Arui carefully stored the seeds away, placing them back inside the kitchen cupboard.
Early that morning, Qin Lie had gone out to buy breakfast. He had left her two steamed buns and a bowl of millet porridge. Unlike the thin, watery gruel she used to drink at home, this porridge was rich and fragrant. Every grain of millet had burst open from being simmered so long, and a glossy layer of rice cream floated on the surface.
Although she had rarely eaten food bought outside, she knew meals like this couldn’t have been cheap.
He had already bought meat-filled buns yesterday, and now he’d bought them again today.
No matter how much money a family had, it couldn’t withstand spending like this forever.
Arui couldn’t help worrying.
Qin Lie earned money every day through hunting, but that wasn’t a livelihood that could last forever.
It was autumn now, and the mountains were full of game. Once winter arrived, the animals would retreat into hiding, making hunting far more difficult.
Besides, after leaving the battlefield, all he had managed to buy was this run-down little house. It was obvious he wasn’t exactly well-off.
She didn’t care how he had lived before.
But she absolutely couldn’t continue spending money alongside him like this.
…
“Brother Lie… may I discuss something with you?”
Standing at the kitchen doorway, Arui looked toward the man in the courtyard.
Qin Lie was tying up his game. Yesterday’s catch had mostly been rabbits and pheasants, but today he planned to sell the two wolf pelts as well, so he bundled everything together for easier carrying.
Hearing her voice, he turned his head.
“What is it?”
He was wearing the clothes she had washed yesterday. The cuffs were already frayed from heavy wear.
Hunting was hard on clothing to begin with, and he had little patience when washing them, always scrubbing with excessive force. Good clothes barely lasted a few wears before they were ruined.
Thinking about how every little thing required money, Arui finally gathered the courage to speak.
“Brother Lie, from now on… could you let me cook our meals?”
Qin Lie frowned.
“Why? Didn’t you like the buns?”
He wasn’t picky about food. As long as it filled his stomach, that was enough. When buying breakfast this morning, he remembered she’d finished five buns yesterday, so he’d simply gone back to the bun shop.
Arui hurriedly shook her head.
“No, they’re delicious. It’s just… buying meals every day is too expensive in the long run. I know how to cook. If you trust me, could you let me take care of our three daily meals?”
Those few sentences had exhausted every bit of courage she possessed.
After speaking, the young woman lowered her head, nervously twisting her slender fingers together.
Those fingertips had rested against his body just last night.
No one knew better than Qin Lie how soft and delicate they were.
He silently looked away. His Adam’s apple bobbed once as he tied up the last pheasant.
“All right.”
Arui’s eyes instantly lit up.
“Then, when you go into town today, could you buy some rice and flour? We also need cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar… There aren’t any at home. And we should get another two sets of bowls and chopsticks…”
The more she listed, the more she realized how empty the house really was.
There wasn’t even a proper bowl inside.
She honestly couldn’t imagine how he had managed to live here before.
Hoisting the game onto his shoulder, Qin Lie fixed his gaze on her face.
“Anything else?”
Arui shook her head.
“That’s enough for now.”
Everything she’d mentioned would already cost quite a bit of silver.
She didn’t want to spend lavishly before she’d even had the chance to help him save money.
Qin Lie gave a quiet nod and left with the bundle of game on his shoulder.
Tall and long-legged, he disappeared toward the town entrance within moments.
After seeing him off, Arui returned inside to eat breakfast.
She couldn’t bear to eat the two buns, so she only drank the millet porridge and finished the remaining half bowl of sweet syrup. Once she was done, she carefully washed both bowls at the well.
The household owned only those two bowls.
She treasured them dearly.
After breakfast, she didn’t sit idle.
She first washed the clothes Qin Lie had changed out of yesterday.
Strictly speaking, she and Qin Lie were related as sister-in-law and brother-in-law by marriage. Washing his clothes was far too intimate and wasn’t something she should have been doing.
But there were no elders left in the Third Branch to enforce such propriety.
Besides cooking and washing, there was little else she could do to help him.
After finishing the laundry, she began pulling weeds from the courtyard.
Just then, someone knocked twice on the wooden gate behind her.
Turning around, she saw a cheerful young woman with a round face and smiling eyes step inside. She looked about the same age as Arui and wore a bright pomegranate-red dress that made her appear lively and lovable.
“Oh my! If the Qin Family’s gate hadn’t stayed the same, I wouldn’t have recognized the place. You’ve cleaned this courtyard so nicely!”
Arui stood up from the vegetable patch, wiped her hands on her apron, and asked politely,
“And you are…?”
She had only recently arrived and hadn’t even met all the members of the Qin Family yet. She certainly hadn’t expected a visitor.
The young woman blinked playfully.
“Take a guess.”
Arui couldn’t help laughing.
“I can’t.”
“Hehe! I’m Aunt Wang’s daughter from next door. Just call me Cui Zhu. My mother said you’re kind and beautiful, so she told me to come keep you company.”
Cui Zhu had inherited her mother’s outgoing personality. Even without anyone prompting her, she could happily chatter away forever.
“Honestly, I didn’t believe her at first. But when I walked in just now, I thought I’d stumbled upon a fairy.”
Embarrassed by the compliment, Arui rubbed her burning cheeks with the back of her hand.
“You’re very pretty too.”
Cui Zhu had a soft, rounded figure and fair skin, the appearance of someone blessed with good fortune. Combined with her sunny, cheerful personality, she naturally made people like her.
The two young women immediately hit it off.
Arui abandoned the weeding, washed her hands, and invited Cui Zhu inside.
The shabby house had nothing suitable for entertaining guests.
Arui was about to boil some tea when Cui Zhu quickly stopped her.
“Don’t trouble yourself. I’m not thirsty. I already feel bad enough for interrupting your work.”
“It’s alright. I’ve already finished pulling the weeds.”
Having someone come specifically to spend time with her felt wonderfully refreshing.
“So this is what Qin Lie’s house looks like.”
Cui Zhu looked around curiously, though a trace of disappointment crossed her face.
Seeing Arui’s puzzled expression, she leaned toward the doorway, checked that no one was outside, then lowered her voice.
“Everyone in town says Qin Lie carries too much killing intent. They say his hands are stained with blood. Ordinary people don’t even dare enter this house. I heard a thief once came here to steal something and got so frightened they ran away before taking anything.”
Cui Zhu loved ghost stories and strange legends, and she’d secretly hoped to find something terrifying inside the old house.
Instead, there was nothing unusual at all.
Arui thought of the two wolf pelts.
When she’d first arrived, they’d frightened her too.
But knowing she was afraid, Qin Lie had taken them into town to sell today.
Pressing her lips together, she couldn’t help defending him.
“Brother Lie is a very good person.”
Cui Zhu pursed her lips.
“My mother says the same. He’s just… really intimidating.”
A delicate young woman like Arui living under the same roof as him truly wasn’t easy.
She kept the rest of those thoughts to herself.
Becoming a widow the moment she married into the family was already pitiful enough. Other than staying here with Qin Lie, Arui had nowhere else to go. There was no reason to reopen her wounds.
Seeing Arui lower her head, looking so fragile and forlorn, Cui Zhu leaned closer.
“Where do you sleep?”
Arui’s face instantly turned pale, panic flashing across her features.
“I… I sleep in the inner room. Brother Lie sleeps outside. We haven’t…”
Cui Zhu immediately squeezed her hand.
“Don’t panic. I wasn’t thinking anything improper about the two of you.”
A proper young woman like Arui would never behave carelessly.
Then Cui Zhu leaned close to her ear and whispered,
“I’ll tell you a secret.”
“Qin Lie can’t be a husband.”
“What?”
Arui’s pupils trembled.
“My mother told me. He was injured on the battlefield and… he can no longer perform as a man. That’s why he chased away every matchmaker who came to propose marriage. He never intended to marry. The Third Branch will never have a mistress of the house, so you can stay here without worrying.”