Siheyuan: I can always stay out of it

"Why are you here so early?"

"I arrived at my hometown last night. I didn't know what to do anyway, so I came here early."

Chen Xu was now holding a bowl of boiled water handed to him by Aunt Lin, and explained with a smile.

Aunt Lin found an excuse and left. Chen Xu gave a thumbs up to his future mother-in-law. Look at her vision. If he married Lin Chan, his mother-in-law would have to be very filial to him.

Lin Chan seemed to have discovered his mother's intention. He puffed up his face and waved his earth-shattering little fist at him.

"Don't think too much, my mother is just like that."

"Uh, I understand."

Chen Xu responded with a smile, but his perfunctory attitude made Lin Chan very dissatisfied.

"I think you'll be disappointed this time. I haven't caught much prey in the past two days."

Chen Xu nodded.

"It's okay. We'll take whatever we have. By the way, where does that guy named Lin Qing live?"

"Lin Qing, that guy lives in the mountains, but that's right, he might have something there."

Hearing that Lin Chan seemed to be somewhat dissatisfied with Lin Qing, Chen Xu asked with a smile.

"Why, you don't have a good relationship with him?"

Lin Chan said disdainfully.

"There aren't any major conflicts, it's just that the guy wants to get beaten up from time to time, which is a bit annoying."

"Forehead..."

Chen Xu felt that the guy named Lin Qing should be quite capable. After all, according to Lin Chan, that guy had been beaten by her more than once or twice, yet he still persisted in coming to her. He was truly a warrior.

However, he remembered another thing.

"So, is he married?"

Lin Chan was stunned, then instantly understood what Chen Xu meant, and said unhappily.

"You think too much. He already has a child. Besides, he and I are cousins."

"Oh, that's good..."

Chen Xu breathed a sigh of relief. According to his experience, if a man always gets close to girls, he is probably someone with bad intentions.

Lin Chan wanted to laugh when she saw Chen Xu, who was obviously relaxed. However, she sighed when she thought of her own disappointing abilities. How could she not know what Chen Xu was thinking? It was just...

"Okay, I'll take you there. Don't get lost in the mountains if you go by yourself."

"Okay, but no hurry. I want to see what the village has."

After a few seconds.

Chen Xu watched Lin Chan carry out two pheasants from the kitchen. One was colorful and obviously a male, while the other was much uglier. This situation was not uncommon in nature. Male animals needed to find mates, so they usually looked more beautiful.

The two pheasants had their wings and claws tied up, and they were still struggling and screaming.

"Didn't you say there was no prey?"

"There were only two chickens. I caught them last night. If I was lucky, I could catch them alive at night. I couldn't catch them during the day, so I had to stone them to death."

Looking at what were obviously a pair of pheasants, Chen Xu wondered if these two chickens were doing something unspeakable when they were caught by this girl.

"Okay, I want it."

The pheasant looked quite big, but in fact it was only because of its feathers that it looked big. The two pheasants weighed less than four pounds in total. Chen Xu simply calculated the price based on four pounds. Lin Chan didn't care and helped put the money into the cloth bag that Chen Xu brought and threw it in the yard first, so that they could take it away later.

Since she was not going to Lin Qing's place now, Lin Chan could not follow Chen Xu around the village, so Chen Xu had to go door to door to ask.

After a round, there was no other gain except a rabbit and half a bag of sparrows. Chen Xu sighed, feeling that it was not very reliable to rely on prey to maintain procurement.

At the old village chief's house, Chen Xu wanted to laugh when he saw the village chief drinking boiled water with sparrows.

At first he thought the village chief was drinking alcohol. His expression and posture were no different from those of a drunk person.

If he hadn't noticed steam coming out of the cup after he came in, he wouldn't have realized it was boiling water.

"What a joke. There's no wine here. It's good enough that you can pretend to be good enough."

The village chief cursed with a smile, and asked his boy to carry out the prepared sparrows.

Chen Xu wondered if the old village chief had a conflict with sparrows, as that was why he could always catch so many.

Looking at Chen Xu's puzzled eyes, the old village chief chuckled twice.

"Catching sparrows requires some skills. You have to be able to guess where a large group of sparrows will settle at night. Otherwise, you won't get much. This was my specialty in the past."

But soon, the village chief's expression became gloomy again.

Chen Xu roughly understood what was going on. After all, who would have thought that the skill of catching sparrows for a snack would now become a means of making a living? It was really fate.

Chen Xu didn't know how to comfort the old man. This was the general environment now. The situation around Sijiu City was relatively good. Their Chenjia Village was an exception. They didn't have much land, so naturally they couldn't survive. The other villages could at least barely hold on.

The situation was even more tragic in places further away, with entire villages fleeing.

Especially now that it is 1960, the year of the worst famine.

Lin Chan's home.

Aunt Lin, who was chatting at someone else's house, saw Chen Xu going to the village and went straight home.

Looking at Lin Chan who was sitting in the main room with money in one hand and his little face supported by the other.

"Girl, what do you think of this Chen Xu? I feel like he's interested in you."

Lin Chan naturally had nothing to hide in front of her mother.

"I know, but my mother is not unaware of my situation."

Lin Chan's words made Aunt Lin a little sad. In fact, she also knew all this, but she still held out some hope.

But soon, Aunt Lin thought of something else.

"Or, give him the family's martial arts to practice with. If he really marries you, you won't be considered an outsider."

Lin Chan smiled bitterly. It was not that easy. Everyone in the village had practiced it, but very few could gain anything. At most, it could just strengthen their bodies.

And it took a long time. Apart from this monster, there were few people in the village who could achieve a small success. For example, Lin Qing, who would seek her out for competition from time to time, was considered a rare genius in the village, but after more than ten years, he was still only a small success in martial arts.

When Lin Chan was in a good mood, she would play with him for a while, but when she was in a bad mood, she would slap him in the face.

Moreover, Chen Xu is already old. Generally speaking, one needs to lay a solid foundation for martial arts from an early age. It is not impossible for someone to achieve success by starting late, but it is rare.

The two did not say anything more. These were all things that Lin Chan needed to consider on her own. Moreover, the family's martial arts were not something that their family could easily teach. They needed the approval of the elders.

When Chen Xu came back carrying a bag full of sparrows and a rabbit on his back, Lin Chan looked a little surprised.

As a warrior, she had some understanding of Chen Xu's body.

This time when Chen Xu came back, he was obviously in much better health than the previous two times, but no one thought much about it. After all, Chen Xu also said that he had just found a job, and it was normal for his health to improve as he could eat enough.

After placing the bag and the rabbit next to the pheasant, Chen Xu breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the stuff was not heavy, each household in Linjia Village was quite far apart and each was considered independent, so it still took some effort to carry it back.

"Let's go."

Lin Chan didn't say much and took Chen Xu directly to the village entrance leading to the mountains.

"Be careful on the road."

Aunt Lin shouted from behind, and it was obvious that she was reminding Lin Chan to keep an eye on Chen Xu.

Her daughter was a bully in these mountains, so she never worried. But Chen Xu was different.

Even on the outskirts of the mountains, there are still dangers there, so don't just give up.

Lin Chan didn't even turn his head, just waved his hand casually, looking very cool.