Chapter 24: Taking Care

  Wang Ergou smiled and shook her hand, walking slowly with her in the direction of home.

  They live next door, so there's no question of who takes whom anywhere.

  When they arrived at the entrance of Sheng Siyan's house, Wang Erge handed her the small flower-patterned school bag and reminded her: "It's right to be good to friends, but you also need to be careful not to get yourself involved. What you did today can indeed help Niu Xiaoye, but what about you? Have you thought about your own family? If Zheng Dainai really gets angry, do you think you and Wang Dama can still have a good life?"

  Sheng Siyan was taken aback. She had wanted to say, "Nothing will happen at my house." But thinking again, what made her so sure? — Did she really think she was a princess? (⊙o⊙).

  Sheng Siyan lowered her head in extreme embarrassment.

  Wang Ergou saw her like this, but instead smiled and touched the two buns on her head. "Fortunately, you're lucky. Good people have good fortune, this hurdle is passed, from now on you must be careful, remember to speak carefully and act cautiously. Remember? If something happens, first think it over several times in your heart, consider if you can bear the consequences yourself..."

  Sheng Siyan thought it was very reasonable and nodded continuously like pounding garlic.

  Wang Ergou laughed even harder, "I'm also bored, what's the point of telling you these things? You're only six years old, it's strange if you can understand them! ——Alright, from now on, just remember one thing. Come find your brother Wang Er, got it? Don't go around causing trouble by yourself. You're still so young and already learning those useless, idle ways of the so-called wandering heroes! If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have told you those stories about wandering heroes!"

  Sheng Siyan used to love listening to stories when she was blind. When Wang's family didn't have time, it was Er Ge who took care of her and told her the stories he liked. Of course, boys wouldn't like romantic novels like "The Four Great Classical Novels", so Er Ge loved reading knight-errant stories and told many such stories to Sheng Siyan as well.

  Sheng Siyan covered her mouth and smiled, saying softly: "I remember. If there's anything in the future, look for Wang Erge."

  "It's fine if you remember." Wang Ergou relaxed, leaned forward and looked into the courtyard of the Shen family's small yard, and said in puzzlement: "It's so late, why hasn't Old Lady Wang come out to greet you? Doesn't she worry about you?"

  In the past, when it was time to get off school, Wang Danni would wait at the door to see when Sheng Siyan would return. Today, she was much later than usual and surprisingly didn't even see Wang Danni's shadow.

  Wang Ergou thought for a moment, walked up the steps, and gently pushed open the courtyard gate.

  Everyone in Wangjiacun is related or acquainted with each other, every household knows one another, and it's okay to enter without knocking on the door.

  Sheng Siyan followed Wang Ergou into the courtyard.

  Wang Erge searched around and asked Sheng Siyan: "Your mother is not at home. Do you know where she went?"

  Sheng Siyan thought for a moment and said: "My mother seemed to say yesterday that she had something to do in the city, probably delayed."

  "Have you arrived in town? Hope you can make it back on time." Wang Ergou looked at the sky outside.

  Dusk is approaching but has not yet arrived, the afterglow spills over the small courtyard, casting a layer of golden light on the simple and serene courtyard.

  Sheng Siyan looked at the dusk in the courtyard, and her stomach growled loudly twice.

  "Are you hungry?" Wang Er Ge looked at Sheng Si Yan with a smile.

  Sheng Siyan felt embarrassed, turned around and ran to the kitchen, went straight to the cabinet, tiptoed, opened the cabinet, took out a plate of cold mantou, poured himself another glass of water, and started eating with the cold water.

  Wang Ergou followed over, hugging his arm, leaning against the kitchen door and watching Sheng Siyan eat cold mantou, smiling softly: "You're just eating this? It's really easy to support you..."

  Sheng Siyan swallowed the cold mantou in her mouth, then turned back to Wang Ergou with a sweet smile and said: "Wang Ergou, do you want some? The white flour mantou is not hard even when it's cooled down."

  Wang Ergou's family was a bit better off than Sheng Siyan's, and they often ate steamed buns made from wheat flour.

  "You're not afraid of getting a slap either." Wang Ergou walked into the kitchen and gently tapped on Sheng Siyan's head.

  Looking around, I found a bowl of leftover rice on the table next to me, and in the corner of the wall, there was a bunch of scallions and a few green onions.

  "Wait for me, don't eat that cold mantou anymore, be careful of stomachache." Wang Ergou hastily went out and heard a commotion outside with chickens flying and dogs jumping.

  Then when I came in again, I was already holding two eggs that had just been picked from the chicken coop, still warm.

  Sheng Siyan stared blankly as Wang Erge poked the fire in the stove, blew on it with a blowpipe, and the sparks immediately jumped up. He then stuffed another bundle of straw into the stove, and the flames roared to life.

  Heat the wok and add some lard.

  Sizzling sound, meat fragrance fills the room.

  Then crack the eggs again, and the golden egg liquid flows into the pot. When it meets the hot oil, it solidifies quickly. Add a little salt, and use the spatula to quickly scrape open the pot.

  When the egg liquid is half cooked, put the leftover rice in and stir-fry quickly with a spatula. Each grain of rice is scattered and evenly coated with egg liquid, turning light yellow.

  Wang Ergou skillfully gestured, seeing that the rice and eggs were almost done, then covered the pot and turned off the fire. Then he put in the finely chopped scallions, taking advantage of the residual heat of the hot rice to bring out the fragrance of the scallions.

  Golden yellow eggs, emerald green and white scallions, and light yellow rice grains stained with egg liquid, a perfect combination of color, fragrance, and flavor.

  Sheng Siyan's mouth was watering just looking at it.

  She gazed at Wang Erge's profile with admiration, moved beyond words.

  Who says men who work hard are the most handsome?!

  It should be the man who cooks seriously is the most handsome!

  "Go ahead and eat. I'll boil some water for you. After you finish eating, go take a bath and then get some rest." Wang Ergou scooped the scrambled eggs with rice into a bowl and placed it in front of Sheng Siyan.

  Sheng Siyan immediately buried her head and ate bitterly. She was really starving. Just now, she even ate the cold and hard buns, but now there's this fragrant and hot egg fried rice, which made her almost swallow her tongue.

  Wang Ergou relit the fire in the opposite stove and started boiling water.

  Ordinary households in the Great Xia Empire were not so particular. Besides, boiling water wasted firewood and water, so they used cold water to wipe their bodies in summer and took a bath only once a month in winter.

  Wang's family was a bit more particular, no matter which season it was, she would boil water every day for herself and also for Sheng Siyan to take a bath.

  Wang Ergou is their neighbor, who used to think it was strange but later got used to it. Later on, they also washed every day, regardless of spring, summer, autumn or winter, and the hot water in Wang's house never stopped.

  Sheng Siyan finished a bowl of egg fried rice, but she couldn't help herself and picked up the bowl to lick it clean.

  Wang Ergou raised his eyes and saw that the smile at the corner of his mouth was becoming more and more obvious. However, he was afraid of embarrassing Sheng Siyan, so he quickly lowered his head, not letting Sheng Siyan see him.

  Sheng Siyan put down her bowl and said reluctantly: "It's really delicious, I want to eat more..."

  Wang Er Ge said without lifting his head, "You can't eat too much at night. A big bowl of egg fried rice is enough. - Come on, the water's boiling, I'll scoop some for you and take it to the house, can you wash yourself?" He looked at Sheng Si Yan with concern, as if he would roll up his sleeves and personally help her bathe if she said she couldn't do it herself!

  Sheng Siyan shuddered at the thought of that scene and hastily said, "I know! I know! My mother taught me. I've been washing myself for half a year now!"

  "That's good." Wang Ergou carried the water bucket into their inner room, pulled out the large wooden bathtub, wiped it with a cloth, and then poured hot water into it.

  "Where's the clean laundry?" Wang Ergou asked her.

  Sheng Siyan went to the wardrobe and took out her own clean clothes.

  Wang Ergou nodded, "You go wash up and throw the clothes you've changed out of onto the screen."

  Inside the room there was a screen as tall as one person, dividing the house into two compartments, which was something Wang Shi had gotten from who-knows-where and was also the first of its kind in Wangjia Village.

  Sheng Siyan was a bit awkward, but the hot water in the bathtub was calling her, she really wanted to get in and take a hot bath ASAP!!!

  Wang Erge retreated and went out, half-closing the door, sitting on the threshold of the door, hugging his legs and staring at the starry sky in a daze. He heard the sound of water coming from inside the house, as well as the chirping of autumn insects in the courtyard, weaving together into a sound called "happiness".

  Sheng Siyan finished her bath, got dressed, and tidied up the room again. She found that Wang Shi had not returned yet and was very worried.

  Wang Ergou came in to clean up the bathtub, poured out the water in the bathtub, and also took away her dirty clothes that she had changed out of.

  Sheng Siyan felt embarrassed and followed him out, saying: "Second Brother Wang, I can wash clothes, my mother taught me."

  Wang Ergou looked at Sheng Siyan's small stature, thin arms, and patted her head, sighing: "It's okay. You go to sleep. I'll sweep the yard for you, and when your mother comes back, I'll leave."

  Sheng Siyan yawned.

  She was already drowsy in the bathtub just now, and today has been really exhausting for her. She's so tired that she can't take it anymore and needs to sleep.

  "Thanks to Second Brother Wang then." Sheng Siyan bowed slightly and turned around to go in.

  Wang Ergou stood at the door for a while, seeing the light in Sheng Siyan's room dimming, he went to the well in the yard to fetch water, plucked some soapberries from the soapberry tree, rubbed them into foam, and began washing Sheng Siyan's clothes.

  The sound of pounding clothes in the courtyard came into the house one after another, and Sheng Siyan, who was already drowsy, woke up again.

  She listened to the sound of washing clothes and knew that Wang Erge was washing her clothes. For some reason, she felt a pang in her heart and tears flowed out.

  "...... Daughter, where did you go?" Sheng Siyan thought about Wang Erge's kindness to her while missing her mother and finally fell asleep.

  Wang Ergou washed his clothes and hung them in the courtyard. He then went back to hastily eat something, and afterwards came over to lean against the pillar at the entrance of the main house to take a nap, helping Sheng Siyan keep watch while waiting for Wang Shi to return.

  When Wang Ergou's parents knew that the Wang family was not at home and only Sheng Siyan, a little girl, was next door, they also supported Wang Ergou to help Sheng Siyan guard the gate.

  Neighbors should help each other out, that's what makes them close and dear.

  Wang Erge originally thought that Wang Shi would only return when the city gate opened at dawn, but in the middle of the night, he suddenly heard a burst of barking dogs, and then heard the creaking sound of the courtyard door, someone had come in.

  Wang Ergou hastily retreated behind a pillar, then peeked out to see that it was Wang Shi, with a basket on her back and one arm wrapped in cloth, suspended across her chest in a very strange posture.

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  No update yesterday, more updates today. Three thousand words! O(∩_∩)O~ Fragmented thoughts, vote for recommendation.

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