Truly Kind and Beautiful
Lu Yu, slurping down noodles inside the room, did not forget to prick up his ears to listen to the commotion outside the courtyard. He also felt that a real man should be able to handle spicy food. In the future, he could let that troublemaker add some for him.
If he did a good job, he would not call him a troublemaker anymore.
This cold noodle is really delicious. Chew, chew, chew.
“Lu Yu, are you done eating? I am coming in,” Jiang Queyun called out loudly from outside the door, while occasionally scratching at the wall, picking up a handful of yellow soil and grass roots.
“Come on in,” Lu Yu hurriedly replied.
Jiang Queyun walked into the room carrying a bowl of cold boiled water. As he handed it over, he took back the bowl and chopsticks.
Seeing that he had eaten it completely clean, he smiled proudly. “Is the food I made delicious? It is definitely better than what your dad makes, right?”
“Don’t be so full of yourself! Even if my dad can’t cook, my dad is kind-hearted. Unlike you, you are simply a troublemaker!” Lu Yu said, his small face scrunched up as he gave Jiang Queyun an indignant and complicated look.
Yet he was admitting that the food he made was delicious.
Jiang Queyun’s lips curved into a smile, but he had no intention of letting him off so easily. “Are you eating from the bowl and then cursing the cook? Lu Yu, although you are a child, I still have to tell you that this is no way to behave.”
Lu Yu was left feeling somewhat embarrassed and hot in the face, unable to keep his composure. He wanted to apologize, but pride held him back because of how he had been mistreated in the past. His mouth opened and closed, but not a single word came out.
Jiang Queyun said, “A real man must dare to take responsibility. It is wrong of you to curse me after eating my food, so you need to apologize for this.”
“It was wrong of me this time, but I haven’t forgiven you for what you did before!” Lu Yu quickly added, as if being unforgiving would somehow make him superior.
“Hold onto whatever grudges you have about the past. Do you think I would actually bicker with you?” The smile on Jiang Queyun’s face became a bit more lively. “Hand me the bowl when you are done. Your dad is waiting to wash the dishes.”
Lu Yu felt as though he had punched a cotton ball. He reluctantly handed the bowl over and even remembered to mutter a word of thanks.
The weather was getting hotter and hotter. Jiang Queyun had tasted the sweet benefits of digging up medicinal herbs. Every day after waking up, he would shoulder his bamboo basket and head deep into the mountains, returning at noon to dry them, and then packing them away once they were done.
Repeating this for several days, his pile of dried herbs grew larger, and Lu Yu’s leg was almost fully healed.
Being a child, his flesh and skin healed very quickly. Upon learning that the wound had already closed up, Lu Yu got straight out of bed and swung his legs around to show off, occasionally casting smug glances at Jiang Queyun.
Jiang Queyun couldn’t be bothered to argue with a brat.
“Do we need to buy writing brushes, ink, and paper for school?” Jiang Queyun asked. “That is great, then. Tomorrow I want to sell these herbs, and we can all go together. You can buy your school supplies while we are there.”
“Mn,” Lu Hanbai acknowledged.
Thinking of the copper coins soon to be in his hands, Jiang Queyun felt happy again.
Because he had spent a long time digging this time and handled the processing very well, both the madder roots and the bupleurum fetched a good price.
While shopping, Lu Hanbai indeed did not use Jiang Queyun’s money, and Jiang Queyun didn’t shamelessly pry into how much silver he actually had, as long as it was enough for his own food, clothing, and expenses in the Lu household.
Lu Yu was very excited, but he also knew the family’s situation and didn’t dare pick anything expensive; just enough to use would do.
Given that Lu Yu’s leg had just healed, they took an ox cart back on the return trip, which also allowed Jiang Queyun to hitch a ride and benefit from it.
As soon as Lu Yu got home, he carefully stored the brushes and paper in his room, touching the books with extreme care. He had to study hard and earn money for his dad!
As for that troublemaker, he would just use some silver to dismiss him when the time came. Or so he thought.
The sun hung high in the sky.
Although Jiang Queyun felt the sun was a bit scorching, it seemed much milder than the midsummer of his past life. After all, with global warming still in the future, it was manageable.
He didn’t have the habit of taking a nap. After eating, he busied himself arranging those medicinal herbs in the courtyard. Once it got even hotter later on, going outside would be completely out of the question, so he had to make the most of the present to dig up as many herbs as he could. He needed to have some cash in hand first.
“Go back inside and rest once you are done drying them. If you fall ill, we will have to spend silver on medicine,” Lu Hanbai said calmly as he stood by the doorway.
He didn’t seem to mind the heat at all. Clearly surrounded by the same waves of heat, he looked as though he was insulated by a layer of air, appearing calm, poised, and not the least bit hot.
Jiang Queyun wiped away a bead of sweat, thinking that this man truly lived up to being the protagonist gong. Even though he only wore coarse linen clothes, standing there made him look like a decisive young general returning from military campaigns, naturally commanding everyone’s attention.
And that someone was naturally Jiang Queyun.
In all fairness, Lu Hanbai was tall, long-legged, and exceptionally handsome, with cold, stern facial features, sword-like eyebrows, starry eyes, and a high nasal bridge that added a touch of sexiness.
Especially those thin lips. They say people with thin lips are fickle, but if one could truly share some affection with this man, what would it taste like?
Bah, bah, bah!
Jiang Queyun shook his head repeatedly. How could he lust after something that didn’t belong to him? A person had to have self-awareness; things that weren’t yours shouldn’t be touched, and even the thought of craving them shouldn’t exist.
“Jiang Queyun, I am talking to you. What kind of attitude is that?” Lu Hanbai frowned slightly. How dare this person curse under his breath at him, and so blatantly at that!
“I am almost done. What are you in such a rush for?” Jiang Queyun mirrored his frown, a hint of teasing lingering in his voice.
Lu Hanbai sneered, “I am just afraid the copper coins you earn won’t be enough for a single dose of medicine. You don’t know a good heart when you see one. You are not allowed to come in.”
“I am going in anyway. Does your family cover marrying someone without covering feeding them?”
As Jiang Queyun spoke, he clapped his hands and ran toward the house. Seeing Lu Hanbai move to block him at the doorway, he ducked his head and slipped right past under the man’s arm.
Lu Hanbai smiled helplessly, finding the sensation of the little mouse slipping past his fingertips rather novel. He glanced at Jiang Queyun, who had already laid down, closed the door, and locked out the scorching heatwaves of the outside world.
Jiang Queyun lay on the reclining chair, rocking his body back and forth. The creaking sound was particularly distinct in the quiet midday.
He stared up at the roof, wondering if the roof built from a few pieces of wood was sturdy enough. Although this thatched cottage had walls made of a mix of thatch and mud, it wasn’t very solid after all. When the weather got really hot, would it catch fire directly?
He thought about it idly. The protagonist gong wouldn’t be staying here for long, but he himself wasn’t so sure.
“Husband.”
Hearing that affected, pretentious voice, Lu Hanbai knew he was about to make another request.
“Speak.”
“Do you have any plans for tomorrow?” Jiang Queyun asked softly. “A-Yu is going to private school tomorrow, and from now on, expenses will be needed everywhere. With our family’s situation, it is not good to keep relying on charity from others, right?”
Lu Hanbai understood. The fellow saw him idling at home and worried he wouldn’t have silver on hand to support the family.
He softly said, “I plan to drop A-Yu off at the private school tomorrow and then head into town to find some odd jobs. It won’t be too far from home, so don’t even think about making trouble.”
“Look at what you are saying. How could I dare?” Jiang Queyun said with a feigned, coy grievance, quietly gagging to himself afterward.
No matter what the protagonist gong did, he was bound to have great fortune or encounters. Jiang Queyun just needed to secure a bit of his protection, basking in the protagonist’s light. It wouldn’t waste all his efforts spent cooking and washing clothes, right?
“If I go to town for work, I definitely won’t be coming home at noon. By then, A-Yu will have to be left in your care, and if you…”
“Hey! You can set your mind completely at ease. I will take good care of him. I don’t need to walk him to and from school every day, right?” Jiang Queyun finally bothered to lift his head, offering Lu Hanbai a huge, bitter smile. “With my delicate constitution, I can’t stand the wind and sun.”
Lu Hanbai thought: I didn’t see you being afraid of the sun when you were tending to those medicinal herbs!
Looking at him with a mixture of helplessness, Lu Hanbai said, “A-Yu is already seven years old.”
The unspoken meaning was that the boy knew the way home.
“Then when the time comes, besides household expenses, you have to share some of your wages with me,” Jiang Queyun said, opening his mouth wide like a lion. “Distributed according to the proportion of what you earn, I won’t ask for too much.”
“Understood.”
Lu Hanbai didn’t find any problem with this. That was how things were done in the village; the silver earned by the man was supposed to be handed over to his wife to manage the household. Although he did everything in their household, giving Jiang Queyun some copper coins wasn’t a big deal.
If he ever really dumped all the silver onto him, this troublemaker would probably drop to his knees and kowtow loudly in gratitude.
At this thought, the corners of Lu Hanbai’s lips couldn’t help but curve upward.
The next day.
Just as the sky was turning pale at dawn, Lu Hanbai got up. To squeeze Lu Yu into the private school and make a show of going to town, he couldn’t afford to waste time.
Sensing this, Jiang Queyun muttered a couple of times sleepily and rolled over to fall back asleep. By the time he woke up again, Lu Hanbai had already returned.
“Why are you back so early?” Jiang Queyun asked, still half-asleep. “Have you eaten? Shall I go make lunch?”
“No need. I ate in town. I found a job,” Lu Hanbai said. “I will go to town to work starting early tomorrow morning.”
Joy flashed across Jiang Queyun’s face. He hadn’t expected job hunting to go so smoothly, and hurriedly asked, “What kind of job? How much is the monthly wage? What do you actually do? What time do you leave and what time do you come home? Are there days off? Do they provide meals? Are the people easy to get along with?”
These were all things a worker cared about the most!
Jiang Queyun had worked countless part-time jobs in his past life and encountered plenty of weirdos, to the point where he later suffered from depression and completely lost all energy and methods, forcing him to become a freelancer.
Even though Lu Hanbai was big, tall, and packed with muscles, meaning he probably wouldn’t get bullied, a good working environment was beneficial for physical and mental health.
Lu Hanbai had already thought it through and nodded slightly. “I used to study martial arts, so I am going to teach martial arts at the escort agency in town.”
“A martial arts instructor!” Jiang Queyun was startled. “You are truly amazing! What else, what else?”
“Eight liang of silver per month, and I can eat all three meals there,” Lu Hanbai said. “They are just a bunch of rough men. Even if they are hard to get along with, a few punches will make them easy to deal with.”
The smile on Jiang Queyun’s face froze slightly. He couldn’t really argue with that logic.
He had already witnessed the power of a single copper coin; eight liang of silver went without saying, as it was an absolute fortune. Even though it wouldn’t all belong to him, of course.
Lu Hanbai continued, “The monthly wage probably won’t be a full eight liang; it is estimated to be around six liang. All household expenses will be covered by me, and besides that, I will give you one liang.”
“Great, great, great! You truly are kind and beautiful!”
Jiang Queyun was practically ready to spin around in circles and cheer.
My heart is deeply comforted!