After their stroll, when they returned to the villa, Jian Yi had Chen Junsheng find a piece of stiff cardboard and write on it, "One bucket of water for one kilogram of rice or half a kilogram of vegetables." She also found a piece of string and hung the sign outside the iron gate.
Zheng Lanxin stared at the sign for a few minutes, and then it hit her. She muttered angrily, "This little brat! Does she think my water is worth so little?!"
Fuming, she returned to the house and, under Jian Yi's curious gaze, grabbed a pen from the coffee table and made some alterations to the sign. She changed the "one" to "two," blackened half of the word "rice," and added a "one" above it.
The sign now read: "One bucket of water for two kilograms of ●\one/ kilograms of vegetables!!!"
Three exclamation marks emphasized the dominance of the seller.
Clapping her hands in satisfaction, Zheng Lanxin said, "Now it's about right."
"She's quite amusing," Jian Yi mused, leaning on the railing of the second-floor balcony and watching her stepmother return to the house, feeling strangely that this middle-aged woman was a bit cute.
Perhaps it was the presence of this peaceful village that had improved her mood.
With a jar of medicine and some gauze in hand, Chen Junsheng approached her from behind, watching her twist her feet as she walked, and smiled faintly.
"Sister, can you help me apply the medicine? I can't reach my back."
Jian Yi turned around, and in the soft light, the youth's face seemed to have a divine radiance, with smooth, poreless skin like porcelain. It was so delicate that any excessive force might shatter it.
Perhaps feeling uncomfortable under her gaze, his long eyelashes quivered slightly, like two small butterflies, trembling softly.
"It's been quite a few days. Hasn't your wound healed completely yet?" Jian Yi asked, puzzled, as she accepted the medicine from him, her eyes filled with doubt.
Chen Junsheng nodded, took off his white short-sleeved shirt in front of her, revealing the gauze-wrapped upper half of his body.
Broad shoulders, narrow waist, and well-defined back muscles—his physique was neither excessively muscular nor excessively slender. He looked slim in clothes but had flesh when he took them off, and his skin was smooth and flawless.
He sat down in front of her with his legs crossed, leaning back slightly, a bit closer to her, making it more convenient for her to apply the medicine.
The faint medicinal scent mixed with a refreshing woody fragrance wafted into Jian Yi's nose. She took a sniff and found Chen Junsheng's scent to be particularly pleasant.
She started to remove the gauze, and Chen Junsheng's face, with its clear, bright eyes, blushed slightly, as if he were a little mouse who had secretly eaten candy.
In truth, he just wanted his sister to pamper him a bit more, to feel that she cared for him in these small ways.
After removing all the gauze, Jian Yi was confronted with a gruesome wound that had unexpectedly reopened and was oozing pus.
"How did you do this? Wasn't Auntie taking care of your wound these past few days?" Jian Yi asked with surprise.
She had even heard Zheng Lanxin happily saying that her son's wound was almost completely healed yesterday.
Upon hearing her puzzled inquiry, the youth turned his face slightly to the side, whispering, "It was so itchy that I couldn't help scratching it a few times. Is it serious?"
After asking, he looked at her with a mixture of innocence and anxiety.
Jian Yi furrowed her brows, and without a word, she pressed her index finger firmly onto the wound, causing him to hiss and draw in a sharp breath.
"Does it hurt?" she asked, her expression impassive.
Chen Junsheng, with his reddened earlobes, looked at her and whispered, "It hurts."
Jian Yi stared, somewhat surprised that a grown man could cry from pain.
She made a disdainful sound, turned his head away, and indicated for him to stop moving. She then rinsed away the pus with hydrogen peroxide using a cotton swab, reapplied the ointment, and rebandaged the wound.
Her movements were swift and precise, her touch gentle, and her fingertips occasionally brushed against his back, sending shivers down his spine.
When she was done bandaging him, the youth's earlobes were still bright red, and his eyes were sparkling as if he were a mouse that had secretly eaten candy.
Actually, he just wanted his sister to dote on him a little, to feel that she cared about him in these small ways.
After the noise had passed, Jian Yi returned to her room and slept soundly for a rare good night's rest. She had considered going back to sleep for a while longer to continue relaxing her tense nerves. However, suddenly, there was a loud bang in the front yard.
Jian Yi was instantly startled, and she leaped out of bed, grabbing the crossbow that was placed by her bedside as she hurried downstairs.
"Sister?"
Having just finished reading the commotion, Chen Junsheng remembered that Jian Yi was still sleeping and rushed to her room. He met her on the way down, carrying the crossbow and looking ready for action.
However, his attention was quickly drawn to her bare feet. He furrowed his brows and took a step closer, picking her up in his arms.
Seeing Chen Junsheng, Jian Yi knew that the danger she had anticipated had not materialized.
"What happened?" she asked in confusion.
Chen Junsheng explained, "One of the villagers who came to get water accidentally slipped and dropped an empty bucket."
Frustrated by the noise, she returned to her room and went back to sleep. The yard was bustling with conversation, and Zheng Lanxin, a social butterfly, quickly took control of the situation, making the people who came to fetch water line up and wait for her to fill their containers.
By the time Jian Yi finished her breakfast and came out, most of the people in the yard had already left, leaving only two people waiting for Zheng Lanxin to fill their containers.
However, Zhang Ming and Tuantuan had managed to pile up a basin of rice, a large basin of vegetables, and even a few fish on the table.
"Why are there fish?" Jian Yi asked curiously as she approached.
The two villagers greeted her with friendly smiles and then left with their filled water containers.