Illuminated by the red cooking fire, the strong man’s eyes looked soft and warm.
The fire quickly heated up the pot, and the water droplets in the pot sizzled. Li Man quickly called out, “Wait, I haven’t finished preparing the dough yet.”
“You should hurry then,” Li Mo replied, but he didn’t remove any of the burning firewood that was in the stove.
Li Man was worried that pot would become burnt. She hastily ladled out two scoops of water and poured into the pot. She didn’t have the time to pay attention to the bracelet that he had forcibly given to her.
Hearing the sounds of boiling water and dough being added to the pot, Li Mo’s heart gradually settled down. Besides, the shrine’s priestess had said that once a woman wore the marriage bracelet, it meant that she belonged to him, and they were destined to be together.
Moreover, Li Man hadn’t asked him to take off the bracelet, right?
Thinking of the hairpin in her hair and then that marriage bracelet, Li Mo had to admit that his second brother’s words were right. Sometimes, a woman would reject a soft approach but yield to force.
After Li Man anxiously rushed around for a while, the big pot of dough drop soup was finally. She added a splash of sesame oil and a sprinkle of chopped scallions and briefly covered the pot with the lid to cook the food a little longer. After that, she picked up a bowl and started to transfer the food.
Worried that soup would overcook, Li Mo extinguished the cooking fire. Then, he stood up and scooped out some clean water to wash his hands before going back to the stove.
Li Man glanced at him, but she didn’t say a word and stayed focus on transferring the soup.
Once she was done with adding the soup to one bowl, he took the initiative of placing it down on the side. Once another bowl was filled, he picked up both bowls along with two pairs of chopsticks. “I’ll go deliver these.”
“En.” Li Man very naturally agreed without looking up. She continued filling the remaining four bowls.
Soon after, Li Mo returned to the kitchen. Seeing that Li Man was holding two bowls, he wanted to take them. “I’ll take those too.”
Li Man gestured towards the stove and said, “There’s still two more bowls on the stove.”
“Oh.” Li Mo was slightly smiling as he picked up those two bowls and followed Li Man to the eastern hut.
An oil lamp had been lit and placed on the windowsill in the eastern hut, and Li Hua was lighting another oil lamp. Soon, the lighting in the hut became much better.
Under the shadows cast by this lighting, the crowded hut immediately seemed quite narrow.
Li Mo had previously given one bowl to Li Yan and the other bowl to Li Shu, who had been whining that he was starving to death.
Li Man went over and offered one bowl to Little Five and the other bowl to Li Hua.
After seeing that Li Mo was following after her with two more bowls, Li Hua took the offered bowl.
Seeing that Li Man’s hands were empty, Li Mo handed her the bowl that had a slightly thicker soup, “Here, be careful, it’s hot.”
“En.” Li Man used both of her hands to hold it. Because the bowl was very full, some of the soup almost spilled out. She hurriedly lowered her head to sip the soup. She forgot that the soup that she had taken out last would be hot enough to burn her tongue. She instinctively stuck her tongue and licked her lips a few times.
Her actions happened to be seen by Li Yan and Li Mo.
Something flickered through Li Yan’s eyes, and his eyes gradually darkened. Who knows what he was thinking of?
Li Mo asked in worry, “Slow down. Did you burn yourself?”
Li Man pursed her lips and blew on her bowl a few times. Awkwardly laughing, she replied, “It’s a bit too hot.”
“Wife, sit here.” Li Shu took the initiative of scooting over so that she could sit on the bed too.
Li Man looked at the spot. There were already too many people siting on the bed. It wouldn’t be good for her squeeze herself in there, so she shook her head. “It’s okay. I’ll sit on a stool.” And so, she looked around, found a small stool in the corner, and sat down there.
