Chapter 97
All the way there, Chen Qing was worried that his grandmother would scold them for spending so much money, but his grandmother didn't say anything. Instead, she praised Zhou Yuan for knowing how to cherish her husband. Chen Qing blushed and said, "Grandmother, I'll take your measurements and make you two sets of clothes in a little while."
Grandmother nodded: "Aqing also has this skill."
Chen Qing was a little embarrassed: "I learned it from my stepfather when I was little. It's so-so, but barely wearable."
"It's already very good that you have this skill," his grandmother praised him, then coughed.
Chen Qing quickly got up: "Grandmother, I'll go brew your medicine."
He rushed into the house, found the medicine pot, and began to brew medicine for his grandmother. Zhou Yuan tidied up the things he had bought, and then said to his grandmother, "Grandma, I think we should still renovate the house. We don't even have a kitchen."
Grandmother glanced at him and said, "It's up to you, but the most important thing right now is to get things settled between you and Xiaoqing. I think May 17th is a good date."
Today is May 12th.
"So urgent?" Zhou Yuan said.
Grandmother clenched the handkerchief in her hand: "What's the rush? How long has Xiaoqing been at home? Besides, you're still sleeping together at night even if you're not married. Why don't you let Xiaoqing sleep with me tonight?"
“Okay, okay, May 17th it is.” Zhou Yuan quickly said, “Then we still need to prepare some things for the wedding.”
"You two go and discuss it yourselves." Grandmother stood up and stretched a bit. "Let's have a proper meal together as a family, pay respects to heaven and earth, and worship our ancestors. Then Xiaoqing will be a member of our family."
Chen Qingsheng finished cooking and sat by the stove, listening to them talk. He buried his head in his knees, looked at the firelight, and couldn't help but dream about the future, thinking that things would definitely get better and better.
Chen Qing still slept with Zhou Yuan at night. Now that the weather was getting warmer, Zhou Yuan's presence became stronger and stronger, like a furnace next to him.
On their way back in the afternoon, they talked a lot. Zhou Yuan asked him many questions, and Chen Qing answered them all, almost as if he were introducing himself.
After Chen Qing climbed into bed, Zhou Yuan didn't rush to turn off the light. He sat cross-legged on the bed, pulled Chen Qing, who was already lying down, up from the bed, and then did so in a very serious manner.
"What's wrong?" Chen Qing asked.
"Let me be frank with you first." Zhou Yuan took out a few sheets of paper from his pocket and held them up to Chen Qing.
Chen Qing was illiterate and didn't know what he had given him; he could only see that it had a red seal on it.
“These are two hundred-tael silver notes,” Zhou Yuan said. “I saved a general on the battlefield, so when I came back, he gave me these two silver notes.”
Zhou Yuan then showed him his purse, which contained two ingots of silver, each worth ten taels: "This was the money the court gave me when I came back. It was a resettlement allowance of thirty taels. I spent a little over six taels today, and this is what's left."
Chen Qing's eyes widened in surprise.
Zhou Yuan handed him the silver and purse together, saying, "Here you go. Buy whatever you want in the future."
Chen Qing felt the purse was burning hot, and before he could even get a good feel for it, he threw it back into Zhou Yuan's hand: "You keep it, I... I don't want it."
Zhou Yuan raised his eyebrows: "It's a bit little, but I'll earn more in the future."
Chen Qing quickly shrank back a little: "No, I've never seen so much money before. You should keep it for yourself. I... I have money to spend."
“Your wallet is empty,” Zhou Yuan exposed him.
Chen Qing blushed and raised his eyes, wanting to glare at him and scold him for looking at his things.
“You left it by the bed. You were looking for it and you used too much force, so your purse flew up,” Zhou Yuan explained to him earnestly.
Chen Qing: ...
"Keep it." Zhou Yuan stuffed the purse under Chen Qing's pillow and then blew out the lamp.
The lights went out, and the room became quiet. Zhou Yuan's breathing was particularly noticeable in the quiet space, and Chen Qing moved a little closer to him to sleep.
Chen Qing didn't know when he fell asleep. He had a dream he hadn't had in a long time. He dreamed that a huge silver ingot fell from the sky and hit him directly, knocking him into a big pit.
Chen Qing struggled to finally climb out, but before he could reach the ground, he was picked up by an eagle and slowly fell down.
The feeling of weightlessness made Chen Qing open his eyes, and he realized that Zhou Yuan had carried him from the inside of the bed to the outside while he was asleep, and then pressed his whole body against him.
He hugged Zhou Yuan so tightly that Chen Qing felt he could hardly breathe. He reached out and pushed Zhou Yuan, but unfortunately, he was too weak and Zhou Yuan did not budge.
"Zhou Yuan." Chen Qing had no choice but to call out to him.
Fortunately, Zhou Yuan is a keen sleeper. He woke up as soon as Chen Qing made a sound. He opened his eyes and looked at Chen Qing in his arms: "What's wrong?"
"You're holding me too tight, I can't breathe." Chen Qing's breathing was already a little rapid, and Zhou Yuan let go of him after hearing his words.
Chen Qing took deep breaths and it took him a while to recover.
There wasn't much space on the outside, so Chen Qing clung tightly to Zhou Yuan. He propped himself up, trying to get back to the inside of his bed, so he tried to climb over Zhou Yuan using both his hands and feet. But as soon as he got an arm and a leg over, Zhou Yuan reached out and hugged him around the waist.
"Just sleep here."
Chen Qing lay on top of him, and Zhou Yuan gently patted his back: "Go to sleep."
All Chen Qing could hear was Zhou Yuan's heartbeat. At this time, most people were sleepy, and Zhou Yuan's heartbeat was steady and strong. As Chen Qing listened, he closed his eyes.
The next day, Chen Qing didn't even notice when Zhou Yuan got up. By the time he woke up, he could already smell the fragrance.
He hurriedly got up and dressed. The aroma outside was from his grandmother simmering bone broth. Zhou Yuan found a pile of wood nearby, preparing to repair the house.
"Xiaoqing, get up." Grandmother sat down beside her. "Did Ayuan disturb you?"
Chen Qing quickly shook his head. He felt a little embarrassed. Zhou Yuan had been back for two days, and he hadn't fulfilled his responsibilities as a husband. He should have gotten up early to help him tidy his clothes, boiled water for him to wash up, and then cooked dinner for him.
Now, he sleeps until late morning, and Zhou Yuan does all the housework.
This made Chen Qing a little flustered. He knew that Zhou Yuan was initially unwilling to accept him, but his grandmother persuaded him to stay, and yet his performance was still so poor.
After quickly tying her hair up, Chen Qing ran to Zhou Yuan's side and said, "Let me do it. I'm pretty good at repairing windows now."
Zhou Yuan wouldn't let him do it. How could she let her husband do such heavy work? Before, when he wasn't around, the family had no choice but to let him do it. Now that she was back, Chen Qing wouldn't have to work so hard: "You go and watch the fire, I'll take care of it."
Chen Qing didn't go either, but stayed by his side, occasionally handing him things. Zhou Yuan thought this was fine, so he didn't rush him. He spent almost the whole morning repairing all the windows.
Lunch consisted of a large pot of bone broth and freshly steamed buns. The buns were made without any other flour mixture, and each one was plump and white. Chen Qing swallowed hard.
Lunch was served in the yard. There was a table with a broken leg in the house, and Zhou Yuan used the remaining wood to support the table leg.
The bone broth was simmered until it was snow-white, and sprinkled with chopped green onions, it looked very appealing. The steamed buns were soft and fluffy, and when soaked in the broth, they were even more delicious. Chen Qing quickly ate until he was stuffed. His grandmother didn't have a big appetite, so she only ate one steamed bun, and Zhou Yuan finished off the rest.
Chen Qing had just finished washing the dishes when he heard a commotion outside. He stuck his head out of the yard to look, but Zhou Yuan grabbed his hand and said, "Come on, I'll take you to see."
Grandma waved to them, saying, "Go on."
As they got closer, they realized the noise was coming from Zhou Mu's house at the village entrance. Several constables, wearing shackles and chains, had arrived at Zhou Mu's house.
The Zhou family was already on edge because of Zhou Yuan's visit yesterday, and they panicked even more when they saw the yamen runners. The eldest son of the Zhou family thought that his wife had gone out to report to the authorities that morning, but he never expected that shackles and chains would be put directly on Zhou Mu.
Zhou Mu was so frightened that his legs went weak. He thought that he should die knowing why. Only then did Zhou Mu find out the reason. Because he had forcibly taken other people's property and failed to fulfill his support obligations, he was sentenced to two years in prison, and was ordered to return all the property and the support fees for the past few years, totaling ten taels of silver.
Zhou Yuan stood in the crowd, watching Zhou Mu's face covered in snot and tears. He put his hand on Chen Qing's shoulder and looked down at him, asking, "Can you see this?"
Chen Qing nodded, able to see Zhou Mu being taken away through the gaps in the crowd ahead.
"So you went back?"
"Um."
He felt it was dirty to keep Zhou Mu's money, but it was perfect for building relationships in the county government. Zhou Yuan didn't take the money Zhou Mu returned; instead, he distributed it all to the yamen runners, with only one request: that they "take good care" of Zhou Mu.
When they got home, they found people sitting at the door, and they all smiled obsequiously at Zhou Yuan.
The villagers had heard from somewhere that Zhou Yuan had returned alive, and with a lot of money. Usually, no one from the village would ever come to his house, but today they all wanted to come and sit in his yard.
Chen Qing wore a bitter face. He didn't like dealing with strangers. He had been living with the family for so long, and when they were at their poorest, his grandmother had gone out to borrow grain, but she always returned empty-handed. So, who would come to their door? Now that Zhou Yuan was back, he felt there was something to gain.
Zhou Yuan didn't want to talk to them either. He pulled Chen Qing, who was about to enter, and turned a corner: "Let's go for a walk."
Chen Qing was confused, but he followed him to the side. Before long, they arrived near the large medicinal herb field. The field was bare at the moment, and it was not yet time to plant new medicinal herbs.
Chen Qing told him about his work in the medicinal herb field, saying that he had been transferred to another valuable medicinal herb field because of his good performance; he said that some people would slack off while working; he said that some people would steal herbs; and finally, he said somewhat embarrassedly that he had actually thought about stealing some herbs from the medicinal herb field to take home.
When his grandmother was sick, and the licorice she drank didn't help much, Chen Qing knew that the herbs in the medicinal field could strengthen the body. He had considered it, but the next day he saw someone being arrested, and Chen Qing never thought about it again. He had never even told his grandmother about this idea.
He didn't know why he told Zhou Yuan this today. After he finished speaking, he lowered his head, feeling extremely embarrassed.
After listening to what he had said, Zhou Yuan looked down at him. The afternoon sun was already very strong, and golden light fell on Chen Qing.
Chen Qing noticed Zhou Yuan looking at him, glanced up at him, and then lowered his head again, feeling a little embarrassed.
Zhou Yuan reached out and touched his cheek, forcing Chen Qing to raise his head slightly. Chen Qing's eyes were bright, as if he were asking him what was wrong.
He lowered his head, gently touched Chen Qing's forehead with his lips, and then hugged him: "You've worked hard."
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