He said, “Print another copy that’s cleaner.”
The vagabond pulled another land deed from his pocket and asked Xie Sicao to press his fingerprint on it.
This one was cleaner, with less blood on it.
Lu Yang handed it to Xie Yan.
Xie Yan saw this scene for the first time, and it was even bigger than the wedding celebrations at home.
His head was spinning, and he couldn’t react at first. When he saw the land deed, he slowly regained his composure, his eyes filling with tears. He cried out, “Brother Yang,” and couldn’t stop crying.
Xie Yan wiped his own tears, but couldn’t wipe them all away.
With tears in his eyes, his gaze shone like a star in water, sparkling with tiny lights. It was bright and pitiful.
Lu Yang didn’t argue with him and took him to the next house.
With the tragic scene at Xie Sicao’s house before them, the other two uncles had nothing to fear.
The land was returned, and the silver was returned.
They even paid extra money to the vagabonds as a reward.
Lu Yang couldn’t leave without paying anything, so after the matter was settled, he gave them some silver.
“It’s the New Year, and you’ve gone to all this trouble to come here. Our village is far away, and we don’t have much to offer you, but here’s some silver for you to buy some wine!”
These people smiled and chatted, exchanging New Year’s greetings and auspicious words.
They would stay the night and not return to the county seat. The New Year’s Eve dinner of the three families would be their meal for the night.
This was clearly an extra request.
Lu Yang supported her and stood beside the incense altar with her.
Zhao Peilan heard Lu Yang’s name and her eyes flickered slightly, but she said nothing.
Lu Yang looked at the spirit tablet and recognized his father-in-law’s name.
Xie Erong, courtesy name Yangsheng.
After finishing the incense offering, they brought the food to the table, poured wine, and bowed again.
Zhao Peilan brought a copper basin, and they burned paper money and gold ingots together. They chatted about household matters, hoping to bring peace to the departed.
Once the ceremony concluded, the food needed to be rearranged. They took it directly to the kitchen, reheated it, and served it again.
Lu Yang asked Xie Yan, “After this year, you’ll be nineteen. Will you take a courtesy name?”
He hadn’t understood before and had never used that name. Now he understood a little.
He asked Lu Yang, “Do you know the origin of my name?”
Lu Yang didn’t know.
Xie Yan smiled and said, “A stone from another mountain can be used to polish jade. The mountain stone is called ‘yan’.”
…………………………….
After the accounts were settled, Lu Liu and Li Feng stayed for dinner in the new village until nightfall.
During the day, he went with Shun Ge to the Sanmiao family to play with Miao Xiaohu, then went to the backyard to see the dogs.
Er Huang greeted Lu Liu as if he were his own father, and like Hua Niu, he charged forward, startling Lu Liu.
Sanliang barked once at the den, and Erhuang dared not pounce anymore. He jumped only two steps forward, then walked the rest of the way with his tail wagging, rubbing against Lu Liu.
It knew Lu Liu liked its big tail, so while rubbing against him, the tail remained high in the air. Lu Liu didn’t even have to reach out; with his arms hanging by his sides, his fingertips could touch Er Huang’s tail.
Lu Liu felt embarrassed.
What could he do? In front of the more well-behaved Sanliang, Erhuang also became a silly dog.
He also missed Erhuang, so he squatted down to hug it, ruffling its soft fur with his hands until it was all messy, then took out a wooden comb from his small pouch to comb its fur.
Er Huang immediately lay down; it loved Lu Liu combing the fur on its belly.
Miao Xiaohuo had never combed a dog’s fur before. Seeing this, she went back inside, took out a comb, and called San Liang over: “I’ll comb your fur for you.”
San Liang didn’t move.
This dog was well-behaved, but it only listened to San Miao.
It had been well-trained since it was a puppy. Even when Miao Xiaohuo brought it its “father’s meal,” it would only eat if San Miao fed it.
After calling out twice, San Liang finally moved.
After sniffing around, it realized Miao Xiaohuo wasn’t bringing food, so it crouched down in front of him.
San Miao’s two older brothers were also hunters, and they kept hunting dogs in their own hunting grounds.
Some families were too lazy to spin the thread and simply threw it away.
Lu Liu and Miao Xiaohu both laughed at him. Lu Liu said, “You’re so experienced. Do you get chased away often?”
Lu Liu felt a bit envious.
He used to know nothing at all; he didn’t even understand the matters of serving men.
Miao Xiaohu wasn’t fooled and asked him, “Do you know about getting pregnant and giving birth?”
Shun Ge roughly knew—it’s just sleeping in the same den, right?
Er Huang and San Liang were like that—they lived in the same den for a while and ended up having a puppy.
People are the same—after getting married, they live in the same den, sleep together more often, and end up having a child.
When asked how they get pregnant, he didn’t know.
Sometimes in the village, you could see dogs mating outside, and unmarried young men like him would be chased away.
Once, two dogs were mating outside his front door, and his mother saw it and got very angry. She chased after the two households and scolded them, saying they were shameless for letting the dogs out and corrupting the children. The neighbors couldn’t retort. Because the mating period for female dogs must be coordinated, such reckless behavior requires an apology.
Shun Ge, who clearly didn’t understand anything, was embarrassed by their laughter, his fur standing on end. He huffed and stomped off.
“I’m not playing with you adults!”
After he left, Miao Xiaohu asked Lu Liu about the sketchbook.
“Should we swap two more?”
Lu Liu agreed.
He had more there.
Miao Xiaohu asked him, “Which one do you like?”
Lu Liu was too shy to say, how could he explain?
His face turned red, and Miao Xiaohu also felt awkward asking, as if she were being too forward.
They chatted about random things for a while, and Miao Xiaohuo told him about the lipstick.
Lu Liu was surprised: “Da Feng had you buy rouge for me?”
Lu Liu thought about it and realized that when Li Feng gave it to him, he could be surprised again.
Li Feng firmly disagreed with her taking Shun Ge to cook over an open fire. By the end of the year, they would divide the household, and in the first month of the new year, she would move in with him.
There were only a few days left until the end of the year, and he would help Lu Liu clean up the house so it would be ready for someone to live in.
Chen Guizhi also considered this and said to Li Feng, “What about this house? It’s only been a few years since it was built. Are you just going to abandon it?”
