Inviting the Moon to the Farmhouse

Xia Lanyue looked at the blackened rice in the pot, both amused and exasperated. She had only turned off the fire when she left, forgetting that the residual heat in the pot could burn the rice grains. Xia Lanyue scooped all the rice out and poured it away, but unfortunately, the salt grains had already absorbed a lot of the burnt taste. She wasn't sure if these grains would dissipate; if they didn't, the rice would be unusable.

"What bad luck!" Xia Lanyue threw the ladle aside, sat down on the stool angrily, and complained, "I knew it, getting involved with Zhao... ugh..."

Before Xia Lanyue could finish speaking, Dai You covered her mouth. He looked at the west room, signaling her with his eyes to shut up.

Xia Lanyue nodded and blinked to indicate that she understood, and Dai You then let go of her hand.

Xia Lanyue was unconvinced and sat down on the side, sulking.

“Why don’t we leave here? We can go to the state capital first, rent a house to stay in, and earn some money for the journey,” Dai You said.

"don't want,"

“Let’s not sell rice cakes today, let’s go buy salt instead,” Dai You suggested.

Xia Lanyue sighed, stood up, and said, "It's alright, I have a way." After saying that, Xia Lanyue took out the sand she had used before and replaced it with sand.

"This is possible?!" Dai You's eyes widened.

"Of course, but this stuff can't be stir-fried with corn, and it's easy for sand to get stuck in it. Let's just make rice today," he said, and started making rice cakes.

"Ah Yue is really amazing," Dai You couldn't help but exclaim.

Xia Lanyue smiled smugly.

Xia Lanyue appeared at the town market as always.

"Young lady, you're late today. I thought you weren't coming," the guest said.

"Something came up at home today, so I left late, hehe."

Xia Lanyue was initially worried that Manager Song would cause trouble, but after all the rice cakes were sold out, no one caused any trouble, so she thought she might have been overthinking it.

However, she suddenly remembered that she hadn't collected the pot of sand at home yet, so she hurriedly ran to say goodbye to Dai You and told him that she had to go back to Hegu Village first.

“The sand will be collected again when we get back, and it won’t run away,” Dai You said.

"Oh dear, you don't understand, this is a trade secret. So many people come and go from the Xia Yao family. If someone steals it, we won't be able to do business anymore," Xia Lanyue said anxiously, pacing back and forth. "No, no, I have to go back first. I won't wait for you. Take the basket back with you." After saying that, Xia Lanyue put down the basket and left without waiting for Dai You to speak.

Dai You watched her leave alone, feeling somewhat lost.

When Xia Lanyue arrived home, she rushed into the kitchen. She lifted the lid of the pot and found that the sand inside seemed to have been untouched. She quickly found the old earthenware pot and put it in.

"Oh dear, I haven't prepared rice cakes for Fan He yet!" Xia Lanyue patted her head, poured the sand back into the pot, and lit the firewood.

Xia Lanyue finished making rice cakes and tidied up. Not long after, she heard voices at the gate of the courtyard. With a curious heart, she ran to open the door and found Wang Cui and Xia Huifang talking.

Xia Huifang was very happy. She pulled Xia Lanyue over and said to her, "Ah Yue, your Aunt Wang went to arrange a marriage for Ah Niu today and just came back."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Xia Lanyue said.

Seeing that Xia Lanyue was pretending not to know, Wang Cui said to her, "That child," and then turned to Xia Huifang and said, "She knows, I told her yesterday."

"Huh?!" Xia Huifang was still looking surprised.

"Is it done?" Xia Lanyue asked Wang Cui.

"Haha, it won't be that fast. We have to wait for the Fan family to give us a formal invitation before we can discuss marriage," Wang Cui said.

Xia Lanyue nodded, "Major life events cannot be rushed."

"Ah Yue, do you still have any rice cakes? My Lin Xiu, you know, has a sweet tooth and said she wanted to eat rice cakes, so she asked me to ask her."

"Ah, yes, wait a moment, I'll go get it," Xia Lanyue went into the kitchen, brought out a plate, and handed it to Wang Cui. "Auntie, just have A Xiang bring the plate when he comes to the private school tomorrow."

"Okay, I'm all set now. I'll head back now and come back if I hear anything," Wang Cui said goodbye to Xia Huifang and Xia Lanyue, carrying a plate of rice cakes as she walked towards the end of the village.

"If Ah Niu's matter can be resolved, I will be able to put my mind at ease!" Xia Huifang said, watching Wang Cui's departing figure.

After Wang Cui disappeared from sight, Xia Huifang turned to Xia Lanyue and asked, "What does Lanyue think of my family's Panggao?"

"what!?"

Was Xia Huifang trying to ask about her feelings for Xia Yao? Xia Lanyue's heart instantly tightened, unsure how to answer. To say Xia Yao had a good temperament seemed superficial; to say he was knowledgeable was beyond her comprehension; and to say he was a good person was... well, let's just say she was a bit hard to describe.

While Xia Lanyue hesitated, Xia Huifang continued, "I think Pang Gao is outstanding in both knowledge and appearance, and our family is considered well-off in the village, but why can't he find a wife?! I don't know what's wrong with him?!"

Xia Lanyue was taken aback. So that's what she meant?! Luckily, she hadn't blurted out anything, or she would have been so embarrassed. People would have thought she was desperate to get married!

At this moment, the children were dismissed from school. Xia Huifang pulled Xia Lanyue to stand by the door to make way for them.

The children came out of the yard one after another, with Xia Yao following last.

Xia Huifang rolled her eyes at Xia Yao, then pulled Xia Huifang and walked into the courtyard.

Xia Yao was bewildered by the sudden eye roll, then frowned and looked at Xia Lanyue.

Xia Lanyue didn't know what Xia Huifang had done, but she was puzzled by Xia Yao's expression.

"Mom, I'm taking Ahe home. I'll be back later, so don't wait for me for dinner," Xia Yao called out to Xia Huifang.

"Go on, go on," Xia Huifang said impatiently, without even turning around to look at him.

When Xia Lanyue heard about Village Chief Zhao, she still had some things on her mind. She followed Xia Huifang into the courtyard, then went to the kitchen and took out a plate of rice cakes. "Aunt Xia, this plate of rice cakes is for you."

"Thank you, Yue. Yue is so thoughtful."

"You're too kind, Aunt Xia," Xia Lanyue said, seeing that Xia Huifang was in a better mood. She mustered up her courage and asked, "Aunt Xia, I want to ask you something."

"you say".

"Regarding our guarantee, could you talk to Village Chief Zhao and say that you're not going to provide the guarantee anymore, okay?"

"Why did you suddenly say that? Is something bothering you? When I said I wouldn't provide a guarantee before, it was just something I said in anger," Xia Huifang explained.

"No, I just didn't want to put you in a difficult position. We don't know when this matter will be resolved, and we can't stay here forever. If you're not involved, then Dai You and I can leave."

"Ah Yue is leaving?" Xia Huifang was a little surprised.

"We're not leaving now, but we'll have to leave eventually."

“Hey, it’s not that I don’t want to speak up for you, but I can’t say anything to Chief Zhao either, even though my father is a former county magistrate,” Xia Huifang glanced at Xia Lanyue. “You’ve probably heard about this too. I won’t lie to you, he’s been gone for many years. People leave and things fade away, that’s just how life is. I can’t say anything. What I said that day was just in anger. Whether it’s a guarantee or not, it’s up to the chief’s decision.”

"Oh, I see," Xia Lanyue said with some disappointment. She had originally thought that as long as innocent people were not implicated, she would not care about the silver notes. But it seems that she cannot be so casual.

Seeing that Xia Lanyue's expression was not good, Xia Huifang patted her shoulder and said, "It's not that I don't want to go, it's just that it's really difficult, but I believe in you and I'm not afraid."

Xia Lanyue smiled and looked at Xia Huifang, then nodded.