From the conversation with Li just now, Zhulan knew that Li's family had no land. Because the family lived in poverty due to her grandson's studies, Li and his wife worked as laborers all year round. Zhulan learned that Li had two sons. Because the youngest son and his wife died unexpectedly, the old couple Li moved out of the eldest son's home and lived with the youngest son's children.
Zhulan admired Li very much. She gave up her peaceful retirement for the sake of her grandchildren. From the sad tone in Li's voice when she mentioned her eldest son just now, she knew that Li's eldest son didn't want to raise his nephews and nieces, and now had a deep rift with Li and his wife.
Seeing that Li was a little anxious, Zhulan said kindly, "Aunt Li, you should go back first!"
Li knew that she had left a good impression on the host family on the first day, and was afraid that she would lose her work. "Madam, I will wait until the front yard is finished before returning."
Zhulan said: "The front yard won't be cleaned up in a short time, you can just come and clean it up early tomorrow morning."
Mrs. Li was indeed anxious. Today, the host gave her meat and vegetables, and she wanted to go back and give the children a good meal. "Thank you, madam. I will come early tomorrow to clean up."
Zhulan was not going to clean up. She just went to the front yard and took a look. All ten dishes were meat dishes, greasy and difficult to wash. "Yeah."
After Li left with the bowl, Zhulan went to the side room, where Xuehan was taking care of two little ones. "Girls, there is hot water in the kitchen. Take them to wash their feet later. We will change places tonight, so you don't have to turn off the oil lamp."
Xue Han saw that her mother looked tired, "Mom, I can take good care of them, you should go to bed early too!"
Zhulan felt the care and concern from her daughter and felt warm at heart. It is true that they say daughters are like little cotton-padded jackets.
Back in the main room, Zhulan took the hot water to wipe her body and soak her feet, then took out ten taels of silver to give to Zhao Bo. The furniture was the silver she had given a long time ago, and the ten taels were the silver for bowls, chopsticks, bedding, etc. In fact, it was less than ten taels, but it looked good as a whole, and the rest was Zhao Bo's hard work fee.
Zhulan wanted to wait for Zhou Shuren to come back, but she was tired after traveling all day. Her biological clock had also been activated, and her eyelids started to droop after a while. She felt someone holding her in a daze, but she was too sleepy to wake up.
Zhou Shuren had a good alcohol tolerance and was only slightly tipsy. He sobered up after washing and soaking his feet. After cleaning up, he sat on his quilt on the kang, and looked at Zhulan who was sleeping beside him. He felt that his quilt must not be warm enough, so he got bolder and quickly got out of bed. When he came back, he blew some air and smelled the strong smell of alcohol, which satisfied him.
He messed up his own quilt, then lifted Zhulan's quilt, put his claws around Zhulan's waist, and pulled Zhulan into his arms. If you ask him how he felt, he was excited about the breakthrough, and then he closed his eyes and went to sleep contentedly.
The next morning, Zhulan was the first to sober up, because she remembered that Li would arrive early and she had to go to open the door. But what was the situation now? She was in Zhou Shuren's arms, with his big claws holding her waist tightly. She didn't dare to move and was gnashing her teeth. She didn't believe that Zhou Shuren was drunk. This man was using alcohol to give himself courage!
Zhou Shuren hissed, "What a pinch!"
It's twisted against the skin, 360 degrees, it must have turned purple!
Zhulan, "If I don't pinch you, who else should I pinch? You are so brave!"
Zhou Shuren didn't let go and held her for a while. "I'm really drunk."
Zhu Lan snorted, "Who are you trying to fool? The foot basin on the ground is not overturned. I can tell you're not drunk. Don't think you can fool me just because you smell like alcohol in your mouth."
Zhou Shuren saw the foot basin out of the corner of his eye and made a mistake!
Zhulan felt a little uncomfortable. She and Zhou Shuren were close to each other. "Don't let go. Li is coming."
Zhou Shuren wanted to continue hugging her, but Zhulan's hands were pinching the skin on his back. If she didn't let go, it would no longer be a 360-degree hold, so she silently withdrew her lingering claws.
Zhulan turned her back, stood up and put on her clothes. The corners of her mouth curled up and then quickly suppressed it.