During the winter, people in the countryside usually only ate two als a day. Gu Jiaojiao normally had three, but since she had taken the oxcart to the County Town and didn’t get back until five, she had skipped lunch.
As she walked into the courtyard, the aroma of food greeted her.
Leng Yuan told Gu Jiaojiao to wash her hands while he went into the kitchen to bring out dinner.
After washing up, Gu Jiaojiao sat at the table and saw that it was set with flatbread, millet congee, and a plate of venison.
Now that Leng Yuan wasn’t working his regular job, he went hunting in the mountains every few days, and they had stockpiled a lot of at at ho.
With a steady supply of at coming in, Gu Jiaojiao didn’t feel the need to be frugal, and they basically had at every day now.
Compared to the villagers who couldn’t even get enough to eat, their life felt like celebrating the New Year every day.
After dinner, Gu Jiaojiao took out the fabric for making clothes and cut it into smaller pieces.
She would take it to Wang Xiuhua in a little while.
When it ca to making winter clothes, Wang Xiuhua was the expert.
As for the quilt, she did indeed want to make one.
Leng Yuan’s house had three quilts, all of them several years old. They weren’t very warm anymore.
Besides, the quilts were all rather small, not like the large ones from her previous life.
Gu Jiaojiao wanted a quilt as large as those.
This ti, she had used up all the cotton coupons she had saved, plus the ones Leng Yuan had borrowed, to buy a large amount of cotton.
After setting aside the cotton needed for the clothes, there should be enough left to make one large quilt.
She asured and cut a piece from the fabric, just enough for the clothes she wanted made. She would take that directly to Wang Xiuhua.
The clothes could be entrusted to Wang Xiuhua, but as for the quilt, she wanted to sew it herself.
Otherwise, bringing out so much fabric at once would surely make people jealous.
Once Gu Jiaojiao had everything ready, she headed to Wang Xiuhua’s house.
By this ti, it was already getting late.
Leng Yuan walked her there.
When they reached the entrance, Leng Yuan didn’t go in. Instead, he instructed Gu Jiaojiao.
"Stay here for a while. I have to go out for a bit. I’ll co back to get you later."
Gu Jiaojiao gave Leng Yuan a puzzled look.
’He sounded a little cold when he said that.’
But after thinking it over, she couldn’t recall anything happening recently, so she let it go.
When Gu Jiaojiao arrived at Wang Xiuhua’s house, she had fabric for a full outfit for Leng Yuan, two items for herself, and an outfit each for Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang.
Wang Xiuhua looked at the fabric Gu Jiaojiao brought over and exclaid in surprise.
"You’re making clothes for Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang, too?"
Hearing this, Gu Jiaojiao realized that helping Sweet Girl so much might seem strange, so she quickly offered an explanation.
"Xiuhua, when I was first sent down to the countryside, I lost all my money. It was over sixty yuan!"
"That child, Sweet Girl, found it and returned every last bit of it to ."
"Seeing how pitiful her situation is now—she doesn’t even have a single decent set of clothes—I just had to make sothing for them."
Wang Xiuhua hadn’t realized there was such a backstory to it.
’Sixty yuan... a reward is definitely in order for that.’
’But this is a bit too much.’
But she was a mother now herself, and thinking about the hard life Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang had, she didn’t say anything more.
"In that case, I’ll make the clothes for them as soon as I can."
As she spoke, she seed to want to say sothing else but stopped herself, ultimately remaining silent.
Gu Jiaojiao assud Wang Xiuhua was just feeling bad for her about the cost of the fabric, so she didn’t press the issue.
Instead, the conversation turned to the baby in Wang Xiuhua’s belly.
Once the topic of babies ca up, Wang Xiuhua had plenty to say.
「anwhile.」
After dropping Gu Jiaojiao off at the Zhao family’s ho, Leng Yuan turned and made his way to the Wang Family’s gate.
By now, the sky was completely dark. The door to the house wasn’t locked yet, but the streets were already empty.
Once November began, the weather had turned cold, and few people ventured out at night.
Leng Yuan stepped into the courtyard and called out a na.
"Wang Youcai."
Inside, Wang Youcai’s family was in the middle of dinner. When Chen Yan heard the voice, the arm she was using to scoop rice froze for a mont.
"Who is that?"
Wang Youcai frowned. "It sounds like Leng Yuan."
Chen Yan’s hand trembled.
She couldn’t help but rember Aunt Zhao’s previous warning.
At first, she had been genuinely scared, afraid that Leng Yuan would co to take revenge on Gu Jiaojiao’s behalf.
But after two days passed with no activity from their side, she had relaxed.
Besides, she felt that she was the one who had been wronged this ti, and she had even lost two yuan.
That’s why she had grown bold enough to start spreading bad rumors about Gu Jiaojiao everywhere.
"Leng Yuan isn’t going to hit you, is he?!"
Wang Youcai looked completely bewildered. "Why on earth would he hit for no reason? What in the world goes through your head all day, woman?"
After scolding Chen Yan, Wang Youcai went outside.
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