Big Pot of Vegetables

The villagers were let in on this because of various considerations.

The old village chief hoped that everyone could help to take care of Xiao Zhu, who was still young. He didn’t need them to take care of her daily meals, but he hoped that they would pay more attention to her safety. After all, the two of them were not young anymore and Xiao Zhu was also at a lively and active age. Worried that they were unable to keep her safe all by themselves, they roped in the entire village to help care for the girl.

Xiao Zhu’s parents were well-liked when they were alive, so the decision for the entire village to help take care of Xiao Zhu was unanimous.

However, all these good intentions had gone down the drain in an instant. Yu Zhizhi had successfully aroused the anger of the entire village.

Although the old village chief wanted to teach Yu Zhizhi a lesson, her father was the only person in the village who knew medicine. He could not afford to offend the man.

Fortunately, Mr. Yu was not an ignorant person. He knew what his daughter had done. Although he wanted to cover up for her, he knew that he had to do something.

Instead of letting others teach her a lesson, it was better for him to do it himself. Hence, he chased the unwilling Yu Zhizhi into the mountains to gather Chinese herbs. She had stayed away from home for three full days. Even if the village chief and the villagers wanted to find her, they would not be able to get hold of her.

Father Yu’s plan was really well-crafted.

—-

After Xiao Zhu spat out the unhappiness in her heart, she felt a little better. The emotions that she had been suppressing for the past few days were finally released.

After being comforted by the group, Xiao Zhu put away her emotions and looked at the few people she was not familiar with. She leaned towards Xiaoguo nervously.

“Come, Xiao Zhu, let me introduce you.”

Xiaoguo held Xiao Zhu’s hand and pulled Zhuang Zhuang beside her. “This is my son, Zhuang Zhuang.”

“Hello, Sister.”

“So you’re Zhuang Zhuang. Hello.”

Xiao Zhu’s throat was a little hoarse. When Zhuang Zhuang heard this, he handed her a glass of water considerately.

Xiao Zhu took the glass, feeling pleasantly surprised. She smiled and nodded, while thanking him. “I keep hearing Sister Xiaoguo mention your name. We finally met.”

Zhuang Zhuang smiled in embarrassment.

After watching her take a sip, Xiaoguo continued with the introductions. “You can call her Aunt Yuyan. This is her daughter, Yu Ling. She’s a year older than you.”

“Hello, Aunt Yuyan.”

Xiao Zhu first greeted the smiling Zhao Yuyan. Then, she looked at Yu Ling, who was about her age, and sized her up timidly.

Yu Ling was a little livelier. When she heard that she was a year older than Xiao Zhu, she took the initiative to hold her small hand. She spoke to her like a big sister, “Hello, Xiao Zhu!”

“Hello.”

Xiao Zhu was attracted by Yu Ling’s sociable personality and started laughing unknowingly.

Although it wasn’t the first time the two girls had met girls their age, they didn’t quite get along with those girls.

What was more special was that Xiao Zhu and Yu Ling became as close as biological sisters shortly after they met. The speed at which their friendship advanced was truly astonishing. After a while, they started addressing each other as sisters.

Upon seeing the smile on Xiao Zhu’s face, Xiaoguo was very much relieved.

When one is in a good mood, hunger comes easily.

Within a short while, their stomachs started growling. Xiao Zhu’s stomach was growling the loudest.

The rest of them at least had breakfast, but Xiao Zhu did not. To be precise, it had been a long time since she had eaten. Over the past few days, she had been crying all day. She only drank water when she was hungry. When she got tired from crying, she would fall asleep. She had not taken a single bite of the food that the villagers had sent over. It was a miracle that she had lasted until now.

Seeing this, Xiaoguo naturally knew that there was nothing to eat at Xiao Zhu’s house, nor was there anything that she could cook with. Hence, she got up and went to the old village chief’s house to borrow his kitchen to prepare some dishes.

The others wanted to go with her, but Xiaoguo rejected them without thinking. She was going to the other space to get something to cook from the fridge.

It was more convenient for her to cook alone. Cooking was an easy task—she was fast with her hands, and would be done in a while.

Before leaving the house, she brought a basket with her. This way, no one would suspect where she came from and it would be easier for her to explain herself.

After leaving the house, she found a secluded place and looked around. She even looked up to check. In any case, she looked around everywhere before entering the space.

It had been a long time since she came to the kitchen. Xiaoguo opened the fridge that was filled to the brim. Before leaving for the island, she had bought a lot of food. They had set off without consuming much of the food, so the fridge was still quite full.

In addition, when she was on the island, she had secretly stashed away a lot of seafood.

Fortunately, the vegetables in the fridge had not started rotting. Since there wasn’t much vegetables left in there, Xiaoguo took them all out and also took out a piece of meat.

After coming out, she looked around and walked towards the village chief’s house.

The old village chief had just finished making lunch. There were big white steamed buns and a large pot of fragrant pork with cabbage.

At this moment, the village chief’s wife was holding a large basin while scooping out the food. The village chief was also transferring steamed buns onto a large plate, preparing to send food to them on a tray.

When the two of them saw Xiaoguo, they were a little nervous. After all, the other villagers didn’t know her identity, but the two of them were well aware of it.

As soon as Xiaoguo entered the kitchen and took a deep breath, her appetite was aroused. “It smells so good…”

It had been a long time since she tasted vegetable stew. She really missed it.

The chief chef’s wife looked embarrassed. “Eat more later if it’s delicious. I made a big pot of it.”

“I think it has to be good. Just by smelling the fragrance, I can eat two bowls of this.”

Xiaoguo said with a smile. It seemed that she had no use for the ingredients she had prepared.

At this moment, the old village chief had placed the white steamed buns on a tray. “They’re a little heavy. I’ll bring them to you.”

“No, no. I’ll do it myself.”

Xiaoguo looked at the old man who looked like he was in his seventies or eighties. How could she bear to let him carry them?

The old village chief shook his head and insisted that it was too heavy. However, he was quickly interrupted by Xiaoguo.

“By the way, I don’t need these ingredients anymore. I’ll leave them for you.”

With that, Xiaoguo took out the vegetables and meat from the basket and placed them on the table. Ignoring their objections, she picked up the tray and left.

The old village chief and his wife chased her to the door. They did not dare to pull her back and could only watch her leave.

Although her movements were slow, she looked quite steady, so the two of them returned to the house with relief.

When Xiaoguo returned, the few of them finished all the vegetable stew in the basin like hungry wolves. There was not a single bun left either.

The full basin and bowls were all licked clean, looking like they had just been scrubbed.

The washing of the dishes was handed to Yu Ling and Xiao Zhu. After the two of them were done, the clean plates were sent back to the old village chief’s house.

After Zhao Yuyan finished her meal, she felt a little tired. When Xiaoguo saw this, she let her take her rest.

Zhuang Zhuang was also feeling a little sleepy. He lay in Xiaoguo’s arms and started yawning. She asked him to go back to the house and lie down, but he insisted on staying with her.

Xiaoguo had no choice but to put two chairs together and let him lean in her arms.

Before long, Xiao Zhu and Yu Ling returned.

Xiaoguo asked Yu Ling to go find her mother and rest for a while. Yu Ling was very smart and knew what Xiaoguo meant, so she nodded and left right away.

At this moment, Xiaoguo was patting Zhuang Zhuang to sleep. After he fell asleep, she took off her jacket and covered him with it.

“I’ll go clean up his room.”

“It’s fine. There’s no need to do that.”

Xiaoguo shook her head. “He doesn’t need a long nap. I’ll just let him sleep for a short while.”

“Yes, yes.” Xiao Zhu nodded and sat beside her. She said apologetically, “Sister Xiaoguo, I’m really sorry. I promised to pick you up when you returned, but I didn’t know that you had come back, so I didn’t prepare anything.”

“It’s fine. You don’t have to prepare anything. Just seeing you is good enough.”

Xiaoguo said softly and Xiao Zhu blushed in embarrassment.

The two of them chatted for a while more before Xiaoguo got to the point. “I’ll accompany you to visit your father and mother this afternoon.”

Xiao Zhu’s smile froze. After a long while, she nodded.

She didn’t want to face reality, but she had to do it.