novelraw Chapter 168 Can’t Understand People Chapter
Chapter 168 Can’t Understand People Chapter
Chapter 168 Can't Understand Human Language
This kind of meticulous work is very mentally taxing and requires a lot of patience.
After coloring the ten peonies, Gu Tang began to get impatient.
She thought of Gu Ping'an, a very patient person who was perfect for this job.
Two hours have passed, and Gu Lai'an, who was chopping wood in the backyard, should have finished by now, but for some reason, Gu Ping'an hasn't come over.
Gu Tang put down her brush, stretched her aching arms and back, and went out to find Gu Ping'an.
As I approached the corridor, I bumped into my third uncle returning.
"Sir, where have you been?"
Just as he asked this question, three middle-aged men carrying bamboo and timber walked in.
Two carts were parked outside the courtyard gate, one piled with bamboo and the other with timber.
Gu Tang paused for a moment. "The old man bought all the bamboo and firewood?"
"Grandpa went and bought some bamboo and timber. This afternoon, he'll hire people to build a chicken coop and a cowshed." Third Uncle said with a smile, in a very good mood.
Upon hearing this, the three middle-aged men secretly glanced at Gu Tang. Judging from her age, she should be Gu Lianshan's second daughter.
They all knew that Gu Lianshan's second daughter was in charge of the household. Now that she knew that the bamboo and timber were bought with copper coins, they wondered if she would cause a scene.
Bamboo is cheap and can be found on the mountain. Timber is more troublesome, but you don't need thick timber to build a cowshed; a piece of timber about the thickness of your wrist will suffice.
So, it can be done in one trip into the mountains, even if it's a bit tough and tiring.
If it were anyone else, they would probably have started complaining that Third Uncle was wasting money.
Unfortunately, Gu Tang is from the 21st century.
She was used to the convenience and ease of the 21st century. No matter what it was, she could just pay for it without having to expend any physical effort to get it. This was one of her favorite ways of life.
Of course, it would be even more perfect if it didn't cost any money or require any physical effort.
Therefore, she had no objection to her third uncle spending money to buy bamboo and timber; on the contrary, she asked him about it with concern.
"Do you have enough copper coins? I have some more here. If you don't have enough, I'll get you some more."
These words made Uncle San very happy: "That's enough, that's enough. They're all fellow villagers, I didn't take many copper coins."
The middle-aged men carrying bamboo and timber toward the backyard heard the grandfather and grandson say this and had the same thought in their minds: "People who are not family do not enter the same door."
This adoption was truly the right decision; Gu Lianshan's daughter's temperament is extremely compatible with her third uncle's.
The three looked at each other without saying a word, moved all the bamboo and timber from the car outside to the backyard, and then said goodbye and left.
Gu Tang saw them to the door and watched them leave. Then she returned to the courtyard and asked her third uncle, "They look a bit unfamiliar. I haven't seen them much before. Are they from our village?"
"You mean those three people from earlier? They're from a few families living on the north side of the village. They fled to our village a few years ago, married girls from our village, and then stayed here. They rarely interact with the villagers, so you probably don't know them."
So that's how it is; no wonder it looked unfamiliar.
Why did you think of buying from them? Don't other people have them?
Since they rarely interact with the villagers, given Uncle San's personality, he shouldn't have taken the initiative to visit them to chat and buy things.
Third Uncle knew what Gu Tang was thinking and didn't hide it from her: "There are seven or eight families who store bamboo and timber in our house. Apart from these three families, the rest of them have been in contact with our family and we are quite familiar with them."
I told them I needed to buy bamboo and timber to build chicken coops and cowsheds, and they definitely wouldn't accept money. If they don't accept money, then we'll owe them a favor. And those favors are hard to repay.
If he were living alone in the past, owing favors wouldn't have been a big deal. But now that he has a son, granddaughter, and grandson, it's better not to incur favors so easily.
"Indeed, it's hard to repay favors; it's always better to settle accounts with cash."
These three companies were not familiar with them. They were willing to accept copper coins, and they were happy to give them copper coins in return. The transaction was completed quickly and easily.
"Come with me to the backyard and take a look. See where the chicken coop and cowshed are built."
Third Uncle was not the kind of elder who made decisions unilaterally. Whether it was his son who died young or the Gu Lianshan family now, he hoped that the whole family, young and old, could get together to discuss matters, big or small.
Gu Tang liked this kind of elder, and followed her third uncle, walking briskly towards the backyard.
Oh, and while you're at it, go check on Gu Lai'an and Gu Ping'an to see how they're doing.
It's been more than two hours, and I haven't seen them in the front yard. Could they still be chopping wood?
The first thing the grandfather and grandson saw upon entering the backyard was not the neatly stacked bamboo and wood on the ground, but the two brothers in the woodshed.
Gu Tang was right; Gu Lai'an was still chopping wood, and Gu Ping'an was still watching him.
The grandfather and grandson both glanced in that direction, and when they saw that Gu Lai'an had noticed them, the third uncle looked away and looked at the bamboo and timber piled on the ground.
Gu Tang didn't look away. She stared at Gu Lai'an, wondering to herself, "Has this kid changed his ways today? He's already past the allotted time and he's still chopping wood!"
Gu Ping'an also saw the grandfather and grandson and quickly got up and came over.
"Grandpa, Second Sister, what brings you here?"
"I've come with you to take a look at these bamboo and timbers. After all, we paid for them with copper coins, so please don't try to fool us with bad ones."
No longer looking at Gu Lai'an, Gu Tang shifted her gaze to the bamboo and wood in front of her, examining them carefully. Hmm, she couldn't find anything wrong with them, except that there seemed to be a bit too much of them.
She hadn't seen it clearly from a distance while in the car, but now that it was all laid out on the ground, it looked like a huge amount!
Not only did Gu Tang think it was too much, but Gu Ping'an also thought it was too much. "They just said that you spent thirty copper coins to buy their bamboo and timber. Master, did you really only give them thirty copper coins? That's too good to be true! Look, all this bamboo and timber can build two or three cowsheds!"
Third Uncle was even more surprised than Gu Tang and her siblings: "I've already given them the copper coins, it was indeed thirty copper coins, but there weren't this many before!"
"I guess they thought that these bamboo and timber weren't anything valuable, and since it was rare for someone to come to their house to buy them, they simply gave them more to leave a good impression. If they want to buy bamboo and timber again in the future, they will definitely come back to them."
This is Gu Tang's guess, and it's probably true.
After saying that, she gestured with her chin toward Gu Lai'an: "What's wrong with him? Didn't Father say that he only needed to chop wood for two hours? Why is he still chopping here? Two hours have long passed."
It's better not to mention this, because just mentioning Gu Ping'an makes me angry!
"Even if two more hours had passed, he wouldn't dare to leave! Go and see, two hours have passed and the firewood he's chopped isn't even enough to fill two baskets!"
Third Uncle: ...
Gu Tang: ...
This is so useless!
Unable to contain her curiosity, Gu Tang actually went to Gu Lai'an's side to check on his work.
Sure enough, of the two baskets placed next to Gu Lai'an, only one was full, and the other was only half full.
At this moment, Gu Lai'an was holding his right hand, his eyes red, blowing air into his right palm, and occasionally hissing, clearly indicating that his right hand was injured.
Gu Tang glanced at his right palm, where several blisters had formed, some of which were broken, revealing bright red wounds underneath. Gu Lai'an also noticed Gu Tang's arrival, stopped blowing air into her, and glared at her fiercely.
"Are you satisfied now?! Seeing me being tortured like this, you've finally gotten your revenge!"
moron!
Gu Tang took a deep breath and spat at him: "If chopping wood is torture, then Ping An and I would have been tortured to death long ago! The work you did today, Ping An and I had to do every day before! Did you ever hear us say a word about how torture it was?"
"Who do you siblings think you are?! How dare you compare yourself to me!" Gu Lai'an shouted defiantly.
“I am the eldest son! You younger ones should naturally help me with things! Look at my eldest uncle, he is the eldest son. No matter how powerful our father is, he still has to obediently support my eldest uncle, and even support his whole family!”
Gu Tang picked at her ears, thinking she was hallucinating. What kind of ridiculous logic was this?!
"You want to compare yourself to your uncle?" Gu Tang looked him up and down with disdain. "Although in my eyes, calling my uncle a fool is an understatement, compared to you, he instantly becomes a genius!"
Gu Lai'an didn't understand: "What do you mean by that?!"
I said you're not even as stupid as a fool!
"You!" Gu Lai'an stood up angrily.
Gu Tang didn't back down at all, instead taking another step forward: "Such a big person, and you can't even understand what I'm saying? How dare you compare yourself to your uncle? Even if your uncle is a scoundrel, at least he can understand human speech and can write. What about you? Besides stealing chickens and dogs, what else can you do?"
These words angered Gu Lai'an, and in a moment of anger, he was about to hit Gu Tang.
Gu Tang dodged, then swiftly pulled a piece of firewood from his basket and slammed it down on his raised left hand—
"what!!!"
With a scream, Gu Lai'an jumped up and down in pain, shaking his left hand repeatedly in an attempt to alleviate the pain.
"You're a jerk, and your hands are jerk too!" Gu Tang cursed, then whipped the man with the firewood in her hand a few more times, making him cry!
The two clashed quickly, and their contest was over before Third Uncle and Gu Ping'an could even react.
Unfortunately, Gu Lai'an suffered another crushing defeat.
Seeing Gu Lai'an hide far behind the woodshed, Gu Tang did not chase after him. Instead, she threw down the firewood and ignored him, letting Gu Ping'an go back to the front yard with her.
As for Gu Lai'an, we don't need to pay attention to him anymore. Let him keep dawdling. When his father comes back, he'll definitely be in big trouble!
Gu Ping'an always listened to Gu Tang, and since Gu Tang had spoken, he followed her back to the front yard.
Third Uncle was also coaxed back by Gu Tang, who told him not to stay and face Gu Lai'an, and that there was something for them to do.
Back in the front yard, Gu Tang led the grandfather and grandson into her room and showed them the things on the table and small table.
In fact, even without Gu Tang's reminder, the moment the grandfather and grandson stepped into the house, their eyes were drawn to the things on the table.
"What is this?" Third Uncle asked hesitantly.
The things on the table look a bit like various flowers sculpted from clay, but the colors are a bit off.
On the small table next to him were several flowers dyed in red, yellow, purple and green. If it weren't for the fact that it was winter, he would have thought they were flowers that had just been picked.
It's so incredibly realistic!
Gu Ping'an recognized them, stepped forward and gently touched the various flowers a few times, asking excitedly, "Are these all backflow incense?"
"That's right, it's all backflow incense."
The third uncle, still looking bewildered, asked, "What are you siblings talking about? What is 'backflow incense'?"
Upon hearing this, Gu Ping'an, before Gu Tang could, carefully explained to his third uncle what the backflow incense was.
The more Uncle San listened, the more his brows furrowed.
What does it mean for incense smoke to rise downwards?
No matter what kind of incense it is, once lit, the smoke will always rise!
There's no way to go down!
Third Uncle glanced at Gu Ping'an with worry in his eyes. Was the child seeing things?
Otherwise, why would he say such nonsense?
Noticing that his third uncle's gaze was off, Gu Ping'an immediately stopped talking.
He knew that this backflow incense was somewhat subversive to their beliefs, and it would be difficult for his grandfather to believe it. Only when his grandfather saw it with his own eyes would he understand that what he said was true.
"Second sister, take out the incense that you didn't finish burning last time and light it so that Master can have a good look at it."
Gu Tang pointed to the small box on the cabinet: "It's in there, take it yourself."
Following Gu Tang's directions, Gu Ping'an found the small box, opened it, and took out the backflow incense inside.
There were only two backflow incense sticks in the box, one flower-shaped and the other a four-leaf clover-shaped. Both were only partially burned, so they did not affect the overall aesthetics.
After taking out the incense, Gu Ping'an did not light it immediately, but placed it in his third uncle's hand so that he could carefully examine the incense and see why it was different from others.
Third Uncle had seen incense sticks, incense powder, and the pagoda incense commonly found in temples, but this kind of incense was truly the first time he had ever seen it.
The tiny, delicate petals and leaves are all exquisitely crafted, enough to fool the eye with their lifelike quality.
He carefully touched it a few times; it felt slightly hard, and when he got closer, he could smell a fragrance.
The more they looked, the more amazed they became, their gaze shifting to the table: "Are all these incense?"
"Yes, these are all fragrant. The ones with color are peonies, and the ones without color are bamboo, orchids, plum blossoms, and chrysanthemums. No matter what their shape is, they are all fragrant."
Gu Tang took the four-leaf clover she had made from his hand, lit it with the fire on the stove, and placed it on the corner of the table.
Soon, a wisp of white smoke descended vertically.
The third uncle froze, instantly stunned.
This smoke is actually going downwards!!!
"Sir, how is it? I didn't lie to you, did I? The smoke from this incense does indeed flow downwards, which confirms the name of this incense, 'Reverse Flow Incense'."
Gu Ping'an exclaimed in admiration, then reached out and weaved through the smoke, dispersing the vertical plumes, his playful nature stirring within him.
The third uncle, who had just come to his senses, hurriedly stopped him, staring intently at Xiang and looking him up and down.
"Having lived most of my life, I never imagined I would witness such a spectacular sight in my lifetime!"
"This incense is best used with small landscape stones or various ornaments." Gu Tang took out the new teacups from the cabinet and piled them up in a trapezoidal "ornament" on the stool.
When the burning incense sticks are placed at the top of the trapezoidal "ornament," the originally vertically drifting smoke instantly transforms into a rolling river, scattering and falling downwards in a beautiful display.
Gu Tang had seen backflow incense online in her previous life. Compared with the backflow incense she made herself, the backflow incense she made had more, whiter, and stronger fragrance mist, and the fragrance was also extremely elegant.
This is partly due to the fact that the spices come from the system, and partly due to the skill of the incense-making machine. It cannot be compared with regular backflow incense.