Inviting the Moon to the Farmhouse

Xia Lanyue stood in front of the table, looking at the three unfamiliar characters on the Xuan paper in front of her, and read aloud, "Dai Xiyue".

After saying that, she looked up at the person in front of her and asked, "Did you remember?"

The man replied, "I've got it."

Xia Lanyue suddenly opened her eyes, and in front of her was a familiar rooftop.

She turned her head to see the familiar window; outside, it was already daylight.

She let out a long breath. Who was the woman who spoke in her dream?

"Aunt Yue, are you up?" It was A Xiang's childish voice coming from the doorway.

"Hmm, I'm up," Xia Lanyue said, not knowing how long she had slept, only feeling a heavy head. She sat up, and whether it was because she got up too quickly or something else, she felt dizzy.

Ah Xiang pushed open the door and came in, holding a big steamed bun in his hand. He ran and jumped to her side, holding the bun up to her face. "Aunt Yue, look, this is for you."

Xia Lanyue held her head, ignoring A Xiang. At that moment, she felt weak and nauseous.

Ah Xiang kept staring at the steamed buns, saying, "Aunt Yue, these are filled with green bean filling. Mother made them especially for you."

Xia Lanyue turned her head, looked at the steamed bun, then at A Xiang, and said with a smile, "Thank your mother on my behalf. Has A Xiang eaten? If A Xiang wants to eat, then eat. Aunt Yue won't tell anyone."

But Ah Xiang pouted, "No, Mother said it must be given to Aunt Yue."

Xia Lanyue couldn't care less about him at the moment. "Axiang, could you please call Uncle Dai over for me?"

"Okay, here you take it," Ah Xiang said, stuffing the bun into Xia Lanyue's hand before turning and running out.

A short while later, A Xiang led Dai You in by the hand.

"Brother, I feel really dizzy. I need to rest a little longer, so I won't have breakfast with everyone," Xia Lanyue said weakly to Dai You.

Upon hearing this, Dai You paused for a moment, then raised his hand to touch Xia Lanyue's forehead.

Xia Lanyue did not dodge, but just kept watching his hand reach out to her.

Just as his hand was about to touch her forehead, Dai You suddenly stopped and withdrew his hand. "Do you have a fever? Feel it yourself."

"Huh?" Xia Lanyue looked at Dai You in surprise, then "Ah!" she realized, touched her forehead, and said, "I don't have a fever."

As soon as Xia Lanyue finished speaking, Dai You placed his hand on her forehead.

“It’s definitely not burning. I’ll go and fetch Doctor Zhang,” Dai You said, turning to leave.

"Wait, wait, I'm fine, don't bother the doctor anymore."

"But you're dizzy, and you don't have a fever, so there might be something wrong with your head."

Xia Lanyue was speechless and secretly rolled her eyes.

"Perhaps it's because he drank alcohol yesterday and it clashed with his medication, that's why he's like this," Xia Lanyue comforted Dai You. "He'll be fine in a bit."

Xia Lanyue weakly raised her arm, "You guys can take this bun and eat it. I'll rest for a while longer."

“No, you have to eat it,” A-Xiang said anxiously when he heard that Xia Lanyue wasn’t eating the buns.

“Aunt Yue doesn’t have the strength to eat right now,” Xia Lanyue explained.

"But I want you to eat it." Ah Xiang was determined to save the buns for Xia Lanyue.

"Then let's save it and eat it when I'm better, okay?" Xia Lanyue handed the bun to A Xiang.

"Okay." Ah Xiang took the steamed bun and nodded.

Dai You stood there, looking at Xia Lanyue with a worried expression.

"Alright, I need to rest now. You can all go out first," Xia Lanyue said, too exhausted to sit up. All she wanted to do was lie down and rest.

"If he doesn't get better by noon, I'll go and fetch a doctor," Dai You said before turning and leaving.

Xia Lanyue wanted to stop him, but before she could say anything, Dai You had already turned and disappeared through the door.

Xia Lanyue thought he was quite nervous about Dai Xiyue.

"Wait for me, Uncle Dai!" Ah Xiang ran out after him.

"Sigh...They've all run away, and they didn't even close the door," Xia Lanyue complained, looking down to find her shoes and getting out of bed to close the door.

The door creaked shut, and when Xia Lanyue looked up again, it was already closed.

"Bang bang bang".

Xia Lanyue was awakened from her sleep by a knock on the door.

"Come in," Xia Lanyue said in a weak voice.

It was Dai You; he came in carrying medicine.

Xia Lanyue sat up; she felt much better.

"Are you still dizzy?" Dai You asked.

Xia Lanyue shook her head; the dizziness was gone. "I'm not dizzy anymore," she said, and then reached out to take the medicine.

"hot".

"Hmm," Xia Lanyue said, blowing on the glass as she drank.

"Are you feeling better, Miss Yue?" Wang Cui pushed open the door and came in.

"Aunt Wang, I'm sorry to have worried you. I'm fine now."

Wang Cui came in and chatted with Xia Lanyue for a while. Seeing that Xia Lanyue's condition wasn't serious, Wang Cui said she would take A Xiang to Mr. Xia's house to help out. She told Xia Lanyue that Mr. Xia's mother, Xia Huifang, had been taking care of him alone for several days and was quite tired. As relatives, they should go and help him so that he wouldn't miss the imperial examination. She told Xia Lanyue to rest well at home, and if she needed anything, she should ask Dai You to come to Mr. Xia's house to find her. They had been there before and knew the place. After saying that, she left with peace of mind.

So Mr. Xia took his mother's surname.

After drinking the medicine, Xia Lanyue handed the bowl to Dai You.

Dai You took the bowl, said, "I'm in the yard, call me if you need anything," and then went out.

Xia Lanyue had originally planned to continue yesterday's topic and talk to Dai You some more, but in her current state, she didn't have the energy for it.

Xia Lanyue looked outside; the sun was shining brightly, so she thought she would go out and soak up some sun.

In the courtyard, Dai Youzheng came out of the kitchen carrying a basket in one hand and a stool in the other. Seeing her come out as well, he put down a stool in front of her for her to sit on, and then turned around to get another one.

"Where's Uncle Tian?" Xia Lanyue asked.

"They went to the fields."

"Why are you picking so much bamboo?" Xia Lanyue asked, looking at the bamboo in his basket with a puzzled expression.

"To be childhood sweethearts".

Childhood sweetheart? Xia Lanyue remembered that Dai You had mentioned childhood sweetheart to A Xiang.

"you lose?"

"Ok".

Xia Lanyue smiled; she knew Dai You was just going easy on A Xiang. However, this childhood friend did pique Xia Lanyue's curiosity.

Xia Lanyue sat on the stool, watching Dai You's movements. She saw him take out a knife, first split the bamboo in half, then cut the remaining parts into strips of uniform width, and then select the smooth, flat strips to set aside. He then moved a table out of the kitchen and placed it in the yard, before turning back to the kitchen.

Xia Lanyue thought he was going to prepare some tools again, but she saw him come out carrying a bowl and hand it to her.

Xia Lanyue took it; it was a bowl of hot water.

"Could you make me a hairpin? A wooden one will do," Xia Lanyue asked him.

Dai You looked at the hairpin in Xia Lanyue's hair, "What style do you want?"

Xia Lanyue pointed to the hairpin on her head, "Let's do it like this."

Dai You nodded.

Then Dai You continued making bamboo strips. He walked to the table, took out a bamboo strip, placed it on the table, and then carefully peeled off the bamboo skin with a knife before cutting the bamboo strip into thin layers.

Bamboo strips may seem easy to cut, but they require a lot of skill. Judging from Dai You's technique, he was clearly not an expert. He was a little clumsy when doing delicate work, but he didn't care at all and focused on cutting.

However, an accident still occurred. The knife cut through the bamboo and slashed straight at his left thumb, causing blood to flow out immediately, one drop, two drops... dripping onto the ground.

"what!"

Xia Lanyue let out a scream, quickly put down the bowl in her hand, and rushed over to check his finger. But she was so focused on the wound that she leaned too far forward and didn't notice the distance, almost bumping into Dai You.

Dai You reluctantly tilted his head back, keeping his distance from her.

"It's nothing, just a scratch," Dai You comforted her, then quietly moved his hand back.

Xia Lanyue frowned; the wound was clearly very deep.

Dai You put his finger in his mouth, sucked out the blood, spat it on the ground, sucked it out again, spat it out again, and repeated this several times. Then he pressed his index finger against the wound to prevent it from reopening.

"Stop the bleeding first," Xia Lanyue said, whether to herself or Dai You, then took out a handkerchief from her sleeve, folded it twice, and reached out to help him wrap the wound, but Dai You dodged her.

"It's okay, the bleeding has stopped," Dai You said, moving his hand a little further away.

Is Dai You... avoiding her?