Crossing Over to Yamada Love

“Enlanlan is right. We were wrong. Mei’er and Xuan’er’s situation won’t change. Mei’er is such a good girl, how could I not want her? Xuan’er’s uncle doesn’t understand the situation, otherwise he wouldn’t have acted this way. When he comes, I’ll talk to him properly, and there won’t be any problems.” Qin Shi didn’t belittle Mo Lan’s words just because Mo Lan was a junior. On the contrary, she knew Mo Lan’s status in the Mo family and valued her highly.

After seeing off the Chen family mother and son and Madam Niu, the Mo family members sat inside the house, their faces looking rather grim.

"I wonder what will happen when Chen Xuan's uncle comes? I'm really worried," Qiu sighed.

"Let's wait and see. We can't just break off the engagement between Mei and Chen Xuan because of a few gossips. They've been engaged for so many years. They're about to get married, so we can't just say it's off. Besides, Qin and Chen Xuan don't seem to be interested. Let's see what the Chen family's attitude is." Wang also felt that if Chen Xuan's uncle came, things might change, and they couldn't just break off the engagement based on current speculation.

“I always thought Mei’er’s marriage would be the smoothest, but now this has happened again. What is God doing?” Qiu felt bad looking at her daughter’s distressed appearance.

"Alright, stop overthinking. There's nothing we can't overcome. Relax. We'll talk about it when we get there. Go wash up and rest." Madam Wang waved her hand at everyone.

Lying on the kang (heated brick bed) that night, Mo Lan asked her grandmother, "Grandma, I think this Niu woman was probably sent by Chen Xuan's uncle to pave the way. When the time comes, his uncle definitely won't agree to this marriage. Chen Xuan will insist, but Auntie will probably be caught in the middle. If Auntie and Chen Xuan are good people and insist, we'll marry my sister off to her and help her out more. If Auntie changes her mind and Chen Xuan hesitates, we'll call off the marriage. We absolutely can't let my sister become some kind of concubine or secondary wife."

"Grandma knows. Grandma just feels sorry for your sister and Xuan'er all these years, but Grandma thinks Chen Xuan will stick to his principles. If he sticks to his principles, he might offend his uncle. But don't worry, we don't ask anything of his uncle. As long as they live a good life, that's enough. If they go too far, we won't bully them." Wang Shi answered, but her mind was on other things.

The next morning, Mo Lan went to see her sister Mo Mei.

Mo Mei's eyes were a little red, and she didn't look as energetic as she did yesterday; it seemed she had been affected.

Mo Lan tried to persuade her for a while, not letting her stay in the room and overthink things, and pulled her out to do some work. After lunch, Qiu Xiaojun came to say that the Xue brothers had finished eating and asked Mo Lan and the others to come over.

Mo Lan came to pull Mo Mei. They had made an appointment with the Xue brothers to catch fish today and grill them for dinner.

"Lan'er, I won't go, you go." Mo Mei shook her head, afraid that they would gossip about this.

"Sister, the more you act like this, the more Niu Shi will criticize you. Why don't you just go? Let her say what she wants. If you listen to everything she says, you'll never have a proper life. You can't live such a repressed life. As long as Brother Chen Xuan doesn't care and doesn't say anything, why should you care about others?" Mo Lan advised.

"Brother Chen Xuan, does he really not care?" Mo Mei asked, her eyes somewhat confused, feeling uncertain in her heart.

“I believe he wouldn’t. If he doubts you, it means he doesn’t trust you. You’re better off without a man like that. Look at Xue Lingfeng, he doesn’t doubt me. Even if I meet Xue Lingyun and Liu Hu alone, he won’t say anything because he knows I can’t have anything with them.” Mo Lan used herself as an example.

Mo Mei thought about it for a moment, and realized her sister's words made sense; her sister seemed to be living a happy life. She asked herself, and realized she also liked going out for a walk to clear her head. Having figured it out, she nodded.

They took a fish trap, a burlap sack, a wooden bucket, and some salt, put them on the carriage, and then the two of them got on the carriage.

When we arrived at the riverbank, we got out of the car and felt the gentle breeze; it made breathing much easier.

They threw the fish hook into the river, and Mo Lan told them to go down into the river to chase the fish. She handed the sack to the driver and told him to use it to catch the fish.

Watching them having so much fun in the river, Mo Lan and Mo Mei laughed from the side. The river water was still quite cold at this time, and they wouldn't go in; getting cold would be too much of a hassle.

A short while later, Xue Lingyun came ashore, shivering slightly. The river water was so cold that his leg bones ached. No wonder that girl didn't want to go into the water; she must have known all along.

"Girl, why don't you go down? It's really fun down there," Xue Lingyun teased Mo Lan.

Mo Lan rolled her eyes at him. The river water is cool even in the hottest months of June and July. Did he think she didn't know that?

"Okay, I'll go down and play for a bit." Mo Lan stood up, took off her shoes, rolled up her outer trousers but not her inner trousers, and didn't take off her socks, and walked towards the river.

"Hey, you're really going?" Xue Lingyun called out from behind.

Mo Lan walked to the riverbank. Seeing that she was really going to go into the water, Xue Lingyun panicked and shouted, "Lan Lan, don't go in! The water is cold. What if you get cold?"

Mo Lan ignored him, stretched out her leg as if to get down. Xue Lingyun was anxious and tried to pull her back, but she dodged and moved to the side, then stretched out her leg again.

"Go back, the water's cold." Xue Lingfeng stood in the river, looking at her, and told her to go back.

"Fine, you're the ones who wouldn't let me go down. Don't come back later saying I'm just waiting to eat without doing anything." Mo Lan glanced at Xue Lingfeng, then turned back around.

Xue Lingfeng smiled wryly. Even if his brothers hadn't told her, she wouldn't have gone into the river. She wasn't stupid.

Mo Lan returned to Mo Mei's side, sat down on the ground, and said to Xue Lingyun, who had followed her back, "Stop wandering around, go and gather firewood, so you won't get cold later. You can dry your clothes and grill the fish too."

"You really know how to order me around," Xue Lingyun muttered, then went to gather firewood.

After a while, Xue Lingfeng and the driver came ashore, carrying seven or eight fish in a sack. The fish weren't very big, and there were many different kinds: two crucian carp, two bighead carp, and a few willow root fish.

After pouring the fish into the bucket, Mo Lan asked her sister to watch the fire while she cleaned the fish.

She caught the fish, tapped it on the head, and then quickly scraped off the scales with scissors. Whether in this life or the previous one, she had cleaned fish countless times, and her technique was quite skilled.

She scraped the scales off both sides, then used scissors to cut open the fish's slits, pulled out and discarded the intestines, leaving the belly inside. She removed the gills, made a few cuts on the fish's body, and threw it into the bucket.

After cleaning the fish, I skewered it onto an iron skewer and grilled it over a fire.

Actually, fish grilled this way doesn't taste that great, but it's a fun and rustic way to eat it.

Because Mo Lan was worried the fish wasn't cooked through, she grilled it a little too long, leaving it slightly burnt. The group tasted it and found it acceptable; after all, the fish was wild and quite fresh. Although it was a bit fishy and not very juicy, eating it themselves, which they caught and grilled themselves, was a different experience.

One person ate two of them, which was considered satisfying, but it was just a token gesture since everyone had already eaten lunch and no one would eat much.

Sitting by the river, feeling the gentle breeze and watching the butterflies flitting by, Mo Lan felt extremely comfortable.

"Quack, quack." A flock of wild ducks swam in from afar. There were many ducks, at least a hundred at a glance.

"Wild ducks! Wild ducks! I'll go catch a few!" Mo Lan jumped up, her face beaming with excitement, and hurried towards the riverbank.

"Slow down, don't go into the water, I'll help you catch it," Xue Lingyun called out to her hurriedly when she saw her excitement.

Xue Lingfeng gave the driver a wink, and the driver understood and went down into the river to catch wild ducks.

Mo Mei followed along. Wild ducks often flew over the mountain, and she would catch a few if she had the chance. It all depended on luck. Unexpectedly, they encountered several.

Several people stood there watching the flock of ducks. Seeing the driver catching the ducks, many of the wild ducks were startled and flew away.

Suddenly, Mo Lan's eyes lit up. What was that?

Behind the duck were a pair of water birds, which were extremely beautiful with colorful feathers, swimming side by side.

"Mandarin ducks. They are mandarin ducks." Mo Lan murmured to herself. No matter which life she was in, this was the first time she had ever seen real mandarin ducks. They were so beautiful. She loved them so much.

"So beautiful. Lanlan, if you like it, I'll go catch some for you." Xue Lingyun saw the delight in Mo Lan's eyes and volunteered to go down into the river to catch mandarin ducks.

Sure enough, he managed to catch one of the mandarin ducks with the burlap sack. He didn't catch the other one, but it didn't leave. It just stayed in the river, staring at the burlap sack in Xue Lingyun's hand.

Xue Lingyun presented the mandarin duck to Mo Lan like a precious treasure. Mo Lan picked it up and gently stroked its feathers; they were smooth and comfortable. Then she bent down, gently tossed it back into the river.

"Why don't you want it? Don't you like it?" Xue Lingyun was puzzled by Mo Lan's actions.

“Look, they’ve swum away together again. A mandarin duck can’t survive with only one; it needs a mate. I like it very much, but if I leave one behind, it will die. Why kill them because of my affection? It’s good to let them live a free and unrestrained life.” Mo Lan said softly with a smile on her face.

She took one last look, turned around, and said, "To have seen is to have." With those words, she returned to where they were sitting.

The group pondered Mo Lan's words. They understood the principles she spoke of, but putting them into practice was difficult.

Before heading back, I pulled up the fish rack, which was laden with fish of all sizes. The fish were curled up on the rack; I'd have to take them off when I got home. The larger fish can be braised, the smaller ones deep-fried, and the even smaller ones can only be made into fish sauce.

The journey was cheerful, with Mo Lan occasionally glancing at Xue Lingfeng and her sister, and then playfully bickering with Xue Lingfeng. Everyone wore smiles and seemed very relaxed.

Upon arriving at the shop, the driver helped unload the goods. As Mo Lan got out of the carriage, she glanced at the Chen family's house. As she expected, Madam Niu was standing at the Chen family's gate.

She didn't care; instead, she smiled at Madam Niu.

Enraged, Madam Niu's face darkened. She muttered a curse under her breath and turned back into the courtyard.