Although Mu Jingzhe had never laid cement and didn’t know how to do it, she was still happy to improve the kids’ school environment.

  Their school field was really dirty, and some parts of it were bumpy and uneven. There was still dust after it was cleaned every day, especially when there was strong wind. It was even harder to walk when it rained. It would be much better if the place was cemented.

  Mu Jingzhe had made up her mind to work hard, but when Shao Dong heard that she planned to do the work alone, he frowned. “It doesn’t have to be so hard. If it is not, you can attend to your work or even go to the city for your business, Mom. We’ll go ourselves.”

  “That won’t do. This is similar to a parent-teacher meeting. The parent can’t be absent. You’re still children and can’t take on very heavy work. Don’t worry, leave it to me. I’ll be careful and I won’t tire myself out.”

  The weekend hadn’t arrived yet, but Li Hua didn’t give up. He made two more visits with the matchmaker, but both times, Mu Jingzhe declined.

  When the villagers learned that Li Hua was going to propose marriage, many people paid attention, waiting to see what the result would be. Upon seeing that it didn’t work, those who were closer to him comforted him a little, saying that he didn’t need to be too sad because Mu Jingzhe was now different from before.

  There were also others who laughed at him. For example, a girl who used to fancy Li Hua but had been rejected by him because he thought he was too good for her.

  Their consolation and mockery were a little unbearable for the proud Li Hua. He had originally been confident about it, but he had failed and people were laughing at him now. His mood became even more irritable.

  He was more and more bent on getting Mu Jingzhe to marry him no matter what. He felt that regardless of this, Mu Jingzhe had already married someone before. This would be her second marriage, whereas it was his first marriage. Furthermore, he felt that he was pretty eligible.

  He was a little stubborn. After learning about the school’s activity, he happened to find out that his eldest brother’s child was also in school, so he offered to go in his eldest brother’s place. He wanted to perform well and make Mu Jingzhe change her mind.

  In the end, during the weekend, after the parents gathered to work, the person who did the most work was Mu Jingzhe.

  The school would still hire people to lay out the cement, but they didn’t have that much money. That was why they invited the parents to help. The parents only went to pick up some rocks that weren’t too big or small to lay out the foundation. They also went to the river to transport some sand back.

  The female parents would pick up rocks. As for the male parents, some of them carried the rocks back, while some were in charge of transporting the sand.

  \r \r \r

  Li Hua wanted to work with Mu Jingzhe and let her pick up rocks while he carried them. However, Mu Jingzhe didn’t want to have too much contact with him since she had rejected him. In addition, she felt that since she was representing four children, she should do more work.

  Thus, she picked up rocks for a while, and seeing that the others were having difficulties, she later took on the task of transporting the rocks.

  Baskets full of rocks were being carried to the school by her. Li Hua, who wanted to display his masculinity, didn’t want to fall behind Mu Jingzhe and insisted on following her. After two or three trips, he gave up with a forehead full of sweat.

  The parents were full of praise for Mu Jingzhe.

  As a teacher, Mu Xue mainly did logistical work for this activity. She would boil the water so that after the water cooled, the working parents could have cold water and tea when they wanted to rest. Seeing Mu Jingzhe, who was so full of energy, being praised by teachers and parents alike, she pursed her lips when she thought of her relationship with Tang Moling during this period of time.

  Li Hua had been fawning over Mu Jingzhe all this time. Mu Xue saw it too. She even accidentally overheard Li Hua and his mother’s conversation in the afternoon.

  Seeing that Li Hua couldn’t succeed, his mother had advised him to give up and stop chasing after Mu Jingzhe. However, Li Hua wasn’t willing to give up and said that he wouldn’t give up on Mu Jingzhe no matter what.

  On the way back, Mu Xue thought to herself, ‘That’s right. Why isn’t Mu Jingzhe getting married?’

  If she were to get married, she and Tang Moling might stop arguing. Tang Moling would probably give up completely, right?

  In the afternoon, Mu Jingzhe and the others continued working, and the teachers in the school got busy.

  Since the parents had come to work, they had to at least treat them to a meal, right? Hence, the school’s teachers bought a sheep and ate a meal together at night to thank the parents. The sheep had been raised by one of the parents, so the price wasn’t high.

  As Mu Xue helped out, she watched Li Hua fawn over Mu Jingzhe without any substantial results. While Li Hua was resting and drinking water with a gloomy face, for some reason, she asked the teacher beside her, who was frying mutton, a question.

  “There’s no sesame in this mutton, right? If you need to add sesame, you have to scoop some out beforehand. My cousin, Mu Jingzhe, is allergic to sesame.”

  Li Hua paused while drinking and pricked up his ears.

  The teacher said, “Really? Is there such a thing as an allergy to sesame? I don’t think I’ll be adding any.”

  “That’s good. Otherwise, I would have to be her savior.” Mu Xue smiled.

  Mu Jingzhe and the other parents were busy until five o’clock before they were done with their work.

  “Everyone, wash your hands and rest first. The food is almost ready. You can also go home and get the students to eat together. This is also a parent-teacher meeting in disguise.”

  Everyone went to get the students, and Mu Jingzhe returned home. However, she hadn’t gone back to get the children, as they had followed Shao Qiyang to the county city. They still had to go to the arts school on Sunday and they couldn’t miss class for no reason.

  If they had come back, they would have definitely come looking for her. If they didn’t come looking for her, it meant that they weren’t back yet and would have to wait for Shao Qiyang to get off work and bring them back.

  Mu Jingzhe’s main purpose for going home was to clean up and change into a fresh set of clothes. Her clothes had become extremely dirty from all that manual labor.

  The parents who had stayed behind moved the students’ desks and chairs out to use them as dining tables. When they were done, dinner started very quickly.

  There were two large porcelain basins, a pot of rice, and a pot of mutton on each table.

  The mutton had been stewed for an entire afternoon, so the stewed meat was very soft and flavorful. After it was served, some mint leaves and chili were sprinkled on top of it. It was simple, and not too much seasoning was added, but the taste was excellent.

  This was a farmhouse meal, the simplest yet most delicious kind. Mu Jingzhe’s eyes lit up after she ate a mouthful. She felt a little regretful that the kids weren’t back yet, or they could have eaten together.

  However, she couldn’t bring home some for them either. She could only eat more herself.

  Mu Jingzhe ate while hoping that the kids would come back and eat this delicacy. However, by the time she finished eating, Little Bei and the others weren’t back yet.

  On the other hand, Tang Moling arrived unexpectedly halfway through the meal. When he entered the school and saw the lively scene, he was stunned. Later, everyone enthusiastically pushed him to sit beside Mu Xue. “Eat. Let’s eat together.”

  Tang Moling couldn’t refuse their kind gesture, so he picked up his chopsticks. He had just arrived at the Mu Residence when Old Lady Mu had told him that Mu Xue was at school and had asked him to go over. He’d thought that something had cropped up. Also, he’d wanted to have a good talk with Mu Xue.

  He hadn’t expected that Old Lady Mu would ask him to come over because she knew that the school was slaughtering a sheep today and wanted him to get some good food for free.

  Even though Tang Moling and Mu Xue were clearly still in a fight, in front of outsiders, they treated each other respectfully. The others didn’t notice that anything was amiss and they even teased them.

  Tang Moling listened to everyone’s teasing and was surprised to see Mu Jingzhe, who was enjoying her food not far away.

  Mu Jingzhe didn’t pay much attention to Tang Moling. In any case, Tang Moling had to be there to dispense dog food[1] in front of Mu Xue. Compared to eating dog food, Mu Jingzhe was more interested in eating mutton.

  [1] put on public displays of affection