binnovel Chapter 164 The Rural Girl in "Metamorphosis" 7
Chapter 164 The Rural Girl in "Metamorphosis" 7
There was no need to rush to deal with Lin Ziye. In any case, Liu Yuxi could achieve his goal on his own. It was just to make it more reasonable that the timeline was extended.
However, she usually adds something extra to her grandmother's diet, and haven't you noticed the old lady's spirits have improved these past few days? There's no rush. Let nature take its course!
On Monday, Liu Yuxi got up early to cook and feed the chickens. After breakfast, she went to school. She only told her grandmother that if Lin Ziye came looking for her, she should tell him she had gone to school, as he was probably still sleeping at this hour.
Liu Yuxi would occasionally ask her teacher a few questions from her third-grade textbook so that the teacher could know how far she had progressed in her self-study.
She decided to let her teacher know before the final exams that she had finished the third-grade textbooks, then borrow the fourth-grade textbooks from the teacher and study them at home for the two months of summer vacation. That way, she could apply to be in fifth grade when the next semester started! Perfect!
When Liu Yuxi returned home from school at noon, she unsurprisingly saw Lin Ziye at home. However, Lin Ziye looked at her with a somewhat resentful gaze. As soon as they met, he complained to Liu Yuxi about how the program crew had assigned him tasks that morning, and how he couldn't do them well at all.
Ignoring his rambling, I helped Grandma put the food on the table and asked him, "Are you eating here?" "Yes!" Although it was all vegetarian food and not cooked by Liu Yuxi, it still looked a bit better than the neighbor's.
The old lady who lived in the house was a terrible cook. He didn't know that when Widow Sun was young, her mother-in-law cooked, then her daughter-in-law cooked, and then her granddaughter cooked. In the last two years, her granddaughter got married, and it was just the two of them living together that she started cooking.
Normally, when her grandson is at home, she'll have at least a meat dish for lunch every day, and breakfast and dinner are just porridge and steamed buns. But when Lin Ziye came over, the production team required simple meals, and since her grandson wasn't home, she had to be as frugal as possible.
Judging from Lin Ziye's shameless attitude, he'll probably be staying at their house from now on. We can't let him eat and drink for free. Taking money is a joke, but why should he come here every day to freeload? Just because he's the male lead? Don't be ridiculous.
We need to arrange something for him to do this weekend. There's a little empty space in the backyard, so we can plant some more vegetables. We can take the extra to town and sell it for some money. Although seasonal vegetables aren't worth much locally, every little bit helps, and we can't possibly eat them all anyway.
After lunch, Grandma went to take a nap. While Liu Yuxi was washing the pots and dishes, she couldn't stand the sight of Lin Ziye sitting there. Just then, there wasn't much water left in the water tank, so she asked Lin Ziye to fetch some.
Her family's well has a windlass, which means that when the bucket reaches the water surface, someone has to swing the well rope to tilt the bucket so that water can enter. There's nothing else that requires any skill.
The bucket used to fetch water was a small one that weighed 20 jin (10 catties). After the water was fetched, it was poured into another large bucket, which was then carried to the kitchen and poured into the water tank.
Lin Ziye said he didn't know how, so Liu Yuxi demonstrated it for him, explained the key points to him, and then let him practice. He stumbled a bit with the first bucket, but after lifting two buckets, he became proficient.
Perhaps because he had just mastered a new skill, Lin Ziye was very enthusiastic. Even after the water tank was full, he still wasn't satisfied and asked her if she wanted to do laundry. He helped her fetch water, but she replied irritably, "I have to go to school. If you still want to fetch water, just fill up Grandma Sun's water tank."
Upon hearing this, Lin Ziye looked conflicted. He really didn't want to do any work for that Grandma Sun. Grandma Sun looked very energetic and sometimes even talked about him. He didn't like her at all and didn't want to help her with any work.
But thinking about it, I'll be staying at her house for about a month, so I'll just fill up her water tank. She's an old lady, after all. I hope Grandma Sun will take it easy on me when she cooks in the future, since I helped her with the chores. I didn't even have breakfast today, I was starving.
When Liu Yuxi got home from school in the afternoon, she saw someone sitting at the gate of the courtyard from afar. She knew without asking that it was Lin Ziye. She walked up to him and asked, "What are you doing sitting here?"
"Wait for you."
"I know you're waiting for me, but why are you waiting for me? Didn't the production team make any arrangements for you?"
"Yes, they asked me to cultivate a vegetable garden in Grandma Sun's backyard!"
Liu Yuxi thought to himself, "Isn't this a perfect coincidence? Once I've maxed out my proficiency at Grandma Sun's house, I can go work at her house on weekends and become a ready-made skilled worker."
But he said, "Isn't that great? Once you know how to grow vegetables, you'll be able to grow flowers when you go back to your own home!"
Lin Ziye stretched out his two hands, oh ho! Sure enough, he was a city kid who hadn't done any work, just like when she was a sent-down youth in her previous life, with eight blisters and shiny skin.
"Why don't you go to the village clinic? You need to prick these blisters with a needle to drain the fluid. Otherwise, who knows when you'll get better!"
"I went there, but there was no one at the clinic. Grandma Sun wanted to pick one for me, but I didn't let her." Lin Ziye didn't say that Grandma Sun just took a needle without any sterilization equipment, which scared him away.
It seemed like the child was about to cry as he spoke. Liu Yuxi didn't know if the production team didn't have a medical team or if they thought the blister was a minor issue and wanted Lin Ziye to handle it himself.
"Come in, I'll pick one for you."
After returning home with Lin Ziye, the two greeted their grandmother and asked her to sit and wait in the yard. Liu Yuxi went back into the house, not daring to take the family first-aid kit, and only took out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, a roll of medical gauze and a needle.
They popped the blisters and bandaged his hand. Good grief! He's only been here two days; he'll probably need a week off. With his hand like this, I wonder what the production team will have him doing for the next few days!
Liu Yuxi cooked dinner, making sweet potato porridge and a few egg pancakes. There wasn't enough time to prepare the dough, so she originally wanted to make some unleavened rice cakes, but Grandma is old and her teeth aren't very good, so she decided to make egg pancakes instead. She also stir-fried two kinds of seasonal vegetables.
Once the pancakes and vegetables were ready, the porridge was also ready. After eating in the courtyard, well, now Liu Yuxi couldn't rely on Lin Ziye for anything. She washed the pots and dishes herself, boiled water, and then fetched water to wash clothes.
While I was doing the laundry, Lin Ziye stood beside me hesitantly, looking like he wanted to say something but couldn't. Holy crap! Does this kid want me to do his laundry?
"Say!"
"Well, I didn't bring many clothes. And, well, I sweated a lot while working today, so my clothes are dirty."
He was still embarrassed and didn't dare to directly ask Liu Yuxi to help him wash his clothes, although he did convey his meaning.
"I'll find you two plastic bags. Put your gloves on, then go back and take a shower and change your clothes. Wash your underwear while you're at it. I'm not going to wash your underwear for you. Then bring back dirty clothes, and I'll change your dressing again," Liu Yuxi said helplessly.
"Hey!"