The Bully General's Spiritual Husband

After that incident at Li Jiang's house, the villagers dared not call Li Zhe an ingrate anymore.

After all, the story of him hitting his uncle was false, and the reputation of the Li family plummeted as a result.

The villagers who used to praise Li Jiang for his kindness are now starting to wonder if they were blind before.

Upon careful reflection, they realized they had all been blinded by Li Jiang.

I used to see Li Zhe and his brother working often, but I rarely saw Li Lin from his family.

Even the clothes worn by Li Zhe and his brother had far more patches than those worn by Li Lin.

Upon closer reflection, it really makes a difference!

The previous irrationalities were then explained.

It can only be said that Li Jiang is quite adept at putting on an act.

Now the village's reputation has changed; everyone is saying bad things about Li Jiang's family.

Yin Baicai said happily to Li Zhe, "Li the bully, did you hear that? The whole village is cursing Li Jiang now. He deserves it."

"Ah."

Time flies by

Today is the day for Yin Baicai's family to raise the roof beam.

According to village custom, raising the main beam of a new house is a joyous occasion.

Yin Baicai, who was staying at Grandma Wu's house, was woken up early.

"Brother Cai, hurry up! We still need to participate in the roof-raising ceremony! As the head of the household, you have to go and look after things!"

"We're here, Grandma Wu, don't rush us. We'll head over to Brother Li's house now. The things were prepared yesterday."

Grandma Wu walked ahead with a beaming smile, while Yin Baicai followed behind.

The little old lady walking ahead kept urging him on, and Yin Baicai felt that it was really nice to have such happy people around on this wonderful day.

The two arrived quickly. Today was the day for the raising of the roof beam of Yin Baicai's new house, and all the villagers who had a good relationship with him came to help.

Yin Baicai invited the village chief to preside over the sacrificial ceremony.

Li Zhe and his companions had already set out the offerings of chicken, fish, and meat needed for the sacrifice on the table.

The village chief raised a glass of wine to offer sacrifices to heaven, earth, and the gods of the eight directions, and sprinkled chicken blood on the main beam.

Yin Baicai had never seen such a special ceremony before, because modern houses are made of reinforced concrete, unlike the wooden beams of ancient houses.

Yin Baicai asked Li Zhe beside her curiously in a low voice, "Why did the bullying village chief Li sprinkle chicken blood on the roof beams?"

Li Zhe lowered his head and whispered to Yin Baicai, "This is a necessary step in the sacrificial ceremony, called 'lighting the light'."

Li Zhe knew all this because the carpenter he hired when he first returned to the village to repair his house told him.

Yin Baicai and the others watched as the village chief busied himself with various sacrificial rituals until an hour later, when the Liang sacrifice ceremony finally came to an end.

Today, Yin Baicai invited the people who came to Li Zhe's house. According to Grandma Wu, the host family is supposed to treat the people who come to the village to participate in the Liang sacrifice ceremony to a meal.

Not many people from the village came; it was just a few families who were on good terms with Yin Baicai. The rest were all jealous people who had spoken ill of Yin Baicai and Li Zhe behind their backs, so naturally they didn't have the face to come.

No one came empty-handed; they all brought some vegetables they had grown themselves or eggs they had at home.

After the ceremony, Zhang Cui and others helped Yin Baicai cook.

There were roughly four tables of people from the village.

Li Mo watched the people who came to the house with curiosity, hiding behind Yin Baicai. But she couldn't help but peek at the children playing in the yard.

Yin Baicai watched as Li Mo's longing eyes were fixed on Zhou Wen and the others playing in the yard.

She whispered to Li Mo, "Xiao Mo, do you want to play with your brother and the others? Look how happy they are having."

Li Mo wanted to go, but she was also afraid, so she shook her head at Yin Baicai.

Yin Baicai noticed that Li Mo was still very shy, but she could take it slow.

"Then Momo can stay by my side."

Yin Baicai had already bought everything. When Zhang Cui and the others saw the meat that Yin Baicai was going to make, they exclaimed, "Brother Cai, you've gone to such great lengths! Just make something simple. We villagers don't care about these things."

Yin Baicai smiled and said, "Aunt Zhang, today is a special day, so you should eat to your heart's content. Please do as you please! All these meat and vegetables were hunted by Brother Li in the mountains."

Only after hearing Yin Baicai's words did Zhang Cui and the others dare to boldly use the meat and vegetables he had brought out.

While cooking, she muttered with heartache, "These are all good things; they could fetch a lot of money in town."

Yin Baicai received a considerable share of the profits from Zhang's business last time, and he had already given Li Zhe the twenty taels he still owed him for all of this.

He now feels completely free of debt.

The village chief's wife and the others watched Yin Baicai cook, showing their concern for the extra oil and salt he used. They felt a pang of heartache and advised him, "Oh dear, Brother Cai, this way of cooking will cost you a lot of money every day. Just use less oil and salt. This meat alone is a hearty dish if you just boil it in water."

"Grandma Li, if you don't add more, it won't taste good. You have to add it like this if you want it to taste good."

In an instant, everyone understood why Yin Baicai was praised for her cooking. She was so generous with the oil; how could it not be delicious!

What's more, when stewing the meat, Brother Cai took out some strange things, saying they were spices.

They had seen that stuff at the rice shop, and heard it was expensive.

Today, Yin Baicai is in charge of cooking, with Zhang Cui and a few others assisting him, while Li Hui and Grandma Wu are in charge of steaming rice.

After a flurry of activity, the aroma of food wafted from the kitchen, enticing everyone in the courtyard with its enticing fragrance.

"I've told you all before that Brother Cai's cooking is delicious. Look, the aroma is wafting over here."

Yin Baicai was busy cooking, so Li Mo sat on a small stool at the kitchen door, peeking inside to look at Yin Baicai every now and then.

Huang Yuanyuan, who was playing with Zhou Wen, saw Li Mo sitting by the stove and walked over. She squatted down in front of Li Mo and said, "Little brother is handsome."

Li Mo shrank back in fear, as if he had been frightened by Huang Yuanyuan.

Huang Yuanyuan, unaware that Li Mo was afraid of her, said to him, "Let's go play!"

Li Mo timidly shook her head, but Huang Yuanyuan grabbed her hand and said, "Come on, I'll take you there. Let's go see Brother Zhou Wen and the others playing with pebbles."

Li Mo turned his head and glanced at Yin Baicai, who was cooking inside the house. Yin Baicai smiled and called out to him, "Go play with your brother and the others!"

Only then did Li Mo let Huang Yuanyuan pull him away.

Huang Yuanyuan pulled Li Mo to squat down and watch Zhou Wen and the others catch pebbles. Li Mo also stared at them with a curious expression.

Li Zhe and Ge Tian went to their house to move a table, because they only had one table and didn't have enough.

While cooking in the kitchen, Yin Baicai would occasionally glance at Li Mo, who was playing with Huang Yuanyuan and the others.

Seeing Li Mo squatting obediently with a happy expression, it's clear that Xiao Mo is gradually opening up to outsiders, which is a good improvement.

After all, for a child with mild autistic tendencies, trying to interact with others is a process of gradually getting better.

Those who were idle in the courtyard were responsible for carrying firewood for Yin Baicai and the others.

After Li Zhe and his group brought the table over, the village chief's wife shouted, "Quickly wipe the table clean, the food will be served soon."

Li Zhe's kitchen was large, and two extra fires were lit inside today. These fires were hastily built by Li Zhe himself using stones.

Seeing that the tables outside were set up, Zhang Cui and the others began to serve the dishes.

Zhou Wen and the others who were picking up pebbles quickly washed their hands and pulled Huang Yuanyuan and Li Mo to sit at the table.

After spending time with them, Li Mo was no longer afraid of them.

But his gaze remained fixed on Yin Baicai, who was busy in the kitchen.