"I'm fine, I'm fine," Xia Yuan said, her face pale as she patted her chest. "What you said really scared me to death."
"Don't worry, the heavens want me alive so I can marry you and take you home," Lu Aiguo said playfully, trying to steal a kiss but Xia Yuan was quick to dodge.
"Hey, why can't you ever be serious? Even in broad daylight, you're like this." Xia Yuan avoided him, but she looked at Lu Aiguo with her eyebrows inverted in disapproval. She couldn't let him indulge in this bad habit.
"What's wrong with broad daylight? She's my wife in all righteousness, why can't I be close to her? I like it, I want it, who has the right to interfere?" Lu Aiguo said nonchalantly, thickening his skin and attempting to move closer again.
Xia Yuan, angered, directly grabbed his ear and twisted, "Look at what you think you're capable of. If this continues, you'll think you're able to climb up to the heavens with a ladder, won't you?"
"Wife, ouch, wife... let go quickly, it hurts," Lu Aiguo howled. Xia Yuan was startled by his call and quickly let go, touching his ear doubtfully and with a face full of suspicion, "I didn't use much strength, did I?"
She hadn't used much strength; he hadn't felt any pain at all, it was just that his throat itched, and he couldn't help wanting to shout a few times.
Seeing Xia Yuan's skeptical look, Lu Aiguo's face blushed and he coughed uncomfortably a few times before continuing to speak, shifting Xia Yuan's attention.
"It was that day, while chatting with Shitou, I remembered some movies we had seen, and the conversation wandered off too far, and I suddenly felt like creating this cellar. Actually, the entrance isn't really hidden; it's half just for fun. Not many people in our village dig cellars for no reason."
"As long as it can be used, it's fine." Xia Yuan felt sad for Shitou's family background, but also gained a deeper understanding of his friendship with Lu Aiguo, "Does Shitou know his real grandparents' names?"
She knew about Shitou, who was much younger than Lu Aiguo. As a child, he was often hungry, and once Lu Aiguo took pity on him and gave him some food, and from that point on, he became Lu Aiguo's little sidekick. After their shared experiences, indeed, as Lu Aiguo put it, they could be considered "friends despite the age difference."
"No clue. The first person who took in his father died before they could speak clearly." Lu Aiguo shook his head.
"Then how can this kinship be recognized?" Xia Yuan opened her mouth wide in surprise.
"Didn't I say before, there are no clues. Who really expects to recognize kin? It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, and besides, it's already one generation removed. Shitou's father doesn't even know what his ancestors' last name was, not to mention his parents' names, his ancestral home, or even his own birthplace. It's all a shot in the dark. Shitou himself is well aware of this," Lu Aiguo said.
Lu Aiguo couldn't help but smile at Xia Yuan's reaction, then sighed for Shitou.
"At the end of the day, what he wants most is to leave his current home. Can that even be called a home? He lives in a shanty at his uncle's place, contributes to the work, but gets nothing but disdain at meal times, always eating the least and the worst. It would indeed be a good thing if he could really leave."
"..."
Xia Yuan fell silent for a moment. Wasn't her own time with the Su Family just like that? They would like nothing more than to treat you like a beast when it came to work, and at meal times, they wished you'd be satisfied with just drinking water. Life was without a glimmer of hope.
Having had a similar experience, she couldn't help but feel compassion for Shitou, who was also enduring such hardships.
"Why don't we invite Shitou to our place for dinner in the future?" Xia Yuan began. "We just add another bowl. It wouldn't be a big deal to drink a bit thinner soup to make enough."
"I was actually planning to discuss this with you too. Originally, it was just him and me, both of us alone. He often accompanied me to look for work, so we've eaten together for a long time. The kid's cooking skills are even better than mine; he's almost always the one who cooks. I wanted to invite him over for dinner today, but he must have feared you'd disapprove and stubbornly refused to come."
Lu Aiguo looked at Xia Yuan with surprise and relief. He had a purpose when he said those things to his wife earlier. Grain is precious these days, and he genuinely wanted to invite Shitou to eat at their home, but he couldn't ignore his wife's feelings.
If his wife was unwilling, he couldn't say much either. Between his wife and Shitou, of course he would side with his wife. Even though his friendship with Shitou was special, in his heart, his wife's opinion weighed even more, perhaps even more than his own.
He had thought, if his wife truly felt that Shitou was taking advantage of their family and couldn't accept it, then he would just secretly help him on the down-low. Unexpectedly, his wife was so understanding. Lu Aiguo was so excited he could hardly contain himself.
"Now that the wife has spoken, Shitou will definitely be thrilled once he knows. I surely won't let him disappoint your kindness."
"Just tell him to come over without worry; I'm not a tiger that can scare him, am I? Actually, it's not just because I pity him. There are many pitiful people in this world, but Shitou is different. He seems sensible. Besides, maybe by lending a hand today, who's to say there won't come a day when he'll be the one lending a hand to our kids?"
Xia Yuan smiled, thinking that this is how relationships between people should be – if you are kind to others, maybe one day that kindness will return to you.
"So my wife has her own little calculations too, huh? That puts me at ease." Lu Aiguo teased her with a chuckle.
"What kind of person do you take me for, and what are you at ease about?" Xia Yuan glared at Lu Aiguo, annoyed. "Are you saying I'm calculating?"
"I'm praising you, praising you. Would I dare to criticize my own wife? It's more like getting scolded by my wife if anything. Isn't it known throughout the village that I'm henpecked?" Lu Aiguo grinned as he placated her, "I'm just relieved that my wife isn't someone who thoughtlessly does good deeds."
"Being a good person is not that easy. Do you think I haven't heard the story of the farmer and the snake? From now on, I won't just trust people blindly. Isn't it because I trusted you this time that...When did everyone in the village start to know you're henpecked?"
Xia Yuan looked at Lu Aiguo with irritation, recalling earlier events, she shook her head, not wishing to dwell on past matters. Then, catching what Lu Aiguo had just said, she felt a mix of embarrassment and annoyance.
"...In the future, they'll definitely know, because I like hearing people say I'm henpecked." Lu Aiguo's mood darkened for a moment as he also thought of unhappy memories, but it was only a fleeting moment, a minefield neither of them wished to tread. He quickly changed his mood, looking proudly content.
Xia Yuan burst out laughing at his reaction. She suddenly felt the urge to knock on his head, curious if it was stuffed with straw.
"Since you've already complimented me on my cunning, then you might as well invite Shitou to move in with us, since our home could indeed use a farmhand. Just add a bed in Xiaoyun's room for him. The room is spacious, and I was afraid she might be scared living there alone at night. It would be convenient for him to play with Xiaoyun and help us look after the child."
Xia Yuan thought it over—the shack was cold in the winter, drafty from all sides, and in the summer, it was stifling and plagued with mosquitoes. Xiaoyun was still young, so it was fine to have them stay in one room for now.
After all, in a couple of years, Shitou would be grown up. If they could somehow find him a job in the county city, that would be best; if not, they certainly needed to plan to get him land to build a house and find a wife in the village.