Chapter 25: I Don't Mind Getting a New Father to Serve Her

The spring sun was bright. The branches of the large trees by the roadside, just budding with new shoots, receded rapidly as Leng Hui pedaled hard. Her bicycle accelerated, surging forward like an arrow released from a bow.

The wind whistled past her ears, and Leng Hui's throat felt so parched it was practically on fire.

She had forgotten her water bottle when she left home today, and after working on the mountain for several hours, she hadn't had a single sip of water.

As she rode into town, her speed involuntarily slowed down.

After lunch, Jiang Jingtao was sitting on the second-floor balcony, drinking tea and chatting with his cousin and several of the cousin's friends.

As he stood up to pour tea for everyone, he saw Leng Hui on the road not far away, pedaling her bicycle toward him with rhythmic strokes.

The bicycle came to a halt at the courtyard gate. Propping herself up with one foot on the ground, Leng Hui looked up and met Jiang Jingtao's eyes from the second-floor balcony.

Leng Hui straightened her back, raised both hands to adjust the straw hat she had fashioned from twigs, and shouted toward the second floor, "Jiang Jingtao, pour me a glass of water! I'm dying of thirst!"

"Hey, coming!" Jiang Jingtao responded.

Jiang Jinghao watched Leng Hui below, who was now standing with both feet on the ground.

The young girl's cheeks were slightly flushed from the exercise, and she wore a messy straw hat woven haphazardly from twigs. Combined with her defiant gaze, her first impression was one of pure wildness.

A palpable sense of wildness.

Like a spirited and energetic little leopard.

"Jingtao, who is that girl down there?"

Jiang Jingtao pushed back his chair and said as he headed downstairs, "A classmate."

Jiang Jinghao craned his neck to take another look at Leng Hui below, then nudged Xiao Ye beside him. "Don't you think that girl looks a lot like those unruly new recruits in our squad?"

They all possessed a spirit of never giving up and great resilience.

A young girl riding a vintage bicycle, carrying such a massive bundle of bamboo shoots, yet her spirit remained unbroken; her physical fitness was at least quite impressive.

Xiao Ye's gaze swept over Leng Hui's face before he glanced back at Jiang Jinghao with a look of slight disdain.

"Hey, what's with that look?" Jiang Jinghao felt provoked by his expression.

Xiao Ye: "Are you still going to see your fiancée tonight?"

"I am." Jiang Jinghao realized his slip-up and explained, "Don't get the wrong idea, I'm just appreciating her purely as a person."

Xiao Ye ignored him, his eyes remaining fixed on the girl downstairs.

Leng Hui didn't care who the people upstairs were. She took the large glass of plain boiled water Jiang Jingtao brought her and finished it; her burning throat finally felt much better.

"Hurry up, pull out a few bundles of bamboo shoots from the back. I worked my life away on the mountain to get these today. I heard they taste great stir-fried with cured meat. Ask Auntie Li to make some bamboo shoots with cured meat for dinner tonight."

"Holy crap, Leng Hui, there are bamboo shoots on the mountain already? And you brought back this many? Bamboo shoots stir-fried with cured meat or diced into dumplings and buns taste amazing."

Jiang Jingtao circled the bicycle, letting out continuous exclamations of surprise at the neatly stacked fresh spring bamboo shoots on the rear rack.

Leng Hui shot him a glare. "Don't tempt me. Hurry up and pull out a few bundles. I have to rush back to eat lunch!"

Knowing full well she was starving, he was standing there reciting a menu; she had never met such a thoughtless boy.

After pulling out two bundles, Jiang Jingtao refused to take any more. Leng Hui gave him a small bundle of ferns as well. "These should taste good too. Here, a small bundle for you."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony with you."

"I never expected you to."

Seeing Leng Hui pedal away quite a distance with a single powerful stroke, Jiang Jingtao shouted loudly at her retreating back, "Remember to call me next time you go up the mountain!"

Leng Hui parked her bicycle downstairs and carried the large bundle of bamboo shoots upstairs. Many neighbors passing by asked her which mountain she had harvested them from.

Leng Hui answered everything she knew. There were so many mountains around, and they were all unowned; there was no harm in telling them.

However, before she even entered the house, she heard Old Lady Leng's loud voice from inside, seemingly complaining to Leng Yongkang.

"What's the use of having you all? The whole family is idle while I, an old woman, am working myself to death. This morning, I asked your wife to help glue some cardboard boxes and she refused. They're getting lazier and lazier—nothing but a bunch of freeloaders."

"Ma, Xiao Lin just got out of the hospital. Her body can't handle it."

Standing outside the door, Leng Hui curled her lip. Leng Yongkang's emotional intelligence was abysmal; his words were nothing but fuel to the fire in Old Lady Leng's ears.

Sure enough, the next moment, Old Lady Leng's voice grew even more harsh. "Does she really think she's some precious young lady? If her body can't handle it, can mine?

A lady's body with a maid's fate—to have reached this point and still not accept her lot in life, even being weaker than my old bones. What's the use of marrying her? Does she really think she's just a girl meant to warm the bed?"

"Ma, if you feel tired, there's no need to glue the matchboxes."

"If we don't glue them, are we going to wait for the wind to feed us? I'll let you slide this month, but let's see how you'll pay the food fees next month." Old Lady Leng was still fuming about the money Leng Hui had snatched away last time.

Now that Leng Yongkang dared to stop her from making money, her anger flared even more.

*Bang!*

The first thing Leng Hui did upon entering the room was throw the large bundle of bamboo shoots at Old Lady Leng's feet.

The mother and son were startled.

Old Lady Leng looked up, realized it was Leng Hui, and habitually began to curse. "Are you trying to kill me, you death omen? Are you wishing for me to die early?"

Of all places, she had to throw such a large bundle of bamboo shoots right at her feet; if she wasn't trying to scare her to death, what was she doing?

"It would be better if you died. The family would have one less freeloader."

Leng Hui was furious. Her mother's health hadn't even recovered, and she had only been home for two days before being called a freeloader by Old Lady Leng. How could she endure it?

Old Lady Leng's chest ached from anger. "You unfilial daughter, may you die a horrible death!"

"Enough. You always use the same few lines. 'Die a horrible death this' and 'die a horrible death that.' You talk as if you're the only one in this house capable of accumulating merit to ensure a peaceful end."

Before Leng Yongkang could reprimand her, Leng Hui took off the green straw hat she was wearing and slapped it onto his head. "Enough. And don't try to lecture me. I've been wandering the mountains all morning and haven't even had lunch. Hurry up and bring me my food."

To be disrespectful to an elder and now dare to order him around—Leng Yongkang pointed at himself in shock. "You want *me* to bring you food?"

"What, is there a problem?" Tang Lin came out from the inner room, unable to stand Leng Yongkang's chauvinistic attitude. "It's just bringing food, why so many words?"

Leng Hui picked up her towel and basin and went to the washroom. After spending half the day in the woods, her face and neck were a bit itchy; she needed to wash up before eating.

"Other people are served by their children, but in my house, it's the other way around. It's truly a reversal of the natural order."

"If you aren't willing to serve, I wouldn't mind finding a new father for Huihui to serve."

Tang Lin ignored the glaring mother and son and untied the bundle of bamboo shoots Leng Hui had dropped on the floor.

Irritated, Leng Yongkang pulled the green straw hat off his head and stood up, throwing it out of the window in a fit of rage.

By the time Leng Hui finished washing her face and returned, the meal was already set on the table.

She glanced at the still-sulking Leng Yongkang.

Noticing her gaze, Leng Yongkang gave a cold snort and ignored her.

Leng Hui muttered, "Childish!"

Then she sat down to eat.