Chapter 31

His eyes glanced down uncontrollably, then quickly turned up to the sky, and Ye Jia's face turned red instantly.

Zhou Jingchen didn't react in any particular way, except for the tips of his ears, which were hidden in his hair and burning red. He coughed, propping his lips with one hand, then silently went to a nearby tree to break off a branch and pretend to go look for his underpants.

"Stand still!" The hair is covered tightly when it is static, but not necessarily when it is moving!

Oh my god! Ye Jia yelled at him like she was going crazy, and immediately stopped Zhou who was trying to walk around swinging something. Zhou Jingchen was also startled by her suddenly broken voice and stood aside motionless.

"Stand still, keep this position, don't move!"

Ye Jia's face flushed red, his eyes darting wildly: "If you dare to move even one step, I will dare to kick your ass, I'm not kidding!"

Zhou Jingchen would have been disgusted by such a vulgar word as "butt." But when Ye Jia said that, Zhou Jingchen's cheeks flushed for some reason. He felt embarrassed but also amused.

It was funny that Ye Jia actually used this to threaten him, and he was actually a little threatened.

After spending a few months together, Zhou Jingchen realized that this girl was truly capable of doing what she said. From this point on, he could only quietly stand by and restrain his actions.

…

Ye Jia hadn't expected the first thing she'd do when she came to Zhou Jingchen was to get down on the ground with her butt sticking out, gnashing her teeth and using a branch to pick up her pants, which had been kicked into a ravine. Zhou Jingchen had told her three times that he wanted to do it himself, since he had long arms. But Ye Jia couldn't stand him walking around naked. The thought of that scene made her want to poke her eyes out.

After driving the man aside like a pig, Ye Jia finally made up his mind to take out the cloth towel he kept in his pocket for wrapping his head at any time, and threw it in front of him, asking him to block it: "Surround him first."

To match the new dress, she specially picked out a cloth towel of the same color.

Zhou Jingchen obediently picked up the item and silently wrapped it around his waist. Not to mention, this guy had a pretty thin waist. He could actually wrap around the thing Ye Jia was wearing. Furthermore, the rag half-covering his face gave him an inexplicably vivid look.

Ye Jia calmly turned his eyes away and strictly shook off the nonsense in his mind.

She roughly estimated the distance between his crotch and hers, so she had to get down on the ground to do it. After a long time of effort, her new skirt was stained by the grass juice, but she finally hooked his pants up.

Zhou Jingchen took it in silence for a long time before speaking with difficulty, "Thank you for your hard work, Jia Niang."

Ye Jia: “…”

It was quite a coincidence. Today, a general at the garrison suddenly and privately issued an order. He ordered his trusted confidant to select ten reliable and cautious recruits from among the new recruits and send them into the mountains. They were supposedly on a mission, but in reality, they were going to excavate something in a barren mountain to the north. They set out before dawn, deliberately avoiding others. This person had just bathed in a nearby lake and washed his clothes while doing so.

The damp blue cloth pants were soaked with water and heavy. Ye Jia held them up with one hand, the torn trousers nearly breaking the branch. With a sullen face, she tossed the item at the man's feet. Two small footprints, covered in mud and sand, stood out.

Zhou Jingchen glanced at Ye Jia silently, slowly came over to pick up the pants, and then squatted down by the river to wash them again.

All around was silent, save for the rustling of leaves in the wind and the whirring of Ye Jia's hands. Zhou Jingchen's eyes darkened slightly as he recalled what they had unearthed. Flat, blocky. Dark blue, opaque, with a thin layer of green on the surface. It had an earthy luster. Hard, not easily broken, and with an uneven cross-section. Suddenly, he let out a short laugh.

Seeing Ye Jia looking at him, he raised his eyes and smiled softly.

Ye Jia couldn't help but roll her eyes at him, saying angrily, "What are you laughing at? Hurry up and put on your pants!"

Their group of ten, a squad, had been in the cave for six hours, so naturally, everyone was covered in dirt. Zhou Jingchen, a meticulously clean person, couldn't bear to return to camp covered in dirt. After the squad leader ordered them to rest, he went to the lake to freshen up. It was thanks to the soap he brought from home that he couldn't have washed it so cleanly.

Ye Jia sat on a nearby rock, clutching her unbroken oil-paper bag, watching the man's slow movements from the side. She was perplexed, wondering: Wasn't Zhou Jingchen the most respectful and polite person? Why was he so brazenly walking his bird in front of her?

...Well, it's not that straightforward. She has a lot of hair, and it's half-hidden. Thinking of this, Ye Jia glanced at the man squatting by the river and couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. His hair was truly enviable.

She raised her hand and touched her head. It seemed that she had quite a lot of hair.

After a long while, the man finally washed his pants and put them on. The soaked fabric clung to his legs. His long, muscular legs were so smooth and powerful that the damp fabric clung to them, making them look even more erotic.

Ye Jia turned a blind eye and handed him the little piece of meat in her arms: "This is for you, a birthday gift."

Zhou Jingchen was stunned when the birthday was mentioned. He hadn't celebrated his birthday in many years and had almost forgotten about it. After a moment, he whispered a thank you: "Thank you, Jianiang, for thinking of me."

I glanced down and could smell the fragrant aroma of meat before even opening my nose.

He curled his eyes and reached out to peel back a corner of the paper wrapper. Sure enough, it was a small snack. With his slender fingers, he twisted a piece and placed it in his mouth, his manner elegant and beautiful. But his elegance didn't hinder his speed. As the fragrant crispy meat melted in his mouth, Zhou Jingchen's smile widened. "Jia Niang's cooking is truly remarkable. The food at the camp is truly unpalatable. My friends had seen me starving a while ago and I'd lost quite a bit of weight."

Ye Jia ruthlessly exposed it: "...Don't think that I will send it to you often just by saying a few nice words. Don't even think about it!"

Zhou Jingchen laughed and nodded: "Oh, really?"

Ye Jia snorted. Seeing him slowly swallow the meat, the corners of his mouth moved. Just when Ye Jia thought he was about to say something, Zhou Jingchen put away his pretense of strength, and the next moment the corners of his mouth curled up even more deeply, "Then... what do I need you to send it to me more often?"

“…”

Ye Jia rolled her eyes at him and didn't bother to pay attention to him.

As June approached, the weather grew increasingly hot. Perhaps because of the greater exposure to sunlight in the north, Ye Jia felt as though the sun in this part of the world could melt her. Even with the shade of the trees overhead, she still felt the heat. Especially with the man sitting cross-legged in front of her, looking up at her, he truly was a young man, as elegant and bright as the moon.

Maybe my hair is too thick, it still didn’t dry even after sitting for a while.

Ye Jia, that damn obsessive-compulsive disorder, glanced at him again and again. Finally, she stood up dejectedly and walked over to him.

Zhou Jingchen had already eaten half a bag in a short while. What he had said earlier wasn't entirely false; the food at the garrison was indeed poor. Especially since they were lowly soldiers, with no battlefield experience or achievements, the food was naturally even worse. Zhou Jingchen hadn't been particularly particular about food before Ye Jia arrived. Now that Ye Jia had arrived, he naturally wasn't happy to eat the pig food.

He looked up at her with a confused and innocent look: "What's wrong?"

"Didn't you bring a towel with you when you came to wash up?" Ye Jia watched the water droplets slide down his inky black hair, down his back, and then into his waist and abdomen. It was really annoying. "Your hair is so wet, are you planning to dry it with your body heat?"

Zhou Jingchen blinked his eyes. The man had a fever, so he did plan to do so.

Ye Jia grabbed the Xiang Fei colored cloth she had just used to cover his grimaces, bent down beside him, and wiped his wet hair. Of course, she wasn't very gentle; she almost pulled his hair out completely. Zhou Jingchen didn't resist, letting her rub him until he finally ate half his fill.

Men have big appetites. Zhou Jingchen, despite his thin figure, could eat three bowls of rice in one sitting. Ye Jia had only brought him a little over three pounds of crispy pork, so he couldn't finish it all at once. After restraining himself and eating over a pound, he got up and took his coat from a nearby tree branch. The sun was truly blazing, and after a while, it had dried out to about 70% of its original weight, so it wasn't too cold to wear anymore.

Ye Jia checked the time and decided to leave. She should have left a long time ago, but she was lost and couldn't find her way back. She wanted to ask Zhou Jingchen to take her home, but she couldn't disturb him while he was eating. She had no choice but to wait until he had finished eating and stopped eating before asking him to take her out of the woods.

"When will you come next time?" Zhou Jingchen held Ye Jia's arm and secretly supported her with his hands.

Although their previous encounter had been hasty and illogical, Zhou Jingchen hadn't forgotten she'd tumbled downhill. The forest looked safe, but in reality, the undergrowth was too deep, and there were many gullies. If you weren't careful, you'd easily step into something, and if you fell into a pit, it would be difficult to climb out.

Ye Jia was in a good mood at the moment and walked steadily: "It depends on my mood. I'll come again when I'm in a good mood."

"I see..."

Zhou Jingchen lowered his gaze to the woman with disheveled hair and noticed she was wearing new clothes. They were stained by a misunderstanding, but they still looked surprisingly charming and innocent. Jia Niang didn't usually act like a little girl, but now, with a faint blush on her nose and cheeks, and sweat on her temples, she looked like a beautiful woman with exquisite makeup, which made her heart ache.

"Jia Niang, when you get home, take some time to visit Brother Guo's house." Zhou Jingchen restrained himself and looked away, his hand seemingly casually helping her fix her hair. He looked forward and said, "Give him a message for me."

Ye Jia crossed a ditch and asked without even looking at him, "What did you say?"

"Ten days later, take the guys you had dinner with and go to the Chen Mansion in Dongzhen Town."

Ye Jia: “???”

"Please."

Ye Jia thought about it and nodded: "I understand."

Zhou Jingchen half-supported someone as they walked to the outskirts of the woods. As soon as they emerged, they spotted a cow tied to a tree not far away. The cow had removed the cart frame and was leisurely grazing, its tail swishing. Old Man Sun was also still waiting outside the woods. Perhaps he'd guessed it would take Ye Jia a while to enter the forest, so he leaned against a large tree, covering his face with a large leaf, and dozed off.

Hearing the noise, he lifted a side of the leaves covering his face and squinted his eyes to look over. Seeing it was Ye Jia, he patted his butt and stood up.

Zhou Jingchen nodded to Old Man Sun from a distance, then suddenly raised his hand to tuck some of Ye Jia's hair behind her ear. Ye Jia looked up at him questioningly, and he curled his eyes and suddenly said, "Jia Niang, your dress looks really nice today."

Ye Jia's heart skipped a beat. She looked down at her clothes stained with grass juice and her face suddenly turned red.

With a sullen face, she left without saying anything.

Zhou Jingchen watched the ox cart go away before leaving the woods with half a bag of crispy meat.

Because of the delay, he was already hungry. Old Man Sun used to drive around a lot and was used to carrying dry food with him. This afternoon, while waiting for Ye Jia outside, he ate two dry biscuits. Ye Jia thought that he had relied on him to escort her all the way, so when they got home, he asked Old Man Sun to stay for dinner. Old Man Sun felt embarrassed to eat for free and was a little embarrassed.

"How about this, Uncle Sun, go pick up the two grandsons for dinner." Ye Jia was thinking about something, and his face looked serious. "I just happened to have something to talk to Uncle Sun about."

When Old Man Sun saw Ye Jia's expression, he guessed that she might have something for him to do, so he agreed after thinking about it.

As soon as the ox cart left, Yu came out of the house holding a piece of cloth.

Rui Jie'er was asleep in the house. The sun in the yard was too strong, so Yu Shi had moved Diandian's bed into the main room. Diandian looked up from inside, glanced at Ye Jia, and then slowly sank back down. Yu Shi was delighted to see Ye Jia's tattered clothes and askew, untied bun. She lowered her gaze and glanced at her face several times, her cheeks rosy and radiant.

She suppressed her joy and walked over quickly: "Jia Niang, have you seen Yun An?"

"I met him. He's a nice guy." Ye Jia nodded, and then took out the sixteen taels of silver that he had been carrying in his arms all the way.

Yu was about to ask a few more questions, asking if she had spoken to Zhou Jingchen properly. But when she saw the sixteen taels of silver, she put the matter behind her and said in surprise, "Is this... the fragrant soap business?"

"Well, this is the first payment from Jiangchunxuan in Dongxiang Town. Whether we can continue to supply goods in the future depends on the sales."

Ye Jia's eyes sparkled with determination. "Mom, this scented soap business of ours can last a long time. Once we sell the first batch, the second batch might be worth more than just ten yuan. I asked the shop assistants, and they say Jiangchunxuan's scented soap sales are around a hundred yuan a month. I can't say we'll take all of that, but we'll have to take at least half of it in the future. We have to make another batch as soon as possible."

Yu knew the profit margins from making these fragrant pancakes were enormous. After deducting the raw materials, the profit could be ten times higher. It was much more promising than their painstakingly selling pig heads at a stall. "So, when can the store owner tell us what they're going to say?"

"I left them my address." Ye Jia suppressed his excitement early in the morning, and only showed it when he got home. "Just wait."

But since we have to do it, we have to hurry up and do it.

Unlike food that can be made and sold the next day, fragrant pancreas must be air-dried after it's made. In today's weather, it needs to be left out for at least ten days. A few more days will make it more solid. Ye Jia figured that since one pig pancreas only makes fourteen or fifteen pieces, to get half the market, at least four pig pancreas would be enough. Secondly, the ingredients need to be stockpiled, which takes careful planning, and grinding the soybean flour also requires effort. Pounding and shaping the fragrant pancreas takes at least one or two days. If he calculated carefully, if he wanted to make it, he'd have to close the shop for three or four days.

The business at the stall cannot stop. The Zhou family does not only one business, but many things at the same time.

The pig's head needed to be cleaned, braised, and the marinade prepared. The leeks needed to be harvested, and then pancakes had to be made that evening to sell the next morning. While each task wasn't particularly tiring, the combination of these tasks made the workload immense.

Neither Ye Jia nor Yu Shi were particularly strong and sturdy enough to handle such intense labor for long. They would undoubtedly become ill from exhaustion if they continued working on one task. However, if they stopped working on the next, they were afraid that it would affect the business of the breakfast stall.

Doing business requires persistence, and only familiar customers can attract more people. If you fish for three days and dry the net for two days, the business of your morning stall will sooner or later fail.

"To buy servants."

Yu had been meaning to bring this up for a while, even before she even considered starting the soap business. Lately, while she'd been helping out with many household chores without complaint, she'd been incredibly exhausted. It was just that her daughter-in-law did even more, worrying about the business and doing the work herself. Naturally, she wouldn't say, "There's so much going on at home, it's impossible for the two of us to handle it alone. Don't worry, we'll get sick from all the work."

Ye Jia hadn't considered buying servants. It wasn't that buying servants was expensive, but that they were unsuitable.

They wanted people who could start working right away, but most of the people sold at the tile market were young and inexperienced. Those over ten were rare. It wasn't for any other reason, but simply because older people were harder to tame. The customs in Libei Town were vastly different from those in the Central Plains. This place was vast and sparsely populated, with no government oversight. Whether a deed could suppress someone was another matter. After all, the Zhou family, with their orphans and widowed mother, looked easy prey.

"It's better to hire someone." Ye Jia pondered for a moment and said, "Start according to the local wages, and pay them daily."

Yu's original intention was naturally to buy someone; that was her custom. But Ye Jia's concerns made perfect sense. Times were different now. They no longer had a noble status, so they couldn't guarantee how obedient the maids and nannies they bought from outside would be.

"We'll have to talk about this later. We've been stuck out here for so long, I'm starving."

Yu Shi was now able to steam steamed buns perfectly. She hadn't had half-cooked rice for a long time. Hearing Ye Jia's words, she immediately said she had a pot of steamed rice in the pot. The dish was, of course, the crispy pork Ye Jia had left for them that morning.

This thing can be eaten as a snack or as a dish.

Ye Jia nodded and went inside to quickly change her clothes. She came out with two eggs in her hand. Eating just the whole grain rice wouldn't do. She was tired and didn't want to cook anything else, so she prepared some fried rice with scrambled eggs.

Egg fried rice is simple to make. Beat two eggs and add half a diced carrot. If you want to eat meat, you can add some diced meat. Ye Jia quickly heats up the pan, then beats two eggs and pours them in to fry until half cooked, then serves. Fry the diced carrots until cooked, then pour a pot of multi-grain rice into it and stir-fry the eggs together. Ye Jia is used to making egg fried rice this way. Many people like to pour egg liquid on rice and fry it until it turns golden. She doesn't like that, as she thinks that kind of egg fried rice lacks the flavor of firewood and is not fragrant.

Ye Jia quickly cooked a pot of egg fried rice. Rui Jie'er woke up from her sleep at the aroma. Rubbing her eyes, she drowsily crawled to the kitchen door and called out in a baby voice, "Auntie, have you eaten yet?"

"No." Ye Jia came back long after noon. She was hungry because she hadn't had lunch. "If you're hungry, have a bowl too?"

"Okay!" The little girl jumped up when she heard this, clapped her hands and went to find Yu to wipe her face.

Yu was just fetching water from the well to clean Ruijie's face and comb her hair when Little Dot, who had been too lazy to get up from her nest, rushed in. She whimpered and circled around Ye Jia. Ye Jia had added salt to her rice. She vaguely knew that cats and dogs shouldn't eat too much salt, so she only gave Little Dot a small spoonful.

"I want to eat something too." Yu had already eaten at noon, but now she smelled the delicious food and was very greedy.

After filling his stomach quickly, Ye Jia went to the town to do some shopping.

Having bought it once before, Ye Jia knew the place well. He had everything he needed in half an hour, leaving only the pig pancreas. The fresher the pancreas, the better. After all, the effectiveness of the fragrant pancreas depends on the secretions within. It was so late, and I couldn't do it back home. If I leave it out for a day, I'm afraid it won't be as effective tomorrow.

There was only one butcher in the town, and the butcher slaughtered two or three pigs a day, so it was difficult for Ye Jia to get five pig pancreases. The butcher knew that Ye Jia always bought some pig offal to eat, so he didn't think it was strange.

"Tomorrow I'll kill three pigs and give you three pancreas." The butcher made a lot of money from Ye Jia, and they were very familiar with each other. When he heard that she insisted on having it, he had to think of a way. "Otherwise, you can come find me tomorrow evening, and I'll go to Old Li's house and give you two more."

Hearing him say this, Ye Jia naturally agreed.

When she returned home with her things, she happened to meet Old Man Sun with his two grandchildren at the village entrance. The family saw Ye Jia from a distance and quickly stopped the car. Seeing the things in Ye Jia's hands, they simply came over to help her put them in the car: "I am so shameless now."

Old Man Sun’s two grandsons are quite obedient and they will call people whenever Old Man Sun asks them to.

Ye Jia agreed, opened another bag of fruit snacks, and gave a handful to each of them. They didn't dare take it at first, but glanced at Old Man Sun and saw him nod before accepting it. The eldest grandson of the Sun family was quite precocious and thanked Ye Jia politely. Ye Jia touched the eldest grandson's head. The child was quite interesting, and his face blushed and he lowered his head.

When they arrived at the door, Ye Jia asked Yu to take her things back and put down the two children. He then asked Old Man Sun to drive her to Guojiaqiao.

Old Man Sun didn't ask any further questions. Ye Jia had told him when she hired him to drive the car that he would definitely deliver the Zhou family if they needed help. Fortunately, Guojiaqiao wasn't too far away, and the oxcart was fast, so it only took about two incense sticks to get there. When Ye Jia arrived at Guojiaqiao, she pulled over a random villager to ask about Guo Huai. It was a simple matter, just looking for someone. But the moment she mentioned Guo Huai, the woman she was pulling over suddenly looked strange.

The woman stared at Ye Jia for a long time, as if Ye Jia was a fool. But she still showed Ye Jia the way.

Only when the oxcart lurched to Guo Huai's home did Ye Jia vaguely understand why the woman had looked at her that way. Guo Huai's home was shabby, like a deserted house poised to collapse at any moment. The yard was filled with rotting wood. A variety of brightly colored mushrooms sprouted from the cracks between the wooden stakes. Weeds were everywhere in the yard, and a strange smell lingered.

Guo Huairen was in the yard, crouching beside a stone vat, fiddling with a strange-looking plant. He was watering the plant with a bucket in his hand. He looked up at the noise and met Ye Jia's strange gaze.

He stroked his sparse beard, smiled, and stood up: "Why is my sister-in-law here?"

Ye Jia withdrew his gaze from all around and just repeated what Zhou Jingchen had said to Guo Huai.

Guo Huai's expression changed after hearing this, but then he smiled again. He nodded and invited Ye Jia into the house for tea.

Ye Jia glanced at his house, swaying in the wind and rain, and swallowed the refusal that was on the tip of his tongue. Although he didn't know what kind of person Guo Huai was, but someone who could deal with Zhou Jingchen and whose name was left in the book later, must be a strange person with a strange temper.

The tea was certainly not a good one. It was just two tea stems soaked in plain water and had no taste at all.

Ye Jia drank half a bowl, conveyed the message, and prepared to leave. As he reached the door, Ye Jia caught a glimpse of a sign he had casually placed by the door. The handwriting on it was quite cursive, and Ye Jia's sharp eyes could see clearly: "Be content with your fate and know your destiny, so you will not worry."

Wow, a fortune teller who practices feudal superstition!

No wonder Ye Jia felt that he looked familiar when he saw him before. Don’t all fortune tellers look like this?

"Sister-in-law, why do you look like that?" Guo Huai was quite good at reading people's expressions. He guessed what Ye Jia had seen when he saw her look strange. But he didn't care. He stroked his sparse mustache and looked at Ye Jia with a smile.

Ye Jia shook his head, not meaning to discriminate against other people's professions. In fact, many famous people in history were also fortune tellers. Regardless of whether they were real fortune tellers or not, those who were holding the fortune teller's money were people who could read people's expressions. Ye Jia put away his messy thoughts and smiled after thinking about it: "If Brother Guo doesn't mind, come over to my house for dinner when you have free time in the future."

Guo Huai looked at her and smiled, then suddenly said, "Yun'an married a good wife."

Ye Jia: "..." Just praise her, what does it have to do with Zhou Jingchen?