Chapter 67: The Daughter's Body Feels So Comfortable

  "This can't be called a secret meeting, a secret meeting is..." Su Xiaofan swallowed back the words that almost slipped out of her mouth. How could she really explain the meaning of a secret meeting to a child?

  "Hmm?" Xiao Yimeng raised an eyebrow and gazed coldly at Yun Song.

  "Never mind, I won't go today. Let's go in." Su Xiaofan took Xiao Yiming's hand and walked straight into the tavern. She didn't need to rush over every time he appeared anyway. Originally, she didn't want to see him either.

  As soon as Su Xiaofan entered the wine shop, she went into the kitchen to busy herself and completely threw Zhang Yuncong outside out of her mind.

  "Is there a problem? Why don't we just go and drive him away?" Yu Xiaoxi said with discontent, wiping the tables.

  "Yes, I think it's better to just drive them away." Meng Ping softly echoed beside her.

  "Just let him be there for now, I reckon he'll have to come in soon." Xiao Yimò propped up his head, his eyes fixed intently on Zhang YunSong.

  As expected, after half a cup of tea time had passed, Zhang Yun Song hesitantly walked in from outside. He originally wanted to bypass the crowd and head straight into the kitchen, but was intercepted by Yu Xiao Xi.

  "Xiao Xi, what's going on?" Zhang Yun Song asked with a warm and gentle smile.

  "What are you doing here?" Yu Xiaoxi spread out her arms and blocked his way.

  "Let me take a look at Fan'er." Zhang Yun's eyes had that same gentle and warm smile that was as calm as ever, making people feel at ease.

  Yu Xiaoxi snorted: "We should have told you long ago to stop meddling with Xiao Fan, please don't come to bother him so often. Husband and wife will get tired of it, are you really trying to stir up trouble between them?"

  Zhang Yun Song turned his head to glance at Xiao Yi Mo, then shook his head and replied, "But he's just a child, how could he possibly understand those things? And Little Xi, do you really think that after all these years, he'll treat Fan Er well?"

  "That has nothing to do with you." When the other person hit on what he was worried about in his heart, Yu Xiaoxi's face changed slightly, but he still didn't plan to let him in. That little kid wasn't reliable, and Zhang Yuncong was even less reliable. Believing his words was no better than believing that the little kid would treat Xiao Fan well in the future.

  "But the one Fan'er likes is me." Zhang Yun Song's eyes were firm and unwavering. Since he had returned, this time he must bring Xiao Fan back to Beijing with him. Moreover, Mei'er currently thought that Fan'er was dead, so it would be even better for him to secretly arrange for her to settle in Beijing.

  "How dare you say that." Yu Xiaoxi glared at her angrily. In the past, Xiao Fan indeed liked him, but now, where did he get the confidence to say so boldly that Xiao Fan's crush was him?

  Xiao Yuanqiu used his fan to cover his face and leaned in close to Xiao Yimò, asking in a low voice: "Do you want me to drive him away?"

  Xiao Yi Mo's small eyebrows were knotted in displeasure, and the angry sparks dancing in her eyes seemed to want to burn Yun Song to death. In response to Xiao Yuan Qiu's question, she merely shook her head slightly, not knowing why, but wanting to see how that woman would react.

  "Are you really going to let her go?" Xiao Yuanqiu saw the hesitation in his eyes.

  "How can you tell?" Xiao Yi Mo glanced at him sideways.

  "I always feel like you're waiting for Xiao Fan to come out and respond to his previous sentence 'Xiao Fan likes him', so I'm very curious, if that's really the case, Mo brother, do you plan to help them get together?" Xiao Yuanqiu smiled back at him with an unchanged expression, meeting his cold gaze.

  "She's dreaming."

  Xiao Yuanqiu silently smiled with pursed lips.

  Su Xiaofan heard the commotion outside despite being in the kitchen.

  The eyebrows jumped up and down a few times with displeasure.

  "Xiao Fan, don't you want to go out and take a look?" Su Bing thought about going out to stop Xiao Xi from blocking that person again, because even if he let him in, Xiao Fan wouldn't pay attention to him. However, he vaguely felt that even if he went out to stop her, Xiao Xi wouldn't easily listen to him, although she usually listened to his words most of the time.

  As for things related to Xiaofan, I don't have confidence in myself anymore.

  "Yeah, sorry for the trouble." Su Xiaofan put down what he was holding and prepared to walk out.

  "If Xiao Fan doesn't want to go out, I'll just go and drive him away. Looking at his weak and bookish appearance, I can easily drive him away." Meng Jie blocked Su Xiao Fan's path because she looked like she didn't want to bother with that person.

  Su Xiaofan smiled slightly and said, "It's okay, I'll have to deal with it myself sooner or later."

  Meng Jie listened and felt that it was indeed so, and then let go.

  "Xiao Fan." Zhang Yun Song called out loud towards Su Xiao Fan who came from inside.

  "Xiao Fan, don't mind him, I can chase him away." Yu Xiao Xi shielded Su Xiao Fan behind her.

  Su Xiaofan smiled and said: "Alright, Xiao Xi, don't be nervous."

  Yu Xiaoxi was pushed aside by Su Xiaofan, but she still couldn't feel at ease, so she stood beside her and accompanied her. If Yun Song dared to take another step forward, she would really push him away.

  "Speak, what do you want to do here?" Su Xiao Fan suppressed the urge not to bother with him and asked aloud. After all, the Wang Ye of the Blue Luan House might still need to use this Zhang Yun Song in the future, and she would definitely take revenge on him for his indifference to her plight that day. For now, it's best not to make things too awkward.

  Zhang Yun-song glanced around at the crowd in the tavern, opened his mouth and then closed it again, looking like he wanted to say something but was hesitant.

  "If it's that thing you mentioned last time, there's no need to say it again. Why would I give up being a proper wife and become your mistress, who is not even as good as a concubine?" Su Xiaofan knew that in this era, secretly kept mistresses were absolutely incomparable to those married into the household as concubines.

  Zhang Yun Song saw her straightforwardly say it out, and no longer cared about the others present: "This is only temporary, in the future I will definitely welcome you into the mansion with great fanfare."

  Su Xiaofan wiped away all expressions on her face and asked emotionlessly: "To what extent can I be the most glorious concubine?"

  Zhang Yun remained silent, knowing that Ruan Qing's personality would never allow her to give Fang'er a good face even if she could be persuaded to agree to Fang'er entering the manor in the future. Therefore, it was more appropriate to arrange for her to live elsewhere as he had thought.

  "Cough, the topic has gone off on a tangent, those aren't the key points, the key is why you still think I like you?" Feeling the anger emanating from Xiao Yi Mo's direction, Su Xiao Fan lightly coughed and returned to the subject.

  "Does Fang Er no longer like me?" Zhang Yun Song said in a disbelieving tone.

  "There shouldn't be any connection between us anymore, can you please stop disturbing my peaceful life? The assassins last time were also because of you, weren't they?" Su Xiaofan felt that she had already made herself very clear, why couldn't this guy understand? Or did he understand but just didn't want to?

  Zhang Yun hung his head: "Sorry, that night I unintentionally got drunk and told Mei Er about it, so she would do such a thing. Her starting point was for my own good, so Fang Er can you forgive her?"

  Su Xiaofan's eyebrows jumped slightly, and before she could even say it herself, he had already spoken it out.

  "Tomorrow I'll find a few people to kill her, can she forgive me?" Su Xiaofan shouted in a bad tone, and then continued to say: "After all, those things have nothing to do with me, it's your own business, I was originally unrelated to her, where does the forgiveness come from? Trouble you to understand clearly, okay? I, Su Xiaofan, don't like you Zhang YunSong, not even a little bit."

  "I don't believe it, Fang'er used to like me so much, it's impossible for him to change his mind so quickly, you're just angry, that's all." Zhang Yunsheng said firmly, as if explaining to himself.

  "Alas." Su Xiaofan sighed lightly and walked over to Xiao Yimeng's table, sitting down: "Which of you can help me drive him away?"

  Xiao Yuanqiu quickly stood up and walked over, he had been wanting to get rid of him for a long time.

  Meng Ping also walked over: "Alright, Lord Zhang, please don't interfere with our business."

  Zhang Yun Song gazed at Su Xiao Fan for a moment before turning to leave, thinking to himself that it seemed he would have to go to her home to find her another day. Perhaps she was acting this way because there were too many people around.

  After Zhang Yun Song left, everyone in the store gathered around Su Xiao Fan's side, staring at her with their eyes fixed on her.

  "What are you doing?" Su Xiaofan looked over in confusion.

  "Xiao Fan, what was that thing he just mentioned?" Yu Xiao Xi leaned forward, her hands on the desk, and stretched her head towards Su Xiao Fan, forcing her to look at him directly.

  "That... isn't a big deal either." Su Xiao Fan furrowed his brow, what Blue Ling and the others wanted to know was also this matter, did this matter really have any use for them? If it was useful, he could make good use of it to avenge himself for the past.

  Yu Xiaoxi's face was filled with disbelief. Others had already sent people to kill her because of that matter, and yet she said it wasn't a big deal? If so, then what would be considered a big deal?

  Su Bing pulled Yu Xiao over to his side and stood up: "Xiao Fan, if you're troubled, don't hesitate to discuss it with us."

  "It's nothing, even if I tell you now, it would only drag you in further. I'll tell you later, for me right now, it's not a big deal." Su Xiaofan said with a frown and then got up and entered the kitchen, leaving behind a room full of uneasy people.

  "Alright, you all get busy too." Su Bing said to Yu Xiaoxi before following her into the kitchen.

  Xiao Yimeng hung her head, and a vague guess had formed in her mind, but it wasn't very certain. After all, if that were the case, she should have hated Zhang Yuncong to death, so why did she only feel aversion towards him from her, without any hatred?

  "Mo Di doesn't need to be too anxious, perhaps when Lan Lin returns again, we will know." Xiao Yuanqiu shook the fan a few times and looked out the window.

  "Why?" Xiao Yimiao raised her face and looked over with raised eyebrows.

  "It feels like that." Xiao Yuanqiu also couldn't say why he thought so, although he hadn't heard the content of her conversation with Lan Meng last time, but vaguely guessed what Lan Meng wanted to know from her, which was what everyone here wanted to know, so when Lan Meng came back again, maybe everyone would know.

  Xiao Yi Mo silently stared at him with an unspoken rebuke, feeling that he was probably the most unreliable thing in this world.

  The more one indulges in wild fancies, the more restless his mind becomes.

  After finishing the lunch rush, Su Bing and Meng Jie brothers sat at the table outside the kitchen door, planning to follow Xiao Fan's suggestion that in the future, whoever was serving dishes would only need to pick them up from this table, so even if they hired someone new, the recipes inside the kitchen wouldn't be stolen.

  In the afternoon, two people came to the wine shop for an interview.

  Su Xiaofan raised an eyebrow and stared at the two of them, asking a few casual questions before saying lightly: "If you have time, try it out here tonight. If it works out, you can come back tomorrow to do business."

  "Good."

  Two brothers came, the elder brother Song Dazhi was sixteen years old, and the younger brother Song Youzhi was fifteen. They didn't look like scoundrels, but Su Xiaofan also knew that sometimes you can't judge a person's heart by their appearance, so it's better to be cautious to avoid more trouble in the future.

  Evenings are usually a busy time, but Meng Ping had the rare luxury of having some free time today, leaning against the kitchen door watching the two people greet guests.

  Su Xiaofan stood in the kitchen, leaning on the other end of the table to take a look at the situation in the store: "Meng Ping, what do you think of those two?"

  "Yes, it seems that they have done this line of work before. I heard that the wine shop they used to run went bankrupt, so now they are looking for a new job. I also asked around and found out that the wine shop they mentioned did indeed go bankrupt recently. The people nearby said that there were two people like them working inside." Because of what happened last time, Meng Ping is being especially cautious about hiring new employees to work in the store.

  "That's about it for now, let them go back and tell them to come early tomorrow to get things done." Su Xiaofan said as he walked away.

  In the evening when they returned home, Ye Shi did not come out to greet them as she used to. Only Xiaohui wagged its tail and came over.

  "Grandma." Su Xiaofan picked up Xiao Huihui and entered their room.

  "Fan'er is back." Ye Shi's expression was slightly unnatural as she looked in Su Xiaofan's direction.

  "What's wrong?" Su Xiaofan sat down on the bed with Xiao Hui, and found that not only her grandmother, but also her mother's expression was somewhat off.

  Ye's family bowed their heads in silence for a while before saying: "The piece of land we borrowed from that family previously, today they said they want to take it back, and it's said to be lent to your second uncle's family."

  Su Xiaofan blinked slightly: "Is there something going on at Second Uncle's house?"

  "Uh, it's said that we also need to raise chickens and ducks." Ye Shi's face, full of wrinkles, hid a hint of anger as she gazed at the chickens and ducks that Fan Er had bought back earlier, which had grown quite big. If they were to take back the land now and lend it to the second husband's family again, their own small enclosure wouldn't be able to hold so many chickens and ducks.

  "It doesn't matter, since it's like this, next time they come to talk, we'll take the chickens and ducks back and first put them in a pen. Tomorrow I'll ask Su Bing to help separate the pen into two, so as not to be busy and flustered at that time." Su Xiaofan thought, wondering how the village chief's inquiry was going, if someone would be willing to sell, it would be for the best, and in the future, there would be no need to face such a situation again.

  Jia turned his head and asked Su Xiaofan: "Is there a problem? So many are raised together, it's probably not good."

  Su Xiaofan nodded slightly: "It's okay, it's just temporary."

  "Temporarily?" Mrs. Jia was full of doubts, having taken care of the chickens and ducks for days recently, she had gained some experience herself, could it be that Mo Niang planned to stop raising them in the future?

  "Hmm, Second Uncle and his family want to raise chickens and ducks, but it's just an excuse, they must be trying to cause us trouble. Their house is so far away, and they want to raise them near our house, how can they be at ease?" Su Xiaofan didn't think deeply about it, but she could guess the general idea.

  "I think so too." Jia looked at Su Xiao Xuan in her arms, her eyebrows furrowed deeply. Just when she thought that the days at home were finally going to get better, they came to make trouble again.

  "Alright, Grandma should go to bed early, it's not early anymore. Don't worry about the land matters." If we ask the village chief to talk to that family, I wonder if they will continue to lend the land to our family? Or maybe directly sell it to our family, after all, it's adjacent to our own land, buying it would be more convenient in the future.

  Ye nodded: "Mm, hot water is ready, you use it first, then burn some for them."

  Su Xiaofan stood up and put down Xiao Hui: "Mm, okay."

  After finishing her hair and makeup, Su Xiaofan sat on the bed sorting out the audio recordings she had collected earlier.

  "What's with counting money at this late hour?" Xiao Yimeng asked out loud as he walked in after washing up.

  "Let's see how much silver it is." Su Xiaofan furrowed her brow, although she wanted to buy land, but she wasn't very clear about how much silver a piece of land was worth. However, the village chief should be clear about it, and when the time came, she would ask him to negotiate the price with the other party.

  The next morning, Xiao Changfu arrived at Su Xiaofan's home early in the morning, holding several deeds.

  Su Xiaofan wrapped all her silver in a cloth and walked out to ask: "Village chief, where are these from?"

  "The few pieces of land behind your house, with a small hill in between, if you can make use of it, that hill can also be allocated to you. And then there's the piece of land in front of your house that you borrowed before, which was clearly agreed to be sold, but suddenly changed their mind for some reason." Xiao Changfu furrowed his brow, remembering that when he went to find them before, they had indeed decided to sell, after all, empty land could be exchanged for some silver, even if it wasn't much, and land wasn't very valuable in this poor and remote place.

  "Hmm, that's probably related to my second uncle." Su Xiaofan said helplessly. This kind of person is really worse than an outsider, and yet they're relatives.

  After a moment of silence, Su Xiaofan handed over the silver ingots in his hand: "Village chief, take a look and see if it's enough. At present, my family only has so many silver ingots."

  Xiao Changfu gazed at them for a moment before speaking: "You don't need that many, and this isn't even considered selling to you. The land in our village is redistributed every twenty years, unless there's a significant change in the village population, in which case it might not be redistributed. So what they're selling to you is only the ownership rights for these twenty years. There are still about fifteen years left, and you'll be responsible for all sorts of taxes during this period. They have plenty of other land elsewhere, so selling to you will also help alleviate their own burdens, which is why the prices aren't very high."

  "Alright, after the village head calculates the price, he will return the remaining amount to me." Su Xiaofan handed over the silver coins and took the land deeds from his hand.

  It's no big deal if I couldn't buy that piece of land next door, I just don't believe those two uncles would really come to raise chickens and ducks.

  And besides, the few pieces of land in front of our own house can also be used a little bit. When the rainy season comes, they will be filled with rainwater and can be used to raise ducks.

  Xiao Changfu divided out the silver coins to be given to each household, and then returned a portion of what was left over to her: "What do you plan on doing with that land?"

  "Hmm, let's raise some more chickens and see." Su Xiaofan put away the silver coins and planned to hand over the land deed to his mother and others for safekeeping later.

  "Huh? Aren't those chickens and ducks of yours enough?" Xiao Changfu remembered that when he went to see them a few days ago, there were at least several hundred inside.

  "Ah, the wine shop has expanded a bit, and business will get better and better in the future. The chickens and ducks raised by Mother, I'll be responsible for cooking and selling them, which can also earn quite a bit of silver." Su Xiaofan replied with a smile.

  Xiao Changfu furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before saying, "If another family in the village wants to raise chickens and ducks in the future, can you also sell them at the wine shop?"

  Su Xiaofan furrowed her brow and thought for a moment before saying, "It's not that it can't be done, but for now, it's still a bit difficult. We'll have to wait until the business at Jiuchang is more stable, then I'll take over whoever's in the village, including my second uncle and third uncle's noodle shops."

  Even without asking in detail, he can guess roughly. After all, he is the village head, if there is a way to make villagers rich, he must hope that everyone will come back to do things in the village. After all, in recent years, most of the young people in the village have run out, making the originally sparse village more desolate.

  "Uh-huh, I knew that. Well, I'll trouble you later then. I'm off first." Xiao Changfu turned around and walked out.

  "Hmm, the village head is leaving slowly." Su Xiaofan held the land deed in his hand and watched as he walked away, suddenly remembering why this little treasure never called him Grandpa. Why didn't his father call the village head "Father" either?

  It looks really strange...

  "What's that in your hand, Fan Er?" Ye Shi had been worried about something all night, so she didn't get up until late in the morning.

  "Ah, the land deeds that Village Head bought." Su Xiaofan handed over the deeds to her and then took out the remaining silver coins, also giving them to her: "Grandma, you and your daughter find some people to surround these plots of land with a fence, make the fence sturdy and high. Then have them go up the mountain, cut down some thorns and lay them on top of the fence so that no one can damage it in the future."

  Ye held the deed for a long time, but didn't know which land it was, after all, he couldn't read. Then he called out towards the house: "Zhiyan, come and take a look at this."

  "Good." Jia took Su Xiao Xuan out in her arms, and Su Xiao Fan walked over to take him.

  "This should be the several pieces of land behind our mountain, quite large in size. How did Fang'er manage to buy so much land?" Madam Ji looked carefully for a while before speaking out in doubt.

  "Uh, if Mother is too busy, then ask Xiao Yuanfeng to help." Su Xiaofan teased the little Su Xiaoxuan in her arms, but he was still very young and almost didn't know how to laugh when teased, wondering how long it would take for him to become the kind of child who would burst into laughter with just a tease.

  Jia shook her head slightly and said: "It's not that I'm too busy to handle it, but with such a large area, you'll definitely need to raise quite a few **. Where will the grass go later?"

  Su Xiaofan slightly frowned and said that there were very few people in this village who cultivated the land, and even the grass on the mountain was not used with a peaceful mind.

  "Is there anywhere selling grass seeds?"

  "Grass seeds?" Ye furrowed her brow, as it was usually the case that everyone bought vegetable seeds and whatnot, but grass seeds were something nobody really cared about, so she wasn't very clear on them herself.

  "Alright, you all go find people to build the fence first, don't put the chickens in yet. I'll go ask around in town today. And also, those chickens that came from over there shouldn't be raised with the previous ones." Su Xiaofan hadn't gone to see those pieces of land yet, but since his mother said they were very big, the area shouldn't be small, so it would be good to separate a small piece of land to plant grass.

  Ye's family collected the land deed and said: "We know, you can prepare to leave now."

  Su Xiaofan nodded and went into the house to call Xiao Yimo before leaving. They didn't walk far before they met Su Binglei and the others who had come to pick them up.

  In the wine shop, Meng Ping held a teapot and stood idly by, watching the two brothers busy themselves. Earlier, he had tried to go over and help several times, but they had beaten him to it each time.

  "Hey, it's so empty today." Yu Xiaoxi walked in and greeted Meng Ping.

  "Ah, yes, they helped with this." Meng Ping slightly lowered his head and smiled.

  "You just can't stand there watching, go help them out, they're new here, definitely have a lot of things they don't understand." Yu Xiaoxi took a rag and was about to walk over to lend a hand.

  Song Dawei smiled and said: "Don't worry, the previous place was even more chaotic, and it was also my two brothers' responsibility. We've already gotten used to it, so we can't be considered newcomers."

  Yu Xiaoxi shook her head: "Even if it's like that, you can't just let yourselves do it, I'll come and help you."

  "Then come to the kitchen and help out, didn't you and Meng Jie originally want to learn cooking when you entered Mingyuelou?" Su Xiaofan let go of Xiao Yimeng's hand and turned into the kitchen. Although she wasn't disgusted with the two brothers, she wasn't too fond of talking to people she wasn't very familiar with. Maybe it would change after getting familiar in the future.

  “小宝贝儿，你这是要去哪里啊？”苏小凡揉着眼睛，睡眼惺忪的询问道。萧遗墨回头看了一眼她，笑着说：“娘子你再睡一会儿吧，我出去透透气。”苏小凡点了点头，又闭上眼睛继续睡觉去了。萧远峰揉着眼睛，看着他哥哥的背影，疑惑的问道：“大哥，你这是要去哪里啊？”萧遗墨回头看了一眼他，笑着说：“我出去透透气。”萧远峰点了点头，又躺下继续睡觉去了。萧遗墨走出堂屋，深呼吸了一口清晨的空气，感觉心情格外的好。他走到院子里，看着天上的太阳，觉得今天一定会是美好的一天。