Trap in a Book

Chapter 8

Xiaomei woke up with bags under her eyes as she had a hard time falling asleep because she kept overthinking. "Miss, what happened to you? You look horrible," LiMei said and walked over to her and touched her forehead. Xiaomei didn't respond to LiMei and smiled instead. "Are you hungry?" She asked LiMei. "Let's find something to eat," she added before opening the cabinets.

However, she realized she didn't buy any utensils or bowls. "Sorry, LiMei, I forgot to buy utensils or bowls, so we just have to eat nuts again until we go back to the market in a couple of days," Xiaomei said. "No, Miss, it's okay. I like eating walnuts," she said. Xiaomei felt bad but grabbed the bag of peanuts. LiMei started peeling the shell of the peanuts as she went out to pick more walnuts.
She climbed up the tree and started dropping all the walnuts to the ground before gathering them later. On her way back, she sees a bird and a chipmunk fighting over food. The bird swoops down and attacks the chipmunk before snatching the food and taking off. "Awww, poor chipmunk," Xiaomei said and broke open the shell to grab the walnuts out. She slowly walks toward the chipmunk as the chipmunk notices her and runs off a bit but stops."It's okay. I won't hurt you," she said and crotched down before holding her hand open with the piece of walnuts in her hand. However, the chipmunk didn't move but stared at her. "It's okay," she said again and lightly tossed the nut to the chipmunk. The chipmunk quickly snatched it and ate it. Xiaomei cracks one more walnut and places the nut on the ground before walking away. Xiaomei entered the house to see LiMei had finished, so both of them quickly finished opening the walnuts. Xiaomei then threw all the walnuts and peanuts into a pan and headed out. There she saw the chipmunk coming to her but stopped once he saw her. She chuckled and hollered, "LiMei, can you give me a handful of the peanut we have left in the cabinet," "Yes, Miss. Coming!" LiMei replied back and came out with a handful of peanuts. "What are these for?" she asked. "For that little guy," Xiaomei pointed at the chipmunk who was standing still. "Just put it on top of that rock," she said to LiMei and went to start a fire. She set the fire pit stand where she made the last fire. She lit a fire and started to roast the nuts. Once they were roasted, she slightly salted them. She also left a couple unsalted for the chipmunk. "Miss, look at it. It ate all the peanuts," LiMei said, super hype as she was watching the chipmunk the whole time. Xiaomei smiles at LiMei's words.
She then put the pan aside and grabbed a bucket of water from the well. She filtered the water with the thin cloth she bought to get rid of any dirt in the water into the pot. She places the pot on the stand to boil the water so they can drink. "Miss, what are you doing?" LiMei asked. "I'm making clean water for us to drink," Xiaomei said and repeated those steps until she filled three jars of water, while LiMei was watering the plants. "How are they doing?" Xiaomei asked. "They are doing great! The tomato and pepper look very green," she answered back. "Good to hear," she said, "LiMei, you can eat first. I'm almost done with this," as she poured the last bits of water into the jar. "I can wait," she said. After finishing, Xiaomei and LiMei relax the whole day and continue this routine until the end of the week.