After Gu Yun left, Shen Ruo took quite a while to calm his emotions, unwilling to think about it any further.
He went to the kitchen to wash himself clean, carefully cleaning his hands with the ash-and-water solution before drying them, and only then returned to his room.
Li Shantao had set up a small wooden bed next to the little bed. Seeing Shen Ruo enter, she said, “I’ve been sleeping in this room with you all this time so it’s easier to take care of Xiao Yuntun.”
Shen Ruo was deeply touched. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he gently touched Yuntun’s cheek. “Yuntun, you have to be a good grandson to Grandma, understand?”
Yuntun was very considerate, letting out a little “a-woo,” as if he understood what was being said.
Li Shantao couldn’t help but laugh. “Our Yuntun, where does he get this cleverness from? Ruo’er wasn’t this playful when he was little.”
Shen Ruo’s lips curved into a smile, and he teased Yuntun a few more times. Each time, the little one responded, making it incredibly fun.
“Yuntun, do you love Papa?”
“A-woo.”
“Yuntun, do you love Grandma?”
“A… a-woo.”
Shen Ruo’s playful mood rose, and he continued, “When you grow up, will you spend all your money on Papa?”
“……”
No response.
“Asleep already?” Shen Ruo chuckled.
“All right, let’s sleep while we can. You’ll be up again at night,” Li Shantao said with a smile, speaking softly.
During the night, Yuntun woke three or four more times, needing rice porridge and diaper changes. By dawn, Shen Ruo and Li Shantao could finally rest properly.
Today’s breakfast had been prepared by Liu Shan.
With more livestock at home, Liu Shan felt freer to experiment. She tried making egg pancakes like Shen Ruo had done before, but this time she mixed in black powder. Still, compared to the pure black pancakes from before, they were much easier to eat.
Shen Dashan and Shen Feng had gone back to the fields, needing to work for another three days. Once they paid the grain tax afterward, they could finally rest for a while.
As soon as Shen Ruo returned yesterday, he had been pulled into the kitchen and didn’t even have time to tell everyone what he had done in town during the day. He planned to explain it when they gathered for dinner at night.
When he woke up, Shen Ruo’s first instinct was to check on Yuntun. What he saw made his heart stop, the little one’s skin had turned slightly waxy yellow, looking clearly abnormal.
“Mother! Come quickly, look at Yuntun, what’s wrong?” Shen Ruo shouted.
Could it be that he hadn’t cleaned properly yesterday and brought bacteria in?
He looked at Yuntun with guilt, his eyes unconsciously reddening.
Hearing Shen Ruo’s urgent call, Li Shantao dropped what she was holding and ran over.
“Mother, look at Yuntun! Why has he suddenly turned so yellow?” Shen Ruo asked anxiously.
Seeing the child’s condition, Li Shantao finally relaxed.
“He’s fine, Yuntun is fine. Don’t worry, Ruo’er. This is infant jaundice, it will go away on its own.”
This was a blind spot in Shen Ruo’s knowledge. In his previous life, he had little connection with family, and he had never witnessed friends or anyone else having children. He knew nothing about this.
But from his mother’s tone, it seemed this was fairly common.
Shen Ruo calmed down.
Li Shantao said, “Take him outside to get some sunlight today; it will help him recover faster.”
Shen Ruo nodded. It was still early, the sun hadn’t fully risen yet. Once the sun was up, he would take Yuntun out to bask in it.
At Shen Ruo’s call, Yuntun woke up again.
“The mother sheep had her lamb yesterday. She has milk now; you can let Yuntun have some,” Shen Ruo said softly, patting the little one’s chest.
For the past two days, he had only been drinking rice porridge, which wasn’t very nutritious.
Shen Ruo guessed that Yuntun’s weak resistance might be the reason he developed jaundice.
Sheep’s milk contains calcium, protein, and other nutrients, everything a little one needs.
“Alright, I’ll go squeeze some milk, boil it, let it cool, and then feed him,” Li Shantao said, patting Shen Ruo on the back as she headed to the kitchen.
Shen Ruo gave Yuntun a bit of water, gently patted him, and soon the baby fell asleep again.
He tiptoed out of the room and pulled out the soup ladles and straw crafts he had brought back from town yesterday.
Last night, in his hurry, he had just stuffed everything into the haystack. Now, after digging it all out, he carried it to the kitchen.
“Oh my, Ruo’er, where did these soup ladles come from?” Li Shantao’s eyes were sharp, she immediately spotted the yellow-bronze ladles.
“I bought them yesterday. I made a deal with the town’s shop owner but didn’t have a chance to tell you yet,” Shen Ruo said, stacking the ladles neatly.
Li Shantao’s eyes went wide in surprise. What? She hadn’t misheard, right? Ruo’er actually made a deal with a big boss in town!?
Shen Ruo added, “And those two handkerchiefs I asked you and my sister-in-law to make, when the aunts bring the fabric tomorrow, you’ll have to help out for a few days.”
“Th…those handkerchiefs can actually be sold?” Li Shantao nearly dropped the bowl in her hand and quickly grabbed it to steady herself. “The boss won’t mind?”
Shen Ruo nodded, then pulled out the remaining eighteen taels of silver he had left from buying the soup ladles and straw crafts. For the straw crafts, he used fifty coins of pocket money Li Shantao had given him for town errands. After the discount, the crafts cost fifty coins, plus six coins for the ox-cart transport, a total of fifty-six coins, all spent exactly.
The family had never been this extravagant before, it was only Shen Ruo who dared to spend this way.
Seeing Li Shantao frozen in disbelief, he pushed the silver a little closer.
“Mother, keep this money,” Shen Ruo said, knowing that after Shen Feng set up his own household, their small family of three saved their own money.
So these fifty-six copper coins from Li Shantao were the result of her and Shen Dashan’s hard-earned work, coin by coin. Now, the family could finally be a little more financially comfortable.
“So much… Ruo’er, am I dreaming?” Li Shantao couldn’t believe it.
Shen Ruo explained, “This is just a deposit. In the future, whenever the big boss buys the embroidery or novelty items I design, it will be deducted from here. As long as his shop does well and we keep collaborating, the income will be stable.”
Li Shantao didn’t fully understand, but she knew one thing, her Shen Ruo was truly amazing!
She laughed so happily that wrinkles formed across her face. While Shen Ruo went to feed Yuntun goat’s milk, she carried a basket of clothes down to the creek.
On the way, she ran into several villagers, and when she arrived at the creek, the women washing clothes nearby noticed her cheerful mood and couldn’t help asking.
“Li Shantao, why are you so happy? Tell me, what’s going on?” one aunt asked, pounding clothes with a bat as she spoke.
Another aunt chimed in, “Yeah, we saw you coming from afar all smiles, what’s got you so happy?”
Having worked as a midwife in the village for so many years, Li Shantao wasn’t naïve. She knew that bragging about making money would only attract jealousy.
She smiled and replied, “How could I not be happy? I’m a grandmother now! And my Xiao Yuntun, look at how smart he is, it just makes my heart swell with joy.”
Shen Meidong couldn’t resist taking a jab: “What’s there to be happy about? That kid should be calling you Grandma. Now that Ruo Ge’er has a child, it’ll be even harder for you to marry off your daughters.”
Shen Jiuqiu, Matchmaker Qiu, was her sister. Both sisters had married men from the same village, so everyone knew them well. These two loved gossip; her sister, using her status as a matchmaker, acted even more brazenly, and the younger sister loved to stir the pot, always making snide remarks.
Li Shantao rolled her eyes furiously. “Ruo’er will be fine in the future; plenty of people will want him. If worse comes to worst, we can even find him a husband.”
“Oh? A husband? You must still be dreaming. With your three broken-roofed rooms, who would want him?” Shen Meidong sneered.
Her sister had been terrified by Shen Ruo wielding a kitchen knife and had been restless every night, her eyes dark and sleepless. When she heard that Shen Ruo had said Matchmaker Qiu could testify for him at the Shen Hong household, whether he had hit Shen Ziying or not, she had been furious, thinking, Who would testify for you? Shameless!
Shen Meidong’s bitterness rubbed off on her younger sister, leaving them with no sympathy for Shen Ruo’s family.
Besides, that day she had witnessed Shen Ruo giving the biggest rooster in the village to her sworn enemy, Zhou Lan, which had made her furious.
Li Shantao didn’t bother getting upset. “Three broken-roofed rooms? So what? At least my family is united, and I can keep my husband in line.”
Shen Meidong had been struck in a sore spot. Her own husband often ran off to town, and everyone in the village knew he had a mistress, though few dared to mention it in front of her. Most families had unmarried children, and no one wanted to offend her sister matchmaker.
Hearing Li Shantao say this, Shen Meidong got furious, threw down her bat, and rushed at Li Shantao.
“If you dare lay a hand on her, you’ll owe our family two taels of silver!”
Shen Ruo, still holding two diapers Yuntun had pulled, remembered the incident and ran to the creek when he saw someone trying to hit his mother.
He stepped in front of Shen Meidong and said in a measured tone, “Shen Fugui is my cousin. If you hit an elder in my family, he’ll come after you. That man is well-connected, as you’ve seen. At the very least, you’d owe my family a big sum. I’m just warning you out of goodwill.”
“Bah! Who doesn’t know your family fell out with the Shens? Shen Fugui is going to stand up for you?” Shen Meidong spat to the ground.
Shen Ruo chuckled. “Of course! Just today, her family even brought red envelopes and brown sugar for my little one.”
In his mind, Shen Ruo laughed to himself. Earlier on the ox cart, so many people had seen everything; Shen Ziying couldn’t very well go back on her word. She had quickly pulled over a few witnesses to hand red envelopes to Yuntun and, acting magnanimous, had brought two large bags of brown sugar. Shen Ruo nearly laughed himself silly.
Shen Ziying was forced to put on a show of sisterly love for her “brother,” and her face had turned blue with embarrassment.
Shen Ruo didn’t care at all. He acted very warm and even generously declared that he held no grudge over past matters, and that they could continue being “good relatives.”
The aunts who had accompanied Shen Ziying nodded to themselves. Shen Ruo seemed so generous and easygoing, he wasn’t a bad person at all.
Only Shen Ziying felt miserable, wishing she could turn and leave immediately. She was fuming inside but couldn’t let it out.
Shen Ruo, of course, didn’t care. After all, he had gained two sheep, well, four now since the ewe had given birth, and a total of twenty chickens and ducks. He was over the moon!
One of the aunts who had just come to the creek to wash clothes even vouched for him: “Yes indeed! I just happened to walk by. That girl from Shen Hong’s family is generous, even brought two big bags of brown sugar. Oh my, I’ve never seen so much in my life!”
Shen Dongmei glared angrily at Shen Ruo, but in the end, she let it go.
Shen Fugui was notorious in the surrounding villages; she didn’t want any trouble.
“I heard you’re even taking a husband? Hah, that’s laughable,” she mocked, then grabbed her laundry and ran off.
Shen Ruo didn’t know all the backstory, so Li Shantao explained it to him.
Those meddling aunts were just bullies who picked on the weak. Matchmaker Qiu wasn’t any good, and her younger sister wasn’t much better.
“All right, Mother, you go back and help take care of Yuntun. I’ll handle the laundry.”
Shen Ruo squatted and picked up the clothes Li Shantao hadn’t finished washing, starting to work with surprisingly good form.
Li Shantao had never let Shen Ruo wash clothes before; she always wanted to do it herself.
“I can do it, guaranteed clean,” Shen Ruo said helplessly, coaxing his mother, “Yuntun said he missed you, it’s time for milk again.”
“Miss me at such a young age?” Li Shantao had been fuming over Shen Dongmei before, but hearing Shen Ruo’s words, she couldn’t help laughing, her mood instantly lightened.
Shen Ruo finally felt at ease.
“Mm, Yuntun can even recognize people now,” he said with a smile.
This became obvious when Shen Ziying came by. She wanted to show off in front of the aunts by holding the baby, but the moment she picked him up, Yuntun peed all over her.
Shen Ruo couldn’t help bursting out laughing at the memory.
Pfft! He mentally gave Yuntun a hundred and twenty thumbs-up! The little one clearly knew who to pee on, after all, Shen Ruo and his mother had held him before, and he had never peed directly on them!
Author’s Note:
The original female lead was really both foolish and petty, obsessed with appearances, don’t pity her~