Chapter 5: Gossipy villagers
Lu Lin thought what he should do to survive that time and space while sipping the chocolate milk, and all of a sudden there came some noise from under the bed.
Lu Lin squatted down and looked under the bed, a five-year-old boy crawled from under the bed and his eyes were glued on the chocolate milk in Lu Lin's hand.
Lu Lin was just thinking about whether he should confess about his convenience store to Chen Xiao Mi, but now it looked like he got busted.
Lu Lin gave a start, but soon he calmed down.
Chen Xiao Mi's house was pretty remote with no neighbor around, this little boy must be Chen Xiao Mai, Chen Xiao Mi's youngest little brother.
Lu Lin searched the host's memory and found this Chen Xiao Mai was a premature baby, he had been feeble and sickly since he was born. He had a high fever two years ago that was not treated intime, this boy now was a bit special.
"Would you like some?" Lu Lin asked Chen Xiao Mai, pointing at the chocolate milk in hand.
Chen Xiao Mai hesitated a little and grabbed the bottle from Lu Lin's hand, he had a sip and became elated after he had a taste.
Sugar was precious in that time and space, a piece of candy was worth two pennies, only wealthy people could afford to have sugar as snacks.
Chen Xiao Mai's reaction made Lu Lin think about the days when he was a boy, he would wave his arms and stamp his feet in joy after he had snacks that he liked. But as he grew older, he didn't enjoy snacks that much.
Chen Xiao Mai returned the bottle to Lu Lin after he took several gulps.
Lu Lin put on a serious face and said, "Let's keep this a secret, otherwise I won't share anything with you, all right? Just don't tell anyone about this."
Chen Xiao Mai blinked at Lu Lin, without saying a word. Lu Lin wasn't sure whether this boy understood him or not.
Lu Lin then returned to the door plank and lied down, he racked his brains, thinking about the ways to obtain wealth.
What he didn't know was the villagers were talking about him and Chen Xiao Mi passionately, there was no entertainment back then except gossip. The marriage between him and Chen Xiao Mi naturally had dominated the villagers' conversation.
"The Lus have already sent Lu Lin to Chen Xiao Mi's place, really?"
"Lu Lin is a poor boy, marrying that bold Bio, geez, who knows whether that Bio is going to abuse him or not."
Lu Lin's grandmother had cooked up a new story saying Lu Lin refused to have anything to do with them after he married Chen Xiao Mi, he attacked some family members, he even tried to steal crops from them.
No one believed the grandmother's story in the beginning, but as time went by, people started to fall for that.
Even the poor families in the village refused to betroth to Chen Xiao Mi, no one had expected the Lus, the well-off family in the village was willing to marry Lu Lin into Chen Xiao Mi's family.
"Lu Lin's illness is pretty severe; do you think Chen Xiao Mi will send for a doctor for him?"
"Probably not."
"The Lu family, I can't believe they had sent Lu Lin to Chen Xiao Mi's place without giving Lu Lin any proper treatment."
"Ha, spending money on Lu Lin, that's out of the question!"
"Well, I don't think this is that bad, Chen Xiao Mi is ferocious, that's true, but he is a capable hunter, Lu Lin might be able to have meat in the future."
Meat was a precious resource back then, especially for the villagers, most of them could only afford meat in Spring Festival.
"Hunting is not that easy, man, winter is coming, you cannot even go hunting when heavy snow seals the mountain passes."
"Doesn't Lu Lin's grandmother say he is ill-starred, he will bring bad luck to his family, his parents died because he is a jinx! Why would Chen Xiao Mi marry him?"
"I don't think Chen Xiao Mi would worry about someone else's bad luck, I heard he is an ill-starred person too."
Lu Lin felt so dizzy and nauseated, he sneaked back to the convenience store and had some antipyretic.
Lu Lin always worked till late in the store back in modern days, he had prepared some common medicine for unexpected needs.
Chen Xiao Cai went out for a while in the evening, and he returned with a basket of firewood.
Lu Lin couldn't help but exclaim in the heart, an eight-year-old boy he was, but he had already started to contribute to the family.
Winters in ancient times had always been tough, the villagers always store as much firewood as possible, a severe frost would cause more damage than one could imagine.
Chen Xiao Mai grabbed his Second Brother's arm as soon as Chen Xiao Cai came back, the two had been whispering passionately, Lu Lin had no idea whether this Chen Xiao Mai had betrayed him or not.
'It's a matter of time before I'm busted by Chen Xiao Mi. Should I just make a confession, we are married now after all.'
'Chen Xiao Mi is a rebel in this society, he dares to offend his grandmother and uncle to protect his brothers, I'm sure he is a sensible man! I don't think he will hurt me or burn me to death once he finds out I'm just a soul who has occupied this Lu Lin's body. Chen Xiao Mi is different from them as well, he is a Bio, but he is so strong!'
'That's not necessarily true though, he has been living in this time and space his whole life, what if... ...'
Lu Lin went back and forth on his confession plan, and he decided to do it step by step, he would win the Chen Brothers' heart one step at a time.