Chapter 597: Li Ruhai: A Bit of Idle Chat (3)

“Brother,” Li Xiaoqiao said, plaintively tugging on Li Ruhai’s hand. “You had a four-course meal for dinner?” she whispered.

“Huh!”

“Enough of that,” Li Dayong said, seeing the exchange and quickly cutting Li Ruhai off. He snapped, “A four-course meal, and you’re just getting back now?”

“Yup,” Li Ruhai answered with a smile. “After dinner, I stayed at their place and chatted for a while.”

As soon as Li Dayong heard Li Ruhai mention “chatting,” he dropped the subject. He knew what his younger son was capable of. When it came to shooting the breeze, it wouldn’t be a problem for him to go until eight the next morning, let alone just eight tonight.

“You!” Jin Xiaomei pointed at Li Ruhai and scolded, “If you were there to eat, then you should have just eaten! Why did you take their roe deer leg? Don’t you know how much they struggle? And you still took things from them.”

“Auntie,” Zhao Jun spoke up to Jin Xiaomei. “It’s alright. I’m going hunting in the mountains in the next couple of days. If I get a roe deer, we’ll give a couple of legs to Chen Dalai.”

“No need!” Before the words were even out of Zhao Jun’s mouth, Li Ruhai waved his hand dismissively. “It’s not like I took their roe deer leg for free. When I went over, I brought about ten pastries and gave them all to their kids.”

“Brother!” Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoqiao licked her lips, grabbed Li Ruhai’s hand, and said with great indignation, “You bought pastries, too?”

Seeing her reaction, Li Dayong pointed at Li Ruhai and demanded, “What did you buy pastries for?”

“I didn’t buy them!” Li Ruhai said. “My sister-in-law bought them for me.”

“Your sister-in-law?” Li Baoyu immediately grew anxious. The “sister-in-law” Li Ruhai was talking about was his own fiancée, Liu Mei. If they were already married, it would be perfectly fine for a sister-in-law to buy a snack for her husband’s younger brother.

But as things stood now… was the Li Family so poor they couldn’t afford food or drink? To have a future daughter-in-law, one who hadn’t even married into the family yet, buy food for the younger son?

So it wasn’t just Li Baoyu; even Li Dayong and Jin Xiaomei felt deeply embarrassed.

But before they could get angry, Li Ruhai explained, “Ah, yeah. This morning, as soon as I stepped out, I saw my sister-in-law and Aunt Liu heading for the South Land. I asked what they were up to, and my sister-in-law said the two of them were going to shuck some corn. So, I went with them and helped out all morning.

“On the way back, we passed by the small store, and they had just gotten a fresh batch of pastries. Everyone was buying some, and my sister-in-law insisted on buying me a couple of pounds.”

Once Li Ruhai explained it this way, the expressions on the Li Family’s faces softened. Helping a future sister-in-law with her work, who then in turn bought her future brother-in-law a treat—that was a different story entirely. If outsiders saw that, it would bring honor to both families.

After he finished speaking, Li Ruhai shot a glare at Li Baoyu and said irritably, “What were you glaring at me for? Everything I did was for you, wasn’t it?”

“Right, right,” Li Baoyu said at once. He hurried over with an apologetic smile, slinging an arm around Li Ruhai’s shoulders. “Tomorrow, I’ll buy you a nice treat.”

Li Ruhai rolled his eyes at him but said nothing. Just then, Li Dayong asked Li Ruhai again, “So, you just had pastries for lunch?”

“Yup,” Li Ruhai said. “My sister-in-law asked me to eat at their house, but I absolutely refused. I just ate the pastries at the store; Aunt Wang poured me some hot water. After I finished, I stayed there and chatted with everyone from a little past twelve until just after three or four o’clock.”

“Good heavens.” Jie Chen had only arrived a few days ago and didn’t know what Li Ruhai was like. He was astonished and couldn’t help but ask, “Brother, what could you possibly have talked about with them for that long? That’s almost half the day!”

“Just chewing the fat,” Li Ruhai said with a laugh. “About everything under the sun, the long and short of it all.”

“‘The long and short of it all?'” Jie Chen was puzzled. He understood “everything under the sun,” but he wasn’t sure what “the long and short of it all” meant.

At that moment, Zhao Jun leaned against Jie Chen’s shoulder, tilted his head, and whispered, “He means whose family is doing well, and whose isn’t. Gossip.”

Jie Chen froze, looking at Li Ruhai in astonishment. ‘If I remember correctly,’ he thought, ‘this is still just a kid.’

Suddenly, Li Baoyu remembered something. He quickly dropped his arm from Li Ruhai’s shoulder and asked with a serious expression, “Ruhai, this morning, when you were shucking corn with your sister-in-law and Aunt Liu… you didn’t run your mouth, did you?”

“Of course not!” Seeing how wary his older brother was, Li Ruhai rolled his eyes at Li Baoyu and said with annoyance, “We were just making small talk.”

Li Baoyu: “…”