Chapter 108: Chapter 64: New Friends Visit (Part 2)

Just then, Gou Dan came home from his studies. The moment he entered the courtyard, he shouted, “Mom, is the food ready? I’m starving.”

Gou Dan’s mother came out of the house and scolded him, “What are you yelling about? Acting like a starving ghost. All you think about all day is eating.”

Gou Dan ran into the main hall and saw his older sister, Meizi, coming out from behind their mother. While putting his book bag on the table, he pouted and said, “You only ever scold me. How come I never see you scold Sis?”

Gou Dan’s mother said angrily, “You little brat, talking back to me!” She then moved to pinch his ear.

Gou Dan quickly dodged into a side room, shouting, “Grandma, look! Mom’s hitting me again!”

His grandmother was sitting in the room, squinting as she mended clothes. When she saw him come in, she quickly looked up, a toothless grin on her face, and said to him, “If you weren’t being naughty, why would your mom hit you?”

Gou Dan tugged on his grandmother’s arm and said, “I was just hungry, and Mom called me a starving ghost. Isn’t Sis hungry too? You all play favorites.”

The old woman pursed her toothless mouth and chuckled. ’It’s no wonder the boy is upset,’ she thought. ’He’s a mischievous child, so the adults are stricter with him. His sister Meizi is a sweet and lovable girl, so their parents dote on her more. He’s been unhappy about it for a while now.’

The old woman didn’t argue with him. She put down her needlework, took his hand, and led him out of the room. As she walked, she said to Gou Dan’s mother, “Let’s eat! Meizi, Gou Dan is jealous of you.”

Meizi made a silly face at Gou Dan and said, “Don’t be mad. I’ll go to Juhua’s place later and get some spicy pickled cabbage. If you don’t behave, I won’t give you any.”

Hearing this, Gou Dan immediately tugged on his sister’s sleeve and asked, “Sis, when are you going to Sister Juhua’s house?”

Seeing his greedy look, Meizi couldn’t help but laugh. “Not until tomorrow. What’s the rush?”

The next day, Meizi arranged to go to Juhua’s house to play with Lanzi, Old Cheng’s third daughter. At Old Cheng’s house, they happened to run into Li Jinxiang, Li Gengdi’s second daughter, and Liu Xiaomei, Fatty Liu’s youngest daughter. When they heard they were going to Juhua’s place, they were delighted too. For the past two days, quite a few families in the village had been eating acorn tofu, and they also wanted to see how it was made.

And so, the four girls—some carrying shoe soles, others with shoe insoles, while Liu Xiaomei simply put a half-finished piece of clothing into a basket—chattered away as they headed for Juhua’s house.

Meizi was the most excited. As soon as she reached the gate to Juhua’s courtyard, she called out with a clear, sweet laugh, “Juhua, we’ve come to play!”

Juhua had just put a pig’s head on to boil and was squatting by the well, washing the clothes she had changed out of the previous night. She had taken another bath last night, but she hadn’t dared to make the water too hot or soak for too long. Even so, Mrs. Yang had stood guard beside her the whole time.

She looked up at the vibrant, energetic girls, a little surprised. ’Did they all plan this, showing up together? Out of the four, there are two I don’t recognize.’

Meizi ran over with a grin, carefully placing the two small ceramic jars she was carrying on the ground. Then she said to Juhua, “I came to play with Lanzi and the others. Are you washing clothes? Let me help you. It’d be so embarrassing if our visit kept you from getting your chores done!”

With that, she picked up the bucket and dropped it into the well to draw water.

She was extremely skilled at drawing water. She swung the rope back and forth a few times, the bucket sank and filled with water, and then she pulled the rope up, section by section.

After pulling up a full bucket, she saw Juhua looking over the other three girls and quickly said to her, “This is Lanzi, Old Cheng’s daughter. This one is Jinxiang, from Li Gengdi’s family. And this is Mei, the youngest daughter from Uncle Liu’s family. You don’t really know them, do you?”

Juhua smiled. “I’ve met Lanzi before. But I haven’t met Jinxiang or Mei. Why don’t you all sit down for a bit? I’ll just finish washing these clothes.”

Saying this, she went into the main hall and brought out four small stools, placing them in a dry spot in the middle of the courtyard and inviting Lanzi and the others to sit. She went back to her laundry, while Meizi helped her by drawing water.

Lanzi and the others hadn’t interacted much with Juhua before, and seeing her now, they were a little surprised. ’There’s something different about Juhua!’ they thought. There were other pretty girls in the village; Li Jinxiang, for instance, was no less beautiful than Liu’er. But that was just the fresh bloom of youth. Juhua’s bearing and mannerisms were different from theirs.

The girls exchanged glances, then smiled and sat down. While working on the handicrafts in their hands, they occasionally shot sidelong glances at Meizi and Juhua.

Juhua and Meizi made small talk as they quickly finished the laundry, carrying it to the clothesline in the front yard to dry. After listening to Meizi’s cheerful chatter, Juhua finally understood that they had come over to play today partly because they wanted to see how the acorn tofu was made.

She smiled. “Oh, that’s easy. I happen to have a spare pot, so I’ll make some in a bit for you to watch.”

The acorns grew on the mountain and belonged to the village. By sharing the method, the whole village could now use them to feed their pigs or make tofu, so her family had done a good deed. As a result, the villagers had been especially polite to her family recently.

Juhua was happy to have a few more girls over to chat. Looking at them, she saw that each had her own charm, but all of them were healthy and youthful, without the sallow complexion that came from poverty.

It was true that while the villagers weren’t wealthy, they had enough to eat; she’d never heard of any family being unable to put food on the table. Still, life was certainly tight. Among the girls, besides Li Jinxiang who was wearing a relatively new magenta jacket, Lanzi and Mei both had patches on their clothes. It was obvious the Li Family’s circumstances were the best. Meizi’s family was also well-off.

Lanzi, the oldest at sixteen or seventeen, was healthy and sturdy with a rosy, sun-darkened complexion, though her skin was a bit chapped. Tall and strong, she was a typical, down-to-earth farm girl. Jinxiang was very pretty. Around fourteen or fifteen, she had a fair face and smiling eyes that shone with an eager liveliness. Liu Xiaomei, about Juhua’s age, was petite and delicate. She had big, darting eyes, perfectly round, rosy cheeks, and seemed even more innocent than Meizi.

Juhua looked down at her own small, bean-sprout-like frame and sighed inwardly.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep