CHAPTER 228: CHAPTER 227 LOVE FOR BEAUTY (EIGHTEEN UPDATES)

"You know, I never make a losing deal. How about this: you apologize to Aunt Si, and in the afternoon, you pull seedlings by yourself to let her rest, and we’ll call it even?"

Mu Shuangshuang originally just intended for a small punishment.

She didn’t mean for Mu Dazhong to go this far, but she might as well take the opportunity to make them suffer a bit.

Mu Shuangshuang actually really wanted Mu Qingqing to directly promise not to bully Mrs. Liu anymore, but she knew better that such empty promises were less helpful than simply letting Mrs. Liu do less work.

A dog can’t change its habit of eating shit, and similarly, Mu Qingqing won’t stop bullying others.

As for Mrs. Liu, the only way not to be bullied is to stand up for herself. No matter how much others help, it’s only temporary.

"Why are you helping that cowardly woman?" Mu Qingqing looked at Shuangshuang, puzzled.

She thought that since the third branch finally split off, they shouldn’t involve themselves in such matters.

"Because I feel familiar with it. Qingqing, you probably forgot that we, the third branch, were bullied like this before. Even though we’ve now split off, this feeling often torments me, making me uneasy."

Shuangshuang didn’t mind chatting with Mu Qingqing for a while; the longer it dragged on, the more suffering it was for Mu Dazhong.

Mu Qingqing also realized this issue, quickly ran to Mrs. Liu’s side, apologized, and then returned.

Mu Shuangshuang nodded in satisfaction, picking up a board from the cart and comparing it to Mu Dazhong’s leg. Especially with her squinting one eye and opening the other, it was clear what she was about to do.

"What are you doing?" Mu Qingqing asked anxiously, but it was already too late.

Mu Shuangshuang raised the board, and with a bang, smashed it on Mu Dazhong’s leg, making him howl in pain as his leg twitched even more fiercely.

But finally, the leech fell off.

The leech that fell had half a pouch of blood in its mouth. When stomped on, it spat out quite a bit more, which was all Mu Dazhong’s.

The matter was finally resolved, and Mu Dazhong collapsed on the ground, seemingly exhausted, not moving for a long time.

Mu Shuangshuang and Yu Si Niang pushed the cart to the northern fertile fields. Along the way, Mu Shuangshuang kept recalling Mu Dazhong’s hopping antics, which amused her greatly.

"Mom, do you know why Second Uncle, such a big man, is so afraid of leeches?"

Mu Shuangshuang needed to figure this out; it might come in handy in the future.

"What else? Before, your Second Uncle got sucked by a leech down there." Yu Si Niang said casually, then suddenly realized her daughter hadn’t married yet, and such dirty talk shouldn’t be heard.

"Shuangshuang, I was just joking with you, don’t take it seriously." Yu Si Niang explained.

"It’s alright, I know nothing." Mu Shuangshuang suppressed her laughter and waved her hand to Yu Si Niang.

She couldn’t understand how the leech could crawl to Mu Dazhong’s ’little brother’ position.

Could it be that the leech is more into ’gold’ than blood?

"That’s good, that’s good!"

Yu Si Niang comforted herself, and upon reaching the paddy field, she and Shuangshuang began throwing prepared seedlings into the field, one every half meter. After covering half the field, the two finally started transplanting the seedlings.

Transplanting seedlings is one of the few technical tasks among farmers’ chores, emphasizing speed and skill. The more capable young women in the village can plant an acre by themselves in a day.

Mu Shuangshuang had no such ambitions; just finishing the work by the last double harvest day was good enough.

Sorting seedlings, picking seedlings, and planting seedlings, these actions were done skillfully by Mu Shuangshuang. She and Yu Si Niang stood side by side, leaving a trail of green wherever their hands passed.

"Duang, Duang, Duang" the sound of hands touching the water reached the ear, quite pleasing.

Seedling after seedling, Mu Shuangshuang and Yu Si Niang finally finished the afternoon’s work.

Ten seedlings were left, but they couldn’t finish today.

Any further work would leave her without strength to go to the town to sell cold noodles and straw fans the next morning, and there were pigs to feed at home too.

Without mentioning it, it felt like an endless list of tasks for Mu Shuangshuang.

"Shuangshuang, let’s spread the seedlings in the water, so they won’t turn yellow when Mom comes back tomorrow."

Overnight seedlings need to be untied from the straw they’re tied to, a common rule everyone knows about. Although Mu Shuangshuang didn’t know this, she did what Yu Si Niang instructed.

With the last bunch of seedlings spread out, Mu Shuangshuang was finally able to head back.

With her body almost falling apart from exhaustion, once on the bank, Mu Shuangshuang didn’t rush to sit down to rest. Instead, she did a few simple yoga stretches to loosen her muscles.

The only thing that delighted her now was how flexible her body was.

Splits, yoga, grappling and combat—all didn’t make her bones ache.

The first two, Mu Shuangshuang practiced often, while grappling and combat she rarely touched, mainly due to lacking the strength now, making practice ineffective.

When she has time someday, she plans to get a sandbag and practice for half a month before returning to martial arts.

By then, she might even spar a few moves with Fengzi.

Yu Si Niang, seeing Shuangshuang fidgeting with her body there, rubbing her waist and shrugging her shoulders in particularly graceful movements, couldn’t help but grow curious.

"Shuangshuang, what are you doing? It looks fun."

"Mom, it really is fun. Do you want to learn it, to strengthen your body?"

Yoga indeed has many benefits. Although Yu Si Niang does a lot of physical work usually and doesn’t necessarily need this for exercise, yoga benefits the waist and neck greatly. If Yu Si Niang learned it, it might help alleviate pain in those areas.

"With these aged bones, can I still learn?"

"Mom, you’re not old at all. You’re in your prime. A woman at thirty is a blooming flower, and you’re not even thirty yet."

Yu Si Niang indeed wasn’t old. She reached maturity at fifteen, had Mu Shuangshuang at sixteen, and Mu Shuangshuang was now thirteen; thus, she was only twenty-nine, the prime of her youth.

In modern terms, these would be the most attractive years, peak beauty.

However, the hardships faced by farmer’s wives made their skin look dull and yellowish, making her look no different from someone over thirty, even though she was only twenty-nine.

"Mom, let’s hurry back. I’ll make you a cucumber face mask."

Mu Shuangshuang became excited; poor skin can be cared for, and a bad figure can be improved through exercise.

If she starts instilling these into Yu Si Niang now, even ancient cultural shackles can be broken.

"What... mask?" Yu Si Niang widened her eyes, curiously repeating the word Shuangshuang used.

"A face mask, something that can make your face as fresh as an eighteen-year-old girl’s."

Yu Si Niang was stunned; an eighteen-year-old’s skin is smooth and soft, incomparable to hers.

But everyone loves beauty, so she couldn’t help but feel a little anticipation for whatever Shuangshuang referred to as a "mask"!