“Like this, huh?” Xia Dabao looked at the puppy in her arms, which did indeed smell a bit stinky, and then asked, “So, can I bathe it?”
She liked the puppy clean, so that when she wanted to pet it, her hands wouldn’t end up stinking as well.
“Better not; wait until it’s bigger before washing it. It has a lot of fur and won’t dry easily; it’s very prone to catching cold.”
Xia Dabao then returned the dog to the Kennel, letting Xiao Cao go back to its mother first before turning to look at Tian Xiaobei, “You sure know a lot.”
“I can remember almost everything I read,” Tian Xiaobei said, “so naturally, I know a lot, by the way, did you read the book I lent you last night?”
“…” Xia Dabao suddenly felt guilty and chuckled sheepishly, “That book, not yet, you know it got dark last night? The oil lamp at home couldn’t be lit, and there weren’t many candles left, so I didn’t get around to reading it. I was planning to look at it today.
In fact, Xia Dabao had intended to read it last night, but the book was too abstruse and difficult for her to understand; the storybooks at home were much more interesting with their strong narrative.
“No worries,” Tian Xiaobei had actually guessed as much, “or next time you can bring it with you, we can read it together.”
“Yeah, sure,” Xia Dabao laughed heartily and looked again at Xiao Cao playing happily by Xiao Hei’s side in the Kennel, then turned and said, “I’m going back for breakfast now, my mother is waiting for me.”
“Okay!” Tian Xiaobei watched Xia Dabao walk away with an inexplicable smile on her lips.
And Zhao Ershen had been watching this whole scene, feeling a bit worried, “Didn’t Datu say to not get too close to Abao? Aren’t you afraid he’ll beat you up?”
The smile on Tian Xiaobei’s face instantly froze.
…
In the blink of an eye, the lychees from Nan Feng and Ye Ge were ripe.
Although many people in that area grew lychees, the lychee business was still thriving, especially since a few years earlier an imperial concubine who loved lychees made them famous all over the country, turning them into the king of fruits for the dynasty, drawing officials and nobility from everywhere to buy lychees each year.
So, Nan Feng and Ye Ge weren’t worried about sales for their lychees at all; a big Merchant from Provincial City had already placed orders for them.
That day, Nan Feng and Ye Ge were in the Lychee Garden, looking at the lychees above, which had grown quite well after the last pest control; bunches were hanging from the branches, bending the tips with their weight.
Looking at the scene, Nan Feng felt a deep sense of achievement, “This is great, another bountiful harvest year.”
Ye Ge pulled Nan Feng into his embrace, “Yes, we’ll make a good amount of money again this year. Once we get the money, do you have any plans, Fengfeng? If you don’t mind the trouble, we could go see Long San and the others. It’s been over a decade, and we haven’t seen them since we left Shangzhi City last time. Just keeping in touch through the kids, I’m afraid we might drift apart. Also, didn’t you always want to travel? We can take the kids and go together.”
But Nan Feng shook his head, “After the lychees are harvested, it’ll be time for the rice to ripen, then we need to dry the grains. When will we have time to just play around? Forget it, we’re now simple farmers; when do farmers ever get to roam around? Unless, you want to go.”
Ye Ge knew that Nan Feng was afraid of them being separated again, so he tenderly turned Nan Feng’s waist toward him, “If you don’t want to go, then let’s not. We won’t go anywhere. Let’s just be happy farmers in all sincerity.”
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