Seeing that Shen Huaijing was coldly ignoring her, taking a sip of cold water, and then starting to cough again, Song Xia sighed, squatted down in front of him carrying that half-bowl of lukewarm porridge, and said:
“You need to eat at least a little something. Last night was just pastries, and this morning you only drank cold water. You know your own body better than anyone else,” Song Xia coaxed patiently, her tone as gentle as if she were soothing a child. “There aren’t any fancy delicacies to eat out here in the village, only these. You’ll just have to get used to it eventually, won’t you?”
Song Xia’s attitude was so natural and intimately familiar that Shen Huaijing was momentarily stunned. He stared at the small, scrawny young girl before him who was blinking wide almond-shaped eyes.
Without a word, Shen Huaijing took the bowl and began to drink the porridge in small, slow sips.
Seeing him start to eat, Song Xia finally breathed a sigh of relief; she had genuinely been worried that Shen Huaijing might literally starve to death.
To be honest, Song Xia couldn’t care less about what happened to Shen Huaijing under normal circumstances. But the reality was that the two of them were now grasshoppers tied to the same rope. Only if Shen Huaijing remained healthy and alive could he act as a shield for her. Otherwise, judging by the personality of her former brother-in-law and sister-in-law, the people who sold her once could easily sell her a second time!
Furthermore, Shen Huaijing suited Song Xia’s preferences in almost every way—except for this icy, stubborn mule routine he had going on, acting as though she were plotting something against him.
“Alright, hurry up and finish eating. We still have to return the bowl to Sister-in-law Shan’er later!”
Watching him drink the porridge, Song Xia began brewing his herbal medicine. Shen Huaijing’s health was abysmal; apart from travel funds and furniture, the bulkiest and most precious cargo he brought along was the regular medicinal decoction he relied on.
Thus, Song Xia used the remaining pile of firewood she had left uncleaned from boiling water in the courtyard the previous day to simmer the medicine. Before the medicine was even done, Shen Huaijing finished his porridge and handed the bowl back to Song Xia.
“Go return the bowl. I’ll keep an eye on the medicine myself.”
Seeing that the food in the bowl was scraped completely clean, Song Xia smiled inwardly: He was starving after all!
Outwardly, however, she kept a straight face, merely dropping a couple of reminders to Shen Huaijing not to let the medicine burn, before washing the bowl and hurrying out the door with a flurry of energy.
Just as she reached Sister-in-law Shan’er’s front gate, she happened to run into Big Bull Shen returning from the fields, and called out a greeting.
“Brother Shen! Back from the fields, are you?”
Big Bull responded with a cheerful grin: “That’s right! Say, was the food your Sister-in-law Shan’er cooked delicious?”
“You bet it was! Extraordinarily delicious! Look, Shen Huaijing drank every last drop without leaving a single bit!”
Chatting as they walked, the two of them stepped into the courtyard. The moment they entered, Sister-in-law Shan’er set down her work and hurried over to greet them.
“Xiaxia, did your husband finish eating?” A glimmer of hopeful anticipation flickered in Sister-in-law Shan’er’s eyes.
“He did! I was just telling Brother Shen how delicious your cooking is, and Shen Huaijing finished every single drop!” Song Xia praised generously right in front of Sister-in-law Shan’er.
“Oh, tee-hee~” Sister-in-law Shan’er covered her mouth with a shy giggle. Seeing that Big Bull had put away his hoe, she handed him a bowl of water.
Hah! Big Bull gulped the water down in one continuous breath, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and sat down on a courtyard stool with his legs sprawled wide. Letting out a long sigh of relief, he invited Song Xia to take a seat as well, while Sister-in-law Shan’er cleared away the two empty bowls and returned to her spot to resume sorting wheat seeds.
“It was too late yesterday to ask you two, but how do you plan to live out here from now on? Are you thinking of taking back your fields and farming them yourselves?” Big Bull’s gaze carried a hint of probing curiosity.
Song Xia knew that for commoners, land was the foundation of existence and their entire livelihood.
Since this was Shen Huaijing’s ancestral home, there were undoubtedly fields belonging to the old Shen estate here. However, since the Shen family hadn’t lived here in over a decade, the steward had already informed Song Xia and Shen Huaijing along the way that their family’s land had long been leased out to two local households to farm. Aside from paying the annual taxes, those households paid a portion of the grain harvest to the Shen family, keeping the rest for themselves.
The steward had suggested that since Song Xia and Shen Huaijing had now returned to the countryside, if they wanted the land back they could certainly demand it. However, seeing that neither Song Xia nor Shen Huaijing looked like farming folk, the steward advised them to let those two households continue cultivating it and simply collect the grain directly from them later. That way, they would save themselves effort and avoid unnecessary complications—after all, those people had farmed the land for so many years, and taking it back would undoubtedly require some effort.
Yet Song Xia had politely declined the steward’s suggestion; she still wanted to farm it herself.
“We’re still discussing that matter. The specifics will depend on my husband’s wishes.” Song Xia knew that although Sister-in-law Shan’er’s family were good people, land was a sensitive issue, so she preferred not to reveal too much.
Seeing that Song Xia was reluctant to elaborate, Sister-in-law Shan’er chimed in from the side: “Xiaxia, we don’t mean anything by it, we just want to give you a warning.”
Glancing toward the outside of the courtyard, Sister-in-law Shan’er lowered her voice and said, “You have no idea—those plots of land belonging to your family are prime, fertile fields. Right now, they’re being farmed by the village chief’s relatives. If you want to take them back, it’s not going to be easy.”
Big Bull chimed in as well: “That’s right. The two of us aren’t trying to take advantage of you young newlyweds, but before you arrived, there were already two disputes in the village over this. I’m just worried the two of you won’t get your land back and might end up getting the short end of the stick.”
Song Xia was actually mentally prepared for this, but hearing Sister-in-law Shan’er and Big Bull looking out for her interests like this still deeply touched her.
“My uncle and aunt specifically cautioned us before we left that if we ran into any trouble, we should immediately send someone to inform them so they could come help.”
“Well, if you’ve got a plan, that’s good,” Big Bull laughed, then added, “Still, you’d better get a move on quickly. Wheat planting season is starting right away; if you miss the window, this year’s entire harvest will be ruined!”
Song Xia was well aware of this. Her original plan for today was to take a stroll over to her own fields first and then hurry over to the village chief’s house to get the land issue sorted out. Time waited for no one; if sowing season was delayed, not even immortals could save them.
“My goodness, if that’s the case, what are you still standing around here for?! It’s already noon, the village chief is bound to be home right now. Come on, I’ll go with you!” Hearing this, Sister-in-law Shan’er immediately stood up, ready to accompany Song Xia to confront the village chief.
“Farming is a major matter, you can’t afford to be sloppy about it!”
Dragged along by Sister-in-law Shan’er, Song Xia felt slightly dazed—did they really just charge over to demand it without any preparation?
Fortunately, Big Bull remained level-headed and stopped Sister-in-law Shan’er in her tracks.
“What are you rushing blindly for? How does it look if you drag Little Song over there like this? What position do you hold? Are you planning to pick a fight on Little Song’s behalf, or are you trying to seize Little Song’s land for yourself!”
“You old blockhead! What are you talking about?! How could I harbor thoughts like that!” Hearing Big Bull put it that way, Sister-in-law Shan’er spat in indignation. “I’m not like someone like Shen Hu!”
“That’s why I’m telling you not to rush. Let’s find out what Little Song’s actual thoughts are first.”
Deeply moved by how well Sister-in-law Shan’er and Big Bull treated her, Song Xia felt fortunate indeed to have them as neighbors.
“Brother Shen and Sister-in-law, I know you have my best interests at heart. I’m more than grateful that Sister-in-law is willing to accompany me to the village chief’s place, how could I think otherwise?” Song Xia looked at the two of them with absolute sincerity. “Since Sister-in-law is willing, I’ll just go grab the official deeds, and we can head straight to the village chief’s house!”
“Look at that! Didn’t I tell you Little Song is a pure-hearted and kind girl?!” Sister-in-law Shan’er gave Big Bull a playful, reproachful shove.
“What Brother Shen said is only natural human caution,” Song Xia understood Big Bull’s underlying meaning and harbored no hard feelings; instead, she felt touched that even knowing such an action might draw gossip, they still spoke up to warn her.
“Shen Huaijing’s health is poor, so this matter naturally falls entirely on me to handle. Having a familiar face willing to accompany me is precisely what I’m hoping for!”
“Ah, Xiaxia, you really are a good girl!” Sister-in-law Shan’er sighed in praise.
Without further ado, Song Xia hurried back inside to dig out several yellowed land deeds from the depths of her luggage. Pausing for a moment, she told Shen Huaijing:
“Sister-in-law Shan’er and I are going to see the village chief later to get our family’s farmland back. Your health is poor, so you shouldn’t come along. But if you notice that I haven’t returned after an hour, make sure you go next door immediately, grab Brother Shen, and come find me at the village chief’s place.”
“Why on earth are you trying to get the farmland back?” Shen Huaijing frowned, asking with genuine perplexity.
“To farm it, of course!” Song Xia looked at Shen Huaijing with speechlessness. By the look of it, he hadn’t listened to a single word of her conversation with the steward inside the carriage yesterday!
“I know farming involves fields, but once you get them back, who is going to till them?” Shen Huaijing stared back at Song Xia with equal bafflement, wondering if she was seriously planning to farm the land herself.
To his astonishment, Song Xia straightened up and answered with absolute righteous confidence: “I am!”
“You?” Shen Huaijing chuckled dryly, eyeing her thin arms and slender legs. “You’re going to farm? Do you even know how to farm? Can you lift a hoe? You do realize that right now there are only the two of us here, and even when Shen Chunming arrives in a few days, he’s just a nine-year-old child? Are you planning to work the entire fields all by yourself?”
Song Xia was riding a tiger and found it hard to dismount. Of course she knew she couldn’t cultivate that much land all by herself; although she possessed the technical knowledge and knew how to farm, combined across both her lives she had never managed a plot of land this massive.
Even so, Song Xia was determined to reclaim the fields—or at least salvage at least half of them if full retrieval proved impossible. She had reviewed the ledger along the journey: the crop yields from those plots were shockingly meager, and the reported grain delivery figures didn’t add up correctly either. If things continued strictly according to that ledger, she and Shen Huaijing would be reduced to drinking thin rice water to fill their bellies within a few months!
Shen Huaijing didn’t manage the household, so he remained oblivious to the cost of firewood and rice. Although the funds they brought from this household division weren’t precisely negligible, they weren’t massive either. In particular, the countryside offered virtually no avenues for earning income. If money only flowed out without a single coin flowing in, their funds would be exhausted within two years. Moreover, it remained unknown how often the Shen estate would subsidize this nephew of theirs; judging by their relationship, the possibility that they only offered polite lip service without actual financial support couldn’t be ruled out. Song Xia had to plan ahead. While the Shen estate hadn’t completely cut them off yet, she needed to leverage that tiger’s skin to prop up their framework first.
Anxious about their future prospects, lacking land filled Song Xia with a profound sense of insecurity.
Only by securing farmland could she properly grow crops and ensure the whole household stayed fed.
Perhaps she could also cultivate other specialty crops or craft small snacks to sell in the county town for supplementary income.
Her mind made up, Song Xia was resolved to reclaim those fields no matter what!
Seeing that Song Xia’s mind was firmly made up, Shen Huaijing merely concluded that her ambitions far exceeded her grasp. Unwilling to waste any more breath arguing with her, he figured that once Song Xia actually went out to the fields and tried farming once, she would finally understand whether she was cut out for it or not. She could rent the land back out later if she failed; if she wanted to toss herself into a fruitless struggle, she could go right ahead.
Nursing this mindset, Shen Huaijing agreed to Song Xia’s instructions while reminding her to prioritize her personal safety and avoid getting into physical altercations with anyone.
Surprised to discover that Shen Huaijing possessed such a gentle side, Song Xia blinked in momentary surprise before breaking into a wide, radiant smile at him. Turning on her heel, she trotted off to rejoin Sister-in-law Shan’er.
After whispering and murmuring together for a brief moment, the two women decided to follow Song Xia’s plan: they would first take a walk around their family’s plots to get a rough assessment of the situation before heading over to negotiate with the village chief!