Chapter 114

Before cutting the nail, Ye Jia had no idea that the first step of his ruthless act of destroying the flower would not harm the intended person, but he himself would suffer first.

The sudden claw strike left four long, bloody scratches on her neck. The pain was so intense that tears instantly streamed down her face. Zhou Jingchen, watching from the side, was stunned, feeling both distressed and amused, and hurried over to take a look.

Ye Jia covered his neck, his brows twitching in pain.

Zhou Jingchen's smile faltered when he saw her face turn pale. Frowning, he bent down to examine her. The wound wasn't deep, and it wasn't bleeding. But Ye Jia's skin was so fair and tender that the scratched area had indeed become red and swollen. He didn't bother to tease her immediately, but went to the dressing table to get some pear blossom cream and applied it to Ye Jia. Pear blossom cream is good for treating frostbite and minor wounds.

He sighed, scooped up some ointment with his finger, and smeared it on the wound. The cold ointment was applied to the wound, making Ye Jia grimace.

"Look, you're hurting the enemy zero but yourself a thousand times, and you're still cutting your nails recklessly?" Hearing her hissing in pain, Zhou Jingchen finally felt distressed.

As he applied the ointment evenly for her with a frown on his face, he couldn't help but lecture her: "If you had scratched my face with that claw just now, it would have been bruised. You would have been the one who was hurt."

"...I didn't expect my neck to suddenly feel itchy," Ye Jia was speechless.

She had become much more forgetful since she got pregnant. She had just clipped her nails to show Zhou Jingchen, but then she turned around and scratched her neck. She was confused. "Who knew it was so sharp..."

Zhou Jingchen laughed and wanted to scold her, but seeing her screaming in pain, he swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

Ye Jia looked resentful.

He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: "...What? Are you looking at me like that and want me to scratch you too so we can share the good and the bad?"

Ye Jia thought about it seriously and nodded: "It's not impossible."

Zhou Jingchen: “…”

He failed to scratch the chicken, and ended up losing the rice instead of the chicken, so Ye Jia stopped.

It was late at night, the only sound inside and outside the house being the howling of the wind and snow. Ye Jia sat melancholy on the couch, her head drooping in silence. Zhou Jingchen squinted at her, and Ye Jia rolled her eyes. Zhou Jingchen reached out and scooped up a dollop of ointment for Ye Jia to apply. This pear blossom ointment contained cooling herbs, and it felt cool upon application, making the cramping pain much more comfortable.

After applying the ointment, seeing that she still looked listless, Zhou Jingchen stood up and put the pear blossom ointment back, and took a small pair of scissors from the dustpan.

Ye Jia raised his eyelids but didn't move.

After a while, Zhou Jingchen came back, lifted the hem of his clothes, and sat upright next to Ye Jia.

Ye Jia blinked, and suddenly the person next to her reached out and grabbed one of her hands. His hand was much larger than hers, completely enveloping it. Ye Jia let him play with her fingers, and then suddenly pinched one of them.

Ye Jia: "Hmm?"

Zhou Jingchen ignored her, only lowering his eyes and frowning as he carefully trimmed the nails on her hand. This action was so abrupt and shocking that Ye Jia watched him trim her jagged nails one by one.

Ye Jia: “…”

For some reason, the sound of nail clipping reminded Ye Jia of pet cats in later generations. She felt that she was not much different from a clawless cat. "Hey..."

Zhou Jingchen didn't even raise his eyelids. After cutting one hand, he raised his lips and said, "The other hand."

“…”

After a pause, Ye Jia raised the other one.

Today's scissors aren't designed for nail cutting, and using them to cut nails with your backhand is actually quite difficult. Ye Jia is a very traditional right-handed person. While her left hand might be fine for cutting, her right isn't. To simplify things, her right hand isn't serrated; instead, she cuts with a single, sharp, triangular tip.

When Zhou Jingchen saw the nail, his scalp went numb for a moment. "...Luckily it wasn't this hand that scratched your neck just now? Otherwise, a layer of flesh and blood would have fallen off your neck."

Ye Jia: "...Husband and wife are birds of the same forest, but when disaster strikes, they fly away separately."

"Even if you say so, I won't let you scratch me. Just give up." Zhou Jingchen's face was wooden, and in less than an incense stick, he had trimmed all her nails. Zhou Jingchen flicked the broken nails on his robe, his every move as virtuous as a nurse.

Ye Jia: "..." It seems that when people get old, it's not certain who will push whom out to bask in the sun.

…

This year was a rare cold winter, which was rare even in the cold weather in the northwest.

Last year, at the end of October, the shops along the streets were still open, and the sun was shining brightly. This year, as the weather turned cold, the tile market completely closed. There was hardly a single store open on the street. Most of the time, the poor, with no other means of warding off the cold, could only stay at home and endure it. Some families with frail children might not even survive the winter.

For the locals, not being able to survive the winter was commonplace. While this era valued diversity, with most families having four or five children, only a small minority could raise them all. This situation was even more prevalent in the northwest. However, now that Zhou Jingchen had taken over the area, he naturally had to manage it. Besides borrowing military forces from the northwest, he also had to shoulder the responsibility of supporting the local people.

Even when he returned home late at night, he was always busy, racking his brains to find ways to improve the lives of the local people.

After dinner, Ye Jia returned to his room and fell asleep soon after.

She couldn't be too tired now, so she wouldn't keep herself up at night.

Zhou Jingchen sat at his desk, reading a document. A lantern in the corner cast a warm yellow glow. A chill wind blew through the window lattices, causing the wooden frames to vibrate and rattle. Occasionally, a gust of cold air would seep into the house, flickering the candlelight within. The lantern hanging on the porch swayed back and forth in the wind, and the quietness of the surroundings was only heightened by the snow and wind.

After a long time, Zhou Jingchen seemed to come to his senses and moved his stiff neck and closed his eyes.

He put his pen down with a soft click, holding his sleeve with one hand, and unconsciously looked up at the bedside. Sure enough, Ye Jia's feet would unconsciously kick out from under the quilt in the middle of the night. Jia Niang's restless sleep habits hadn't changed. Zhou Jingchen had a smile on his face that he wasn't even aware of. He pinched his brow, stood up, returned to the bedside, took her feet, and put them back under the quilt.

It was already the second watch of the night, and the heating in the room was still on, so even in thin clothes, it wasn't cold. He leaned over and kissed the sleeping person on the forehead, then took off his clothes and carefully got into bed.

As the pregnancy progressed, Ye Jia woke up more often, and now naturally slept outside the bed. Zhou Jingchen carefully raised his foot and was about to step over her when she suddenly kicked him in her sleep. If he hadn't dodged in time, he would have been kicked in the face.

With one hand, she grasped the person's foot. With her growing belly, Ye Jia couldn't bend down anymore, making it difficult to reach her toes. Her toenails had grown long after not being trimmed for a long time. Her shoes were probably digging into her toes. Zhou Jingchen chuckled and fetched the small pair of scissors he'd used to trim Ye Jia's nails. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he slowly and methodically trimmed her toenails.

There was a clacking sound, and Zhou Jingchen grabbed Ye Jia's feet several times as she tried to pull them back. He really didn't stop even in his sleep. After cutting and tidying up, he lay down on his side, carefully holding her in his arms, breathing in her warm fragrance and closing his eyes.

Zhou Jingchen rarely sleeps soundly at night, but as long as he holds her in his arms, he can always sleep soundly at night.

It snowed heavily for several days straight, only stopping on the fourth day. This morning, Ah Jiu was already waiting in the hall. He had barely been out of the house since returning the day before yesterday, spending some quality time with his fourth sister in the room before finally leaving. A plan was needed for how to house the horses in the west field; in this cold weather, the horses wouldn't be able to withstand the cold.

Ye Jia had no knowledge of animal husbandry; she'd rarely even seen a horse. Zhou Jingchen would take care of the matter, so she could just sit back and relax.

The shops in the Beiting Protectorate were mostly closed. The shops in the Anxi Protectorate were also being looked after by Cao Ruyue and a few shopkeepers who had been sent there later. Ye Jia now only needed to review the business operations and keep the books in order each month.

Yu came to see Ye Jia several times every day, always worried that her stomach would suddenly start to move.

It was snowing heavily, and it would be difficult to find anyone if something happened. She really wanted to hang Ye Jia by her belt. Ye Jia was helpless at times, and Yu Shi was also concerned, so she could only try to be more careful. Fortunately, the child in her belly was as slow-paced as its mother, and hadn't made any movement in Ye Jia's belly for a while.

In early November, news arrived from the Libei Town fortress. It wasn't that the Turks were raiding again, but rather that the hastily constructed fortress and defensive walls had experienced problems. Heavy snow had collapsed several watchtowers.

Watchtowers play a crucial role in combat; detecting the enemy's movements immediately depends on them. If this one collapsed, it would be a disaster for the Libei Town stronghold. Sun Yushan's men didn't understand construction; Zhou Jingchen and his men had originally built these towers and protective walls. With no other options, they could only urgently send a message back for help. However, there were too few craftsmen capable of building a watchtower in Beiting, and finding labor and wood in the cold winter was difficult, so they could only go over and take a look.

"I have to go there myself." Zhou Jingchen had been back for less than a month and was leaving again. He felt very reluctant for a moment. "It shouldn't be a big deal. I'll be back in two or three days. You stay home and send someone to find me in the city if you need anything."

Ye Jia was counting the accounts. Although she didn't have to worry about the business, she needed to know the operating status of the store.

She now managed over seventy shops and over two thousand acres of fertile land. With so much wealth, even the slightest carelessness could lead to significant losses. Although these shops were managed by separate managers, the original account books had to be sent to Ye Jia every once in a while. She looked up from the countless accounts, so focused that her vision suddenly became dizzy.

Blinking his eyes, Ye Jia suppressed the dizziness and asked, "Can you find someone to repair it at this time of year?"

"It's not clear yet. Let's go over and take a look at the situation first." Zhou Jingchen tucked her hair behind her ears.

...That's true. It's been crushed by the heavy snow. If it's not too serious, it can be repaired with just a little carpentry skills.

Zhou Jingchen didn't delay and packed his bags and left that day.

As Yu watched the carriage drive away, she couldn't help but sigh. They were both so busy. She hoped Ye Jia wouldn't encounter these things during her birth, so their child could be born peacefully. Yu hadn't stopped working lately. She had already created three shades of the lip balm Ye Jia had asked her to make: a crimson, a vermilion, and a spring red.

Applying it thinly or thickly can produce different colors. In addition, Yu's superb lip makeup skills can make the same lip balm look very different.

Originally, the lip balm was to be immediately put into production in the workshop. However, due to heavy snow, roads were blocked and the raw materials had not yet been purchased, the project was temporarily put on hold. For now, the little lip balm and rouge Yu had created were only given to the women in her family. Not to mention, the color was more vibrant and beautiful than commercial lip balms, and the effect lasted longer on the lips.

When she had free time, Yu would teach Fourth and Fifth Sister Ye how to put on makeup. They were all young women, especially Fifth Sister Ye, who hadn't married yet. It was only right for them to learn some grooming skills. This would prevent them from having trouble matching their makeup and clothes in the future.

Women love to be pretty, so Ye Simei and Ye Wumei were naturally interested. After two or three months of learning, they actually developed a passion for it. They were both naturally skilled, and now that Ye Wumei and Ye Simei were both under Yu's tutelage, they were already quite accomplished. They loved to tinker with their own beautiful makeup to please themselves.

Yu Shi didn't dare give these things to Ye Jia for the time being. Ye Jia was pregnant and she was afraid that these things would cause harm to her body if she accidentally ate them.

Ye Jia didn't really care about it, but if Yu was worried, she didn't have to.

Zhou Jingchen, on the other hand, had initially thought this was a minor inconvenience, easily manageable. But upon arriving at the fortress, he discovered that it wasn't just the watchtower that had collapsed; the original fortress railings weren't strong enough either. Many dwellings needed to be rebuilt. After following the fortress residents around, Zhou Jingchen frowned, "Have you tried to find local craftsmen to repair it?"

"I've looked for them." Sun Yushan was also troubled. Otherwise, he wouldn't have written to Zhou Jingchen in such a hurry. "We can find masons to do the manual labor, but there are no people who truly understand how to build fortresses and city walls. If we want to build such an indestructible wall, we need to find people with relevant knowledge."

As he spoke, Sun Yushan couldn't help but look at Zhou Jingchen: "Master, is there anyone in the West Field who knows about construction and can be transferred here?"

The people who understood construction were naturally from the Ministry of Works. Zhou Jingchen only had a superficial understanding at first. He frowned and thought for a moment. Although there were many talented people exiled from the West Field, most of them were officials. It seemed that there was no impression of anyone who truly understood civil engineering techniques.

"No rush." ​​Zhou Jingchen thought for a moment, "Send someone over to ask and we'll know."