FID – Chapter 1114

Chapter 1114: Nannan’s Spell Duel

In the front courtyard, the early risers included Grandma Liu, Chen Xiulan, Du Juan, as well as Fu Yuzheng and Liu Muqiu.

When Liu Yusheng arrived at the main hall and saw the two of them each holding a thick piece of cotton cloth, she paused for a moment. The three exchanged glances, then simultaneously burst out laughing.

“You’re up this early Are you coming to ask Grandma for cotton cloth too?” Fu Yuzheng teased, deftly snipping a piece from her own large cloth and handing it to Liu Yusheng.

Liu Yusheng didn’t hesitate, taking it and quickly cutting the cloth into the shape she needed. She nudged a small stool over with her foot and sat down next to Fu Yuzheng and Liu Muqiu. “You got up earlier than me? What happened last night? Culdn’t sleep from worrying?”

“Worrying? You think you didn’t feel it yourself? Otherwise, how could you be up at this hour?”

“Exactly. Usually at breakfast, it’s always Nannan and His Highness who come last. Today, it’s the opposite!”

The two sisters-in-law bantered back and forth, while Liu Yusheng, thick-skinned as ever, didn’t blush.

All three were now working on the same task: making cotton gloves to protect the hands of the men of the house.

The task was simple. Working together, the three of them could make enough gloves in no time—one pair per person.

“We can make them, but I bet like every year, once they get to the fields, they’ll just pull them off,” Liu Muqiu said helplessly, looking at the finished gloves.

They had done this before. Nannan had first come up with the idea. Wearing these gloves would protect their hands while working.

But the result was always discouraging, and it had frustrated them enough to last all year.

The men of the house—truly real men—had one reaction to the gloves: Girly nonsense.

Did they really need gloves doing farm work? After a lifetime of dealing with the rough work of the fields, putting on gloves made them feel weaker, like they were competing with the rugged men around them, losing all their natural force.

So in front of the women, they’d grudgingly wear them for appearances. But the moment they turned around and stepped outside, the gloves came off, carefully tucked away to make sure no one working alongside them could see—lest they be laughed at.

Thinking of how those gloves had fared in past years, Liu Yusheng sighed. She couldn’t come up with a good solution to this problem either.

The three of them exchanged glances again, their minds racing. Finally, they put everything away and went to the kitchen to help.

The women of the house were well cared for, so even during the busy harvest season, the men rarely let them do heavy work. At most, in the cool of the early morning, they might help bind the harvested rice, but by late morning, they’d be sent back home. In the afternoons, they weren’t allowed in the fields at all.

Seeing the men return from work, drenched in sweat, their shirts wet, skin flushed, exhausted from head to toe, how could the women not feel concerned? With the grandma at the stove, meals were made especially well. Even if they couldn’t do much else, the men wouldn’t go hungry or eat poorly—never!

These past two days, Grandma Liu had gone all out, putting every bit of her culinary skill to work.

“Grandma, is there anything I can help with?” Liu Yusheng asked as soon as she entered. There wasn’t much she could do around the house, essentially making her nearly useless.

Grandma Liu, busy to the point of not even lifting her head, instructed, “The water’s already boiled over there. You take care of making the tea.”

Without needing further instruction, Liu Muqiu automatically took over the task of tending the fire, while Fu Yuzheng went to clean the wooden barrels for the tea.

In their house, making tea wasn’t about brewing a single pot. It was pot after pot, and then the tea was carried in wooden barrels out to the edge of the fields.

Anyone working in the fields who felt thirsty could come and drink.

Over the years, this had gradually become a familiar sight during the busy harvest in Xinghua Village, and their tea was especially sought after.

Those who were exhausted from working in the fields would recover their energy faster after drinking it. The villagers attributed this to Liu Yusheng herself. Tea brewed by the Little Divine Doctor was naturally different from ordinary tea.

The three young people in Liu Yusheng’s household worked efficiently in division of labor, while Grandma Liu along with the two daughters-in-law did the same, quickly preparing breakfast just as the men of the house were getting up.

Another new day began, and the harvest rush continued.

However, this day, as the men of the Li family stepped outside, their faces carried a tinge of awkwardness, because each of them was wearing the gray cotton gloves.

The elder Grandpa Liu immediately wanted to pull his gloves off the moment he stepped outside, but then he remembered his young granddaughter’s expectant yet disappointed look before leaving, and he froze, unable to act.

“Brother, are we really wearing these things?” Liu Zhiqiu asked, feeling conflicted.

“They’re not ugly, and it’s fine to wear them,” said Liu Dalin from behind with a slight cough, sounding a bit melancholy.

The gloves weren’t ugly, but they lacked the aura of toughness. Field work depended on raw strength, and no one casually wore gloves while working; it wasn’t some aristocratic household. This felt too precious, too refined.

The gloves made them stand out as unfit for the fields.

“Brother, are we really going to wear them?”

“…So when we get to the fields, should we secretly take them off when Nannan isn’t looking?”

“Take them off!” Liu Erlin immediately nodded. He wasn’t a woman, and wearing double protection would just make him look ridiculous if word got out.

Liu Zhixia and Feng Qingbai remained silent.

They didn’t voice an opinion. They were the younger generation. If the gloves came off, it would only be because they were following the crowd.

When the elders said to take them off, how could they refuse?

Once in the fields, the men crouched down and, hidden behind the tall rice stalks, quietly ended the ‘life’ of the gloves they had worn out the door.

Fortunately, it was early morning, and villagers were just trickling in, so few noticed this scene. The Liu family men preserved their dignity.

With the gloves stuffed into their pockets, if the women of the house came by, they could just slip them on again to keep up appearances. Two days would pass easily.

That was the consensus among them.

But when Liu Yusheng, Muqiu, and Qian Yi carried over the water, they realized that idea was too idealistic.

Today, Nannan was unusually active. She didn’t sit under a tree by the roadside to cool off. Instead, she wrapped a scarf around her head and walked along the edge of the field, periodically sneaking behind them, seeing everything they did clearly.

“…” Nannan was here to challenge them.

Feng Qingbai was the first to quietly slip the gloves he had been hiding into place.

After putting them on, he didn’t forget to warn the few still trying to resist, “Grandpa, Dad, Second Uncle, if you don’t want to save face, it’s fine not to wear them, but Shengdeng might wander around in front of us all day. In half an hour, the sun will start getting hot.”

“…“ The elders quickly put their gloves back on, raising their hands to wave at the girl pacing along the ridge, “Nannan, the sun’s coming up. Go over there to the shade under the tree, don’t just walk here.”

They are on. Everyone has put them on, see?

Stop wandering, go back now.

Their Nannan had changed her strategy. Instead of the old method of constant reminders, she now used this brazen, rogue-like approach, and they really couldn’t do anything about it.

They couldn’t let her wander all day. After all, it was their own daughter; they cared.

On the ridge, Liu Yusheng was very pleased with what she saw. When no one was paying attention, she gave her man a thumbs-up, earning a clear, bright smile in return.

“Hmph—traitor.”