CHAPTER 324: CHAPTER 316: MOTHER AND DAUGHTER’S TELEPATHY (2)

Chai E Ying touched her hair and said with a smile, "I think it’s not bad."

Guoguo turned her head and gave Chai E Ying a smile, "Okay."

Chai E Ying hugged her and laughed, "Husband, Guoguo said it’s good, which shows that your skills are not bad."

Li Xingmao frowned, wondering how Guoguo could know what looked good or not, she just happened to say it was good.

The sound of Uncle Gui speaking came from outside the house.

Chai E Ying’s clothes were ready too, and she carried Guoguo out the door.

It turned out Uncle Tian and his son had returned.

Uncle Tian saw Li Xingmao and said in surprise, "Isn’t this the third son-in-law? The third son-in-law is here too?"

He clasped his hands towards Li Xingmao and said, "Hello, third son-in-law."

His son had never worked for the Chai Family, but he followed suit and called out third son-in-law.

Chai E Ying glanced around the yard and noticed that the two chairs knocked over by Luo Zikun earlier and the discarded broom had been righted by Uncle Gui. She felt relieved and smiled, "He came to the market and decided to visit me."

Li Xingmao nodded at Uncle Tian, "Uncle Tian."

"Come inside, come inside." Uncle Tian warmly invited Li Xingmao and his wife into the house, "The house is old and narrow, please don’t mind."

Everyone entered the house, and Chai E Ying then asked Uncle Tian’s son, "Dawang, those old things from when you used to print books, are they still around?"

Uncle Tian’s son replied, "Third young lady, everything is there. Although I didn’t make money printing books, I couldn’t bear to throw those things away; they’re all piled up in the woodshed. On the way back, my father told me that the third young lady wanted to borrow them, so I’ll go get them now."

He put down the hoe he was carrying and without even drinking water, patted his sleeves and went to the backyard kitchen.

Uncle Tian washed his hands and lifted the teapot to pour tea for Li Xingmao and his wife.

"Third son-in-law, have some tea."

"Drink." Guoguo in Chai E Ying’s arms echoed.

Uncle Tian looked closely and exclaimed, oh, there’s a little girl in red here.

Chai E Ying pinched Guoguo’s little hand, "Guoguo, come, call Grandpa Tian."

Guoguo looked at Uncle Tian and laughed with a grin, "Grandpa."

Uncle Tian laughed heartily, "Such a smart little girl, my granddaughter was never as clever as the third young lady’s daughter when she was little."

He thought to himself, the third young lady is lucky to have picked up a daughter, oh no, a pair of children.

Two kids who are good-looking and smart, truly a rarity even holding a lantern to find, that runaway wife of the Li Family was such a fool.

Li Xingmao humbly said, "The child is still young; whether she’s truly smart, we’ll see when she grows up."

Guoguo turned her head to look at him and huffed, her little mouth pouting, seemingly unhappy with this humble statement.

This again amused Uncle Tian.

Chai E Ying and Li Xingmao also laughed, only Guoguo didn’t laugh, pursing her lips tightly and huffing again.

In the backyard, Uncle Tian’s son Tian Dawang moved the printing machine from the woodshed to the yard, and long unused, it was covered in dust.

Tian Dawang found an old cloth and started beating the dust off.

Chai E Ying stood up, "The things have been moved out, I’ll go check."

Uncle Tian laughed and said, "Oh dear, there’s so much dust, third young lady, wait a moment before going out."

He also took a cloth and went to the backyard to beat the dust.

Guoguo watched them busy at work, thoroughly entertained.

Li Xingmao took Guoguo from Chai E Ying’s arms, "Tired of holding her? I’ll hold Guoguo."

Guoguo was obedient and didn’t fuss with Chai E Ying.

When Li Xingmao said he’d hold her, she immediately jumped into Li Xingmao’s arms.

"How long have you been holding her, are you tired already?" Chai E Ying said with a laugh.

In the backyard, Uncle Tian was wiping the dust off the printing machine with a laugh, "The third young lady and third son-in-law’s daughter is not naughty, holding her is not tiring. My three kids are so mischievous; their mother took them to visit relatives, and who knows what kind of ruckus they’ll cause."

Uncle Tian laughed and shook his head helplessly.

Feeling a bit idle, Chai E Ying asked about Uncle Tian’s grandchildren.

She learned that they followed their mother to visit their maternal grandparents, helping harvest wheat on two acres of land.

Just as they talked about the children, cheerful cheers could suddenly be heard from the front yard gate, "Grandpa, Dad, we’re back!"

Chai E Ying and Li Xingmao looked towards the front yard, only to see three children of different sizes running over together.

The Tian Family was not well-off, and most of the kids’ clothes had patches.

Following them was a woman in her thirties.

The woman’s clothes were washed to a pale color, but they were clean and fresh.

In contrast to the children’s joyful expressions, the woman wore a troubled face.

Walking into the courtyard were Tian Dawang’s wife and their three children.

The Tian Family’s courtyard wasn’t large either, people in the back courtyard could hear clearly the shouting happening in the front.

Uncle Tian and Tian Dawang immediately put down what they were doing and headed toward the front courtyard together.

"You little rascals, you still remember to come back, huh? Didn’t you pull the roof off your grandmother’s house?" Uncle Tian patted one child’s head, softly squeezed another one’s cheek, laughing as he spoke.

The Tian Family was poor, and the children were all dressed in worn-out clothing.

Tian Dawang asked Lady Tian again about the wheat harvesting at his father-in-law’s home.

Lady Tian replied sheepishly, "It’s all harvested and laid out to dry."

"You harvested it quite quickly this time." Tian Dawang said with a smile.

Lady Tian’s face looked awkward, and she didn’t respond.

The eldest child was a girl around twelve or thirteen, wearing an apricot-colored dress and with two long braids. She shyly smiled and said, "Grandpa, we didn’t cause any trouble."

The other two were boys, looking about eleven or twelve and five or six years old.

The older boy looked a lot like Tian Dawang, with a chubby big head and large build, while the younger one resembled Lady Tian, being shorter and having a smaller face.

The two boys jointly responded, "We behaved ourselves, Grandpa, Dad."

"It’s good you didn’t cause trouble, it’s good you didn’t." Uncle Tian laughed heartily, "Come, come, come. We have guests at home. Come quickly to meet them, it’s the third daughter and her husband from the big family house."

Lady Tian led the children into the house.

Uncle Tian and Tian Dawang followed behind them, also entering the house.

Seeing Chai Eying and Li Xingmao, Lady Tian immediately put away the worry on her face and greeted them with a smile, "Third young lady, third young master."

Seeing the children, Chai Eying turned to Li Xingmao and whispered, "We should give them some money for snacks."

She borrowed the printing machine from the Tian Family, and Uncle Tian and his son agreed right away, without mentioning money.

Since they didn’t mention money, they should at least give something for the children.

Li Xingmao, seeing the children had arrived, started feeling in his pocket and soon handed the pouch to Chai Eying.

Chai Eying accepted it, divided a small string of copper coins among the children, smiling as she said, "We didn’t bring fruits for you this time, so take these to buy some for yourselves, okay?"

A large string was one thousand coins in total, and a small string was one hundred coins.

Chai Eying gave one hundred coins.

Each child could get more than thirty coins.

The children, seeing the money piled up on the table, didn’t dare take it. Despite the delight in their eyes, their expressions were timid.

Their family was poor, and thirty coins were quite a significant amount for them.

They could buy more than thirty delicious pork buns.

They could buy four pounds of good quality rice or three pounds of pork.

Moreover, these were over thirty coins each, and their entire family’s day’s work didn’t earn as much.

Uncle Tian smiled, "Take it. It’s a reward from the third young lady and third young master."

Only then did the children dare to take the money.

More than thirty coins couldn’t fit in their small hands.

The youngest one couldn’t hold it all, dropping several on the ground, but cheerfully picked them up, carefully placing them into his pocket.

Lady Tian watched the money in their hands, her eyes somber.

Uncle Tian once again asked the children to thank them, and the three children said in unison, "Thank you, third young lady, thank you, third young master."

Chai Eying praised them, "Good kids."

"Go play now." Uncle Tian sent the children away.

Lady Tian nodded toward Chai Eying and Li Xingmao, and chased after the kids, taking all the money from the three of them and putting it into her own pouch.

The three children didn’t dare oppose; they glanced at each other, then looked down sadly.

"Daniu, take your two younger brothers and go cut pig grass." Lady Tian softly instructed the children.

"Got it, Mom." The three, dejectedly, found their tools and headed out to the woods behind the courtyard to cut the pig grass.

After sending the children off, Lady Tian pulled her husband to the backyard.

She glanced at the main room, quietly asking Tian Dawang, "Why have the third young lady and young master come?"

"Oh, the third young lady is here to borrow the printing machine." Tian Dawang replied.

As he spoke, he took an old cloth and started wiping the dust off the printing machine.

Lady Tian’s eyes shifted, "We might as well sell it to them. Fifty taels, firm price."