Chen Xiao Mi started letting Lu Lin take over the cooking since the ‘muddy stick’ episode.
Chen Xiao Mi was talented in hunting, cooking was more like a chore for him, but he always cooked for his younger brother because he had no other choice. And he found that Lu Lin’s cooking was much better than his, so why not let Lu Lin take over.
It wasn’t just Chen Xiao Mi who thought that way, his two younger brothers had also been looking forward to Lu Lin’s cooking.
Chen Xiao Mi asked if Lu Lin was willing to go to the mountains with him and dig more muddy sticks today, Lu Lin readily agreed.
Chen Xiao Mi ventured down the mountains after Lu Lin found muddy sticks like last time.
Lu Lin sneaked into a convenience store and took a long knife to dig Chinese Yam, this time it was much faster because of the knife. Lu Lin dug up two muddy sticks in no time. He didn’t keep digging deeper, he started looking for vegetables and mushrooms to get a varied diet. Seeing the basket full, Lu Lin felt very satisfied, he returned home without waiting for Chen Xiao Mi.
Chen Xiao Cai squatted down and looked at the basket with wide open eyes, Lu Lin came home with so much food!
“There are as many as eight eggs here!” Chen Xiao Cai exclaimed.
“These are pheasant eggs, I found them on the mountain.” Lu Lin lied to Chen Xiao Cai’s face without blinking an eye.
Chen Xiao Cai looked at Lu Lin with disbelief written all over his face. ‘The egg looks very clean and round, there’s no way it’s a pheasant egg, did he… did he steal it from the villagers? But wait, I haven’t heard anyone complaining about this, and a coward like him… hmm… I don’t think he has the guts to steal.’ Chen Xiao Cai thought.
Lu Lin noticed the expression on Chen Xiao Cai’s face, he explained: “There are many kinds of pheasants, you know, and of course the eggs look different.”
Chen Xiao Cai squinted at Lu Lin as he spoke that nonsense.
Lu Lin pinched Chen Xiao Cai’s cheek and said: “Look at you, putting on a long face all day, girls don’t like serious guys, no one will marry you if you continue like this.”
“I’m not getting married!” Chen Xiao Cai raised his volume.
‘Ha, you say that now that you are a kid. One day you will change your mind.’
“Not getting married? You want to rely on your elder brother forever?” Lu Lin teased him.
“I won’t rely…” Chen Xiao Cai blushed, he did not finish his sentence.
“Alright kiddo, can you give me some firewood, I’ll be cooking soon.” Lu Lin softened his voice.
Chen Xiao Cai was unwilling to do as Lu Lin instructed, but he agreed there was no firewood left, so he pouted and left the room in a huff.
Lu Lin started cutting the yam and washing the vegetables and mushrooms.
Chen Xiao Mi ate three servings of porridge that night, his little brothers had swept away the mushrooms and scrambled eggs, yearning for more.
The boiled chicken that Lu Lin cooked the next day received much praise from the Chen brothers as well, not only did they eat the chicken, they also swallowed the broth.
“Big brother.” Chen Xiao Cai pulled Chen Xiao Mi’s sleeve.
“What’s wrong?”
“Something strange happened.”
“What strange thing?”
“There seems to be more rice in the sack.” Chen Xiao Cai kept a flat face.
Chen Xiao Cai specifically remembered he checked the rice and did some calculations by heart before Lu Lin married Chen Xiao Mi, but the pile of rice seemed to be getting bigger even though they had been eating porridge for days, and the rice seemed to taste better as well.
Lu Lin was very generous with the rice from the convenience store, no wonder Chen Xiao Cai noticed.
“And we’ve been eating a lot of eggs lately. He always says he finds them on the mountain, but how come we rarely find a single egg when we go to the mountain, all the eggs look so clean unlike the ones we found before. The same goes for the salt and oil. There’s more salt and oil in the bottle.”
“Isn’t that a good thing.” Chen Xiao Mi said calmly.
“It is good, but it is also very strange. We’ve been eating so well lately, all thanks to him…” Chen Xiao Cai’s voice was getting quieter, he felt very guilty for talking about Lu Lin behind his back while Lu Lin had been so good to them.
“Maybe he brought all that stuff from his maiden family1kinda weird saying maiden family for a guy but basically they’re saying he probably got it from the Lu’s and hid it somewhere, don’t tell anyone about this.”
Chen Xiao Mi remembered what he had done since his father died, he would hide things in caves and ask old hunters to sell the items for him. And thanks to all those preparations, Chen Xiao Mi was able to support himself and his two younger brothers when he first lived separately.
Chen Xiao Mi thought that must be what Lu Lin had done as well. Chen Xiao Mi felt very happy that Lu Lin was willing to share his case dough2case dough is money saved for an emergency with them. And he felt obligated to keep it a secret for Lu Lin’s sake, Lu Lin’s family would create a disturbance if they knew.
‘He is willing to share so many good things with me and my little brothers, it is actually very sweet and touching.’ Chen Xiao Mi thought.
Chen Xiao Mi did not have high hopes for Lu Lin who had committed suicide to avoid marrying him, but now he was beginning to see Lu Lin differently. He enjoyed Lu Lin’s cooking and thought life would be fun in Lu Lin’s company.
Carrying the burden of raising a family alone was not an easy thing for Chen Xiao Mi, but he chose not to say so. And now he felt better with Lu Lin’s help.
Chen Xiao Cai thought about what Chen Xiao Mi said and nodded: “I know what I should do, don’t worry.”
Chen Xiao Cai trusted his elder brother and he would do whatever Chen Xiao Mi told him even though he still found many things that happened to Lu Lin inappropriate.
Chen Xiao Mi also found Lu Lin to be an interesting character, but he chose to look on the bright side of things because life was too difficult.
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