Chapter 035
Author: Feast of Masks
Raws: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=3185016
Translated by Pill Bug
Edited by Gumihou
After the meal, Sun’shi helped Zhou’shi clear the table while Yang’shi went to wash the dishes.
Once the table was cleared, seeing nothing for her to do, Sun’shi made some excuses with the old couple and dragged Xue Qinghuai with her.
The family of three washed up and got on the kang. Sun’shi could hardly wait as she blurted to her husband, “Brother Huai, how profitable is Zhao’er’s business?”
Xue Qinghuai had already told Sun’shi about Zhao’er doing business outside, but she had not taken it seriously. After all, the girl was always out and about, trying to earn an extra coin here and there. It was only when she saw the large bowl of meat that she finally took the matter seriously.
Sun’shi’s eyes lit up with calculations. She knew that the bowl had to contain at least a whole catty of meat worth more than 10 coins, and Zhao’er had just handed that entire bowl to them without hesitation. Sun’shi would never be so generous. Therefore, when Old Man Xue started lecturing his daughters-in-law, she kept quiet, doing her best to be as inconspicuous as possible, not daring to say a word.
However, she also knew that the bowl of meat meant that Zhao’er must be making good money from whatever business scheme she had hatched.
After all, even though her Xue Qinghuai was also in trade, his way of doing business was by carrying goods on a shoulder pole and peddling from street to street. Although it appeared profitable to the rest of the Xue family, the life of a peddler was actually quite difficult. The items he could carry and sell were small items such as needles and threads, which were quite cheap and earned him very little. On good days, he might earn a few dozen coins; on bad days, he might earn just a little over a dozen coins.
If Zhao’er could do business with Jiang Wu, why couldn’t she include the Fourth Branch? After all, their family was very close, with Gouzi and Zhao’er still addressing them as Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt.
Sun’shi explained all of this to Xue Qinghuai, who said, “We have our own business. Why are you trying to edge into other people’s business?
“Is there such a thing as too much money? Rather than Zhao’er doing business with some outsider, isn’t it better for her to do business with us?”
“What outsider? It’s Jiang Wu. Moreover, Jiang Wu has a cart, but we don’t. With their business doing so well, if you force yourself in now, what would it look like? Let me tell you now, you absolutely cannot bring this matter up with Zhao’er. We don’t want people thinking we’re using our status to muscle in on their profits.”
Sun’shi had not thought that far. Seeing her husband’s firm attitude, she dropped the matter. Even so, thoughts still swirled within her mind. Even as she lay down in bed, she could not help keep thinking about it until she finally fell asleep.
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After Zhao’er was done washing the dishes, she returned to the room to find the kang already tidied up.
The kang table had been wiped clean and placed at the foot of the kang. The bedspread had also been laid out with the large mattress spread out and two quilts neatly arranged on top. One on the left and one on the right.
Zhao’er felt a sense of reassurance and happiness surging through her body. Clearly, her little man had changed a lot after his last bout of serious illness. Look at how he helped with the chores and attempted to express his feelings.
She thought of the hairpin and earrings, which he must have bought with the money he had earned during the past 10 days even while studying. Thinking about how her little man must have used all of his spare moments copying books just to buy accessories for her softened her heart.
Just because her heart was all twisted up in knots by thoughts of how he had spent all that money unnecessarily did not mean that she should take her temper out on him. With that thought in mind, she put on a smile, her voice clear and bright as she said, “Are you not going to study before sleeping?”
“Not study.”
“Well, you must have been studying very hard every day for the past 10 days. Now that you’re home, you can rest your eyes and not study anymore. I will boil some water for us to wash up, and then we can sleep.”
“I will boil the water.”
Zhao’er had always been the one in charge of boiling their washing water, whether it was their bathing water or foot washing water. This time, he wanted to boil the water for her.
“You know how to start a fire?” she asked teasingly, the smile in her eyes sparkled without a hint of disdain.
“Of course I know how to start a fire!” he said, and then marched out determinedly towards the kitchen. Unable to stop him, Zhao’er could only trail after him uncertainly.
In the kitchen, Zhao’er said, “Look at you. Why are you so stubborn? Isn’t it just boiling some water? Why fight over it?”
The stove was still warm, with some embers still smouldering. Xue Tingxiang squatted in front of the stove and started filling it with firewood.
One after another, he shoved more and more firewood. By the time Zhao’er tried to stop him, it was too late. A puff of black smoke burst from the stove.
Fortunately, the only thing that came out was smoke. Lots and lots of smoke.
It was so smoky that Xue Tingxiang started coughing. Zhao’er had covered her nose and was fanning the air.
“If you just shove the wood like that, the fire won’t catch,” she said as she pulled the firewood out. “You need to use the tongs to stir the embers. Start with some small twigs first and then add two or three pieces of the large wood on the side once the fire catches.”
Zhao’er’s hands moved according to her own instructions, and soon, a small flame appeared, slowly growing into larger flames.
Xue Tingxiang stood on the side, feeling embarrassed. It was just as Zhao’er said, he had no idea how to start a fire right. Instead of a fire, he had somehow managed to cause so much smoke that it nearly choked them out of the kitchen.
He said through a hoarse voice, “I will get it right next time.”
Zhao’er nodded, her smile wide enough to make her eyes curve into little slits. “You’re smart, you can learn anything you like quickly.”
He could not help but look at her face. The cheerful fire cast a warm light on her face, making it glow as though she had applied rouge on her cheeks. Her face looked very delicate at that moment, as though it would break with a flick of her finger. Her cheeks were plump and soft-looking, so much so that he could almost imagine the fragrance coming off her cheeks, enough to make his mouth water.
In fact, Zhao’er really disliked wearing makeup. In that dream, even though she had money to spare, she never wore any. After her death, it felt like every woman he met since then was all covered in makeup. He could hardly know their faces, hidden behind masks of powder and rouge.
He could not help but lean even closer. In fact, he had no special intention. He just wanted to be closer to her.
She turned suddenly, nearly bumping noses with him. She paused before bursting into bright laughter.
“Look at your nose, you look like Heizi.”
Indeed, there was a black smudge on the tip of Xue Tingxiang’s nose. At that moment, a warm furry thing squeezed in between them and a dog’s head stuck out. Heizi panted happily at them, obviously having come in at the mention of his name. At the sight of the dog’s moist eyes and black nose right next to Xue Tingxiang’s black-tipped nose, Zhao’er laughed harder.
Xue Tingxiang subconsciously reached out to touch his nose, but Zhao’er grabbed his hand. “Don’t touch it. Here, I’ll wipe it off for you. If you touch your nose, you’ll really become a little Gouzi [1], just like Heizi.”
Her hand was soft and warm, and her eyes curved with her smile. For a moment, he was dazed by her smile as she thumbed his nose clean. He touched his nose.
“Is it gone?”
Zhao’er nodded. “It’s all clean now. I should have made you look in the mirror just now, hahaha.”
Feeling a little embarrassed, Xue Tingxiang muttered, “What was so funny?”
“Fine, fine, fine, I won’t laugh anymore.”
While they were bantering, the pot of water had heated up.
Xue Tingxiang seized hold of the foot basin and brought it close to the stove so that Zhao’er could scoop out the water with a large ladle with better ease. Just then, Zhou’shi entered a few things in hand.
She said, “Going to bed so early?”
“We have been busy all day, better to rest early.”
While Zhao’er talked with Zhou’shi, Xue Tingxiang walked away with the basin of hot water.
Zhou’shi smiled at Zhao’er and said, “Gou’er has become more and more reliable. He even helped you with the chores.”
Zhao’er laughed heartily, “People have to grow up eventually. That’s right, we won’t be needing the rest of the hot water in the pot. Third Aunt, please use it.”
“Alright.”
Meanwhile, Xue Tingxiang managed to carry the entire basin full of water back to their room.
Considering how large and solid the wooden basin was, even though he only travelled a short distance, his arms felt sore from the trip.
He rubbed his sore arms, making up his mind to start exercising regularly from the next day onwards. No wonder Zhao’er always treated him like a little brother. He was, in a word, too useless.
He was just reconciling himself with this revelation when Zhao’er came into the room and said, “You must be tired, this basin is quite heavy.”
He quickly stood up, faked nonchalance as he said, “It’s fine, not too heavy.”
“Well, let’s quickly wash our feet before the water gets cold.”
Xue Tingxiang sat on the kang, removed his shoes and socks and dipped his feet into the basin.
The water temperature was just right. Comfortably hot against his feet.
Just then, someone appeared in front of him. Zhao’er had moved a stool to sit in front of him and was currently dipping her feet into the same basin of water.
To save time and effort, the two had always washed their feet together since they were young, except on days when they bathed and didn’t need to wash their feet.
Zhao’er’s feet, like her hands, had thin calluses on the soles. Compared to Xue Tingxiang, her feet and hands were not as delicate.
The basin was deep enough for them to put their feet in together, with Xue Tingxiang’s feet tucked under Zhao’er’s.
“I’ll rub your feet,” she said with a smile as she moved her feet against his. However, feet were quite unsatisfactory as cleaning tools, and in the end, she bent down to use her hands to clean the feet in the basin. First, she rubbed at her own feet, before cleaning his as well.
Xue Tingxiang suddenly curled up, moving his feet away from her hands, “Enough rubbing, it’s all clean…”
“All clean?”
He hurriedly nodded, picked up the cloth towel next to him, wiped his feet, and placed them on the kang.
Zhao’er frowned at his odd behaviour. She had no idea when it started, but her little man no longer liked to let her wash his feet, even though she had been washing his feet for him ever since he was a child.
After Xue Tingxiang was done drying his feet, Zhao’er used the same towel to wipe her feet.
Instead of moving onto the kang bed, Zhao’er put on her shoes and picked up the basin of dirty water. After dumping the water outside, she took the time to check on Heizi’s water bowl. Satisfied that the bowl was still half full, she entered the room, bolted the door and blew out the lamp before climbing onto the kang bed in the dark.
With the lamp extinguished, the room was quite dark, especially with no moon that night.
Xue Tingxiang was already lying down on the bed, all quiet.
Zhao’er undressed in the dark and lifted the quilt to crawl into bed, but accidentally bumped into someone.
It turned out she had crawled under the wrong quilt.
She immediately tried to feel for the other quilt, but a hand grabbed hers.
In the dark, Xue Tingxiang’s voice was a bit nervous. “It is cold under the quilt, stay and warm me up a little.”
Zhao’er used to do this often for Xue Tingxiang when he was much younger. With his weak body, he often suffered from cold extremities, which made it difficult for him to get warm, even under a quilt. After Zhao’er entered the second branch family, she would share a bed with him, just to warm him up. Later, as they grew older, they had their own quilts. Still, whenever it was cold, but not cold enough to warrant a fire, Zhao’er would tuck under the same quilt as him to warm him up before he slept.
“How old are you now? Still want your elder sister to warm your bed?”
He said nothing, but the hand that had been clutching at hers loosened.
Xue Tingxiang felt a little embarrassed at asking her to warm him up. Just as he was regretting it, a pair of hands reached over to rub at his hands and legs. “Tomorrow, I shall take you to see the physician. At your age, you should be full of energy, so why are your hands and feet always so cold?”
After rubbing the circulation back to his hands and feet, she rolled under her own quilt before scooting over to sleep closer to him.
The two of them lay next to each other, separated only by two layers of quilts. Her hands slipped between the quilts to rub at his hands again. Then, she shifted closer to hug him to her chest.
One of her legs slipped over to nudge at his bare foot.
Under the layers of the quilt, even her own foot felt cold after touching his. However, she did not retreat. Instead, she continued to rub his feet between hers, eventually tucking her feet around his.
When he still had not warmed up, she hugged him closer and tucked his feet between her calves.
“Zhao’er, when we marry, will you pierce your ears and wear those earrings?” Xue Tingxiang suddenly said into the silence.
A gentle snore answered him.
He laughed at the non-answer, tucking his feet closer to hers, and fell asleep too.
[Gumihou: Okay, that was a little cute.]
[1] Remember, Xue Tingxiang’s original name is Xue Gouzi. (Little Doggy Xue)
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