CHAPTER 44: CHAPTER 44: SEARCHING THE MOUNTAIN FOR THE MISSING

Inside the house, Sun rubbed her sore neck, which ached from the stiffness caused by long hours of bending over to do needlework.

Yu Xiaolian didn’t plan to go out in the afternoon. She stayed home making small crafts. Although autumn was approaching, the weather was still extremely hot, and without air conditioning, she could only occasionally fan herself with a large palm fan.

She fanned herself a few times, then fanned Sun a few more times.

Suddenly, Yu Xiaolian thought of the ice cream and chilled drinks at the supermarket. She was really too hot now. Would it be okay to take some out to eat?

Anyway, Yu Changhe wouldn’t come home unless there was something urgent. Yu Xiaolian chose two of her favorite flavors of Magnum ice cream, giving one to Sun and eating the other herself.

Perhaps it was psychological, but after taking a bite of ice cream, she felt instantly better, and her mind was no longer so agitated and restless.

Refreshing!

Sun took a bite of the ice cream, and her eyes squinted with pleasure, maybe because it was too cold.

Slowly, the ice cream melted in her mouth, sweet and fragrant, filling her palate. Sun whispered, "This stuff is really delicious. It’s a pity your father can’t eat it."

Isn’t that because you won’t let him know about the secret space?

Although ice cream couldn’t be given to Yu Changhe, she could remove the packaging from pastries and French-style petits pains and offer them as snacks for him.

As for dinner, Yu Xiaolian had already planned to eat frozen steamed buns, which only needed to be steamed for a while before being ready to eat.

Also, she would get Sun to stew some braised pork using braised pork sauce. Sun had bought a pound of meat today, and she would take another piece from her secret stash to stew together.

When Yu Changhe came inside, Sun and Yu Xiaolian had already finished their ice cream. The needlework would be completed in two more days, and Sun said that after finishing these, she wouldn’t take on more needlework jobs. Instead, she would sell stewed fish sauce and braised meat sauce to the restaurants in the town.

If they couldn’t reach an agreement with the restaurants, they would simply make stewed meat to sell as cooked food.

Yu Xiaolian hadn’t expected Sun to be so clever, having figured out an escape route without any guidance from her.

Yu Xiaolian handed the pastries and petits pains to Yu Changhe, advising him to eat something before going out, but Yu Changhe refused, insisting they keep it for the two of them, saying a man like him didn’t need snacks.

Yu Xiaolian felt helpless, as she and Sun kept snacking on this and that, while poor Yu Changhe was kept in the dark about their secret stash, frugally refusing to eat.

Yu Xiaolian had wanted several times to tell Yu Changhe the truth, but Sun always interrupted her.

Sun simply urged Yu Xiaolian to quickly heal Yu Changhe’s leg, for once his leg was healed, their future days would naturally improve, and he wouldn’t think he didn’t deserve to eat anything.

Yu Xiaolian added two more drops of blood to the braised pork in the evening. Just as they were about to start eating, the village suddenly echoed with the sound of a gong.

Following that, the head of the village, Ma Dashan, loudly called from house to house. When he reached the Yu Family, he saw Yu Changhe standing in the courtyard, and said, "Luo Da and Luo Er from the Luo Family went up the mountain this morning and haven’t returned yet. They probably encountered some danger. The village needs one person from each household to go up the mountain and search. Your leg’s not convenient, call your brother out, hurry up, move fast."

Yu Changhe gave an acknowledging sound but didn’t have time to ask what was happening before Ma Dashan hurried off to the Wang Lao Qi’s family next door, and after calling them, hurried to the Zhao Kuo family to call someone there.

But Zhao Kuo wasn’t home at the time, so only Zhao’s father could go.

Yu Changfu was called out, mumbling, "Those two are as strong as bulls, how could they get lost? Who said they went up the mountain? Maybe they went to town to mess around and drink."

"It’s really annoying to have to go looking for them just when we’re about to have dinner. It’s what they deserve."

That’s the way it is in River Bay Village. If someone gets lost in the woods and can’t find their way out, the entire village mobilizes to go up the mountain and search.

No one knows if they might need such help one day, so even though everyone complains, there’s still a sense of unity at heart.

After all, this village isn’t very big, and if you tally it up, every family has some distant relatives.

Yu’s father had smelled the enticing aroma of Sun’s stewing meat and had planned to use his bad teeth as an excuse to ask Yu Changhe for some fatty meat to satisfy his craving. But upon hearing the news that the Luo brothers haven’t returned home, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding, and the meat aroma didn’t seem as appealing anymore.

Yu Changhe initially wanted to go with Yu Changfu to take a look, but Sun pulled him back, "They might be heading into the deep mountains; what would you do there? If you encounter a pack of wolves, do you think with your limp leg you’d outrun them?

Besides, those Luo Da and Luo Er aren’t good people. Why should we care about them? Let’s eat, get back inside, and have dinner."

Yu Changhe sat by the low table, staring at the steamed buns and braised pork, but hesitated to use his chopsticks. Yesterday’s fish was from Sun’s family home, and his parents didn’t get to eat it.

Today’s meat; he couldn’t eat it all by himself.

He dished a small bowl of meat and took two steamed buns and said to Yu Xiaolian, "Take these to your grandpa and grandma."

Yu Xiaolian glanced at Sun and could clearly sense Sun’s displeasure, but in the end, Sun still nodded.

Yu Xiaolian had no choice but to take it over. She happened to find the others eating, so she placed the bowl of meat on the table, "My dad asked me to bring this over."

When Mrs. Cao saw the red, glistening meat, her eyes lit up, and she couldn’t help swallowing.

Yu Xiaolian thought Mrs. Yu would be happy to see the meat, but unexpectedly, Mrs. Yu said resentfully, "You deliberately sent over some lean meat that’s too hard to chew, didn’t you, intending not to let us old folks eat, right?"

Sun had bought lean meat today, and this bowl had already been picked for the fatty parts by Yu Changhe, but Mrs. Yu was still picky.

This meat is too fatty; she couldn’t swallow it. This was the premium five-layer belly pork she had picked from her space, perfectly marbled, and even such good meat couldn’t seal her mouth.

"If Grandma can’t chew it, should I take it back?"

"No, no. If Mom can’t chew it, I can," Mrs. Cao said as she quickly took the bowl of meat and picked a piece to eat.

"Delicious, really delicious!"

Mrs. Yu, impolitely knocked Mrs. Cao on the head with chopsticks, "This is from my son’s filial piety to me. If you want to eat, ask your son to buy some." With that, Mrs. Yu snatched the bowl of meat, noticing Yu Xiaolian hadn’t left yet, asked, "Why aren’t you leaving?"

"Bowl."

Now even a bowl was a rare object, and in their home, each person had just one bowl. This was Yu Changhe’s bowl.

Mrs. Yu, seeing Yu Xiaolian waiting for the bowl, divided the meat between Mr. Yu’s bowl and hers, leaving half, and did the same with the steamed buns, giving one to each, so neither the meat nor buns included Mrs. Cao.

Yu Xiaolian took the empty bowl back and placed it in front of Yu Changhe, "You give them meat, and they don’t even say thank you, just complain it’s too lean to chew."

"Your grandma’s teeth are okay, but your grandpa’s lost most of his, making it hard to chew lean meat."

Yu Xiaolian thought it was true; in modern times, old men like Mr. Yu would probably get dentures, but still, with Yu Changhe’s goodwill of sending meat over, not even a thank you, same old attitude, who could be happy about that?

Going to deliver the meat had put her off her meal mood, especially since she had dropped some blood into the meat, making it a waste for them to eat.

When she returned, she even heard Mrs. Yu saying that Yu Changhe had managed to make a little money selling baskets, and Sun had extravagantly bought meat to stew, calling her wasteful.