Chapter 415: Driven Out of Liu Yang Village (1)_1
The next day, the weather cleared up as predicted. Bright sunlight sprinkled over the snow-covered ground, reflecting a translucent glow. A flock of unnamed birds clustered densely on the wall tops, chirping melodiously to the morning sun, adding liveliness to the quiet winter day!
The knee-deep snow absorbed the sun’s warmth and began to melt layer by layer, turning into meltwater. The snowmelt from the rooftops flowed down like little streams along the eaves, creating various sized puddles on the ground which slowly trickled towards lower-lying areas through the drainage ditches.
Taking advantage of the good weather, Mo Yan and the others moved the sausages and cured meats they had prepared in the previous days outside to sun dry in the courtyard. They also took their bedding off the beds, boiled several large pots of hot water, and embarked on a thorough washing.
Despite the nice weather and the comforting warmth of the sun, the day was a few degrees colder than during the snowfall. After Mo Yan and the others finished scrubbing their clothes and bedding with hot water and were about to take it to the river for rinsing, Mo Qingze, not wanting his daughters to soak in the cold water, unhesitatingly picked up the large wooden tub with the bedding and headed to the river.
The Mo Yan sisters didn’t think much of it. Back in Mo Family Village, when they were too young to wash the bulky items, Mo Qingze was the one who took them to wash by the water, never minding the ridicule from the other patriarchs in the village.
Lixiu’s nephew, having stayed in the Mo Family’s home for a while, knew that Mo Qingze was not as pedantic as most scholars, so the scene didn’t surprise him. Tang Xin, however, was witnessing this for the first time and was amazed; this made her even more envious of the Mo Family siblings for having such a good father.
Now with some free time, Mo Yan started to sort out the New Year’s gifts. Given the rate at which the snow was melting today, by tomorrow the snow on the roads would have completely thawed, and they could deliver the New Year gifts before the twenty-eighth.