Chapter 9 Chapter 9 You feed me porridge

Xuan Jinyu looked at this man who knew nothing and felt heartbroken.

"Jinyu?" Xuan Jinyu didn't say a word for a while. When Su Guanzhang wrung out his handkerchief and hung it beside the copper basin, he turned around and saw tears falling from her eyes. She was a little panicked.

"Are you too hungry, huh?" He hurriedly took the lunch box and carefully took out the steamed buns, meat porridge and side dishes inside.

Su Guanzhang reached out to wipe Xuan Jinyu's tears, but the more he wiped, the more tears came. He didn't dare to touch her again. Then he scooped up some porridge, held the bowl, and gently stirred it with a spoon. He asked her softly, "I'll feed you porridge, okay?"

Xuan Jinyu was still crying silently.

Su Guanzhang felt heartbroken when he saw this.

She always cries when she wants to cry, laughs when she wants to laugh, and makes a fuss for everyone to see, without fear of other people's eyes. When has she ever cried so quietly?

He put down the bowl and held her in his arms, "Did I do something wrong again?"

Su Guanzhang smiled bitterly. He always made her cry.

His mother was right. Marrying her was a blessing he had earned in his previous life; but for her, it was like a disaster.

"Stop crying, okay?" Su Guanzhang felt her slightly rapid pulse and kissed her damp, cool face. "If you keep crying, the child will feel uncomfortable. You're feeling uncomfortable too, aren't you?"

Only after hearing "the child is not feeling well" did Xuan Jinyu slowly stop crying and let Su Guanzhang wipe her cheeks with a warm handkerchief.

"Feed me some porridge." She said in a hoarse voice when Su Guanzhang turned around to wash the handkerchief again.

Su Guanzhang did as he was told.

After slowly finishing a bowl of porridge and eating some light side dishes, Xuan Jinyu stopped eating and watched Su Guanzhang finish the rest of his breakfast, including the buns that she had only eaten half of.

After he cleared the dishes and put them back in the lunch box, she touched her eyes and slowly followed him out of the curtain.

She knew that her eyes should still be red.

Although it was a bit embarrassing in front of the Su family, she thought that she and Su Guanzhang had often argued about their divorce, and everyone in the Su family knew about it. Moreover, the children often acted as messengers between them, so she was used to being embarrassed.

So she walked out of the curtain with confidence and went to the iron fence when Xu Yu Niang called her over.

"Mom." She called out embarrassedly.

When she returned home yesterday, she should have gone to the upper room to pay her respects, but because Su Sheng was there, Aunt Xu persuaded her not to. When she heard that Su Guanzhang had returned, she hurried back to Jingzhu Garden to see him.

What happened next was so unexpected and so swift. She hadn't paid much attention to the Su family since entering the cell yesterday. Thinking about it now, her face was a little hot. They hadn't divorced yet, and she was still the young mistress of the Su family!

Although she is a little spoiled, she has good basic etiquette. Although outsiders think she is difficult to get along with, they will never question her etiquette and cultivation.

It’s all Su Guanzhang’s fault.

Whenever she meets him, she often cannot control herself.

If Su Guanzhang had not been standing in front of her, he would have been glared at by her.

Children can't sit still.

Less than an hour after breakfast, the youngest, Su Yumu, could no longer sit still and started clamoring to go out and play. The child's voice was so loud that people outside the corridor could probably hear it.

Su Yumu still has six months to go before she turns three, and it's too late to stay still.

The family's misfortune yesterday hadn't frightened him, and he was also new to the death row, so he didn't make a fuss. But after a night, seeing that the family was still in the cell, he forgot his mother's words of advice yesterday.

He first looked for his mother, but Dante Sissi didn't allow it.

"Mu'er, have you forgotten what mother told you yesterday? You can't quarrel or make a fuss, right?" Ding Qianqian said with a stern face, "Look, the sisters and brothers are all well behaved."

Before his father went out to fight, he told him not to make his mother angry. This is what a man should do.

Seeing that Ding Qianqian showed signs of getting angry, Mu Ge'er stopped making a fuss.

He thought for a moment, then walked up to Su Sheng, put his childish little face in front of him, and acted coquettishly, "Granduncle, Mu Ge'er wants to go out and play."

His great-uncle loved to pinch his cheeks, but his rough hands always made them red, so he usually avoided them. But when he needed a favor, he would be more generous and let his great-uncle pinch them.

Su Sheng couldn't help laughing when he saw the child's face which couldn't hide his thoughts at all. Then he pinched his nephew's soft face without any hesitation.

"Granduncle pinched Mu'er and hurt him, so I have to make it up to him and let him go out to play." Su Yumu said slowly. He could speak fluently now, but he was not very fluent in saying such a long sentence in one breath.

"Granduncle can't let you go out to play." Su Sheng held his small body in his arms, "Granduncle, can you teach you to read?"

Studying is the most boring thing. Su Yumu frowned when he often heard his fifth brother Su Yuhuan complain.

The little guy actually frowned, Su Sheng raised his eyebrows slightly.

He raised two sons, each more dull than the other, and was truly boring. He didn't want to be so young, but he found the joy of raising a child in his nephew.

"Brother Mu, big brother is going to practice martial arts. You are still young, so study with grandfather first, and I will teach you martial arts someday." Su Yuqi saw that his younger brother's attitude had softened, so he spoke quickly.

Su Sheng looked at his eldest grandson with a smile.

Although the eldest grandson had also learned from his father and had a steady demeanor at a young age, which made him less interested in entertaining children, he was very proud of himself. The grandchildren of his peers were all naughty and mischievous, so who wouldn't envy his child's well-behaved and sensible child?

"Then Brother Qi will lead your brothers and sisters to do horse stance, and Grandfather will watch over you."

So the seven children scattered across three cells all had something to do.

The six older children were doing horse stances quietly. Occasionally, Su Sheng would give them some pointers, because the four-year-old twins Su Yuhuan and Su Yuwen's postures were not quite standard.

Only Su Yumu was learning the Three Character Classic with Su Sheng. His childish yet clear and resonant voice echoed in the cell, "When a person is born, his nature is good..."

In order not to disturb the children, the adults stopped chatting.

Xuan Jinyu found the low stool uncomfortable, so she returned to sit on the bed behind the curtain. Without Xu Yu Niang's urging, Su Guanzhang followed behind.

Soon, the sound of rollers was heard in the corridor. When Xuan Jinyu looked through the hazy curtain, she saw the jailer pushing a cart and replacing the torch that was stuck on the pole and was about to go out.

The sound of the rollers faded away, and the jailer retreated back into the small compartment in the corridor.

"What time is it now?" Xuan Jinyu asked Su Guanzhang.

"Around the end of the morning hour." Su Guanzhang replied.

Seeing Xuan Jinyu's interest, Su Guanzhang told her, "The torches in the death row are specially made to extend the burning time. Each torch can burn for about an hour."

"The Dali Temple prison has breakfast at noon, and the Ministry of Justice prison has breakfast at about the same time."

"The jailer changed the torch once after delivering the meal earlier. This is the second time." Su Guanzhang explained in great detail, completely unlike his usual frugal nature with words.

Xuan Jinyu snuggled in his arms, "Will ordinary cells be like this one, with no light at all and no sound from outside?"

Su Guanzhang kissed her forehead and said, "Only death row and dungeon are like this."

He played with her slender, delicate fingers. "Most ordinary prisons in Dasheng have a small window for ventilation and lighting."

"Wouldn't someone get in through the small window and kidnap the prisoner?" Xuan Jinyu asked naively.

Su Guanzhang chuckled, amused by his wife's cute and amusing idea. "The small window faces the high walls inside the yamen, where guards are on duty."

Seeing the blush on Xuan Jinyu's face, he couldn't help but kiss her soft lips.

"Besides, prisoners in ordinary prisons are not held for very long, at most five years. If you escape from prison and are caught, the punishment will be doubled, and in serious cases, the death penalty will be imposed."

"So few people would take such a big risk to break out of prison."

Xuan Jinyu was quite interested. "What else? Where will the criminals who committed serious crimes be detained?"

When she was studying, the teacher never talked to her about the affairs of the court. He only taught her etiquette, women's work, how to behave in society and other things that a noble lady must learn.

She was kept under strict supervision at home. Although they loved her and basically granted her every request, there was someone to control her when it came to her knowledge and education. She even had to ask Su Guanzhang to buy her a storybook after they got married.

Su Guanzhang was even more dull and boring, buying a storybook filled with local customs, travelogues, and the like. She often suspected that Su Guanzhang was deceiving her, but she had never seen the actual storybook, so how could she find evidence to accuse him?

So it’s really not her fault that she is a girl without common sense and knowledge.

As soon as she said that, Xuan Jinyu felt a warm touch on her forehead, which lasted for a while.

"Criminals who have committed serious crimes will be escorted to the provincial capital and thrown into a dungeon. After the case is thoroughly examined and reported to the Dali Temple for review and approval, they will be punished accordingly. If they are of high status, they will be imprisoned in Shengjing's death row like us."

After Su Guanzhang finished speaking, Xuan Jinyu was silent for a long time.

"What mission are you on in Yangzhou this time?" She suddenly thought that she seemed to have never understood his mission, nor did she seem to have the desire to understand it.

The master said that women should not always focus on their husbands. Taking care of themselves and caring about their own mood is the first priority.

She had never questioned the Master's words before.

But at this moment, she was a little hesitant. Was what the teacher said necessarily right?

As soon as the thought came to her mind, flames shot up into the sky before her eyes.

No, no, no, the Master cannot be wrong.

"What's wrong?" Su Guanzhang keenly noticed the change in her expression. "Are you feeling unwell?"

"No," Xuan Jinyu replied dejectedly, "You haven't answered my question yet." She was still thinking about the question just now.

Su Guanzhang still took her pulse and only let go after confirming that the pulse was fine.

"There's something wrong with the dossier Yangzhou Prefecture submitted to the Dali Temple. I went to check it out."

So that's how it is.

Xuan Jinyu suddenly lost interest.

"Do you know medical skills?" She was a little curious when she saw him concentrating on taking her pulse.

"When I was young, I lived in a Taoist temple. I learned some things from the temple master in my spare time. Later, I went to Mobei. There was a shortage of manpower during the war, so the military doctor asked me to follow him and help. He taught me a lot." He briefly mentioned it, not wanting her to hear the cruel truth inside.

Xuan Jinyu muttered, "I don't know."

Her mother-in-law told her that Su Guanzhang was often sick when he was young and lived in a Taoist temple for a long time, but she never mentioned that he studied medicine.

"There is a doctor at home, but few people know that I have medical skills." Su Guanzhang saw what she was thinking and straightened her messy hair.

"Oh." Xuan Jinyu responded slowly.

He even hid it from her.

snort!

Xuan Jinyu glanced at him sideways, "You never tell me anything."

"I'm sorry." Su Guanzhang looked at her seriously. "From now on, if you want to know something, just ask me and I'll tell you, okay?"

"You won't tell me if I don't ask you?"

"The meal is here." The jailer's voice came from the corridor, interrupting the conversation between the two.

Xuan Jinyu came back to her senses.

Time flies so fast!

She still remembered that when she asked Su Guanzhang the time, it was only the end of the Chen hour! Now it was already noon.

"Let's eat first." Xuan Jinyu pushed him away, straightened her clothes, and walked out from behind the curtain.

Except for the first month when they were newly married and still didn't know each other well, they rarely had time like this to just chat and do nothing.

Except in bed, the couple always have disagreements.

She was always angry, angry that he didn't understand romance, angry that he was cold and taciturn.

He would just endure it silently and wouldn't even say a few sweet words when trying to coax others.

I didn't expect that the couple could have a good conversation in the death row of the Ministry of Justice.

Xuan Jinyu didn't dare to listen to Su Guanzhang's answer anymore. She was afraid of hearing an answer that she didn't like, which would ruin their hard-earned harmonious relationship.

After all, she had just said that she would be a good wife in this cell.

Su Guanzhang looked at the slightly fluttering curtains, his eyes dark. When he tried to hide his emotions, no one could guess what he was thinking.