Zheng Yi took out a stack of silver notes from his sleeve and handed them to Jiang Chun, saying: “These are five hundred taels worth of silver notes from the Liu family, compensation for Chun-niang.”
At the side, Jiang He drew in a sharp breath: “Five hundred taels of silver notes?”
Zheng Yi nodded and explained: “Young Master Zhao said, the Old Master Liu said, because of Ninth Young Master Liu, Chun-niang was frightened. These five hundred taels of silver notes are to calm Chun-niang’s fright.”
“He also said that originally he ought to personally come to apologize, but he was afraid this matter would spread and ruin Chun-niang’s reputation, so he had Young Master Zhao help pass along the silver notes, and apologize on his behalf, asking Chun-niang to forgive him.”
Jiang Chun took the silver notes, tilted her head and gave Song Shi’an a sideways glance.
She wasn’t stupid. Although the original owner had the fierce reputation of a “Sea-Patrolling Yaksha”, in the end she was still just an ordinary lower-class civilian woman. She truly didn’t have such a grand face to make an official family like the Lius lower themselves to this degree.
The reason things were like this was clearly because of Song Shi’an.
Whether it was because they feared him as the Yan Prince’s brother-in-law, or because they feared his “connections” with the county magistrate, in any case, it couldn’t be separated from him.
In front of her uncle, she didn’t say much more and casually stuffed the silver notes into her money pouch.
Then she smiled and said to Zheng Yi: “Thanks to Uncle running around for me, busying yourself over my affairs. Otherwise, who knows how this matter would have ended. Saying thanks would be too distant, Uncle don’t rush to leave, I’ll go prepare the table for the feast, and have my father drink a few cups with you properly.”
“You’re my niece, and I have no other brothers or sisters, only your mother as my own younger sister. When you encounter trouble, if I, as the uncle, don’t help you, who will?”
Zheng Yi gave Jiang Chun a sidelong glance with a smile, not acting polite with his niece at all. He was about to agree to stay and eat, when his eyes suddenly swept over the pots and jars on the wheelbarrow.
Then his gaze shifted toward the kitchen. Good heavens, it was completely empty inside, even the two big iron pots on the stove had been taken down—only two big pits were left.
Zheng Yi: “……”
How was this feast going to be eaten?
By the time they retrieved all the cooking utensils one by one and put them back in place, then managed to prepare a whole table’s worth of food, the sky would probably be dark already.
He decisively changed his words: “I can drink with your father anytime. Today it’s messy here, Uncle better not stay and add to the confusion. Another day then.”
Jiang Chun followed her uncle’s gaze and also saw the two empty stove holes without the big iron pots, and she gave an awkward smile.
Seeing this, Jiang He decided: “Then another day, when Big Brother has time, we’ll have a good drink together.”
He also took the initiative and said: “I’ll send Big Brother back.”
Zheng Yi had come to Daliushu Village riding the mule cart of Li Zheng’s household; naturally, he couldn’t be made to walk back to the town.
“Alright.” Zheng Yi didn’t stand on ceremony and nodded his head.
Seeing this, Jiang Chun quickly ran to the wheelbarrow, fished out a wrapping cloth, and under the cover of the miscellaneous items, stuffed the medicinal herbs and spices from the storage room inside.
After thinking for a moment, she still painfully added in the gold hairpin that looked like it was worth a lot.
She handed the bundle to Zheng Yi and said: “I trouble Uncle to deliver this bundle of things to Young Master Zhao—it counts as my thank-you gift to him.”
The King of Hell is easy to see, little devils are hard to deal with. [an idiom meaning it’s often easier to deal with people in high positions than with their underlings.]
TN: This novel has a lot of idioms 😭
Zhao Deyang was a favored attendant at the side of the county magistrate. In the future, there might be times she needed to trouble him again.
Even if she never had to rely on him again, this bundle of things could help her uncle curry favor, draw him closer to Zhao Deyang, and increase her uncle’s influence.
Zheng Yi had already seen this bundle of things earlier. He took it without fuss and said straightforwardly: “Alright, I’ll bring it to Young Master Zhao when I go to the county seat to deliver goods tomorrow.”
He didn’t ask where these things came from, because there was nothing worth asking—surely, it was the niece who especially went to the medicine shop and jewelry shop to purchase them in order to give them as a gift to Young Master Zhao.
Zheng Yi was just about to leave when he suddenly thought of something. He quickly said to Song Shi’an: “Nephew-in-law, Young Master Zhao asked me to tell you—the County Lord dislikes the paper, brushes, pigments, and drawing paper in the county town for being of inferior quality. He has already sent someone to the prefectural city to purchase them. Once they are bought, he will have me send them over to you.”
If he could, Lu Zhengheng would have loved to come personally to see Song Shi’an, and stare straight at him while he painted for him.
However, Song Shi’an was now a criminal government servant, and Lu Zhengheng, being a direct descendant of the Lu clan of Fanyang, could not publicly associate too much with him—otherwise, it could bring calamity upon the Lu clan.
He could only use Zheng Yi as a middleman to pass on messages and items.
Song Shi’an nodded and said: “Understood. Many thanks to Uncle for informing me.”
That Lu Zhengheng fellow really had some sense. He knew that as a man who had married into a family, he had no money in hand to purchase the materials needed for painting.
Even if Jiang Chun was willing to buy them for him, she would only buy the cheapest kind. Using such materials to create paintings would make Lu Zhengheng vomit blood on the spot, shouting that it was a waste of heavenly gifts.
If he provided the paper, brushes, pigments, and drawing paper himself, it would avoid such awkwardness.
It would also save Jiang Chun quite a bit of money.
It was simply a win for everyone.
••
Jiang He drove the cart to send Zheng Yi off. Knowing his uncle’s temperament, he would surely leave his brother-in-law at home to eat lunch. So Jiang Chun only needed to fill the bellies of herself and Song Shi’an.
It sounded simple, but the wheelbarrow was stuffed to the brim. Some kitchenware and ingredients were on top, while others were pressed solidly at the bottom.
As a result, she couldn’t even begin to restore the items in the kitchen to their places. She could only unload from top to bottom in order.
This required a lot of patience.
But clearly, Jiang Chun was not a person with patience. Earlier she was forced by circumstances, but now the situation had passed, and the pressure was gone. After just a short while of busying herself, her mind began to wander.
She walked over to Song Shi’an, who was sitting on a small stool with his eyes closed, sunbathing. She deliberately stood in the direction of the sunlight, blocking his light.
Song Shi’an heard the movement and opened a pair of phoenix eyes, raising his brows with puzzlement.
The meaning in his eyes: Why aren’t you hurrying to unpack and organize, what are you running to me for?
Jiang Chun pulled out that stack of silver notes from her purse, reached out and held it in front of him, saying: “These five hundred taels of silver notes are in name compensation to me, but in truth, they’re for you. I won’t be greedy for yours, so you take them.”
Song Shi’an lifted his eyelids and glanced at her.
He did indeed need money. As for his other relatives, it didn’t matter. But his cousin sister had been sold to a brothel—he had to redeem her no matter what.
But this silver was Jiang Chun’s. Five hundred taels wasn’t a small sum for her. He wasn’t so shameless as to take it from her.
At worst, he would just paint another painting later and sell it at a high price to Lu Zhengheng.
Now that he had started, what difference did it make between selling one and selling two?
Having lived again, he was no longer the proud and aloof self of his past life.
Now, he was already an ordinary man who would bend his back for five pecks of rice. [idiom: willing to bow for petty profit]
As for the matter of redeeming his cousin sister—it was urgent, and yet also not urgent.
Urgent, because a brothel was no good place. His cousin, a well-bred lady from a noble family, the longer she stayed, the more her reputation would suffer.
Not urgent, because she was only fourteen this year, not yet of age. She hadn’t yet reached the age to receive customers. For now, she was learning skills under the instruction of a brothel teacher, and her chastity could still be preserved for the time being.
The most crucial thing was, his body was still weak right now, and the cousin sister had been sold to Shaoxing Prefecture, which was extremely far from Qizhou Prefecture. Even if he now managed to save up one thousand taels of silver, he still didn’t have the strength to travel across thousands of miles, scaling mountains and crossing rivers, to go redeem her.
The result of overestimating himself might very well be not managing to rescue the person, and instead losing his own life.
So this five hundred taels of silver in front of him didn’t mean much to him.
He said blandly: “Old Master Liu’s words were very clear—this five hundred taels of silver was to calm your fright. Just take it. What are you giving it to me for?”
After a pause, he gave a cold laugh: “Could it be that you want to divorce your husband again?”
If he hadn’t brought that up, it would’ve been fine. But the moment he did, Jiang Chun immediately reacted. She placed her hands on her hips and loudly scolded: “You still dare bring that up? I haven’t even settled accounts with you yet!”
“You—this guy—obviously had a way to help me, but you just kept your mouth shut and watched, thinking it was great fun seeing me, my dad, and my uncle running around like headless chickens? Why didn’t you hold it in all the way, wait until my dad and I fled to Qingniu Town, and then you’d be completely free. Then you could sell a painting to the County Lord, earn several thousand taels of silver, buy a big house, then buy a few servants to wait on you, eat delicacies and drink fine wine—how comfortable, how carefree!”
Last night he had looked all pitiful, putting on a touching act of preferring to lose his life rather than be separated from her and fleeing together. It made her heart soften right then and there, and she immediately changed her mind, giving up her plan to secretly run away and leave him behind.
She had thought, no matter how bitter or hard it would be, she had to bring him along; if worse came to worst and they couldn’t escape, they’d just die together.
But in the end? It was all fake—this bastard was testing her with words.
If she hadn’t changed her mind, he would definitely have stood by and done nothing, watching her and her dad flee with his own eyes, and from then on, live a life of hiding and evasion.
As expected of him, Song Shi’an, truly a deeply scheming one!
But Song Shi’an didn’t feel guilty in the slightest. Calmly, he said: “I needed to know whether you were worth helping or not, before I could act.”
After all, this was something that hadn’t happened in his previous life. If he stood by and did nothing, maybe nothing would happen—but once he intervened, things could go out of control.
What changes might happen, whether the outcome would be good or bad, he had no way to predict.
To him, this clearly wasn’t a good thing.
So he had to test her—to see if she, in a time of crisis, would make the decision to abandon him, this burden.
The facts proved—she did not.
That at least didn’t disappoint him.
After this matter, he had completely let down his guard toward her. From now on, he would treat her as one of his own, and wouldn’t hide things from her like this again.
Jiang Chun glared at him, angrily saying: “You actually doubted my character? You heartless thing—so all the kindness I showed you before was for nothing!”
Song Shi’an glanced sideways at the silver notes in her hand and curled his lips: “But I did help you get five hundred taels of silver in compensation—shouldn’t that be enough for you to forgive me?”
Jiang Chun held the silver notes, licked her lips, and asked for confirmation: “You really don’t want these silver notes?”
“Don’t want them,” Song Shi’an answered crisply.
After a pause, he added: “Just keep them—after all, in our household, you’re the one who manages the money. Even when Dad earns money, he hands it to you.”
That one phrase—“our household”—made Jiang Chun burst with joy, the corners of her mouth rising so high she couldn’t press them down.
It meant that he didn’t treat her as an outsider; he believed she was also part of this family.
But she still forcefully suppressed her smile.
He actually dared to test her—he couldn’t be forgiven so easily, otherwise he’d dare again next time.
She put the silver notes back into her money pouch and snorted coldly: “You yourself said this silver was compensation from the Liu family. It’s only right that I accept it. Don’t think that by doing this I’ll forgive you.”
Song Shi’an rubbed his forehead and asked: “Then what must I do for you to forgive me?”
Jiang Chun’s eyes turned a few times, and her gaze stopped at his increasingly rosy thin lips. She couldn’t help but swallow her saliva.
She lightly coughed, then shamelessly made her demand: “You kiss me once, and I’ll forgive you.”
After pausing, she raised her hand and pointed at her own mouth: “Only if you kiss here will it count.”
Song Shi’an: “……”
The moment he asked that question, he regretted it. He had a bad premonition—and sure enough, this rascal climbed right up the pole [idiom: taking advantage of a situation instantly], truly never letting people down no matter the occasion.
He said helplessly: “Can’t you be a bit more proper? That little brain of yours thinks about these sorts of things all day long, and you don’t even feel embarrassed.”
“Then I won’t forgive you.” Jiang Chun threw down these words and turned around to leave.
Back at the wheelbarrow, she continued unloading things. Each time she unloaded something, she’d carry it into the house.
She directly treated Song Shi’an as air, walking past him without even sparing him a glance.
Usually, hearing her chirp endlessly at his ear every day, it was nothing. But now that she suddenly stopped speaking to him, Song Shi’an didn’t feel anything at first. But after two full days of Jiang Chun treating him like he didn’t exist, he started to panic a bit.
At lunch this day, he tried to take the initiative and speak to her, using his chopsticks to point at the plate of vinegar stir-fried shredded cabbage, praising: “You made this dish well—it goes great with rice.”
Jiang He, seeing that Jiang Chun didn’t respond, even reminded her: “Chun-niang, your son-in-law is praising you—how come you’re not saying a word?”
Even if the two had quarreled before, her son-in-law had helped resolve her trouble; she really shouldn’t still be angry with him.
Jiang Chun tapped her bowl with her chopsticks and said with a straight face: “Dad, less talking while eating. The big households all observe ‘speak not while eating, sleep not while lying down’.”
Jiang He: “……”
Usually at mealtime, she was the one who talked the most. Now suddenly she wouldn’t let anyone speak?
Looks like she was still mad at her son-in-law.
Jiang He wanted to say more, to scold his daughter a bit, but feared that saying too much would make her angry again.
Forget it, better not interfere—let the young couple sort it out themselves.
He finished his black flour steamed bun in just a few bites, stood up and said: “Dad’s heading to Uncle Jiang Wan’s place to have him take me to Xiaoli Village to buy a mule. You two eat slowly.”
After speaking, he lifted his foot and left.
Song Shi’an swallowed the white flour steamed bun in his mouth, stood up, took a clean pair of chopsticks from the chopstick holder, and reached into the plate of radish meat slices, placing a chopstickful into Jiang Chun’s bowl.
He said: “These radish meat slices look pretty good—you should eat more.”
Jiang Chun ignored him and didn’t eat the radish meat slices in her bowl. Instead, she picked up a chopstickful of stir-fried mustard stem pickles and placed them onto her steamed bun, eating in big mouthfuls.
Song Shi’an was so exasperated he laughed.
This rascal really did go all out just to take advantage of him.
With her chatterbox personality, keeping silent for two days—she was probably suffocating by now, wasn’t she?
Hard on her, she could still hold it in.
Jiang Chun really was starting to feel she couldn’t hold it in anymore—but she absolutely couldn’t admit defeat.
Husband and wife—if it’s not the west wind pressing down the east wind, then it’s the east wind pressing down the west wind [Idiom: one side must dominate the other]. If she backed down easily this time, then in the future, the one yielding would always be her.
Between her and Song Shi’an, there was already a great disparity in background. Now, he was a phoenix fallen into misfortune—so it was still fine for the moment.
But two years later, when the Song family is rehabilitated and he returns to officialdom, while she remains just a low-born pig-slaughtering girl, the difference in their statuses would be too great, and their relationship would become very delicate.
So, she must suppress him right from the beginning. That way, even if he becomes Chief Minister of the Cabinet, she could still face him without stage fright—because she’d have the confidence to do so.
Therefore, when facing his initiative to make peace, she didn’t give him any face at all and chose to ignore it completely.
Song Shi’an was truly driven to the point of helplessness by her. Lying on the heated brick bed that night, he let out a deep sigh, then groped his way to the foot of the bed where Jiang Chun was sleeping.
He leaned down, placed both hands under her pillow to lift her head, and then, fumbling in the dark, moved his lips closer in the direction of her mouth.