Chapter 97.1
When Gu Jiao and Little Jing Kong came back from the mountain, Xiao Liulang had already returned from the academy.
Gu Xiaoshun recently lived in the academy. First, he completely broke ties with the Gu Family. Second, he was obsessed with the carving tools that Xiao Liulang brought him and would raise a lantern every night to carve things under the lights in his bedroom.
As for Xiao Liulang"s safety, there was no need for him to worry. Not long ago, Second Uncle Luo sprained his ankle, and his son, Big Zhuang, replaced him as the driver of the oxcart.
Big Zhuang had a close relationship with Gu Xiaoshun, and he ensured to take good care of Xiao Liulang.
Xiao Liulang was drawing buckets of water into the house, and one could see that he was struggling a bit.
Because he had trouble with his legs and feet, Gu Jiao seldom let him do such heavy work. When he was about to go out again, she walked over and took the bucket from his hand, saying, "I"ll do it."
"It’s fine, I can." Xiao Liulang replied.
"You go and make a fire, I"ll be cooking in a bit." Gu Jiao didn"t give him the chance to refuse. She decisively took the bucket, hung it on a shoulder pole and added an extra bucket before she turned to fetch water from the well at the village entrance.
Little Jing Kong patted his little chest and said, "I"m also going to help JiaoJiao fetch water!"
With that, he found his own exclusive tools from the backyard—— a mini shoulder pole and two mini buckets. He carried them on his small shoulder like Gu Jiao, and went to fetch water!
Gu Jiao made this set of tools for Little Jing Kong. Little Jing Kong always wanted to help her do ch.o.r.es, but he couldn"t carry a big bucket, hence Gu Jiao made him a pair of small buckets that were light, small and had a lid preventing the water from being spilled, and matched them with a small shoulder pole as well.
Gu Jiao spent a lot of time and energy making these tools for him when the amount of water he would gather in one trip only added up to less than a giant bowl.
After arriving at the well, Gu Jiao first filled Little Jing Kong"s small buckets with water. Although he was allowed to fetch water, Gu Jiao explicitly prohibited him from drawing up water in the well.
Little Jing Kong was an obedient kid and he never went near the well.
A pair of one big and one small walked back home carrying buckets of water on their shoulders. When Gu Jiao transferred the water from her buckets, the water level in the water jar suddenly rose a lot.
When it was the turn of Little Jing Kong"s two buckets of water... Er, it was like no water was added.
But when Little Jing Kong looked at the full water jar, he still felt that his two handfuls of water had played a great role. He was very proud!
"What’s with that foolishly happy look?"
Xiao Liulang came over.
As soon as Xiao Liulang entered the kitchen, he saw the little monk stepping on the stool, looking proudly at the water jar.
He was staring at the water ripples, but if you don’t know anything, you would think he was watching the small rivers and mountains he had created with his own hands!
Hearing the voice of his bad brother-in-law, Little Jing Kong"s little face turned serious. He looked at him with a raised eyebrow and grunted coldly, "I"m working, a physical work!"
Xiao Liulang was a bit amused by him and somewhat wanted to laugh. He said, "What do you know about physical work? What can a three-year-old kid like you do?"
Little Jing Kong jumped off the stool and said angrily, "I can do a lot! Much more than you can! I can fetch water! Can feed chickens! I also help JiaoJiao wash clothes! I wash half of the clothes at home! I do more work at home than you do! I"m not a kid! You are!"
Xiao Liulang glanced at his toy shoulder pole and toy bucket, and said, "Oh, you really did know about physical work."
At least you know how to give others physical work.
Just how tiring it must be to make these things.
"Humph!" In order to prove that he was really a small expert at home, Little Jing Kong decisively walked to the wooden basin where clothes were being soaked, lifted his trouser legs, kicked off his shoes, and jumped into the basin with a whoosh. His little feet stomped on the academy uniform Xiao Liulang had just taken off!
Xiao Liulang was simply dumbfounded.
Clothes… at home... were all washed like this?
Little Jing Kong"s little feet trampled about delightfully.
He could enjoy treading on water even without rain and also washed clothes by the way. He was really a clever and industrious child!
Gu Jiao came out and was about to scrub Xiao Liulang’s clothes, but when she saw Little Jing Kong stomping on it, she temporarily didn’t go over it and just let Little Jing Kong be.
Xiao Liulang asked incredulously, "Is this how clothes are washed at home?"
Gu Jiao said, "Not only clothes, but also the pickles you eat every day."
Xiao Liulang immediately went, "...!!!”
"Hahaha!" Gu Jiao burst into laughter.
She rarely laughed hard like this, but Xiao Liulang"s expression as if he had swallowed a fly was really the funniest she had seen in her two lifetimes.
"I was just kidding." She said, "How could I let him step on the pickles?"
Xiao Liulang breathed a sigh of relief and said, “It’s alright then.”
Gu Jiao added, "His strength isn’t enough to step on them well."
Xiao Liulang: "..."
Shouldn’t it be because people’s feet were dirty and they would become inedible?
If you said that, when the little monk became strong in the future, did that mean he would start trampling the pickles he would eat?
The image was simply unbearable for Xiao Liulang to look directly at...
Gu Jiao bent over with laughter.
"Hu! Hu!" After stepping on the clothes for a while, Little Jing Kong was so tired that he was sweating. He went to get a cup of water to drink by himself.
Only then did Gu Jiao come forward to wash the clothes that had been crumpled by him.
Little Jing Kong had the heart to work, and Gu Jiao never discouraged his enthusiasm. The worst thing that could happen was that she would start all over again when she was almost done.
Gu Jiao didn"t rise to the level of scientific parenting, but just thought as long as he was having a good time.
At this moment, Gu Jiao had no idea that in the future, these childhood experiences would bring about a G.o.dly General who was full of courage and strength in the six states.
"You don"t have to spoil him so much." Xiao Liulang said with a straight face.
"I spoil you so much too, you know." Gu Jiao smilingly said as she took out Xiao Liulang"s clothes from the basin and put it in another empty wooden basin alone. Then she gently scrubbed it with her small hands that were no longer tender.
"Your clothes are not usually washed in this way. Today, you put them in the basin yourself and Jing Kong happened to come across it."
The clothes of the three of them were all made of coa.r.s.e linen, and it didn’t matter if they were stepped on casually. But Xiao Liulang"s academy uniforms were silk cotton-padded clothes, and Gu Jiao specially washed them in a separate wooden basin with strength that was also very light.
And due to the light strength, the speed was also slow. Washing one of his uniforms took the same amount of time as washing the clothes of the whole family.
But Gu Jiao never complained about this.
Xiao Liulang still hadn’t moved on from her sentence, "I spoil you so much too", just now. Then, seeing her carefully and seriously washing his own clothes, her small hands, which were whitened by the bubbles of the honey locust, seemed to grasp not his clothes, but his heart.
For a moment, he felt that their relationship seemed to be moving in an uncontrollable direction.