Chapter 13
Zhang Chunfen had never dreamed that Ye Jia's half-dead husband looked like this. Was this a real person? The light shone on the young man's shoulders, like a fairy descending from heaven.
She stared at Zhou Jingchen, and her dazed look was seen by the Zhang brothers who had been waiting for her for a long time and came over to pull her away.
His sister has loved to compare with others since she was young. She can't stand others being better than her. I wonder who she resembles in this personality!
"Ten cents." Ye Jia didn't care about him at all. He had to pay after eating the cake.
The Zhang brothers were as strong as black bears, but their temperaments were rather dull. They stood speechless for a long time, unlike the sharp-tongued Zhang sisters. Seeing Ye Jia's sullen expression, he frantically searched his pockets. He stuttered and counted out ten coins, handing them over. His rough fingernails were covered in mud, a simple, honest farmer.
Zhang Chunfen was still unconvinced. "What's wrong with me eating two of her cakes? My sister is her sister-in-law and gave birth to five children for her Ye family. How can I not eat two of her cakes? Second brother, you are really a traitor! You are always so ungrateful!"
The Zhang brothers were so embarrassed that they couldn't even raise their faces. They said sullenly that they would not bring her next time.
"Isn't it just shredded radish pancake? Who can't make it?" Zhang Chunfen bit a piece of the pancake angrily. Before being dragged away, she didn't forget to swear, "I'll set up a stall tomorrow. I'm sure my food will be better than hers!"
"Okay, okay..." The Zhang brothers dragged Zhang Chunfen away.
…
After the people left, the crowd dispersed. It wasn't a lively scene to begin with, just a beggar eating without paying, a common occurrence in Libei Town. These days, the truly poor are starving, how can they even have any regard for propriety, righteousness, or shame?
It just so happened that the tile market opened and the deer village was about to open, and the vendors stopped watching and rushed in to grab a spot.
Wusu and Si Le, the two big men who watched over the tile market every day, were given a seat near the door. Ye Jia was packing up slowly, while asking Zhou Jingchen what he had just said to the two men at the door.
Zhou Jingchen didn't hide it and told them directly that he had a chat with them. He then told Ye Jia about something: these two men looked rough, but they were actually soldiers in the garrison. Because of a relationship with the wife of a centurion in the camp, they retired from the battlefield a few years ago and were assigned to guard the Wa City. The money collected in the Wa City was to be sent to the garrison.
Ye Jia's hand froze, and she looked at him: "...Didn't you just go to deliver some cakes? Why are you talking so deeply?"
"Just a casual greeting," the man said without taking it seriously. "When doing business with someone, you have to find out everything before you proceed."
Ye Jia: "..." She had been sending cakes to those two people for a month and a half, but she didn't even know their names.
As if knowing what Ye Jia was thinking, Zhou Jingchen glanced at her and easily saw through her thoughts. He suddenly found Ye Jia's personality quite amusing, very strong-willed. Even a grown man like him was willing to compete. He smiled, turned around and brought the bamboo basket over. Slender hands grasped the chopsticks and methodically picked up the pancakes from the frying pan and put them in the basket.
Ye Jia was depressed for a moment, then took out the lid of the pot and covered it.
Just as he was about to lift the boiler onto the wheelbarrow, someone held his arm.
"Go stand aside, I'll do it."
Ye Jia curled her lips, took his crutches, and stood back.
Despite his injuries, a man's strength is innate. Zhou Jingchen's leg injury didn't affect his arm strength. He easily lifted the stove onto the wheelbarrow, which usually required Ye Jia and Yu Shi to lift together.
After everything was stacked, he turned around and carried the large bucket of dough into the car, saying to Ye Jia, "Let's go."
"..." He was quite comfortable in taking the initiative. Ye Jia was silent for a moment, feeling relieved.
However, Zhou Jingchen's next words made Ye Jia's situation clear.
In fact, Li Beizhen was in the palm of the hand of the garrison.
The Northwest, vast and sparsely populated, lacks the strict government structure and clear responsibilities of the Central Plains. Internal governance is a chaotic mess. The vast Beiting Protectorate is controlled by a single Grand Protector. He comes from a humble background, having risen through the ranks through military exploits. He's skilled at warfare but not at governance. He's barely educated, yet he commands a large number of garrisons. And those garrisons are all the same.
They are all people who occupy a nominal position but do not take charge of the affairs. They rely on the few soldiers and military achievements under their command to ask for tributes from those below.
The Northwest is poor, partly because of its geographical location, and partly because of its people. Whenever the garrison is short of money, food, or men, they all ask for help. Since they hold military power, the people dare not refuse.
Ye Jia was thinking about something while pushing the wheelbarrow with him into the tile market.
I don't know if it was good luck today, but the 250 pancakes were almost sold out in a short time. Surprisingly, most of the people buying pancakes today were women from the town. They'd just wandered around the tile market and then come back. They stood in front of the pancake stall, selecting and chatting with Zhou Jingchen.
The man wore a smiling face and spoke softly. He had a pleasant voice, and every word he said could make people feel half livid. Women hovered in front of the pancake stall, asking for one or two pancakes at a time, and soon he had sold a lot of them.
After all this time, it still depends on appearance!
Ye Jia felt quite regretful after discovering this. She couldn't help but wonder, if her erotic charm was so effective, should she just take off her ugly headscarf? Then she thought, forget it, men and women are different, so it's better not to fight for a moment's anger. Her thoughts were all visible on her face, and Zhou Jingchen saw it, but he was still amused.
Ye Jia glanced over and he stopped smiling again.
After massaging his shoulders, Ye Jia took off his sleeves and prepared to close the stall. Thinking that his radishes were all gone, Ye Jia went to the tile market again.
As soon as she left, Zhang Chunfen strolled over. Her brother's stall was in the middle, a little way off. Since radishes weren't a rare commodity, they hadn't sold many that early in the morning. Even now, there was still an empty stall.
Her narrow eyes flickered towards Zhou Jingchen's face, her pupils rolling around, and soon a hint of resentment appeared on her face. Zhou Jingchen noticed it from the corner of his eye, but he was too lazy to pay attention and just pretended not to see it.
What could Zhang Chunfen be thinking about? It was just her personal grudge against Ye Jia.
If she'd previously held a deep disdain for the Zhou family, now she felt a tinge of bitterness. People are like that, consumed by jealousy, they wish their sworn enemy would never have a chance at anything. In her opinion, Ye Jia deserved a life of hardship and fatigue, and her husband, ugly and poor, ideally, oppressed by her forever. Who could have imagined the well-documented image of the head laborer being this ethereal? If she'd known the Zhou family's son looked like this, she wouldn't have let Ye Jia get away with it.
Yes, after seeing Zhou Jingchen, she felt that Ye Jia had taken advantage. Thanks to her, Ye Jia was able to marry such a handsome young man. Just thinking about it made her feel unhappy. Why was Ye Jia so lucky in men?
Zhang Chunfen came up to talk to Zhou Jingchen. Without saying anything else, she asked why Ye Jia hadn't come to town to play recently.
Zhou Jingchen casually said, "Isn't she here every day?"
Zhang Chunfen felt dizzy when she saw this face, and said, "I'm not here to set up a stall in town. I'm here to look for someone. You don't know, right? Jia Niang is really good at pleasing men. People rush to give her good things..."
"oh?"
Zhang Chunfen wanted to tell Ye Jia about all the ugly things that happened to her immediately. But just as she was about to open her mouth, she turned around and saw Ye Jia coming back with his men. Fearing that Ye Jia would embarrass her, she gave him a hesitant look and walked away.
Zhou Jingchen watched her walk away, his gaze falling on the surrounding foreign merchants. Ye Jia came back and saw his eyes wandering over the faces of the people in Wa City, so she asked, "What are you looking at?"
"Nothing." Zhou Jingchen shook his head, and Old Man Sun came over driving a ox cart.
Ye Jia stared at him for a long time, but didn't see anything, so he ignored him.
Old Man Sun was the old man Ye Jia had hired for the cart. His surname was Sun. He swiftly helped Ye Jia load all his belongings onto the cart. A dark-faced young man was accompanying him. He was lean and slender, dressed in similar rags, but had a simple and honest demeanor and a clear gaze. Old Man Sun quickly pulled the man out and told Ye Jia that this was his youngest son, Sun Yushan, who was going to work for the Zhou family today.
"Boss lady." Sun Yushan grinned and looked even more foolish.
Ye Jia looked him up and down, and he seemed short. Actually, odd jobs weren't that demanding; as long as you could do the job well, it was fine. She took a quick look and nodded in agreement: "Okay, come back with me later."
On the other hand, Zhou Jingchen glanced at Sun Yushan for a long time. Seeing that he walked lightly, his eyes flashed slightly.
Ye Jia didn't notice his expression and ordered Old Man Sun to drive the ox cart outside. He then went to the sheep seller and brought back half a bucket of goat milk. He then bought a large basket of radishes and asked someone to deliver it.
Carrying bags of all kinds, the group went back to Zhou's house first.
The tiles were brought back yesterday, and the father and son of the Sun family helped unload the pots and radishes.
Yu heard the commotion and came out of the house. Seeing so many things, she hurried over to help. She didn't have to go to the stall today, so she made breakfast while she was at home. It was just porridge. She didn't know how to do anything else. After helping to get the food into the house, she turned around and saw Old Man Sun holding a dirty steamed bun in his arms. She simply called him in so that he could eat with her.
Old Man Sun naturally declined. He was there to deliver something, not to be a guest. How could he take someone's money and eat their food? But after a while of declining, realizing it wasn't just a pretense, he joined in with a bowl of porridge.
The Zhou family was kind, so they naturally did their best. Before leaving, Old Man Sun told Sun Yushan to work hard, and only left happily after seeing his son nod.
Sun Yushan was indeed as diligent as Old Man Sun said. After finishing his meal, he immediately climbed up to the roof to take a look.
Ye Jia was standing in the yard, looking at the roof from a distance. Rui Jie'er was curious and followed Ye Jia's lead to peek at the roof. However, she was too short to see clearly. Yu Shi, on the other hand, was standing nearby with a smile on her face. She couldn't help but glance at her son. The roof needed repairs, so naturally, no one could stay at home. Zhou Jingchen's legs were not fully healed yet, so he had to sit down after standing for a while. He was currently sitting on a bench outside the house.
"How about going out with Jia Niang today?" Yu was hoping that he and Ye Jia would get along well. It was rare for them to be alone together, so naturally she had to ask.
Zhou Jingchen remained expressionless: "Business is booming."
"Is that what you're asking?" His refusal to budge made Yu a little irritated. "I'm asking you how things are going between you and Jianiang. Yun'an, you two have been married for over two months and you're still living in separate rooms. Forget about the one from the Gu family. Just live a good life with Jianiang."
Zhou Jingchen remained silent.
After a long while, he suddenly asked, "Does Jianiang often go to town?"
Yu's heart skipped a beat at this question. She turned to examine her son's expression. She didn't know who he resembled, but he was deeply lost in thought. Unable to figure him out, Yu mumbled, "She grew up in town, so naturally she moves around quite often."
"Um."
That was the end of the conversation between mother and son.
The roof's condition was exactly as Ye Jia had suspected. It hadn't been grouted, only tiled. The tiles were badly broken, and the grass covering had rotted. No wonder the room was filled with a foul musty smell; it must have been the rotting grass.
Sun Yushan asked Yu for a broom and swept away all the grass covering the floor.
As the grass fell to the ground and was blown by the wind, the smell mixed with the dust almost choked Yu and Rui Jie'er. Yu quickly covered her granddaughter's nose and asked Ye Jia with a pale face if he still wanted the grass.
"No," Ye Jia didn't even take off the cloth covering her head. She got a long, thin strip of cloth from somewhere and covered her nose. "If you want to use these to burn firewood, I advise you not to."
Yu Shi didn't expect Ye Jia to see through her thoughts at a glance. She said embarrassedly, "It's a waste to throw it away. Burning it can still provide firewood for a day or two."
Ye Jia glanced at Yu and was about to speak when he turned to find Zhou Jingchen, a man with a strangely bewildered expression, covered in rotten grass in the corner of the yard. His head and shoulders were covered in rotten grass, dust showered him, and a few strands of rotten grass were stuck in his hair. This man, who usually had no expression, was in such a state of disarray. Ye Jia chuckled with schadenfreude from the side.
Zhou Jingchen stood aside with his crutches, patting his body and head with his hands.
His photos were bland. I don't know if it was because he couldn't see or touch it, but there was a piece of rotten grass stuck straight through the cracks of his hair, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't capture it.
Ye Jia had been there to watch the fun. But seeing Zhou Jingchen's hand so precisely miss those blades of grass each time, she couldn't help but laugh. It didn't fall once or twice, and it was still there three or four times. Ye Jia, with her damn obsessive-compulsive disorder, couldn't help herself. She quickly stepped forward, grabbed him by the collar, and forcibly pulled him down to pluck the blade of grass.
After pulling the grass, they realized something was wrong. Their eyes met and they stuck together.
Yu stared in astonishment. Ye Jia turned her head away, and she quickly pretended to be busy, carrying her little granddaughter and walking away: "Jia Niang, I've washed the radish. I'll take it in and cut it..."
Ye Jia, who has always been strong all his life: "..."
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