi lowered her head as if she had been scalded. Jiang Danhe did not see anything amiss and turned back, not taking heed of her. Yu Zhizhi blushed and felt a tinge of happiness. "Did he look at me just now? Luckily I am wearing this dress that Father had bought for me from the capital." She thought to herself.
She skillfully walked behind Jiang Danhe and started to bandage his wounds. Previously, he was always unconscious when she was changing his dressing. But this time, he was awake. Yu Zhizhi couldn't put her hands down no matter how hard she tried. Each time when her fingers brushed against Jiang Danhe's body, her face would turn red. With much difficulty, she managed to change the herbs on the dressing. When her job was done, she grabbed the tray and ran out in a flash, not daring to look back.
The insensitive Jiang Danhe did not notice any of this, but the perceptive Li Shouji did. He could not help but feel sorry for Yu Zhizhi. Jiang Danhe already had someone.
Jiang Danhe urged Li Shouji to continue with what he was saying.
Yu Zhizhi, who had just ran out, bumped into her father. He was the doctor looking after Jiang Danhe. Yu Wangui rubbed his beard and looked at his daughter. He could tell that she had taken a fancy to the man inside.
Yu Zhizhi saw her father's expression and could tell that he knew. Feeling embarrassed, she stomped her feet and said, "I'm ignoring you!" Then she ran off.
Yu Wangui sighed as he watched his daughter leave. "My little girl has grown up… " After saying that, he walked into the house. Yu Wangui still did not know anything about this man—who he was or what his background was. Judging by his dashing good looks and the metal plated armor that he had worn —he was definitely not a commoner. Yu Wangui thought that he had better find out more about this man for the sake of his daughter.
On the other side, Xiaoguo followed the markings and came to the location of a trap. She uncovered it, but there was nothing inside. It seemed that small animals did not come out during the heavy rain. Xiaoguo went to another trap and once again, she didn't find anything inside.
Zhuang Zhuang followed his mother curiously. When he saw the meticulous trap, he looked at it in wonder. "Is this where you caught the pheasant?"
Xiaoguo said," Yes, but this time round there's nothing in the traps. Mother will bring you to catch some fish. Let's go." Xiaoguo wasn't discouraged. Before she came, she had a hunch that there would be nothing in the traps. She had another important mission—to catch fish, make fish balls and sell the fish balls.
When Xiaoguo was at the marketplace, she had seen very few fish related products that were sold there. There was no novelty among the products that could be found in the marketplace. Fish balls were definitely something new. She could make some money out of selling hand-made fish balls. What she needed most now was money. It would take some time before the corn matured, and there were too many things that she needed to buy and prepare. Moreover, she still owed money to Mrs. Yang. After careful consideration, she realized that she needed money for almost everything. Also, it was necessary to build a cow shed—she could not let the cows stay in the room forever. She would need money for this too.
When Xiaoguo reached the river, she looked carefully and saw that there were seven or eight big fish swimming inside. Xiaoguo couldn't catch them all at the same time. At the slightest movement, the fish would all swim away. It was also the first time that Zhuang Zhuang had seen so many big fish. He was so shocked that he couldn't close his little mouth. However, when he saw how Xiaoguo moved, he knew to approach the river with light movements.
Xiaoguo told Zhuang Zhuang to wait for her by the river while she quietly took the basket and set it on one side. The river was narrower on this side, so she could block the fish with the basket. Xiaoguo coaxed the fish to swim into the basket while standing across in the opposite direction. She managed to chase six big fish into the basket successfully. Unfortunately, one of them got away, but what she caught was enough to make a lot of fish balls. This time, the fish were even fatter than the one she caught previously.
Zhuang Zhuang watched his mother with her catch and shouted happily, "Mother, you're so awesome!" As he spoke, he ran to Xiaoguo's side and tiptoed to look into the basket.
Xiaoguo lowered the basket so that Zhuang Zhuang could take a good look. She put on her shoes and began to lead Zhuang Zhuang home. "Let's go back," she said to him.
Zhuang Zhuang was no longer afraid, he didn't hold on to Xiaoguo anymore as he could now walk alone. On the way down the mountains, the two of them cut grass as they walked. Very soon, the basket was full. The pair happily walked in the direction of home. Midway through the hike home, Xiaoguo was attracted by a plant vine. Xiaoguo leaned forward to take a look and was overjoyed. This was…