Chapter 67

Liu Tong got to the place where the ox cart was parked. He calmed down for a while before he realized what he had just done. He had run away only because he heard a casual joke from Ran. Although what Zhang Yue said had affected him, he should not have reacted so strongly. He wondered if Ran would be angry about it. Liu Tong was worried again.

When Xu Ran arrived with the two kids, Liu Tong was facing them with his back, tilting his head to one side as if he was thinking something. Xu Ran let go of the two kids’ hands and went over to hug Liu Tong from behind, “Tongtong, don’t be angry.”

Liu Tong was surprised and immediately struggled out of his arms. Then he looked around and found that other people were busy and didn’t look at them. He was relieved, “Ran, this is a public place. Don’t do that in the future.”

“Alright, alright,” Xu Ran agreed thinking that it was indeed not a proper deed in this era.

“But you can’t be angry any more. I was just joking with you. Don’t take it seriously. Even if you leave me, I won’t get a concubine,” Xu Ran said seriously.

“Yes, I got it. I won’t in the future, either,” said Liu Tong with some embarrassment

Tangtang and Guoguo raised their heads and saw both of them over there. After observing for a while, they silently covered their eyes because their dad used to tell them that at this situation they should “Be polite and not to see”.

Next, the family went to a wonton stall to have lunch. After waiting for quite some time, Wu Mei and his family came in a hurry.  Upon seeing them, Wu Mei apologized, “I am sorry to have kept you waiting.”

Xu Ran waved his hands and said, “It’s fine. We have just finished our lunch. Have you eaten it? Let me order more wonton for you? It’ll be ready soon.”

Soon enough, the wonton stall boss announced there that their food was ready.

Xu Ran responded and let the Wu Mei family go over to have their lunch.

During lunch, several adults from the two families talked about their business, while the children had their own topics. Usually, the children seldom came to the town, so they felt very excited, and they exchanged their toys, too.

Liu Tong had intended to talk to Wu Mei about what had just happened to her. However, considering that Xu Ran and Xu An were both present, he was embarrassed to speak out. Still, he was anxious about herself and hoped that Wu Mei could give him strength and advice. He remembered Ran often told him that the bystanders had a clear view. He hoped that Wu Mei, as a bystander in this case, should know better than him.

In fact, Wu Mei noticed that Liu Tong had something on his mind. However, he was clear that Ge’ers did not like to be heard of their concerns by their spouses. Therefore, Wu Mei refrained himself from mentioning anything about it, but kept his eyes on Xu Ran, who was talking to Xu An over there.

Being stared at by Wu Mei this way, Xu Ran was puzzled. He felt that Wu Mei’s eyes were full of inquiry. He tried hard to recall whether he had offended him, but after thinking for a long time, he could not come up with any result.

After eating, all othem got into the ox cart and went home. It was late when getting home. As Wu Mei’s family still had work to do in the field, Xu Ran and his falily didn’t disturb them any more. They just told Wu Mei that their family would need their help tomorrow to plant wheat.

Of course, Wu Mei agreed happily. But before he left, he took a few glances at Xu Ran again. Wu Mei felt that Liu Tong’s worried expression had something to do with Xu Ran.

In fact, it was really like the case.

The next day, they would start planting wheat, but there were no vegetables at home. Actually, during this time of the year, every family had nothing to eat except radish and old pumpkin. Xu Ran tried to think about the solution. He decided to go with Liu Tong to buy pumpkins and radishes from other villagers. In this way, pumpkin could be fried with some oil. As for radish, Xu Ran planned to make pickles. He would put some chili paste into them and mix them together to make a salad. Xu Ran believed it would taste good.

As for the meat, he had to find other vegetables to cook together. Xu Ran thought of stir fried pork with pickled mustard, but he didn’t know if there was any, so he asked Liu Tong, “Tongtong, where can I find pickled mustard?I’m going to fry it with meat tomorrow. ”

“At ordinary times, everyone family will store some pickled mustard for winter, but as we haven’t grown vegetables in our family, I didn’t prepare any of it. Shall I go to Liu Qing’s house to get some? I remember his family has a lot of stock. ”

Xu Ran nodded and agreed, “Yes, please! As for money, you can decide how much you want to pay them. We can’t pay less because we are acquaintances,” Xu Ran reminded.

“All right. I know it. Is there anything else? ”

After thinking for a while, Xu Ran replied, “No. That’s it. Anyway, it won’t be long before the wheat to be planted. In addition, what we employ are long-term workers, so we’ll decide this menu as their working meals, that is, one vegetable and two meat dishes. ”

Thus, Liu Tong went to Liu Qing’s home to buy pickled mustard back. At night, he and Xu Ran had a careful discussion about their work the next day before going to bed. However, after he was quiet at last, Liu Tong couldn’t help thinking about the things happening during the day. He tossed and turned in bed, and couldn’t sleep at night.

And just in this way, he kept on losing himself in his thought until dawn.