Chapter 68 "How could my husband smell like pepper?" "...

After a long time, a breeze blew through the hall.

The setting sun shines through the overlapping bamboo branches, casting mottled shadows, and the floating light sweeps away Ye Jindian's self-consciously absurd thoughts.

If you really pick him up and find out that it is not the same person, the situation will be difficult to handle.

"My request was a little strange, brother. Don't take it to heart." She put away the paperwork, stood up, and bowed. "It's getting late. I must return to the Arms Administration to report."

Zhang Min stood up immediately and said, "I'll take you there."

The dark eyes behind the mask clung to her with longing and reluctance.

Ye Jindian shook her head and asked him to stop.

Zhang Min could only watch her walk onto the veranda and go out.

To be on the safe side, he went inside to change his clothes, threw away the smoky pepper and angelica scented bag, tore off his belt and golden mask, and threw them onto the crane flying cloud sandalwood truss.

On the couch by the window, two faces, facing the storybook, both tried to suppress their laughter.

Xie Zhaoming fanned himself leisurely, "Oh, my! I feel so sad and desolate."

Gongsun Shuo tossed and caught the jade stone at his waist: "Alas, how sad! Chasing my wife is harder than climbing to the sky."

Zhang Min spread his hands to allow Luo Ying to sprinkle the deodorizing powder evenly on him.

He closed his eyes and mouth and endured for a moment, then when he shook out his cloth clothes, he glanced at the two of them with a frown.

"Even though I'm busy with official business, I can't stop you from watching the fun and gossiping. Since you have so much free time, please finish the document and submit it to me at five o'clock in the morning."

Xie Zhaoming turned the page, raised his eyelids to look at him, and said with a smile: "We are just lamenting the fate of the scholar. Why should you take this upon yourself, Lord Prime Minister?"

Zhang Min sneered: "Have you convinced yourselves by saying this?"

He had read every storybook in their hands. How could he not know whether the stories in the stories existed or not?

Xie Zhaoming calmly changed the subject, "If the Prime Minister is willing to let us continue to watch the fun, how about submitting this document at four o'clock in the morning?"

Zhang Min smiled wryly and took out the gold beads from his purse and threw them at him.

Why are all the people he knows these bastards?

Xie Zhaoming hid behind Gongsun Shuo in a familiar manner. Gongsun Shuo raised his hand, clasped the golden bead in his palm, and tossed it: "Fox, we have money for the wine."

Although he is not short of money, it is indeed more enjoyable to spend other people's money.

Zhang Min rolled his eyes at them, pulled off his belt, and walked out quickly.

He said, "If you finish the paperwork by midnight, don't go back. Stay and sort out the files on my desk. Luo Ying has to go and keep an eye on it with Li Wuji."

The documents must be delivered to His Majesty's desk before the morning court session.

Luoying: "Yes."

Xie Zhaoming and Gongsun Shuo: "..."

I only got one golden pearl, what a huge loss.

After he finished speaking, Zhang Min had already flipped over the wall, somersaulted in the air, avoided the spear that was thrusting at him, and landed sideways.

Patrol and guard soldiers: "..."

But his trip was in vain.

Ye Jindian took the confirmed book and left the prime minister's residence directly, returning to the Military Equipment Bureau to hand it over to the supervisor.

She stood outside the main hall and saw the warden hunched over under a mulberry tree in the corner, not knowing what he was doing.

As a subordinate, she couldn't get close rashly.

Therefore, Ye Jindian raised his voice to remind: "Supervisor, I'm back."

The warden's thin back suddenly trembled, and with a dull "clang" sound, a bean green bowl with a little brown unknown liquid hit the tree roots, rolled down the mud and into the gravel, with a series of "crackling" sounds.

It was reported that the wife of the Chief Inspector was a cook in the Military Equipment Inspectorate, cooking for the Chief, the Chancellor, the Order, and the Bookkeeper. If she was as busy as before, she would also provide meals for the people under them.

so--

Ye Jindian: “…”

She seemed to have stumbled upon something extraordinary.

The warden glanced away, stood up, moved to the side to block the falling bowl, clenched his fist and coughed lightly.

"Well, the Right Prime Minister has verified the amount and confirmed it's correct, and has signed it." She ran into the main hall, holding the book in both hands. "I'll put it on the table for you. You can review it later."

When she came out, she knew better than to glance over there.

"I'll take my leave and go home."

Ye Jindian slipped away in a hurry, returned to the workshop, picked up the cross-body cloth bag and left.

After a while, it was getting dark.

The Golden Crow sank into the bottom of the mountain, leaving only a patch of rosy clouds like the wings of a vermilion bird.

The distant mountains and forests turned into dark, continuous shadows, embedded in the smoke from the houses at the end.

As she approached the Right Prime Minister's residence, she heard a young man yelling something in a panic and loud voice. The heartbroken sobbing of a child, sobbing in the fading twilight, was extremely pitiful.

Just as I was about to peek in to see what was going on, a familiar, gentle voice rang out.

"Don't cry, brother, can you take it off for you?"

Zhang Min squatted in the corner, reached out and gently rubbed the child's head, stuffed something into his arms, lifted up his robe, climbed up the tall tree, and took down the bamboo dragonfly hanging among the branches.

He twisted the bamboo dragonfly, causing it to spin and fall into the child's arms.

The child burst into laughter, and the man thanked her repeatedly, but he picked up the child and ran away, fearing that he would not stay for long.

He sat on a slanted branch and shook his head helplessly.

When he turned around, before he could jump down, he saw Ye Jindian standing by the path, looking up at him and smiling.

Madam?

The palms of Zhang Min's hands, which were resting on the branches, suddenly began to ooze out sticky sweat.

The wind blows and it feels cool.

When did you come, my lady? Did you see how skillfully he climbed the tree?

Zhang Min's throat tightened and he swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Although he looked calm on the surface, his heart was in turmoil and he was very excited.

He even felt a little urgent and wanted to jump into the wall of the prime minister's residence and leave.

But he can't.

He could only climb down slowly as if nothing had happened.

The treetops are dense at high altitudes, and the branches are not far apart. Even an eight or nine-year-old child can climb up easily.

What Zhang Min was unsure about was whether he should slide down the tree trunk that was level with the high wall of the prime minister's residence or move slowly bit by bit.

His agility seems to be too much for a scholar.

But if I move slowly downwards, the curled-up posture would be too unsightly...

After thinking it over, he decided to slide down directly, but when his toes touched the ground, he pretended to be clumsy as if he had accidentally tripped over a tree root to make up for it.

He never thought that he would fall into his wife's arms after this trip.

However, such an incredible thing did happen.

Ye Jindian was worried that something might happen to him, so she quickly walked to the bottom of the tree, looking up at his every move. When he tripped over a tree root, she quickly reached out to catch him.

The two people who collided with each other staggered a few steps and fell towards the outer wall.

She held one of his arms tightly and hugged his waist. He put his hand behind her head and raised his hand to support the wall.

"My wife (husband), are you okay?" they asked in unison.

The peach blossom eyes and the round black eyes looked at each other for a moment, and a deep smile appeared in the corners of their eyes.

Ye Jindian looked down and said, "You have something stuffed in your arms."

It's hard and prickly.

Zhang Min helped her stand up, took out the wooden figure he had been carving for a long time and a small carving knife wrapped in cloth from his arms, and a few suspicious blushes appeared on his face.

Ye Jindian looked at the wooden figure for a while and asked, "Is this... me?"

Hmm...

Or when she went up the mountain to hunt, she rolled up her skirt to her waist, revealing her trousers.

"Hmm." Zhang Min unconsciously rubbed the wooden figure with his thumb, his eyes fixed on her expression, afraid that she would be unhappy. "It is my lady."

Ye Jindian blinked: "Is it just me?"

Zhang Min was anxious when he heard this and quickly clarified his reputation: "I have never carved the likeness of others, only my wife."

Since he was a teenager, he has only loved this one person.

"I don't have any other intentions." Ye Jindian laughed, "I just want to ask, why do you only want to be me, and not have you by my side? Even if it's just a wooden figure, it would be very lonely alone." She lowered her eyes to look at the wooden sculpture, but for a moment, she raised her eyes to look at him again, "How about this, let me carve your wooden figure, how about that?"

In this way, they are also a pair.

Zhang Min was stunned: "Seriously?"

Madam, do you really want to carve his likeness yourself?!

"Yeah. Seriously."

Ye Jindian took his other hand, carried Xizhao on her back, and walked towards home.

As dusk fell, the remaining light was like melted candy, falling in the night wind.

They walked hand in hand through the orange light and shadows slanting through the branches and leaves, opened their mouths and took a big bite of the elongated candy thread, and swallowed it down while chatting casually.

Zhang Min testified that today's sunset glow is sweet.

Very sweet.

*

Back to their little yard.

The little yellow dog pounced on her enthusiastically and circled around Ye Jindian.

Zhang Min also circled around her, avoiding the cat-sized dog with a worried look on his face.

Ye Jindian wanted to pull him closer to the little yellow dog, but Zhang Min ran away, which attracted the little furry ball to chase him.

"Bang--"

Zhang Min retreated into the kitchen, closed the door, and shouted across half the yard, "Madam, please let it go away."

Ye Jindian chuckled and used a sepak takraw to hit the little yellow dog that was so energetic that it was about to dig the door.

Only then did Zhang Min feel at ease and go to wash the rice with the bamboo basket.

Having cooked a meal last night, he was still a little addicted today, so he asked Ye Jindian to sit down and instruct him. He was busy running around until he had fetched water for the other person to take a bath, and then he found a chance to sit down and rest.

While eating, I thought about it again and again and gave Maotuanzi more than a dozen names, and finally chose the most common one "Xiao Huang".

At this moment, Xiao Huang was wagging his tail, squatting under the tree and looking up at him.

Zhang Min tore the dried meat he had hidden in his hand and muttered to it quietly, "You said, my wife clearly doubted me, but she was still willing to kiss me without any purpose, and she cared about me so much that she even wanted to carve a wooden statue for me..."

Xiao Huang: "Oh?"

"Do you think she would..." Zhang Min tore the dried meat into a piece as thin as a bamboo skewer, "like me even a little bit?"

Xiao Huang: "Ahhh!"

Zhang Min was excited: "You also think my guess is right!"

Xiao Huang: “Ah!!”

After a moment of secret joy, Zhang Min became dejected again. He scattered the shredded meat, wiped his hands, looked at the moon with a sad look and sighed, then took out the wood carving and continued carving.

"My lady, forgive me, don't forgive me, forgive, don't forgive..."

On the branches of the apricot trees, the full moon shines silently.

After a while, he blew away the sawdust, turned the wood carving a dozen times, and added another cut under the hem: "Forgive!"

Looking at his wood carving with a gentle smile, Zhang Min couldn't help but take a sip of it happily.

The sound of the sip was a bit loud, and it was difficult for Ye Jindian, who pushed the door open and walked out, to pretend not to hear it. She could only smile and look at her beautiful husband who was looking at her stiffly.

However, when she met those black eyes that were filled with shame and indignation, and were about to overflow with spring water, she couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The thin red light emerging from Zhang Min's collar was like a small flame doused in oil. With a "boom", a huge flame shot up and burned his entire body into red charcoal.

Hong Tan used his hands and feet to try to find her and explain things, but he accidentally rolled off the tree.

Xiao Huang rushed over with a cry.

Zhang Hongtan sizzled as if he had been drenched in water. The scorching red light disappeared, leaving only a wisp of panicky white smoke.

Bai Yan shouted, "My lady, save me," wrapped Ye Jindian up, turned around and slipped into the door, raised his foot to hold the door firmly, bent down and reached back to grab the gate standing in the corner of the wall, and fastened it with a "click".

Only after doing all this did Zhang Min breathe a sigh of relief.

But he soon realized that he had relaxed too early.

The doors and windows of the inner room were tightly closed, and the rich scent of peach blossoms after bathing permeated every pore, making the air inhaled into the internal organs extremely sticky and making it impossible to breathe.

But Ye Jindian's eyes were thicker than the air filled with the fragrance of peach blossoms.

She suddenly pulled open Zhang Min's clothes, put her nose close to him, and sniffed carefully from his neck down.

Warm breath swept across the exposed skin, stirring up tiny shivers.

Zhang Min's scalp tightened and numbed, and his heart was pounding wildly, almost stopping.

He heard Ye Jindian say——

"How come my husband smells like pepper?"