You are unlucky and I am tough

Wei Qinglang was chopping the ribs with a kitchen knife, making a loud banging sound. Cheng Shuang went to deal with the crucian carp. She planned to steam it, so she grabbed one and walked to Wei Qinglang, placing it on the table and motioning to him.

Wei Qinglang stopped what he was doing and hit the fish with the back of the knife. The crucian carp immediately stopped moving. It was not known whether it was fainted or dead.

Cheng Shuang knew how to kill fish. After a second of silence for the fish, she went to the side and took out the fish's scales with a knife, took out the internal organs, washed it, cut a few times on the fish, and then rubbed some salt on it.

Then cut the green onion and ginger into shreds, spread them on the fish, pour some soy sauce on it, and then steam it in the pot for a quarter of an hour.

Wei Qinglang finished cutting the ribs and continued to cut the braised meat. Seeing that the water in the pot was boiling, Cheng Shuang began to blanch the ribs, then took them out and drained them.

At the same time, Lu Yinyin and her brother, who were playing outside the house, had moved to the bamboo forest in the back mountain.

The innocent and romantic eldest lady was very excited and kept asking Cheng Pan if a rabbit would pop out here.

Cheng Pan could only coax her by saying that there might be rabbits. There was no other way. She was afraid that Lu Yinyin would know that there would be no rabbits here, so she suggested going to the mountains.

She couldn't afford it if she fell and got hurt.

Wandering around in the bamboo forest, Wei Xinyi talked about how every year when bamboo shoots were ripe, the whole village would go up the mountain to dig them together. Every year, people would fight and quarrel over digging bamboo shoots.

Lu Yinyin listened with great interest and said that she also wanted to come and dig bamboo shoots next year.

After walking around for a while, they unexpectedly met Wei Nanxing who was practicing archery in the bamboo forest.

Wei Nanxing filled the large water tank at home with water this morning and went up the mountain carrying his arrows. He had been practicing for almost two hours.

Cheng Pan introduced him to Lu Yinyin, "He is Xinyi's fourth brother, Wei Nanxing."

Wei Xinyi playfully pointed her finger and shushed, "Sister Yinyin, let's sneak over and scare him a bit."

Then the four of them crouched down and sneaked over to scare people.

Wei Nanxing was drawing his bow and aiming at the mark he had made on a bamboo in front of him. As he was concentrating, he suddenly heard a noise behind him, so he turned around while drawing the bow.

"what......."

Lu Yinyin was so frightened by the arrow suddenly pointed at her that she fell to the ground with a thud. It happened that there was a slope under her feet and the fabric of her clothes was too slippery.

She slid down and stopped at Wei Nanxing's feet.

Wei Nanxing: ".............?"

He put away the arrow and looked at the person at his feet, wondering where this fat girl came from. Why had he never seen her before?

"Sister Yinyin."

Cheng Pan and Wei Xinyi shouted at the same time and quickly ran down to help the man. The maids and guards who were following them from a distance also ran over here.

Lu Yinyin was helped up and shouted to the servant who was running over, "I'm fine, don't come over."

Cheng Pan brushed the dirt off her clothes. Wei Xinyi pushed Wei Nanxing and said, "Fourth brother, you scared me."

Wei Nanxing looked at the unfamiliar girl and the five or six-year-old boy in front of him and asked in confusion, "Who are they?"

"They are my sister-in-law's guests."

Wei Xinyi quickly introduced the two people's names.

Wei Nanxing thought to himself, no wonder she is dressed so luxuriously, it turns out she is a lady from a wealthy family.

He reached out and scratched his head. "Um, Miss Lu, I'm sorry for what happened just now. Are you okay?"

Lu Yinyin kept her head down and patted her clothes, feeling extremely embarrassed. When she heard the other party's apology, she didn't even dare to look at him. She bowed and turned away.

Wei Nanxing was confused. Why did she run away? Did she not accept his apology? Was she angry?

Lunch at home is almost ready. Both stoves are lit, and we are steaming fish and cooking vegetables at the same time.

Cheng Shuang was in charge of lighting the fire today because she had made braised pork ribs last night. Although her brothers and sisters enjoyed it very much, she felt that the heat was not good enough, so Wei Qinglang took over the cooking today.

After the braised spare ribs are ready, the braised pork is fried. Wei Qinglang’s cooking skills are not very good, but since he is an orphan, he learned to cook since he was a child and is very skillful and adept at the job.

When there was only one spinach left, Cheng Shuang went out of the kitchen and prepared to call the people outside to come back for dinner. Before she reached the door, the courtyard door was pushed open and Lu Yinyin walked in.

"I'm back, it's time to eat." Cheng Shuang said, and found that Lu Yinyin seemed unhappy, and asked puzzledly, "What's wrong?"

"It's okay."

Lu Yinyin shook her head, too embarrassed to say that she had fallen and slipped to the feet of another man.

She changed the subject and said, "Sister Cheng, I want to drink some water."

Cheng Shuang nodded, and when she saw Cheng Pan and the others coming back, she called out, "Pan'er, go get some tea."

Cheng Pan immediately went to the main room and brought out a few bowls and a pot of water.

A few people played outside for a long time and gathered around the table to drink water. Cheng Shuang pulled Wei Xinyi aside and asked her quietly what happened to Lu Yinyin.

Wei Xinyi whispered in her ear, "We ran into Fourth Brother practicing archery in the woods, so we tried to sneak over and scare him. But he spotted us and turned around to point his arrow at Sister Yinyin. He startled her so much that she fell and rolled to her feet."

Cheng Shuang: “……….”

No wonder she was unhappy. For women in this dynasty, this was a very shameful thing. If it got out, she would be laughed at by gossips.

Cheng Shuang warned Wei Xinyi, "You and Pan'er are not allowed to tell anyone about this, okay?"

Wei Xinyi nodded and whispered, "Sister-in-law, Fourth Brother is outside and doesn't dare to come in."

Cheng Shuang stood up and walked to the gate of the courtyard. Seeing Wei Nanxing pacing back and forth outside, she called out, "Nanxing, come back for dinner."

Wei Nanxing turned around and ran over immediately, looking a little embarrassed. "Sister-in-law, is your guest angry? I didn't mean it."

Cheng Shuang said softly, "No, the little girl might feel embarrassed. Don't tell anyone about this."

"I definitely won't." Wei Nanxing quickly assured.

Cheng Shuang nodded, "Okay, go wash your hands and face and get ready for dinner."

The food was brought directly to the yard. Cheng Shuang took Yuan Bao to the kitchen to wash his hands. Yuan Bao sniffed the aroma of the food in the air and said, "It smells so good! Sister Cheng, the food you cook is even more delicious than the one our chef cooks."

"Then you should eat more later."

Cheng Shuang scooped a spoonful of water from the water tank, poured it into the basin for him to wash his hands, and said, "Yuanbao, you can't tell anyone about your sister's fall today, okay?"

"why?"

Cheng Shuang thought for a moment, "Because if your parents knew that your sister fell here, they would not let you come to the village to play anymore. Besides, others would laugh at your sister if they knew."

Yuanbao nodded, "Okay, I understand. I won't tell anyone."

The food was brought to the table in the yard. Everyone washed their hands and sat down to eat. There were braised spare ribs, steamed crucian carp, a platter of braised meat, and stir-fried spinach. Although there were only four dishes, the portions were quite large.

Lu Yinyin and Yuanbao were both very supportive and said every dish was delicious. They especially liked the braised pork. Lu Yinyin even complained that her mother had not given her meat for several days and had to control her diet every day and not allow her to eat too much.

The atmosphere was very good with everyone chatting and laughing. Everyone tacitly agreed not to mention Lu Yinyin's fall. Wei Nanxing just buried his head in his food without saying a word, and Lu Yinyin didn't even look in his direction.

After resting for a while after dinner, the brother and sister wanted to go out and play again. Cheng Pan and Wei Xinyi didn’t know what to take them to play, so they simply pulled the donkey to the river to give it a bath, and then released the ducks and drove them to play.

Wei Nanxing went to practice archery again. Cheng Shuang ignored them and closed the door in the room to wrap medicinal herbs. Wei Qinglang was busy finishing his script.

Over at the ancestral hall, Cheng Lizheng had already called a meeting of the villagers.

Around 3 p.m., there was a sudden knock on the courtyard door. Cheng Shuang, who had just come out to get some water, went to open the door.

As soon as the door opened, seven or eight women stood outside. Leading the group was Xu Sanpo, holding a basket full of vegetables and a bag of grain. The people behind her were not empty-handed either.