CHAPTER 50: CHAPTER 47: LOTUS VILLAGE’S JIANG BOY

"Hey! Cousin, you seem to eat more than before."

Jiang Ming’an was startled, remembering that in his previous life, he had a small appetite, only eating half a bowl at each meal. He was often teased by this bright moon for eating like a cat. But now, he could eat three large bowls of rice in one sitting.

Jiang Ming’an: "We’re poor... do you have a problem with that?"

Jiang Mingyue: "..." Too lazy to deal with you.

After eating a big bowl of dumplings, Jiang Ming’an felt comforted and made an unreasonable request.

"Yueyue, cook three more servings. I promised to send some to Uncle."

Jiang Mingyue: "..." What did I say before? In this life, don’t count on Cousin, look now... he’s almost leaning his mouth on my shoulder, and now he wants me to feed outsiders too.

Thinking of that outsider... sigh! Mrs. Jiang treats him like a benefactor! In the morning, she chattered about inviting him to eat, but I fooled her with a few words, saying they wouldn’t wake up until midday and we didn’t have time to wait.

In the end, she couldn’t escape. She couldn’t embarrass Cousin; he must have promised free meals to Uncle.

Jiang Mingyue was glad she had space, she had made a huge batch last time, using it as needed.

In no time, Jiang Mingyue made another large bowl of dumplings for Jiang Ming’an.

Jiang Ming’an took it: "Yueyue!" Then whispered in her ear: "Why not set up a brick factory in your space? I plan to build a house next to your backyard."

Jiang Mingyue: "..." If he weren’t her cousin, she’d have kicked him over.

After Jiang Ming’an left, Jiang Mingyue took out her bicycle from the space.

She tied a cushion made by Mrs. Jiang to the front bar, "Let’s go, Little Ran, I’ll take you to Lotus Village to see the lotuses."

Upon arriving at Lotus Village, Jiang Mingyue realized that there were no lotuses in Lotus Village, even if there were, it wasn’t the season for them to bloom.

She didn’t let it dampen her spirits; it was just a fib told in front of the child.

"Fourth Sister, where are the lotuses?"

"Ahem, the lotus I mentioned is a person, your Cousin Jian Guo’s white moonlight."

Little Jiang Ran still didn’t understand.

"What’s white moonlight?"

"White moonlight is someone you like."

The little guy pondered this.

Jiang Mingyue secretly breathed a sigh of relief, glad he didn’t ask further.

Following the directions given by Granny Shi, Jiang Mingyue easily found the old man she was supposed to deliver things to.

However, the old man had a lame leg, using an underarm crutch.

He was straightforward, whether in expression or posture. On the side without a leg, he directly rolled up his pant leg, showing the smooth, worn-down stump.

"Are you the new favorite of that blind old lady?"

Jiang Mingyue: "..."

"Tsk, did you bring any liquor?"

Although she felt waves of shock inside, she maintained a polite demeanor as if it were their first meeting.

"I should have some, Uncle Niu. Why don’t you open it and see? If not, I’ll bring some in a few days."

The old man squinted, thinking: No wonder the blind old lady likes this girl; she’s sweet-talking and sensible.

The old man hummed, leaned on his crutch, and sat on the stone steps, unsealing the package himself.

Sure enough, Granny Shi knew this old man well. Inside were two bottles of Erguotou, two bottles of bamboo-leaf green liquor, and two bottles of Maotai. There was also a large bag of shelled peanuts as snacks; nothing else.

Jiang Mingyue clicked her tongue: This is an old man who loves liquor!

The old man, unconcerned about their presence, drank peanuts with liquor, practically treating them as air.

Jiang Mingyue planned to leave but wanted to inquire about some things first.

"Uncle Niu, do you know about Lotus... that Liu Yinghe, has anything happened to her recently? Mainly because my cousin was good friends with her before, they used to play together often, but recently there’s been no news. Since I’m in Lotus Village, she asked me to find out. What do you think, sir..."

"Hmph! Little girl, you’re not being honest. Next time, just come out and say it, don’t beat around the bush."

Jiang Mingyue: It’s just that we’re not that close yet!

"Lotus, I know, that girl is the prettiest in the village. Didn’t she recently start dating someone from your village...?"

Jiang Mingyue’s heart skipped a beat: Could it be that Liu Yinghe’s affair with her brother is already well-known? No, I can’t have such a sister-in-law.

"Then, sir, do you know which family from Qingshan Village? What’s the name?"

Uncle Niu looked at her strangely: "Isn’t it a man surnamed Jiang?"

Jiang Mingyue was internally collapsing: Finished, done! How eager could her brother be!

Worried, she remembered that medicinal handkerchief.

Weird! Why hasn’t her brother come looking for it? Or was the handkerchief something Liu Yinghe slipped to her brother with impure intentions, so he lost it unknowingly?

"Oh, and that Jiang boy with the same surname as you came early in the morning to find Lotus, not sure if he’s still around. You can try your luck."

Jiang Mingyue was internally collapsing.

Before leaving, she took a large portion of spicy rabbit and a braised chicken from the basket for the old man to enjoy with his liquor, thanking him for the information. After all, she hoped he could provide more information next time.

There was no other choice; in this era, you couldn’t rely on technology, just on people.

Even if she released her spiritual power, she needed basic information.

Otherwise, it would be a waste.

The old man couldn’t speak after eating a bite of rabbit.

Jiang Mingyue had no choice but to leave, planning to try her luck.

Once outside, she released her spiritual power but found no trace of her brother.

Could the man sneaking away to be with Lotus not be her brother?

Had it been a crush from early on?

Or had her brother eloped with Lotus?

Jiang Mingyue had various speculations, but no matter how she searched with her spiritual power, there was no trace of Lotus or her brother.

Well! What was supposed to be two achievements ended up just running errands for Granny Shi.

On the way back, Jiang Mingyue taught Little Jiang Ran to recite the Three Character Classic. She found that while he didn’t recognize characters, his ability to mimic pronunciation was top-notch, perfectly mimicking her pronunciation. Jiang Mingyue became interested in teaching him. Initially, she planned to teach just a couple of sentences and let him memorize and write them in three days. Now, she changed her mind.

As much as he could memorize, she would teach, and just like that, the little guy memorized the entire Three Character Classic.

It was quite astonishing!

She seemed to have discovered a genius and wanted to show off.

Thinking of Cousin, thinking of that troublemaker master.

Then she heard Little Jiang Ran’s childish voice: "Little Swallow..."

Jiang Mingyue thought: wear flower-clothes!

But the next second, she noticed something was off and saw a slick-haired man standing under the soap tree at her house.

"Isn’t it, Yan Jinzhi, coming to my house so early for a free meal?"

"Ahem..." Her cousin who brought him coughed, failing to hold back, "A young lady should have manners."

"Is that impolite? I was just joking, trying to get closer to him."

Didn’t Jiang Ming’an know what kind of temperament his sister had?

He immediately decided not to engage her.

But Yan Jinzhi, the one she teased, smiled and smoothed things over for her: "It’s okay, I like this kind of personality."

Jiang Mingyue always felt something was off with that statement, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

"Where did you go?"