Chapter 142 This is a really great idea

"Bah~"

"Xu Yuping! Xu Yuping! How can you be so shameless!"

"She's more than ten years younger than you, and you're almost old enough to be her mother, yet you're still thinking about warming her bed. How shameful!"

Soon, Xu Yuping hurriedly ran into the bathhouse with her clothes, and then spat at herself with a blushing face.

Then, Li Guoqiang's handsome face and his steady and warm eyes appeared in her mind. She was slightly stunned and murmured to herself: "How could such a good man like him be interested in me?"

"Ah~"

After a while, a long sigh suddenly sounded in the bathhouse.

Xu Yuping shook her head, forcing away the slight fantasy in her mind, then walked to the stove, opened the lid of the pot, and poured hot water into the large water tank next to it.

Not long after, she prepared the bath water, then took off her patched and worn cotton jacket, stepped on a small wooden stool, and slowly sat down in the large water tank.

As the hot water soaked her body, she couldn't help but squint her eyes, and a very comfortable look appeared on her face.

When she was at her husband's house, she usually just washed herself in a basin of hot water. How could she be so extravagant as to use half a tub of hot water to take a bath?

She never imagined that the happiness she didn't enjoy in her husband's family would be enjoyed when she returned to her parents' home.

After soaking for a while, her cheeks slowly turned red in the white steam, and her whole body became a little lazy.

Then she reached out and grabbed a handful of dirty hair, put it in front of her and took a look, a look of disgust flashed in her eyes.

Then she hurriedly stood up from the water tank, bent down and stuck her head out, picked up the soap on the stove next to her, and began to wash her hair carefully, completely unaware of how ugly she looked at the moment.

She washed it two or three times in a row until her scalp felt refreshed. She stopped with a satisfied look on her face, then sat back in the water tank, creating a big, white splash of water.

Then she started to rub soap and wash her body.

It is said that Li Guoqiang insisted on building this bathhouse. From this, we can see that Li Guoqiang must be a person who likes cleanliness, so she must wash herself cleanly.

Not long after, when she finished taking a shower and got dressed, her originally dark yellow skin color had become brighter without her noticing, as if she had suddenly become a year or two younger.

But she didn't look in the mirror at the moment, so she didn't notice any changes in herself. She just felt a sense of comfort all over her body, as if she had taken off a heavy shell.

Next, she drained the slightly turbid water from the large vat and cleaned it carefully.

When she finished her work and opened the door of the bathhouse, she found that it was already dark outside. Her heart skipped a beat and she hurried into the house, fearing that Li Guoqiang would have an opinion about her taking so long to bathe.

However, Li Guoqiang didn't pay any attention to how long Xu Yuping took to take a bath. He was sitting on the kang, whispering fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and The Ugly Duckling to Xu Dani and Zhu Caixia.

And Qu Yinfeng was sitting on the other side, sewing the soles of thousand-layer shoes as usual, with a kind and gentle smile on her face.

When Xu Yuping walked in and saw this scene, she was stunned for a moment, then silently walked to the south kang and sat down. Her pair of beautiful autumn eyes stared blankly at the very warm scene in front of her through the orange-yellow kerosene lamplight.

Once upon a time, she had fantasized countless times about having a happy and harmonious family with loving husband and wife, loving father and filial children. Unfortunately, the reality disappointed her time and time again.

She even began to doubt whether there was such a beautiful family in the world.

It was not until now that she found the answer from Li Guoqiang.

It turns out that it’s not that there is no such beautiful family in the world, but that she didn’t marry the right person.

if
How great it would have been if she could have married someone like Li Guoqiang!
"Ping'er, you and Xiaoxia should make do with this quilt for now!"

When Qu Yinfeng saw Xu Yuping coming in, she hurriedly moved the quilt that Xu Dani was covering over there, and then spoke softly.

"Ok!"

Xu Yuping came back to her senses after hearing this, and nodded quickly in agreement.

At this point, she was lucky to have a quilt to cover herself with, so naturally she had no right to be picky.

Soon, she took the quilt and spread it on the head of the south kang, then moved closer to Qu Yinfeng and helped her sew the soles of her shoes while keeping an eye on what was happening over there with Li Guoqiang.

Not long after, Li Guoqiang made a hushing gesture to Zhu Caixia, then picked up Xu Dani and gently put her into Qu Yinfeng's bed.

Seeing this, Zhu Caixia felt a little unsatisfied, but she did not clamor to continue listening to Li Guoqiang's story.

Li Guoqiang turned around and saw that Zhu Caixia had quietly run to the south kang. He couldn't help but secretly praise the little girl for being sensible. Then he didn't say anything and got into his own bed to prepare for sleep.

When Qu Yinfeng saw that Li Guoqiang was getting ready to go to bed, she hurriedly took the work from Xu Yuping's hands and motioned for her to go to bed quickly so as not to disturb Li Guoqiang.

Xu Yuping naturally didn't dare to have any objection to this. Besides, she had walked such a long way today and helped with so much housework, she was already exhausted, so she immediately returned to the south kang and squeezed into the same bed with Zhu Caixia.

After a while, Qu Yinfeng saw Xu Yuping lying down, and hurriedly turned the cotton wick switch, turned off the kerosene lamp, and then lay down next to Xu Dani.

Soon, the atmosphere around became silent.

However, except for Xu Dani who had fallen asleep, and Li Guoqiang who was managing his little world with his mind, the other three people felt a little uneasy.

Among them, the little girl Zhu Caixia had a simpler mind. Her mind was full of the fairy tales that Li Guoqiang had just told her, and she fantasized that she would become the ugly duckling that turned into a swan in the future.

Qu Yinfeng and Xu Yuping were both worried about Li Guoqiang moving out.

Although Li Guoqiang has made it clear that he will continue to help take care of the family after moving out, they are no longer three-year-old children and naturally understand that once they live separately, they will no longer be a family in the eyes of the villagers.

At that time, even if Li Guoqiang was willing to continue to help take care of them, it would be difficult for them to accept this kindness.

After all, in this world, is there any reason to take other people's benefits for free?

If they really did that, their reputation would be ruined and they would never be able to hold their heads high again.

If they did not accept Li Guoqiang's care, as an orphan and a widow, they would at best just not starve to death. It would be wishful thinking for them to continue to live the good life they are living now.

How to do?
After thinking for a long time, Qu Yinfeng and Xu Yuping could not think of any good solution, and finally could only fall asleep in a daze.

In the blink of an eye, it was the next morning.

When Xu Yuping woke up from her sleep, she found that Qu Yinfeng had already prepared breakfast. She was so scared that she quickly got up, fearing that Li Guoqiang would have a bad impression of her.

Little did people know that Li Guoqiang didn't care whether Xu Yuping slept in or not. He got up early, practiced his skills in the yard, had some breakfast, and then went to Xu Guangfu's house to discuss building the wooden house.

When Xu Guangfu heard that Li Guoqiang wanted to build a wooden house, he couldn't help but ask in confusion: "It's so cold, why are you building a wooden house?" "That."

Li Guoqiang didn't hide anything when he heard this, and answered directly: "You also know that Sister Yuping doesn't know when she will have a place to stay. I'm a grown man, I can't live with her every day, right?"

"If you stay here for ten days or half a month, there might not be any problem, but if you stay here for a long time, maybe someone will gossip about you behind your back."

"So, I thought about building a wooden house first, moving out and living there by myself, and then wait until next spring to build a few more houses."

"Ok!"

After listening to this, Xu Guangfu nodded and said, "You are right. It is indeed not suitable for you two, a single man and a single woman, to live together for a long time."

"But I'm afraid it won't work if you want to build a wooden house now."

"Why not?"

Li Guoqiang was slightly stunned, then hurriedly asked: "Didn't you say before that we educated youth can pay for the construction of houses ourselves?"

"That's right!"

Xu Guangfu nodded, then explained in a deep voice: "I told you this before, but later the higher-ups announced that they would set up a youth training center for you all!"

"So, the brigade plans to wait until your housing subsidies come in, then choose a place in the village, build a large yard for you, and then arrange for you to live there."

"Now you say you want to build another house by yourself, I'm afraid the village won't agree!"

Li Guoqiang: “.”

"Ah!"

Seeing Li Guoqiang's speechless expression, Xu Guangfu was happy in his heart, and then he laughed and said, "Don't worry, although you can't build a house by yourself now, but I have already thought of an idea for you. It depends on whether you are willing to do it."

"What's the idea?"

Li Guoqiang raised his eyebrows and asked hurriedly.

“Actually the solution is very simple!”

Seeing how anxious Li Guoqiang was, Xu Guangfu didn't keep him in suspense and directly told him his idea, "There's an empty plot of land next to Sister Yinfeng's outer house! You can talk to Sister Yinfeng and let her build a house on that empty plot of land."

"When the time comes, as long as you don't break down the wall and live separately, you won't have to worry about people gossiping about you."

Hearing this, the layout of Qu Yinfeng's house immediately emerged in Li Guoqiang's mind. He discovered that it was indeed the same as Xu Guangfu said. There was an open space of about 30 square meters next to the outer room. He immediately felt happy.

Originally, he always thought that he could build a house with his own money, so naturally he had never thought of expanding Qu Yinfeng's house.

In addition, a simple shed for raising livestock had been built on the vacant land, so he would not think about it at all.

"How about it?"

Seeing the joy on Li Guoqiang's face, Xu Guangfu couldn't help but joked, "My idea is not bad, isn't it?"

"Not bad!"

Li Guoqiang gave a thumbs up, and then praised happily: "Your idea is really great. This way, we can avoid gossip and it will be convenient for me to continue to help take care of Aunt Yinfeng and Dani in the future."

In fact, he didn't have to move out of Qu Yinfeng's house. He just needed to have a reason to shut other people up.

The method of living in the same courtyard but different houses is obviously the most appropriate one.

In fact, since the back and left sides of the open space were already surrounded by walls, and the right side was the wall of the outer house, he only needed to raise the wall and then build another wall in front.

However, since it is now the middle of winter, the construction of the wall will have to wait until the beginning of next spring, so we can only temporarily build it with wood.

Soon, he made an application to Xu Guangfu to go up the mountain to chop wood, and then hurried back home, ready to tell Qu Yinfeng the good news so that she wouldn't worry so much.

At the same time, after finishing breakfast, Xu Yuping also reached out to stop Qu Yinfeng, who wanted to ask Ma Chunmei to help introduce her to a partner, and expressed her opinion that she did not want to get married again.

"How can this be done?"

When Qu Yinfeng heard this, she immediately objected in annoyance, "If you don't get married, what will happen to Qiangzi? Do you want to stay in this family for the rest of your life?"

"mom!"

Xu Yuping's heart tightened, and then she pleaded, "I really don't want to live a life where I'm scolded and beaten every day. Please have pity on me and let me stay at home!"

"I promise, I will respect you well in the future!"

"no!"

When Qu Yinfeng saw Xu Yuping like this, a trace of heartache flashed in her eyes, then she gritted her teeth and refused in a deep voice: "When your father was dying, he had already handed this family over to Qiangzi."

"If you stay in this house, Qiangzi will be forced to move out. I can't let your father die and people stab you in the back."

"Besides, if you don't find a new family to marry into, who will support you and Xiaoxia? And what will you do when you get old? Have you thought about these issues?"

"that."

Hearing these words, Xu Yuping became anxious, and then said in a panic: "Qiangzi is so capable, he can definitely support us mother and daughter!"

"shut up!"

Qu Yinfeng was slightly stunned, and then angrily cursed: "How dare you say such shameless words?"

"Who is Qiangzi to you? Why do you want him to support you and your mother?"

"you go!"

"You leave now!"

"Don't call me mom from now on. I'll pretend I never gave birth to an ungrateful person like you!"

After saying that, she reached out and grabbed Xu Yuping's arm, dragging her towards the door.

Seeing this, Xu Yuping immediately knelt on the ground, and then cried out in a sobbing voice: "Mom, I'm sorry, I was wrong, I know I was wrong, please don't chase me away, please don't chase me away, okay?"

(End of this chapter)