Here’s the part 1 of chapter 28. I have posted it on another novel LMAO
Song Shi’an had already guessed earlier that Jiang Chun had someone else switched inside her core, otherwise it was impossible for her temperament to change so drastically.
Though “the son does not speak of monsters, strength, disorder, and gods” [子不语怪力乱神 — a Confucian saying implying the educated should not discuss the supernatural], he also knew that in unofficial histories of the previous dynasty and in folk anecdotes, there had been similar rumors.
But that didn’t include materializing objects from thin air.
Such divine power could not be explained just by soul-swapping — could it be that the soul inside this core was actually a celestial maiden from Heaven?
But in an instant, he overturned that guess.
Which family’s celestial maiden would boldly throw her dirty underpants in front of a man, asking the man to wash them for her?
So, what exactly kind of person was she? And how did she obtain this divine power of materializing objects from nothing?
While Song Shi’an pondered this matter in his heart, he held his breath and focused his spirit, cautiously retreating backward, not daring to make the slightest sound.
If he were discovered by Jiang Chun that he had peeked at her secret, he would definitely be silenced!
Managing to crawl back to the edge of the kang and lie down again without danger, Song Shi’an secretly let out a breath of relief, then closed his eyes and turned things over in his mind.
It was already known that this Jiang Chun could read, and could recite lines from the Analects without stumbling — she was clearly someone who had studied.
A family that allowed a girl to study must, at the very least, be a household of modest wealth, and the elders in the family must surely be of great insight.
Yet she acted without attention to small details, often using her fists to subdue people, and not only that, but had no real concept of the separation between men and women — when wiping his body, she neither blushed, panicked, nor even had trembling hands.
Moreover, she seemed very confident that she would have a boundless future, and thus was willing to both spend money and exert effort to take care of him.
Plus, she carried on her body that mysterious and unfathomable divine power to summon objects from thin air.
He really couldn’t figure out just what her background was.
But one thing he could be certain of: this ability of hers to summon objects from thin air had limitations — she could not fetch anything at will as she pleased.
Otherwise, she would have had no need to invest so much in him, just for the chance to bask in his glory in the future.
Sure enough, Heaven was still fair — even if she was the favored child of the Heavenly Dao, she still ultimately had to be suppressed by rules.
In fact, thinking carefully, if even he could live another lifetime, then wasn’t it not all that strange for her to bring divine power and soul-swap into Jiang Chun’s body?
And besides, even if she had the divine power to summon objects across space, wasn’t she still just a mortal who ate grains and cereals?
After smoothing out his thoughts, Song Shi’an’s mindset returned to calmness.
Compared to pondering these illusory and vague spiritual and supernatural matters, it was better to care about how much money the books he copied had sold for.
After all, even if he knew he would become the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, could he now already act imperiously toward the Jiang father and daughter who were feeding him?
Food has to be eaten bite by bite, and the road has to be walked step by step.
After lying for about another quarter of an hour, he deliberately made some loud noises, then slowly sat up.
Jiang Chun heard the noise, pushed the door open and came in. Seeing that Song Shi’an was awake, she smiled and said, “Husband, you’re awake?”
Song Shi’an nodded his head, then asked: “Did the books I copied sell? How much money did they sell for?”
Jiang Chun pulled out a money pouch, first took out three strings of coins, then counted out another twenty coins, and said to him: “One book, one hundred sixty wen; two books, three hundred twenty wen.”
Then she reached out to take back one string of coins, as well as the scattered twenty wen, then opened up another string of coins and counted out forty wen from inside, and put them back into her own money pouch.
She said aloud, “Last time buying paper and gray ink cost one hundred ten wen, today buying paper again cost fifty wen, altogether one hundred sixty wen.”
She pushed the remaining one hundred sixty wen to the front of Song Shi’an, smiling with a grin: “This remaining one hundred sixty wen is what Husband earned back — Husband can keep it himself.”
The accounting was indeed very precise! Song Shi’an lifted his eyes to look at her and said mildly, “You haven’t deducted the money you used to buy the bamboo pens for me.”
Jiang Chun rolled her eyes at him and said in a tone of mock anger, “That was a gift I gave to Husband — how can I let Husband spend money on it?”
As she spoke, she reached into the bundle and rummaged around, then pulled out four bamboo pens at once.
Then she reached out to grab Song Shi’an’s right hand, placed the bamboo pens into his palm, and giggled, “Husband obediently sleeping at home was a merit — this is your reward gift!”
Song Shi’an: “……”
Obediently sleeping at home was a merit? Did she take him for a three-year-old child?
But he did indeed need bamboo pens.
Forget it — let her say whatever she wanted.
He used his left hand to remove her claw that refused to let go of his right hand, lowered his head to glance at the four bamboo pens, and said, “Thank you.”
He accepted the bamboo pens, but pushed the one hundred sixty wen copper coins in front of him back toward Jiang Chun, and said mildly: “You keep this money.”
“For me?” Jiang Chun raised her brows in surprise.
She had previously guessed that the reason he wanted to copy books to earn money was probably because he wanted to spend money to ask around about his relatives’ whereabouts, or to help out relatives in a difficult situation.
She hadn’t expected him to hand over the hard-earned money from copying books to her.
Let her keep it for him?
Wasn’t he afraid she’d pocket it for herself? Did he trust her that much?
Perhaps having seen through her doubt, his next words shocked her even more: “You take it to supplement household expenses.”
Jiang Chun felt a bit touched — this guy really seemed like he wanted to live a good life with her.
But having read too many novels, she had the habit of overthinking everything, and couldn’t help but grow suspicious again.
Could it be that this guy was casting a long line to catch a big fish — using small money to move her emotionally, so that in the future he could make her spend big money to help him search for relatives or give aid to them?
With his intelligence, he absolutely could do something like that.
But what he didn’t know was that within two years, the Song family would be redressed [平反 – restored to honor after wrongful punishment], and by then, Prince Yan who would be made Crown Prince would send people to rescue the Song family relatives who had been sold all over the country.
There would be no need for her to spend any big money at all.
So, well, she would gladly accept this little money with a smile.
She made a show of being moved, sniffled, and choked with emotion: “Husband’s body hasn’t even recovered yet, and already he’s rushing to earn money to support the family. A live-in son-in-law like you is truly hard to find even if one searched with a lantern — I will treat Husband even better in the future!”
Song Shi’an: “……”
Her acting skills were far too lacking — not to mention tears, even her eye rims didn’t get red. Compared to the noble ladies of the capital who were well-versed in acting, she was not just one or two levels below.
But he didn’t expose her either, because he really didn’t have the face to.
A mere one hundred sixty wen — not even enough to cover two days of his medicine — how could it bear the title of “supporting the family”?
Her acting was the correct choice. If she were truly moved by this, then her brain was more or less not very clear — she couldn’t even do such simple accounting.
However, the reason he handed this money to her was indeed to help supplement the household expenses. He didn’t want to be a man who simply opened his mouth for clothes and reached out his hand for food — a rice-fed freeloader. [软饭男 – literally “soft rice man,” derogatory slang for a man financially dependent on a woman]
As for the money to redeem his younger female cousin from the hall branch, he would find another way. After all, that wasn’t a small sum — if he relied on copying books bit by bit to save up, by the time the Song family was redressed, he still wouldn’t have enough.
But since she had already put on an act, if he didn’t give any reaction and left her without a way to step down, she would definitely make a scene, and he’d be the one suffering then.
So Song Shi’an had no choice but to speak: “You already treat me extremely well.”
“Really?” Jiang Chun instantly leaned her face forward, the two of them nearly face-to-face.
Song Shi’an was so startled he immediately leaned back to avoid her, but since he had been lying too long, his waist was a little sore and weak, and he didn’t hold up — with a ji sound, he flopped flat onto the kang.
“Pfft…” Jiang Chun rudely burst out laughing.
Then, climbing the pole while the momentum was there, she gave a swish and jumped up onto the kang, both hands and knees pressing down beside him, directly kneeling down over him.
Then she waggled her brows and made faces, saying, “Husband, we were just talking, and suddenly you lay down on the kang. Are you hinting at me to do something?”
Song Shi’an was so embarrassed he couldn’t take it, his fair face flushed bright red, and he said with false fierceness and inner weakness: “Get off me at once — what kind of decency is this!”
Jiang Chun made an innocent face, and even managed to shift the blame: “It was Husband who lay down first to seduce me. Now that I’ve taken the bait, you’re putting on this look like strangers should keep away — are you playing me?”
“When did I seduce you?” Song Shi’an glared at her, face red, and explained, “My waist went soft — I didn’t hold up for a moment, that’s why I fell back!”
“Oh?” Jiang Chun raised an eyebrow, with an expression that said she didn’t quite believe it.
Song Shi’an nodded with difficulty: “Really didn’t hold up.”
Jiang Chun saw that his face was red like a fully ripe apple, giving off a tempting fragrance — it was practically inciting her to commit a crime.
She hesitated only for a moment, then decisively bent her elbow, let her upper body sink, her mouth pressed to his cheek, and then gave — a kiss.
He was her husband. She spent money and effort, waited on him hand and foot — what was wrong with taking some benefits?
How could you expect the horse to run and not let it eat grass?
As for basking in the glory of his future position as Grand Secretary of the Cabinet — that was a matter for the future.
The future always held uncertainties — what if she didn’t get to bask in his glory then?
Only the benefits in hand counted as true benefits. Benefits not in hand were just painted pies.
It was fine to draw big pies for others, but one must not draw big pies to trick oneself.
“You…”
Song Shi’an was completely stunned. It took a long while before he came back to his senses. He wanted to say something, but only managed to squeeze out one word.
Jiang Chun, however, straightened up, placed both hands on her waist, and righteously said: “What about me? I’m your wife. What’s wrong with giving you a kiss? Don’t make a fuss over nothing.”
Song Shi’an: “……”
What she said wasn’t wrong, but — he didn’t want to have bodily or emotional entanglements with her.
He took a deep breath, trying to reason with her: “My body has not yet recovered…”
The words had barely begun when Jiang Chun cut him off: “Husband, your body hasn’t yet recovered — don’t always keep thinking about consummating the marriage. That’s not good for your health, you know.”