Chapter 23

Du Ruo raised an eyebrow.

She only said she would wash the basin of clothes contaminated by Tie Dan, but she didn't say she would wash the others together.

Auntie Lin's posture was clearly trying to take advantage of her on purpose.

The young girl agreed and stood up to walk over.

Lin Qingshuang was quite good-looking; her skin wasn't white, but rather wheat-colored. But she was very delicate, with willow brows, apricot eyes, and cherry lips, with flesh on her chest and a big butt—the type that elders would like when they saw her.

Capable, good at childbearing.

Du Ruo muttered inwardly.

This little look is not bad; she definitely counts as a flower of Longquan Cun, and she is the only beloved daughter of the village head. She is more than enough to match Jiang Li; why would Jiang Li be willing to refuse?

But thinking of the few little ones at home, Du Ruo understood again; even if it were her, she would absolutely not be able to abandon a few young younger brothers and sisters to go live a good life by herself.

Perhaps if the Lin family hadn't used the banner of "marrying into the family" but "marrying off the daughter," the result might have been completely different.

Du Ruo smiled at Lin Qingshuang.

Lin Qingshuang also returned a smile and called out: "Jiang Sister-in-law."

The voice was delicate and soft.

A bit seductive.

Auntie Lin's gaze lingered between the two, and the corner of her mouth hooked into a mocking smile.

Jiang Li, that blind dog thing, didn't look at her Shuang'er back then and refused to enter her Lin family's door no matter what; how is it now? Isn't he still married to an ugly monster with a face full of pustules?

*Pah*, serves him right!

"Shuang'er, your Jiang Sister-in-law wants to wash all the clothes for our family; she has good intentions, so let's not block her there, go to the side and rest."

Lin Qingshuang pulled her mother's sleeve and said in a low voice: "Mother, don't be like this..."

Auntie Lin gave her daughter a wink, signaling her not to worry about this matter.

Last time on the ox cart, she was retorted by Du Ruo, which made her chest ache for several days; today, it was hard to find an opportunity to get it back, so she naturally wouldn't let it go!

Auntie Lin's little thoughts were as clear as a mirror to Du Ruo.

She smiled and went straight to wash the clothes contaminated by dust again.

The summer clothes were originally thin, and there weren't many pieces; after rinsing and wringing them, they were clean, and it didn't take more than fifteen minutes.

"It's washed." Du Ruo said.

She shook the water off her hands, stretched her waist, and turned to leave.

Auntie Lin squinted at her, full of displeasure: "What, is that it?"

Du Ruo said: "Otherwise?"

Auntie Lin pointed to another large wooden basin, which contained a pile of unwashed clothes, including bed sheets and quilt covers: "These are also dirty; you have to wash them clean before you leave!"

Du Ruo's face turned cold.

She was a reasonable person; she wouldn't shirk what she should do, but she wouldn't let anyone order her around for what she shouldn't do.

You want them all washed, right? Fine.

"Tie Dan." Du Ruo kicked the dog: "You are responsible for the trouble you caused; go wash them."

The dog looked up at her at a 45-degree angle: "..." Mistress, are you sure?

Du Ruo pursed her lips at it: *Why aren't you going fast? *

Receiving Du Ruo's signal, the dog realized (although it didn't know why it realized), wagged its tail, and rushed over, slapping the basin of dirty clothes into the middle of the water with one paw.

Then it jumped into the pond itself, holding the clothes in its mouth and shaking them up, down, left, and right.

Tie Dan brand natural washing machine, you are worth having.

Seeing this scene, Auntie Lin and her daughter were dumbfounded.

"Oh, my clothes!" Auntie Lin slapped her thigh and wailed: "Dead dog, get out of here for me; if you bite my clothes, I'll peel your skin for wine!"

Lin Qingshuang bit her lip, looked at Du Ruo, and said: "Jiang Sister-in-law, you don't need to wash the clothes anymore; hurry up and call Tie Dan up!"

Just then, several village men carrying hoes passed by.

They all stopped to watch the fun, and one of them with a foul mouth said crudely: "Auntie Lin, I saw your bellyband; it's in the dog's mouth!"

The one next to him also winked: "It's colorful and embroidered with mandarin ducks; I think it must be Qingshuang sister's bellyband, hahahaha!"

Lin Qingshuang was still an unmarried girl and couldn't bear such teasing, so she ran away covering her face in shame and anger.

"Shuang'er! Shuang'er!"

Auntie Lin shouted a few times behind her.

She turned around and spat at the men, cursing: "You dog things with no virtue, get out of here for me! If you dare to talk nonsense and spray dung again, none of your families will get a share of the grain or pork at the end of the year!"

There was public land in the village, and although there wasn't much, the annual output was enough for the whole village to get a few catties of grain at the end of the year.

There were also two pigs, divided by head, and each household could get one or two catties of pork.

These were all managed by Village Head Lin.

The men stopped talking and walked away laughing.

Watching her family's clothes floating in the water one by one, and that damn dog biting one piece and then going to bite another, Auntie Lin almost rolled her eyes.

She took a deep breath, trying to suppress her anger: "Jiang Li's wife, hurry up and call your dog up; I'll wash the clothes myself!"

Du Ruo naturally stopped when she saw it was enough.

Tie Dan bit the wooden basin and brought it ashore first, then threw the clothes into it one by one, and even splashed Auntie Lin with water.

Auntie Lin wished she could beat it to death with a laundry club!

"Let's go, Tie Dan, let's go home." Du Ruo patted the dog's head.

The person and the dog completely ignored Auntie Lin's cannibalistic gaze, turned around, and walked home with heroic and spirited steps.

As soon as they entered the small broken courtyard, the three little ones came up to meet them.

Jiang Wan hugged the dog and pouted: "Tie Dan, where did you go? Did you not want me anymore?"

Tie Dan rubbed affectionately against her arm and went to nudge her little belly.

It really wanted to tell its little master that it would never leave her in this lifetime, not even if it died, but unfortunately, it couldn't speak human language.

If only that pill could also let it speak.

The dog was found, and the whole family was relieved; as for Tie Dan's changes, the three little ones didn't notice, and Du Ruo naturally wouldn't say.

And she couldn't say it; say she gave Tie Dan an immortal pill?

It was estimated that the three little ones would treat her as a mental patient talking nonsense.

There was no shortage of food at home now; breakfast was pork and vegetable dumplings, all you can eat.

Du Ruo also mixed a soul dipping sauce to eat with the dumplings; the taste was simply amazing, and the children couldn't stop eating, even Jiang Wan ate more than a dozen.

Besides what they ate, Du Ruo also wrapped several dozen more and had Jiang Cheng send them to the Clan Head's house.

The Clan Head grandfather had always taken good care of the Jiang family's second branch; one should know how to repay kindness, and although several dozen dumplings weren't worth much, they were their heartfelt wishes.

After Jiang Cheng came back, he was beaming, saying that the Clan Head grandfather liked them very much and kept praising them for being delicious.

Yao Yulan even said she would learn from Du Ruo when the time came!

After the meal, Jiang Cheng went to his master, Doctor Gu's house, to be free labor as usual.

Jiang Zhan took a book and went to read behind the house, and the little girl Jiang Wan now relied on her eldest sister-in-law very much, following Du Ruo around.

Du Ruo took out the medicine bought yesterday, preparing to start boiling it.

There were pottery jars at home, and Jiang Wan's body had always relied on medicine to nourish it, so these utensils for boiling medicine were all complete.

After spending half the morning, the medicine was finally boiled; waiting for it to cool down a bit, Du Ruo drank it. In the past two days, there were a few more pustules on her face, clearly indicating that the toxins were spreading again.

Jiang Wan tilted her little head and asked curiously: "Third Brother said that when Sister-in-law's illness is cured, she will become good-looking; is it true?"

Du Ruo chuckled: "It's true; I will become as good-looking as Wan'er, oh."

The little girl lowered her head shyly and said coyly: "Wan'er is not good-looking; Second Brother is the best-looking, and Eldest Brother is also good-looking."

That Jiang Zhan is good-looking is beyond doubt.

But Jiang Li, well, one can only say he's not ugly; he's a hundred and eight thousand miles away from being good-looking.

Du Ruo laughed heartily: "Yes, yes, you are all good-looking, so Sister-in-law must also hurry up and become good-looking, otherwise when we go out, people will say we don't look like a family!"

The effect of the medicine was fast; that night, Du Ruo found that the pustules on her face were a little smaller.

Although it was only a little bit, it was enough to make her excited and unable to sleep.

The next morning, Du Ruo walked out of the room with panda eyes; before she had time to wash up, she heard Jiang Wan's scream from the courtyard.

Du Ruo's sleepiness was scared away, and she hurriedly ran out at a speed inconsistent with her figure.

Jiang Zhan and Jiang Cheng also rushed into the courtyard from different directions; when they saw the scene in front of them, their hair stood on end instantly.