Chapter 65 – Lighting fires

“Who would dare?” Li Shu’s hackles immediately went up.

Li Yan rolled his eyes at him. “Who would tell you if they were going to steal your wife?”

“I….” Li Shu slumped down. Not knowing what to do next, he pleadingly looked at Li Mo.

Li Mo’s expression was solemn. His second brother’s words weren’t unreasonable. It was true that the Goddess’s Ravine was lacking in women, so men trying to seduce married women and vice versa was a scandal that frequently happened here. For example, there was the Shun family, who’s home was right behind theirs. First Shun and Second Shun’s shared wife, Xing-niang, didn’t follow the proper conduct of a married woman at all. She spent all of her time flirting with other men.

Of course, their wife wasn’t like Xing-niang. Still, the better she was, the more she would attract the attention of other men.

He was the oldest son in Li family. If he couldn’t even keep their wife in line… no, that was impossible.

“Second brother, you’re overthinking things. That type of thing wouldn’t happen in our family,” Li Mo confidently stated.

“Oldest brother, it’s not impossible. If one day our wife becomes attracted to someone else -” Before Li Shu could finish his words, Li Mo’s cold glare scared those words right back down.

Li Yan lightly tugged Li Shu’s sleeve to indicate for him to stop speaking.

Li Mo looked at his two brothers and didn’t say another words Instead, he turned around and went into the kitchen to pick up the buckets. He decided that he would fetch more water.

Li Shu felt a bit anxious. “What is oldest brother thinking?”

Li Yan stopped him from going after Li Mo. He smiled enigmatically. Anyways, he knew that oldest brother had taken his recent words to heart.

—

Li Man didn’t look for Little Five to tend to the cooking fire for her today. Instead, she crouched down by the stove and tossed in pieces of firewood.

—

When Li Mo came back with the buckets filled with water again, he smelled that something was burning. He quickly put down the buckets, rushed to the stove, and pulled out the firewood that Li Man had put in.

Startled by his sudden appearance, Li Man hurriedly stood up. It was only now that she smelled there was something burning. Before she could figure out what was wrong, she saw Li Mo scooping out water and pouring it into the pot. She looked inside the pot. It was a giant smear of charred rice with only a small bit left unburnt.

“This… I…” Li Man’s eyes reddened in remorse. She knew that rice was considered very expensive for this family.

“It’s no big deal,” Li Mo comfortingly said. There was no way to salvage this giant pot of rice, so he scooped it out into a large bowl. Then, he scrubbed the pot clean before adding new rice into the pot.

Watching this sight, Li Man wanted to crouch down to restart the fire, but Li Mo softly called out to stop her. “Let me do that while you cook.”

“Oh.” Li Man turned around again, scooped up some water, and used it to wash the pickled vegetables.

The two of them stayed like this. One bustled around the stove, and the other one tended to the fire below. During this period, there were many times when Li Mo wanted to speak, but when the words came to his lips, he would swallow them back down each time.

After Li Man had finished washing the vegetables and chopping them, she pointed at another pot and said, “Start a fire for that pot too.”

“Alright.” Li Mo nodded and started another fire. The light from burning fires shined on his face and gave off gentle warmth. Hearing the sizzling sounds from above, a burst of warmth suddenly welled up in his heart. Lit by the fiery red of the cooking fires, he seemed to see her face as the smoke wreathed upwards. It was a beautiful and moving scene.