Chapter 36: He Will Take Care of Her in This Life!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Buying things?
‘That is sweet,’ Gu Qingyao thought.
“No… It’s okay. I don’t need anything actually. You must be very tired outside…” she said.
“I’m a man and I should be busy and tired outside. But you’re different. You’re a girl and still young. Of course you deserve better things. I have a lot of coupons and can afford to make you two new sets of clothes. Don’t worry about money, I have.”
Gu Qingyao did not say anything but she was really touched by the words. She lowered her head and blushed.
She knew that Mo Beihan was telling the truth.
The things he got today were worth quite a lot of money if he sold them at the black market.
He had many coupons and could buy many things if he wanted.
Powerful people always ensured that they and the people around them lived good lives no matter how hard the environment they were in was. Mo Beihan was one of those kind of people.
Though they were born in the seventies when there was shortage of food, Mo Beihan took good care of his family.
His father left home when he was young and never returned. But everyone knew that his father abandoned his wife in the countryside and enjoyed himself in the city.
His mother Jiang Yingqiu raised two sons alone but Mo Beihan’s elder brother passed away in the army and left his two sons behind. His brother’s wife married someone else in the city and did not care about the two children.
Life was much harder back then. Many people died from starvation.
The Mo family did not have a man to run the family. They managed to survive but were very poor.
However, the situation improved after Mo Beihan grew up. The family was living a much better life when he got a job.
This was a man’s capability. He could always ensure that he would live a better life in all kinds of situations.
Mo Beihan did not tease the little girl anymore as she was shy. Instead, he washed his hands and asked her to eat.
“You cooked soup? It smells so nice!”
Gu Qingyao brought the food over and said, “Yah, I got many mushrooms over and there’s still a lot left. I was in a good mood so I cooked the fish soup. Have a try.”
The soup was stewed in the jar. There were mushrooms, wild vegetables and two eggs inside.
Mo Beihan was hungry and immediately started eating.
Gu Qingyao passed him a bowl of rice and chicken with chilli. He was slightly shocked and said, “Such good food.”
Gu Qingyao smiled, “I prepared it for you. It must be very tiring for you on the mountain. Eat some good food.”
Mo Beihan smiled and did not object.
The food they were eating was considered a luxury in the seventies. It was something that people who were living in hardship could not afford. However, Mo Beihan did not care. They could eat anything as long as Yao Yao wanted.
Yao Yao suffered from all kinds of rumors and gossip at such a beautiful age in her previous life.
A 15-year-old was living in fear just because her family was landowners. Things got even worse after that incident. Almost everyone was evil to her.
People rolled their eyes at her, gossiped and even cursed at her. They looked at her in a disgusted way. No one could take that.
His Yao Yao lived in that kind of environment for years. Even when both of them were at middle age and society progressed, she did not get rid of the rumors, till she died.
Mo Beihan looked at the girl with the beautiful smile as he ate.
‘I will take good care of her in this life!’ he thought.
Chapter 37: Going Home
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
It was 2 pm in the afternoon and Mo Beihan was hungry after spending the whole morning outside.
Mo Beihan had a big appetite. He finished almost all the food in a short period of time as the delicious food was cooked by Gu Qingyao.
“You should come back early if you are so hungry,” Gu Qingyao said.
Mo Beihan took a sip of the fish soup and smiled, “The food you cook is too delicious. I just can’t stop eating.”
After the meal, Mo Beihan went to peel the skin of the rabbit and the roe deer. Gu Qingyao boiled some water to handle the wild boar.
Mo Beihan did not plan to bring back all the animals he got and instead, settled all of them here.
The wild boar was small and weighed around a hundred kilograms. However, in that age, food was scarce and everyone would definitely envy them if they saw the boar. Unless, they share it with everyone.
Apparently, Mo Beihan did not have that plan. It was always better to remain a low profile, especially when food was concerned.
Gu Qingyao used some stones to form a circle in the puddle and put the six fish inside. She then used all the pots, jars to boil water.
The boiled water was used to remove hair from the skin. After that, she sliced open the boar and chopped its meat piece by piece. She washed the meat, sprinkled some salt on them and hung them on a rack with rope.
She did not throw away any pork’s blood but instead, put all into the aluminium pot. Now she understood why Mo Beihan brought such a big pot over. He definitely had planned for everything.
She chopped all the bones into smaller pieces so that it was easier to carry.
It was almost sunset after they had settled everything. Gu Qingyao noticed the time and asked, “Should we still go and pick the mushrooms? It’s getting dark soon!”
Mo Beihan took a glimpse at his watch. It was 4:30 pm.
“Let’s go. We try to pick as many as we can. We should head back late so that no one in the Brigade will see us.”
Gu Qingyao nodded. They did not plan to bring back everything but it would save them from many troubles if they would not meet anyone.
Mo Beihan was shocked after he saw the number of wild mushrooms down the hill.
“There’re so many of them here?”
There were clumps of them scattering around the entire area and every mushroom was as big as a bowl.
Gu Qingyao smiled and said, “We’re lucky today!”
Mo Beihan rubbed her head as he saw the smiles on her face.
“You’re the lucky gem. Come, let’s pick the big ones and leave the smaller ones when we come back after a few days.”
“Mhm!”
It took them only a short while to fill up four sacks of big mushrooms. Mo Beihan brought them back to the cave and dried them on big stones.
He then took some to bring back.
“Let’s go! It’s getting late. We’ll reach home at night.”
They returned to the cave. Mo Beihan wrapped the bones with brown paper and put them into a sack, together with two pieces of pork hanging on the rack, the pork’s head, mushrooms and wild vegetables.
Gu Qingyao almost filled two sacks. She carried the two sacks on one side of the shoulder pole and dry branches on the other side.
They covered the cave before they left to prevent others from noticing it.
They passed the traps that Mo Beihan set earlier on. There were four rabbits, two chicken and one river deer. Even Mo Beihan laughed at their luck today.
But he did not know that the food he placed into the trap was mixed with spring water by Gu Qingyao secretly. The spring water was from her space, not some elixirs, just more refreshing and cleaner than water outside. She used to make drugs with that.
All the preys were attracted over by the smell of the food.
Chapter 38: This Guy Is Really Capable!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The sky was completely dark when they reached home.
It was about 9 pm. Mo Beihan sent Gu Qingyao to her home and passed her two fish, the ones she washed earlier.
He also gave her two rabbits and a chicken. He wanted her to take the river deer but Gu Qingyao did not want so much meat. She only needed some to show that they were fruitful.
“I’ll come and pick you up tomorrow morning.”
“Okay!”
They planned to go to the town tomorrow.
Gu Yunshen kept waiting as his daughter was not home yet. He walked out immediately as he heard voices in the yard.
Mo Beihan greeted Gu Yunshen and left.
Gu Yunshen helped Gu Qingyao take everything in. He looked towards the direction where Mo Beihan left and smiled, “This guy is really capable.”
The trip into the mountain must be fruitful.
Gu Qingyao smiled and walked inside with her father.
“I have eaten with Brother Beihan on the mountain. I’ll go back to my room later.”
Gu Yunshen nodded and said, “Okay. There’s hot water in the kitchen. You can take a shower and rest early!”
Zhang Xiaohui and Gu Ruoqing came out of the room and ran over to see what Gu Qingyao brought back.
She went out with Mo Beihan this time. Every time Mo Beihan came back and headed towards the mountain, he would bring many things for the Gu Family. It must be the same for today.
They were delighted as they saw the chicken, rabbit and fish in Gu Qingyao’s hands!
“Woh! There’s meat, Mom! We get to eat fish tomorrow!”
Zhang Xiaohui was in joy as well, “Yes! We’ll have fish tomorrow! It’s been long since we last ate fish. It was so exhausting during the autumn harvest. Time to eat some meat.”
Gu Yunshen and Gu Qingyao did not even bother to talk to them. She passed everything to Gu Yunshen and headed towards her room.
“Wait! Where’s the meat at home? Where did you hide the meat and the flour?” Gu Ruoqing asked.
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Gu Qingyao turned back and twitched her lips as she stared at Gu Ruoqing. Gu Ruoqing was indeed still a child and did not learn from her own mistakes. She had forgotten about the beating yesterday?
“How will I know. They are always at home. Ask your mom why our meat and flour disappeared. Every time when something went missing at home, she was always the one who took them, right?”
Gu Ruoqing was stunned and looked at Zhang Xiaohui.
It made… some sense.
Zhang Xiaohui was enraged, “Stop all the nonsense! When I woke up this morning, there was nothing left in the kitchen. You’re the only one who went out today. Who else would take away those things besides you?”
“Yes. You were the one who locked the kitchen door yesterday. The things went missing this morning. Who else can it be?” Gu Ruoqing tried to advocate for her mother.
Gu Qingyao sneered, “What can you do to me? I just don’t want to tell you. This is my home. I can do whatever I want. Furthermore, even Father did not say anything. So, just shut up!”
“You…”
Zhang Xiaohui totally raged. She didn’t even get to eat the meat at home. She went back to her mother’s place to help with the harvest. She thought that there would be good food waiting for her when she came back but in the end, there was nothing left.
Not only the meat, there was no flour or rice left at all. She starved for the whole day yesterday and today she had to eat the coarse grain that was difficult to swallow even.
“Gu Qingyao, the home does not belong to you only. The meat is for everyone. Why could you take them away? Take them out and cook a few nice dishes for us. Your sister and I almost did not eat anything for the past two days.”
Gu Qingyao scoffed, “You want meat? Sure! Do your job at home and you won’t starve. If you still laze around, there will not even be coarse grain for you! Don’t dream about meat.”
Chapter 39: She Needs to Chase Out the Mother and the Daughter
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Gu Qingyao scoffed. She walked towards her room and did not bother to talk to the two of them.
Zhang Xiaohui and Gu Ruoqing still wanted to say something but they heard the sound of the door closed. They turned around and saw that Gu Yunshen brought everything back to his room and locked the door.
Zhang Xiaohui: “…”
She stared at the door for a while but still did not ask Gu Yunshen to open the door. She went back to Gu Ruoqing’s room and slept together with her.
Gu Qingyao witnessed what was going on outside from her room. She understood that her father was suffering and disgusted by this kind of woman.
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However, he could not just ditch her.
More accurately speaking, her father did not want to take the risk now.
Zhang Xiaohui was just an unreasonable rascal. Her entire family was like that as well.
The Zhang family were all poor farmers but the Gu family were landowners. Their identity was too sensitive in this day and age. Anything happened would be the Gu family’s fault.
No one would care about a landowner’s thoughts in this age. If her father wanted to divorce with Zhang Xiaohui and she got nowhere to go. She would definitely find more troubles without the good supply from the Gu family.
No one cared about what she was going to do but the Gu family could not bear with that.
Both of her grandparents were old. If anything happened, their lives might even be in danger.
There was no such thing as reasoning in this age.
The Gu family was not short of money as both the Gu family and her grandma’s Wen family had hidden golds as secret savings. If they exchanged the gold for high-priced grain, the whole family would never starve to death at least.
Keeping Zhang Xiaohui in the Gu family just cost the Gu family more money only.
But no matter what was going to happen, they needed to wait until this period passed.
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She understood what was her father’s concerns and she did not want anything to happen to her family. However, she did not want to wait either!
Her grandparents had five children. The oldest and the second oldest both went to the army and had good ranks now. Though they were not able to be promoted further due to the family’s identity, they were able to sustain their lives.
Their children were also in the army and had good achievements at young ages.
The third oldest son settled down in the city with his family.
Her father was the youngest and stayed in the countryside to take care of her grandparents. He helped to farm and feed the livestock. He also picked different herbs everywhere to treat patients.
His whole life was held up after Zhang Xiaohui stuck to him.
Now she was reborn and she had everything in her hands. She would definitely allow her family to live a good life. Zhang Xiaohui and her daughter were too troublesome and they must be chased away.
And there was her aunt. She suffered from many hardships and Gu Qingyao would take care of her so that her grandparents would be relieved.
She stared at Gu Ruoqing’s room and recalled everything they had done in her previous life. Gu Qingyao was determined that she must chase them out as soon as possible.
And of course, chasing them out and ensuring that her own family would be safe.
Gu Qingyao took a basin of hot water that her father boiled. But she did not use the water and instead, put it into her interspace.
She entered her living interspace and had a bath with the hot water before she slept.
Gu Qingyao woke up before the sky even brightened up on the next morning.
She agreed to follow Mo Beihan to the town today. He would definitely leave very early so she needed to get up early as well to prepare.
Chapter 40: Riding A Bicycle Was Like Being In His Arms!
Actually, she did not have much to prepare. She simply tidied herself.
In these times, young girls wore their hair in two plaits. After marriage, they wore it in a single large braid. Gu Qingyao was only 15 years old, so she wore her hair in two braids, plaited at her ears. She carefully combed her hair and braided it.
Then she put on a clean set of clothes, grabbed her coat and a small, olive green bag.
Mo Beihan had given her this bag. If she looked at it with the eyes of her reborn self, it was rather unsophisticated. But now, it was considered to be very fashionable.
Her bag had been the envy of many young girls in the brigade!
Gu Ruoqing, in particular, had been hungrily eyeing this bag for a long time.
Thinking about it made Gu Qingyao want to laugh.
Gu Qingyao left after tidying herself. She noticed that the lights in her grandparent’s room were on. They had already woken up, but Zhang Xiaohui and Gu Ruoqing’s room was still pitch dark.
Gu Qingyao was used to it.
She went to Gu Yunshen’s room. “Father, I’ll be going to town with Brother Beihan later. Here is breakfast for you, Grandfather and Grandma.”
Gu Qingyao took out meat buns and boiled eggs, but Gu Yunshen refused them. “No need. Leave the boiled eggs, but bring the buns with you! Their smell is too strong. Also, we don’t need to eat food like this every day. We still have to eat the coarse grain.”
Gu Qingyao smiled. “Father, I know, but I don’t want to see you suffer! Grandfather and Grandma are so old, but have no better food to eat. You don’t need to worry about that mother and daughter duo finding out. They won’t get up until the sun is high in the sky.”
Gu Yunshen did not say anything.
Gu Qingyao offered the food again. “If there’s good food, why not eat it?”
Gu Yunshen agreed after some thought, so he quickly washed up and returned to eat the food. Then he went to the next room and asked the older folks to quickly brush their teeth and eat.
Mo Beihan arrived and knocked on the door. When Gu Qingyao heard the sound, she left after telling Gu Yunshen.
Mo Beihan was in the courtyard, astride an old-fashioned Phoenix brand bicycle. He wore ordinary black clothes. A basket that was meant to be carried on the back was placed on the back of the bicycle, covered by a cloth. But Gu Qingyao knew that it was full of goods.
When Mo Beihan saw his girl emerge, carrying the bag he had given her, his smile deepened. “Come on! Let’s go! If we leave now, we will reach the town at daybreak.”
Mo Beihan mounted the bicycle and braced it with his legs. “Get up!”
The back of the bicycle was occupied by the basket, so she had no choice but… to sit in front.
This type of bicycle had a front crossbar, and someone could sit in front.
Gu Qingyao glanced at him. There was even a cushion tied to the crossbar, to soften the seat.
She smiled and obediently got on.
Mo Beihan’s heart was filled with tenderness as he pedaled towards the town.
The sun had not yet risen, but the moonlight was very bright. They could see the road as they cycled. Above them was the bright moon and the starry sky. As Mo Beihan cycled along the narrow village tracks, the young girl sitting on the bicycle felt as if she was in his embrace!
In their previous life, they had traveled throughout the country for many years. His deepest desire was for this young girl not to suffer any hurt. But the power of gossip had been unstoppable.
She was a young girl who had grown up under the doting care of her father, and did not have many life experiences. Yet she was suddenly despised by everyone. This, together with the terror that she experienced that night, meant that she would definitely bear internal scars.
It was not that she did not like him, but that she did not have the courage to marry him. She did not have the courage to face the derision and the mocking.
In this life, all this had not happened. The young girl in his arms could grow up in peace. What a wonderful feeling!