Chapter 88 [VIP]
Because he hadn't eaten much at noon, Yuanbao finished a big bowl of noodles in the evening, even eating the poached egg in it completely.
Mrs. Li kept praising him, "Yuanbao is so good today, he can really eat!"
Upon hearing this, the child, trying to show off, held up his bowl and asked to eat another bowl.
Wang Ying said seriously, "If you want another bowl, you have to finish it all. You can't waste food by eating only half and leaving half."
Yuanbao quickly put down his chopsticks and patted his tummy, saying, "I'm full! My tummy is round and full, look!"
Everyone burst out laughing at his antics; this kid was truly clever and mischievous.
We didn't dare let him eat too much at night, as it could cause indigestion. After he finished eating, we had Mu Tou and Chun Sheng take him out to play for a while.
After the child left, Li said, "This morning I heard from Third Aunt that you taught Yuanbao not to waste food. That's a good thing. When Qingyan was little, he was about the same age as Yuanbao, and he was also taught a lesson by his father for the same reason."
"Was Qingyan like this when she was little?"
"He eats very slowly, taking only a few bites before running off to play. He always eats half of his food and leaves the other half uneaten, then asks the kitchen to cook something new when he gets hungry. Once, his father got so angry that he starved him for a whole day, not even giving him a sip of water, and managed to correct this habit of his."
Chen's father had experienced hardship with his grandfather, and there were times when he didn't know where his next meal would come from when he was a child. Naturally, he knew how to cherish food. But Chen Qingyan was different. His family had been living a better life since he was born, and his food was much more refined, which led to him developing bad habits.
Ever since he was scolded by the old man, Chen Qingyan has never dared to waste food again.
Wang Ying couldn't help but laugh; she never expected her husband to have such a mischievous side.
That night, Yuanbao went to sleep at Li's place, and Wang Ying went to the experimental field to wait for her husband after washing up.
As the weather warms up, the shop has switched from selling vegetables to popsicles, and the experimental fields have been planted with wheat after the vegetables were harvested.
Wang Ying converted all the vegetables stored in the system into experience points to avoid wasting them after they expired.
Nowadays, most of the storage compartments are filled with wheat, because wheat can be stored for much longer than vegetables. It can be stored for up to eight years and can be taken out and used at any time within those eight years.
Because the experimental fields can regulate the weather and accelerate the harvest, they can yield three crops a year, and can store at least six or seven thousand catties of wheat annually.
Wang Ying didn't plan to exchange this wheat for experience points, because the experience bar was a bottomless pit; even several thousand catties of wheat wouldn't yield much experience. She also didn't plan to sell it, as she had enough silver on hand, and this grain was a reserve for emergencies.
Unlike modern times, natural disasters and man-made calamities were common in ancient times. Once they occurred, one had to rely entirely on self-rescue. If you wanted to wait for the imperial court to provide disaster relief, you would probably starve to death before you could.
Wang Ying opened the experience bar and was suddenly stunned. Just two days ago, it was still a few percent unchanged, but in just a few days it had risen to eighteen percent. What did Chen Qingyan do?
After waiting for more than an hour, Chen Qingyan finally came in.
Seeing his travel-worn appearance, Wang Ying asked, "Have you left Jizhou?"
"Yes, we set off early this morning and arrived at the post station to rest in the evening."
"Won't they spot us if we come in like this?"
"The teacher had already gone to bed. I told Qingsong that I was going to use the outhouse, and I sneaked in from the carriage."
Wang Ying raised her hand and smoothed the messy hair at his temples, saying, "You must have had a long journey."
Chen Qingyan took his hand and rubbed it against her cheek. "It's no trouble at all. Today is your birthday. May you have many more birthdays to come!" After saying that, she took out a hairpin that she had bought in Jizhou Prefecture a while ago.
"Open it and see if you like it?"
Wang Ying opened the box, took out the hairpin and looked at it. "It's very beautiful, I like it very much." Actually, he wasn't interested in jewelry, but since the person who gave it to him was his lover, he also liked the gift.
"Let me tie your hair up."
"Okay." Wang Ying pulled the wooden hairpin out of her hair, and her cascading black hair fell over her shoulders, softening her features.
Chen Qingyan couldn't help but kiss him, and Wang Ying hooked her arms around his neck and kissed him back. The two hadn't been this intimate in a long time, and they were both a little impatient.
As their lips intertwined, both of them became somewhat aroused. Wang Ying was not a coy person to begin with, and after not having done it for so long, she was also eager for it. She pushed Chen Qingyan to sit on the ground and took the initiative to undo her clothes and underpants.
A young man is different from a man; his genitals are naturally suited for intercourse, and when aroused, he is almost like a woman.
The familiar feeling made them both feel incredibly comfortable, and Chen Qingyan let out a low, hoarse sigh as she held his waist.
The figure swayed, clothes hung on the arms and swayed, sweat dripped down the neck. After an unknown amount of time, Wang Ying felt that her voice was almost hoarse before he finally released. The two quickly cleaned themselves up.
Because giving birth to Yuanbao was too dangerous, Chen Qingyan didn't want Wang Ying to have any more children, fearing that he would have to go through the same pain again, so he always cleaned himself up after each time.
Wang Ying was so tired that she could barely open her eyes while leaning against him. Chen Qingyan used his fingers to smooth her hair, tied it up with a silver hairpin, and kissed her forehead.
"I should go back now."
"Um."
"I probably won't have time to come in often these days."
"I know, please be careful on the road."
"Okay." Chen Qingyan reluctantly helped him get dressed, and only left the experimental field after he returned to his bedroom.
*
June marks the arrival of the rainy season.
Laizhou is located by the sea, and every year at this time of year there is an unusually heavy rainfall, with sunny days being a rare occurrence.
The sky was clear and blue in the morning, but in the blink of an eye, dark clouds gathered and lightning and thunder roared.
Er Shun quickly covered the tarpaulin on the car, as the books inside were most vulnerable to rain; once they got wet, the ink would smudge and the words would become illegible.
Chen Qingyan, who was in the carriage in front, quickly closed all the windows to prevent rain from getting in.
Before long, large raindrops began to fall, hitting the car roof with a pattering sound.
As soon as Liang Boqing heard the sound of rain, he felt his back and legs ache. The humidity in Laizhou was high, and after living there for several years, he developed a lot of joint problems. He had begun to miss the heated kang bed in Chenjiazhuang.
Traveling in the rain was too dangerous, so Chen Guang led his horse to a sheltered spot to wait for the rain to stop.
With nothing else to do, Old Liang asked the three of them to compose a poem on the theme of rain.
Chen Qingyan spoke first, “A sudden wind sweeps across the land, bending all the grasses; a torrential downpour rushes through ten thousand ravines.”①
Old Liang stroked his beard and said, "It's rare to find such a grand and majestic style in your poem." Previously, Liang Boqing always thought that his poems were too gentle. Although such poems were loved by scholars, they would not be advantageous in the imperial examinations. On the contrary, poems with a grand and sweeping style would be more valued by the examiners.
When it was Chen Qinghuai's turn, he pondered for a moment and said, "A sudden rain washes the fragrant carriage, the Milky Way slants across the sky."②
Old Liang clapped his hands and said, "Good, this line is quite fitting. Go back and complete the whole poem and give it to me."
"yes."
Finally, it was Chen Qingsong's turn. He scratched his head for a long time before finally coming up with a sentence: "Dark clouds like ink half-cover the mountain, white pearls scattered on the edge of the car."
"It's alright, the black and white contrast is good, and the rhymes are all there. It's an improvement over before."
Chen Qingsong chuckled. He rarely received praise from his teachers along the way; most of the time, he was scolded and tapped on the head.
The rain intensified, and water began to seep through the cracks, dripping into the roof and walls of the car, quickly soaking everyone's clothes.
The three of them took turns holding up the oil-paper umbrella to shield Old Liang from the rain.
The heavy rain lasted for nearly an hour before it subsided. As it was getting late, we had to hurry and find a post station to rest.
In ancient times, most roads were dirt roads, which became muddy and difficult to travel on after heavy rain, and people often did not reach the next post station until dark.
It's fine for a person to sit in the carriage, but not for a horse. If a horse gets wet in the rain and keeps walking, it will definitely get sick.
Seeing an abandoned earth god temple by the roadside, Chen Guang pulled the carriage over and said, "Old Liang, we'll probably have to rest outside tonight."
"Alright, we'll rest when we arrive at the post station tomorrow."
The temple wasn't large, and it had been abandoned for an unknown period of time. The doors and windows were gone, and half of the roof had collapsed.
Chen Guang lit a torch and went inside to check. Only a few rats were scared away; there were no other wild animals.
"You can get down now."
Chen Qingyan jumped out of the car first, then helped Liang Boqing out of the car slowly, and the group went into the temple.
The small temple houses a clay statue, the paint on which has long since faded, making it impossible to discern which deity it represents.
Old Liang clasped his hands together and bowed, saying, "I have caused you much trouble while passing through this place, and I hope the gods will not take offense."
The other three followed suit and bowed as well, then found a dry place to sit and rest.
Since there was no dry firewood nearby after the heavy rain, they could only eat some dry food with the cold water from their water bags.
Several people's clothes were more or less wet, but the others were fine; they were young and energetic and didn't care about getting wet.
Old Liang was getting on in years, and Chen Qingyan was worried that he would catch a cold from wearing damp clothes, so she quickly rummaged through his belongings. Although there was an oilcloth to cover him, the clothes inside were still quite damp, and in the end, she could only find a half-dry garment.
"Please change into this first so you don't catch a cold."
Liang Boqing did not refuse and took off his own clothes to put on the clothes in his hands. However, the two clothes were similar and neither of them were very dry.
After feeding the livestock outside, Chen Guang and Er Shun went inside to rest for a while. Tonight, the two of them had to take turns keeping watch to prevent encountering wild animals or bad guys passing by.
Er Shun was responsible for the first half of the night, and Chen Guang was responsible for the second half. After the two of them made their arrangements, they quickly went to rest.
After a long day of travel, the others were also a bit tired, so they leaned together and took a nap.
In the latter half of the night, a light rain began to fall again. Around the end of the Chou hour (1-3 AM), Chen Guang suddenly shouted to wake them up.
Wake up!
"What's wrong? What happened?" Everyone rubbed their eyes and sat up.
"The roof might collapse, get out quickly!" Probably because of yesterday's heavy rain, the mud wall started to sink and collapse. Just now, when Chen Guang went to the back to use the outhouse, he suddenly heard a creaking sound. When he looked up, he found that the wall was falling down.
He was so scared that he ran back as fast as he could without even taking a dump.
Everyone rushed out, but when they reached the door, Old Liang suddenly turned around and walked back, saying, "I left my book bag behind."
Chen Qingyan dared not let him in. "Please get in the car first, I'll help you with it!"
Just as he ran into the small temple, "crack!" accompanied by a thunderous roar, the already crumbling temple collapsed completely.
A note from the author:
Note ① is adapted from Cen Shen's "Song of White Snow Sending Off Judge Wu Returning to the Capital".
Note ②: Chen Shidao's "Bodhisattva's Charm - The Seventh Night of the Seventh Month"
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