Chapter 46 – Expressing her true feelings
Li Man put away the wine pot, stood up, and didn’t forget to implore Li Mo, “You don’t have to finish this today. Be careful. Don’t get injured again.”
After saying this, she scurried back to the kitchen.
Li Mo lightly moved his bandaged finger. There was a silly-looking smile on his face as he picked up the thin bamboo strips that he had finished preparing. He decided that he would build a small chicken-coop next.
Li Hua stepped forward to stop him. “Oldest brother, your hand is injured. Let me make it instead.”
“You wouldn’t know how to make one,” Li Mo said. In the past, he been injured plenty of times while hunting, and it hadn’t been a big deal. He wasn’t some delicate person. His finger had just been pricked by a bamboo strip today.
At this time, Li Man animatedly came out with the large whicker basket and put all of the chicks inside the fenced area.
Li Hua glanced over in her direction, then he smiled at Li Mo and said, “It’s what she wants us to do. She’ll be really unhappy if you get hurt again.”
Li Mo turned his gaze over there too. Seeing Li Man supporting herself on the fence as she happily watched the little balls of fluff frolicking inside the fence, Li Mo felt as if his heart was being wrapped in honey. He said to his younger brother, “It’s okay. It won’t take me much time to make it.”
Li Hua looked at his older brother whose lips were curved up. This was happiness that came from the heart. Li Hua felt his own heart calming down.
Perhaps, this was good too. Hadn’t he already silently accepted this?
—
After Li Man had settled the little chicks and seeing that it was still early, she decided that she would go with Little Five to the back of the mountain to dig up some wild plants.
She knew that Li Mo didn’t understand her words, so she returned to the eastern hut to tell Li Hua.
Li Hua was currently sitting on the bed and sewing clothing. After Li Man told him what she wanted to do, he put down his needle and thread and stood up to go with her.
“It’s okay. I can just go with Little Five.” Li Man hurriedly waved her hands.
But, Li Hua had already taken the bamboo basket from her. He smiled and said, “Let’s go.” He clapped Little Five on the back, and the two of them left the hut first.
Li Man could only follow after them.
After leaving their home, the three of them headed towards the back of the mountain. Li Hua walked in the center. One hand was holding Little Five’s hand, and the other hand was holding the basket. From time to time, he would look to the side to check that Li Man was able to keep up with them.
Li Hua had very long legs, and he naturally walked in long strides. Furthermore, he frequently had to walk long distances in order to attend school at a large town, so he had gotten into a habit of walking very fast. It took him conscious effort to slow down. However, after they had only been walking for a little bit, he discovered that Li Man had to jog in order to keep up with him, so he deliberately slowed down his pace to match hers.
When they passed by the village’s entrance, there were several married women sitting underneath the bent locust tree.
Someone teasingly asked, “Yo, isn’t that Li family’s fourth son and his wife?”
“Li family’s fourth son, where are you planning on taking your wife?”
Hearing Li Man being referred to as his wife, Li Hua started to blush. He snuck a glance at Li Man to check her reaction.
Li Man didn’t notice that he was looking at her, but she recognized one of the women in the group. Seeing this tanned and plump woman that had thrown rotting vegetables at her on her first day here, Li Man’s expression turned a bit colder.
Unfortunately, Li Hua misunderstood and though the change in her mood was because she had understood what those women were saying.
Was she unwilling to be his wife?
Feeling the unkindly intentions in the gazes of those women, Li Man felt uneasy. Forgetting her manners, she grabbed Li Hua’s arm and quickened her pace. “Let’s walk faster.”
“What’s wrong?” It was only now that Li Hua noticed there was something wrong.
A few minutes of quick walking later, they turned a corner and reached a place where there was no one else around. Li Man stopped and looked at Li Hua with red eyes. She slowly expressed her true feelings, “That day, I was tied to that tree, and one of those women had even thrown rotting vegetables at me. I feel scared just from seeing them.”