Divorce with three kids? I'll build a house and eat meat, driving my in-laws crazy.

Chapter 214 The Master's Reprimand
Chen Liang was a little embarrassed. "Master is right."

He turned around and immediately stuffed the silver into Li Ruru's hand, saying, "From now on, I won't charge you for getting medicine for Peipei."

Nie Tianlei's icy expression seemed to soften slightly. "Is it just Peipei?"

Chen Liang snapped to attention and quickly changed his tune: "This family doesn't charge anyone."

Chen Liang was inwardly groaning. He also had to earn money to support his family, but in front of Nie Tianlei, he was like a mouse seeing a cat, and he didn't dare to say a word in rebuttal.

Qiqi and Heizi caught a few of the ducks that had gone missing from their home, but since they had nowhere to keep them, Li Ruru simply killed them all.

Chen Liang smelled the aroma of meat and craned his neck to look into the pot: "Li, what delicious food are you making?"

Before Li Ruru could answer, Nie Tianlei said directly, "What are you still standing here for?"

What a spineless coward! Has he never eaten meat before?

Chen Liang rubbed his nose and left reluctantly.

When the meal was ready, everyone who had been busy all day returned to the cave.

Chu Xiu wiped his sweat and said, "Aunt Li, the bridge piers have been erected and will be finished in a couple of days. Tomorrow, I'll have Xiao Wu supervise the construction, and I'll find people to start building our house."

There's also the road paving thing; I plan to go see my dad about it in a couple of days.

Li Ruru smiled broadly: "Xiu'er is really amazing, she arranged everything so well."

She paused for a moment and then added, "There's no rush to pave the road; we can take our time."

It's not that we're not in a hurry, it's just that we can't push the child too hard, after all, Chu Xiu's relationship with his father isn't very harmonious.

Chu Xiu nodded and said to Chao Chao, "Mother, everything is normal at the workshop today."

Fang Xingzhi handed the thick ledger to Li Ruru, "Ruru, take a look."

Upon hearing this, everyone looked up in astonishment.

Xiao Yishan asked, puzzled, "Master Fang, didn't you used to call your godmother Li?"

Why was he being addressed so affectionately today? He had a vague feeling that something was off.

Fang Xingzhi stroked his beard and said, "I've heard the village head and the Hai family call me that. Why can't I call you that?"

He looked at Li Ruru with a hint of resentment, but Li Ruru smiled and said, "It's fine, do as you please."

It's just a title; she doesn't care.

Li Ruru opened the ledger, scanned it, and then handed it back to Fang Xingzhi: "You can keep it, you don't need to show it to me."

Fang Xingzhi was overjoyed; Aru truly trusted him.

Li Ruru cooked several ducks into roast duck. She laid out a straw mat on the ground and put everything on it.

He demonstrated to everyone: "This is called roast duck. Just mix cucumber strips, scallion strips, radish strips, and meat together, wrap it up, and you can eat it."

She rolled one up and was about to eat it when Nie Tianlei grabbed her arm.

Li Ruru glared at him angrily. This was her house! What did he want to do? Was he going to stop her from eating?

"Wait, wash your hands before you eat."

Nie Tianlei dragged Li Ruru to the spring to wash her hands before letting go of her arm.

Li Ruru frowned and said, "I washed my hands a long time ago, before cooking."

She's a 21st-century person; she knows that frequent handwashing can kill many viruses.

Nie Tianlei said, "But you killed the duck, and the raw meat isn't clean."

Unable to argue with him, Li Ruru asked stiffly, "Can I eat now?"

"cannot!"

"what?"

Li Ruru wondered if she had misheard. Nie Tianlei threw the roast duck she had just wrapped to Qiqi.

Qiqi ate it in one bite, wagging its tail and grinning at Nie Tianlei.

Who says Madam Nie is bad? Doctor Nie is wonderful.

The originally cheerful dining atmosphere turned into a very unpleasant one, but Nie Tianlei seemed completely oblivious to the displeased looks from the others.

He said in a deep voice, "You should all go wash your hands too, and then rub them with wood ash."

Yinyin tilted her head back and asked, "Why do we need to use wood ash?"

"Because it's clean."

"But the ashes from the plants are all dirty."

"You look filthy too."

Yinyin: "Yeah, so it got even dirtier after washing."

She wasn't angry and just went along with what Nie Tianlei said. Nie Tianlei, rendered speechless by her few words, rubbed his forehead and said, "You... whatever you want."

Anyway, he won't be the one who gets sick.

Seeing Nie Tianlei being teased by his sister, Peipei grinned and said, "We have soap, it washes very clean."

With soap available, who would still use wood ash?

Nie Tianlei also knew about soap, but soap was expensive and only wealthy families could afford it.

He didn't believe that people living in caves could afford it, and just as he was about to argue, Peipei shoved the soap in front of him.

"Look, this is our soap; we all use it to wash our hands."

As he spoke, he led everyone to the mountain spring to wash their hands, and then handed the wet soap to Nie Tianlei.

"You should go take a shower too."

We can't just demand things from others while doing nothing ourselves.

Nie Tianlei had no reason to refuse, so he could only obediently wash his hands.

When he returned to the straw mat, he found that no one had touched their chopsticks and they were all waiting for him.

Seeing him sit down, Li Ruru said, "Let's eat! Let's eat!"

After a long day, everyone was starving, so they wolfed down their food.

Li Ruru had gotten used to their flattery and their uncouth eating habits, but Nie Tianlei hadn't.

He frowned and briefly expressed his dissatisfaction before elegantly taking a small bite of roast duck and saying, "This tastes good."

The crispness of the cucumber and shredded radish perfectly balances the richness of the roast duck, while the shredded scallions add a unique flavor to the overall dish.

Paired with that secret sauce, the unparalleled flavor fills your mouth.

Nie Tianlei had just eaten a small piece when he noticed there wasn't much left on the plate, so he silently sped up his eating.

He went from an elegant young master to a disheveled peasant in the blink of an eye.

Ah, when in Rome, do as the Romans do—it's that simple.

After dinner, all the men in the family took the initiative to wash the dishes and pots.

Peipei took out a quilt and spread it on the ground, saying, "Dr. Nie, you can sleep here tonight."

Nie Tianlei looked at the bedding spread on the straw mat and frowned.

"Could there be ants here?"

"meeting."

Where are the crickets?

"Have."

Are there spider rats there?

"All."

The two exchanged questions and answers; the questioner's face grew paler and paler, while the answerer's lips curled up higher and higher.

Peipei raised an eyebrow and said, "The dignified Doctor Nie, afraid of these little bugs?"

She feigned ignorance and asked, "But some insects are also medicine. How can you be a good doctor if you're so afraid?"

Nie Tianlei wanted to say that he only needed to write the prescriptions, and he didn't need to worry about the pharmaceutical production.

The thought of not even having a home anymore makes me wonder what I'm even looking for.

He took the blanket, forced a smile, and said, "Thank you for your help, Miss Peipei."

Peipei had been annoyed with him all day, so his sudden change in attitude made her feel a little uncomfortable.

"You're welcome, you're welcome."

Nie Tianlei woke up after only a short nap. He went to the mountain spring to wash his face, but saw Bailu standing there, seemingly lost in thought.

He took a step closer and whispered, "Miss Bai, aren't you going to sleep?"

After spending a day with the family, he had come to understand them. He knew that the girl in front of him was not Li Ruru's daughter-in-law, but the daughter of the Bai family.

Bai Lu had only come out for some fresh air, but when she saw him come out, she casually asked, "Doctor Nie, were you forced to agree to our engagement?"

"No, I did it voluntarily."

"So...you like me?"

"do not like."

(End of this chapter)