Chapter 26 - 26: 26 Can you bear it?
Su Qingyue pulled Xiao Yuchuan’s hand and walked a few steps, then saw a well in front of her with a vertical well frame, a windlass on top that could be rotated with a handle, and several coils of rope wrapped around the axis of the windlass, with one end tied to a water bucket.
A villager was turning the handle, pulling up a wooden bucket full of water from the well. When the bucket reached the top, he lifted and poured the water into his water bucket, then threw the wooden bucket tied to the well rope back into the well to fetch more water.
There were a few villagers behind him, waiting in line with empty water buckets.
Su Qingyue let go of the benefactor’s younger brother’s hand, and her gaze fell on a big willow tree not far from the well. She had thrown away the willow twig he had given her earlier.
It was his fault for carrying water with the willow branch in his mouth. Even though they were not a couple, she didn’t like the “toothbrush” soaked with his saliva.
She went up and picked about twenty willow branches of the proper thickness and chopsticks-like length with her left hand.
Xiao Yuchuan stood in place, stroking the hand his wife had just held with his other hand, feeling a little empty and sad, but also quite enjoying being led by her.
“Chuan, what’s your wife doing?” Li Cai, who was fetching water at the well, asked out loud.
“Picking willow twigs. Besides weaving baskets and dustpans, they’re also used for cleaning teeth. Judging by her choice, she definitely wants to clean her teeth.” Ding Er, who had also come to fetch well water, laughed and said, “Chuan, even if you clean your wife’s mouth full of yellow teeth, it’s useless.”
“Exactly. Look at her dark skin, and when she grins, showing those yellow teeth, it’s quite disgusting…” Li Cai teased, “Chuan, have you kissed your dear wife’s little mouth?”
“What are you all talking about!” Xiao Yuchuan blushed.
“Oh, are you shy now?” Ding Er said again, “Her yellow teeth look stinky. I don’t think you’ve kissed her, have you? Why not go over and kiss her, then spit it out, and Ding Er will fetch water from the well to wash your mouth for you…” “Hahaha…” Everyone nearby burst into laughter.
Originally, the Xiao Family was the poorest family in Wushan Village, with a lot of troubles. The villagers liked to gossip about the Xiao Family when they had nothing to do. Now that the Xiao Family had bought this wife, it made people even more eager to laugh at them.
Xiao Yuchuan was annoyed but had nowhere to vent his frustration. Instead, he just clutched his chest and pretended to be in pain, “If you keep laughing, I’ll faint from anger, and it’ll be all your fault. When that happens, I’m gonna ask your family for medical expenses, and don’t blame me…”
At this point, everyone stopped laughing. The Xiao Family’s third son was known to faint easily and had been doing so for several years now. In case he really fainted and blamed someone, it would be a real misfortune. The villagers worked hard to earn money, so they couldn’t let him take advantage of them.
Su Qingyue knew that these people were laughing at her but ignored them. She walked in the direction of the benefactor’s house, passing a few villagers along the way. Upon seeing her, they all used their hands to fan themselves, as if she smelled terrible.
Some even saw her coming and deliberately avoided her.
There were also some who exaggeratedly jumped three feet away when they saw her approaching, then yelled and complained.
If it were the original owner of the body, she would probably have been so ashamed that she would want to hit a wall and die. Su Qingyue, however, walked past expressionlessly, neither fast nor slow, trying her best not to shake her body while walking so as not to worsen her injury.
Xiao Yuchuan followed his wife and heard someone shout at him, “Chuan, other people’s wives pass by with a fragrance, but your wife passes by with a stench. Can you stand to share a quilt with her at night?”
The one who yelled this was Ding Er, whose voice was so loud that the villagers who heard it along the road burst out laughing again..