The more Zhao Jinge thought, the faster his heartbeat became, and the place where he had a cinnabar mole was still fevered.

He rubbed his hand on the scar between his eyebrows several times, and he exhaled a long breath.

Ever since he became a grown-up, it was the first time anyone had expressed affection towards him. He was a little flattered, and at the same time, he felt a little flustered.

There was really nothing good about him, so was it possible that he actually misunderstood what Jiang Zhen meant?

What’s more, why did he just turn around and walk away? Would Jiang Zhen be unhappy and misunderstood when he left him like that?

In fact, he was quite satisfied with Jiang Zhen. He had been working hard for so many years, and he was also a little tired. Naturally, he hoped that someone would accompany him on his road in the future.

Zhao Jinge thought a lot. Before he knew it, he had walked to the bamboo grove near Zhao Dahu’s residence.

Just then, he was suddenly held by a hand.

Zhao Jinge was startled. When he was about to pull his own hand away, he saw Jiang Zhen’s face and quickly lowered his raised fist.

“Jinge, let me give you two more eggs.” Jiang Zhen gave Zhao Jinge the remaining two eggs. He followed Zhao Jinge all the way. Zhao Jinge facial movements were naturally all before his eyes.

Zhao Jinge . . . It’s obviously interesting to him too.

He had thought it would take a while to catch Zhao Jinge, but he didn’t expect to make such fast progress.

Jiang Zhen has never been a slow person. He always wanted to cut the Gordian knot at once, but he thought he had many things to deal with at the moment. The old Jiang Zhenwei was still in his own body. In the end, he put up with it. “Jinge, when I’ve lived separately, I need to talk to you.”

Jiang Zhen did not say what he had to say to him, but Zhao Jinge also had a guess and immediately took the eggs and put them away.

“I’m going home for porridge.” Jiang Zhen smiled at Zhao Jinge, turned around, and returned to Jiang family house.

Zhao Jinge stuffed two eggs into his arms and continued to walk to Zhao Dahu’s family house, but his heart was always disturbed.

Other women in the village would always be humbled, and someone would always help them do some work or give them something, but he had never been treated like that. And now that he had eaten Jiang Zhen’s eggs and chicken, he felt a little embarrassed.

Because of that uneasiness, when the world was doing its work, Zhao Jinge found out that the basket he had made with bamboo strips was on the ground. He grabbed the loaches he found while he cultivated the field and put it in his basket.

Hexi Village had many paddy fields and many ditches, and loaches were also very numerous. Loach tasted delicious and not very fishy. Even if you only put a little salt and steamed it, it would turn in a good dish, so it was very popular.

It took a lot of effort to catch the loaches, that is, when the loach plowed the ground, you could see the holes drilled out by the loach and needed to dig them up with painstaking effort. But it was still not likely that the loach could be caught. Moreover, when the weather got hot, after raising rice seedlings and transplanting rice seedlings, the rice fields were full of water. Only one or two of the loaches could be caught in the ditch.

Zhao Jinge usually has a lot of work to do, so he didn’t have much time to mess with these. But when he was particularly gluttonous or when he wanted to replenish his mother’s body, he would go fishing in the river or find a way to catch loach.

But today, as he plowed the ground, he found and carefully picked up the loaches. Once he found it, he put it in the basket behind him.

Because of that, he plowed the ground very slowly that day, fearing that it would be dark when he finished all the work.

But even so, he kept looking at the loaches.

– – –

When Zhao Jinge worked in Zhao Dahu’s family house, Jiang Zhen returned to the Jiang family.

When he got back, old Madam Jiang had just finished cooking the porridge. He snatched two bowls of porridge full of rice. One bowl was put aside to cool off, and the other was quickly eaten.

While eating, he did not forget to remind old lady Jiang, “What about eggs? Don’t forget my two eggs!”

Old lady Jiang was too angry to look at his face, but when she saw Jiang Zhen carrying a big knife that did not leave his hand, she could only hold back her anger and said, “I will cook the eggs at noon.”

“All right.” Jiang Zhen said, “Give me two boiled eggs at that time. They should be completely boiled.” If she changes it to another cooking method, who knows if Jiang old lady will not try to cut off some of eggs?

Old lady Jiang was really going to cut off some eggs for her precious grandson to eat, but when Jiang Zhen said so, she dared not think about it again and was reluctant to boil a few more eggs when she had no eggs at home. In the end, she could only stare indignantly at Jiang Zhen.

Jiang Zhen didn’t care what Madam Jiang thought, so he went back to his room to go to bed when he had enough to eat.

He got up in the middle of the night to take a bath, and since he was tired, he should have a good night’s sleep.

Jiang Zhen slept until noon, ate two eggs and two bowls of rice, went back to his room and stretched his muscles for a while, slept, and then woke up in the evening.

He already talked to Brother Zhao Jinge once in the morning, but he missed him a little again. Jiang Zhen immediately pondered about that and waited till dinner to see him again.

Even if he could not see anyone, he was willing to walk around the Zhao family house.

– – –

Zhao Jinge caught loaches in a basket that day.

After winter, the loach, which usually was the size of a finger, was thinner, but catching half of basket of it was enough to feed someone. Zhao Jinge’s mouth curled up, and then the day started to turn dark.

Rubbing his shoulders, Zhao Jinge took the farm tools and went to the main house of Zhao Dahu’s family.

Originally after returning the farm tools, he could go back home, but Zhao Jinge didn’t expected that while putting the farm tools down, Zhao Dahu mother’s would say, “You caught loaches? Leave it here. Tomorrow we’ll have it for dinner.”

Zhao Jinge was stunned and then said, “Old lady, these loaches are useful to me.” He used to catch something occasionally, and if they wanted it, he would give it to them. After all, the food of his family depended mainly on his work from Zhao Dahu. But today, he intended to take the loaches to Jiang Zhen.

Madam Zhao did not expect Zhao Jinge to refuse. She became angry. “This is my field loaches! This is my family! Zhao Jinge, put the loaches down and go!” 

Zhao Jinge frowned, and the scar he made with his own hands became deeper. The loach in this area had always been owned by whoever caught it. How could it be it be owned by the one from whose land he caught it in?

He was a ger, and his family did not have any close relatives, so Zhao Jinge had always been kind to others and never offended others, but today . . .

“Old lady, these loaches are of use to me,” Zhao Jinge reiterated.

“Well, you Zhao Jinge, you can’t even give up a few loaches. You don’t want to work anymore in my house, do you?” Old lady Zhao became more and more angry. She never liked Zhao Jinge, who did not marry well but worked. Right at that moment, Zhao Jinge did not listen to her, and she became even more angry.

Zhao Jinge hung his head but stood straight and was unwilling to compromise.

Madam Zhao was about to attack, but Zhao Dahu finally came out. “Mother, if he wants this loach, let him take it back. There is no shortage of loaches in our house.”

Zhao Dahu has been watching them but didn’t want to interrupt. Basket of loaches, who would not want it? But Zhao Jinge was too stubborn that he would probably refuse to leave the loaches. In order to avoid quarrelling and driving Zhao Jinge away from long-term work by his mother, he could only step in.

Although long-term workers were easy to find, but he liked Zhao Jinge, who worked hard and did not sneakily steal. The long-term workers who he could pay less money and food were not easy to find. Zhao Dahu does not want to change people.

Although Madam Zhao did not want to, she still listened to her son’s words. She stared at Zhao Jinge fiercely. “Take your muddy loaches. Get out!”

Zhao Jinge returned home with half of basket of loaches then took out two eggs from Jiang Zhen that he had not eaten.

“Where did you get so many things, Jinge?” Zhao Liu looked puzzled at the eggs and loaches.

Zhao Jinge opened his mouth. He was embarrassed to say that the egg was given to him by Jiang Zhen. He also felt embarrassed to say that he had caught the loaches and wanted to give some to Jiang Zhen. In the end, he said somewhat uncomfortably, “Someone gave me three eggs for the loaches. I have eaten one egg. Mother, I will kill the loaches. You cook it, and I will bring a bowl to him.”

It’s not uncommon to barter for things in the village. It’s a little strange that loach should be cooked. But with a half basket of loaches, they can make two bowls and take one bowl for that someone, which was not bad.

When Zhao Liu believed Zhao Jinge’s words. She nodded. “Good.”

Zhao Jinge breathed a sigh of relief, gave the eggs for his parents to eat, and drank the bowl of porridge left by his mother, then he went to kill the loaches.

Loaches were slippery and not easy to kill, but he had a lot of experience. Soon after killing them, Zhao Liu had already made a fire. Seeing that he killed the loaches, she threw them into the pot to cook.

“Loach is best cooked in oil and soy sauce, but unfortunately, there is no such thing at home.” Zhao Liu sighed and put a little salt into the pot of loaches.

The loaches were quickly cooked, and there were two bowls of it. Zhao Jinge left one shallow bowl on the side and walked outside with the other full bowl. He wanted to give it to Jiang Zhen. But when he left the door, he was stunned.

He wanted to give the loaches to Jiang Zhen, but now . . . How was he going to find Jiang Zhen? I can’t take the loaches to Jiang’s house, can I?

Zhao Jinge wanted to send some food to Jiang Zhen before, but he didn’t have time to think about how to send it. It wasn’t until that moment that he felt it was wrong.

Carrying a bowl of loaches, Zhao Jinge unwittingly came to Jiang’s ramshackle hut.

“Jinge, our hearts are connected to one another. As soon as I got here, I saw you coming out of the house.” Jiang Zhen suddenly appeared in front of Zhao Jinge.

After hearing Jiang Zhen’s voice, Zhao Jinge saw a dark figure in front of him, and his face turned inexplicably hot.

Edited by : Faro

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