The Green Lotus Peasant Girl

Li Qinghe turned around and walked two steps away when she heard those words, "If no one asks, I won't answer, but I won't lie either."

It would be too unlike her if Li Fu asked and she didn’t tell the truth.

Li Fu and Zhou Chengkang were chatting on the field. Working alone was very different from working with someone. Despite their tiredness, they had someone to converse with, so the time passed unconsciously and the work would be completed.

Li Qinghe took the teapot and poured the tea for them. Li Fu took it, "Your Aunt Qian made it?"

Li Qinghe hummed and Li Fu didn't seem to mind. He knew that his daughter and Mrs. Qian had little contact and didn't force her into mother-daughter affection. So he said, "I've done quite a bit today, and I'm getting hungry fast. Did she start cooking at home?"

"I didn't go into the kitchen." Li Qinghe spread her hands, "I don't know, probably can eat."

In the afternoon, when the sun was at its hottest, the three went home for lunch.

Under the big tree in the yard of Li's house, the food was already arranged on the stone table. Mrs. Qian brought out the buns from the kitchen and greeted them at the door with a smile, "Hurry up and eat."

In fact, no matter how many times Zhou Chengkang came to Li's house, he always acted cautiously. Li Qinghe sat him down and suddenly found a plate of fresh green vegetables, some pickles, and a bowl of soup on the table. She did not see meat or fish there. Something was wrong. Li Fu told her they would eat meat at noon...

The two people's complexions remained unchanged as they began eating. As Li Fu sat down at the table after coming out of the hut, he frowned at the sight of the meal. Mrs. Qian looked at his face in secret and hurriedly spoke, "I heard that the meat in town wasn't good this morning, so I didn't go, but tomorrow I will definitely go."

Li Fu frowned, saw Li Qinghe and Zhou Chengakang, and quickly let go, "Don't forget tomorrow, buy some anyhow."

There was nothing to say. Li Fu went about his business as usual in the afternoon. The next day, the table was still filled with vegan dishes. Mrs. Qian reluctantly smiled and said, "I went, but halfway through, I found that all of the silver had been lost."

Li Fu's face suddenly turned black, "Why didn't you lose yourself? You can't do anything right. Go to the field with me in the afternoon!"

The words were final, and there was no room for rebuttal.

When Mrs. Qian came out again in the afternoon, she wore a cap and covered her entire upper body. The women in the village were not afraid of getting sunburned, but such an exaggeration was not common.

Li Fu saw it and frowned, "If you would like to wear this, then you should only wear it when you get to the field. Otherwise, people will laugh at you and Wan Wan as well. Isn't it likely that people in town will joke that her mother from a farming family is scared of the sun when she works?"

After hearing the words, Mrs. Qian removed her cap and went inside to retrieve her normal straw hat.

They worked at the Li family's house for several days before they finished the work.

As soon as the grains were collected after the harvest, they paid back what they owed and paid the food tax. The rest was left at the new house. By the end of autumn, the preparation should be almost done, and they can move in.

Li Qinghe got up in the morning and started washing up. Li Fu came in with a piece of meat. He seemed to have brought it specifically to her. "I went to town in the morning and found it quite fresh. I brought it back by the way."

During the first few days of work they didn't eat meat, so he bought special food to compensate for it, but Li Qinghe refused, "Father eat it yourself, I have eggs over there."

Li Fu entered the door without saying anything, handed her the meat and turned around, walked two steps, then walked back to her, looked around, lowered his voice, "I heard that someone was at the house two days ago. Did you see them?"

Li Qinghe felt a bit complicated. Though she didn't say a word, the neighbors around her weren't blind. The first time they were on the roadside early in the morning, no one noticed them. Since he entered the house straight away, it must have been seen by someone. Moreover, the relationship between them was complicated, so someone will definitely talk about it.

Li Fu didn't need to understand anything else when he saw her silence, and his face grew serious, "It's really Wanwan's father?"

Li Fu even knew who he was before she said a word.

"Yes, he talked to me." Li Qinghe thought for a while, "Aunt Qian said he left right away and told me not to tell you. I was busy harvesting corn that autumn, so I did not tell you."

The temperament of Mrs. Qian would absolutely prevent her from doing things like cooking or washing if there was a quarrel, and it would be Li Fu who would suffer. While she enjoyed it too, she could wait for the two to slowly make a noise after the autumn harvest.

Holding a piece of meat, Li Qinghe watched Li Fu strode back. What's the use of being fierce? If Mrs. Qian shed a few tears, he would become softhearted.

"Oh, didn't you say your father only loves that stepdaughter? Isn't he sending you meat?" Zhang Haiyao's somewhat shrill voice rang out.

Very annoying!

Li Qinghe didn't bother to pay attention to her and went straight into the house with the meat. She didn't expect Zhang Haiyao to follow her to the door " Sister-in-law, sell me some of this meat, anyway, it's so hot today, if you don't finish it, it will go bad."

"I won't sell it. There isn't enough to eat." Li Qinghe replied quickly, "I will give the extra to my mother, will you take her share?"

If she dared to admit this, the meat would really be given to her!

Zhang Haiyao naturally didn't dare to pick it up. In fact, Mrs. Zhou would intentionally make something good for her to eat while she was pregnant. It was natural that the elders would be willing to let it go, but she couldn't grab it openly. A charge of unfilial piety will prickle their backbone if it was made against them.

Zhang Haiyao snorted, "Eat alone then."

She was simply impossible to reason with. She does not see her share some of her food with anyone when she eats by herself. Li Qinghe didn't take her words seriously and took the meat to the kitchen to make steam buns.

In the middle of the night, the family's courtyard was suddenly filled with a woman's scream, "Where is my silver?"

As Li Qinghe and Zhou Chengkang awoke, they saw that the sky outside was not even bright. The elder sister-in-law, Mei Shi, cried out, "Mother, mother, I lost my silver. Would you please help me find it?"

As he listened to Mei Shi's loud shout, Eder Brother Zhou Boss seemed to be persuading her, "What are you shouting at night? The money was from half a month's hard work. If we can't find it, no one will sleep at night!"

He called out anxiously, "Mother, my silver is gone."

Mrs. Zhou got up and knocked on their door, "Get up."

When the two went out, everyone was in the main room and Mei Shi's eyes were red. Evidently, she had cried, and old lady Liu stood in the corner with her arms folded, her expression gloomy.

Mrs. Zhou knocked on the table, "In the middle of the night, everyone was tossed up by you. What is going on? Tell me."

"The silver is lost." As soon as Mei Shi opened her mouth, tears started rolling down her cheeks. "I worked so hard to get up every day in the middle of the night, to get up early and earn it, and now it has been lost."

Mrs. Zhou got impatient, "Speak clearly! I'm not asking how you earned the silver; everyone's silver is earned through hard work."

"I put it by the bedside. I woke up just now to prepare tofu and when I touched the nightstand, I found it had all disappeared." Mei Shi said as she cried, "I turned the whole bed over several times and it has really disappeared. Someone must have stolen it."

Mrs. Zhou frowned, "How much silver?"

Mei Shi wiped a tear, "I counted it clearly, 1 tael silver and 230 copper plates."

She said so confidently that Mrs. Zhou glanced at the group of people inside the house. She pondered for a long time, then said, "Think carefully again. Did you change the location? We are all family here, so don't talk nonsense."

"Family?" Mei Shi's voice shrieked, "A house thief is hard to guard against, and there is no one in this family who has been isolated from others. It was originally done by my own family."

Zhang Haiyao snickered, "I haven't been to your house."

Mei Shi's family would leave early in the morning and sleep early in the evening. It was sometimes inconvenient for them not to see each other for a few days, and Zhou Chengkang and Li Qinghe had never visited her house.

Elder Brother Zhou pulled her, "You keep your voice down."

Suddenly, Mei Shi's docile nature changed and she pulled back her sleeves, unceremoniously saying, "I'm not the thief, so why should I be embarrassed? Why should I keep my voice down?"

She looked indignant, "Anyway, I put it here, if the silver is not found tonight, nobody can go to sleep, if the silver is not found tomorrow, nobody can leave for work."

Mrs. Zhou's expression turned ugly. "Are you sure you've lost the silver?"

"What do you mean by this mother?" Mei Shi asked rhetorically as she continued, "If I hadn't lost it, I would have been busy making tofu to earn silver by now. It has been a year since I entered the family, and I am not unreasonable."

Mrs. Zhou looked at Fifth Sister Zhou and asked, "Did you see someone entering your sister-in-law's home?"

Fifth Sister Zhou shook her head, "I haven't seen it."

"Then search." Mei Shi's face was righteous.

"What a nice thought!" Zhang Haiyao voiced out, "I have more silver than in your house."

Li Qinghe also did not agree to search, "The silver looks the same, how can you recognize it?"

The atmosphere froze, and Old Lady Liu said. "Anyway, if I can't find the money, I'll take my daughter-in-law and go home to live with the family. Not only are there a lot of people here, but these people also support thieves tsk, tsk, tsk..." The last 'Tsk' she made seemed to imply that the people in the Zhou family were generally unreasonable.

"Sister-in-law, what do you mean?" Mrs. Zhou looked at her, "You guys are making a scene for the purpose of moving out, right?"

"I'm not considering moving out since I've lived here for a year, even though I'm not used to it. But there are thieves in the house, it is impossible to live here. I have no money in my pocket. I planned to build a house after I made enough money and then let them both set up their own... "

Old Lady Liu said seriously, " Sister, we will live here for two years, and then when we have enough money, we will go back to the village and build a house, okay?"

" No." Mrs. Zhou had a serious expression on her face and looked at Elder Brother Zhou sternly. " Eldest child, do you want to move away too?"

Elder Brother Zhou shook his head, "It's just that the silver is lost, and it's hard for Mei Hua."

"Don't collect silver if you cannot safely keep it. I have put silver in this house for so many years, and not a single coin has ever been lost." Mrs. Zhou looked at Mei Shi with contempt, "From now on, you don't collect silver, give it to the eldest child to safe-keep!"