Chapter 63 – Yeah, right!
After Li Shu cleaned up the fish, he handed the fish to Li Man. “Wife, you were staring at me before, right?” He had said these words in a very confident tone, and Li Man was even surer that he was addressing her as his wife.
Li Man did her best to use the local dialect to ask him, “That, let me ask you… You called me wife. Wife… what does mean?” Could it actually just mean older sister or younger sister? For example, in modern-day, depending on the region that you’re from, you might call your dad “die“, but in other area, grandfathers would be called “die“. There were also regions where older unmarried women would be simply referred to as “da jie.”
“Wife?” Wife just meant wife. Li Shu scratched the back of his head in confusion. He thought for a while before answering, “It means a woman that lives with you. Or… Fourth brother said it could also be called inside person.”
If Li Man had just been guessing before, Li Shu’s words were like a booming clap of thunder that had been accompanied by a lightening bolt that scorched Li Man from inside and out. She hadn’t misunderstood. As it turned out, she was Li Shu’s fiancée then?
“Wife, what’s wrong?” Seeing Li Man’s face turn pale and the blank look in her eyes, Li Shu became very worried. He reached out to touch her forehead.
At this time, Li Mo came back with two buckets of water and saw this scene. He shouted at Li Shu, “Third brother, what are you doing?”
“Oldest brother, come over here and look. What’s wrong with wife?” Her eyes weren’t even moving. Li Shu was truly very alarmed.
Li Man hastily grabbed the edge of his clothing and called out, “I’m okay.” Then, she turned around and dashed into the kitchen. She needed to find a place to be alone, so she could calm herself down and think things through.
“Ah?” Li Shu was startled still by her abrupt response.
Li Mo coldly glared at his younger brother. He sternly asked, “What did you do to her?”
“Ah? I didn’t do anything.” Li Shu widened his eyes. He was totally innocent.
Li Mo didn’t believe him. If he hadn’t done anything, why would wife have looked like that? He hurriedly brought the buckets of water into the kitchen so that he could have an excuse to check on Li Man.
Li Man was washing the rice. She knew that Li Mo had come into the kitchen, so she deliberately turned around and kept her head lowered. She didn’t want him to see her expression.
Li Mo saw her like this and knew that something had to be wrong. He tried to be as noisy as possible when he poured the buckets of water into the large water jar. If today was a normal day, Li Man was turn around to lightly smile at him in greeting. But, she didn’t show any sign of acknowledging his presence today. Her small hands were busily washing the rice. It seemed as if she wouldn’t stop washing the rice until he left the kitchen.
Li Mo finally broke the silence by saying, “Third brother doesn’t have the best temper. If he did something wrong, just tell me. I’ll go discipline him. Don’t keep your unhappiness stifled away.”
Hearing these words, Li Man’s heart dropped even further. He was clearly treating her as if he was senior from an older generation. He though that she and Li Shu just had a quibble, and he come here as a senior to mediate between them.
This meant that she had to be Li Shu’s fiancée. As the saying goes, an older brother was like a second father, so it was reasonable enough that he would offer to discipline Li Shu.
Li Mo thought he had guessed right when he saw her straightening her back. It had to be that third brother had upset her somehow. Her mood had seemed off since last night. “Just wait here. I’ll call him over here to give you an apology.”
“Ah?” Startled, Li Man turned her around, caught up to him by the doorway, and grabbed his arm.
Li Mo froze in surprise. He lowered his eyes to look at her.
Li Man hastily let him go. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, she looked at the damp spot on his sleeve. “Sorry. That… it’s not Li Shu.”
Li Mo furrowed his brow. He thought she was just trying to excuse Li Shu’s behavior.
Li Man gloomily bit her bottom lip, then she raised her head and lightly smiled at him. “Everything is okay. Don’t look for him. I’m going back to cooking.” Then, she hastily went back to the cooking range to finish washing the rice and start cooking the rest of the meal.
Li Mo felt increasingly doubtful. Everything is okay? Yeah, right!