Siheyuan: A Very Happy Era

Chapter 3 My Good Sister

"Xiao Qiang, why didn't you go fishing outside the city today?"

Luo Huijuan closed the door with her backhand, then rubbed her hands while exhaling hot air, and asked with some confusion.

"Oh! I felt a little tired today, so I didn't go!"

Li Guoqiang looked at Luo Huijuan's oval face and her pair of clear autumn eyes, and replied softly without any expression.

At the same time, scenes of his previous life's interactions with Luo Huijuan emerged in his mind. He could even vaguely sense that his previous life still had a lingering love for this half-sister deep in his heart.

Ever since he could remember, Luo Huijuan, his sister who was three years older than him, had been responsible for taking care of him and his younger brother Li Guofu, eating and sleeping together, going to school together, playing together, doing homework together, and even taking medicine with him.

Every time he was sick and uncomfortable, Luo Huijuan was there to encourage and accompany him.

It can be said that more than half of his life was filled with Luo Huijuan. Even his biological father Li Dawei and stepmother Yao Meilan had to rank behind Luo Huijuan.

And because of this, the predecessor's feelings for Luo Huijuan gradually became somewhat special.

At first, he only regarded Luo Huijuan as an omnipotent idol and patron saint. When he grew up and became more sensible, he gradually regarded Luo Huijuan as the warmest harbor in his life.

But when he reached puberty, he was suddenly attracted by Luo Huijuan's virtue, gentleness, kindness and beauty.

Especially when he realized that in this life, except Luo Huijuan who would not despise him for being a sickly boy, no other girl would be able to look down on him, he could not help but develop a love for Luo Huijuan.

However, because he really didn't want Luo Huijuan's life to be dragged down by him, not only did he not reveal this feeling to anyone, he even secretly wanted to keep a certain distance from Luo Huijuan, but he could never do it.

Not long ago, due to changes in the social situation, the authorities called on the majority of educated young people to settle down in the countryside. Li Dawei was worried that his predecessor would not be able to endure the hardship, which would lead to the deterioration of his physical condition and eventually lead to the loss of his life.

Therefore, after discussing countermeasures with Yao Meilan, he quickly decided to apply for early retirement due to illness from the company, and then let his predecessor take over as an apprentice.

In this way, the predecessor could avoid being sent to the countryside to join the production team.

However, after learning about this matter, the predecessor suddenly felt like throwing the jar into the ground.

Because in his opinion, even if he could continue to survive in the city by taking over the job, he would just be a burden to his family.

Moreover, he was very worried that if he continued to stay at home, sooner or later he would not be able to bear the inner torment and would confess his feelings to Luo Huijuan.

At that time, it would not be a good thing for him, Luo Huijuan, or their family.

Therefore, after much deliberation, he decided to secretly go to the newly established Youth League Office without telling his family, register his name, and specifically request to get a train ticket in advance, establishing himself as a model of actively responding to the call, completely cutting off all his retreat routes.

Unfortunately, before he could figure out how to confess to his family, his life came to an end silently last night, leaving all the suffering and problems to Li Guoqiang from the modern world.

Thinking of this, Li Guoqiang sighed silently in his heart.

Brother, why are you doing this?
If you like it, you should be brave enough to say it out loud!

How can you know if you don’t say it? Maybe the other person also has you in his or her heart?
No matter what the result is, at least you won’t leave with such frustration and regret!
At this time, Luo Huijuan had no idea that a visitor from another world had replaced Li Guoqiang's body. When she heard Li Guoqiang say that he was tired, she immediately walked forward with some concern and reached out to touch Li Guoqiang's forehead.

Since Li Guoqiang is born with a weak body, he easily catches colds and fevers. Basically, he is sick most of the time every year. That's why she would immediately suspect that Li Guoqiang had suddenly fallen ill again?

Feeling the warmth on his forehead, Li Guoqiang instantly came back to his senses from the memory of his previous life. He hurriedly tilted his head back somewhat uncomfortably, and even moved his butt slightly to create some distance between himself and Luo Huijuan.

Although he knew that his current body and that he and Luo Huijuan were siblings who grew up together.

But he had already gotten used to hanging out with all kinds of women in his previous life. Knowing that Luo Huijuan had no blood relationship with him, it was difficult for him to guarantee that he would not develop any inappropriate thoughts about the beautiful and graceful Luo Huijuan, just like his previous life.

In order not to destroy the family relationship that his predecessor had protected with his life, he felt that it would be better for him not to be too close to Luo Huijuan.

When Luo Huijuan saw Li Guoqiang's actions, she frowned slightly, and then didn't say anything. She just reminded Li Guoqiang to lie down and have a good rest, and wait for her to prepare the medicine that she usually used to nourish and regulate his body and then bring it to him.

After saying that, she walked to the side, collected the underwear that Li Guoqiang had changed yesterday, and then walked out with the clothes.

Li Guoqiang quietly watched Luo Huijuan close the door, then he couldn't help but reached out and touched his forehead, feeling a little regretful.

If he had met such a virtuous and beautiful girl in his previous life, he would have probably tried every possible way to marry her.

There was no way, because Luo Huijuan's temperament, like that of the big sister next door, was really killing him.

To the extent that he had forgotten to imitate his predecessor's behavior and act coquettishly towards Luo Huijuan, and even reflexively kept a distance from her.

This shouldn't cause Luo Huijuan to have any suspicion, right?

never mind!

Just doubt it if you want to!

Nowadays, Master Huang Yi, who writes time-travel novels, is not even older than him!

No matter how much suspicion there was, no one would have thought that he had traveled through time from the modern era.

At most, people would suspect that he had been provoked by something, and he could just use the excuse of going to the countryside to join the production team to explain it away.

Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered that his predecessor had not told his family that he had signed up to join the team, and he suddenly felt a headache.

I wonder how his current father Li Dawei and stepmother Yao Meilan would react when they hear about this?
I guess he would be very angry, right?
After all, in order to allow him to stay in the city, Li Dawei had already submitted an application for early retirement due to illness, and Yao Meilan was also ready to send his younger brother Li Guofu to the countryside to work in the fields.

To be honest, he felt that he was very lucky to meet such a pair of parents who loved him so much after traveling through time.

If possible, he hopes to maintain this rare family relationship.

This is also one of the main reasons why he avoids Luo Huijuan.

You can't just go and harm someone else's precious daughter right away, right?

If he really did this, not only would others look at him, he himself would look down on himself. After thinking about it for a while, he finally remembered one important thing, which was that he was still hungry!
If he doesn't find something to eat to fill his stomach, he will probably faint from hunger.

Soon, he turned over and got out of bed, put on his shoes and cotton jacket, opened the door and walked out.

Before he could see the situation in the courtyard clearly, he heard a hurried shout in his ears.

"Hey, why did you come out? Didn't I tell you to lie down and rest in the room? What if you catch a cold and fall ill? How are you going to take over our dad's job in a few days?"

"Hurry up and listen, go back to the room and lie down!"

Li Guoqiang looked at Luo Huijuan who was running towards him and trying to pull him into the house. He quickly turned his body slightly to avoid her. Then, before she got angry, he imitated his previous behavior and said something pitifully.

"Sister, I'm hungry!"

Luo Huijuan was slightly stunned when she heard this, and then an unhappy look immediately appeared on her face.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were hungry? Can I not cook for you?"

"Go back to the house and rest now. I'll bring you food in a bit!"

"Got it!"

Seeing that Luo Huijuan was a little angry, Li Guoqiang didn't dare to disobey her anymore. He nodded in agreement and turned back into the house.

Seeing this, Luo Huijuan immediately felt relieved. She no longer had time to think about what happened to her dear brother today, and hurried back to the kitchen to get busy.

Since their house only had two back rooms, each of which was less than 20 square meters, in order to give their family of five a slightly more spacious living space, Li Dawei and Yao Meilan paid someone to build a small bungalow against the west wall of the south courtyard to serve as a kitchen.

By the way, a small shed was built next to the kitchen to store coal and some miscellaneous items.

Fortunately, their house is located at the westernmost end of the south courtyard of the quadrangle, with the door facing the wall of the front yard, a screen wall on the east, and the west wall of the south courtyard on the west, forming a semi-enclosed private courtyard in front of their house.

In addition, the only way people communicate with each other these days is by writing letters, and Li Dawei happens to be a postman. If you want to send a letter or something to relatives or friends, you have to ask Li Dawei for help.

Therefore, their building of a small bungalow in the south yard did not encounter any opposition from the neighbors in the courtyard. At most, they would make a few sarcastic remarks behind their backs.

After a while, Luo Huijuan hurried into the room where Li Guoqiang lived, carrying four or five cornmeal steamed buns, a small plate of homemade pickles, and a scrambled egg, and told him to eat them while they were hot.

Seeing this, Li Guoqiang didn't hesitate to speak politely. He just reached out and grabbed a cornmeal steamed bun, put it in his mouth and took a big bite.

However, he was soon disgusted by the rough texture and astringent taste of the cornmeal steamed bread and almost wanted to vomit it all out.

Fortunately, he restrained himself in time and did not do such an unforgivable thing as wasting food in front of Luo Huijuan.

And through the memories of his previous life, he also understood that what he was eating now was not the modern kind of steamed corn bread made by mixing most of the wheat flour and a small part of the corn flour, but was made purely with coarsely processed corn flour.

In addition, I heard that in rural areas there is low-quality cornmeal that is made by grinding corn together with the corn cob!

He couldn't quite imagine how unpalatable the steamed corn bread made with such low-quality corn flour would be.

Thinking of this, he became more determined to go to the black market to get supplies.

Luo Huijuan saw Li Guoqiang was stunned after taking a bite, and immediately couldn't help but asked in confusion: "What's wrong? Why don't you eat it? Is this steamed bread too hard?"

After saying that, she reached out and picked up a steamed bun, put it in her mouth and took a bite, then continued while chewing: "No way! Isn't this steamed bun the same as the one we had last night?"

Seeing Luo Huijuan answering her questions seriously, Li Guoqiang instantly thought she was a little cute, then quickly looked away, shook his head and said, "No, I just suddenly thought of something, so I forgot to eat!"

"Just go and do your thing! I can eat slowly by myself, you don't have to stay here with me!"

"Well, then call me after you finish eating!"

When Luo Huijuan heard this, she remembered that there was still Chinese medicine cooking in the kitchen, so she immediately nodded and agreed, then turned around and hurriedly walked out.

Faced with the constant protests from his stomach, Li Guoqiang had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue stuffing the steamed bread in his hand into his mouth.

Not long after, when he had filled his stomach, the only thing left in the bowl was the steamed bun that Luo Huijuan had taken a bite of, while the other four steamed buns, including the small dish of pickles and the scrambled egg, were all eaten up by him.

Then, he poured himself half a cup of warm water and drank it all, a look of satisfaction appearing on his face.

Perhaps the thing that makes people happiest in this world is to fill their stomachs!

For this reason, he immediately set the first small goal in his life, which was to strive to ensure that he had enough food to eat every day in the future.

Afterwards, before he could call Luo Huijuan to come in and clean up the dishes, he saw Luo Huijuan walking in cautiously carrying a bowl of black Chinese medicine soup.

Smelling the pungent smell that was somewhat familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar, he couldn't help but frown.

If we were to talk about the thing he hated most in his previous life, taking medicine would definitely be among the top three.

Sometimes, he would rather ask the doctor to give him a few more injections than take any more Western medicine, let alone the notoriously unpalatable Chinese medicine!
"Come on, you just had a meal, it's a good time to take the medicine now. After you finish the medicine, lie down on the bed and take a nap. I guess you won't feel so tired when you wake up!"

Luo Huijuan walked up to Li Guoqiang with the Chinese medicine soup, and then spoke softly to him in a tone of coaxing a child.

Looking at her eager eyes, Li Guoqiang pursed his lips and silently swallowed the four words "Drink it later" that were about to come to his lips. Then he reached out to take the bowl of Chinese medicine soup, held his breath, gritted his teeth and poured it into his mouth.

Soon, most of the bowl of Chinese medicine soup was gone. He hurriedly suppressed the nausea in his throat and handed the bowl back to Luo Huijuan.

When Luo Huijuan saw this, a smile like that of an old mother immediately appeared on her face.

However, when she turned around to remove the dishes on the desk, she saw the steamed corn bread she had eaten, and the smile on her face froze instantly.

(End of this chapter)