The Cultivator's Reborn to 1970s
Chapter 56

Chapter 56: 56

Suddenly, she remembered the red fruit water and yellow potato water she had collected in the autumn and buried in the backyard, thinking about when they might come in handy.

Red fruit water is made from a type of fruit with a bitter taste that most people don’t like to eat. Yellow potato is a type of herb, and its fruit can be used in medicine. Crushing the fruits of these two plants and adding water can turn them into paint, completely natural and eco-friendly.

Dropping it into sticky rice will definitely make it look much prettier. She ran out to the backyard and dug them up. When Zhao Li finished making sticky rice and poured it into the stone trough, Lan Tian added a few drops of the deep red red fruit water, imagining all the rice cakes that came out of the trough would be red, and squinted her eyes in anticipation.

As Wang Guiyu’s mother came back from picking cabbages, she saw Sun’s house making rice cakes and walked in without any hesitation, picking up sticky rice balls from the table to eat.

Seeing Lan Tian pouring something into the stone trough, she grabbed Lan Tian’s arm and interrogated her with a stern voice, "What are you doing? What are you putting in there? Do you know this is food? You naughty child, itchy for a beating, aren’t you?"

The sticky rice in the trough was radiant red, each grain plump, resembling deep red gems.

Wang Guiyu’s mother had an exceptionally strong grip, and Lan Tian tried several times to shake her off but couldn’t. Luckily it was winter, and clothes were thick. If it were summer, with such force, her arms would’ve turned purple.

"Is it red ink? Tell me, is it? Why so mischievous? Not at all like a girl, can’t you see it’s food in there? Or are you blind?"

Lan Tian couldn’t help but roll her eyes. As if she’d do something so nonsensical, "What I put in is red fruit water, and it’s edible."

Chuntao and Chunhua glanced at the stone trough. Chunhua, seeing the fearsome look on Wang Guiyu’s mother’s face, wanted to go inside and call for help, but Chuntao held Chunhua back from doing so.

Just after flushing one trough, Mo Yuanle went to relieve himself. Mo Chunlai squatted at the door, waiting for him to come out so they could continue together, missing Lan Tian’s action.

Glancing at the stone trough, he felt anxious, worried that Mo Yuanle would blame him for not keeping an eye on it. Wang Guiyu carried the rice cakes into the house to set up. Wang Guiyu’s mother was still interrogating Lan Tian about whether she added red ink to the sticky rice, incessantly, and it was very annoying.

"Auntie, let go first." Lan Tian’s face grew cold, and her Spiritual Energy radiated outward, transforming into invisible needles, pricking her wrist. Wang Guiyu’s mother winced in pain, loosened her grip on Lan Tian’s arm, and glared at Lan Tian while rubbing her own wrist.

In the kitchen, Grandma Sun heard the sharp shouting outside and thought something serious had happened, so she hurried out to see.

Upon seeing Grandma Sun come out, Wang Guiyu’s mother dragged her to the stone trough and pointed at the sticky rice inside, complaining, "Grandma, look at the trouble your girl has caused. She poured red ink into it, the sticky rice in this trough is now ruined and inedible. I asked her, and she stubbornly ignored me, even glared at me sidelong."

Grandma Sun glanced into the stone trough. The sticky rice was radiantly red, and the color looked very pleasing. Lan Tian was always well-behaved and would not do anything to waste food.

Lan Tian bent her eyebrows and eyes, shaking the glass bottle in her hand, "Grandma, what I added was red fruit water, which is edible. I just put some in so it looks nicer." She took out another glass bottle from her pocket, "This is yellow potato water, it’s from an herb, and it’s also edible."

Lan Tian hid behind Grandma Sun and complained loudly, "She came in and without asking, started scolding me. She kept asking if it was red ink. I told her it wasn’t, but she insisted on forcing me to admit I added red ink. She ate three sticky rice balls too. Grandma, she’s so strong it hurts. I told her to let go but she wouldn’t listen, gripped even tighter, and my arm is definitely bruised."

Grandma Sun was really annoyed by Guihua’s behavior. Walking into someone else’s house as if it were her own without even asking, she started eating the glutinous rice balls. Eating a bit of food was a minor issue, but what did it mean for her to come into her house and lose her temper at the girl?

After relieving himself, Mo Yuanle came out and saw the tense atmosphere in the courtyard. He asked Mo Chunlai what happened. Mo Chunlai nervously recounted the events and breathed a sigh of relief seeing that Mo Yuanle didn’t blame him.

Mo Yuanle’s face turned serious. His child had been scolded by someone else, and he wouldn’t even bear to scold her himself. He gave the woman a cold look, with a face that said ’strangers not welcome.’

"I thought it was something serious. I know about this; I was the one who made it for the girl after all. Everyone’s so busy at home right now, you better head back. There’s also the big cabbage waiting for you at home."

Grandma Sun, seeing the basket at the door with two big cabbages in it, urged Guihua to hurry back home and stop wandering aimlessly around the village all day.

When Chunhua was leaving, she moved next to Lan Tian and looked at her hesitantly. Chunhua wasn’t like Chuntao with a difficult temper; Chunhua was gentle and shy, keeping everything to herself.

Lan Tian turned her head and glanced at her, "Something wrong?"

Chunhua nervously twisted her clothes, and before she could speak, Chuntao was urging her to leave, woefully heading towards the door. In her past life, Chunhua had been decent towards Lan Tian, and when Bai Lianhua bullied her, she had spoken up for Lan Tian. Lan Tian naturally treated her differently from Chuntao; Lan Tian would help her when she could.

"Chunhua, just speak up if there’s something. I’ll definitely help you if I can. You and Chuntao are sisters, but you are not her lackey. Your matters shouldn’t be dictated by her. You should know that what she says isn’t always right. You go to school; you should understand what the teacher has taught. Make your own decisions, and deal with your own matters. If you want something, say it boldly. If you don’t say it, no one else will know."

Lan Tian’s words were a reminder to Chunhua. In her past life, it was Chuntao who found Chunhua’s husband, saying Chunhua was soft-hearted and needed a more dominant man.

Even though she was unwilling in her heart, she ended up marrying him, and life was very hard. The man was indeed dominant, given to hitting others when he was drunk. Chunhua was often beaten black and blue until Mo Junhua came back and gave that man a beating before he calmed down.

"I... I want some colored water for making rice cakes." Seeing the encouraging look in Lan Tian’s eyes, Chunhua kicked the ground beneath her feet and stammered, looking at the ground while next to Lan Tian.

Lan Tian’s eyes curved into a smile, radiant, "Chunhua, see? You did it. Now that you’ve said what you wanted, I understand. You’re no worse than your sister. I’ll get it for you. You have to be like this in the future too."

In the evening, Grandma Sun urged Lan Tian to reply to Mo Junhua’s letter. Lan Tian didn’t want to write, saying she had nothing to talk to him about. There was no need to tell him anything; their relationship was clearer than clear water.

Grandma Sun glanced at Lan Tian’s stubborn look and patted her head. She was being obstinate again, wasn’t she?

She suggested writing about the teacher rewarding red flowers in the letter, as well as the family’s preparation of rice cakes, and even the homework assigned by the teacher. On closer inspection, there was an overwhelming amount of things that could be written about.

Lan Tian pouted; Mo Junhua wasn’t her man. The minutiae of household affairs, she had to report everything to him meticulously.

Speaking of the day’s rice cake making incident, Lan Tian was still fuming. She felt it was something that could be written about. Why should she suppress her grievances? It was best to find someone to share the responsibility. When in difficulty, everyone should share the burden.

She ’swish swish’ tore off two blank pages from her notebook, and with a few more ’swish swish,’ she finished drawing. At the bottom of the second page, there was a small turtle drawn next to a Guihua flower. The content was straightforward and clear at a glance.