Rebirth Counterattack with Space
Chapter 107 - 106 Landlord

Chapter 107: Chapter 106 Landlord

"You little clever ghost."

Xia Na chuckled and sighed lightly, pinching Lu Yun’s little cheek again. She couldn’t resist bending down and kissing her hard, still feeling unsatisfied. She simply squatted down to hold her little face and kissed her several times from left to right.

Watching her daughter getting pinched and kissed by her sister yet still maintaining a smile, Xia Yuan couldn’t help but feel a rush of jealousy and hurriedly urged, "Xiaoyun, hurry up and go eat. Aren’t you following your dad and Shitou to the train station to pick up things later?"

"Okay, Mommy," Lu Yun immediately smiled apologetically at her aunt as if she had been granted amnesty and wriggled free from her grasp.

She ran to the dining table and silently wiped a bead of cold sweat from her forehead. This aunt of hers was just too enthusiastic and she already felt a bit overwhelmed.

Climbing onto the chair, she saw only a familiar bowl of pumpkin millet porridge on the table, a small plate with two cornmeal steamed buns and a big deep-fried dough stick.

"Have you all eaten?"

"We’ve eaten, this is specially left for you. Pumpkin millet porridge tastes best with steamed buns, your aunt made it specially. Your grandma used to like to eat it this way," Xia Yuan’s eyes revealed a hint of nostalgia. Her own mother was from the north and often said that millet porridge was the most nourishing, best to drink in the morning...

Xia Na walked over and took Xia Yuan’s hand, her eyes also full of wistfulness, but she joked, "Why talk about that? Better call the child to eat quickly while the porridge is still warm."

Early this morning, she had gotten up to cook the pumpkin millet porridge, then brought it over in an aluminum pot and heated it up again; the steamed buns were also made yesterday and re-steamed here. So both items were still warm.

Only the deep-fried dough stick was bought on the way past the food store, because she was worried that Xiaoyun, like her two sons at home, wouldn’t like millet porridge with steamed buns.

"Delicious."

To Xia Na’s surprise, Lu Yun didn’t touch the deep-fried dough stick. Watching her lift the bowl and take a blissful sip of pumpkin millet porridge, and then bite into the steamed bun, she looked genuinely pleased, which delighted Xia Na.

Lu Yun felt her mouth full of familiar flavors.

No wonder in her past life, when conditions improved, her aunt’s most common breakfast was pumpkin millet porridge with corn steamed buns, unchanged over many years. Her two cousins had complained more than once in private that they were tired of it; their suggestions were ignored, and in the end, only her uncle and she were the most supportive.

Because she had fewer days of breakfast at her aunt’s house, she didn’t mind. It was her uncle who was great, supporting it for over a decade without change, always managing to show the same kind of enjoyment as if he was eating some grand meal, so much so that the two cousins couldn’t help but admire him.

"Tasty, right? Your uncle also likes it. It’s just that we don’t often have the chance to make it because millet is a northern product and not easy to get. It’s just those two stinking boys who despise it. Humph, having food and still complaining; when they’re able enough, I’ll cook it every day. If they complain then, they’ll just have to wait until they can marry and move out to cook for themselves before they can change their taste," Xia Na said with a proud expression.

Lu Yun almost laughed out loud. Her aunt was indeed ruthless. She secretly felt sorry for her two cousins. With her as a new variable in this life, her aunt’s house would definitely be able to enjoy pumpkin millet porridge and corn steamed buns every day sooner rather than later, and her cousins’ grievances from the past life seemed to be coming early, haha.

"Sis, turns out you’re a stepmother, aren’t you?" Xia Yuan, who had been utterly astounded on the side, then couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Lu Yun buried her head in her bowl, laughing, and let out a silent wail for her two cousins once more. As expected from twin sisters, even her aunt was like this, and instead of persuading her, her mother seemed to take pleasure in their misfortune. If her cousins knew their own aunt had just arrived and was being so "cruel" to them, how would they feel?

After dinner, when it was mentioned that Lu Yun would accompany them to the train station to pick up the shipped goods, Xia Na showed some reluctance and tried to stop her. Xia Yuan said with a smile, "Let her go. She hasn’t visited Haicheng before and is full of curiosity right now. She can’t stay put at home, so it’s better to let her come with us; we’ll be more at ease chatting on our own."

After some thought, Xia Na decided not to insist, mainly because she was afraid that if she kept stopping Lu Yun, she might offend her and ruin the harmonious atmosphere that they were enjoying.

As she followed her father and Shitou out of the door and walked along the road, she still couldn’t help but laugh from time to time, drawing several sidelong glances from Lu Aiguo and Shitou.

Lu Aiguo checked himself covertly, and finding nothing amiss, he finally asked out loud.

After listening to Lu Yun’s explanation, the two men exchanged looks and expressed deep sympathy for Lu Yun’s two cousins, who they hadn’t met yet, and they too burst out laughing.

After half an hour’s walk, making sure nobody was around, Lu Aiguo and Shitou kept watch while Lu Yun quickly took out the handcart. For the rest of the journey, Lu Yun sat on the handcart as Lu Aiguo pushed it all the way to the train station.

Having claimed their shipped belongings, Lu Yun pulled off a sleight of hand, swapping the heavy items for lighter ones, and the trio made it home effortlessly before ten o’clock.

At the gate, they came face to face with Gu Tianming, who was supposed to be at the factory working at that time.

"You’re back?"

Gu Tianming greeted them embarrassedly, looking like he was in a rush, "I actually forgot to bring essentials like the water jar and buckets, causing you to have no water to use yesterday, ah, such a... Well, I took a two-hour leave from the factory first thing today and bought everything needed. Your sister knows where the well is; I’m in a hurry now and must rush back to work."

"It’s no trouble, brother-in-law. Better hurry along, don’t waste any more time," Lu Aiguo said immediately, not daring to hold him up in conversation, and he swiftly moved aside with the handcart.

"Why talk as if we are strangers in our own family? I’ll be going now; we can chat more when I come over for dinner tomorrow," Gu Tianming glanced at his wristwatch and, without delaying further, he left quickly.

Once they pushed the handcart into the courtyard, they indeed saw a new hefty water jar placed by the "kitchen" shed, topped with a large wooden lid. Beside the jar, there was a carrying pole, two buckets, and one of the buckets also contained a loop of long, green nylon rope.

Before Lu Aiguo and Shitou could even start to move the items into the house, someone suddenly popped their head through the doorway, "Busy, huh? Oh my, what’s with this huge handcart of stuff?"

"Who might you be?"

Lu Aiguo, Shitou, and Lu Yun all turned their attention to the newcomer, with Lu Aiguo being the one to ask.

The visitor was a woman in her fifties, wearing a blue poplin shirt and black pants, her face full of shrewdness. Her eyes, full of scrutiny, kept moving between them and the belongings on the handcart.

"This is my house. I’m just here to take a look. Did you arrive last night?"