After Tian Jing got up, she saw her sister-in-law, who was "unchanged."
She raised her hand and pinched her sister-in-law's cheek. "You're in good spirits. Your elder brother was worried you wouldn't be used to it. I urged him to pick you up for your return visit, and he said you were already back."
Her elder brother must have heard.
Li Min glanced at her elder brother. Seeing that his expression hadn't changed, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's so close, just a step away, why would anyone need to pick you up?"
"It's so good to be married nearby. Starting tomorrow, come home for dinner every day, and bring Chen Suozhu with you. Your elder brother and I want to go into the mountains."
Go into the mountains? Li Min's heart stirred. She had married too early; she should have listened to her elder brother.
"Okay, Mother said she'll come again when we're picking cotton."
"Mm, I'll take you along then."
"Mmhmm, thank you, sister-in-law."
"Why are you being so polite with me?"
"Hehe, then I won't be polite. I want to knit a sweater for Suozhu."
"Mm, I'll bring the yarn down tomorrow."
As she turned to leave, Li Min blinked hard to hold back the moisture in her eyes. Fortunately, her mother had scolded her, otherwise, with her sister-in-law's personality, there would have been a rift after just one time.
When Li Min and her husband returned home for their visit, they brought the leftover ingredients from the wedding.
Tian Jing worried they might spoil, so she asked her mother-in-law to make them into spicy dishes.
When the couple returned to the Chen family, Tian Jing again asked her mother-in-law to prepare dried meat strips and vegetables, and also a box of vegetable seedlings.
The vegetables planted in the Chen family's yard had all been used up the day before yesterday.
The return gifts were even more generous than the wedding gifts, making the commune members envious once again.
...
Tian Jing was woken up by the noise.
"Why is it so noisy?"
Li Zhengguo gently patted her back. "Good girl, don't worry about it, go back to sleep."
"It's too noisy, I can't sleep."
Li Zhengguo had no choice but to get up and then help his sweet baby get up.
Tian Jing... When would Zhengguo return to normal?
She hoped the baby in her belly would be a girl.
She planned to have three children, she didn't want to be disabled for several years in a row.
After a leisurely breakfast, the commotion outside the courtyard had not ended.
When Li Zhengguo opened the courtyard gate, he saw that on the ground about three feet in front of the doors of the Yang family, his neighbors, there were about ten tables set up.
Was this a housewarming banquet?
"Zhengguo."
Beside one of the tables, Captain Ou was waving at him.
Li Zhengguo turned back, took Tian Tian's hand, and walked out of the courtyard.
Seeing the couple like this, Captain Ou grinned. "Is this what they call inseparable?"
"Captain is joking. Tian Tian is inconvenient in her condition."
Captain Ou glanced at Tian Jing's flat belly. Inconvenient?
Tian Jing pulled her hand away and sat opposite the captain. "Captain, are you here for the feast so early?"
Captain Ou looked up at the sun, which was almost overhead. Was that still considered early?
Tian Jing smiled. "I just woke up."
"Heh heh, you're the most straightforward lazy daughter-in-law I've ever seen."
Li Zhengguo didn't like hearing Captain Ou's jokes. He sat beside Tian Tian. "Captain, my wife is not lazy."
"Right, right, not lazy, just inconvenient."
"That's right."
Li Zhengguo replied earnestly.
Captain Ou was speechless. "Are you two going to sit at this table for the feast?"
Li Zhengguo refused. "We're not coming. My mother can come alone."
Yesterday's banquet was because Grandpa Chen had invited them, and he had calculated two people per household.
Most banquets were for one person per household, and his mother could sit at today's banquet.
"Secretary Yang just said that if you two didn't come out, he would have knocked on your door. He had calculated for your family of three."
"That won't do. Breaking the rules will give people something to talk about."
His Tian Tian liked a peaceful life and didn't care about a meal. She didn't want people gossiping about her. Besides, they were going into the mountains.
As they were talking, Secretary Yang came out from his youngest son Yang Jianxin's courtyard. Seeing Li Zhengguo and his wife, he hurried over.
"Zhengguo, you two sit at this table."
"No need. My wife is inconvenient. When my mother comes back, I'll have her sit at the feast."
As they were speaking, Mother Li returned, with her daughter and son-in-law behind her. They were all covered in mud, having just returned from the fields behind.
"Mother, wash up, and come sit at the feast."
"Alright."
Secretary Yang didn't insist on keeping guests any longer. "Second and third sons have both moved in today, so you'll be neighbors from now on. If you need help, just ask."
"We will."
When Mother Li offered her contribution, it was two yuan per household, plus a basket of vegetables.
Li's family lunch was made by Li Min and Chen Suozhu.
Li Min, having accepted her situation, still thought of herself as before, only she wasn't sleeping at home at night.
After putting down her rice bowl, Tian Jing went to the west room to get the golden lock.
Li Zhengguo put the wolf pup into the basket on his back.
"Minmin, if anyone comes looking for us, tell them we've gone to the latrine out back."
"Mmhmm."
...
Upon entering the hot spring valley, Tian Jing immediately channeled her powers to Xiao Lu.
Xiao Lu happily shared with Tian Jing various things it had seen since waking up.
Tian Jing apologized to it, saying it was her fault that Xiao Lu's roots were severed.
Xiao Lu didn't mind. It said it had benefited from misfortune and had moved to an interesting environment.
Tian Jing looked up at the green pine rock. Xiao Lu must like Xiao Song as a companion, right?
Oh, right. Why couldn't she communicate with Xiao Song down the mountain?
She 'dug out' the jar and took out the golden key.
She inserted it and turned. Click. The golden lock opened.
While Tian Jing was stunned, Li Zhengguo bent down and picked up a small paper scroll.
No, it was a leather scroll, thin as a cicada's wing.
When opened, it was only palm-sized, with messy lines drawn on it.
"A map?" Tian Jing looked up at Li Zhengguo.
Li Zhengguo gently stroked Tian Tian's head. "It should be a treasure map. I just don't know how much treasure is hidden."
Tian Jing was not interested. "What's the use of a lot of treasure if you're unwilling to spend it? It's useless. Put it back, as long as your own mother doesn't get her hands on it."
Li Zhengguo took the lock and key from her hand. "Okay. As for Suozhu, we shouldn't take it out to test people's hearts."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong." Li Zhengguo shook his head. "I just feel that not having too much change is the best. Whatever we want, we'll earn it slowly."
"However, we should analyze this treasure map when we have time and see if it's safe."
"Okay."
Zhengguo was hiding something from her, but Tian Jing didn't mind. He was likely trying to spare her worry.
After putting the golden lock and key back into the jar, and burying the jar at Xiao Lu's feet, Tian Jing took Li Zhengguo up the green pine rock and asked Xiao Song her question.
"It's because my roots are buried at the bottom of the green pine rock. Except for the sky and those three caves, you're almost standing within my encirclement."
"Oh." Tian Jing wasn't worried about Xiao Song's words at all. Her man never forgot to signal Xiao Song with the axe in his hand every time he went up the green pine rock.
Besides, if she didn't get close to Xiao Song, Xiao Song couldn't use any malicious intentions, it wasn't a mutated plant.
Li Zhengguo sorted the grains on the ground in the two caves on the left and right. Finding them dry, he piled them together.
There wasn't enough time to weave the feast mats yet. The large baskets and sieves needed to be woven too.
Tian Jing took out the yarn that Li Min had asked for.
Li Zhengguo paused for a moment but said nothing.
"Aowu, aowu."
In the valley, the wolf king howled at the green pine rock, tilting its head.
"Where's the wolf pup?" Tian Jing asked Li Zhengguo.
"Downstairs."
"Is the wolf king blaming me?"
"How dare it!"
Tian Jing smiled. "It always refuses to fight. Should we take this opportunity to threaten it?"
Li Zhengguo was tempted, but he was busy. "Forget it, I don't have time now."