Meng Zhixian's displeasure

The moment Su Yuhe slipped under the quilt, Lu Mingxi wrapped himself around her. Enveloped in suffocating warmth, she soon fell asleep.

Lu Mingyi and Meng Zhixian both lay awake, each with his own worries.

Lu Mingyi had just taken charge of the household finances. Everything, large and small, cost money, and he had no choice but to budget carefully.

The rice they had bought today had just filled the rice jar, yet a single dinner had already used up a good deal of it. In a few days, the jar would be empty again.

He rolled over and gradually grew sleepy, but his dreams were full of pork at thirty wen a catty, firewood at fifteen wen a bundle, and water at four wen a bucket.

Meng Zhixian was utterly sick of Lu Mingxi. Their wife wasn't his alone. What gave him the right to squander the household's supplies at will just because she doted on him?

Did he really think he was still the young master of a great family he had once been?

Now that he had fallen on hard times, couldn't he have a little self-awareness? Instead of thinking about how to make a good life for himself, he spent all day demanding this and that to eat and stirring up a whole basketful of trouble.

Thinking this over, he drifted off. By the time daylight flooded the room, only he and their wife remained on the kang.

He hurried up and changed. When he went outside, Lu Mingxi was feeding the chickens in their pen. Seeing him emerge, he asked, "Is our wife awake?"

Meng Zhixian shook his head and walked over to the chicken pen. The bamboo carrying basket on the ground was piled high with grass.

"You gathered this?"

"Yes." Lu Mingxi fished a wild fruit wrapped in a large leaf out of the basket. "I tried it. It's edible."

Meng Zhixian frowned, his dark eyes shooting toward him like blades. "You went out to gather grass alone?"

Lu Mingxi had no idea why he looked like that and nodded in bewilderment. "Yes."

"How could you dare go out without our wife beside you? What if you ran into a tigress?"

Su Yuhe came outside and froze for a moment when she heard this.

"Tigress" had originally referred to women as fierce as tigers, but a band of mountain bandits had turned it from praise into an insult. Those bandits abducted young, handsome men; money was optional.

The number of young men those bandits had victimized ran into three figures. After the bandits were wiped out, all of this came to light, shocking the entire country. "Tigress" had come to describe lustful women who were fierce, overbearing, and utterly unreasonable.

She gave it some serious thought. It wasn't impossible.

Although she was wealthy by the village's standards, she was an outsider with no relatives or connections here. If something really happened, money might not necessarily make the devil turn the millstone for her. Besides, she wasn't that rich yet.

"Th-that probably wouldn't happen, would it? I didn't see anyone around."

To other people, the site she had chosen for her house wasn't particularly good. It was the farthest from the village entrance, at the northernmost end near a wealthy household's farmstead, with only a few households nearby.

But it had the advantage of being quiet, with hardly anyone passing by. Back when she had been with Xubai, it had also been convenient to go and see him.

Meng Zhixian said fiercely, "What if a tigress was hiding in the bushes, waiting to snatch you away once you went a little farther?"

Lu Mingxi blinked, mist gathering in his large eyes. He swallowed. "I-I'm sorry."

Su Yuhe interrupted their conversation. "Let's eat first."

For a moment, his heart softened. He even thought that Lu Mingxi was two years younger than him, had been raised like precious gold and jade in secluded upstairs chambers, and had never seen the malice of human hearts. After this warning, he would be more careful next time.

He had never expected Lu Mingxi to be so black-hearted that he would actually scheme to frame him.

Su Yuhe entered the kitchen first, and Meng Zhixian hurried after her.

In the kitchen, Lu Mingyi hastily filled a bowl with congee and brought it to the table when he saw her arrive.

She was a little surprised. She hadn't taught him, yet Lu Mingyi could cook congee-and vegetable congee at that.

Meng Zhixian sat across from her. Several times, he wanted to explain what had just happened, but he couldn't get the words out. Her attention was entirely on the congee, and she didn't seem displeased about the incident.

"I'll go call Mingxi to eat." Lu Mingyi turned and left the kitchen.

He returned shortly afterward, followed by a dejected Lu Mingxi.

Meng Zhixian secretly watched their wife's reaction. She merely praised Lu Mingyi with a "Very capable" and said nothing else.

She finished eating first and was about to return to copying books when Lu Mingyi stopped her. "Wife, what should we do with the bamboo shoots from a couple of days ago? Put them in the cellar or eat them over the next few days?"

Su Yuhe was worried the shoots would leave her mouth numb. Li Yun had brought her some before, and she had dried them all. They had tasted good, and none were left.

"Do this: cut up the shoots and wash them first. I'll teach you the rest later."

"All right."

She went back, took her stationery box to the study, and began the day's work. After breakfast, Meng Zhixian brought a stool from the kitchen and joined her in copying books.

She copied as much as she could during the day. Unless she had far too much time on her hands and was terribly bored, she generally didn't copy books at night.

Lu Mingyi came in carrying two bowls of water. "Wife, have some water."

Su Yuhe put down her brush and shook out her hand, then lifted the bowl and took two sips. It was warm, just the right temperature to drink, and sweet with added white sugar. It tasted good.

"The bamboo shoots are all cut and washed."

She lowered her head and continued copying. "Mm. Boil them, then take them out and drain them once they're cooked. Find somewhere sunny and dry them there. Remember to put a clean cloth or a plate underneath."

"All right." Lu Mingyi looked at Meng Zhixian. "Second Brother, have some water."

Meng Zhixian tacitly accepted this form of address. Both before and now, he ranked second, so being called Second Brother felt familiar.

He lifted the bowl and took a small sip. "Thank you, Brother Mingyi."

"We're all working for the household. What's there to thank me for?" He smiled and left with the two bowls of water.

Meng Zhixian felt a little uncomfortable. Lu Mingyi really thought of himself as the principal husband. His manner made it seem as though Meng Zhixian were a mere attendant husband, when all three of them clearly held the same status, both before and after being reduced to government slaves.

The sound of paper scraping across a page broke his train of thought. Su Yuhe had turned another page. In the time it took him to finish one page, she could finish several.

That wouldn't do. He had to write faster too, to earn money for their wife and support the family.

Lunch was the congee left over from breakfast. After eating, Su Yuhe didn't hurry back to copying books.

Of the five catties of pork they had bought yesterday, she kept a small strip of pork belly and set aside all the rest for curing.

She taught them hands-on. Curing meat was simple: rub on salt, plenty of salt, then leave it there to cure for a few days before hanging it up to dry.

Salted pork, cured sausage, and steamed egg custard were the dishes she ate most often. They were simple and convenient, and tasted quite good.

The meat was curing, and the bamboo shoots were out drying. Watching Lu Mingxi wash the dishes and Lu Mingyi prepare the remaining strip of pork belly, she felt a sense of home here for the first time.

Knock, knock, knock-

Su Yuhe hurried to open the door. Li Yun had come with a basket of sweet potatoes on his back. "We still haven't finished last year's sweet potatoes. I brought you some."

She stood on no ceremony with him, stepping aside before leading the way. "Come on in. Put them in the kitchen."

Li Yun went to the kitchen to unload. Su Yuhe washed a few sweet potatoes and placed them beside the chopping board, then told Lu Mingyi, "Cook less rice tonight and steam these."

With Li Yun, who had finished unloading, she was even more brazenly commanding. "Stay for dinner tonight."

Li Yun looked at Lu Mingyi's knife work. The pieces of pork belly varied in thickness, and he couldn't help grumbling, "You were counting on me being unable to stand the sight and staying to help you work, weren't you?"

"Just tell me whether you're eating or not."