Perhaps feeling a little embarrassed, she quickly added another sentence.
It's not that I can't beat her, I'm just letting her win.
"..." Shen Wuqiu didn't know what to say for a moment, and after several seconds of silence, she asked her, "Was Simao injured?"
Meow~
Definitely not.
Meow~
Of course, it's not that I couldn't beat her, it's just that I didn't use my full strength.
"Can you tell Mom why you fought?"
Er Mao started pretending to be dead again.
When Shen Wuqiu saw her guilty little cat-like appearance, she knew that she had started the trouble. After all, Si Mao was more trouble-free than her older sisters, except for being greedy.
Shen Wuqiu said patiently, "Mommy doesn't like dishonest babies."
Er Mao turned his head and argued forcefully: "Meow~"
I wasn't lying, I just didn't say anything.
Shen Wuqiu laughed, "Not speaking is also dishonest."
Er Mao rolled over on the bed, meowing.
I just knocked over Ah Shu's bowl of goat milk.
"Intentional?"
Meow~
No, that's not true!
Shen Wuqiu looked at her.
Er Mao timidly changed his tune.
[It was only slightly intentional~]
Shen Wuqiu sighed. On this point, she was actually a little unsure how to educate her child. To be honest, she could understand Er Mao's hostility towards A Shu, just like her own hostility towards Su Yunzhi and even Shen Wujun when she was a child.
Personally, she didn't think Er Mao had done anything wrong.
Er Mao, unaware of her thoughts, assumed she was unhappy because of his actions, so he rubbed against her again and licked her hand, meowing.
[Mom, don't be angry, I won't do it again~]
Shen Wuqiu smiled and patted her head. "Mmm. You're a great baby." After a pause, she picked up Er Mao and said, "You are my children, and no one can take away my love for you. We need to take care of A Shu because he is one of our people and a member of our big family. We can't abandon him just because he is weak; instead, we should be more tolerant of him."
Er Mao snuggled against her.
What if he's a bad guy?
"Then we should teach him a good lesson."
Won't Mom show favoritism because she feels sorry for him?
"You're both so adorable, Mommy hasn't shown any favoritism."
Er Mao seemed relieved at this point, jumped down from her arms, scratched open the door through the crack, and got down by himself.
Shen Wuqiu followed behind, telling her to slow down. After watching her go downstairs, she returned to her room. Just as she changed her clothes and was about to take a shower, Gu Lingyu came in. "Qiuqiu, what are you doing?"
"I took a shower, went for a walk around Xishan, and worked up a sweat."
Gu Lingyu tried to open the bathroom door, but couldn't, so she decided not to join in the fun. She noticed Shen Wuqiu's clothes were scattered messily outside, and wanted to help her hang up the wool coat. Seeing that the pockets were bulging, she became curious and touched a tangerine. She was quite puzzled, "Qiuqiu, what's in your pocket?"
"Oh, these are tangerines from our tangerine orchard." Shen Wuqiu turned off the shower, a mischievous thought creeping into her mind. "They only produced a few this year. Brother Duan picked two for me, I ate one, and I specially brought one back for you."
Gu Miaomiao felt incredibly happy thinking about how much her partner cared about her, and immediately peeled off her skin.
To be honest, she didn't really like the taste; it tasted a bit like lemon. But thinking that it was her wife's thoughtfulness, she held her breath and peeled it anyway.
Shen Wuqiu listened inside for a long time without hearing any sound. She quietly opened the door and peeked out. Seeing the woman peeling her skin so badly, she couldn't wait any longer. "Try it quickly..."
"This doesn't smell appetizing," Gu Miaomiao muttered, then asked her, "Do you want some?"
Shen Wuqiu didn't answer, but urged her to try it quickly.
Gu Miaomiao didn't think much of it, broke off a piece and put it in her mouth.
Shen Wuqiu: "How is it? Is it delicious?"
Gu Miaomiao nodded and popped another piece into her mouth, "It tastes even better than an orange."
Shen Wuqiu stared at her.
Gu Miaomiao: "Qiuqiu, why are you looking at me like that?"
Shen Wuqiu felt that this cat's acting skills were getting better and better.
Anyway, she didn't believe these tangerines were delicious.
"It's nothing, eat more if it's delicious, I'm going to continue taking a shower."
Gu Miaomiao nodded, broke off a small half and placed it on the bedside table, "I'll leave some for you."
Shen Wuqiu snorted inwardly, "See? The fox's tail is showing. He just wants to trick her into being jealous, just like that Brother Duan."
However, that evening, Shen Wuqiu couldn't resist and secretly tasted a piece.
It turned out that Gu Miaomiao really wasn't lying to her; the tangerine was indeed very sweet.
Why is this tangerine so sweet?
"Hmm? Wasn't the one you were eating sweet?"
"It's not sweet at all, it's terribly sour. If Brother Duan hadn't insisted on giving it to me, I wouldn't have..."
The worst thing is when the air suddenly goes quiet.
"So... Qiuqiu, this wasn't specially saved for me at all? No wonder you didn't eat it..."
"..." Shen Wuqiu felt extremely guilty. She never expected that this cat would be so happy just because she had prepared a small tangerine for her. Not knowing how to explain, she remained silent for a while before simply apologizing, "I'm sorry..."
"It's not like I wanted to hear you apologize." Gu Miaomiao pouted, noticing her uncomfortable expression, she hugged her tighter, giving herself a way out: "Fine, you just want to share the hardships, right? We're partners, so it's only natural. You always think of me first, even though it was a prank, it shows I'm still number one in your heart. Thinking about it that way, it's actually quite nice..."
"..." Shen Wuqiu felt much less guilty after hearing what she said, but she still felt a little bad. So she secretly stuffed the last two pieces of fruit into her mouth and then shared half with the cat. "Since we've shared the hardship, let's share the sweetness too?"
Gu Miaomiao didn't want the fruit pulp. "No matter how sweet the tangerine is, can it be as sweet as you?"
A note from the author:
Love you all, muah!
Chapter 133
Leisure time is good for passing the days, and before you know it, the winter solstice is approaching.
For farmers today, the winter solstice is not a major festival and there is no need to celebrate it. However, there are many things to do after the winter solstice.
For example, smoked and cured meats.
A week before the winter solstice, Mr. Shen started working on drying fish in Linjiawan Reservoir.
Although called a reservoir, Linjiawan Reservoir is actually only slightly larger than a pond. Despite its name, it is used to irrigate the farmland of Sijing Village below Linjiawan. Don't let its small size fool you, the hundreds of acres of paddy fields below it all depend on it.
The reservoir is small, so fishing is much simpler and more direct. Anyway, in winter, the farmland below doesn't need irrigation, so we can just open the sluice gates and release the water.
One day after the sluice gates were opened and water was released, there was no rush to fish in the reservoir the next day. Instead, some of the fish were allowed to escape into the ditches below the reservoir. After two days of this, the fish were then retrieved from the reservoir.
Hearing that the Shen family was going to build a reservoir, people from several nearby villages came to gather around the reservoir to watch the spectacle.
"Hey, don't be fooled by how ordinary this reservoir looks; there seem to be quite a lot of fish here."
"Look...look over there, my goodness, that one must weigh at least twenty pounds."
"You're overthinking it. How could a fish in this small reservoir grow that big?"
“Old Xu, you can’t say that. Old Le’s fish farming is not like the ponds you dig in your village. At most, he’ll raise fish for a year or two and then drain the pond and harvest them all. The fish in his reservoir are just like the fish in the big river.”
"Yes, they've caught quite a few fish in the ditch these past two days. I can't guarantee twenty pounds, but there are probably a few fish that weigh around ten pounds each."
"This big fish would be perfect for hot pot."
“The fish from that reservoir on the dam last time were so delicious that they were just boiled in plain water. My mother-in-law still misses them, so she specially asked me to buy a few more this time.”
"That depends on whether they're willing to sell..."
The surrounding crowd watched the spectacle and discussed it amongst themselves. When the weather warmed up around noon, some of the young men who had been watching couldn't contain their excitement and started whistling and shouting to Mr. Shen:
"Grandpa Le, do you need our help?"
"Yes, we don't ask for much. We don't need meals. Just give us a fish when the time comes."
...
Mr. Shen was in high spirits when he was happy. Looking at the reservoir full of fish, he was quite pleased. He waved his hand and said, "These are all minor matters. However, I must warn you beforehand that you can join in the fun, but you must ensure your own safety."
"Don't worry, we know what we're doing."
Having received his confirmation, several young men immediately took off their shoes and socks, grabbed their belongings, and went downstairs to help.
It would take a day or two to catch all the fish in the reservoir. After they were caught, Shen Wuqiu set up two temporary fish-raising facilities at the Linjiawan activity center to keep the fish of different sizes separately inside.
Having witnessed the dismal returns from the dammed reservoir, Shen Wuqiu didn't have high hopes for this small reservoir. She figured if it only brought in two or three thousand yuan, she wouldn't bother with delivery. Besides making some snacks for her cats, she'd consider it a New Year's gift for the Gu family. After all, her mother-in-law had generously covered all the renovations and furniture for their new house.
However, when they actually started fishing, they discovered that the small reservoir was quite suitable for raising fish.
The fish I caught from the ditch a couple of days ago, big and small, weighed nearly a thousand pounds. And looking at the fish churning in the reservoir, I estimate there must be seven or eight thousand pounds of them.
So these past few days, if anyone in the village wants to buy something, she tells them to come to the activity center in Linjiawan to buy it.
There weren't many customers the first two days, but on the day of the dredging operation, it was as if everyone had received the news, and a lot of people came. Su Yunzhi and Shen Wuqiu were so busy that they called Gu Lingyu over as well.
The once bustling house was now empty except for Auntie, and the little ones started to complain. They searched around frantically, but couldn't find their mother, their maternal grandmother, or even their maternal grandparents. So they began to wail in rebellion.
Er Mao took the lead, trying to pry open the door, then pry open the windows. San Mao followed closely behind, and even the usually well-behaved Da Mao was thinking about how to help his sisters.
They couldn't be separated; one by one, they were either hanging on the bed to swing on, or jumping on the cabinet and howling.