Chapter 194 – Don’t be afraid (5)
Li Man’s delicate cheeks were covered in a layer of light pink. Probably everyone except herself regarded her as the Li family’s wife.
Li Mo assented with an, “En.” Then, seeing Li Man’s reaction, he foolishly smiled.
The married woman saw that the basket was filled with a lot of clothes and sheets and started to praise Li Man, “Li Mo, you’ve married a good wife. She’s pretty and capable. I saw her and Little Five last time when she went to wash clothes. Ah, she’s washing that much clothes today, too. So capable.”
Li Man recognized that this was the woman that had waited for her spot last time. She politely smiled at her, “Aunty Li, did you go over there to wash clothes too?”
“En.” Seeing her smile, Aunty Li liked her even more. “Truly, you’re very pretty. When you smile, you look like a celestial fairy from the heavens. Our Li Mo and his brothers’ fortune has arrived.”
Being praised like this in front of Li Mo, Li Man felt extremely embarrassed. She lowered her head and looked at her the pointy ends of her shoes.
“Aunty, you’re not busy? Don’t you need to go back home?” Although these words were about Aunty Li, Li Mo was looking at Li Man and smiling.
Aunty Li understandingly smiled. She knew that a newly wedded wife was shy, so she stopped teasing her. “Aunty still has to go back to attend to things. You two should go on ahead. There aren’t many people there at this time of the day.”
“Okay.” Li Mo held the basket in one hand and held Li Man’s hand with the other to lead her as they walked towards the back mountain’s ponds.
—
Sure enough, there weren’t many people by the laundry pond. Most people had woken early, washed their clothes, and went home.
After finding a place with clean water and easy to wash clothes, Li Man crouched down. One by one, she took out the clothes and bed sheets. Then, she washed the basket first and placed it to the side on a large rock.
Seeing her little hand rubbing away at such a large bed sheet, Li Mo couldn’t just stand by on the side and do nothing. He took the initiative to offer, “Let me wash the bed sheet.”
Li Man shook her head. “No need. I’ll just take my time washing it. Are you impatient with waiting? How about you go back first? I know the way back.”
“Come on, let me have it.” He watched her dunking the bed sheet in the water, pulling up onto a stone, and doing her best to knead the sheet. After kneading the bed sheet a few times, her little face was flushed. Li Mo finally couldn’t resist snatching the bed sheet from her hands.
Li Man blankly looked at him. “Do you know how to wash it?”
Li Mo took off his shoes and directly went into the water. He shifted the basket that was on the large rock a little bit. Then, he mimicked what he had learned from watching Li Man earlier and started off by kneading the sheets.
After kneading it a few times, he squeezed out the dirty water, then he spread it out like it was a fishing net over the surface of the water. After soaking the bed sheet in the water for a few moments, he kneaded it again.
Li Man stood up. When she was washing the bed sheet, she had been using her utmost strength. But, once the bed sheet went to Li Mo’s hand, it looked as if he was playing. Not only that, his posture and movements were correct too. She subconsciously laughed. “I’ll have to trouble you then. But, work slower. It’s slippery from the water. Don’t fall.”
“En, don’t worry.” Li Mo turned his head back and smiled at her. Then, he added, “Bring over all of the bed sheets. I’ll wash all of them soon.”
“Okay.” Li Man didn’t refuse. Washing the bed sheets like that in the water was truly something that required strength.