Chronicle of the 70s
Chapter 57 - 057 Asking about her in the middle of the night

Chapter 57: 057 Asking about her in the middle of the night

Li Xianglu, upon hearing her thick plain accent, was momentarily stunned before laughing, "You’re not a local, are you?"

The young girl shyly smiled and said, "Yes, I’m from Nanhe. I came here to stay with relatives, my aunt married here, Li Sanhe is my uncle."

Li Xianglu suddenly realized, although she couldn’t recall exactly who this person was, this Li Sanhe had somewhat of a connection to her, being the father of a child who was supposed to be adopted like she was before.

Li Xianglu smiled and said, "I am planting vegetable seedlings, I have over twenty left that I can’t use, I don’t know if your family’s plot grows vegetables, but if so, you can take these."

The girl’s eyes lit up and she nodded, "Yes, we plant. My aunt started breeding a bit late this year, the seedlings have just sprouted, but how can we just take yours for free?"

Li Xianglu smiled and shook her head, "It’s not valuable. I can’t use them if I take them back home, I still have a few at home for replanting. If these aren’t planted, they’ll just go to waste."

The girl, hearing that they would otherwise be thrown away, immediately nodded, "Then please give them to me. It would be such a waste to throw them away."

After saying this, she graciously accepted them, smiling, "My name is Qu Yeyu, I’m sixteen years old this year. What’s your name?"

Li Xianglu, seeing her generous spirit, also smiled and said, "I am Li Xianglu, I am fifteen this year."

After introducing themselves, Li Xianglu headed back home with her basket.

At this time, the sun was about to set. Just as she reached her courtyard, she saw the three Qin family members also returning from their work. Qin Shouren immediately asked upon seeing Li Xianglu, "Xiao Xiang, how’s your grandfather doing?"

Li Xianglu smiled and said, "He’s a bit better, just needs to rest. Thanks a lot, Uncle Qin." Then, as if thinking of something, she asked, "Uncle Qin, do you have any private land?"

Qin Shouren, not understanding why she asked, replied, "Yes, but there’s only a third of an acre for three people, it’s already plowed. If the team isn’t busy tomorrow, we’ll start planting."

Li Xianglu then smiled and said, "Uncle Qin, do you need vegetable seedlings? My grandfather and I planted too many for our first year, even after setting aside some for replanting, we still have over fifty left."

Qin Shouren, hearing this, happily nodded, "That would be great, we’ve been too busy to care for our seedlings."

Then he said to Qin Xi, "Let’s work overtime tonight and plant the seedlings, the sooner we plant them, the sooner we can enjoy fresh vegetables."

Qin Xi nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, Li Xianglu entered the house and greeted her grandfather. Seeing him lying on the kang with a book beside him, likely because it was getting dark and he couldn’t see clearly, she lit an oil lamp, and then lit another in the kitchen to boil a pot of water. She used a small pot to cook the leftover rice from noon into porridge.

Originally, she wanted to fry the rice, but her grandfather was old and his digestive abilities were weak; he couldn’t eat food that was too hard at night.

She had stored some dough she made earlier in the Storage Ring, so she directly took it out, added some baking soda, kneaded it, and steamed four buns.

She reheated the leftover cabbage from noon. Her grandfather, thinking that they were only having porridge for dinner, was delighted to see the hot steaming buns and said, "You prepared dough at noon, didn’t you?"

Li Xianglu nodded, "Yes, just a little. It’s too much for the two of us to finish, it wouldn’t be fresh if reheated too often."

After eating dinner, they saw Qin Xi carrying a basket.

Li Xianglu lit the kerosene lamp and helped dig out the vegetable seedlings in the small garden. While digging, she looked around to ensure no one was there, then whispered, "I met Qin Miao on the way to the vegetable field today."

Qin Xi was startled and his expression became reserved, "Was she waiting for you?"

Li Xianglu squinted her eyes and smiled, "Yes, it’s true. He was there at the bottom of Erdaoliang early on, almost as if he knew which way I would pass by."

Qin Xi smiled and said, "Then be careful, try to speak less. He’s particularly clever, don’t give yourself away."

Li Xianglu nodded and saw the guest out.

----

Originally, Li Xianglu wanted to get some water to water the vegetable seedlings the next day, but it unexpectedly started raining and lasted for three days.

The rain was not heavy; it was that kind of drizzling spring rain. Therefore, Li Xianglu transplanted the remaining few seedlings to the edge of the small garden and planted the seeds of pumpkins, watermelons, and muskmelons she wanted to grow.

Mr. Li’s knees also improved a lot because Qin Xi came over every day to rub them with high-degree liquor, and he could already walk around on the ground.

What puzzled Li Xianglu was that Qin Xi almost came to their house every day. He seemed somewhat attentive, but not overly deliberate, which made him hard to dislike.

Finally, she couldn’t help mentioning it to her grandfather, and Mr. Li laughed so hard, saying that she was overthinking it.

On the fourth day, the rain finally stopped. After breakfast, Mr. Li was practicing boxing in the courtyard, and Li Xianglu followed him and practiced once before heading to the kitchen to read a book.

In the northern part of Guanzhong, the doors and windows of caves are combined into one, an arch-shaped wooden frame topped with small lattice windows. Since the caves are relatively deep, usually four to five meters, even seven to eight meters, the lighting inside isn’t very good.

Mr. Li’s kitchen, however, was built with red bricks and had two windows on either side, both embedded with glass, which allowed for much better lighting.

Therefore, every day Li Xianglu would hold a book and read there, occasionally sneaking some snacks from the Storage Ring.

Li Xianglu checked the time and it was already past eleven. It was time to cook. "Ah, it’s really inconvenient not having a watch. I can’t possibly take out my cell phone from my previous life, can I? After all, time is stopped in that space, and whether it’s a cell phone or a watch, the time would stop when I put them there. When I take them out, the time shown is always wrong. Every day, I just have to ask for the rough time before I start reading and then adjust my watch or phone accordingly to start cooking."

Just as she was about to cook, she heard Mr. Li laughing and talking to someone outside. Li Xianglu couldn’t resist going out when she recognized the familiar voices—it was Li Jianqing and Qin Zhen.

When Li Jianqing saw his sister, he smiled and said to Mr. Li, "Uncle, I need to talk to my little sister for a moment."

Mr. Li nodded and started chatting with Qin Xiaopang.

Upon hearing this, Li Xianglu pulled Li Jianqing with her to the kitchen to get some water, but then heard Li Jianqing anxiously say, "Little sister, don’t rush. Listen to me first."

Li Xianglu saw he was serious and sat down without delay.

Li Jianqing started, "Do you have a grudge against someone called Qin Miao?"

Li Xianglu was stunned for a moment, thought to herself, then asked without showing any emotion on her face, "Qin Miao? I don’t even know who she is. How could I have a grudge against her?"

Li Jianqing immediately looked relieved and said, "That’s good, that’s good."

Li Xianglu asked sternly, "What’s really going on? Explain clearly, why are you being so vague?"

Seeing his sister’s anger, Li Jianqing scratched his nose and awkwardly smiled before saying, "Well, that Qin Miao—she’s the daughter of Qin Xiaopang’s uncle."

ps: See you tomorrow.

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