Chapter 77: Have You Sweet-talked Others Too?
The sun was gradually sinking in the west, with a brilliant expanse of fiery clouds on the horizon.
Shang Wan came out of the wooden shed holding an axe, glanced at the sky, put down the axe, and walked to the wellside to fetch water and wash her hands.
She shook off the water droplets from her hands, and Shang Wan looked at Shi Tou, “In a bit, sweep the wood shavings in the shed clean so we can sleep well at night. I’m going to pick up your brother-in-law.”
“Okay.” Shi Tou piled up the wood blocks and agreed.
“Mother! Me go!” Yuan Yuan crawled over quickly with the little turtle on her head, tilted her little head back, and the little turtle “plopped” off into the grass pile, landing on its back with all four legs in the air.
“Let’s go, we’ll pick up your daddy together.” Shang Wan squatted down to flip the little turtle over, picked up her own child, and walked toward the riverside.
“Mother!” Yuan Yuan stretched out her small hand and pointed in the opposite direction, “Daddy! There!”
“Good memory.” Shang Wan wiped Yuan Yuan’s small hand clean with the corner of her clothes, “But Daddy isn’t there, he’s at the riverside.”
Yuan Yuan blinked her big eyes, and a word popped out of her little mouth, “Fish!”
Shang Wan chuckled, “Good child, your daddy didn’t go to the riverside to catch fish.”
Yuan Yuan furrowed her little brows and repeated, “Fish!”
She balled her white and tender small hand into a fist and held it up in front of Shang Wan, shaking it up and down a few times.
“Fish! Balls!”
Shang Wan stared at the small fist in front of her that resembled a glutinous rice ball, and after a moment’s reaction, she understood, “Good child, are you talking about fish balls?”
Yuan Yuan’s big eyes lit up, and she nodded her little head vigorously, “Fish balls! Eat!”
“Good child, you only have two teeth.” Shang Wan poked the little one’s cheek, “Can you bite handmade fish balls?”
Two teeth were still teeth, and little friend Yuan Yuan confidently puffed out her little chest, “Eat!”
Shang Wan chuckled and pinched the little tuft on her head, “Alright, in a bit we’ll catch a fish to take back and make fish balls for our Yuan Yuan to eat.”
“Mother, good!” Yuan Yuan hugged Shang Wan’s neck and nuzzled affectionately, her little tuft poking Shang Wan’s face several times.
Shang Wan: “…”
The sunset sprinkled a layer of golden light on the river surface, with ripples shimmering like scattered gold.
On the wooden bridge, the youth in the wheelchair stared blankly at the river surface, his dark pupils reflecting the fine golden light on the water, like stars in the night sky.
Light footsteps came from behind, accompanied by a sweet and soft childish voice, “Daddy!”
Lu Chengjing hadn’t yet come back to his senses when a soft and cute little meatball appeared in his arms.
Shang Wan asked: “Why aren’t you going home and came here instead?”
Lu Chengjing chuckled lightly, “I came back to my senses and found myself here.”
Shang Wan glanced at him, jumped down from the wooden bridge, and bent over to pick pebbles.
Lu Chengjing’s gaze followed her movements, the darkness in his eyes quietly fading, replaced by a hint of puzzlement, “What are you picking stones for?”
“It’s useful.” Shang Wan looked up at him, “You weren’t thinking of jumping into the river just now, were you? I don’t plan on being a widow for the time being.”
Lu Chengjing fell silent for a moment, “For the time being?”
“That depends on how long you can live.” Shang Wan leaped onto the wooden bridge and handed him a pebble, “Yuan Yuan wants to eat fish. Let’s compete—whoever doesn’t catch a fish has to tell the other a secret. How about it?”
“It seems I’m bound to lose?” Lu Chengjing said as he took the colorful pebble and placed it in Yuan Yuan’s small hand, letting the little one play with it.
“Not necessarily, what if there’s a miracle?” After Shang Wan finished speaking, she casually threw the pebble backward.
Lu Chengjing was slightly stunned—was this her deliberately going easy on him?
But soon he realized he was wrong, as a stunned grass carp weighing about four or five jin floated leisurely to the surface.
Lu Chengjing: “…”
Shang Wan skimmed lightly over the water surface like a hawk, scooped up the grass carp, and threaded it onto a vine.
“Mother!” Yuan Yuan immediately disdainfully threw the colorful pebble aside and excitedly clapped her small hands.
Lu Chengjing watched as his own pebble slid to the edge of the wooden bridge, spun in place twice, and “plopped” into the water, splashing a small spray.
Shang Wan looked down at the grass carp she was holding and shook her head with a tsk, “Accidents are common, miracles are not.”
Lu Chengjing: “…”
“Here.” Shang Wan handed the grass carp she was holding to the youth in the wheelchair, her eyes brimming with laughter, “Miracle delivered.”
Her bright smiling face came into view, and Lu Chengjing’s pupils contracted slightly. He stared fixedly at the person in front of him for a moment before chuckling wryly, “A bet’s a bet.”
Shang Wan tilted her head to look at him, only to see his cheeks faintly red and his voice somewhat muffled, “I’m not planning to jump into the river, you don’t need to coax me like this. Just now… I was only thinking of some old matters.”
“This is called coaxing you?” Shang Wan burst out laughing, “You’re pretty easy to coax.”
Hearing this, Lu Chengjing fell silent for a moment and lifted his eyelids, “You… have coaxed others before?”
Only through comparison does one perceive difficulty.
“Of course.” Shang Wan nodded toward Yuan Yuan, “That treasure in your arms—don’t I have to coax her every day? Who do you think I caught the fish for?”
Lu Chengjing looked down and met his daughter’s pair of blinking big eyes for a moment, pursed his lips, and said in a low voice: “You know that’s not who I was asking about.”
“Then I need to think about it carefully.” Shang Wan stepped forward, pushed the wheelchair around in a half-circle, and headed back.
Lu Chengjing perked up his ears and listened for a long while without hearing an answer, so he couldn’t help but cough lightly, “Thought about it yet?”
Shang Wan didn’t answer.
Lu Chengjing frowned and turned his head, but before he could see Shang Wan’s face clearly, he felt a soft touch on his forehead and caught a faint fragrance at the tip of his nose.
His eyes slowly widened—that was just now…
“I can’t remember.”
Shang Wan leaned down, their foreheads touching, gazes meeting, breaths entwining.
“But you’re the first one I’ve coaxed like this.”
“You…” Lu Chengjing’s pupils trembled, and a blush instantly spread from his cheeks to his neck, his whole body nearly cooked.
Shang Wan secretly tsked—such little composure.
If she had directly kissed him just now, wouldn’t this guy explode on the spot?
Little friend Yuan Yuan anxiously tugged at her own daddy’s arm, twisting her little head to look back hard—how come Fat Four?
Shang Wan pinched her little nose, making her turn back and sit properly so she wouldn’t roll off in a bit.
As they neared home, Lu Chengjing’s complexion had returned to normal. Xiao Hui, who had come back from the mountains, ran over to take Yuan Yuan.
Yuan Yuan directly climbed from her daddy’s lap onto Xiao Hui’s back and skillfully directed Xiao Hui to go play with the little turtle.
Shang Wan took the grass carp to Xiao Huan. After Xiao Huan gutted the fish, removed the bones, and added the seasoning, she was in charge of stirring the fish meat into a paste.
As dusk fell, villagers came one after another to have Lu Chengjing record accounts. Smelling the aroma of the meal wafting from the stove, their stomachs couldn’t help but sing empty city rhapsodies.
But everyone at most stole a quick glance toward the stove before quickly leaving after registering their points for the day, as if chased by a dog from behind.
At the dinner table, the handmade fish balls received unanimous praise from everyone.
Yuan Yuan held fish balls in both small hands, earnestly nibbling bit by bit with her two millet teeth. Drool flowed down her bib, and there were still two in the small bowl in front of her.
Xiao Huan was even worried that Yuan Yuan’s cheeks would get sore from nibbling and wanted to help break them into tiny pieces.
“Let her eat by herself.” Shang Wan waved her hand, “If you break it up for her, she’ll definitely cry to show you.”
Xiao Huan had no choice but to give up and focus on eating her own.
When Yuan Yuan got tired of nibbling and tried to stuff a whole fish ball into her mouth, her dear mother deprived her of the right to eat fish balls and switched her to soft vegetable congee.
Yuan Yuan: ???
