At noon, Rong Zheng did the cooking again, stewing pig's trotters for the two of them. The aroma filled the entire house, making their mouths water.
After stewing, the trotters were tender and full of gelatin. Their rich aroma and delicate texture were unforgettable, and Ye Yun and Ye Chen ate to their hearts' content.
Rong Zheng was quite a good cook. Winning over his husband began with his stomach.
He also took a bowl to Wang Zhang-shi next door, saying he wanted to hire Wang Ze and his wife to keep tending the vegetable plot for a few more days, at forty wen a day. Their main task was watering it in the mornings and evenings.
He also asked Wang Zhang-shi to check on his husband and Xiao Chen occasionally. He would be in the mountains for several days, and with no adult at home, he was afraid something might happen.
In his eyes, his husband was still a child too.
Wang Zhang-shi readily agreed. Rong Zheng had always looked out for their family, after all. This counted as income for her son and daughter-in-law, and watering was hardly difficult work.
When Rong Zheng returned and mentioned this, Ye Yun said, "I can water the vegetable plot while I'm home."
The ten mu of land they had taken back from Eldest Uncle Ye's family could not be cultivated yet. On the day they divided the household, Chen Guihua had made an unreasonable scene, rolling around on the ground and insisting that the rice seedlings growing there now had all been planted by them. They would return the land next year, after harvesting this year's crop.
In truth, most of it had been planted by Ye Yun with Ye Chen's help, but he could not be bothered to argue with someone so shameless and unreasonable. He had only required them to pay this year's land tax.
Ye Yun thought he could tend Rong Zheng's three mu himself, so naturally, he saw no need to hire anyone.
How could Rong Zheng bear to let his husband wear himself out? It was the seventh or eighth month now, the busy farming season, and the blazing sun was scorching.
"Be good. I've already hired them. Think of it as building good relations with our neighbors. Wang Zhang-shi and her family are all decent people. We can visit each other more often."
"But, but what am I supposed to do?" Accustomed to hard, tiring work, the diligent young man felt a little dejected. It seemed there was nothing for him to do!
Rong Zheng was both amused and pained. "Keep busy at home, tidy up, and then be good and wait for me to come back."
"That won't take long." Thinking he would have too much free time and worrying that Rong Zheng would find fault with him, Ye Yun cautiously suggested, "Then I could gather wild vegetables and dig up medicinal herbs to sell. That would help with household expenses. We're going to build a house. There'll be so many things to spend money on."
"No. You're not allowed to go deep into the mountains to dig up medicinal herbs anymore. It's too dangerous. We have three whole mu of vegetables planted, more than enough to eat. You don't need to go up the mountain to gather any." Remembering that Ye Yun could never sit idle, he sighed. "Isn't keeping the house in order tiring enough?"
To Rong Zheng, household tasks might be small, but they were numerous and fiddly, and actually doing them was exhausting.
He thought of the life his husband had led before: working endlessly every day, tilling the fields, gathering wild vegetables in the mountains, chopping firewood, washing clothes, cooking, cleaning, and caring for his little brother. His hands and feet never stopped, and he still had to watch other people's moods, live in fear, and lick his wounds alone after being beaten. He must have lived in such numbness.
His heart ached terribly. He leaned closer to his husband and gently brushed a finger over his small nose. "There'll be plenty to do when we build our house. Xiao Chen will be studying in the future, and you'll need to learn to read and write too."
"You're going to pay for Xiao Chen's schooling?" Ye Yun could hardly be blamed for his shock. Supporting a scholar cost as much as building a house. He felt Rong Zheng was already treating the two of them very well. They had meat to eat, Rong Zheng was going to teach Xiao Chen martial arts, and he would build a big house for them to live in together. There was not much housework either. In the past, he would never have dared dream of such a life.
"Of course. Once I finish taking the examination in the second month next year, we'll put Xiao Chen's schooling on the agenda. I plan to send him to school."
If Ye Chen could study in the future, that was naturally something to be happy about.
"Do you want Xiao Chen to take the imperial examinations?"
"Not necessarily. It mainly depends on what Xiao Chen likes doing. If he wants to take the imperial examinations, he can take them when the time comes. If not, he can do something else. Whether he studies or practices martial arts, it's all just to give him more choices in the future."
Ye Yun felt Rong Zheng had thought everything through very carefully.
Then he heard Rong Zheng continue, "For now, I'll teach him basic characters at home. You need to learn too. When it comes to household purchases and such, our little steward needs to hold the purse strings and manage the accounts. More importantly, aren't you interested in medicinal herbs and treating illnesses? You'll certainly need to be literate for that."
Ye Yun blushed. "How did you know I..."
"Doctor Ye mentioned it to me. You secretly sold him medicinal herbs. He said he taught you the basics of taking pulses and identifying symptoms, and that you're very clever. Besides, you're interested in it, aren't you?"
To be honest, Rong Zheng admired Ye Yun. From a young age, he had needed to care for his little brother and do so much work for Eldest Uncle Ye's family every day, while enduring beatings from time to time. Yet he had never given up seeking another way out, waiting for his chance to act.
Someone who looked so frail was so resilient.
"But medical clinics don't take ger." Ye Yun's voice sank. He was happy that Rong Zheng cared about his wish to study medicine and could teach him to read, but what use would learning it be?
After the current emperor ascended the throne, he had married a ger as his empress and introduced several laws to improve the status of ger, such as prohibiting discrimination in hiring and allowing them to conduct business and attend school.
The status of ger had improved somewhat. They could attend school to learn to read, but very few were able to go. First, schooling was expensive, so only wealthy households could afford to educate their ger. Second, some hidebound schools and teachers were unwilling to accept them.
A small number of aristocratic families now even married ger as the masters of their households. Some ger from distinguished families could work as teachers at academies and the like, but there were very few.
Prejudice remained everywhere, restricting what ger could do and making every step difficult. Most people still considered working outside to be an improper public appearance and believed they ought to manage their homes and serve their husbands well. As a result, many trades excluded them, intentionally or otherwise.
Changing the ingrained beliefs of those around them all at once was indeed harder than reaching the heavens. But when one person, then two, then countless others kept pressing forward, one after another, it would only be a matter of time.
Rong Zheng took Ye Yun's hand, looked into his eyes, and said earnestly, "A-Yun, do you know? There were no roads in this world at first. When enough people walked the same way, a road formed. Pursue what interests you with hope in your heart. I'll always be by your side. Sometimes, even a single spark can set a prairie ablaze."
He did not say this because he expected Ye Yun to become a pioneer of change. He simply wanted him to be able to do what he loved.
Ye Yun raised his eyes and gazed steadily at Rong Zheng. "If I study medicine, I might not have time to take proper care of the household. Won't you think I'm a bad husband?"
"Of course not. If you like studying medicine, then study it. If you like managing the household, then do that. I only want you to live comfortably."
Society already placed enough shackles on ger. As Ye Yun's husband, he would not add another restraint.
At that moment, Ye Yun's eyes shone like stars. He felt Rong Zheng was so different. He could not explain what made him different, but that did not stop his heart from growing even fonder of him.
In truth, it was his way of thinking that was different. After all, Rong Zheng came from the modern world.
Noticing the adoration in his husband's eyes, Rong Zheng grew terribly excited.
Ye Yun's willingness to marry him had largely been forced by circumstances. Perhaps there had been some affection, but his main reason had been to escape his former life of oppression. There was nothing wrong with that.
Rong Zheng had always hoped his husband would like him from the bottom of his heart, rather than meekly obeying him out of submission to social status.
He longed for an equal relationship between them as husbands. Only when Ye Yun gradually opened his heart to him and expressed his true thoughts could they truly live in harmony.