The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Zhou Wanning crawled out of bed. She went to check on the beef jerky. The temperature difference between day and night here was huge, so even after air-drying all night, it hadn’t spoiled. Instead, the wind had blown it rock hard—exactly the perfect state.
She took half and fried it in the pot, then took the other half and roasted it over the fire pit. After all that, the rich aroma of the beef was fully drawn out, so much so that it could be smelled from the courtyard.
Li Zhannan’s eyes kept darting between the pot and the stove opening, almost too busy to keep up.
Once everything was done, Zhou Wanning divided both types of beef jerky into separate plates and set them up high, worried that if the temperature was still too hot, Li Zhannan wouldn’t be able to resist grabbing some and burning himself.
Only after the heat had dropped considerably did she take one piece of each and hand them to him. “Eat up.”
The fried one was rich and savory with an enticing meaty fragrance; the fire-roasted one carried a heavy smoky aroma, and the saltiness had been fully smoked out. Both were delicious enough to die for.
Li Zhannan took a bite from the left, then a bite from the right, barely able to keep up. “Good… good!”
“Not bad—my little brother can even say two words now.”
Li Zhanye pulled Zhou Wanning into his arms in one swift motion and planted a big kiss right on her cheek. “My wife is just too captivating.”
Zhou Wanning couldn’t be bothered to deal with him anymore. She wrapped the beef jerky in two separate cloths and handed them to him. “One is fried, one is roasted. Eat them when you’re hungry.”
Li Zhanye took the two bundles of jerky, held them under his nose, and inhaled deeply twice. “Fragrant! Everything my wife makes is fragrant!”
Zhou Wanning couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Before she met Li Zhanye, she’d never imagined a person could be this rough around the edges.
How was it that perfectly normal things became so… clingy when they involved Li Zhanye?
“Wife, will we still have mung bean soup and flatbreads today?”
“We’re almost out of meat at home.”
Li Zhanye: “I’ll have someone bring some over in a bit.”
“Then yes, we will.”
Li Zhanye wished he could crush Zhou Wanning and melt her into his very bones, so that he could take her with him wherever he went.
That soft, adorable look of hers was practically driving him out of his mind.
Li Zhanye thought this wouldn’t do. He kept getting led around by every little move Zhou Wanning made, which made him look kind of pathetic. How could a grown man like him always be led around by the nose by his wife?
He forcibly suppressed the urge to kiss Zhou Wanning and charged out of the house in one go.
Only after he’d left the courtyard did he turn back. “This time, I win. You didn’t seduce me!”
“…”
Zhou Wanning was speechless. There was no one else who’d start acting crazy this early in the morning.
Seeing Er Ya about to leave with her head down, she called out, “Er Ya, come here.”
She placed four pieces of beef jerky into her hand.
Er Ya was stunned. Such precious food—and there was a share for her too.
“Eat them yourself. If I find out you gave them to someone else, I won’t give you any next time.”
Er Ya carefully tucked the four pieces of jerky against her body. “Thank you, sister.”
She wished she could get better right now, so she could help Zhou Wanning with even more things.
Li Zhannan was a very sensible child. He would rush to do many things on his own, and Zhou Wanning didn’t compete with him for everything. Children, after all, need opportunities to show off and prove themselves in order to discover their own worth.
Guidance over experience—that was the motto of the Zhou family.
For some reason, with Li Zhanye gone, Zhou Wanning found herself feeling rather bored, and involuntarily, a hint of longing began to stir in her heart.
After delivering the mung bean soup and flatbreads to Li Zhanye and Er Ya, Zhou Wanning held Li Zhannan in her arms as she practiced calligraphy at home.
When it came to practicing calligraphy, Zhou Wanning and Li Zhanye held opposing views.
Li Zhanye believed that as long as a person could write, that was enough, but Zhou Wanning considered it a matter of cultivating one’s character and temperament. So in this regard, she was especially strict with Li Zhannan.
“Do not get distracted, do not slack off, keep your back straight, and stay focused.”
Li Zhannan had initially tried to sneak in some mischief, but after being caught by Zhou Wanning a few times, he gradually settled down, and his demeanor became more composed and restrained.
Although the characters still looked somewhat unsatisfactory, Zhou Wanning was fairly pleased.
“Not bad.”
Hearing Zhou Wanning praise him, Li Zhannan became even more motivated. Without her having to say anything, he straightened his little body to its full height, wearing a look of earnest concentration.
The weather grew hotter by the day, and Li Zhanye became increasingly unrestrained. Once again, he nearly went too far—if she hadn’t slapped him, he would have forced his way through.
Li Zhanye bit down hard on Zhou Wanning’s shoulder, growling, “Why hasn’t it come yet? I really can’t hold it in any longer!”
At the time, Zhou Wanning didn’t understand what Li Zhanye was waiting for, until she was startled awake by a clap of thunder.
Outside the window, a torrential rain had begun to fall at some point, with lightning and thunder illuminating the entire room. Almost instantly, Li Zhanye scrambled up from the kang.
His eyes gleamed brightly, like a wolf’s, faintly glowing green as he looked at her. He planted a fierce kiss on Zhou Wanning and said, “Lock the door. If all goes well, we’ll be heading back to the military district after tonight.”
Li Zhanye left quickly. By the occasional flashes of lightning, she could see quite a few people standing outside the wicker fence, holding things that looked like walking sticks in their hands. The moment Li Zhanye stepped out, they fell in behind him.
When the next bolt of lightning struck, there was no trace of them outside the yard.
For some reason, ever since Li Zhanye left, Zhou Wanning had felt uneasy. She got up to lock the door but felt a weight at her feet. Looking down, she saw Li Zhannan, who had woken up at some point, clinging tearfully to her leg.
“Scared of the thunder?”
Li Zhannan whimpered, clearly too frightened to speak.
She scooped him up with one arm and picked up the door bolt, sliding it into place.
On ordinary days, with Li Zhanye around, they never bolted the door, but for some reason, she felt a sense of panic, as if something bad was about to happen.
Er Ya also stirred at the noise and crawled out of bed. “Sister…”
Zhou Wanning held Er Ya and thought for a moment, then said, “Come sleep over here. Li Zhanye has gone out.”
The curtains in Er Ya’s room were light-colored, and with a flash of lightning, the contents of the room would be visible. With the man of the house away, she felt uneasy, so it was better to be cautious.
But Er Ya had been bullied at home for so long that certain timid traits had become ingrained in her bones. At first, she refused no matter what, and it was only when Zhou Wanning said she was scared and needed company that Er Ya carried her pillow and Li Zhannan’s over to the eastern room.
The thunder rumbled on without end. Just as Zhou Wanning and the children lay down, they heard someone outside shouting about rushing to harvest the crops. Er Ya instinctively tried to get up, but Zhou Wanning held her down.
She shook her head, and Er Ya dared not make a move.
She thought, this must be what Li Zhanye meant by “things have gone haywire.”
The villagers had likely all gone out to rush the wheat harvest—within just five minutes, there was no sound outside the house except for the thunder.
Just as Zhou Wanning was drifting into a daze, she heard a creaking sound—the sound of the door bolt being pried upward.
Someone had come.