The Zhou family's cellar was dug deep, never seeing sunlight year-round. The musty smell and earthy odor hung heavy in that cramped space, only to be suppressed by a pungent, overwhelming fragrance that made one dizzy.
A faint oil lamp was lowered down, barely illuminating the dim yellow surroundings.
"Lord Li, please watch your step."
Qian Erke extended his hand attentively, helping Li Anbo down into the cellar.
Li Anbo covered his mouth and nose: "Are you certain that couple wasn't planted by the other side?"
"Rest assured, it's all been investigated thoroughly. Neither of them is from this county. No one will know they died here."
Li Anbo nodded: "The time is almost upon us. Alas, the goods delivered this time are far from enough. We'll have to move the wedding date earlier."
The cellar wasn't large. At the far end sat a stone bed, upon which Zhou family's Daya lay. Even with the candlelight flickering across her face, she remained deeply asleep.
"She hasn't caused any more trouble, has she?" Li Anbo asked.
Qian Erke pointed to the charcoal brazier on the ground, where large chunks of incense burned in the flames: "Even if she wanted to make a fuss, she couldn't sit up straight."
Li Anbo smiled: "This is good incense. Don't be stingy with it."
The two of them left the cellar together.
The firelight gradually receded into the distance. No one noticed that on the stone bed, Daya's eyelashes trembled faintly. After a moment, her fingertips reached toward the pendant hanging at her neck, and she lowered her head, drawing a deep breath.
After securing the lock, Li Anbo pondered for a moment, then added: "Have Monkey and Zhang Da dig the pit for disposing of the bodies deeper."
Qian Erke understood he was referring to that young couple, and flattered: "Zhang Da aside, Monkey is your own son. Like father, like son—he's handled this kind of thing so many times already. Why worry?"
Li Anbo was coaxed into hearty laughter.
The two walked out together. Unexpectedly, a figure was strolling leisurely past the Zhou family's front gate.
Qian Erke was dumbstruck, and the smile on Li Anbo's face froze abruptly—
Not only that…
"Husband!"
A woman lingering at the end of the road waved joyfully and called out.
The setting sun melted into gold, dusk gradually staining the sky.
The afterglow spread across the tiled roofs and eaves, the light and shadow growing faint, lending even the green willow branches a touch of warmth.
Jiang Weiyao ran over quickly, her skirt rippling like waves, her cheerful steps startling two birds into chirping on the branches.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her bright apricot eyes gazed at Pei Yunheng: "Husband, you're finally back. I missed you so much."
Deep dark eyes reflected the approaching figure. Pei Yunheng stood in place.
It seemed she had been lingering at the gate waiting for a long time. When she ran over, the chill on her body had not yet dissipated.
"Husband, was the journey tiring?"
Jiang Weiyao looked Pei Yunheng up and down, then pouted: "Why do you look like you've grown thin from exhaustion?"
He'd only been gone one night—how could one tell he'd grown thin from exhaustion?
Those words were pitifully false.
Pei Yunheng withdrew his gaze.
Suddenly, two coughs sounded from nearby.
Only then did Jiang Weiyao seem to notice Li Anbo and Qian Erke not far away. She smiled and greeted them: "Village Head, Uncle Qian, out for a walk after dinner?"
Though Li Anbo's expression was grim, he could at least maintain his composure. Qian Erke, however, was badly startled and took quite a while before stammering a response: "Ah? Ah… yes…"
"My husband has just returned and is exhausted. We'll be heading back now."
Jiang Weiyao tilted up her small face: "Husband, I've prepared a meal. Let's go home."
His long lashes lowered slightly, his gaze traveling down past Jiang Weiyao's reddened nose from the cold, finally settling on the hands tugging at his sleeve. Pei Yunheng's brows furrowed slightly, yet his expression revealed neither pleasure nor displeasure.
Just as Jiang Weiyao thought he wouldn't respond, he let out a faint "Mm."
A flicker of light passed through her eyes as she waved cheerfully at Li Anbo and Qian Erke, then pulled Pei Yunheng back into the house.
The moment they stepped through the door, she released his hand and cast a nervous glance toward the kitchen before murmuring, "Husband, I think I've gotten into trouble…"
She didn't need to say a word—Pei Yunheng could already smell the acrid stench of a burnt pot wafting from the kitchen.
He walked over.
Jiang Weiyao trailed behind him, defending herself in a small voice: "I didn't mean to. I was worried you'd come home too late and go hungry, so I thought I'd prepare some food for you… Ouch!"
Caught off guard, Jiang Weiyao slammed hard into Pei Yunheng's solid, broad back, and the impact brought tears to her eyes.
"…"
His eyelid twitched. Pei Yunheng slowly turned around, staring at Jiang Weiyao in disbelief: "…Are you telling me this mess is the result of you cooking?"
He rarely showed emotion outwardly, but his cold, handsome face stiffened slightly, and by the end of his sentence, even his usually unhurried tone had risen a notch.
"Mm-hmm."
Jiang Weiyao rubbed her nose, her gaze darting away as she tugged at the hem of her clothes, looking pitiful: "Don't be so loud, you're scaring me."
"…"
Pei Yunheng took a deep breath.
Water covered the kitchen floor, spilling all the way to the threshold, leaving no place to step. Charred, blackened firewood still emitted wisps of gray smoke, while the iron pot lay peacefully on the stove—its bottom completely burned through.
Not only that, half of the stove had collapsed, bricks and debris scattered everywhere. The window beside the stove had fallen out too, and even half the wall was blackened with soot.
That alone would have been tolerable, but the real question was…
Why had half the beam from the ceiling fallen down!?
Pei Yunheng was silent for a long moment: "…Are you sure you were just cooking?"
"What else would I be doing?" Jiang Weiyao wiped her tears with a hurt expression. "What do you mean by that, husband? If I came to the kitchen, of course it was to cook—what else would I do? It's not like I came here to herd cattle."
You might as well have said you came to the kitchen to herd cattle.
His slender fingers pressed against his brow, Pei Yunheng remained speechless for a long while. For the first time in his life, a profound sense of absurdity and admiration for another person welled up within him.
He asked, "How did you manage this?"
Jiang Weiyao blinked. "Well, when there was too much water, I added noodles, and when there were too many noodles, I added water. Then the pot broke, the window fell out, the stove collapsed, and the fire caught. To put out the fire, I splashed water, and as I kept splashing, the beam came down…"
Pei Yunheng: "…"
Jiang Weiyao: "…"
The two stared at each other, eyes locked.
"Husband."
After a tense pause, Jiang Weiyao cautiously shuffled closer and tugged at his sleeve again, asking softly, "What do we do now? Don't stay silent—when you don't speak, I get scared too…"
At that, a strange look crossed Pei Yunheng's face.
He looked at Jiang Weiyao with confusion: "Why are you scared? I should be the one who's scared."
It was truly rare for someone to cook with the destructive force of a rampaging bull.
Jiang Weiyao: "…"
The bewilderment on his face was so genuine—not sarcastic, but truly puzzled—that it left Jiang Weiyao completely speechless.
After a moment of silence, Jiang Weiyao decided to burst into loud sobs. "Harsh words hurt like the cold of June. I—I only meant well, yet my husband speaks to me so cruelly…"
She ran back to her room crying, her shoulders trembling with each sob.
Pei Yunheng was left standing alone before the wrecked kitchen. The sun was setting in the west, stretching his shadow long.
At first, he had thought Jiang Weiyao was loitering by the door waiting for him to return just to put on another deliberate display of false affection. Now that he thought about it, perhaps there had been some sincerity in it too.
Sincere expectation that he would come back and clean up this mess.
A gaze crept furtively toward him from inside the house. Pei Yunheng glanced sideways.
Sure enough, seeing him look over, the person hastily shrank back below the window, leaving only a fluffy head visible.
His long lashes quivered slightly. He closed his eyes.
Dusk settled and the night deepened. A slender crescent moon hung above the distant mountains.
Jiang Weiyao propped her elbow on the table, her chin in her hand, on the verge of dozing off, when footsteps suddenly sounded in the courtyard, drawing near and stopping before her. Then a shadow fell over her.
She blearily opened her eyes. A steaming bowl of noodles was set before her.
She couldn't help but stare.
Pei Yunheng had already sat down with another bowl of noodles. As if sensing her astonished gaze, he looked over, his voice cold: "Not to your taste?"
"No…"
Jiang Weiyao slowly picked up her chopsticks. "I just didn't expect my husband to have cleaned up the kitchen so quickly. You're really a dab hand at chores—worthy of being my husband."
"……"
"Thanks to you," Pei Yunheng said flatly, "the kitchen will be unusable for some time."
Jiang Weiyao looked at the noodles in her bowl. "Then this is…?"
"I borrowed the neighbor's kitchen." Perhaps out of a sense of admiration, Pei Yunheng was unusually forthcoming.
"Why?" Jiang Weiyao was still muddled from sleep.
His hand paused mid-motion. Pei Yunheng raised his eyes to her, his gaze calm: "I haven't eaten all day."
"Oh, oh."
Jiang Weiyao gave a sheepish laugh. Just as she was about to eat, she caught sight of a swollen, bruised, purplish mark on Pei Yunheng's wrist from the corner of her eye.
She immediately dropped her chopsticks, her eyes reddening. "Husband, what happened to you? Did you fall on the way? I knew it—I felt uneasy all night. It must be because we husband and wife are one…"
The sleeve fell to cover the wound. Pei Yunheng gave her a cool glance and answered: "I bumped it while cleaning the kitchen."
"……Oh."
Jiang Weiyao was speechless. After a moment's thought, she lifted her skirt two inches. "Actually, I'm injured too."
Pei Yunheng glanced over without much interest—
It was a thin, tiny scratch. If Jiang Weiyao weren't so pale, it would have been hard to find any trace of it at all.
How severe. Any later and the wound would have healed over.
Jiang Weiyao whined, "It hurts so much. You have no idea—if I hadn't run fast, that roof beam would have fallen right on my leg, and by the time you got back you'd have found me a cripple. I was so frightened I cried for ages afterward…"
Pei Yunheng sneered.
What leg? The thing that roof beam should have crushed was that mouth of hers, full of nothing but lies.