Shen Heng stared blankly as Bai Jiaojiao busied herself carrying food out of the kitchen, and heard her muttering, "This kitchen in our house is too dangerous. I'm really afraid that one day it will catch fire and we'll be done for. After the wheat harvest, let's build a decent one, shall we?"
Modern kitchens are simply thatched huts that provide shelter from the wind and rain; they don't even need a chimney, as smoke can escape from all four sides.
Shen Heng had never known what it meant to live a normal life before; he just thought that being alive was enough.
Hearing Bai Jiaojiao's words, a wet feeling suddenly rose in his heart.
"OK."
For dinner, we'd stew radishes again. At this time, resources were scarce, and there were only a few kinds of vegetables available. The more diligent ones would grow more in their own gardens, but for someone like Shen Heng who lived a simpler life, it was already good if he could grow two rows of radishes in his yard.
Bai Jiaojiao didn't eat much; almost the entire bowl of food ended up in Shen Heng's stomach, and Shen Heng still looked like he hadn't had enough.
Fortunately, Bai Jiaojiao knew Shen Heng's appetite, otherwise Shen Heng might not have been able to enjoy himself to the fullest.
Bai Jiaojiao wanted to tidy up, but Shen Heng took it away from her: "You don't need to do these things anymore."
"I want to do it." Bai Jiaojiao blinked, her face full of sincerity.
Shen Heng discovered that he seemed to have married a vixen.
Is this young wife trying to seduce him?
Right?
Shen Heng stroked his chin, looking into Bai Jiaojiao's bright, sparkling eyes.
If I keep tolerating this, I'm not a man.
He threw the bowls and chopsticks on the table into the kitchen, picked up Bai Jiaojiao who had followed him out, carried her back to the room, and threw her onto the kang (a heated brick bed).
"Brother Heng!"
Shen Heng, like a passionate dog, sniffed around Bai Jiaojiao's neck, his warm breath and soft lips landing on her. Bai Jiaojiao pushed Shen Heng away, saying, "Brother Heng, no..."
Shen Henghu's face hardened, and he said fiercely, "Isn't it okay for me to sleep with my own wife??"
Bai Jiaojiao pouted and said softly, "Heng-ge, you're not allowed to bully people."
Bai Jiaojiao stared at him with eyes like two pools of spring water, and Shen Heng was defeated in less than a second.
He snorted and said stubbornly, "Beg me, and if you beg me well, I'll spare you."
"Brother Heng, please."
Bai Jiaojiao could easily feign weakness, her soft little hands gripping Shen Heng's clothes and gently shaking them.
Chen Heng gritted his teeth.
Damn it, now that she's pleading, I'm even less likely to let her off the hook.
"If your request is not good, your heart is not sincere."
Shen Heng was clearly being dishonest, so Bai Jiaojiao had no choice but to blush and tell the truth in a low voice: "Brother Heng, I... I had my period this afternoon."
"What is it?" Shen Heng, a man who grew up wildly on his own, had no idea about these things. He was still kissing Bai Jiaojiao's forehead, his tone low and tender.
“That’s it!” Bai Jiaojiao looked up at Shen Heng, grabbed his restless hand, and whispered in his ear, “Menstruation.”
"..."
Chen Heng's movements suddenly froze.
"Pfft." Bai Jiaojiao couldn't help but laugh when she saw Shen Heng's dark face.
"What are you laughing at? You think I won't teach you a lesson?"
Shen Heng felt that his position at home was insecure; his wife was practically riding on his head.
He wanted to scare Bai Jiaojiao with a fierce look, but the next second Bai Jiaojiao kissed his lips, as if she was coaxing him and making amends.
Bai Jiaojiao's kiss was like a dragonfly skimming the water; before Shen Heng could even savor it, she had already run away from his embrace.
He slumped down to the side, exhaled a breath of stale air, glanced at his crotch, and thought to himself that he was going to get sick from holding it in like this.
Bai Jiaojiao pulled out a blueprint: "Brother Heng, I have something important to tell you."
Shen Heng took it: "What is this?"
Shen Heng looked at the detailed blueprints, which he recognized all the dense markings on, but he felt a little ashamed of himself.
Bai Jiaojiao had attended high school, but he learned to read only in a literacy class.
Bai Jiaojiao was focused on the important matter and didn't notice what Shen Heng was thinking: "Use this to cut wheat, and you can cut down a large area at once without bending over."
"A shovel? It doesn't look like this, does it?"
Shen Heng remembered seeing someone use a shovel when he was just old enough to remember things, more than ten years ago.
Back then, the wheat varieties were poor, and the wheat yield was shockingly low, probably only a little more than half of what it is now. The wheat ears in the fields were sparse, so using a sickle was inefficient, while using a shovel was much more convenient, as it could cover an entire field with a single sweep.
However, its appearance is quite different from the one drawn by Bai Jiaojiao.
"Of course not!"
Bai Jiaojiao explained to Shen Heng, "This is the big sickle. The arc on top can push all the wheat ears that the sickle cuts to one side, making them into piles, which is easier to clean up. Unlike a shovel, which makes a mess everywhere. As for how to use it, you hold the handle with your left hand and the handle in the middle with your right hand to control the direction. It's very convenient."
Shen Heng thought about it and realized that if what Bai Jiaojiao said was true, it would indeed be much more efficient.
“Using this to harvest wheat can at least double the efficiency. However, like a shovel, it requires a strong laborer to operate; otherwise, it will become too heavy to swing after a while.”
It certainly can't compare to later mechanization, but compared to bending over and using a sickle to cut, it can greatly increase the harvesting efficiency of strong laborers by two to three times.
The limitation of this tool is that it requires a strong person to use it, because without great strength, it cannot be used for long while carrying such a heavy farm implement.
"You drew this so I could use it?"
"Yes, isn't the wheat harvest coming up soon? If you use this, you won't suffer."
Bai Jiaojiao readily admitted it, leaving Shen Heng with indescribable feelings. His eyes welled up with tears, and he rubbed Bai Jiaojiao's head hard to calm his turbulent emotions.
His gaze gradually became lewd: "I didn't realize our Jiaojiao was so caring."
As he spoke, Shen Heng moved closer to Bai Jiaojiao.
Bai Jiaojiao was getting down to business when she removed Chen Heng's hand: "Brother Heng, Third Brother will make the blades. Can you do this carpentry work?"
Bai Jiaojiao knew that Shen Heng was capable.
The table at home with four legs of different lengths was something Shen Heng figured out on his own; it should be no problem to make a sickle handle out of it.
“Okay.” Shen Heng nodded in agreement.
"Then you make two, one for the eldest brother. I'll pay for the blade and the blacksmith's work, you pay for the wood, that's fair!"
To everyone's surprise, Shen Heng's face fell: "What did you say?"
Bai Jiaojiao could tell whether Shen Heng was genuinely angry or just pretending.
He was really angry this time.
Bai Jiaojiao swallowed hard. She couldn't blame herself for being so emotional when she first married him in her previous life. Shen Heng was indeed quite frightening when he got angry.
Those eyes were like those of a wolf in the mountains, looking like they were about to devour someone.
She said weakly, "My older brother is very good to me, and we help each other out..."
Shen Heng gave the Bai family two hundred yuan as a betrothal gift, but the Bai family didn't take a single penny. In fact, they even gave Bai Jiaojiao twenty yuan of dowry to take with her.
Although the Bai family may have intended to no longer care about Bai Jiaojiao, no one would say a word against the money even if the Bai family took it.
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