Chapter 173: Chapter 173: Onion Tears
An Ning’s smiling face, framed by the collar of her military greatcoat, looked even smaller.
She tilted her head up, facing the light, and looked at Jiang Xia, who was peeking over the wall.
Having been caught red-handed, Jiang Xia was indeed a little embarrassed.
He didn’t even know what he was doing himself.
Jiang Xia had only returned after midnight. In the morning, he heard from his grandfather that An Ning was sick, and on a whim, he came over to peek over the wall.
"Uh... I... we... My family is butchering a pig today, and we’re looking for help."
As soon as the lame excuse left Jiang Xia’s lips, he found himself despising his own intelligence.
’What kind of god-awful excuse is that!’
But An Ning, below, didn’t seem to think it was fake at all. She accepted it with perfect calm.
"Oh. Remember to use the door next time."
An Ning pulled her cotton-padded jacket tighter. Jiang Xia got down from the wall, and his voice drifted over from the other side.
"I’ll come back later."
As An Ning went to the restroom, Jiang Xia dashed home. The first thing he said upon entering the house was, "We’re butchering a pig today!"
Grandpa Jiang Xia, who was drinking porridge, held his bowl and stared at his grandson, who was suddenly acting strange.
"Butcher the pig? I just finished feeding it."
"It’s fine, it hasn’t digested yet."
After saying that, Jiang Xia felt his IQ plummeting.
Grandpa Jiang Xia stared at Jiang Xia with a knowing look in his eyes and gave a meaningful smile.
"Alright then. Someone’s sick, so they should eat some meat."
Grandpa Jiang Xia thought Jiang Xia wanted to butcher the pig to give some meat to An Ning.
Jiang Xia’s mind was in a jumble at the moment, so he didn’t grasp the deeper meaning behind his grandfather’s words.
Regardless, the matter of the Jiang family butchering a pig was settled.
Meanwhile, An Ning, having returned from the restroom, was being herded back onto the kang bed by Lin Cuihua.
"Mom, I’m really fine now. I just caught a chill the other day."
"I’m going—to lie down right now."
An Ning, who had been trying to argue, saw Lin Cuihua looking like she was about to burst into tears at any moment, with tears already welling in her eyes. She obediently got onto the kang bed.
Lin Cuihua grabbed a kitchen knife, turned, and left the room to go work in the kitchen.
In the kitchen, An Guoping walked in yawning and glanced at the cutting board.
"Mom, are you stir-frying onions this morning?"
"What are you doing here? Scram!"
With a guilty conscience, Lin Cuihua tried to shoo An Guoping away.
An Guoping looked at Lin Cuihua and asked in confusion, "Mom, you seem surprised to see me, but I live here."
"Get out of the way."
Lin Cuihua quickly gathered the onions into a basin. Stir-fried eggs with onion—she had to get it in the wok and destroy the evidence.
An Guoping, utterly confused, started to leave, one foot already over the threshold.
"Are you really leaving?! Stoke the fire! You’re completely clueless."
An Guoping quickly pulled back the foot he had stepped out with and looked helplessly at Lin Cuihua.
"Mom, what exactly am I supposed to do?!"
"Just do what you’re told. Stop asking so many questions."
Lin Cuihua was the type who was always right no matter what she said. An Guoping obediently sat down on the small stool and stoked the fire.
In the morning, An Ning ate alone in her room while the others ate outside.
An Ning spent the whole morning by herself, sitting at a small table on the warm kang bed. Fortunately, she could at least make up some homework problems for her younger brothers.
It wasn’t until noon, when the sun was shining brightly, that An Ning was finally allowed to go out for a stroll.
The sky today was exceptionally clear.
The brilliant sunlight was dazzling.
An Ning, bundled up warmly, distributed the cotton shoes, coats, and other things she had bought previously to everyone.
She gave the orders, and An Guoping did the work.
After everything was distributed, An Ning walked in front, with An Guoping to her left rear and Li Chengze to her right rear. Her two "little brothers" followed as they walked out the main gate.
"Sis, everyone’s gone to Jiang Xia’s house. They’re butchering a pig today."
"Let’s go take a look."
An Ning led her two followers and, with the swagger of bandits entering a village, headed for Jiang Xia’s house.
The Jiang family’s courtyard was less than half the size of An Ning’s current home.
There weren’t a huge number of people in the courtyard, but because the yard was small, it seemed a bit crowded.
The people helping at Jiang Xia’s house were mainly from the An family, along with the village butcher.
After staying for a short while, An Ning was herded home again by Lin Cuihua.
Jiang Xia, who had spotted An Ning earlier that morning, saw her pitiful expression for the first time.
’She’s actually kind of cute.’
Jiang Xia was shocked by his own thought!
’What kind of unscientific, monstrous thought is this? I can’t be thinking this, I can’t!’
He had seen An Ning kill a wild boar with her bare hands. How could she possibly be associated with the word "cute"?
’That would be the ultimate disrespect and insult to An Ning!’
Jiang Xia went back to scraping the pig’s bristles, a dopey, lovesick grin on his face that he himself wasn’t even aware of.
The Jiang family was busy all day, and that evening, they ate a pig-butchering feast.
At noon, Lin Cuihua brought back a basin of food for An Ning’s lunch.
Only she and her sister-in-law were left at home; even Li Chengze and An Guoping had gone to help out.
Lin Cuihua placed the food on the kang table in An Ning’s room and left.
"Just leave it there when you’re done. I’ll clean up when I get back. You just stay obediently on the kang bed."
"I know!"
An Ning had no choice but to agree.
Just because she sneezed once at Jiang Xia’s house, Lin Cuihua had instantly chased her back home.
An Ning called her sister-in-law, Zhou Guifen, over to eat with her. When she lifted the lid of the food basin, she found it was filled with nothing but neatly arranged pork ribs.
"This is way too much. They didn’t pack the wrong one by mistake, did they?"
Her sister-in-law ate with some apprehension, but An Ning ate with a clear conscience.
"No way. Just relax and eat."
The two of them shared a basin of white rice and a basin of food from the feast, which was full of the pork ribs An Ning loved, as well as streaky pork belly.
After the meal, An Ning cleared the table. Her sister-in-law’s belly was already very big, so it wasn’t good for her to do any chores.
An Ning stayed obediently at home all afternoon, until Lin Cuihua and the others returned.
"This is too much! An Sancheng, are we really allowed to take this?"
Every member of the An Family who came in from outside was carrying a piece of meat, some bones, or a pig’s trotter.
An Ning got off the kang bed and stood at the doorway.
"Mom, did you bring the whole pig back?"
"Why are you off the bed again!"
An Ning stuck out her tongue and zipped back inside.
Her action made the few people outside want to laugh.
’His sister is so cute!’
’Our little sister is so cute!’
’Comrade An Ning isn’t so scary after all!’
Under Lin Cuihua’s strict guard and tearful onion-powered assault, An Ning was confined to the kang bed for three days.
By the fourth day, An Ning really couldn’t take it anymore.
When Lin Cuihua was about to launch another tearful assault, An Ning stated calmly, "We’re running out of onions."
That one sentence finally made Lin Cuihua back down.
An Ning’s days of kang bed confinement were finally over. She felt like running outside, doing a few somersaults, and frolicking around to celebrate.
Doing somersaults was unlikely, but going shopping was certainly possible.
An Ning went out to the restroom and, copying Jiang Xia, decided to just hop onto the wall and call for him from there.
Jiang Xia, who was chopping firewood in his yard, was amused by An Ning.
"What’s this? Is your family butchering a pig, too?"
"You guessed right. But before I can butcher a pig, I have to buy one first."
