Chapter 193 – Don’t be afraid (4)
That night, Li Xiangyu and other women made do with sleeping on the same heated platform bed as Li Man.
Early next morning, after breakfast was over, Li Xiangyu made a loud commotion about leaving.
Li Mo made a few perfunctory attempts to ask his aunts to stay longer. In the end, he escorted them all the way to the foot of the mountain until they met two familiar villagers that were going out of the mountains for work. The aunts and Hehua would walk the rest of the way with them, and Li Mo walked home.
When Li Mo returned home, he saw that Li Man was taking a quilt out to sun, so he went over to help her spread out the quilt.
“Why did you come back so early? Did you not walk with them until they left the mountain range?” Li Man curiously asked. After all, it would be dangerous for a few women to walk by themselves on the mountain paths.
Li Mo answered, “We happened to meet acquaintances. They’ll be fine walking with them.”
“Oh.” Li Man didn’t ask any further questions. She went inside to bring out another quilt
Li Mo followed her into the eastern hut, took the quilt from her hand, and said, “Let me do it.”
Li Man brought out all of the bed sheets, stuffed them into a basket, and said to Li Mo, who was in the middle of hanging up the quilt to sun, “It won’t be possible to wash the bed sheets well in a basin. I’m going out with Little Five to the pool at the back to wash them.”
“You can give that to me. I’ll carry it for you.” Li Mo quickly finish hanging the quilt on the bamboo poles and walked to her side. He took the basket from her hands.
Li Man looked at him and felt somewhat conflicted. “You’ll go there with me?”
“En.” Li Mo looked at the full basket of bed sheets and clothes. “There’s so much here. You might not be able to carry them home once they’re wet.”
“There’s Little Five.”
“Little Five wants to study. Can’t you see how studious he’s being?” Li Mo pointed at a spot below the eaves. Little Five was sitting on a stool with his head lowered and writing on the sand tray with a stick.
Li Man saw how serious he was about studying and couldn’t bear to interrupt him, so she nodded and said, “Okay. But, is the wound on your back okay?”
“It stopped hurting a while ago.” After Li Mo said this, he was worried that she wouldn’t believe him, so he lifted up the basket in his hand.
Li Man hastily grabbed his arm to stop him. “Don’t move around recklessly. Be careful that you don’t tear open your back wound.”
“It’s fine.” Li Mo obediently stopped trying to show off his ability. There was a gentle, warm smile on his face.
Li Man blushed and let go of his arm as if she had touched something hot. She turned her head away and started walking in the front.
Li Mo chuckled. He caught up to her in a few steps and walked by her side. Seeing that the rosiness hadn’t faded from her cheeks, he felt that she looked even more mesmerizing. He couldn’t help becoming more infatuated with her.
“What are you looking at?” Li Man raised her hand to hide her cheeks and glanced at him.
Li Mo looked away in embarrassment and kept his gaze focus at the front, but he forgot to look at the ground. He accidentally stepped on a pebble and almost twisted his ankle.
“Be careful.” Li Man instinctively stretched her hand out to support him.
Li Mo stabilized his balance and kicked the pebble to the side of the path. He turned his head back and said, “I’m fine. I just slipped.”
Did he slip, or was it because he wasn’t paying attention when he was walking? Li Man didn’t expose his lie, but he really had overdone it when he was looking at her earlier with a foolish expression. She had called out to him twice and he hadn’t even responded.
While thinking of this, Li Man subconsciously smiled.
“Yo, is that Li Mo? Are you going with your wife to do laundry?” Suddenly, a smiling middle-aged woman carrying a basket walked over to them. She had seen them and came over to greet them.
