Hearing the words "I'm back", the smile on Aruan's lips grew wider and wider, sweeping away the fatigue on his face for many days.
He raised his hand and gently patted Wei Min's back, motioning her to let go and come in.
After Wei Min let go, A Ruan looked at her, raised her hand and asked with concern:
--Have you got a meal yet? Are you hungry? Let me make you something to eat.
After saying that, he took the bag from Wei Min's shoulders, turned around to lock the door, and reached out to pull her into the house.
Wei Min didn't eat dinner, so he was indeed a little hungry now.
A Ruan casually put the bag on the table, bent down to pick up her slippers, washed her hands, and then went to get the hot water from the pot.
——Take a hot bath first?
A Ruan and Wei Min pointed to the steaming water in the wooden barrel.
Wei Min just sat down and drank a sip of water. Hearing this, he looked up at A Ruan's clothes, then looked at the hot water beside him, put down the bowl and asked him, "Did you not eat dinner?"
Without waiting for A'ruan to speak, Wei Min stood up and led A'ruan to the inner room, asking as they walked, "Before I came back, did you go to bed with the pot on fire, and didn't wake up until I knocked on the door?"
Although Wei Min was asking him, he used an affirmative tone.
A Ruan opened his eyes wide in surprise and looked at his wife beside him in disbelief.
Seeing his expression, Wei Min knew that his guess was correct. He sighed and explained, "It's already this late, and you haven't changed your clothes yet, and there's still hot water boiling in the pot... And when you opened the door just now, I saw that you were sleepy, so I guessed that you probably just woke up."
Pulling the person to the bedside, Wei Min raised his hand to press A Ruan's shoulders and forced the person to sit on the bed.
As soon as Ah Ruan's butt touched the edge of the bed, she felt awkward. Her hands were nervously twisting the corners of her clothes. Her fair face slowly turned red under the candlelight. She looked at Wei Min with a slightly shy look, as if she wanted to say something but stopped.
——Are you going to do that right after you get back?
He hasn't showered yet, and his shoulders and neck are sore...
Even if you want to go to bed, you have to take a shower first.
Wei Min didn't notice A Ruan's tangled expression. He just squatted down, reached out to take off his shoes, and said, "I'll get some water for you to soak your feet. It's too late today. Take a bath tomorrow."
A Ruan was stunned for a moment, then he realized that he had just misinterpreted his wife's meaning, and his face immediately turned red.
However, Ah Ruan still held Wei Min's hand to stop her from moving, and raised her hand to gesture:
——I’ll cook for you first and then wash your feet later.
Wei Min directly pulled down A Ruan's gesturing hand and held it in his palm, interrupting his "speech" without allowing any resistance, and said: "The water will be cold in a while, you can take a break and soak your feet to relieve your fatigue. I will make noodle dumpling soup later, and we can both eat something before going to bed."
Although Aruan's words were interrupted, her heart was softened. She nodded obediently and watched Wei Min go out. She clasped the two hands on her legs together, and unconsciously placed the hand that Wei Min had held in the palm of the other hand, as if she wanted to retain the strong warmth from before.
Wei Min came in with some water, pulled the stool at the end of the bed and sat at A'ruan's feet, holding his feet and placing them in the water.
Wei Min lowered his head and rubbed A Ruan's feet with both hands, massaging him with moderate strength, and said softly: "Thank you for your hard work during the time I was away from home."
A Ruan's eyes were a little red, and he sniffed and shook his head.
The water in the basin was still hot. Wei Min put A'ruan's feet in it to soak. He wiped the water off his hands, looked up and asked him with a smile, "Are you tired anywhere else? Let me massage it for you."
A Ruan twisted her fingers, hesitated for a moment, bit her lip and pointed at her shoulder, her face full of grievance.
——It’s sour.
A Ruan sat sideways on the edge of the bed, with Wei Min standing behind him. Gently pulling open his shirt, I lowered my eyes and saw the long purple marks on his neck.
Wei Min frowned tightly, his hands unconsciously slowed down, and he subconsciously looked at his shoulder again.
Sure enough, his already thin shoulders were covered with purple marks from being pressed by the carrying pole, which was shocking just to look at.
Wei Min touched A'ruan's shoulder with her fingertips, and A'ruan flinched when she touched her.
Wei Min withdrew his hand in silence, curling his fingertips and clenching his fingers into a fist. Her chest felt very stuffy, so she bent down and hugged A'ruan from behind, buried her face in his neck, and slowly exhaled.
"I'm sorry to have made you suffer."
After a while, Wei Min said this sentence with difficulty.
A Ruan lowered his eyes, his eyelids trembled slightly, and there was a softness in his eyes. He pursed his lips and smiled softly, turned around, put his arms around Wei Min's waist, buried his face in her arms and shook his head gently.
——It's okay, I'm glad you're back.
When she was not around, A Ruan felt tired and wronged, but as soon as he saw her, he felt that the previous work was not so tiring anymore.
Wei Min asked A'ruan to sit in bed and went out to cook.
Wei Min had boiled some hot water in the pot before entering the house. Now that the water was boiling, he casually made some noodle dumpling soup. Seeing that there were still a few eggs left in the basket, she took out one and laid a poached egg for A'ruan.
A simple bowl of noodles, two people eating it while sitting on the bed, feeling satisfied and warm.
After dinner, Wei Min half leaned on the bed, while A Ruan lay on her back in her arms. The belt of her middle garment was loosely tied, and the collar was half open, falling to her elbows, barely covering her chest.
It has been more than half a month since Wei Min left, and the two have not been able to be intimate.
Now Ah Ruan was lying in her arms in a relaxed position, with his clothes half removed. It was an arousing scene, but when Wei Min lowered his eyes and saw that his originally delicate and fair skin had now turned into bruises, redness and swelling, all his anger immediately turned into heartache.
Wei Min poured medicinal wine into his palm and massaged A'ruan's neck and shoulders with moderate force.
A Ruan had originally planned to listen to Wei Min talk about what she encountered when she went to the provincial and municipal city examinations, but he was really too tired these days. Now that Wei Min was back, he relaxed physically and mentally and lay in her arms, and soon fell asleep.
After Wei Min applied the medicinal wine, he lowered his head and gave A Ruan a loving kiss on the forehead.
The next day, Wei Lian saw Wei Min in front of the rice pile. She was surprised at first and then happy. She was surprised because she didn't know when Wei Min would come back, but she was happy because she came back today.
Wei Min didn't tell her how she did in the provincial examination, so Wei Lian didn't ask any more questions. The two sisters husked the harvested rice ears together and then took them to the county to sell.
Taxes in this dynasty were not heavy, and Wei Min was exempt from tax as a scholar, so the rice harvested by the Wei family could be sold for money.
It was the fifteenth day of the eighth month. Wei Lian and Wei Min bought some vegetables at the market and bought a few pounds of wine before returning home to celebrate the festival. A Ruan and Sun stayed at home to cook.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is time to plant rice in the fields.
Now that Wei Min is at home, she takes on almost all the work, leaving A'ruan at home to rest.
A'ruan was a little uncomfortable with suddenly having so much free time, but fortunately Sun was pregnant, so she could sit with him for a while when she had nothing to do.
Wei Luo was very fond of the baby in Sun's belly and often talked to her while touching her belly which was not yet visible.
Wei Luo saw A Ruan coming from a distance today, and hurried over to greet him, holding his hands with both hands and leading him home affectionately, looking up and smiling as he shared a happy thing with him, saying, "Uncle, you don't know, my sister talked to me."
He spoke seriously, which aroused A Ruan's curiosity.
Sun was sitting at the door sewing clothes. When she heard what her son said to A'ruan, she immediately smiled and shook her head.
He raised his hand and beckoned A'ruan to sit down, explaining, "Your belly isn't even showing, so how could you possibly be talking? It's just that when A'luo put his hand on my belly that day, I happened to be hungry, and he heard the noises in my stomach, so he was convinced that it was my sister talking to him, and he wouldn't listen no matter what I said."
A Ruan smiled when he heard that and raised his hand to touch Wei Luo's nose.
Wei Luo pouted in dissatisfaction and hummed, "It's obviously my sister who is talking."
Seeing that his father and A'ruan were laughing at him, Wei Luo stomped his feet in anger. He decided to ignore them and ran away to play somewhere else.
The sun was shining brightly, and Sun and A'ruan were sitting at the door chatting.
Speaking of the baby in her belly, Sun hesitated for a moment, glanced at A-Ruan's flat belly calmly, and asked in a measured tone, "Don't you and A-Min consider having a baby?"
A Ruan was stunned when he heard this, and unconsciously reached out to touch his belly, then smiled and shook his head.
Ah Ruan knew that Sun was afraid that he would be unhappy, so she spoke in a subtle way.
Among the couples who got married this year in the village, most of the husbands are pregnant. Therefore, many people say behind his back that he has been married for more than half a year, but there is still no movement in his belly, and they are afraid that he will not lay eggs.
A Ruan could hear these words whenever he went out, and he didn't know whether his wife heard them.
The wife had said before that she was not in a hurry to have children, so A Ruan didn't take it to heart.
Seeing that Ah Ruan was in a daze, Sun patted the back of his hand. When he looked up at her, she couldn't help but comfort him, "Children depend on fate, and you can't force it. Besides, you and Ah Min are still young, so it's okay to be pregnant two years later. You see, it took me six years to get pregnant again, don't worry."
Ah Ruan smiled and shook his head to indicate that he was not worried. He raised his hand and gestured to Sun:
——My wife also said that she would wait two years before having the baby because she had to take the imperial examination. I was the only one at home and she said she didn’t want me to be too tired.
Because A'ruan couldn't speak, everyone in the Wei family learned sign language from others to some extent.
If A'ruan gestured slowly, normal communication would be fine. But if he gestured quickly in a hurry, only Wei Min could understand him.
Knowing that it was Wei Min's idea that they couldn't get pregnant, Sun felt relieved and started talking about other things with A'ruan.
…
After planting rice seedlings, Wei Min went home with Wei Lian. On the way, they met people from the same village and stopped to talk for a few words.
"I heard that your husband is pregnant?" The man said to Wei Lian with a smile, "It looks like we'll have a big fat baby girl next year."
Wei Lian didn't care much about whether the baby in Sun's belly was a boy or a girl, so she said, "It doesn't have to be a girl. I would like it if it's a boy, too."
The man talked about this with Wei Lian, and when he saw Wei Min standing beside him, he said to her, "Wei Er, you have to work hard and try to have a baby next year."
The man who was speaking was considered the elder of the two. Wei Min did not say anything to refute, but smiled and said, "No hurry, A'ruan and I are still young, so we don't want it for now."
When the man heard her say that, he laughed and said, "Scholars are different from us."
Wei Min heard the sarcasm in her tone, but he lowered his eyes good-temperedly and did not refute.
It is better to let people think that she doesn't want to have a baby than to let people talk behind her back that A'ruan is unable to have a baby.
Since there is no way to shut everyone's mouth, it is better to change the people they are talking about.
Wei Min's method was effective. At least when A Ruan occasionally heard villagers gossiping about him, all he heard was pity and sympathy for him, and no one said that he was unable to have children.
The author has something to say: Small theater
Villagers: Wei Min has become stupid from studying too much and doesn't even want a child. Haha, scholars are different from us. I feel sorry for her husband.
A Ruan:? (Black question mark face)
Wei Min: My poor husband, come to my arms and let me hug you (sly smile)
A Ruan: ..._(:зゝ∠)_
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