Chapter 4: Weight Loss
The three children jumped to the ground obediently. Their eyes were cute, and it was obvious that they were children without schemes.
"What are your names?" Su Xiaoxiao asked.
The three children circled behind Su Ergou and hid their heads shyly, looking like three little mimosas and making Su Xiaoxiao's heart melt.
"Are they crying?" Su Xiaoxiao asked.
Su Ergou said, "Don't cry. Be good!"
Su Xiaoxiao looked behind Su Ergou. The three children were stealing glances at her and were caught by her. They immediately retracted their heads.
"They just don't like to talk," said Su Ergou.
Su Cheng took out the things he had bought in town from the basket and placed them on the table.
The three children walked over and stood on their tiptoes. They grabbed his basket and craned their necks to look in.
"Are you looking for this?" Su Cheng picked up a bamboo leaf bag on the table and opened it. Inside were three sticks of candied hawthorn that were half-eaten.
The candied hawthorn was very expensive. Su Cheng was only generous to his daughter and was stingy with others. He didn't want to buy it at first, but who knew that the moment he turned around, the three children would bite him?
Su Cheng felt intense pain all the way.
The three children grabbed the candied hawthorn and went to the room to look for their father.
Unexpectedly, not long after they entered the room, they ran out with the candied hawthorns in their hands.
Wei Ting fell so badly that even his own children wouldn't recognize him. Su Cheng and Su Ergou entered the house and were stunned.
Where was the handsome son-in-law they had kidnapped?
How did he become a pig head after not seeing him for a day?!
Su Xiaoxiao crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame. She said calmly, "Is this the man you said is a hundred times better-looking than He Tongsheng?"
Su Cheng cleared his throat. "Daughter, believe me. He's really good-looking."
Su Ergou was curious. "Sister, did you beat him up?"
Su Xiaoxiao was speechless.
"He fell himself!"
Why would she beat him up for no reason? Was he really her biological brother?
Since it was a fall, he would be fine after he recovered. Su Cheng was relieved and asked Ergou to coax the three frightened children. He then pulled his daughter to the central room.
He pointed at a box of snacks on the table and said, "Dad bought you your favorite osmanthus cake. It's from Jin Ji!"
Jin Ji's snacks were not cheap. This small box cost one tael of silver, and their meals were only three to five copper coins a catty.
"Didn't we spend all our money?"
If she remembered correctly, Father Su had put his own savings into He Tongsheng's marriage.
Su Cheng smiled. "We've got gift money!"
Su Xiaoxiao muttered, "What kind of gift is so expensive?"
She naturally did not know that Su Cheng had robbed three portions of money.
There were a total of six osmanthus cakes in the box. It was obvious that Su Cheng and Su Ergou did not have any.
"You haven't eaten, have you?" she asked.
Only then did Su Cheng remember that he had been out for an entire day. "You must be hungry. Dad will cook!"
"No need, I've done it." Su Xiaoxiao turned around and went to the kitchen to bring out the sweet potato soup and chives. She said to Su Ergou, who was playing with a few small children at the door, "Ergou, it's time to eat!"
"Hey! We're coming over!"
Su Ergou led the three children into the house and sat down to eat.
He looked at the delicious chives and sweet potato soup on the table and said in surprise, "Dad, did you make this?"
Su Cheng said, "Your sister made it."
Su Ergou looked as if he had seen a ghost. "No way? My sister…"
Before he could finish, Su Xiaoxiao opened a box of osmanthus cake. "You guys eat this too. From today onwards, I want to lose weight, so I won't eat these sweets."
Then, as if to show her determination, she entered her room without looking back.
It took Su Ergou a long time to come back to his senses. He asked in a daze, "Dad, is Sister… crazy?"
Su Cheng slapped his son on the head. "Your brain is the one that's broken!"
Su Ergou touched his numb head and muttered, "Then what's going on?"
His daughter's behavior today was indeed abnormal, but Su Cheng did not think too much about it. He only felt that his daughter had been too agitated by He Tongsheng's rejection of the marriage, which resulted in a change in her personality.
Su Ergou picked up some of the chives suspiciously. "Is Sister's food edible?"
The next second, he was slapped in the face.
His sister's food was too delicious!
… .
The Su family had a total of four rooms. Two were in the east and two were in the west. The east room in the south was the largest and had the best lighting. It was Su Xiaoxiao's wedding room.
Wei Ting was recuperating in another east room.
Su Cheng and Su Ergou lived in two west rooms, and the three children rested in Su Ergou's room.
At night, the family fell asleep.
Su Xiaoxiao quietly got up.
She took out the first-aid bag from under the blanket, opened it, and counted. It was the medical medicine she had put in.
How could this be?
Had the first-aid kit come through her dream?
She couldn't figure it out. Was this science or theology?
"Forget it. Saving a life is more important."
Su Xiaoxiao took the first aid kit and an oil lamp to Wei Ting's room.
She closed the door and turned the wick to its brightest. There was still not enough light. She brought the oil lamps from the other houses.
As she had expected, Wei Ting's injuries had worsened and his situation was very critical.
Su Xiaoxiao didn't delay any longer and unbuttoned his clothes.
Although she had already seen it once, she couldn't help but sigh—this man's figure was too good.
His abdominal muscles were well-defined and smooth. His arms and chest muscles were full and firm. Even the mottled scars seemed to emit the power of battle damage.
Su Xiaoxiao washed his wounds with saline. The knife wound between his abdomen and calf needed to be stitched up.
At this moment, Wei Ting opened his swollen eyes slightly.
"Can you hear me?" Su Xiaoxiao asked him softly.
Wei Ting's consciousness was blurry.
Su Xiaoxiao continued, "I'm going to stitch up your wound. Don't move."
It was unknown if he understood, but he couldn't move in his current state.
Su Xiaoxiao gave him local anesthesia. After suturing the wound, she wrapped it with gauze. During the entire process, she could feel that Wei Ting had been trying hard to maintain his consciousness.
She took out two anti-inflammatory pills and let Wei Ting consume them.
At this point, Wei Ting could no longer hold on. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
He was asleep, but Su Xiaoxiao was still busy.
Su Xiaoxiao applied medicine to the rest of his injuries and carefully checked his pulse again. She observed the location of his injuries and eliminated the possibility of internal bleeding. It was a relatively light hematoma.
As long as this situation did not worsen, it could be treated with medicine.
….
The next day, Su Xiaoxiao woke up early.
What she said last night about losing weight was true, and she had already formulated a weight loss plan in her heart.
The first step was to quit the habit of being lazy and make herself move.
With her current weight, it was not suitable for her to exercise vigorously on the ground. She would hurt her knees, so she could start with simple housework.
She went to the kitchen to light the fire.
Last night, she made sweet potato soup. Today, she switched to making sweet potato pancakes.
First, she cut the sweet potato into cubes and coated them with corn flour. The sweet potato itself was sweet, and she could just sprinkle some salt into the corn flour.
The sweet potatoes were wrapped in corn paste mixed with spring onions. When they were fried in the oil pot, half of the village was enveloped in fragrance.
She steamed a few too.
She and Wei Ting ate steamed food.