After Jiang Jingyi said this, she kept watching Ji Qiuyang, and Ji Qiuyang’s hand holding the chopsticks paused briefly.
Old Lady Ji even chimed in, “Jingyi is right. You usually work hard at the academy, so eat more to supplement yourself.”
“Second Uncle, eat this.” Ji Deyuan quickly picked up a piece of pig trotter for Ji Qiuyang. “Second Uncle, eat more. Eat up and become the top scholar.”
Ji Qiuyang gave Jiang Jingyi a profound look, then nodded. “Alright.”
Jiang Jingyi watched from the side as Ji Qiuyang picked up the pig trotter, held it in one hand, and began eating it very gracefully. The scene she had wanted to witness didn’t appear, leaving her feeling somewhat disappointed.
“Wife should also have some. I hear you helped your elder brother and sister-in-law make bean curd sheets today, that must have been tiring. Have some pig trotter to supplement yourself.” Ji Qiuyang calmly picked up a rather large piece of pig trotter and placed it in Jiang Jingyi’s bowl, his expression gentle. “Wife’s delicate hands aren’t as rough as Qiuyang’s; you should supplement yourself properly.”
Jiang Jingyi raised an eyebrow. Was he fighting back proactively? She smiled, her eyes filled with tenderness. “Thank you, husband.”
With that, she picked up the pig trotter with her slender hand, took a bite, and even extended her tongue to lick her lips. “The pig trotter my husband gave me truly tastes better.”
If she told Ji Qiuyang that eating pig trotters with soybeans could enhance breast size, she wondered what expression this gentleman would make.
Their verbal sparring appeared to everyone else as a couple showing mutual care and affection—they certainly couldn’t guess what the two were actually thinking.
After dinner, everyone bathed and went to sleep. Jiang Jingyi was last. After bathing, she still sang little songs in the room, which in Ji Qiuyang’s view were lewd and vulgar tunes.
But Jiang Jingyi wasn’t one to obey. Ji Qiuyang had tried to stop her before, but Jiang Jingyi simply wouldn’t listen. This time, he didn’t even bother to say anything.
Seeing Ji Qiuyang enter and go straight to the desk to pick up a book, Jiang Jingyi got up and came behind him, placing her arm on his shoulder. “Husband.”
The moment her arm touched his shoulder, Ji Qiuyang’s body immediately tensed up. Jiang Jingyi couldn’t help laughing. “Husband, do you remember what you said this evening?”
What had he said?
That Jiang Jingyi wasn’t womanly enough?
Ji Qiuyang pressed his lips together, his throat moving. “Take your hand off. Don’t forget our agreement.”
“I remember it well.” Jiang Jingyi was in quite a good mood seeing him nervous. “But my husband said I’m not womanly enough… To prove that I am indeed a woman, I have to do this.”
With that, Jiang Jingyi leaned close to Ji Qiuyang’s ear and gently exhaled. “What does my husband think?”
Ji Qiuyang’s earlobes immediately reddened, and he couldn’t utter a single word.
Jiang Jingyi knew when to stop. Who knew what their situation would be in the future—once she’d earned enough silver, they might indeed go their separate ways. If she provoked him too much, it wouldn’t be good.
“Now, does my husband feel that I’m exceptionally womanly?” After speaking, Jiang Jingyi withdrew her hand, sat back on the bed, picked up a comb, and casually combed her hair, thinking to herself: Big sister hasn’t even sung the more outrageous, vulgar songs yet.
Those boneless hands had finally withdrawn, and Ji Qiuyang couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Yet deep down, there was a slight feeling of regret. Startled by this realization, he heard Jiang Jingyi’s following words and immediately became alert. What was he thinking? He and Jiang Jingyi were never on the same path, and besides, they had already signed that gentleman’s agreement. How could he entertain other thoughts?
Ji Qiuyang straightened his back and resolutely remained silent. After a long while, he finally spoke. “Since you’re helping your elder brother and sister-in-law with their work, they should pay you wages.”
Jiang Jingyi snorted derisively. “Would I care about a few coppers? Not to mention I don’t care about such small change, but as you said, I’m helping my elder brother and sister-in-law—what business is it of yours?”
With that, she gathered her hair and began removing her outer garment to change clothes. Seeing Ji Qiuyang still turning to look at her, she snorted and directly untied her sash.
Ji Qiuyang caught a glimpse of the bellyband underneath and his face flushed bright red. He abruptly turned around. “This is utterly improper!”
Jiang Jingyi said sarcastically, “It’s so hot, do you expect me to sleep fully clothed? If you’re not hot, I certainly am.”
She paused and added, “If you’re uncomfortable, feel free to move next door and sleep there.”
There was an empty room next door currently used for storing miscellaneous items. If he really wanted to sleep there, it could certainly be cleared out.
But they were already married, how could they possibly sleep in separate rooms?
Ji Qiuyang pressed his lips together. He extinguished the oil lamp and lay down on the reed mat, his back facing Jiang Jingyi’s direction. Unbidden, the image of that red bellyband surfaced before his eyes.
Jiang Jingyi, unaware of Ji Qiuyang’s thoughts at that moment, found that with the lamp out and hazy moonlight filtering in, changing clothes was manageable.
But women in this era all wearing bellybands was truly inconvenient. Fortunately, her chest was still not very developed. In a couple of years, if she grew larger and still had to wear a bellyband… walking might become…
Ahem.
Jiang Jingyi changed into her underclothes and lay down, thinking to herself that she should direct Yingtao to make a brassiere someday. At least it would make her small buns appear larger.
In the middle of the night, wind picked up, and it seemed to drizzle on and off. By daybreak, the air outside was exceptionally fresh.
Someone who had long lived in a city couldn’t breathe such invigorating air even in the countryside, unexpectedly, after transmigrating, she had been blessed with such good fortune.
When she got up, Lady Yun and Ji Dongyang had already left for Qingshui County. Jiang Jingyi stretched lazily and said, “Why didn’t anyone wake me?”
Ji Linxia shot a teasing glance at Ji Qiuyang, who was coming out behind her, and whispered, “Mother said Second Brother rarely gets to come home, so she didn’t want me to disturb you.”
Jiang Jingyi, thick-skinned as she was, felt a bit embarrassed. Were they trying to give them an opportunity to…?
Unfortunately, she was still a maiden.
Jiang Jingyi chuckled shamelessly. “Come on, let’s pick vegetables and make breakfast.”
After eating greasy food last night, Jiang Jingyi just wanted to munch on a few cucumbers now. When she reached the vegetable garden, Old Lady Ji and Yingtao were happily picking vegetables and chatting. Jiang Jingyi picked a cucumber, washed it, and squatted at the edge of the field. “Mother, what shall we eat for breakfast?”
Having sold more bean curd sheets these past two days and earned a few extra coppers, Old Lady Ji was in good spirits. “What would you like to eat? The hens laid a few eggs this morning, shall I fry some for you?”
Jiang Jingyi beamed. “Mother is so good to me. I’ll eat whatever you make.”
Old Lady Ji smiled. “Once you marry into my family, you’re like my own daughter. Don’t overthink things.”
They returned to the front yard to find Ji Qiuyang feeding the chickens with a handful of grass. Suddenly, Jiang Jingyi wondered what kind of person Ji Qiuyang truly was.
He clearly liked lecturing her about principles and etiquette, yet he didn’t mind doing things that men of the time were unwilling to do. For instance, entering the kitchen, feeding the chickens, even in the countryside, few men did these things. Not to mention killing chickens, something considered beneath scholarly dignity.
Yet Ji Qiuyang did them with considerable ease, seemingly not finding it improper.
Jiang Jingyi squinted, suddenly recalling how Ji Qiuyang had fought back during last night’s dinner.
Either Ji Qiuyang was truly an old-fashioned stickler for rules who did these chores simply because he couldn’t bear to see his family work too hard. But there was another possibility: Ji Qiuyang was just a repressed, secretly lustful man pretending to be proper!
If he really was a repressed… hmm, that might actually be quite interesting.
Ji Qiuyang, having finished feeding the chickens, turned to see Jiang Jingyi squinting at him. His brow immediately furrowed as he went to the back to wash his hands.
Old Lady Ji asked him, “Why are you up so early?”
“Couldn’t sleep, so I got up early,” Ji Qiuyang replied.
Old Lady Ji glanced at Jiang Jingyi with a smile, thinking this marriage had turned out well after all; otherwise, who knew how long her son would have delayed marrying. Previously, she had worried the young couple might be unhappy due to earlier events, but these past few days she’d observed that their relationship wasn’t bad.
Breakfast consisted of stir-fried chives with eggs, a pot of thick porridge, and leftover spare ribs from last night—a very satisfying meal.
After eating, Ji Linxia dragged Jiang Jingyi to check on the bean sprouts. They entered the room and lifted the lid covering them, discovering that the plump soybeans had already sprouted.
Ji Linxia exclaimed in surprise, “Second Sister-in-law, how many more days before we can eat them?”
“Three to five days.” She had spoken confidently before, but in truth, this was her first time growing bean sprouts. Fortunately, she knew all the steps and didn’t find the process difficult. Judging by the current situation, it should be quite successful.
As she spoke, Jiang Jingyi sprinkled water to keep the soybeans moist and then covered them again. “This looks promising. Today, let’s soak some more beans; otherwise, after finishing this batch, we’ll have to wait another seven or eight days, that would be too slow.”
The three women went out, picked out more soybeans, and soaked them, planning to prepare another basket in the evening.
The baskets people used at this time were woven from thin rattan strips—somewhat cumbersome but decent. Jiang Jingyi mentioned this to Old Lady Ji, who promptly said, “Qiuyang happens to be home. Have him go up the mountain to cut some rattan strips and weave some.”
Jiang Jingyi asked in surprise, “He knows how to weave baskets?”
A smile appeared between Old Lady Ji’s brows. “All our baskets at home were woven by him. His craftsmanship is much better than your eldest brother’s.”
A xiucai (scholar) who could weave baskets! Jiang Jingyi felt like she’d opened another new door to the world. Ji Qiuyang constantly surprised her.
Before Jiang Jingyi could respond, Old Lady Ji had already left the room. “Qiuyang, we’re short on baskets at home. Go cut some rattan strips today and weave a few.”
Recalling the basket of beans in their room, Ji Qiuyang nodded at these words.
Old Lady Ji smiled. “The mountain scenery is lovely now, and there are still few mosquitoes. Take Jingyi to have a look.”
Hearing this, Ji Qiuyang glanced at Jiang Jingyi, suspecting this woman had put his mother up to this. He knew this woman wasn’t one to stay still—as soon as he returned, she was already showing her claws.
**
Author has something to say:
Jiang Jingyi: I guess you’re a genuine antique.
Ji Qiuyang: What did you say, my wife?