Several times, he jerked his head up to look toward the door—but there was no sign of Juhua. Thankfully, no one noticed him. The meal was both extremely satisfying and extremely unsettling for him. In his daze, Li Changxing and Big Mouth Zhao had plied him with quite a bit of wine!
In the kitchen, Little Shitou was also eating until his mouth was greasy and his little belly was stretched round. Juhua, worried he was eating too much rich food, had to coax him into eating some green vegetables.
Juhua herself was also eating with great relish—the flavor of this Huang Shan was truly incredible, nothing like the farmed kind from her past life. As she ate, she thought, 'How can I get my brother to go catch some more?'
After the meal, the workers chatted for a while before continuing to dig the well.
Juhua carefully brushed a thin layer of shrimp paste onto the scorched rice, roasting it until it was golden-brown and crispy. She planned to pour bone broth over it for dinner, which would count as another dish.
After digging for over another two-hour period in the afternoon, a shout came from Zhao San down in the well: "There's water! There's water! HAHAHA…" The men hauling dirt up top also let out a long sigh of relief and looked at each other, breaking into smiles.
Little Shitou dashed into the kitchen and shouted excitedly to Juhua, who was making braised peanuts, "They've hit water! Sister Juhua, they've hit water!"
Juhua smiled. "Oh, they hit water? Heh, it's about time. They've been digging for so long."
Yang Family untied her apron, went outside the kitchen to pat the dust off her clothes, smoothed her hair back with both hands, and then peeked her head over the well. She looked at Qingmu and asked, "About how deep is it?"
Qingmu's face was also full of smiles. "It's not too deep. Less than two zhang, I'd say."
The remaining work was more tedious: laying pebbles at the bottom of the well and lining the walls with bricks. Rushing to get it done, they didn't finish the entire project until nightfall.
Large stone slabs Qingmu had found were laid around the edge of the well platform, and a drainage channel was dug leading to the ditch outside the wicker fence. All that was missing now was a well cover. Zheng Changhe planned to make one himself out of wood. It didn't need to be pretty, just sturdy and functional.
With the work finished, the atmosphere at the dinner table that evening was even more lively.
The spread was still lavish. In addition to the dishes from lunch, there was now scorched rice in bone broth and braised peanuts. The spinach and cilantro weren't stir-fried; instead, they were blanched in salted boiling water, then tossed in a wok with minced garlic, making them a fragrant, oily green.
Everyone praised the rich flavor of the scorched rice and peanuts while eating the spinach and cilantro. They had expected such a vibrant green dish to be half-raw, but it was surprisingly soft and tender in their mouths.
Zhao San exclaimed in praise, "Tomorrow, I'm gonna have my kid's ma come learn from Juhua. How do you even make vegetables look this good! When we stir-fry greens at home, don't they always turn out limp and yellow?"
Zhang Huai simply felt that the jade-green spinach was like Juhua's eyes, shimmering with a glistening light that made his heart flutter uncontrollably.
But while he was lost in these thoughts, everyone else was just focused on devouring the food and praising its flavor. How could they know his mind was already in turmoil, a whirlwind of a thousand thoughts and feelings?
Soon, everyone was full and tipsy. Zhao San and the others, bathed in the light of the stars and moon, set off on the road back to the village.
Zhang Huai hoped to see Juhua come out to see them off, but he was also afraid of seeing her. In the end, he only heard Little Shitou and Juhua's voices saying goodbye from the kitchen; Juhua didn't come out at all. First, his heart settled with relief, but that was immediately followed by a wave of disappointment.
Yang Family was still worried about Little Shitou, feeling it wasn't safe for him to go with the men since they had all been drinking. But just as she was saying this, Shi Tou's mother arrived to pick him up.
Shi Tou's mother grumbled at her husband, "Did you come here to work or to drink? You glutton." Then she took Shi Tou's hand and said, "Son, you've been away from home all day. What good food did you eat with your dad?"
The wine had gone to Zhao San's head, and he laughed loudly. "He ate a ton of good stuff today! Looked to me like he wanted to stay at Sister Juhua's place and not leave."
Little Shitou had truly satisfied his cravings today, so he excitedly told his mother all about the wonderful dishes Sister Juhua had made, how good they tasted, and how fragrant they were. His cheerful chattering, a clear, young voice, echoed endlessly across the quiet fields.
Li Changxing and the other two young men were walking up ahead. He smiled at Zhang Huai and said, "Huai Zi, you're going to regret this someday!"
Big Mouth Zhao asked dumbly, "Why? Regret what?"
Li Changxing just smiled and ignored him.
Zhang Huai's mind was a mess. One moment, he saw Juhua's ugly face; the next, her clear eyes. He desperately tried to convince himself. 'Qingmu and I are good friends, and Juhua is a good girl... but I only see her as a sister. I don't want to marry her.'
'I don't want to marry her. That's right!'
Li Changxing glanced sideways at Huai Zi. In the moonlight, his expression wasn't very clear; it was hazy, as if covered by a light veil. Yet, Li Changxing seemed to sense his friend's inner conflict.
He suddenly chuckled, began to hum a little song under his breath, and strode forward.
This made Big Mouth Zhao chase after him from behind, shouting, "Xingzi, why are you running so fast? Is a ghost chasing you or something?!"
Hearing that cheerful song, Zhang Huai felt a baseless surge of anger. He grew even more agitated, feeling that the moon tonight was truly dim, and the frost on the grass sent a chill through his entire body.
He arrived home full of this inner turmoil. His mother, He, came to greet him. In the dim light of the oil lamp, she saw his long face and couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong, Huai Zi? Is Qingmu still ignoring you?"
Zhang Huai replied impatiently, "Mom, what are you talking about? You're just guessing wildly! Why would Qingmu ignore me? If he was ignoring me, would I have been at his house helping today?" With that, he went into his room without a backward glance.
His mother stared at his back, somewhat stunned. 'What's gotten into my son?'
His younger son, Zhang Yang, came over with sleepy eyes and asked, "Is brother home? Mom, I'm going back to bed. The water in the pot is hot now, you can go wash up."
He quickly said, "Go on to bed! Tell your brother to come wash his face and feet."
"Okay!" Zhang Yang mumbled in a daze.
That night, Zhang Huai slept very restlessly. His dreams were filled with Juhua.
One moment, it was an ugly face covered in scabby skin; the next, it was a beautiful young woman framed by clear, bright eyes. He didn't know which was real and which was false.
When he tried to turn away from the ugly girl with the scabby skin, she would instantly transform into the beautiful maiden. But as soon as he tried to get a closer look at the beautiful maiden, she would change back into the ugly girl with the scabby face.
After such a tormenting night, he woke up the next morning with two dark, puffy bags under his eyes, completely drained of energy.