At the thought that Hao Chunniang might have been reborn, the bowl in Su Nuanru’s hands nearly slipped. It tilted slightly to one side.
Seeing that she was about to lose her grip on the soup bowl, Huo Hanye quickly reached out and steadied it.
Su Nuanru came back to herself and looked at him. “Thank you.”
Huo Hanye withdrew his hand without saying anything.
Su Nuanru set the bowl on the table and asked, “The Qian family are scholars. Would they agree to let Hao Chunniang open a shop?”
In her previous life, she had mentioned opening a shop to the Qian family, but they had not agreed.
Old Mrs. He shook her head. “I’m not sure either.”
Huo Hehua said, “The Qian family didn’t agree.”
Su Nuanru looked at Huo Hehua.
Huo Hehua continued, “This morning, I heard Aunt Zhen arguing with Sister Chunniang. Sister Chunniang asked Aunt Zhen for money, but Aunt Zhen scolded her, and Brother Xiucai scolded her too. Sister Chunniang got furious, slammed the door, and left.”
Su Nuanru asked, “When did they argue? Why didn’t I know?”
She had actually missed something so entertaining. What a pity! Hao Chunniang had a fiery temper, while Old Mrs. Zhen was the sort of person who only knew how to talk and never did anything. Su Nuanru had really wanted to see those two argue.
Huo Hanye’s thick brows furrowed slightly. Was she taking too much interest in the Qian family’s affairs?
Huo Hehua said, “You had gone to town with Mother.”
Su Nuanru’s face filled with regret. If she had known they were going to argue, she should have gone to town later. She could buy things at any time, but a quarrel like that was a rare opportunity.
“What were they arguing about?”
Huo Hehua said, “Sister Chunniang said she wanted to open a shop and make a fortune. Aunt Zhen said she must still have been half-asleep, and Brother Xiucai said she had lost her mind. Sister Chunniang was terribly anxious and said they were ignorant and would definitely regret it in the future.”
Su Nuanru burst out laughing. She could imagine the scene perfectly. It must have been spectacular. It was just a pity she had not witnessed it herself.
Seeing how much Su Nuanru enjoyed listening, Huo Hehua continued, “Sister Chunniang said the Qian family were standing in the way of her making a fortune. Brother Xiucai said she was disgracing their scholarly standing, and then—”
“Ahem!”
Huo Hanye finally could not bear it anymore and coughed heavily.
Su Nuanru and Huo Hehua both turned to look at him.
Huo Hanye glanced at Huo Hehua and reminded her, “Eat your food. The porridge is getting cold.”
Huo Hehua had wanted to continue, but her brother’s look was truly frightening. She glanced at Su Nuanru and did not dare say anything more.
Su Nuanru was somewhat frightened by Huo Hanye’s dark expression as well. She lowered her head and drank her porridge without saying a word. However, judging from what Huo Hehua had said, she was even more certain that Hao Chunniang had been reborn.
She had not expected that, after being reborn, Hao Chunniang would no longer want to marry Huo Hanye. Instead, she wanted to marry Scholar Qian.
What was so good about Scholar Qian? Even after being recognized as the marquis’s legitimate son, he had relied only on his bloodline. Huo Hanye, on the other hand, relied on his own ability. He had fought for everything he had with blade and spear on the battlefield.
After Scholar Qian was recognized as the marquis’s legitimate son, he abandoned her. But after Huo Hanye became a general, he had not abandoned Hao Chunniang. In her previous life, they had lived directly across from each other, so Hao Chunniang should have known perfectly well what sort of life Su Nuanru led in the Qian household. Su Nuanru could not understand why Hao Chunniang had rejected Huo Hanye and chosen Scholar Qian instead.
After the meal, Su Nuanru and Huo Hehua whispered about the Qian family again while washing the dishes in the kitchen. One of them spoke to her heart’s content, while the other listened with satisfaction.
Huo Hehua had wanted to badmouth the Qian family for a long time, but her mother would not let her. Her father and elder brother were not interested in listening to such things either, so she had been forced to keep it all bottled up. Now that her sister-in-law enjoyed listening, she had finally found someone who shared her interests.
“Sister-in-law,” Huo Hehua said, “from what she said, it sounds like she’s almost saved enough money. If she really saves enough and opens a shop at the wharf, will she steal our business?”
Su Nuanru found Huo Hehua more and more adorable. She smiled and asked, “Have you ever been to the North Wharf?”
Huo Hehua nodded. “I have.”
“Are there many people there?”
“There are so many! People are packed in together.”
“Once the wharf near our village opens, there will be even more people there, and it will be livelier. With more people, the shops will have more customers. Our shop won’t be able to serve that many people. Even if we opened another ten shops, we still wouldn’t be able to serve them all, so opening one more shop won’t take away our business. Besides, there are so many shops at the wharf. Sooner or later, those shops will all open. It’s impossible for ours to be the only one. When the time comes, there will be business not only inside the shops. People can also set up stalls nearby and earn some money.”
Hearing this, Huo Hehua was reassured.
“I thought their family was deliberately trying to steal our business. It’s good as long as they can’t take it away.”
Su Nuanru guessed that although Hao Chunniang had been reborn, she had probably never thought of opening a shop at the wharf at first. Perhaps she had only noticed that they had rented shops and then remembered how prosperous the wharf had been in her previous life, which was why she had decided to rent a shop there as well.
However, now that word had already spread through the county, the rent for those shops would probably no longer be as cheap as it had been when they rented theirs.
After tidying the kitchen, Su Nuanru heated some water and went to wipe herself down in the room. A while later, Huo Hanye returned from outside. He said nothing after coming back. Even after the two of them lay down on the bed, he did not say a single word.
Huo Hanye was not usually talkative, but today Su Nuanru could clearly feel that his mood seemed particularly poor.
She thought about it carefully. It seemed that Huo Hanye’s gaze had already been strange when he returned from the fields that afternoon. At the time, Old Mrs. He had said she wanted to send some stuffed steamed buns to the Qian family. Su Nuanru had not wanted to give the buns she had made herself to the Qian family, so she had lied and said that Old Mrs. Zhen and Hao Chunniang were both out.
During dinner, when they had brought up Hao Chunniang’s argument with the Qian family, Huo Hanye had also worn a grim expression.
A few days ago, when Old Mrs. Zhen had spoken against her, he had even said that he would help her fight. He had clearly intended to take her side. Why, then, had he become unhappy today merely because she had asked a few more questions about the Qian family?
She suddenly remembered something she had overlooked. In her previous life, Huo Hanye had married Hao Chunniang. Could it be that he had feelings for Hao Chunniang? Otherwise, given his temperament, why would he have married her?
At this thought, Su Nuanru immediately became alert. In her previous life, Huo Hanye had married Hao Chunniang after Su Nuanru married Scholar Qian, allowing Hao Chunniang to throw her weight around at home. Later, when Hao Chunniang went to the capital, she even found another man.
In the past, Su Nuanru had not understood Huo Hanye and did not know what kind of temperament he had. Now she understood him somewhat better, especially after seeing the ability he had displayed regarding the opening of the wharf.
At present, he was merely an ordinary farmer, yet he could already work out much of what was happening. Later, when he became a great general, he would have even more capable people around him and would certainly be able to keep an even firmer grasp on matters.
A man as capable as him could not possibly have been completely unaware of Hao Chunniang’s actions!
Could it be that he truly liked Hao Chunniang, which was why he tolerated her doing such things?
A sour feeling suddenly rose in Su Nuanru’s heart. He had clearly wanted to marry her before, so how had he fallen for someone else so quickly? She knew that she could not blame Huo Hanye for this. If anyone was at fault, it could only be her. Yet the thought that Huo Hanye might admire Hao Chunniang still made her uncomfortable.
When she had learned that Scholar Qian had married Hao Chunniang, she had felt only relieved that she had not married him, along with confusion over why Hao Chunniang had chosen him. Why was it that she could not bear it when it came to Huo Hanye?
Su Nuanru raised a hand to her chest, which felt tight.
He had just heard that Hao Chunniang was borrowing money everywhere. Could it be that he was planning to gather money for her as well?
No. She would not agree!
Su Nuanru stopped moving and sat up in bed.
Huo Hanye opened his eyes and looked at her. “What is it?”
That question instantly brought Su Nuanru back to her senses. What had she been thinking? She had even wanted to control Huo Hanye’s thoughts.
Huo Hanye was so determined and so full of his own ideas. How could she possibly control him? Besides, whenever he looked at her, he always had such a fierce expression. There was no way he would listen to her.
But the thought of him going to help Hao Chunniang was unbearable. There were some things she could not control, but she had married Huo Hanye, and the Huo family’s money absolutely could not be given to Hao Chunniang!
After thinking it through, Su Nuanru organized her thoughts and lay back down.
She first brought up the family’s difficulties. “I’ve spent all the money I had. It all went into the shops. I asked Mother today, and she doesn’t have much money left either. We still owe five qian of silver to the people who helped make the tables, chairs, and benches. The little money we have left has to go toward buying vegetables and flour and making preparations for the opening.”
Now that the family had no money left, surely he could not still be thinking about giving money to Hao Chunniang?
Hearing this, Huo Hanye’s heart grew heavy. He was useless. He had married her, yet he could not give her the life she wanted. Instead, he had made her worry about money. It was only natural that she had not wanted to marry him in the first place.
“You don’t need to worry about the money. I won’t go to the fields tomorrow. I’ll go to the county and look for some work to earn some money.”
Su Nuanru’s heart gave a jolt. Their family had no money left, yet he was still thinking about going out to earn more. She was afraid that Huo Hanye would neglect even the farmwork in order to gather money for Hao Chunniang, so she added, “Our shop may not make any money at first, and we’ll still need to put in quite a bit more. We have to save as much as we can.”
“Fine. I’ll think of something.”
Afraid that Huo Hanye might still do something foolish, Su Nuanru spoke even more plainly. “We still owe money to others. We can’t lend our money to anyone else.”
Although Huo Hanye was somewhat confused, he still answered, “Fine.”
Seeing how readily he agreed, Su Nuanru felt somewhat better. Then she suddenly thought of something else and said, “I have other plans for the second shop. You can’t rent it to anyone else without my permission.”
The money used to rent the two shops had come from her dowry. She would absolutely never agree to rent one to Hao Chunniang.
At this, Huo Hanye fell silent for a moment. Was that what she thought of him? The shops had been paid for with her dowry, which meant they belonged to her. He could never make the decision on his own to rent one to anyone.
When Huo Hanye did not answer, Su Nuanru grew even more uncertain. Could it be that he really had been making plans for that shop without her?
After a while, Huo Hanye said, “Since it’s certain that the wharf will open, leaving the shop empty would be a waste. Why not give it to Father-in-law?”
Su Nuanru froze.
He had been thinking of transferring it to her father, not Hao Chunniang?
She had indeed thought about helping her father pull himself together. She had not expected Huo Hanye to have the same idea as her. However, she knew how resistant her father was to doing business. He would probably be unable to accept it for a while, so she had planned to take things slowly—earn money herself and gradually influence him.
“Father probably won’t agree.”
“Then leave it empty for now, or use it for some other kind of business.”
“Fine.” Su Nuanru vaguely felt that she had misunderstood Huo Hanye. Perhaps he had never intended to help Hao Chunniang open a shop. “I’m tired. I’m going to sleep first.”
“Mm.”