Chapter 19: Stirred Emotions
Dinner tasted bland, and Qingyan kept secretly observing Qiu Henian’s expressions, trying in vain to analyze something from them, but all efforts were futile.
The major cleaning had been done in the first two days. Even if the other party knew, it would have been two days ago.
But he never mentioned it or asked, leaving Qingyan feeling even more uneasy about what he was thinking.
Before going to bed that night, when Qiu Henian took out “Records of Mountains and Rivers,” which was nearly finished, Qingyan’s anxiety reached its peak.
Unable to maintain the pretense any longer, he lay down under the blanket, pretending to be sleepy.
Facing away from the man, he heard the faint rustle of pages as Qiu Henian set the book down. Then the blanket over him was pulled up slightly.
Soon after, the person behind him got out of bed. Qingyan heard footsteps leaving the room, the door opening and closing, the oil lamp being taken away, leaving the room in complete darkness.
Qingyan turned over and sat up, noticing the light heading towards Blacksmith Wang’s house.
Perhaps to avoid disturbing his sleep, Qiu Henian had gone next door to read.
Qingyan bit his lip, lay back down, his mind racing. Despite everything, his sleep had become regular since coming here, and the nights were truly quiet.
After a while, he truly fell asleep.
Before falling asleep, he didn’t see the man return to the room.
Early the next morning, after breakfast, villagers came one after another to collect their Spring Festival couplets.
Qiu Henian handed out couplets to those people, while Qingyan stayed outside kneading dough and making noodles.
With just two days until New Year’s Eve, he prepared some steamed buns and bean buns to freeze, so they wouldn’t have to cook every meal during the holiday.
He also found some leftover brown sugar from the wedding and steamed a few sweet buns.
Outside, the chatter gradually died down. Qingyan wiped his hands and went outside with Qiu Henian to tidy up the courtyard.
Just as they finished, they heard someone enter Auntie Li’s house next door.
Auntie Li hurried out, warmly greeting them with calls of “daughter” and “son-in-law,” and there were children’s voices too.
The whole family gathered at the door for a lively moment before entering the courtyard together.
Qingyan smiled through the fence and said, “Sister Lan and Brother-in-law Lan are back!”
Qiu Henian nodded in response.
Sister Lan, dropping the bags in her hands, happily walked to the fence and looked Qingyan up and down in surprise.
She turned to Qiu Henian and said, “Brother-in-law is really fortunate. Look how handsome this young man is!”
Auntie Li chimed in, “Indeed, among the ten miles and eight villages, Qingyan is the most handsome.”
Qingyan smiled shyly and politely greeted, “Hello, Sister Lan, my name is Qingyan.”
The more Sister Lan looked at him, the more satisfied she became.
Reaching through the fence, she took his hand and said, “Qingyan, come to our house later and chat with Sister and Brother-in-law.”
Qingyan agreed, saying he would come over when he had time. Brother-in-law Lan held a two or three-year-old child, with a reserved demeanor, who briefly greeted them and went inside.
After estimating the time with Qiu Henian, Qingyan waited until after lunch to bring gifts to Auntie Li’s house next door.
Upon entering the house, he found that lunch was already over. Auntie Li and his Brother-in-law were cleaning up in the kitchen, while Sister Lan was feeding her little daughter spoonfuls of food.
However, the child obviously wasn’t cooperating, running around the stool and not eating a bite, much to Sister Lan’s frustration.
Seeing them come in, Auntie Li quickly sent her husband to entertain the guests, while she busied herself making tea to serve.
Brother-in-law Lan invited Qiu Henian to sit at the Eight Immortals table by the window.
Both of them were not talkative people, so they chatted casually without awkwardness.
Meanwhile, Sister Lan took Qingyan into the inner room, closed the door, and pointed at her daughter, whispering, “She’s been spoiled by my mother-in-law. Now she refuses to eat every day, getting as skinny as a monkey!”
Qingyan laughed, “She doesn’t look like a monkey at all, such a beautiful girl!”
With that, he took out a small cloth bag from his sleeve, pulled out a silver bracelet, and squatted down to put it on the girl’s wrist.
Sister Lan protested, but Qingyan sat back in his chair and said, “How can it be refused? Such a pretty girl should be beautifully adorned!”
The door creaked open, and Auntie Li came in with tea. At a glance, she spotted the silver bracelet on her granddaughter’s wrist and immediately understood what had happened.
While scolding Qingyan for spoiling the child, her eyes betrayed her joy as she inspected the bracelet, praising its craftsmanship and brightness.
Auntie Li didn’t say much more and busied herself back in the kitchen.
Qingyan took out a still warm sweet bun from the basket and called the child who had been refusing to eat and circling the stool.
He opened the bun to show her, and the molten brown sugar flowed out instantly.
Qingyan tore off a piece of the bun’s dough and dipped it in, offering it to the girl, saying, “Here, open your mouth and try it.”
The child found it intriguing and obediently opened her mouth to eat the sweet dough.
After finishing it, her eyes lit up, “More!”
Qingyan smiled and handed the remaining sweet buns to Sister Lan, asking her to feed the child bit by bit. This time, the girl sat obediently on the stool and finished the sweet bun.
Sister Lan also tore off a piece to taste and praised, “Qingyan, you have such good culinary skills. These sweet buns are fragrant, sweet, and soft, delicious.”
Qingyan modestly replied, “I just made them casually.”
Sister Lan said, “I can’t cook at all. It’s all my father-in-law and his kitchen skills,” pointing in the direction outside, “My mother’s cooking is quite good, but unfortunately, I didn’t inherit any talent, maybe I take after my father.”
Qingyan said, “Auntie Li is good at everything. I’ve never seen her not being able to do something.”
Sister Lan proudly raised her head, saying, “That’s right. My mother used to work in the mansion of the county lord in the county seat, serving the young ladies of that family. It was a coveted position, and without skills, she wouldn’t have lasted long. She was quite famous at that time!”
Qingyan wondered, “So how did Auntie Li come to our Liuxi Village?”
Sister Lan waved her hand, “Isn’t it because of my father? He was a teacher at the county lord’s house, and after working there for a few days, he fell for my mother and brought her back here.”
At this, Qingyan was stunned, saying, “Uncle Qin makes a living selling leather, right? So he’s actually a scholar?”
Sister Lan said, “Yes, he is a scholar. He taught the village children for several years before Mr. Zhang came after him. Selling leather is just a sideline business to earn extra money.”
Returning home from Auntie Li’s house, Qingyan’s mind was still pondering.
The list of characters on Sister Lan’s face kept flickering in his mind, “Qin Lan, daughter of Qin Liangchuan, the magistrate of Nanhui County, and Li Xizhen. Wife of Ren Xiaozhi, heir to Renhe Hall.”
It was the longest personal introduction he had ever seen.
“So Qin Liangchuan was originally a scholar. Maybe it’s not entirely impossible for him to become a magistrate,” Qingyan thought to himself, unconsciously envisioning a scene reminiscent of historical dramas.
He quickly shook his head, “He’s a scholar; being an official is still far-fetched.”
After resting for a while, an unexpected event occurred in the afternoon.
Liu Fa, the owner of the tofu shop, came to their house. He had five or six villagers playing cards at his house now and found it boring with not enough people. Liu Fa boasted and invited Qiu Henian to join them for a game of cards.
Except for Auntie Li and Wang San’s family, Qiu Henian had always been on nodding terms with the villagers. It was the first time someone from the village had invited him to play.
Qingyan understood what was going on. Liu Fa’s tofu shop had more rooms than other houses.
In the morning, Qiu Henian had handed over three pairs of Spring Festival couplets to Liu Fa, one of which Liu Fa had requested to be decorated with gold powder, depicting ingots, money trees, and large carp.
It had taken quite some effort to write and decorate, and when Liu Fa saw it, he was ecstatic, saying it looked majestic and auspicious hanging on the tofu shop’s gate.
He wanted to pay more, but Qingyan had insisted on fifty wen per pair.
Liu Fa appreciated their good work and wanted to get closer to Qiu Henian.
It wouldn’t look good for a man to go play cards without money.
Qingyan took out five taels of silver and a handful of copper coins from under the bed in the inner room, stuffed them into a money pouch, and handed it to Qiu Henian, saying, “Go and enjoy yourself. I’ll call you for dinner.”
There were plenty of young housewives in the village. Liu Fa himself always listened to his wife.
Seeing this, he didn’t laugh, but smiled and said to Qingyan, “I’m taking him away. I’ll make sure he’s back for dinner!”
Qiu Henian said to Qingyan, “I’m leaving.”
Qingyan nodded in acknowledgment, smiling as he saw them off at the door.
With most of the chores done, Qingyan suddenly found himself with some free time.
He fed the little chicks by the back wall of the inner room with millet, pondered for a moment, and then decided to go next door to practice calligraphy.
Regardless of Qiu Henian’s thoughts, Qingyan knew he needed to improve his handwriting skills quickly.
Arriving at Blacksmith Wang’s house, Qingyan set aside the cloth used for wiping hands, poured water into the inkstone, and began grinding ink.
As he did so, he glanced casually at the tabletop and nearly spilled the ink in surprise.
Several sheets of paper lay quietly on the table. The top one displayed the characters he had recently been practicing. This particular sheet should have been buried at the bottom of his wardrobe, yet here it was, inexplicably placed on the table.
What was more startling were the tiny, densely packed annotations in small characters between the gaps of his writing, meticulously detailing the structure and strokes of Qingyan’s practice characters.
Qingyan focused intently for a while, slowly flipping through the pages. Every sheet that still had space was filled with similar annotations.
When he reached the last sheet, it differed from the others; it bore no traces of his own handwriting but instead showcased beautiful, neatly written small regular script.
Alongside each character were meticulous notes on how to imitate it using a small wolf-hair brush.
Qingyan recognized this style of handwriting well. He had carefully examined each couplet delivered yesterday and today, all written in Qiu Henian’s hand.
So, it was Qiu Henian who had done this last night.
Suddenly, Qingyan understood Qiu Henian’s intentions.
Without explicitly mentioning it or pressuring him, Qiu Henian had shown that he was willing to listen if Qingyan wanted to speak, but equally fine if he did not.
Whether Qingyan spoke or not, Qiu Henian stood by his side and would do his best to support him.
Standing by the table, Qingyan’s inner thoughts churned like waves in the sea.
For a moment, his heart skipped a beat, but unlike previous times when his heart raced, this time he felt a strange, bittersweet sensation he had never experienced before, a mix of sweetness and sourness.
Before dinner, Qingyan planned to go out and meet someone. Auntie Li stopped him and chatted for a while.
“Now that this young man has married a wife, things are different from before. In the past, he was like a lone wolf, keeping his distance from everyone. It took a long time for him to get close to anyone, even me and San’s family who lives in front.”
Auntie Li shook her head, smiling, “It seems like no one else could do what you’ve done.”
Qingyan didn’t quite understand her meaning and asked, “Why do you say that?”
Auntie Li patted his shoulder through the fence, “After living next to you for so long, I understand this child more. He’s afraid you might feel lonely in the village, and since he’s rarely at home during the day, he hopes the villagers can look out for you more. That’s why he took the initiative to write Spring Festival couplets for the village, to get closer to everyone!”
At her words, Qingyan’s heart skipped a beat again.
Before bedtime, the two husbands bathed and boiled water as usual. Qingyan went first, while Qiu Henian stayed outside to tend the fire.
When Qingyan finished bathing and retreated into the bed curtain, it was Qiu Henian’s turn.
Inside the curtain, Qingyan could see the shadow outside and hear the occasional splashing of water.
The room was warm, and he bit his lip, peeled off his underclothes, applied scented ointment to his body, let his damp hair half-dry, then gathered it to one side with his fair and tender hands.
The skin recently immersed in hot water glowed faintly red, soft and smooth, seemingly capable of squeezing out water.
At some point, the water outside stopped, replaced by the faint rustling of dressing robes.
When footsteps halted beside the bed, Qingyan’s eyelashes trembled. Finally putting down the ointment, he tied the straps of his underclothes that had slipped to his elbows.
With a rustle, the bed curtain was lifted. Qingyan looked up at the man with a faint smile.
Outside the curtain, the man’s face remained calm, but the book “Records of Mountains and Rivers” in his hand fell to the ground with a snap.
Knowing it was not possible, yet compelled to do so.
Qingyan’s rational mind said this was wrong, but his heart insisted on it.
Boldly testing the limits, Qingyan thought, this was the most authentic reflection of himself right now!
Spoiler for the Next Chapter:
He bit his lip, whispering in the man’s ear, “Then, will you be gentle with Qingyan?”
