Chapter 1 Her husband is not a burden!
In the early winter of the thirteenth year of Changsheng’s reign, during the Minor Snow season, the cold wind blew drizzles of winter rain onto my face.
The weather was bad, and all the vendors in Chunliu Lane had packed up their stalls and gone home long ago. Only Song Jin's steamed bun stall was still emitting steam.
In the noisy white fog, a slender figure was moving back and forth.
A few aunties who were hiding from the rain watched Song Jin busying herself in front of the stove, and couldn't help but joked, "Jin girl, when will you bring your husband out for us to see?"
Song Jin got married two months ago.
I heard that her husband met bandits on the way here, and not only was all his money stolen, but he was also beaten up. But he still managed to hold on until he reached Song Jin's house, and only fainted after he had married Song Jin.
After that, I stayed at home to recuperate and never went out.
I heard from Aunt Xiao who went to Jin's house to help that Song Jin's husband is not only very handsome, but also has a good figure.
They had long wanted to take a look.
The girl's figure was shrouded in hot mist, and her face could not be seen. All that could be heard was her gentle voice: "Don't worry, wait until he gets better."
A cool breeze blew, the mist dispersed, and a small face appeared from the noisy white mist.
Song Jinsheng's fair face was smoked red by the stove, as if she had put on a layer of rouge. A pair of round almond-shaped eyes are bright, and look like crescent moons when they are curved.
She was wearing a plain cotton skirt that was neither new nor old, and a light pink headscarf with a small pearl flower pinned on the side.
Seeing Song Jin busy, the aunts started muttering to each other.
This girl is cute, but she has a bad fate.
Song Jin was not born in Chongzhou.
She was born in Kyoto, but was sent to her grandfather's home in Chongzhou as soon as she was born, and fifteen years had passed in a flash.
During these fifteen years, both her mother and father who lived far away in Kyoto passed away, leaving only her brother Song Feng, who had found a position in the military camp.
Song Jin was pretty, smart at work and well-behaved. After she turned fourteen, many matchmakers came to propose marriage to her, but Song Jin's grandfather didn't like any of them.
It was not until the old man became seriously ill a few years ago that he wrote a letter asking Song Feng to bring Song Jin to Beijing. I heard that he had also arranged a marriage for her.
This wait lasted for a year.
Song Jin looks like a well-behaved and obedient girl, but she is actually very strong-willed.
Without waiting for his brother to come, he handled the old man's funeral by himself and set up a steamed bun stall at the entrance of the alley.
Later, perhaps something went wrong in the capital, and the person who came was not Song Jin's brother, but her fiancé.
Who knew that he would have bad luck on the road, and now the good man has become a sickly person. Not only can he not help Song Jin, but he also has to spend more money to buy medicine for his treatment.
Besides, the injury is so serious, who knows if he will recover in the future.
The aunties grumbled for a long time, and finally said: "This girl has been waiting for a year, but she didn't get a backer, and what she got was a burden."
burden?
Song Jin paused as he was holding the steamer, and his little face tightened in displeasure.
Her husband is not a burden.
Her husband is good-looking. She has never seen anyone more handsome than her husband in the whole Chongzhou.
Although he was sick at home, he was not idle. After he was able to get up from the couch, he asked her to help him find a job copying books. He could earn one string of silver for each book, which was equivalent to what she could earn by selling 700 steamed buns.
His handwriting is very good and you can tell he is very knowledgeable.
Although he was a bit old-fashioned and serious, his eyes were clear, unlike other dirty men who always looked lustful when they saw him.
You see, I can easily cite so many advantages of my husband.
He is not a burden!
When the mist from the stove dissipated, the winter rain stopped.
The aunties who were originally hiding from the rain and chatting all picked up their vegetable baskets and hurried away, fearing that the rain would start again.
But in the blink of an eye, Song Jin was the only one left at the stall.
Song Jin carefully packed the freshly made pastries into a box, then took off the apron around her waist and walked towards Xiu Cui Tower carrying the box.
There are two stoves on Song Jin’s steamed bun stall.
A big one is for steaming buns and a small one is for making pastries. She used to make very few exquisite pastries and only supplied them to a few of her old clients.
Today's wedding cakes were ordered by Xiu Cui Lou.
A few days ago, Mr. Wang, a wealthy businessman in the city, redeemed Miss Qinghong from Xiucui Tower, and he is going to take her back to be his concubine tonight.
Go out of Chunliu Lane and walk a few streets to Xiucui Tower.
Song Jin entered from the back door of Xiucui Tower as usual. Along the way, he saw no other decorations except a few wedding characters.
Arriving at Qinghong's room, Song Jin placed the wedding cakes and pastries in place, then stood obediently at the door waiting for the housekeeper to give her the money.
Qinghong is the top performer in Xiucui Tower. Even though she is not young anymore, she still has great charm.
She was wearing a rose-red dress and sitting in front of the dressing table, putting on her makeup, but there was no joy on her face.
After all, Mr. Wang is over sixty years old and is not a good match at all.
Song Jin didn't say much, just stood quietly by the door.
Seeing the wedding character in the room, Song Jin couldn't help but think of the day he got married two months ago.
It was called a marriage, but the wedding was really too simple.
The wedding dress was borrowed from my sister-in-law's house next door, the red candles were leftovers from the house, and even the wedding character was cut by Aunt Xiao.
Even the groom himself was half dead.
Aunt Xiao held her hand and said that this was too unfair and asked her to think about it carefully.
But Song Jin didn't think so.
He came to Chongzhou from such a far place with all his strength, which showed that he was a man of his word. He also brought his brother's keepsake and last words, and since they had been engaged for a long time, she had no reason to refuse.
Besides, he is very handsome.
Song Jin felt a little embarrassed when talking about this.
Although she herself was not bad looking, she still preferred looking at handsome men rather than looking at herself in the mirror.
Several times when she delivered cakes to Xiu Cui Lou, she would secretly glance at the new waiters who had just arrived there.
Song Jin's thoughts were wandering when he suddenly smelled a fragrance.
Song Jin turned her head and saw Sister Ju Lan stopped beside her and whispered softly in her ear: "Little girl, have you read the book that sister gave you with your husband?"
The pastries made by Song Jin are sweet but not fattening. The Chinese medicine added to them has nourishing effects and is deeply loved by the girls in Xiucui Tower.
Song Jin's marriage was sudden, and the girls who knew the news stuffed a lot of things into her hands. Sister Ju Lan even gave her a booklet, saying it was the most valuable item in Xiu Cui Lou.
She put the booklet in her vegetable basket and took it home, and read it that evening in the light of a tiny candle.
Her face flushed red as she exclaimed that it was truly a top-notch product!
only……
I guess her husband won't read this booklet.
Song Jin frowned and sighed slightly:
Her husband is a good man, but he is too polite.
After more than two months of marriage, the couple had never even touched each other's fingertips.
He asked the apprentice in the clinic to change the dressings for his injuries, and later he did it himself.
The only intimacy they had was the day she accidentally broke into her husband's bath and saw his white chest.
Song Jin pretended to shyly turn her eyes away, but who knew that he quickly turned around and put on his underwear, even faster than her.
He was so stingy that he didn't even want to take a look at it, let alone the booklet.
Seeing that Song Jin was silent and had a lonely look on her face, Sister Ju Lan frowned slightly and asked, "How could your husband be so ignorant of romance?"
Song Jin explained in a low voice: "My husband was a teacher in Kyoto, so naturally..."
Before Song Jin could finish his words, Ju Lan raised her hand, held up the round fan to cover her face and chuckled.
"Little girl, I have to tell you, no matter how serious a man appears on the surface, he is wild inside. Especially as a wife, you can't be too honest."
As Ju Lan spoke, she was afraid that such a well-behaved girl like Song Jin wouldn't listen, so she lightly raised her slender fingertips and tapped Song Jin's eyebrows.
Song Jin's little head was shaking from being tapped.
Can't you be too honest?
Song Jin seemed to be thinking about something, and whispered, "I'm not that honest. A few days ago, I secretly went to the Peach Blossom Temple in the east of the city to ask for a talisman. The Taoist priest said that this talisman is called the Tongxin Talisman. As long as you have it, the couple can communicate with each other."
What the Taoist said was true. The Heart-to-Heart Talisman cost her a hundred coins.
That night she found an excuse to make her bed and quietly placed the talisman under the green gauze tent.
Seeing that Song Jin was speaking seriously, Ju Lan couldn't help laughing.
"You believe what that stinky Taoist priest said? You are such a well-behaved little girl. Let me teach you a few tricks. I will definitely make your husband tied to your skirt for the rest of his life."
"Really?" Song Jin was a little tempted.
After all, the concentric talisman has been put in there for a few days, and now it seems to have no effect.
"You little girl, don't you believe me?" Sister Ju Lan glared at Song Jin, reached out and pulled Song Jin's ear close to her, and whispered to her.
Song Jin's fair face became redder and redder, until her entire face looked as if it had just been smoked by fog.
I even felt embarrassed and moved my ears away as I listened.
Then he was pulled back by Sister Ju Lan.
As soon as the housekeeper came in, she saw Ju Lan pulling Song Jin and whispering in a corner.
The two faces were hiding behind the round fans, and through them one could just see Song Jin's red little face.
Her almond-shaped eyes were wide open with an expression of surprise, as if to say, "So this is actually possible."
She laughed and scolded: "You are just teaching the young lady bad things!"
"Oh, here comes Mammy."
Ju Lan had almost finished teaching, and when she saw someone coming, she let go of Song Jin's ear, walked to Qinghong's side, fanning herself with a round fan, and helped her choose earrings as if nothing had happened.
Compared to Ju Lan, Song Jin looks like a quail who has done something bad.
She spoke in a low voice: "Mammy, Mammy..."
"Here, this is the money for today's cakes." The housekeeper put a small bag of copper coins in Song Jin's hand.
Song Jin took the purse and counted it carefully: "Thank you, Ma'am."
"Wait a minute." A faint voice came from the direction of the dressing table.
I saw Qinghong take out a bright red wedding money bag with her slender hands and hand it over.
She didn't turn her head, still staring at herself in the mirror.
"Take this wedding money."
Such a good thing!
Song Jin smiled, and her round almond eyes curved into crescents.
She stepped forward and took the wedding money bag with both hands: "Thank you, Sister Qinghong."
The sky was frighteningly gloomy, and the cold wind outside started to blow again, swaying the red ribbons hanging in the room.
Song Jin said a few more auspicious words, and seeing that it might snow outside, he wrapped himself in his coat and hurried home.
Sure enough, as soon as we crossed a street, winter rain started falling. The north wind was cold, and the rain contained tiny particles of ice that hit people painfully.
Song Jin's jacket was half wet, so he had to squat at the corner of the street to avoid the rain.
The purse in his arms was heavy. A cold wind carrying light snow blew over, and Song Jin shivered.
She wrapped herself tightly in her coat, planning to buy some winter supplies for her home in the next two days.
Rice, flour and firewood are certain to be needed, and the prices may go up in the future. By the way, she also needs to make two sets of cotton-padded clothes for her husband for the winter.
After calculating this way, the heavy money in her pocket was still not enough.
Song Jin lowered his head to do the math, and when he looked up again, he saw that it was getting dark, and Xue Mozi had completely turned into snow.
Song Jin thought about it, and finally gritted his teeth, covered his head with his hands, and ran all the way back to Chunliu Lane in the snow before nightfall.
At the end of Chunliu Lane there is a huge pomegranate tree, which is said to be two or three hundred years old. It is so big that you can see it when standing at the entrance of the lane.
When the fruits are ripe in autumn, you can see bright red from a distance.
Chunliu Lane is named after the pomegranate trees, but the lane is very old and looks a bit shabby.
Song Jin lived in a house next to a pomegranate tree. The branches of the tree extended into the yard, and sometimes he could reach a plump pomegranate just by reaching out his hand.
Song Jin returned to the house, took off her half-wet jacket, changed into dry clothes, then walked to her husband's door and knocked gently.
As soon as the knock on the door fell, a slightly cold voice came through the door: "Come in."
Song Jin pursed her lips and became shy even through the door.
She reached out and pushed the door open, then looked up and saw Xie Qiao sitting at the square table.
Even though I've been seeing him for two months, his face is always fascinating every time I see it.
The side room was not big, with only one candle burning on the square table. Even through the dim shadow, his face was still extremely handsome.
His face was a little thin, and as he concentrated on copying, the corners of his mouth were slightly pursed, and his eyes were focused, but without any emotion, only indifference.
He held a book in his left hand and a pen in his right hand, his slender white fingers clenched casually, as if these hands were born to accompany books.
The candle was what was left over from last night. There was only half a candle and the light was not very bright.
At this moment, he lowered his eyes, and under the tiny candlelight, his long eyelashes left a small shadow on his eyelids.
He had a slender figure and was wearing a half-new grey jacket, but even so, it was still difficult to hide his elegant appearance.
And his waist was tied with a coarse cloth belt...
His waist...
Song Jin's eyes froze and he began to feel distracted.
Just now, Sister Ju Lan said that if you wrap your legs around the other person's waist, you can get closer.
Song Jin's eyes stayed on his waist and abdomen. Even though the square table was covering his waist, he could vaguely see that his waist was thin under the coarse cloth belt...
It looks good at first glance.
After the last word on this page of the book fell, Xie Qiao placed the pen in his hand on the inkstone, then looked up at the girl standing at the door.
The girl was covered in moisture, her hair was still a little damp, and her face was unusually flushed.
She stood at the door in a daze, her almond-shaped eyes staring at the table, and no one knew what she was thinking.
Xie Qiao followed her line of sight and glanced under the table calmly.
It doesn't seem to be anything special.
He restrained his expression slightly, raised his head and reminded the dazed girl in front of him: "Ajin, what are you looking at?"
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