Chapter 29: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 29: Settling Down
After the medicine was brewed, Li Yan carefully fed her grandfather a bowlful of it. Perhaps due to the effectiveness of the medicine, Li Zhong woke up after only a short while.
Seeing Mo Yan, Li Zhong was very excited and struggled to get up, but Mo Yan stopped him with a voice.
"Grandpa Li, please don't be in a hurry. Lie down and rest for a while. If there's anything, we can talk about it when we get home."
With no strength left in his body, Li Zhong had no choice but to lie down, his face filled with guilt. "I've troubled Miss Mo again!"
Mo Yan shook her head. "Grandpa Li, our families share a bond in times of trouble. You don't need to feel like an outsider! Just take care of yourself more for Yanzhi's sake."
With tears in his eyes, Li Zhong nodded. Seeing his granddaughter beside him, tears of joy flowing, a faint smile appeared on his lips. "Good child, Grandpa is fine now, don't cry!"
The two of them whispered to each other, and Mo Yan quietly left the medical hall to hail a carriage on the street. The distance from the medical hall to their home was quite far, and Li Zhong was too weak to walk.
After paying the consultation fee and medicine cost, Mo Yan and Li Yan helped Li Zhong onto the carriage and returned home together.
Xin'er land Zhen'er were overjoyed to see Grandpa Li and Li Yan, whom they hadn't seen for a long time. Knowing that Grandpa Li was ill and needed rest, they sensibly refrained from speaking loudly.
There were only two rooms in the house and two beds. Mo Yan had to temporarily arrange for Li Zhong to stay in her father and brother's larger room. She planned to go to the market after lunch to buy a bed and quilts.
Li Zhong lay on the bed and noticed the desk and bookshelf at the head of the bed, realizing that this was the room where the head of the household, Mo Qingze, lived. Now, lying on the bed of the host, he felt very uneasy.
"Miss Mo, we have already troubled you and your family enough. Just provide us with a place to shelter from the rain."
"Grandpa Li, just stay here at ease. We'll add another bed later, and it will be enough."
Mo Yan could easily discern the old man's thoughts. There were only two rooms in the house, and while there was a small storage room in the courtyard, it was narrow and dark, not suitable for a sick person to live in. She didn't even consider leaving someone in the storage room. The master bedroom was more spacious. After buying a bed and placing it by the west window, and hanging a curtain in the middle, it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience.
Seeing Mo Yan's resolute attitude, Li Zhong didn't know what else to say. He felt grateful and ashamed in his heart, unable to help but think of his missing daughter. He didn't know if she had encountered kind-hearted people who took her in. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he couldn't control his sorrow.
Mo Yan and Li Yan watched with trepidation, fearing that his emotional fluctuations might worsen his condition again. They comforted him for a while before Li Zhong gradually calmed down. However, Mo Yan knew that this was only temporary. As long as Li Xiu, his daughter, remained missing, the old man wouldn't truly be happy.
Seeing that it was getting late, Mo Yan asked Li Yan and Zhen'er to stay and chat with the old man to relieve his boredom, while she took Xin'er to the kitchen to prepare lunch.
Thinking that the grandfather and granddaughter of the Li family had not had a decent meal for almost half a month, their stomachs must be very weak by now. Mo Yan decided to make easy-to-digest noodles and corn cakes.
There was still half a pot of chicken soup left from last night. Worried that it might spoil overnight, Mo Yan hung it in the well to keep it cool. Now she took it out to use as the soup base for the noodles.
She poured flour for four people into a clay basin, added water, and stirred it with chopsticks before letting it rest aside to rise. Then she took out another clay basin, added corn flour and a small amount of wheat flour, mixed it with water, and kneaded it into thin round cakes once the cornmeal became sticky.
By this time, the noodles had risen well. Mo Yan poured the chicken soup into another pot and let Xin'er light the fire. After the cooking pot heated up, she added oil and started frying the corn cakes. Just as the corn cakes were fried on one side, the soup in the cooking pot boiled. She poured the noodles into the pot and stirred them with chopsticks. Then she covered the pot and let the noodles cook. By the time the noodles were done, all the corn cakes were also fried.
Mo Yan cooked a homemade pork dish to accompany the meal and made a refreshing sugar tomato salad. After all the dishes were on the table, Mo Yan and Li Yan helped Li Zhong out of bed to join them.
Although the meal was simple, Li Zhong, who had lived for many years and experienced the warmth and coldness of the world, could easily discern Mo Yan's sincerity and effort. He was deeply touched and blamed himself for causing so much trouble to the Mo family along with his granddaughter.
Both the noodles and corn cakes were made from ingredients produced in the space. Coupled with Mo Yan's exquisite cooking skills, the taste was extraordinary. Li Zhong, who originally had little appetite, found himself getting hungrier with each bite. If he hadn't known about his weak stomach, he would have eaten another two bowls.
Li Yan was the same. It was only under her grandfather's reminder that she reluctantly put down her chopsticks.
Seeing that Grandpa Li had an appetite, Mo Yan felt relieved. As long as he could eat, she could try to console him more and help him untie his emotional knots, believing that his recovery was only a matter of time.
After the meal, Mo Yan helped Grandpa Li back to bed to rest. Li Yan insisted on washing dishes and cleaning up, and Mo Yan knew that if she didn't let her do anything, she would be even more uneasy. So she didn't refuse. She asked the two children to accompany Grandpa Li and went to her room to get some silver coins before going out to buy a bed and quilts.
The beds in this era were made of solid wood and coated with tung oil for waterproofing and insect prevention, making them very durable. Since they were for her father and brother to use, Mo Yan didn't choose anything fancy and just spent one or two silver coins to buy a slightly cheaper large bed.
The shops in the city would deliver the goods to the door for free. Mo Yan gave the address and then went to a store to buy quilts. It was already late summer, and the weather was getting cooler day by day. As expected, the price of quilts had increased. Previously, a new cotton quilt and an old cotton quilt cost only eight hundred and fifty wen, but now it cost one or two silver coins.
After some bargaining, plus her previous purchases,
Mo Yan spent nine hundred and fifty wen on two quilts. She asked the shop assistant to deliver the quilts to her home. Seeing that she was a regular customer, the shop assistant readily agreed.
Mo Yan sighed helplessly as she touched the remaining copper coins in her money pouch. She had almost spent all the two extra silver coins she earned from selling eggs over the past half month. Fortunately, she had daily income, so she didn't have to worry about money for the time being.
She bought a piece of coarse cotton cloth to use as a curtain, spending all the copper coins she had on her. Holding the cloth, she returned home contentedly.
When Mo Qingze returned home at night and learned about the unfortunate situation of the Li family, he couldn't help but sigh. He praised Mo Yan for bringing the people back home, showing no reluctance on his face.
Seeing that even the head of the family didn't mind, Li Zhong and his granddaughter finally let go of their last worries and settled down at ease. However, both of them made a silent vow in their hearts to repay the kindness of the Mo family in the future.
And at night, Mo Yan, who had gone to work in the space again, unexpectedly found two more red lines on the transparent bead...
