The beloved baby has a space

Chapter 72 Neighbors
Qin Huai wanted to be closer to Xiao Ayu, so he asked Chi Jia to negotiate with Village Chief Hu so that she could stay at Old Wang's house. But he didn't know that in the entire Hu Family Village, the house that was least able to vacate was Old Wang's house.

They could barely manage to set aside five rooms. Old Wang and his wife shared one room, while their four sons and daughters-in-law each had their own room.

In the son and daughter-in-law's room, there was a wooden bed partitioned off, which was where the family's grandsons slept.

There's simply not enough room for all seven grandsons.

Even Wang Liulang and Wang Qilang lived in Wang Chuanman's room.

Before Xiao Ayu, the Wang family had no granddaughters; otherwise, they would have had to arrange extra rooms for them.

Now, Xiao Ayu sometimes lives with Grandma Wang, and sometimes squeezes in with Liu and the others.

When Old Mrs. Wang heard that the young master from the county town wanted to stay at their house, she rejected the idea without hesitation: "No, our house can't accommodate anyone else. There's no room."

Village Chief Hu said, "They're not staying for free. They pay ten copper coins a day for lodging. Isn't that better than sending your eldest son to work in town?"

When it's not the busy farming season, Wang Chuanfu will go to town to work, but he doesn't have work every day.

To save money, Wang Chuanfu travels to and from town every day, often setting off before dawn and only returning home late at night to get a good night's sleep.

After a month, he could only save up a couple hundred copper coins.

Grandma Wang was adamant: "We can't accommodate him here, let him find another place."

Let alone now, their family has Ayu, who is hiding a secret. If it is exposed, Ayu will be in danger.

Even in the past, she would not have agreed.

There are already a lot of people in the family, and with two strangers added on, she's bound to be worried sick every day!

Just taking care of feeding, drinking, and taking care of her family is enough to give her trouble.

"They like your little Ayu, so they want to stay at your Wang family's house. Isn't that a good thing?" Village Chief Hu said, somewhat puzzled.

Upon hearing this, Old Mrs. Wang became even more displeased: "What do you mean by 'like' and 'dislike' all day long? How old is our little Ayu? Don't ruin her reputation."

“Dewang’s wife, what are you saying! That’s not what I meant. He’s just a child. Children’s feelings for each other are pure. It’s not as complicated as you think. Besides, that child is here to recover from his illness. Just consider it doing a good deed.”

However, no matter what Village Chief Hu said, Old Mrs. Wang disagreed.

Having no other option, Village Chief Hu had to tell Chi Jia to find another place.

Red Armor was surprised to be refused, so he carefully said, "Is ten copper coins too few? I can add more."

Actually, Chi Jia thought that giving him one or two taels of silver a day would be enough.

Even the best inn in the county town only costs one or two taels of silver a day, and you can get the number one room.

That coachman taught him a lesson.

Village Chief Hu shook his head and sighed, "It's not about money. You don't know, the Wang family is notoriously stubborn. If they don't agree to something, you can't reason with them no matter what."

Although Village Chief Hu only spoke to Old Mrs. Wang, he knew that Old Mrs. Wang's words represented the entire Wang family's opinion.

Red Armor had no choice but to give up: "Which house is closer to them?"

Village Chief Hu sensed something was wrong. Why did they always have to be next to Old Wang's house?
Seeing the village chief's puzzled look, Chi Jia hurriedly explained, "It's like this, when our young master was in the county town, he played with that girl and liked her quite a bit back then, so now he's thinking of living closer to her."

Village Chief Hu then remembered that Ayu had been to the county town before.

But when did they start playing together?
But thinking that the other party had nothing to lie about, he put the matter aside and stopped thinking about it.

"The closest house to Old Wang's is Hu San's. Their second son works outside and rarely comes home. They should have an empty house."

After thinking it over, Village Chief Hu felt that Hu San's family was indeed quite good, and Hu San's wife was an open-minded person, so they should be able to get along well.

Just in case, Village Chief Hu went to Hu San's house to inquire again. Hu San immediately welcomed them and offered to vacate the main house for Chi Jia and his companion to stay in.

Hu San even had his family members go over to help move Qin Huai's belongings over. Chi Jia was shocked as soon as he entered Hu San's house.

Back in the day, even when they were on a forced march and camped in the open, they had never lived in such a dilapidated place!

The main house was so dilapidated it was heartbreaking. The wooden bed looked like it had been cobbled together haphazardly, with new wood stacked on top of old wood.

There was no footstool, no footrest, no bamboo curtain, and not even a decent window!
The mattress on the bed was no longer recognizable as its original color, and it even smelled rotten.

The room was filled with all sorts of things, and the cracks in the walls were inlaid with all sorts of odds and ends, including even a sickle!

The ground wasn't paved with stones, but made of pure mud. The ground wasn't flat, it was full of potholes, and some of the small potholes were filled with something sticky.

Chi Jia looked at Qin Huai, thinking that the young master would definitely not be able to withstand it.

He had never lived in such a place before.

There was no emotion to be seen in Qin Huai's eyes.

He even had the illusion that the young master was somewhat pleased.

When Xiao Ayu returned after picking the flowers, she found that her older brother had moved to Aunt Hu's house.

Aunt Hu's house is only a hundred steps away from Old Wang's house. You can hear her if she shouts loudly.

Little Ayu took the flowers home and asked Old Wang to help her make a flower wreath before taking the wreath to Aunt Hu's house.

Qin Huai was sitting in the courtyard. There was a peach tree in Aunt Hu's yard, and the peach blossoms were in full bloom.

"Big brother!" Little Ayu, perched on the bamboo fence, waved to Qin Huai.

Qin Huai glanced at her, his tightly furrowed brows unconsciously relaxing, but he remained seated.

Aunt Hu, on the other hand, happily opened the fence for her: "Ayu, what brings you here?"

"Third Aunt, I'm looking for my little brother!" Little Ayu said sweetly.

"You know him? That's great! Come in and play with him. He seems like a quiet kid."

Aunt Hu let the person in and then went off to do her work.

Little Ayu hopped over to Qin Huai like a rabbit.

She handed the flower wreath to Qin Huai, who initially didn't want to take it, but after glancing at the wreath on Xiao Ayu's head, he accepted it anyway.

He was afraid she would put it on his head too.

"Big brother, what's your name?" Little Ayu circled around Qin Huai, revealing her two glutinous rice teeth.

Qin Huai felt a tearing pain in his chest and wanted to cough violently, but when Xiao Ayu came close, the pain suddenly receded like a tide.

It turns out that what he had imagined in the county town before was not his imagination.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at Xiao Ayu with a hint of inquiry.

"Who are you?" Qin Huai asked softly.

"I'm Ayu!" Little Ayu blinked, confused. "Have you forgotten? I told you my name. You can also call me Fu Baobao, everyone likes to call me that."

Ah Yu, he knows her.

Lord Zhang once asked him to help cover up her origins.

Another abandoned child, who was also disliked, miraculously survived.

How come someone with such a swampy personality has such clear eyes?
Was it a trap they set?
Why go to such lengths for someone who is... about to die?
"Baby, he's dying." Tuanzi's voice suddenly rang out.

(End of this chapter)