Song Tan's Notes

It's been raining non-stop all day, but the temperature only dropped from 40° to 36 or 37°. It's so uncomfortable.

After a busy half-day, the family finally put down their farm work and went home to wash up and enjoy the air conditioning.

Song Tan rummaged through the freezer and found some watermelon popsicles that Lu Chuan had made before. The two sat on the sofa, whispering to each other as they ate.

When Ulan saw this, she couldn't help but say, "Eat quickly, or the juice will dissolve and drip all over the sofa."

The sofa in their house was arranged by Zhao Fangyuan. It wasn't cheap, and the color was very much to Song Tan's liking—it was that warm white!

Of course, the warm white one didn't last long before Ulan arranged for a rainbow-striped coarse cloth sofa cover for her—

Her words also make a lot of sense:

"After working in the fields every day, you have to be careful not to get the sofa dirty when you come back to rest. Aren't you tired? It would be so much better to put down a sofa cover, and it's easy to clean."

That makes sense, but with so many beautiful sofa covers available now, is it really necessary to use this old-fashioned coarse cloth?
However, Song Tan's aesthetic sense was just so-so, so in the end, they let her have her way.

But this year is different.

When Lu Chuan came to our house this year, he was polite at first, but then he gradually got the hang of it himself.

The first thing I replaced was the throw pillow.

The original brown throw pillows that came with the sofa were replaced one by one with Xiangyun yarn patchwork pillows, green linen pillows with oracle bone script patterns...

Ulan said:
It's all so gaudy and flashy. Especially that patchwork one, isn't it just scraps of fabric pieced together?

Then there's the vase.

The gray-blue glass bottles were replaced with high-quality porcelain sweet white slender-necked bottles, antique-style pottery large-bellied bottles, and vermilion glazed bottles...

Nowadays, even the sofa covers on the sofa were chosen by Lu Chuan. They are not very stain-resistant and are not as durable as coarse cloth.

But—Lu is a diligent person who, when he has free time, can even help Aunt Lianhua take down the curtains and wash them, just like Tan Tan.

Now that he wants to decorate his home, well, that does look better than the old coarse cloth, so he'll just put up with it!

For example, right now.

Upon hearing her words, the two obediently held their popsicles further away.

But they remained in their seats, still engrossed in their phones, whispering and chatting amongst themselves.

Seeing this, Wulan simply took two popsicles and gave one to Song Sancheng.

Aunt Lianhua came into the house to do some work, and when she saw the people sitting on the crescent-shaped sofa, she couldn't help but laugh:
"That's why we say we're family, look how alike you are."

It was raining outside, and water was inevitably splashing onto the porch, so the floor never got clean. Ulan simply said:
"Lotus, you've been busy for a long time now. It's raining today and there's nothing much to do, so why don't you take a day off and go back to keep your mother-in-law company?"

Aunt Lianhua didn't stand on ceremony: "Sure, she's been helping Liu Liu take care of her child lately, and she's been so energetic every day."

"It's raining heavily, and I guess my wife won't need her help anyway, so it's a good opportunity for my daughter and me to chat together."

Even so, she still quickly tidied up the clutter on the floor upstairs and downstairs before slowly walking into the dark sky with her umbrella.

At that moment, Song Tan and Lu Chuan had already picked up the game controllers. The little characters on the screen were jumping up and down, and the two of them were so busy and flustered that Wu Lan's eyes were blurry from watching.

Being a busybody who couldn't stay idle, he simply went to the kitchen and brought back a basket of cowpeas, and sat down with Song Sancheng on the veranda to pick the beans.

They talked and discussed as they went:

"The rain was heavy, but thankfully the corn has all been harvested, otherwise the roots wouldn't have taken hold—what will we plant on that slope next year?"

Song Sancheng said sullenly, "It's not up to us to decide what to plant. You should ask Xiaoyan and the others."

Ulan: ...Do you even know what chatting is? Doesn't she know to ask an expert when you have a problem?
She took a deep breath: "So tell me, what kind of plan is it that Secretary Zhu invited the CEO of this big corporation to personally plan for our village?"

“I saw on Douyin that other villages have long grape trellises built along the paths, specifically for the grapes to climb, like the ones in front of Xiao Lu’s B&B.” “If our village were to build them, could we just build them in front of our yard? I’d plant some gourds on both sides. Those climb fast.”

He paused for a moment and then said, "If we plant something else, I'm afraid people in the village will pick it. Not many people like to eat bottle gourds, and the yield is high. If someone really wants to, they can pick it without feeling bad."

Song Sancheng was speechless: "If you don't even like to eat it yourself, why did you grow it?"

Ulan clicked her tongue: "Then I like to enjoy life and do nothing. Why would I be picking green beans on a rainy day?"

Casual chat, do you know what casual chat is?

But she also knew that Song Sancheng was sulking—he wanted to go fishing in the heavy rain, but Tan Tan said the riverbank was too slippery and wouldn't let him go.

He was stubborn but couldn't win, and he was fuming.

That's not right!
Ulan came to her senses: It's not like I'm stopping you from fishing, why should I put up with this?

She glanced at the old green beans in the basin, snorted, and kicked the entire basket towards Song Sancheng.

"Okay, I'm going to go talk to Lu Jing."

She recently recommended a short drama that looks really interesting. It's raining right now, and I guess there won't be anyone at the guesthouse, so the two of us can chat a bit more!
With a large umbrella open, plastic slippers clattered into the rainwater. Song Sancheng stood under the eaves, feeling the damp wind, staring at the basket full of green beans, speechless.

……

Just as Wulan had predicted, the guesthouse was nearly empty during the heavy rain; those who came to see Dr. Guo didn't choose days like this.

Apart from long-term guests like the top-ranked guesthouse owner, the entire guesthouse became quiet.

Lu Jing was also happy: "Come on, come on! I just picked a new drama, let's watch it together! Want some milk tea? Xiao Chuan bought me some good tea, come and try it!"

After Chef Chai, whom she had specially invited to entertain her friends, left, Lu Jing's induction cooker was still hidden in the tall cabinet in the kitchen.

To get it out, she would not only have to use a ladder, but also clear out everything inside. Too lazy to do that, she simply upgraded her equipment.

Instead of using the free pot that comes with the induction cooker, I've switched to a multi-functional health pot for making milk tea.

It also comes with a small baking bowl for roasting tea leaves.

The fragrant tea leaves were swirling around, and the milk was emitting a subtle aroma. The two of them huddled together, pointing and gesturing at the tablet. Wasn't this more interesting than talking to that stinky man?
The sky outside grew increasingly dark, the rain continued, and time slipped by unnoticed until the faint roar of a car could be heard outside the glass door.

Lu Jing then belatedly realized:

"Hey, Secretary Zhu told me to get the room ready and wait for the designer—have they arrived yet?"

She used to want Xiao Chuan to take the civil service exam, but now she sees that being a village official is really not easy!

It's even more difficult to be an ambitious village official.

Looking further out, Secretary Zhu had already opened a large umbrella, taken out his suitcase, and was waiting there for the designer to get off the car.

Seeing that Ulan was also there, a smile immediately spread across her overly full face:
"Auntie, what are we having for dinner tonight? Can I take the designer out for a free meal?"

It would also be good to let the other side see the strength of our little village.

Ulan also answered happily and openly:

"Stewed old cowpeas! Cowpeas on the mountain ripen quickly, and I asked your uncle to clean up many of the older ones. We'll stew them all together tonight; it'll smell amazing!"

The rain was pouring down, and the surroundings were dark. Vice President Chen couldn't see any scenery and was now only starving.

Then I heard about dinner—

He knows it!

He had been exiled by Chairman Yang! (End of Chapter)