Xiao Hanzheng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. What was all this about?
He said, “I admit that I’m coquettish, but I don’t admit that I’m a pervert. I only have lustful feelings for my wife.”
Shi Qingluo glared at him again. “If you dare to be coquettish with others, I’ll definitely make sure you can’t get out of bed.”
Breaking a leg and being unable to get out of bed, hmph hmph.
Xiao Hanzheng’s eyes brimmed with a thick layer of laughter. He leaned closer to her ear and asked, “What kind of not being able to get out of bed?”
Shi Qingluo widened her eyes. She clearly didn’t expect him to say such words.
She spoke her mind. “I didn’t expect you to be like this, Xiao Hanzheng!”
Xiao Hanzheng smiled and said, “In front of you, I’ve always been the real me!”
That was why he said these words without hiding it. He wanted to fool around without hiding it from her.
This was actually the first time in his two lives that he had said such words. Cough cough!
He asked again, “Then do you hate it?”
Shi Qingluo shook her head. “Of course not.”
She took the initiative to put her other hand on Xiao Hanzheng’s arm and said generously, “It’s just a couple’s love talk. Why should I hate it?”
She felt that this kind of young husband was more grounded and interesting.
Besides, which woman didn’t like her boyfriend or husband to sweet talk with her?
Anyway, she was a commoner, and she liked to listen to it.
She added, “You can praise me more in the future and sweet talk more. I still like it.”
She had to recognise his efforts as a man from time to time.
Xiao Hanzheng heaved a sigh of relief. He was actually a little afraid that his little wife would be disgusted just now.
“Alright, I will definitely praise you more in the future and sweet talk more.”
He asked again, “What I said is, do you hate it that I’m coquettish?”
Shi Qingluo frowned and smiled. “I don’t. The way you’re sultry and flirtatious was somewhat unique. I think it’s quite sexy.”
Tsk tsk, he was gentle and elegant in the day, yet gentle but disgraceful at night.
Just thinking about it makes him sexy!
Her young husband was her type, hehe.
Cough cough, she couldn’t think about it anymore. She couldn’t shake the decision that they were in different rooms now.
Although he had never heard of anything sexy, Xiao Hanzheng could understand it the moment she said it.
It had a different feel to it, as if she had tasted it before.
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
His wife was daring enough to say anything.
She wouldn’t be shameful about it.
But he liked her straightforward personality. What else could he do to his wife? Dote her.
The duo went up the mountain to pick wormwood leaves and wild chrysanthemums.
They also picked some wild fruits and wild flowers to go home.
After going home, Shi Qingluo trimmed the wild flowers and placed them in the wooden bottle that Xiao Hanzheng had carved.
This would add some colour and warmth to the rooms.
Xiao Erlang had already spread the words in the village.
When the children heard that eels could be sold for money, they all went to catch them.
In the afternoon, many children sent the eels they had caught to the Xiao family.
Shi Qingluo did not lie to them. She took out a scale and weighed them and calculated the price accordingly.
This was the first time the children had earned money on their own, and they were all so happy that they felt like they were flying.
Therefore, during dinner, similar situations occurred quite a number of times in the village.
“Father and mother, I’ve earned money.”
“Aiya, where did you get so much money? It’s more than 10 wen.”
“I caught eels for Erlang’s sister-in-law, and she gave us the money.”
“What? You can sell eels for money? How much do you get for each catty!”
“It’s 3 wen per catty. We’ll go catch more tomorrow.”
“Wow, 3 wen for each catty. Dalang’s wife is too generous. Then tomorrow, y’all go and catch more.”
“Okay. Hey mother, why did you take my money away.”
“You are still a child. Why bring along your money with you? I’ll help you to safekeep.”
“Waa waa, my money…”
At the foot of the mountain in a thatched cottage on the other side of Xiaxi village.
An eleven or twelve-year-old boy carried a small bag of chestnut rice and a piece of tofu home.
In the thatched cottage, the eyes of the two boys and girls, who were a few years old, lit up when they saw it.
They cheered that they had porridge and tofu for dinner.
On the bed in the thatched cottage, a pale-faced middle-aged man lay on the bed. “Where did you get these?”
He was afraid that his son would do something sneaky.
Poverty was not scary, but they could not go against their moral compass.
Xiao Shui knew what his father was worried about. He explained, “Scholar Xiao’s wife is collecting eels in the village. It’s 3 wen per catty. I caught 20 catties today, and sure enough, I got 60 wen.”
He happened to know a slurry trench with a lot of eels.
In the past when there was nothing to eat at home, he would catch eels and cook them.
Although they weren’t delicious, it would at least satisfy his hunger.
When he heard from Xiao Erlang that eels could be exchanged for money, he was elated.
So, he went to that place and caught 20 catties.
When he went to the Xiao family, he was a bit regretful.
He was afraid that if he caught too much, Scholar Xiao’s wife wouldn’t accept anything.
Who knew that she was so kind and compassionate.
Not only did she give him 60 wen, but she also said that he caught a lot of good eels and rewarded him with a piece of tofu.
“She gave me this tofu as a reward, so I went to buy some chestnut rice to make porridge for you and my younger siblings.”
Ever since their father fell ill and their mother left their house, their situation worsened.
They used wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger every day.
The money saved for his father’s medical treatment had long been gone.
He was small-sized, so the village team that was mining saltpetre did not want to let him join.
However, he still followed them to help carry saltpetre.
The chief gave him a small bag of saltpetre.
He sold it in the city and exchanged it for some miscellaneous grains.
At first, he was worried about what to do next.
Now that Scholar Xiao’s wife had taken the eels and given him money, he saw hope.
As long as he could keep exchanging the eels for money, he could buy more grains.
He could even continue to buy medicine for his father.
Xiao Mu looked at his son’s originally dull face, which had a rare glow on it. His heart was extremely sour.
He was just a small child, yet he had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of their family.
He propped himself up and said, “Elementary Scholar Xiao’s wife is a kind and capable person. With her in the village, things will get better and better.
“You should continue catching eels for the time being. I’ll quickly recover from my illness and continue with my carpentry work.”
He was a craftsman and disciple of a senior craftsman, just that he had made a mistake and selected a wife who would escape hardship.
Who would expect that a year ago, that woman suddenly met her former husband.
She even stole their family’s silver and ran away with him.
At that time, he chased after the two of them.
Not only did he fail to catch up with them, but he was also caught in the rain. He fell ill after coming back.
No one expected that his health would worsen. In the end, he even sold his house and land.
He had always felt uneasy about these incidents.
He always thought that he would just wait for death like this.
But today, when he saw his son, he suddenly felt that he shouldn’t have thought like this.
Xiao Shui also didn’t expect that his father would actually say that he wanted to recover from his illness to work.
He was a little excited. “Then, when you recover, you can pay a visit to Scholar Xiao’s house.
“I heard that their house has always been recruiting carpenters. Their wages aren’t low, and meal plans were provided too.”
It was also easier to take care of his father while he worked in the village.
Scholar Xiao’s wife was a good person. Many people in the village wanted to work in her family.
Xiao Shui also learnt carpentry from his father and wanted to work in the Xiao family in the future.
Xiao Mu suddenly realised that if that woman ran away, so be it. How could it be as important as living a good life now.
His son was very talented. If he spent more time teaching him, he would definitely be able to surpass him in the future.
“Okay, I’ll go to Scholar Xiao’s house and ask about it when I’m better.”
If the Xiao family were still recruiting, his technical skills wouldn’t go to waste.
