Song Shi’an, this person, is too men sao1Men sao [闷骚] – reserved and seemingly indifferent on the outside but secretly passionate inside. When you want him to kiss, he’s unwilling, but once he starts kissing, there are endless tricks, never-ending.
Jiang Chun was almost tormented into flying to the heavens on the spot, becoming an immortal by feather transformation. [a Daoist reference to transcending the mortal world, achieving immortality]
By the time they fell asleep, it was already the third watch of the night [11pm–1am]. The next morning upon waking up, beneath her eyes hung two big dark circles, almost able to compare with the shi tie shou. [食铁兽 – “iron-eating beast,” a poetic nickname for the giant panda]
As for the culprit Song Shi’an, his face was fair, tender, smooth, and rosy, his complexion unusually good.
So much so that Jiang Chun was gnashing her teeth in envy, glaring at him fiercely.
Song Shi’an’s face flushed red, and he quickly averted his gaze, embarrassed to meet her eyes.
After all, such intimate things had happened last night, almost considered as half-consummation of the union, he thought she would be as shy as himself.
Who would have thought, this fellow did not know what shame even was at all, as if what happened last night wasn’t even as important as her dark eye circles. Early in the morning, she squatted in front of the water basin and checked her reflection no less than five times.
Since she, a woman, didn’t even feel shy, what reason did he, a man, have to feel shy?
Song Shi’an’s back immediately straightened, all traces of shyness vanished from his face, and he even dared to make a request: “For breakfast, I want to eat that preserved egg porridge you made last time.”
Jiang Chun originally didn’t want to pay him any mind, but thinking about it, last night she did indeed get quite high, and he, this laborer, even if he had no achievements, still had hard labor to his credit, so she snorted lightly: “There are just a few preserved eggs left. After you finish them, don’t keep thinking about them.”
In the end, she still fetched the clay pot and cooked a pot of plain congee with preserved eggs.
After they finished breakfast, seeing that the sky was still early, and since today was cloudy and windy, she decided on the spot to take Song Shi’an on a trip to Hongye County to let Physician Cao feel his pulse and see how his body had recovered.
In truth, they should have gone for a follow-up long ago, but helplessly, the winter was too cold, and they were afraid he’d catch a cold on the road.
Later, as the weather warmed up, a large number of refugees gathered outside the county, making it somewhat unsafe, so they delayed until now.
If, after Physician Cao takes the pulse, he determines that he has recovered ahead of schedule…
Jiang Chun rubbed her hands together—then she would not be polite anymore.
She also ran to ask Jiang He: “Dad, do you want to come to the county with us?”
Jiang He refused decisively: “It’s such hot weather, Dad won’t go. You two go early and return early, be careful on the road.”
Thus, Jiang Chun drove the cart, bringing Song Shi’an towards Hongye County.
It was mid-June, the wheat had already been harvested and sun-dried, stored into the granary. Just a few days ago, there had been a rain; in the farmlands beside the road, there were farmers planting soybeans.
This year, Hongye County had favorable weather, the wheat grew excellently, the grains full and plump. During harvest, the weather had been sunny as well—it could be called a bountiful harvest.
Although affected by the locust plague in neighboring Yanzhou Prefecture, the farmers had suffered for half a year, almost unable to hold on, but now at last they could catch their breath. So everyone’s faces were filled with joy, and from time to time, there were sounds of laughter and conversation coming from the fields.
Song Shi’an quietly listened and watched.
When they were close to Hongye County, he suddenly opened his mouth and said: “Later, I want to paint a ‘Planting Beans Painting’.”
Jiang Chun raised her eyebrows, surprised: “Why do you want to paint and sell again? I’ve told you many times, our family isn’t lacking silver, you don’t need to sell paintings for money.”
Song Shi’an said faintly: “Not for sale, it’s to gift to you, wife, as a birthday present.”
Jiang Chun was stunned.
Birthday present? She had a birthday coming up?
Seems like it really is—the original body’s birthday is on June 28th, and today is already June 18th, isn’t the birthday coming up soon?
Wait, no, Song Shi’an’s birthday also seems to be in June, and it happens to be June 18th.
Back then, for ease of remembering, when she wrote the story, she directly used the shopping platform’s 618 big promotion day. [“June 18th Big Sale,” a major mid-year shopping event in China]
Isn’t tomorrow just June 18th?
Jiang Chun smacked her own forehead. Lately, carrying sacks day after day had made her so exhausted she turned silly, even such an important matter as his birthday had been thrown to the back of her mind.
Truly deserving a beating!
She asked nonchalantly: “Husband, how did you know my birthday is coming up?”
Song Shi’an said lightly: “That day, Father mentioned it unintentionally. You know, my memory is very good—it’s hard for me to forget something even if I wanted to.”
“So that’s how it is.” Jiang Chun nodded.
The mule cart moved forward for another quarter of an hour, and Hongye County town came into view.
When Jiang Chun came three months ago, there were still makeshift shelters built on both sides of the city gate. Now, most of those shelters had already disappeared, only a sparse few remained here and there.
It seemed most of the refugees had already returned to their hometowns. However, a small portion of refugees, for various reasons, had yet to return for the time being.
Fortunately, these people weren’t many in number, and under the supervision of the county government, it shouldn’t cause any major troubles.
After entering the city, Jiang Chun didn’t go anywhere else and went straight to Baohetang.
[Ding! Check-in at 【Hongye County Medical Hall】successful. Obtained: 7 taels of bird’s nest, 4 taels of black pepper, 5 taels of red sage.]
After the check-in, she and Song Shi’an walked into the medical hall one after the other.
Seeing that Physician Cao was in the consultation hall and they hadn’t come in vain, she let out a sigh of relief.
After all, in the scorching heat of summer, coming to the county town wasn’t easy. If they had come in vain, they’d have to make another trip on a different day.
She quickly walked over, smiling: “Physician Cao, my husband has been taking medicine for a full ten months. Could you take his pulse and see if his body has recovered well?”
After speaking, she turned back and pulled Song Shi’an’s hand, dragging him along, and seated him in the chair in front of Physician Cao.
Physician Cao raised his hand and said: “May I trouble the gentleman to extend his right hand.”
Song Shi’an lifted his sleeve, placing his fair wrist onto the pulse pillow.
Physician Cao placed his hand on it, took the pulse for a while, then had Song Shi’an switch to his left hand.
After taking the pulse on both hands, he stroked his beard and said to Jiang Chun with a smiling face:
“Langjun’s body has recovered very well, it can basically be considered as fully healed.
If Jiang Niangzi has sufficient silver on hand, it’s best to continue taking the medicine for another two months to consolidate and thoroughly eradicate the root. If silver is tight, stopping the medicine now is fine as well, it won’t affect longevity.”
Song Shi’an didn’t turn to look at Jiang Chun; how she would choose, he could guess with his toes.
Sure enough, he heard her grumble hatefully: “Truly a prodigal husband, ten months of medicine and still not cured completely. I think our family is being ruined by you to the point we’re not far from begging for food!”
Then she gritted her teeth and said to Physician Cao: “Physician Cao, does your medical hall accept black pepper? My family’s pork stall has shut down because we couldn’t source pigs, and just so happens we have this prodigal husband who needs to be fed good food, good drink, and good medicine. I could only go and borrow money from my uncle.”
“But my uncle’s days aren’t going well either, he had no spare cash to lend me, only gave me a jin of black pepper that someone used as debt repayment to him. This black pepper is of excellent quality. If I pawn it at a pawnshop, it’d be a shame. If you’re willing to accept it here, I’ll sell it to you at a lower price.”
This time she’d gotten 4 taels of black pepper from signing in, and the last time she’d gotten 6 taels. Added together, it wasn’t too much or too little, exactly one jin.
Song Shi’an, who’d been called a “prodigal husband,” pursed his lips and said nothing.
He knew she was pretending to be poor, that’s why she spoke this way.
Besides, he did indeed count as a prodigal husband—all the silver spent had been her hard-earned money.
Even though he had also helped her earn a good amount of silver, she had stashed it all away carefully for her future plans of entering the capital, not spending a single coin of it.
Black pepper was originally a rare thing from foreign lands, and with the past half-year’s time being filled with refugees gathering at Hongye County, no merchant caravans dared to come here. So in the city, black pepper was a case of having a price but no market.
Upon hearing this, Physician Cao’s eyes lit up, and he hastily said: “Take it out and let me have a look.”
Jiang Chun took off the bundle from her back, reached her hand in, and under the cover of the bundle, took out a small handful of black pepper from the system’s storage.
She placed it on the case table in front of Physician Cao.
Physician Cao leaned in to take a look, immediately exclaiming: “This black pepper is excellent!”
Then, unable to hold back his excitement, he shouted at Jiang Chun: “Take it all out and let me see—if all of it is this quality, I can offer you a high price of 38 taels.”
Jiang Chun reached in again, took out all the black pepper from the system’s storage, and directly placed the entire bundle onto the case table, opening it for Physician Cao to inspect.
Physician Cao used his hands to flip through it, carefully examining the black pepper in the bundle, then called his apprentice to bring over the scale to weigh it.
After weighing, he smiled with satisfaction: “Not too much, not too little, exactly one jin.”
Then he stood up, carrying the bundle over to the medicine cabinet, carefully placing the black pepper into one of the drawers.
After a round of busy work, he packed up 60 packets of decoction medicine and 32 taels of silver into a bundle, handed it back to Jiang Chun, and smiled as he said: “After deducting 6 taels of silver for two months’ worth of medicine, there’s still 32 taels left. Jiang Niangzi, please count and see if the amount is correct?”
Jiang Chun stood in front of the medicine cabinet, watching him measure medicine and weigh silver, how could she possibly be swindled?
She directly slung the bundle over her back, boldly saying: “Look at you, others might swindle me, but how could Physician Cao possibly swindle me?”
She was about to turn and call for Song Shi’an to leave, but suddenly remembered something.
She quickly went over to Song Shi’an, stood on tiptoe, and whispered a few sentences into his ear.
Song Shi’an’s face immediately turned red, and he glared at her wordlessly.
Jiang Chun glared back, even tilting her head slightly in the direction of Physician Cao.
Song Shi’an closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and with heavy steps walked towards the medicine cabinet.
Jiang Chun strode off with her long legs, decisively fleeing like smoke dispersing.
Song Shi’an walked up to Physician Cao, held back for quite a while, and finally opened his mouth with difficulty:
“May… may I ask Physician Cao, how long after stopping the medicine can consummation not affect offspring?”
Damn that Jiang Chun, she actually forced him to come ask Physician Cao such an embarrassing question. How impatient could she possibly be?
Physician Cao wasn’t the least bit surprised, smiling as he replied: “Langjun’s decoction these two months was primarily nourishing medicine, the medicinal properties aren’t strong. After stopping the medicine for seven days, consummation won’t hinder offspring.”
“Many thanks for Physician Cao’s explanation.” Song Shi’an politely gave a bow, then immediately lifted his foot and walked out, walking fast and urgent as if there were pursuers behind him.
Behind him, Physician Cao stroked his beard, smiled, and cast a glance at his retreating figure, thinking to himself that this Langjun’s skin was really thin—completely different from Jiang Niangzi, like two entirely different types of people.
After stepping out of the medical hall, Song Shi’an finally let out a long breath.
The next moment, Jiang Chun immediately pressed in eagerly, asking: “What did Physician Cao say?”
Song Shi’an gave her a sidelong glance, didn’t make a sound, and headed straight toward the mule cart.
Jiang Chun lifted her foot to chase after, shouting as she did: “Hey! Don’t keep silent like that—what exactly did Physician Cao say? Hurry up and tell me, stop keeping me in suspense!”