The wind in late autumn was beginning to turn cold, and Luo Wangshu could no longer keep wearing Mo Li’s clothes all the time. After thinking about it for a long while, Mo Li secretly went up the mountain to hunt some game and planned to exchange it for silver at the restaurant in town on market day.
“Well now, isn’t this Ali? What brings you here today?” The shopkeeper was short and stocky, with two little mustaches above his lips. His small eyes looked shrewd, but not in an unpleasant way.
Luo Wangshu stood outside the entrance waiting. His overly outstanding appearance caused passing pedestrians to glance at him repeatedly.
“Boss, how much do you think these rabbits and pheasants are worth?” Mo Li smiled honestly and took down the basket on his back.
The shopkeeper looked through it. The pelts of the five rabbits were intact, and the three pheasants were a decent size. Smiling, he said, “Not bad, not bad. How about this? I’ll give you sixteen taels.”
“Alright!” Mo Li nodded readily.
The shopkeeper liked Mo Li’s straightforward personality, so the prices he offered him were always fairly honest. While retrieving the silver, the shopkeeper casually asked, “Ali, got yourself a wife yet?”
Mo Li scratched his head shyly. “Yep, I got married. My wife’s outside the door.”
“Oh?” The shopkeeper raised his eyes in surprise. A crowd had gathered outside the entrance. “Ali, where’s your wife?”
Mo Li abruptly turned around and strode over. Pushing through the dense crowd, he saw a man dressed in luxurious robes trying to lift Luo Wangshu’s chin with a folding fan. Instantly furious, he grabbed the man with one hand and lifted him up.
Seeing Mo Li arrive, Luo Wangshu finally let out a sigh of relief.
He had merely been standing there quietly when this man walked over. At first, the man politely asked whether he needed help. After Luo Wangshu shook his head, the man still refused to leave, constantly trying to strike up conversation. More and more people gathered around to watch, and eventually the man started getting handsy. Luckily, Mo Li had arrived in time.
“Who the hell are you?” the man snapped unhappily as he struggled against Mo Li’s grip, though it was completely useless.
Mo Li carried him aside like a chicken and threw him to the ground. “Then who are you? Why’re you touching people randomly?”
The man yelped as he hit the ground. His luxurious robes became somewhat disheveled, and anger filled his delicate-looking face.
“This young master can touch whoever he wants. What’s it got to do with you?!”
“That’s my wife! You think I can’t interfere?!” Mo Li waved his iron-like fist in front of him. The man instinctively shrank back in fear, though he still refused to lose in terms of momentum.
The man stiffened his neck and shouted, “Your wife doesn’t even have a cinnabar mark on his forehead! How was I supposed to know he’s your wife?”
“What’s it to you whether he has one or not? Say one more word and I’ll beat you up!”
The killing aura around Mo Li made the man shiver. He mumbled awkwardly, not daring to say another word.
Luo Wangshu hurriedly dragged Mo Li aside, afraid he might actually beat the man up. Judging from the fellow’s clothing, he clearly wasn’t some ordinary person. If they hit him, wouldn’t commoners like them suffer terribly afterward?
“How is it? Finished yet?”
Mo Li glared at the man on the ground with puffed cheeks. Damn it, he still really wanted to kick him.
“Hey, behave. Look at me, not him. Did you finish up? If you’re done, let’s go home.” Luo Wangshu reached out and turned his face back straight, somewhat annoyed. He’d stood there being treated like a monkey on display for half the day. How could his mood possibly be good?
Mo Li twisted his sleeves and said, “I still haven’t collected the silver.”
“Then go get it. Once you get it, we’re leaving.” Luo Wangshu truly didn’t want to stay here for even another moment.
“Go together.” Mo Li held onto Luo Wangshu’s hand without letting go.
“Alright already.” The shopkeeper brought out a pouch of copper coins. “Here’s sixteen taels. Take it.”
Luo Wangshu restrained his expression and calmly said, “Thank you.”
The shopkeeper waved his hand and passed the money pouch to Mo Li. “You should hurry and buy some cinnabar to mark your wife’s forehead. If government officials catch him someday, it’ll be too late!”
“Mhm, I got it.”
To be honest, Luo Wangshu really didn’t want to stroll through the streets. After all, he had once been sold here like merchandise.
“Wife, which cloth do you like?” Mo Li excitedly asked while standing at a cloth stall.
Luo Wangshu’s head immediately started hurting at the sight of all those fabric bolts. “Ahem… well, I don’t know how to make clothes…”
Mo Li proudly patted his chest. “I do! I guarantee they’ll turn out beautiful.”
“You know how to make clothes too?” Luo Wangshu felt as though lightning had struck him. Truly worthy of being a virtuous househusband. He surrendered completely.
“Yep.” Mo Li’s pitch-black eyes sparkled brightly, and his face practically screamed, “I’m amazing, hurry and praise me!”
Naturally, Luo Wangshu wasn’t stingy with compliments.
“Our Ali is really impressive.”
“Hehe~ Wife, come pick some cloth you like.”
Luo Wangshu glanced around. The dark blue fabric actually looked pretty good. But wasn’t one qian per chi too expensive? The cheapest fabrics at the stall were light pink and pale green, only ten wen per chi. Considering Mo Li’s financial situation, he chose those two instead.
Anyway, he rarely went out. If people laughed at him, then so be it.
“Wife.” Mo Li frowned. “I think that one looks better.”
What should he do if his wife’s aesthetic sense was terrible?
Of course Luo Wangshu knew the dark blue looked better and more comfortable. But the problem was the price! They’d nearly worked themselves to death in the mountains just to earn sixteen taels, and one chi already cost one qian.
The stall owner smiled cheerfully. “Young master has excellent taste. This is the last bolt in our stall. If you want it, how about six chi for five qian and five diao?”
“Alright—”
“Alright what? These two outfits are enough.” Luo Wangshu tugged on Mo Li.
Mo Li explained, “Our winters are cold. Winter clothes need better fabric or they won’t be warm.”
Luo Wangshu still wondered just how cold winter could get. After all, in his previous world, the greenhouse effect had already become fairly serious. Winters only brought frost, and he’d never even seen a single snowflake.
By the time Luo Wangshu snapped back to reality, Mo Li had already paid and taken the fabric from his hands.
“You really bought it…” Luo Wangshu felt deeply powerless. Living a life where food, clothing, and everything depended on someone else really didn’t feel good.
Mo Li merely smiled. “Wife, in the future I’ll work hard and earn lots and lots of silver so you can buy whatever you want.”
Luo Wangshu silently lowered his eyes.
For the past twenty years, he’d never once thought about being together with anyone, much less considered gender. Yet after transmigrating once, he’d somehow become gay just like that?
Mo Li was still talking to him, but Luo Wangshu’s thoughts had already wandered far away. He only snapped back to reality when something cool touched the center of his forehead.
“Huh?” Luo Wangshu looked at Mo Li in confusion.
Mo Li grinned and handed him a bronze mirror. In the reflection, there was a small red dot at the center of Luo Wangshu’s forehead.
Honestly… it actually looked pretty good.
“This color suits your wife very well.” The old woman selling the cinnabar smiled.
“Then we’ll take this one.” Mo Li immediately took out three copper coins.
Luo Wangshu only wanted to laugh dryly while resisting the urge to wipe it off. Forget it. If he really got captured by the authorities, it’d be better to have the mark.
By the time the two returned to Li Family Village, it was already evening. The moment they reached home, they saw a crowd gathered at the entrance, noisily arguing about something.
Mo Li and Luo Wangshu instinctively quickened their pace. Pushing through the crowd, they saw a stretcher with Zhao Dayuan’s wife lying on it. Her face was pale blue-white, and she had already stopped breathing.
“Perfect timing! Your father poisoned my wife to death with his medicine. Tell me, how should this debt be settled?!” Seeing the things Mo Li and Luo Wangshu were carrying, Zhao Dayuan spoke even more energetically.
Mo Fang stood by the entrance smoking his pipe. His expression looked ugly, and dried blood still stained his hands.
“Shut up!” Mo Li glared at Zhao Dayuan, startling him badly enough that his arrogant attitude weakened considerably.
Mo Fang lowered his pipe and pushed Mo Li aside before speaking to Zhao Dayuan.
“She was pregnant. You kicked her like that. By the time she was brought here, she’d already suffered severe hemorrhaging. I couldn’t save her, and now you’re blaming me?”
The moment Zhao Dayuan heard the word “pregnant,” a gleam flashed through his eyes.
“One corpse, two lives! Anyway, she died after coming here. I don’t care—pay up!”
Just as Mo Li was about to start beating him, Mo Fang stopped him and coldly asked, “How much?”
Hearing there was room to negotiate, Zhao Dayuan greedily stared at Mo Fang.
“At least twenty taels, right?”
Two lives for twenty taels…
Mo Fang sneered, not knowing whether that price was too expensive or too cheap.
“And if I don’t pay?”
“Then we’ll settle this in court!” Zhao Dayuan arrogantly declared.
Mo Fang immediately agreed. “Fine. Going now or tomorrow?”
The surrounding villagers all fell silent.
Going to court?
That was something they’d never even dared imagine in their entire lives.
Zhao Dayuan froze. Usually, the moment he mentioned court, everyone would obediently give in to him. Yet this Mo Fang had agreed so readily.
“You… tomorrow then! Just you wait!” Zhao Dayuan stiffened his neck as he spoke, as though shouting louder meant winning.
“Carry her away.” Mo Fang patted Mo Li, who immediately grabbed Zhao Dayuan back when he tried to leave.
Zhao Dayuan looked around. Seeing that nobody intended to help him, he could only grit his teeth and slowly drag the stretcher away bit by bit.
“Everyone disperse.” Mo Fang waved his hand tiredly.
Someone advised, “Doctor Mo, just give him the twenty taels. Commoners have to endure ten strokes of the board just to appear in court. It’s not worth it.”
“It’s fine.” Mo Fang, who always believed that avoiding trouble was best, surprisingly remained firm this time.
The crowd dispersed, sighing about how Mo Fang had somehow ended up with such trouble. But sighing was all they did.
“I’ll go with you tomorrow.” Li Dakang patted Mo Fang’s shoulder.
Mo Fang shook his head. “No need. I have to clear this matter up properly. It’ll also count as giving Elder Li an explanation.”
After hearing that, Li Dakang didn’t insist further. He only said, “Don’t force yourself too hard.”
After everyone left, Mo Fang sat dejectedly on the doorstep, staring into the distance without knowing what he was thinking.
Luo Wangshu cleaned the courtyard while Mo Li went to steam coarse buns. Rarely, he even stir-fried two eggs with chili peppers. The fragrance was enough to make people swallow their saliva repeatedly.
Ahem. It wasn’t that Luo Wangshu lacked dignity. But since arriving here, he’d been eating coarse buns and pickled vegetables every single day. On better days, there’d be that awful bitter vegetable dish added in. Though he only liked drinking the soup from it.
All the wild boar meat had been cured into preserved meat because they said winter and New Year were approaching. Life had become bitter like a little cabbage.
Actually, they only ate poorly during the busy farming season. When work wasn’t busy and Mo Li was home, there were usually all kinds of delicious things. But Mo Fang hadn’t said anything. As for the wild boar meat, it had only been preserved because Mo Li fell sick.
“Old man, don’t be sad. For Auntie, death might’ve been a form of release.” Luo Wangshu plopped down beside Mo Fang and leisurely said.
Mo Fang glared at him. “What does a little brat like you know?”
Luo Wangshu smiled faintly while looking at the setting sun.
“I know lots of things! Hey, old man, let me tell you a secret. When people die, they become stars in the sky.”
“You know that?” Mo Fang clearly didn’t believe him.
“My mother knew. She told me.” Luo Wangshu seemed to remember something, and his eyes softened.
“Tch! Your mother fooled you!”
Luo Wangshu looked at Mo Fang and slowly said, word by word, “It’s true. She’s up there watching me.”
Mo Fang’s hand paused mid-smoke. Then he heard Luo Wangshu say:
“Come on, old man. Let’s go home and eat.”
“If you two don’t come over soon, I’m eating all the eggs myself!” Mo Li shouted from beside the stove.
The moment Luo Wangshu heard that, he hurriedly ran over.
“Stop! Put down that egg!”
Mo Fang wiped his face, tucked the pipe into his waist, and shouted after Luo Wangshu:
“You little brat! Call me Father!”