What is the sister-in-law covering up?
"Huh?" Lee Soo-man opened his mouth slightly in surprise, his rosy lips parted to reveal his clean, white teeth.
He belatedly realized that Zhang Chunfeng wanted to see where he was, and hurriedly replied, "No, no, I'm really fine, no need to see. It's getting late, you should go to sleep."
Li Xiuman had already lost his composure and was no match for Zhang Chunfeng.
"I'm just concerned about my sister-in-law. Am I not even allowed to care about her as her sister-in-law?"
As Zhang Chunfeng spoke, she sat down beside Li Xiuman's bed. From their honeymoon to the present, this bed embroidered with harmonious mandarin ducks had been sat on by only Zhang Chunfeng.
"Is my sister-in-law being so distant with me because she doesn't acknowledge me as her sister-in-law, or what?"
Zhang Chunfeng suddenly leaned close to Li Xiuman's ear, his words and breath warm against Li Xiuman's ear.
"Does my sister-in-law also have feelings for me, and is she deliberately avoiding me?"
Li Xiu's mind was completely blank, unable to think clearly, and he could only shake his head repeatedly.
“I, I didn’t,” Lee Soo-man explained again. “I’ll gather the herbs myself tomorrow, I really don’t need your ointment.”
"If I gather herbs tomorrow, won't I be in a lot of pain tonight?"
"Just bear with it, it'll pass," Li Xiuman replied. Everyone in this village has some kind of ailment—aches, leg pains, stomach aches, it's all too common. With so many illnesses, how can you see a doctor every day? We're not royalty, with imperial physicians by our side every day. That's how everyone in the village is; whether it's pain, illness, or anything else, just bear with it, and it'll pass. Just bear with it a little longer, and a lifetime will pass.
Lee Soo-man hadn't expected Zhang Chunfeng to ask, "If it hurts, why endure it?"
Zhang Chunfeng deliberately placed the jade bottle of ointment on Li Xiuman's knee. The cool bottle pressed against Li Xiuman's leg, causing Li Xiuman to tremble. He tried to pull his legs away, but Zhang Chunfeng slapped his calves down.
Zhang Chunfeng's palms were so warm, and he pressed them against Li Xiuman's calf.
Lee Soo-man couldn't answer her question to begin with, and now he felt Zhang Chunfeng's hand pressing and caressing his leg.
This is terrible!
Lee Soo-man hurriedly put away the ointment and moved his body further into the bed.
“Chunfeng is right. I’ve accepted the ointment. It’s late, you should go back now,” Li Xiuman said urgently.
"Sister-in-law really doesn't like me. She's in such a hurry to send me away. She's forgotten who accompanied her on her homecoming visit today." Zhang Chunfeng smiled, but remained seated on the edge of the bed, motionless.
Lee Soo-man didn't dare to move either, fearing that if he made a big movement, the pants that were supposed to be covering him would shift to the wrong position, which would be fatal.
He forced a dry smile and was about to speak when he heard two footsteps outside. It turned out that Li Shi and Zhang Chuntian had returned.
Li Xiuman became even more anxious, "You, you should go back quickly, it won't be good if Mother sees you."
"Ha." Zhang Chunfeng laughed, his peach blossom eyes tilting upwards with pleasure, his face truly like a gentle spring breeze.
“Look at what you’re saying, sister-in-law. I was just delivering medicine. How come you’re making it sound like we were having an affair?”
She deliberately lowered the last two words, as if teasing Lee Soo-man.
Lee Soo-man pursed his lips, unsure of what to say, but then he saw Zhang Chunfeng leisurely get out of bed. He immediately relaxed a little, thinking that Zhang Chunfeng was about to leave.
Zhang Chunfeng took a couple of steps, then suddenly turned around and said, "I suddenly remembered a question I wanted to ask my sister-in-law."
"What?"
"Why didn't you tell anyone at Aunt Liu's house today that I am not your husband?"
"I..." Li Xiu's face turned so red that her earlobes seemed to be bleeding. "I was going to say something, but..."
Lee Soo-man was unsure what Zhang Chunfeng was thinking. Did she think he had ruined her reputation by not speaking up, or did she think he was someone who had rejected her while simultaneously taking advantage of her reputation?
Zhang Chunfeng nodded, as if he already knew the answer, and walked straight to the door.
As she gripped the door with both hands, she suddenly spoke up, "Sister-in-law, don't block it anymore, I've seen everything."
With that, Zhang Chunfeng calmly stepped out of the room, leaving Li Xiuman alone on the bed, bewildered.
His face flushed, he looked down at his legs, which were hidden by his pants. He saw them? Where? Wasn't he hiding them? He looked down to make sure there was no problem, then looked left and right.
Isn't everything covered up?
After sitting on the bed for a while, Lee Soo-man endured the pain, put on his pants, got up, locked the door, and then lay down again.
This time, when he was going to sleep, he took off his pants and then his shirt. His fingers touched his shirt, and he was immediately stunned.
It turned out that Li Xiuman's family was poor, and these short jackets were made in his early years and worn for many years. As he grew taller, he didn't throw them away and continued to wear them in this short style.
Today, after taking a bath, he rushed into the house. After putting on his undershirt, he was in such a hurry that he rolled it all up on his upper back, and the undershirt underneath was too short.
He hurriedly covered his legs with his pants, completely unaware that his shirt was rolled up all the way up his back. From the front, he didn't notice anything, but from the back, his waist and below were completely bare.
Zhang Chunfeng didn't just see his front; he saw most of his bare buttocks.
Lee Soo-man was so embarrassed he felt like he was going to die.
What on earth am I doing?! How could I be so careless! Even if I was in a hurry, how could I do this! My sister-in-law saw my butt. If word gets out, people will laugh their heads off.
Li Xiuman felt ashamed, but the steam rising from his face also carried a hint of embarrassment. Embarrassment and embarrassment were different; he inexplicably felt that being seen by others was one thing, but being seen by Zhang Chunfeng always felt strange.
He couldn't quite put his finger on what was strange. As he held the jade bottle Zhang Chunfeng had given him, he inexplicably recalled the scene of him kowtowing to Madam Shen earlier that day, and how she had placed her hand on the ground for him to cushion his swollen and red head because she felt sorry for him.
My heart aches. Lee Soo-man's eyes reddened. Since he was sixteen, fewer and fewer people truly felt sorry for him.
Lee Soo-man hesitated for a while before opening the jade bottle and applying the cooling ointment to the wound. Although it hurt while he was applying it, the medicine worked very quickly afterward, and he didn't feel any discomfort.
Li Xiuman lay there holding the jade bottle, his mind drifting back to the question Zhang Chunfeng had asked him.
If it hurts, why endure it? Lee Soo-man gripped the jade bottle tightly, racking his brains but still unable to understand the answer to this question.
Unable to figure it out, he drifted off to sleep.
When he woke up the next morning, he was surprised to find that the sores on his legs from the previous night had healed considerably. This expensive ointment was indeed more effective than the herbs he had picked himself.
He got up in a good mood and hurried to cook, but after the food was set out, he found that Zhang Chunfeng was nowhere to be seen.
Seeing that Li Xiuman had also served rice to Zhang Chunfeng, Li Shi hurriedly said, "I forgot, this bowl of rice is for Chuntian, today is..."
"It's the magistrate's son's birthday. Chunfeng was brought to your magistrate's residence early this morning. Whether she'll return tonight is another matter."
Li Xiuman nodded repeatedly and placed the bowl of rice next to Zhang Chuntian. He sat down and ate in silence. There were four people sitting at the square table. Usually, his seat was directly opposite Zhang Chunfeng, but today when he looked up, the seat opposite him was empty.
Lee Soo-man felt a strange emptiness in his heart.
The emptiness vanished in an instant, and Zhang Chuntian leaned on his shoulder.
"My wife and I are going to the city."
While drinking her porridge, Li pointed to the herbs planted in the yard.
“I usually take Chuntian into town, but now that he’s married, Man’er, you should take him into town to sell these herbs,” said Madam Li.
Li was too frail to work in the fields, but with Zhang Chunfeng at school, she had nothing to do at home. She would sew things, but over time her eyes became uncomfortable, and as she got older, it took her half a day to thread a needle. So she started a small garden in the backyard to grow some hard-to-grow herbs, which she would then sell to pharmacies in the city to earn some money when the season came.
Although the money wasn't much, the villagers always believed in making every penny count, and they were happy as long as they had it in their hands.
Today is another day for delivering medicinal herbs.
Lee Soo-man nodded. "Okay."
When Zhang Chuntian heard that his wife was going with him, he happily snuggled up to Li Xiuman.
Zhang Chuntian would indeed not touch Li Xiuman. It was unclear whether it was due to some kind of restriction from the Li family or something else, but even when Zhang Chuntian was at his happiest, he would only stand very close to Li Xiuman. He was so close that if there were a wall behind Li Xiuman, he would probably be pushed against the wall.
After saying all this, Li asked, "Man'er, we've been helping with the planting of your family's land these past few days, but the location of your land isn't good, with so many stones underground. I think after this season's harvest, you should plant something else."
Li Xiuman had long harbored this intention. He had bought the land from the Shen family, who had been expelled from their home, so neither of them owned any land. This land was originally purchased by the Shen family through intermediaries. If it were fertile land, they naturally wouldn't sell it; they would only sell the land that was difficult for them to cultivate. In previous years, Li Xiuman had to put in far more effort on his own land.
But back then, he and Shen both needed to eat rice. Now that Shen is gone, and he is eating Zhang's food, the land could indeed be converted to grow something else.
“Mother is right, that’s exactly what I was planning to do.”
Li nodded, and after they finished eating, she gave Li Xiuman further instructions.
“I take Chuntian to the city once every few months. He loves going, but there are a lot of people in the city, so you must keep an eye on him. You can take this money and buy him whatever he likes. Man’er, you can also buy whatever you like.”
Madam Li stuffed the copper coin into Li Xiuman's hand and sighed softly, "I only know that it's a grievance for you to marry him, but since you've already bowed to heaven and earth, you must keep a close eye on him."
Li Xiuman blushed as he held the copper coin in his hand. Li's words brought him back to reality. Did he really think that Zhang Chunfeng, who accompanied him back to his parents' home yesterday, was his husband? That was his sister-in-law! His husband was Zhang Chuntian, who was smiling at him at this moment.
He shook his head slightly, "Mother, you're being too polite. I'm not aggrieved."
After getting ready, the two went out. It happened to be market day, and there were quite a few people on the way.
Just outside the village, Li Xiuman and Zhang Chuntian ran into the two brothers, Dazhu and Xiaozhu, again. Both brothers were on their way to the market with their wives when they saw Zhang Chuntian and Li Xiuman walking together.
Then, seeing Li Xiuman's handsome appearance, he chuckled and asked Zhang Chuntian, "Dachun, once you've married a wife, you should treat her well. How can you bear to let her walk such a long way! Why don't you carry her on your back!"
"Dachun, look at you, you're not even carrying her on your back, and you're not even holding your wife's hand. What if such a beautiful wife runs off with someone else?"
As Dazhu spoke, he carried his wife on his back, which made the woman laugh and playfully punch Dazhu's back. Xiaozhu, on the other hand, held his wife's hand, and the two walked forward sweetly.
Li Xiuman's face had already turned red. His family lived in a remote part of the village, almost right in the fields. He was always busy and rarely saw the village's young people. When he was in the fields, he wore a straw hat, so he practically had no interaction with them on a daily basis.
Now that he was being teased like this, he didn't know what to say. He just lowered his head, took a few quick steps, and tried to avoid it.
Zhang Chuntian followed closely behind Li Xiuman, but this time he didn't grin foolishly at Dazhu and Xiaozhu. Instead, he tilted his head, seemingly deep in thought, and stared at Dazhu and Xiaozhu's movements.
The two walked quickly, leaving the others behind. When they reached a secluded spot, Lee Soo-man realized that the injury on his thigh hadn't fully healed. Walking so fast and sweating made it hurt a little again, so he had to slow down.
Seeing that Li Xiuman was walking slowly, Zhang Chuntian suddenly squatted down in front of Li Xiuman.
“Wife, I’ll carry you on my back. I love my wife,” Zhang Chuntian said.
Lee Soo-man sighed helplessly and pulled Jang Chun-chun up.
“In spring, don’t follow others’ example. We’re outside, how can you carry me on your back?”
“But Dazhu said he’d carry his wife on his back,” Zhang Chuntian said, blinking.
Lee Soo-man shook his head. "I can walk by myself. I don't need to be carried. Look, Da-zhu only carried his wife once. You can't do that outside. It's not good."
He had only known Zhang Chuntian for a short time and didn't know if Zhang Chuntian's supposedly ten-year-old mind could understand his meaning. So he simply said no.
Zhang Chuntian seemed to spend quite a while trying to understand Li Xiuman's "badness" before finally nodding.
"Yes, Mother said we should listen to our daughters-in-law."
After he finished speaking, he grabbed Lee Soo-man's hand and said, "Take your wife's hand and walk away."
This is another example of Xiaozhu learning from before.
Given Lee Soo-man's personality, he wouldn't like holding hands so openly in public.
He tried to break free, but felt Zhang Chuntian's grip tighten. Zhang Chuntian also noticed this and immediately stomped her feet in anger like a child.
"My mother will always hold my hand, my mother will always hold my hand, I want to hold my wife's hand, my wife."
Before leaving, Li specifically instructed that Zhang Chuntian should not be allowed to cry in the street, and Li Xiuman quickly stopped struggling.
"Okay, okay, I'll hold your hand," Li Xiuman said reassuringly, then reminded him, "If you need to go to the outhouse in the spring, be sure to tell me. And don't wander off when we get to the city."
Zhang Chuntian nodded, "Mother has already given instructions."
The two walked hand in hand. Li Xiuman remembered that Zhang Chunfeng and he had intertwined their fingers yesterday, and suddenly realized that the hands of the two siblings were indeed worlds apart.
Zhang Chunfeng's hands were soft and warm, with delicate skin, except for a faint callus on his middle finger, presumably from long hours of writing.
Zhang Chuntian's hands were large, with extremely thick fingers covered in calluses from the tips to the palms. Not only that, but his palms and the backs of his hands were covered in numerous fine, dense scars. Even more strangely, he had a large scar on his right index finger. Li Xiuman felt truly sorry for Zhang Chuntian; because of his mental disability, he was unaware of many dangers, and these numerous scars must have caused him immense pain.
“Spring, why do you have so many scars?” Lee Soo-man asked.
Today they were going into the city, so Li dressed Zhang Chuntian in a tattered blouse with the sleeves rolled up, revealing several scars on his arms.
Zhang Chuntian probably didn't understand that Li Xiuman was asking about his hand, so he pointed to a scar on his arm.
"My mother hit me."
Li Xiuman was stunned. He turned his head to look and saw that there was indeed a mark on Zhang Chuntian's arm that looked like it had been whipped.
Why did I hit you?
"I was naughty, so my mother hit me."
"Why aren't you being good?"
Zhang Chuntian tilted her head and thought, "Mother said I shouldn't steal my sister's food, I shouldn't take her things, and I shouldn't talk to her on the street, or people will laugh at me."
Zhang Chuntian pursed his lips, looking extremely aggrieved. In his childlike mind, Zhang Chunfeng had grown up entirely on his back, and he was naturally close to her. Of course, he wanted to touch his sister's things too. He rarely saw his sister, even for a month at a time. When he finally saw Zhang Chunfeng leaving school on the streets of the city, he naturally wanted to call her "sister."
Li Xiuman felt uneasy. He had long known that the Li family would favor Zhang Chunfeng, but he never expected that they would be so biased as to forbid Zhang Chuntian from talking to Zhang Chunfeng on the street.
Is it just because his stupidity would embarrass Zhang Chunfeng? Li Xiuman felt sorry for Zhang Chuntian, and suddenly remembered her own mother, Shen, who was also biased towards Yaozu.
Even on her deathbed, it was Li Xiuman who stayed by her side, but Madam Shen still wanted to see her own biological son, Chen Yaozu.
Lee Soo-man's eyes reddened as he gently tidied Jang Chun-chun's hair at her temples.
But then Zhang Chuntian laughed again.
"From now on, Mom won't hit me anymore. My sister won't let Mom hit me, and Mom can't hit me even after I get married."
He laughed so heartily, his clear black and white eyes filled with innocence.
That innocent gaze burned through Lee Soo-man like a torch, filling him with immense heartache. He thought of how much Zhang Chuntian trusted him, and how he himself had been with his sister-in-law yesterday…
That was really wrong!
With a troubled mind, he led Zhang Chuntian into the city.
The first building upon entering the city was the magnificent "Drunken Immortal Pavilion." Because the Shen family had previously done business there, Li Xiuman never glanced at the building and hurried past it.
He had long heard that the women of Zuixianlou lived a difficult life, and the thought of how Shen had been humiliated filled Li Xiuman with sorrow. He only regretted that he was born without ability, merely her child, and not the one who could save her from her suffering.
Li Xiuman had intended to hurry past, but a magnificent carriage with carved railings and painted beams slowly pulled up in front of Zuixianlou. He suddenly felt that the carriage was so familiar, and upon closer inspection, he saw a man in a white silk robe alight first. Then, the man lifted the curtain, and Zhang Chunfeng, dressed in the same white silk robe, stepped out of the carriage.
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