Chapter 169: Refusal

Chapter 169: Chapter 169: Refusal

"Alright." Seeing her parents, brother, and sister-in-law all insisting, Zhang Minzhen thought for a moment before agreeing.

Zhang Wei Qiang only smiled after she agreed. He then laid out what everyone’s tasks would be moving forward. In the days that followed, everyone did as he assigned, falling into a busy and orderly routine. First, Zhang Dazhuang stopped going to help at the new house. Instead, he bought lumber from some folks in Lihua Village and started building all the furniture for the new house at their current, older one.

Gu Nuan Nuan’s two cousins, Zhang Su and Zhang Kai, were also roped into service. They came to Lihua Village to help their grandfather, acting as his apprentices. In Zhang Wei Qiang’s words, it was a chance for them to learn a trade, which he considered a great deal for them. After all, you can never have too many skills. Gu Nuan Nuan couldn’t help but snicker unkindly as she watched her cousins, forced to work instead of enjoying their summer vacation, suffering in silence.

Fed up with wasting time on the daily commute and worried that the lumber and building materials in Lihua Village might get stolen if everyone returned to Zhang Family Village at night, Zhang Dazhuang decided to spend some time fixing up the old house in Lihua Village and moved right in. Since he was staying, Zhang Su and Zhang Kai naturally had no choice but to stay as well.

It was like a chain reaction. Seeing that Zhang Dazhuang was staying, Zhang Minzhen decided she and Gu Nuan Nuan should move in too, worried the three men wouldn’t eat properly on their own. Soon, Zhang Wei Qiang also began to feel that commuting the considerable distance between the two villages every day, leaving early and returning late, was a complete waste of time...

In the end, even Wen Xiu and Lin Qin decided to move to Lihua Village. So, Zhang Wei Qiang found his great-uncle, Zhang Damei, and a cousin from his side of the family that he’d been close with since childhood, and entrusted the family fields to their care. And just like that, the entire family moved to Lihua Village.

The arrival of Wen Xiu and Lin Qin immediately eased Zhang Minzhen’s burden. Although the two women were mainly focused on learning how to mix the filling and practicing how to wrap the meat buns from Zhang Minzhen, their presence still lightened her workload. Gu Nuan Nuan, meanwhile, had even more freedom. She no longer needed to help deliver meals, and with everyone else so busy, no one was keeping a close eye on her. This made Gu Nuan Nuan the idlest person in the house. A few times, she even used the excuse of visiting a classmate to secretly sneak into the mountains for a walk, returning without ever being caught.

However, time was always short, so she could never venture too far into the mountains on her secret trips. She always came back empty-handed, and eventually, she lost interest. Instead, she started staying home and drawing all sorts of designs. In addition to sketching various furniture styles she remembered from the past for her grandfather’s reference, she also drew up plans for exquisite packaging boxes and designs for storefronts that were simple yet visually pleasing.

The family, having long grown accustomed to Gu Nuan Nuan’s displays of genius, didn’t overthink it. Though they were just simple drawings, her grandfather treasured the furniture designs she drew. He collected every single one, studying them carefully as he prepared to build them.

One day, around ten in the morning, Gu Nuan Nuan was in her room drawing when she suddenly heard her mother call out, "Nuannuan, come on out! A classmate of yours is here."

’A classmate? Looking for me? I have classmates from Lihua Village, but we never really hung out at school. Why would someone I don’t normally talk to suddenly show up here?’

Gu Nuan Nuan’s mind blanked for a second. She swept all the drawings from her desk into Cao Cao’s Companion Space and went outside to see what was going on.

"Gu Nuan Nuan." A thin, dark-skinned, and rather timid-looking girl stood shyly in the courtyard with Zhang Minzhen.

"Xiao Hong?"

Although they didn’t interact much, Gu Nuan Nuan still remembered her classmate’s name. The girl seemed very introverted and shy, which only made Gu Nuan Nuan more curious. Convinced that she must have come for a reason, she asked directly, "Is there something you need?"

"What kind of way is that to greet someone? Your classmate comes to visit, and you don’t even invite her inside first?" Realizing it really was her daughter’s classmate, Zhang Minzhen looked at her with a helpless smile.

’My daughter is wonderful in every way, except for this reclusive nature of hers. She doesn’t like to socialize. She barely even gets close to her own cousins, let alone anyone else.’ This was a constant source of worry for Zhang Minzhen. Now that one of her daughter’s classmates had shown up on their doorstep, she couldn’t just let the girl leave so easily. "Nuannuan, hurry and take Xiao Hong inside to talk. It’s a mess out here in the yard," she said warmly. "I’ll go get you two something to eat. The meat buns in the steamer are just about done..."

"Ma’am, there’s no need, really. I’m not hungry," Xiao Hong said, waving her hands frantically, her face flushing bright red.

"They’re just homemade. It’s no big deal." Zhang Minzhen smiled and turned to leave. Xiao Hong was instantly flustered. She wanted to run after Zhang Minzhen to stop her but hesitated, not daring to move. Her conflicted expression struck Gu Nuan Nuan as strangely funny, so she stepped in to break the tension. "Why don’t you come inside first?"

"Okay." Seeing that Gu Nuan Nuan’s mother had already disappeared into the kitchen, Xiao Hong blushed and followed her inside. "Your mom is so nice," she said with a hint of envy. "She’s so pretty and kind."

’Not like my mom. If one of my classmates came over, she’d either ignore them with a sour face or complain that they were keeping me from my chores. She’d never be pleasant, let alone offer them one of our big meat buns. Of course, we rarely get to eat big meat buns at home anyway. Those are only for special guests.’ The memory of the one time she got to share a big meat bun with her little sister made her mouth water. She secretly resolved that, no matter what, she wouldn’t be greedy and actually eat their buns.

"Thanks. My mom would be really happy to hear you say that," Gu Nuan Nuan said with a smile. Once they were in the room, she motioned for Xiao Hong to sit on a chair while she perched on the edge of the bed. "So, what brings you here all of a sudden?"

"W-well, actually, I came to ask your family for a favor."

Xiao Hong’s face turned red again. She sat nervously on the chair, fiddling with the hem of her shirt as she stared at the floor. "Tomorrow... my brother is meeting a potential bride at our house," she mumbled. "My... my mom heard your family’s meat buns are really good, so she sent me to ask... to ask if your mom could come to our house tomorrow and help us make some. My... my mom said we could pay you with five pounds of rice. Would that be okay?"

"I’m afraid that won’t work," Gu Nuan Nuan refused without a second thought. "Our meat buns are made with a unique, secret recipe. We’re actually planning to open our own bun shop in town soon, so we can’t prepare the filling in front of other people."