Inviting the Moon to the Farmhouse

Xia Lanyue followed Dai You to the market. Dai You went to the pharmacy, and she strolled around the market alone.

She bought some things until her hands were too full to carry any more, then she stopped.

As she walked back, she inadvertently saw a tavern and suddenly remembered something.

She felt like something was missing from the moment she woke up in the morning. But what was it? She couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Now she remembered, Dai Xiyue's dream was missing.

Every time she drinks, she dreams of fragments of Dai Xiyue's memories, but she didn't dream of her yesterday after drinking.

Why is this? Could it be that Dai Xiyue has completely disappeared?!

She didn't understand the reason, but thought that maybe she could learn something from Xia Yao.

Xia Lanyue pondered these questions as she returned home.

As soon as I arrived at the door, I saw Xia Huifang sitting in the yard washing dishes.

Why is she here?

Xia Lanyue was speechless, but since she was currently living at Xia Yao's house, she felt it was inappropriate to turn against her. So she went in and put on a pretty fake smile, "Aunt Xia, let me wash up. It's hot, you should go back to your room and rest."

Xia Huifang glanced up at her but didn't reply. However, seeing the pile of things in her hands, she was a little unhappy. "Oh my, why did you buy so much stuff?!"

"Xia Yao asked me to buy it," Xia Lanyue said, placing the items on the table in the main room before quickly picking up the kettle and pouring herself a glass of water.

Xia Huifang followed him in, rummaging through the things, "Where did you get so much money?"

"It was given to me by Xia Yao," Xia Lanyue said.

"You're used to spending money like water, and you're going to spend all the hard-earned money we've saved!" Xia Huifang said excitedly.

"I didn't buy much, just everyday necessities," Xia Lanyue said, suppressing her temper.

“What are all these? This palm-leaf fan, you can make your own, why buy it? These bowls and chopsticks, a few sets are enough, why buy so many? This face towel, why buy a colored one? Colored ones must be expensive, right? And this…” Xia Huifang opened the bag and checked each item one by one.

Xia Lanyue gave a cold laugh and held back.

Seeing that there were no valuables and that the items were all necessities, Xia Huifang stopped talking, but the look of disdain in her eyes remained: "You bought so much food; it will spoil if you can't finish it."

"There are many people in my family, so we'll finish the food in two days. It won't spoil before it goes bad."

"Forget about you, your older brother is such a grown man, he eats so much, yet he doesn't know how to contribute anything to the family, he just shamelessly tries to freeload off Pangao," Xia Huifang said, rolling her eyes.

“I… My brother has done a lot of work. What physical labor here wasn’t done by my brother? That door, that vegetable garden, that roof, wasn’t it all repaired by my brother? He even chopped all the firewood. You may not see the work he did, but you do see the food he ate!” Xia Lanyue’s temper flared up.

“That little bit of work, who doesn’t do it themselves?” Xia Huifang said.

"But someone has to do it. Is Xia Yao up to the task?"

“Is my son the kind of person who does these kinds of work? Your brother is just doing it for you, you're the one who's freeloading,” Xia Huifang glared at her.

Just then, a man came to the door. "Miss, are you here to have your chimney repaired?"

Xia Lanyue, not wanting to be laughed at, suppressed her temper when she saw who it was. She peeked out and saw it was the porter she had just hired. "Yes, it's me," she said, quickly running to the door and saying, "Come in."

The man pushed a cart full of bricks and stones and followed Xia Lanyue into the kitchen.

Xia Huifang stood in the courtyard watching, then immediately stepped forward to stop them, asking, "What are you doing?"

"To repair the chimney," the porter said.

"What are you fixing? Get out," Xia Huifang said, shooing the people out.

Xia Lanyue was angry, but since they were in her house, she couldn't say anything.

The porter looked at Xia Lanyue, his eyes asking for her opinion.

Xia Lanyue felt a little apologetic and took out twenty copper coins. "I'm sorry, I won't fix it for now."

The porter took the money and complained, "Girl, next time you should ask first. It's so hot, isn't this taking up too much time?"

"I'm sorry to have made you come all this way for nothing," Xia Lanyue said with a smile.

The porter pushed his cart away, but soon he turned back.

As Xia Huifang and Xia Lanyue looked at him with confusion, Xia Yao appeared at the door, carrying a jar in his hand.

When he saw Xia Huifang, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. Then he went into the courtyard. "Mother, what brings you here?"

"If I hadn't come, I wouldn't have known she could spend so much money! How much money does she have at home that she's squandering it all?" Xia Huifang said unhappily.

“I had her do this, it didn’t cost much,” Xia Yao said, turning to the porter. “The kitchen is here, please go and set it up.”

"Wait a minute," Xia Huifang interjected promptly, "I disagree. What's the point of getting this? Just open the window, why waste money?"

“Mother, this won’t cost much, but it will save you a lot of suffering. Don’t worry about it. Go back inside and cool off for a while,” Xia Yao said.

Xia Huifang pointed at Xia Yao, "Does my word no longer carry weight? Are you disliking me? Are you going against me?"

Xia Yao was getting a little anxious, so he stepped forward and pulled Xia Huifang into the house, saying, "Mother, come in with me."

Xia Huifang looked unhappy, but she still followed Xia Yao into the house.

The laborers in the courtyard, unsure whether to start work, shouted towards the house, "Who's in charge here? Are we going to do this work or not?"

Hearing the sound, Xia Yao whispered to Xia Huifang, "Mother, give me some face. I'm a village head, people are watching." Seeing that Xia Huifang didn't say anything more, he walked into the yard and said to the porter, "Okay, you start working."

The porter received the news and pushed his cart into the kitchen.

Xia Yao glanced at Xia Huifang, who was sitting there sulking, then turned around and pulled Xia Lanyue into her room.

Xia Lanyue thought Xia Yao would blame her, and she had already thought of how to explain. But Xia Yao didn't ask anything. He handed the jar in his hand to Xia Lanyue, "This is freshly made snow-infused plum blossom wine. It's refreshing and cooling. In a little while, close the door. No matter what she says, don't come out."

After saying that, Xia Yao went out and closed the door behind him.

Inside the main house, Xia Yao sat next to Xia Huifang and poured her a cup of tea. "Mother, this chimney won't cost much. Don't upset you."

"Is that what I'm angry about?" Xia Huifang turned to Xia Yao and said, "Pangao, do you even know anything about her?!"

Xia Yao frowned. "What is it?"

"She's had men before, didn't you know?" Xia Huifang asked.

Xia Yao remained calm, simply looking at Hui Fang without answering.

Xia Huifang realized what was going on and became even angrier. "So you know now. Why didn't you tell me? What do you see in her?" she said, punching Xia Yao's shoulder.

"It's okay if I've had one, I don't mind," Xia Yao said calmly.

Xia Huifang was so angry she felt dizzy and held her forehead.

Xia Yao stepped forward to support her, "Mother, don't be angry. If you get sick from anger, I'll be heartbroken. What happened before is in the past, there's no point in dwelling on it."

Xia Huifang propped herself up and grabbed Xia Yao's arm. "Tell me the truth, did you touch her or not?"

Xia Yao did not speak.

Xia Huifang, growing impatient, pressed him for an answer, "Speak up!"

Xia Yao shook his head, realizing he couldn't avoid it.

Xia Huifang immediately made a decision: "We don't want this marriage anymore. We'll go to Village Chief Zhao and plead for her. We'll say that she's indecent and we should call off the marriage."

“Mother, we admitted our relationship in front of everyone, and now we can’t deny it.”

Xia Huifang sighed, still unwilling to give up, "Then let's spend money to find a man and make him insist that he has a relationship with her, wouldn't that solve the problem?"

"No, Mother, this won't do. If her reputation is damaged, I'll lose face too! Besides, am I not better than that man? How can it be justified for her to choose that man over me? Don't I have any pride?" Xia Yao explained.

Seeing Xia Yao's desperate attempt to defend himself, Xia Huifang seemed to understand Xia Lanyue's place in his heart. "It seems I underestimated her. She's quite shrewd; she's got you all wrapped around her little finger!"

"Mother, things have come to this, we must get married, I'm determined to marry her."

Xia Huifang sighed, "What nonsense are you talking about?! You treat something that others don't want as a treasure?"

"Yes, I like her, Mother, please don't make things difficult for her, okay? Just think of it as doing it for your son's sake," Xia Yao pleaded.

Xia Huifang looked at Xia Yao coldly for a moment, then said, "Marriage is fine, but after the marriage, you are not allowed to touch her. You will divorce in a month."

Xia Yao was stunned, clearly feeling that his words had been wasted.

Seeing that Xia Yao didn't speak, Xia Huifang became anxious, "If you don't agree, I'll die!"

"Okay," Xia Yao said helplessly. "You can go back now."

“No, I can’t go back. I have to keep an eye on you two,” Xia Huifang said.

"Mother, you're overthinking it. She doesn't want to marry me at all," Xia Yao said casually.