Chapter 75 – Unwilling
By the time she finished washing clothes, returned home, and hanged up the clothes, it was already noon, and time to prepare lunch.
Li Hua was inside a hut and studying. As soon as Little Five had returned home with her, he had gone off to play with Big Black and Little Yellow. Li Man didn’t call him back either. She took a small basket and went into the backyard to pick some string beans and chili pepper.
After washing the rice and pouring it into a big pot, she tossed in a few pieces of wood under the stovetop to increase the cooking fire. Then, she stood up and started washing the vegetables.
There would only be two vegetables for lunch. The Chinese chives that Aunty Li had given her as well as a plate of string beans that were flavored with chili peppers.
Right after she had finished washing the vegetables, Li Mo, Li Yan, and Li Shu returned home.
The three of them had stopped by the kitchen’s entrance. Soft smiles appeared in their eyes when they saw that she was busy with cooking.
However, Li Shu couldn’t help himself in the end. After he tossed the hoe into a corner of the hut, he turned around and went into the kitchen. He stopped by Li Man’s side and asked with a grin, “Wife, what yummy food are you cooking for lunch?
Li Man skirted a bit to the side and ignored him.
Li Shu looked at her as she kept her head lowed and focused on chopping the chili peppers. As she moved, her hair slipped out from behind her and blocked half of her small face. She used her fingers to tuck her hair behind her ear again.
Li Shu suddenly felt an inexplicable urge that spread from his chest. He turned his head to check the doorway. Seeing that there was no one else around, he lowered his head and snuck a kiss from behind.
While Li Man was feeling perplexed by that sensation, the man that had done a bad deed had already fled in panic. She blankly wiped her neck. Had he intentionally kissed her? Or, did he just accidentally bump into her?
Li Shu escaped from the kitchen and ran straight into the eastern hut. Once he was out of public’s gaze, he stiffly lay down on the bed and was breathing heavily as he looked at the ceiling.
He had kissed his wife. He had finally kissed her!
After Li Yan had washed his hands and returned inside, he saw his younger brother like this and curiously asked, “What’s wrong?”
Li Shu couldn’t bother with paying attention to him. He was busy keeping his eyes closed as he recollected that recent moment. He wished that it could have continued further. It was inevitable that he would feel a bit dissatisfied. Ah, it would be so wonderful if one day, he could slowly and deliberately kissed his wife in public.
—
Inside the kitchen, after blanking out for a bit, Li Man didn’t take the matter too seriously. She thought that Li Shu must have just accidentally bumped into her. No one would kiss the collar of someone’s clothes, then just run off.
After she finished chopping the vegetables, Little Five came inside and crouched down by the stove to tend the fire for her.
She and Little Five were already a well-coordinated team when it came to cooking together. There was no awkwardness between them unlike when Li Mo was helping her.
Li Man was able to chat with him while she cooked. When she asked him where everyone else was, Little Five replied that they were resting in the eastern hut.
She thought that they were probably tired from working so hard in the morning, so she want to cook soup to show her appreciation, but this family didn’t even have eggs. Even the cleverest housewife couldn’t cook without the necessary ingredients. She could only do her best to cook with the vegetables that she had.
After she finished cooking the food, Li Man brought them out onto the table and sent Little Five to tell his brothers that lunch was ready. However, after Little Five had been gone for a while, he still hadn’t come back. After she had scooped out rice for everyone, she came out of the kitchen to call them over herself.
A spell of roaring laugher came from the eastern hut. She suddenly thought of how they were a group of brothers. Who knows what they were joking about? It would be awkward if she boldly entered their hut. And so, she stopped by the doorway and called out, “Time to eat.”
She suddenly heard whimpering from a corner of the courtyard. Li Man turned around to look and was terrified by what she saw. Big Black was on top of Little Yellow and baring his teeth as he whined. As for Little Yellow, Li Man could only see her head and her front legs. The rest of her body was hidden underneath Big Black.
“Ah!” Li Man felt as if all the blood in her body was going to congeal. She loudly called out, “Hurry, come out! Big Black is going to eat Little Yellow!”
