Farm Tough Girl

Chapter 144 - 144 145 The Worm Grows Teeth Not_1

?Chapter 144: Chapter 145: The Worm Grows Teeth Not_1 Chapter 144: Chapter 145: The Worm Grows Teeth Not_1 Tianniu, upon hearing they were going to stay at Muniang’s house, sprung up excitedly, “Going to Mu’s place? That’s great, I like Mu the most!”

The children all expressed their joy one after another, and Madam Liu smiled. The most important thing was that the children liked it.

Upon arriving at Muniang’s residence, the young servant at the gate recognized Madam Liu and immediately led them inside, “Please come in; our Lady is in the inner room.”

“Aunt, what brings you here so suddenly? And you’ve brought all the children too?” Muniang was somewhat surprised.

Madam Liu pulled a wry smile, “Since we have nowhere to live, we thought we’d squeeze in here with you.”

“What happened?” Muniang asked, puzzled.

Madam Liu then recounted the situation, feeling quite upset herself.

Muniang, holding Tianniu close, laughed, “So that’s it, it’s a good thing. Isn’t it better to move out, so you don’t have to put up with that injustice? There’s plenty of empty rooms in my house. If aunt doesn’t mind, you can stay here as long as you need. It will make the place more lively.”

Madam Liu replied with a laugh, “You might not be able to handle it. These naughty kids are probably going to drive you crazy. I plan to start looking for help from the villagers to repair the house tomorrow. It should take about a month to stay here.”

Muniang smiled, “That’s settled, then. If you need any help with the meal for the workers or anything, just let me know. You all stay here.”

“Qingya.”

“Yes.”

“Get the rooms in the east wing of the backyard ready.”

Muniang said to Madam Liu, “There are three rooms in that east wing. One for you and your husband, one for Tianniu, and since the three boys are still young and surely wouldn’t dare to sleep alone, they’ll take the largest room. Just place three beds in there. While you’re here, treat it like your own home and stay comfortably.”

Madam Liu was filled with gratitude, and, touched by how much consideration Muniang had given them, said, “Thank you.”

“Oh, what’s all this talk of thanks between us? We’re family after all.”

“What would you like to eat, Tianniu? Sis will cook it for you tonight,” Muniang asked, looking down.

Tianniu was seriously considering it when Hongsheng, the youngest, piped up, “I want candied haws! Mung bean cake, and, and, the watermelons from sister’s house!”

Madam Liu scolded with a laugh, “You child, always talking nonsense.”

However, Muniang was amused by Hongsheng’s playful manner, “Alright, if Hongsheng wants to eat it, then we’ll make it.”

Qingya then said, “The wells are stocked with ready-to-eat watermelons. I’ll fetch one and cut it up for the young master to eat.”

“Go ahead, but cut it into smaller pieces; it’s hard for the children to hold.”

“Yes.”

“Eh, where’s Chengzi?”

Muniang laughed helplessly, “When is he ever settled? He ran off to the mountains again.”

Madam Liu couldn’t help but worry, “Is his injury healed? Running off to the mountains like that, aren’t you afraid he might get into trouble?”

“His wound healed a long time ago. He has a strong constitution and recovers quickly. Always keeping him cooped up inside isn’t good. Besides, he has someone with him; nothing will happen.”

“Chengzi?”

Muniang chuckled and shook her head, suddenly remembering she hadn’t mentioned her “big cousin” to Madam Liu, but she wasn’t worried, “Let’s go arrange our luggage first. I see you have quite a lot of stuff, I’ll tell you about it later.”

Qiao Yuanming had been standing silently all this time, as he was naturally a man of few words. Seeing that Madam Liu and Muniang were getting along, he didn’t want to interrupt and risk upsetting Madam Liu.

Muniang observed quietly, it seemed the situation between her Aunt and Uncle wasn’t very promising.

So the Liu Family went to the back courtyard to take care of their bags, and Muniang sent a boy to run to the back hill and casually picked a small basket of hawthorns.

Muniang made sugar and created several strings of candied haw, and with the leftover hawthorns, she made hawthorn soup. Once it cooled, she bottled it up and hung the jars in the well with a rope to chill them. After roughly half an hour, they would be icy cold.

As for the well at home, Muniang was extremely satisfied with it.

When the children had each finished tidying up their own rooms and came to the front, Muniang had already served the candied haw. The four children’s eyes lit up, eagerly gathering around. Indeed, no child could resist the allure of candied haw.

Even Tianniu, the “mature and sensible” child, joined in the fun.

Muniang said with a smile, “Each of you can only take one. Eating too much is bad for your teeth, and you wouldn’t want to get cavities.”

Hongde looked puzzled, “What are cavities?”

Muniang tried to scare him, “That’s what happens when greedy little sugar-lovers have their teeth eaten away by worms.”

Hongde was startled and nodded dumbly, “I’ll definitely eat less, I won’t be a glutton, then worms won’t bore into my teeth, right?”

“Correct, well-behaved children won’t be troubled by those,” Muniang said with a laugh. The arrival of these children had noticeably improved the atmosphere at home.

Mrs. Lin wasn’t very talkative, but she was always happy watching the children. Seeing Muniang get along so well with the kids, she sighed to herself. How good it would be if Muniang could have a child of her own? The house would surely be much livelier. Although their current life was good, she never got to see her dear grandchildren and felt somewhat empty inside, especially after seeing Madam Liu’s four cute and lovely children, Mrs. Lin increasingly yearned for grandkids to enrich her own life.

Thinking this way, she gazed longingly at Muniang, who was having a joyful time with the children. Muniang felt Mrs. Lin’s wistful stare, turned around, and her face seemed to ask, “When can I hold my grandchild?”

Muniang was speechless; her maternal instincts hadn’t even been triggered, so why was Mrs. Lin overflowing with them? Looking at that yearning gaze, she felt like she was observing a woman pining away in a boudoir, and Muniang couldn’t bear to watch.

Fortunately, at that moment, Qiao Yuanming returned. Before even entering the house, his excited voice could be heard, “Wife, did you make candied haw? I could smell it from far away!”

Muniang greeted him with a laugh, “You must have the nose of a dog to smell it from that far away.”

“I can only smell the things you make because everything you make smells wonderful!” Qiao Yuanming chuckled, then lowered his head and saw the little rascals.

“How come Tianniu and the others are here?”

“They’re staying at our house for a while since they are currently repairing theirs.”

Qiao Yuanming smiled happily, “Then our house is going to be much livelier, isn’t it? Now I know why you made candied haw today. You did it for the little brothers and sisters! I’m in for a treat.”

With that, he grabbed a string and started eating. Tianniu crisply remarked, “Brother-in-law, Mu said not to eat too much or the worms will eat your teeth away.”

Upon hearing this, Qiao Yuanming blinked dazedly, showing off his neatly arranged white teeth, a touch of urgency in his tone, “Then you have to check if my teeth are still there!”

Tianniu looked unimpressed, and Muniang, finding it funny, stuffed a string of candied haw into Qiao Yuanming’s mouth, “Just eat yours.” What a clown.