Back to the Countryside

Chapter 25: 家底
[Family Property]

"Wife, what are you doing here?" Lin Sheng was a bit surprised to see Wu Yulan carrying a basket out.

Wu Yulan glanced at He Zhen who was not looking well, and with a cold snort, she walked over to Lin Sheng, "I thought that Ling Ge er was bored at home alone  so I came to keep him company, then take a look at time, it's almost noon so I'm prepared to going home to cook. Why are you all standing at the doorway?"

"Husband (xiang gong) !" He Ling saw Qi Yue and greeted him.

Qi Yue's eyes softened and he reached out to embrace him, "Did you miss me?"

He Ling immediately blushed, although he did not push him away, his eyes did not dare to look at Wu Yulan and the rest "There is people here!"

Wu Yulan's eyes were full of teasing, and she was very happy to see how well they were getting along.

Lin Sheng silently laughed twice, and when he caught sight of He Zhen, who looked unsightly, he remembered to answer his wife's words, "He Zhen was waiting at the door, when we came back, we meet him, so we were delayed!"

When He Ling heard his words, he looked at He Zhen, thinking of what had happened earlier, he was still uncomfortable, so he looked away from him.

        But Wu Yulan smiled coldly and said, "What? You haven't splashed enough dirty water on Ling Ge er's face in front of the villagers, so now you want to splash two more basins in front of Qi's brother!"

        "What? Did he bully people again?" Lin Sheng answered immediately, thinking that he was sincere in admitting his fault, but it didn't seem to be the case!

        "Is it true that Big brother Qi can't do anything about my illness?"He Zhen couldn't think of anything else at the moment and waited for Qi Yue to ask again.

        Qi Yue did not hesitate and shook his head straight away, "No!"

He Zhen pondered for a moment, and then said, "Is it possible to trouble Big brother Qi to send me to the town tomorrow?"

        Qi Yue's eyebrows knitted slightly, when he was about to refuse,his sleeve being tugged by someone then he looked down and saw He Ling looking at him, he understood the meaning in his eyes. But there is something that he couldn't understand, yet he didn't ask. He only looked up,said to He Zhen, "Okay, Come find me tommorow morning!"

        "Many thanks, Big brother Qi!" He Zhen thanked him, rewrapped his head and face in a cloth scarf, turned around then walked away.

        "Why did Brother Qi answer him?" Wu Yulan's face looked a little uncomfortable. He Zhen had made such a scene with He Ling earlier that already made those long-tongue women think there is something about Qi Yue and He Zhen's relationship.She was sure that it wouldn't be until tomorrow that the rumours would spread throughout the village. By sending him to the town for medical treatment at this critical juncture would only be adding fuel to the fire!

        Qi Yue did not answer, he looked at He Ling and said, "I also want to know why?"

        When he asked this question, both Wu Yulan and Lin Sheng were stupefied, they also subconsciously followed to looked over.

He Ling's grip on his sleeve tightened as he lowered his eyes, his voice sound a little tired, "Help him once more, whether he is cured or not, from now on, the affairs of the He family will have nothing to do with me!"

        "You silly child!" Wu Yulan felt a little distressed, all these years he had worked for the He family, they had beaten and scolded him, but he had never complaint, because they were his blood relatives after all, and whenever they treated him well, he would never forget their kindness.These kind of deed, really broke his heart!

        Lin Sheng lifted his hand to his wife's shoulder and patted her soothingly, understanding the sadness in her heart.

        "From now on, you should only care about me!"Qi Yue brushed the hair on He Ling's cheek behind his ear and gently lifted his face to let him look at himself.

        He Ling looked into his eyes, seemed to be drowning in that tenderness!

"Ai ya, .It's getting late, let's go back and cook, lets go back and cook!" Seeing that the two people had forgotten about others, Wu Yulan did not feel sad anymore, waved her hand at them, dragged Lin Sheng, who was still a bit unaware of the situation, and left.

        He Ling watched as Wu Yulan shoved the basket into Lin Sheng's hand as they walked away and told him to take it, and even criticised him for not knowing how to read the situation, so he couldn't help but laugh, "Big brother Lin and sister-in-law Yulan are really close!"

        Qi Yue saw that He Ling is happy, he was also in a happy mood himself, "We are also very good!"

        He Ling looked back at him and for the first time he reached out and climbed onto his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek, "Qi Yue, it's so good to know you!"

        Feeling the softness touch on his cheek, Qi Yue's eyes darkened, he settled down, look as gentle as before, "It's noon, let's think about what we should eat?"

He Ling didn't notice at all that he had teased someone, he thought for a moment and said, "I'll cook a pie for you?"

        "Sure!" Qi Yue answered and swept him into the house.

        He Ling used to make pies at He's house, using mixed grain flour, the fillings he used were some wild vegetables from the mountains. Qi Yue, however, bought fine food, using white flour and pork filling, the pies are golden brown and the pork is fatty and lean.It's a delicious bite!

        He also mixed carrots, stir-fried shredded potatoes with spicy and sour sauce and he made an egg soup. Qi Yue was so satisfied with his meal that he sighed in his heart that it was good to have a husband!

        He Ling, however, seemed a bit worried. After washing the dishes, Qi Yue pinched his cheek and asked, "What's wrong?"

He Ling hesitated for a moment, but still spoke, "Xiang Gong, shouldn't we... saving some money?"

        Since Qi Yue came to the village, he had bought a house and a cow, because he had married him, he had to spent fifty taels of silver, plus the clothes he had bought for him were all silk. When Qi Yue gave him the clothes, he was terrified, he had never seen such good clothes before, and he dared not accept them!

        But Qi Yue said that if he didn't accept it, he would throw it all away, so he accepted it with 'trembling with fear* (战战兢兢) and was so uncomfortable that he didn't dare to move the first time he wore the clothes, for fear of getting it dirty or spoiling it!

[战战兢兢: trembling with fear / with fear and trepidation--- Describes a very scared and trembling appearance / It also describes a cautious look]

        The banquet was made of good stuff, and the chef was hired from the town's restaurant , so it must have cost a lot of money,when he did the math,his heart was trembled!

        "Oh? How can I save?" Having eaten his fill, Qi Yue, who had been a little lazy, came to life and wanted to tease him.

        "We can raise our own chickens, pigs and so on, there is still open space in the backyard, we can open another place to grow some vegetables, these food is too expensive to buy outside all the time!" After saying this, He Ling glanced at Qi Yue, and seeing that he was still smiling, he continued, "I can make my own clothes, so I don't need to buy such expensive materials in the future, and don't buy those balms and hair creams either, it's such a waste!"

After finish listening to his ramblings, Qi Yue smiled and took him into his arms, giving him a kiss on the cheek, "Raising livestock and growing vegetables is up to you, but not buying you anythings, I reject it!"

He didn't agree to the main thing surprisingly so He Ling urgently said, "Those are unnecessary, it's a waste of money to buy!"

"Who said it was unnecessary?" Qi Yue took his hand and caressing it, the softness and smoothness was particularly nice to touch, "You look good in your clothes, bring you up fair and delicate , I'm happy to look after you, is it possible that Ah Ling does not want to see me happy?"

"No!" He Ling hastily denied it, how could he doesn't want to see the other party happy, it's just that Qi Yue always choose the entirely picky and the extremely expensive things to buy, he felt that its too extravagance for him to use.

Qi Yue smiled faintly while took him by the waist and led him to the room, "I have something for you!"

He Ling was full of doubts as he led him into the room and watched him fetch a carved wooden box from the wardrobe then put it in his hand, "This will be yours to keep from now on!"

        "What is it?" He Ling asked as he opened the wooden box, and saw some coins and silver, and five or six silver ingots, at least ten taels each.
He was surprised, "Money?"

        Qi Yue lifted his chin, gesturing for him to continue looking through it.

        He lowered his head again, reached out and pushed the broken silver coins to the side, revealing a few sheets of paper underneath. He Ling reached out and pulled the paper out and looked at it, almost throwing the money box out of his hand, "This, this is ......"

        Qi Yue was amused by his appearance so he took hold of his hand, which was trembling while holding the banknotes, "Your husband is still quite rich now.I'm not afraid that you spend it!"

But He Ling was a bit speechless, this was a silver banknotes! One paper worth a hundred taels of silver, he had at least seven or eight of these in his hand, he had never seen so much money!

        Seeing his really frightened look, Qi Yue was both amused and distressed for him, how could these things be worth so much to made him (frightened) like this?

        He lifted his hand and put the silver banknotes in He Ling's hand back into the box, resting the box on the table, he cupped his face and said, "Only a few pieces of paper, why are you so scared?"

        "This is not paper!" But they were all silver banknotes! He Ling's heart panicked, there is so much money but Qi Yue had just casually put in the cupboard earlier, even without a lock, "This, so much money, what if it was stolen?"

        "He he! " Qi Yue let out two soft laughs, he moved closer to rest his forehead against his. "The walls of our house are so high, it can't be easily lost!"

"It's not very high ......" He Ling retorted in a whisper, he also thought the wall was very high before, after all, most of the houses in the village had low mud walls or fences, his house was a lot higher than a person, it was much better like this ! ! But now, with all the money in the house, he couldn't help but feel that the wall was unreliable, and he would have liked it to be even higher!

        "Then tomorrow, I'll hire some craftsmen to build it higher?" Qi Yue seemed to be seriously considering this.

        "That's not necessary!"
He's just casually say it, He can't really go about it!

        "Don't worry!" Qiyue stroked his head, "When no one is home, lock the room's door and the yard's door, it won't be lost!"

        Even though he said so, He Ling was still worried, it was fine if he didn't know about it, but he knew about the money now, how could he not think about it!

"Find yourself another place and hide it well, in the future, all this will be in your hands for you to manage. if I need money to use, I will ask you for it!" Qi Yue picked up the box on the table and put it back into his hands.

        Although he did not know where Qi Yue had come from, what is his identity in the past, and why he had settled in Gushui Village, but he had never been false in his affection for him. He had always thought of himself and always been considerate to pacify his various emotions!

        When Qi Yue saw that he did not refuse, and understood his feelings, he took off the jade pendant that had been hanging around his waist , tied it up around He Ling's waist, "This jade pendant is given to Ah Ling, just like the purse Ah Ling embroidered for me, you and I will never leave each other, is that good?"

        He Ling touched the exquisitely carved jade pendant around his waist and his expression became tender, he looked up at Qi Yue with a smile and said, "Yes!"

Seeing that he obeyed, Qi Yue took him into his arms and said in a soft voice, "Tomorrow you will also come with me to the town!"

"I'll go too?" Leaning into his arms, to have heard what he said, he tilted his face up.

"Hn." Qu Yue nodded, "I want to show you a place and conveniently strolling around, but also ......"

Qi Yue stretched out his voice,just did not say the next words, He Ling had to open his mouth to ask a follow-up question. "But also what?"

The bad intentions were appeared, Qi Yue came up to his ear and said, " Don't tell me that you are in ease if I, your husband (wei fu) go to the town alone with a ger who thought about me?"

He Ling's ears burned red, and He pushed away the man who was holding him in his arms, a little ashamed,  "You're not being decent again! I haven't finished washing the clothes from this morning, so I'll go to wash it!"

"Now, you are able to get angry at me ah!"Qi Yue rubbed his chin and sighed before chasing after him. Doing things together, it's good to improve and enhance the feeling between them. 

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Thank you for reading, any correction, support,and comment were really appreciated!!