Shen Qing looked at Cheng Zhiwen with surprise, completely unconcerned that her face was still covered in duck droppings.
"The warmest duck feathers are here—"
She spread the duck's wings open to show Cheng Zhiwen: "Under the wings! The warmest and lightest duck feathers are under the duck's wings!"
This discovery brought a sense of relief to Shen Qing, whose heart had been heavy with gloom for several days.
Grabbing the duck's wings with both hands, he spun around in the duck pen, completely absorbed in the moment: "I've finally found it! I'm going to succeed!"
Another splatter of duck droppings landed on her face, but she didn't care at all, laughing uncontrollably.
Cheng Zhiwen was stunned.
...
She took the duck that had splattered two poops on Shen Qing's face out of the duck pen, held it in her arms, and brought it to the boss.
"Boss," she said, spreading the duck's wings and pointing to the fine downy feathers under the wings, "I want the feathers from this part of the duck. I'll give you five hundred coins per pound. Is that alright?"
The boss waved his hand impatiently: "I clearly told your husband that if you want the duck feathers, take them all. I don't have time to sort them by part!"
Eager to discuss business, Shen Qing disregarded the other party's misunderstanding of his relationship with Cheng Zhiwen and said, "Actually, this is no loss for you. You were originally going to sell these duck feathers to the medicinal herb merchants anyway. They would buy a portion from you for 200 coins, and we would buy a portion from you for 500 coins. You would actually make an extra 150 coins per catty!"
The boss said irritably, "Then I'll have to hire more workers to share the profits! Do you know how expensive wages are these days? What kind of business is this woman doing out here? She should be at home having kids instead of causing trouble! Doing business with a woman is just asking for trouble!"
After yelling, he left cursing and swearing without waiting for Shen Qing's explanation.
Cheng Zhiwen said, "While you were resting in the car just now, I talked to him for almost half an hour, but I couldn't get through to him. He's uneducated, can't do math, and can only accept a simple one-time buyback. He either wants to sell to us at a higher price or sell to the herbal medicine merchants."
Shen Qing frowned as she watched the man's back, pondering how to collect the fur she wanted without being forced to collect useless fur.
She turned and looked at the duck pen, which was at least ten acres in size, and got a sense of the total number of ducks in her mind.
He tucked the duck into his arms and said to Cheng Zhiwen, "Let's go back first."
Back to the carriage.
Old Xu was startled to see that the two men's feet were covered in soft mud, and he quickly jumped out of the front of the car.
"Mr. Cheng, Mr. Shen, what's going on here...?"
Shen Qing shook the mud off his legs, took out the duck from his arms, and whispered, "We stole a duck, let's get out of here!"
After saying that, he climbed onto the carriage.
Cheng Zhiwen came up after her.
Seeing that his leather shoes and trouser legs were covered in mud, Shen Qing felt a sense of satisfaction, as if he had gotten his revenge: "I told you I would go find Mao myself, but you insisted on coming with me. Now look what happened!"
Cheng Zhiwen smiled helplessly: "The leather shoes are ruined. I really was meddling in other people's business."
Shen Qing gave a soft hum and lowered her head to tease the duck.
She turned the duck over and stroked the soft feathers under its armpits a few times.
"It's so warm and soft... If it's this warm on a duck, it must be just as warm on a person, right?"
Before Cheng Zhiwen could speak, she continued, "I know why those furs weren't warm before—the big fur and the small fur were all mixed in. The big fur wasn't warm, and the small fur depended on the location."
"Moreover, when you wore it out, it probably shed a lot of fur, because when I got it, there was hardly any fur left."
Cheng Zhiwen remained silent, letting her explain why the down vest wasn't warm.
After listening quietly for a while, she asked sarcastically, "Didn't you swear that I took it off in the middle?"
Shen Qing immediately thought of the red mark on his chin and said sourly, "You went to find a girl and kissed her, so of course I would think you took off your clothes, right? How can you blame me for that?"
Cheng Zhiwen was both amused and exasperated by her, feeling both angry and helpless.
"Who said I kissed the girl?"
Shen Qing pointed to her chin: "Why do you have red marks here if we didn't kiss?"
Cheng Zhiwen stared intently at her lips with a deep look in his eyes: "After a kiss, shouldn't there be a red mark on your lips?"
Shen Qing choked and remained silent.
The carriage was traveling towards Jiangzhou County when its speed suddenly slowed down.
Shen Qing held a duck in one hand and pulled back the curtain with the other to peek outside.
A fierce wind howled, and dark clouds loomed overhead.
She turned to look at Cheng Zhiwen: "It looks like it's going to rain."
Cheng Zhiwen immediately sat down by the door, lifted the curtain and said to Lao Xu, "If the rain gets too heavy, find a place to stop and take shelter."
"Okay, Boss Cheng!"
The curtain was drawn, and Cheng Zhiwen sat back in the car.
Shen Qing, worried, stroked the duck in her arms: "Judging from that, it's going to be a torrential downpour."
"If it's raining heavily, stop and take shelter. Wait until it stops and then continue on your way. Old Xu has been with me to many places before, and we've been through heavy rain and blizzards. Don't worry."
Shen Qing felt a little relieved.
Suddenly a white light flew past outside the curtain.
Before she could even react, a deafening roar ripped through the sky.
She froze for a second, then suddenly screamed and lunged forward, throwing herself into Cheng Zhiwen's arms.
"Boom... Boom..."
Several more thunderbolts struck the earth, and Shen Qing screamed as she hugged Cheng Zhiwen even tighter.
Cheng Zhiwen smiled, opened his arms, and pulled her into his embrace.
He caught a faint sour smell in his nostrils, knowing it was from the duck droppings on Shen Qing's forehead that hadn't been washed off. He didn't mind and continued to hold her.
He gently patted her back to comfort her: "Are you afraid of thunder?"
Shen Qing nodded vigorously, her voice trembling with tears: "I'm so scared..."
What do you do when it thunders at night and you're all alone?
"Cover your head with the blanket..."
Cheng Zhiwen laughed and hugged her tightly.
The duck was left in a corner of the carriage, making a "quack" sound.
...
"Gaga...gag..."
Something was stepping on his hand. Shen Qing slapped it with his other hand, and the duck immediately spread its wings and flew to a corner.
She slowly woke up and glanced around.
Still in the carriage, the sky outside the window was bright with daylight.
Turning over, Cheng Zhiwen's sleeping face loomed large before my eyes.
The gaze travels from his bangs, which are naturally swept to one side, to his deep-set eyes, his high nose bridge, and finally to his exquisite lips.
Shen Qing's face flushed as she recalled the kiss she had given him.
But what was called a kiss was actually just to shut him up, to seal his mouth with my lips; there was no real lip-to-lip exchange.
Now, when I think back on it, I can't remember how I felt at all.
That doesn't count as a "kiss," at most it's a "touch."
Yes, I touched his lips.
"woke up?"
Shen Qing came to her senses and saw that Cheng Zhiwen had already woken up, her deep eyes, which were filled with a hint of morning mist, were looking at her.
She instinctively sat up, scratched her head, and said nervously, "I just woke up... I was woken up by the duck! It stepped on my hand..."
Not wanting to look Cheng Zhiwen in the eye, my gaze drifted downwards, pausing below his lower abdomen...
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