OL CH47

Seeing that it was Li Zixiu again, Li Xiaochan couldn’t help but frown. Thinking about his recent behavior, she found it incredibly strange.

Li Xiaochan and Li Zixiu both grew up in Li Family Village, so they naturally knew each other. Li Zixiu was considered a rare scholar-candidate (Tongsheng) in the village, but Li Xiaochan had always had a very bad feeling about him. It wasn’t as obvious when they were children, but as they grew older, she found Li Zixiu truly annoying.

Clearly, his scholarly knowledge was inferior to Scholar Bai’s, yet he always acted as if he were above everyone else, looking down on them and constantly making sour remarks at Scholar Bai. In the past, whenever they saw him, even if they took the initiative to greet him, he wouldn’t respond. The look in his eyes always made it seem like they were beneath him. He also constantly spouted sour words and caused trouble for Scholar Bai.

Li Xiaochan and Li Zixiu didn’t interact much, but recently, for some unknown reason, he had suddenly started pestering her, which made her feel weird. This sudden show of affection was completely out of nowhere, making her feel somewhat resistant. Moreover, she simply didn’t like Li Zixiu. Whether his feelings were genuine or fake, she didn’t want any involvement with him.

Therefore, without a second thought, Li Xiaochan pushed the rouge back into his hands and said, “Brother Zixiu, I can’t accept this. I still have to deliver food to my father, so I won’t talk to you anymore!”

After speaking, she didn’t even bother saying anything more to Bai Su and hurriedly walked toward her family’s fields.

Seeing Li Xiaochan reject him again, anger flashed in Li Zixiu’s eyes. He thought this woman really didn’t know what was good for her. Noticing Bai Su sitting not far away, who had seen everything just now, made him feel even more resentful. At this point in time, Li Zixiu hadn’t passed the scholar exam yet; he was just a Tongsheng. He felt that he was currently being overshadowed by Bai Su, and just now, this person had seen him become a laughingstock.

However, thinking of his miraculous rebirth, his mood calmed down again. No matter how much power and influence Bai Su had in his past life, right now he was just a mere Xiucai. Having started over, Li Zixiu would absolutely not let this person have the same glory as before.

Thinking of this, a gleam of malice crossed Li Zixiu’s eyes. He raised his head, snorted coldly at Bai Su through his nose, and flicked his sleeves as he walked away.

But no matter what airs Li Zixiu put on, neither Chen Tian nor Bai Su cared in the slightest.

Bai Su had experienced the warmth and coldness of the world from a young age; he felt absolutely nothing towards such painless and trivial matters. As for Chen Tian, Li Zixiu was nothing more than a jumping clown in his eyes. Although he knew Li Zixiu would definitely cause trouble, as long as the other party hadn’t done anything yet, Chen Tian wouldn’t strike immediately. If he had to proactively run over and swat every buzzing bug, he would be bored out of his mind.

Instead of wasting time caring about such a person, he might as well spend it looking at his partner. With this thought, Chen Tian hurriedly picked up the water jug beside him and poured Bai Su a cup, sure enough earning a beautiful smile from the young man.

In the days that followed, Chen Tian came to the fields every day to deliver food to Bai Su. However, within a couple of days, he listened to Bai Su’s advice and wore a straw hat on his head, covering most of his face. Bai Su reminded him that it was summer, the sun was fierce, and since his body hadn’t fully recovered, he couldn’t be exposed to the sun like that.

Chen Tian thought his lover was being considerate. Plus, the straw hat was woven by Bai Su himself. Naturally, he happily wore it on his head and resolutely refused to take it off. He completely failed to notice the disappointed expressions on the faces of the people in the fields who could no longer see his face.

Having gone there so many times, Chen Tian had practically memorized all the farming households nearby. As his health improved, he worked even harder at farming tasks than before, genuinely helping Bai Su quite a bit.

The stream of girls coming to deliver things continued endlessly, but no matter who delivered what, Bai Su would politely refuse. After all, they still had to live in Li Family Village for a while, and he didn’t have the habit of making enemies. So even if he didn’t accept their gifts, he wouldn’t intentionally make them lose face.

However, after being rejected a few times, Li Xiaochan’s visits became less frequent. And every time she did come, Li Zixiu was definitely following behind her.

One day, Li Xiaochan came to the fields with a basket again. She first delivered food to her family, then came to find Bai Su to express her gratitude.

It turned out that a couple of days ago, Li Xiaochan’s older brother had learned from others to dig up some medicinal herbs in the mountains. He originally wanted to take Li Xiaochan to town to sell them and earn some money to buy his little sister some rouge. Who knew they would run into an arrogant pharmacy apprentice who, seeing their plain clothes, spoke disrespectfully to them. Brother Li was furious but couldn’t out-argue the sharp-tongued apprentice. Luckily, he saw Bai Su passing by. Thinking that Bai Su was, after all, the scholar of their Li Family Village and might be able to help them, he brazenly called out to him.

So, Bai Su helped them resolve the trouble. Not only did he get the pharmacy manager to reprimand the apprentice, but he also negotiated a good price for them, which made Li Xiaochan and Brother Li incredibly grateful. At the time, Brother Li wanted to give Bai Su a bit of a finder’s fee, but Bai Su resolutely refused.

Thus, today, Li Xiaochan brought pickled vegetables and snacks specially made by her mother to give to Bai Su.

“It was just a few words, you really shouldn’t take it to heart so much,” Bai Su said with a smile, wiping the sweat from his forehead and standing up.

But Li Xiaochan felt Bai Su had helped them immensely and insisted on thanking him. “If we hadn’t met Scholar Bai that day, my brother and I wouldn’t have known what to do. You know there’s only one big pharmacy in town, and other places definitely wouldn’t offer as much. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have sold it for such a good price. These are just some snacks made at home. Please don’t despise them, you must accept them!”

Seeing this, Bai Su shook his head and was just about to refuse again when he saw Li Zixiu storming over aggressively from a distance.

His gaze swept between Bai Su and Li Xiaochan, his face ugly, looking like a husband catching his wife in the act. In his mind, Li Xiaochan was already his possession. Seeing her repeatedly showing affection to Bai Su filled his heart with resentment.

He couldn’t vent his anger on Li Xiaochan, so he snorted coldly at Bai Su instead. Then he turned to Li Xiaochan and said sourly, “Xiaochan, Scholar Bai is a dignified scholar-lord, I’m sure he doesn’t lack these things. Since he already said he doesn’t want them, why waste them on him? Just hurry up and leave with me, don’t get in the way of his work.”

Saying that, he grabbed Li Xiaochan’s wrist, wanting to drag her away.

But how could Li Xiaochan allow a man she had no relationship with to pull her like that? She simply felt Li Zixiu was sick in the head. She forcefully broke free, glared fiercely at him, and felt frustrated inside. She had clearly come to thank Scholar Bai, but Li Zixiu had to come and cause trouble, which would only make them disliked for no reason.

Li Xiaochan couldn’t voice her grievances and didn’t want to stay and cause more trouble for Bai Su. She hurriedly put the basket on the ground, hastily said her thanks again, then turned and ran off.

This time, seeing Li Xiaochan leave, Li Zixiu didn’t immediately chase after her. Instead, he glared viciously at Bai Su, walked right up to him, and said, “Bai Su, I’m telling you, Li Xiaochan is the woman I’ve got my eyes on! Don’t get in my way, otherwise, don’t blame me for not warning you! You…”

Before he could finish his sentence, a tall figure wearing a straw hat stepped between the two of them, blocking them apart and looking down at Li Zixiu from above.

Li Zixiu wasn’t very tall to begin with. With the other person standing straight and looking down at him like that, it made him seem half a head shorter. Angrily raising his head, he was just about to curse out this nosy person next to Bai Su. But because of the angle, he clearly saw the face under the hat, and his eyes were instantly filled with astonishment.

Ever since his rebirth, Li Zixiu had been busy chasing after Li Xiaochan. He had heard earlier that Bai Su had a relative visiting, but he hadn’t paid any attention to it. This was the first time Li Zixiu clearly saw Chen Tian’s appearance, and he instantly felt his soul being snatched away. But after freezing for a few seconds, he realized that the person in front of him was obviously a man.

A man, actually looking like such an enchanting monster!

A sense of contempt rose in Li Zixiu’s heart. His gaze swept between Chen Tian and Bai Su, a somewhat sleazy look appearing in his eyes. Only then did he snort coldly and turn to leave like a victor.

Chen Tian stood with a cold face, watching the direction the other man left. Looking at that expression, he knew the man was thinking filthy thoughts.

Even though Bai Su’s smile remained unchanged beside him, seemingly completely unaffected by Li Zixiu’s words, how could Chen Tian swallow this anger? He had originally thought that if the man didn’t cause trouble, he would let him go. Who knew this petty villain would dare insult his partner right in front of his face!

Raising his head, he noticed Li Dazhuang walking over from a distance, carrying a bucket of manure on a shoulder pole, intending to fertilize the fields.

Chen Tian sat back under the tree, grabbed a stone beside him, and calculated the distance. When he saw Li Zixiu walk close enough, he smoothly flicked the stone out of his hand.

Li Zixiu suddenly felt a sharp pain in his knee, followed by his body going soft as he pitched forward towards the side of the road.

As it turned out, the direction he fell was exactly where Li Dazhuang was. To keep his balance, he frantically thrust one hand out—straight into the manure bucket.

Li Dazhuang had also noticed someone falling toward him. Being strong and agile, he managed to dodge it. However, the manure bucket he was carrying on his shoulder was jerked by the momentum of Li Zixiu’s hand plunging in. The contents spilled out, and an entire bucket of manure splashed directly all over Li Zixiu.

Li Zixiu only felt a stench hit him before he came to his senses and realized he had fallen to the ground, covered in the filth from the entire manure bucket. The overwhelming stench emanating from the muck caused him to retch repeatedly until he couldn’t hold back and threw up directly.

As a result, failing to control his direction, he threw up all over himself again, looking absolutely pathetic.

The commotion on Li Zixiu’s end wasn’t small, and the people farming nearby gathered around when they heard the noise. Seeing Li Zixiu in this state, they hurriedly backed away, terrified of getting any on themselves.

“How, how did this happen?” someone asked, pinching their nose at the sight.

“I don’t know, he was already like this when I got here. Who is this guy? His whole head is covered in crap, he doesn’t even look human anymore!”

“What do you mean he doesn’t look human? Isn’t this Tongsheng Li! What’s wrong with your eyes?”

“It really is!”

The villagers chattered at once. Li Dazhuang, looking down at the man covered in manure water, was also startled. It took him a long while to react, and only upon hearing the people next to him did he realize that the person was actually the Tongsheng of the village.

Li Dazhuang was a straightforward man, and seeing Li Zixiu’s miserable state made him feel quite disgusted too. Even though he pitied him, thinking of his manure bucket, he couldn’t help but say, “I say, Tongsheng Li, why did you pull my manure bucket for no reason? I was going to fertilize my own fields! What am I supposed to use now!”

The surrounding villagers had been holding back their laughter, but hearing the burly Li Dazhuang’s words, they couldn’t hold it in anymore. They let out snorts of laughter, which eventually turned into uproarious guffaws.

Hearing the laughter of the people around him, Li Zixiu was instantly filled with shame and fury.

He frantically tried to stand up from the ground, but he slipped again, falling directly into his own vomit. He couldn’t help but throw up again until his stomach was entirely empty and the people around him had moved even farther away before he finally gathered his wits.

Li Zixiu’s eyes were bloodshot; he felt he had never been so humiliated in two lifetimes. After trying twice more, he finally managed to stand up and angrily fled the scene.

He left Li Dazhuang looking disappointedly at the filth on the ground, feeling that the manure he had worked so hard to carry this far had all been ruined by this Tongsheng Li. What a true waste!

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Auhtor’s Note:

Li Dazhuang: What a sin, my manure was wasted for nothing!