Ever since being bought into the Jiang family by Jiang He, it had been a whole year, and he had never once been apart from Jiang Chun, not for a single day. Adding in that they were currently in the sweet-as-honey period, suddenly separating like this was truly hard to endure.
Just thinking about not being able to see her for a month and a half made his heart feel like it was being cut by knives, aching to the bone.
But Tangmei couldn’t be left unrescued.
So he could only grit his teeth and endure this pain of separation, fight a quick battle and finish it fast, striving to return early and reunite with her.
“Dong dong dong.”
Just at this moment, from behind, there suddenly came the sound of knocking on the door board.
He thought it was the boatman coming to take headcount, hurriedly pulled out a cloth from his sleeve and wiped his tears in a messy way, then turned and took a step back, pulling the door open.
The moment the door opened, Jiang Chun’s face, smiling like a flower in bloom, appeared in front of him.
She giggled and said: “Deng deng deng deng, surprised or not? Unexpected or not?”
Song Shi’an was completely stunned.
After being dazed for a moment, he spoke a little flusteredly: “What are you doing here? The ship is about to set off. You quickly go down. If you’re late, you won’t be able to get off.”
After speaking, he reached out to push her shoulder, trying to push her out.
But Jiang Chun “pa!” slapped his hand away.
She carried the rattan chest and walked straight into the cabin, placing the rattan chest next to his rattan chest.
While surveying the cabin’s furnishings, she commented: “It’s a bit small, but since it’s just the two of us, not like others with a whole family in tow, it’s barely enough to stay in.”
Only then did Song Shi’an notice that she was also carrying a rattan chest. This didn’t look like someone here to send off another. Could it be…
He exclaimed in shock: “You’re going to Shaoxing Prefecture with me?”
Jiang Chun had an expression of complete justification, saying: “Of course. My husband, such a heavenly and earthly unrivaled handsome man, how could I possibly feel at ease letting you go out alone? I have to personally watch over you, lest others set their sights on you.”
A true beauty, they attract both men and women. She not only had to guard against women, but also against men. You had to know, among the ancient high officials and noblemen, there were quite a few cut sleeve1Cut sleeve (断袖) referring to men who like men; literally “cut sleeve,” an idiom from a story about Emperor Ai of Han.
What’s more, Song Shi’an’s current identity was just a government slave, his social status even lower than that of an ordinary servant. If he really got targeted by someone with power and influence, that’d be a big problem.
Hearing this, Song Shi’an first felt joy, then immediately glared at her angrily, saying furiously: “You had this plan, why didn’t you tell me earlier? You made me…”
“I wanted to give you a surprise. If I told you earlier, how could it be considered a surprise?” Jiang Chun spoke with confidence and reason. Then, suspiciously, she asked: “Made you what?”
Before he could answer, she already noticed the clues. Pointing at his red-rimmed eyes and wet eyelashes, she exclaimed: “Aiya aiya, husband, why are your eye rims so red, why are your eyelashes so wet?”
“Could it be, you can’t bear to part from me, secretly hiding in the cabin crying in grief?”
Song Shi’an: “……”
This woman, when slow, was really slow. When smart, she was especially smart. She actually saw through him in one go.
He turned his head away, pulled out the cloth again to wipe his eyes, then turned back, acting as if nothing had happened, saying: “Don’t talk nonsense. It’s just that the wind on the boat is too strong, and the wind blew into my eyes.”
Jiang Chun leaned in, her eyes like two little suns, scanning over his eyes back and forth. Both hands hooked around his neck, hanging onto him, grinning: “Aiya, crying is just crying, what’s so bad about admitting it? It’s not like I’ve never seen you cry before…”
“You haven’t!” Song Shi’an decisively cut her off.
Jiang Chun “tsk tsk” twice, saying helplessly: “Okay, okay, you’re right. I’ve never seen it.”
She understood, she understood, he had to save face.
Song Shi’an, afraid she’d bring up more sore spots, quickly changed the topic: “Did Father know about you following me?”
Jiang Chun gave him a glare, feeling he was asking the obvious: “I’m already carrying a luggage chest up here, how could Father not know?”
Song Shi’an pursed his lips. It seemed she had already discussed her plan with Jiang He in advance, letting him help keep it hidden from himself.
No wonder Jiang He also came to send him off. If he hadn’t come, there wouldn’t be anyone to drive the mule cart back.
This woman, really… made him not know what to say.
But seeing her following along, in his heart, he was still happy. Very happy.
Jiang Chun also didn’t know what she suddenly thought of—she suddenly let go of his neck, ran over to her rattan chest, took out a key from her pouch, and opened the chest.
She started taking things out one by one, smiling and saying: “The small two-handled iron wok and soybean oil that husband wanted, I brought them all for you. I also brought white rice, millet, preserved meat, and quite a lot of vegetables, oh.”
Song Shi’an: “.…”
What’s this about him wanting a small two-handled iron wok and soybean oil? That was just a joke from him, how come she took it seriously?
But bringing it along was also good—at least in these ten or so days on the ship, she’d be able to eat comfortably.
Many wealthy households traveling by ship would also bring their own pots, bowls, utensils, grains, and vegetables, cooking their own meals on board.
Only the undemanding poor, as well as scholars who didn’t know how to do any manual labor or tell grains apart, would eat dry, hard rations.
He sincerely praised: “Still, wife thinks things through thoroughly. Thanks to wife’s care, I’ll be able to eat and drink well along the way.”
Jiang Chun placed the pots, bowls, and utensils on the bedside cabinet, and stored the grains, preserved meat, vegetables, and other foodstuffs inside the cabinet.
She also put the pitifully few two sets of clothes from her rattan chest into the cupboard.
After tidying up her rattan chest, she asked Song Shi’an for the key, opened his rattan chest, and started tidying up his things.
Song Shi’an sat on the bed, watching her like a little busy bee, buzzing back and forth without a moment’s rest. The smile at the corner of his mouth simply wouldn’t go away.
Just thinking that for the next ten days or so, he could eat and drink, chat and laugh, kiss and hug, and sleep together with her in this little cabin—his heart was simply full of happiness.
He really loved being with her so much. Even if they did nothing, even if they didn’t say a single word, each doing their own things, occasionally glancing at her—he’d still feel at ease.
••
They stayed like this on the boat for a few days. That day, the sunshine was excellent, not a trace of wind. Quite a few passengers from the second-deck cabins had gone down to the deck, either strolling around, basking in the sun, or enjoying the scenery along the way.
Jiang Chun was bored out of her mind. Hearing the commotion outside, she opened the door and took a look.
Then she turned back and urged Song Shi’an, pulling at him: “The weather outside is really nice, the scenery along the riverbank is also pretty. Let’s go down and take a walk.”
Song Shi’an didn’t refuse, locked the cabin door, and went to the deck with her.
Jiang Chun found his pace too slow, too much like a dawdling old man. After going down the stairs, she reached out to grab his hand, pulling him along briskly toward the ship’s rail.
At the ship’s rail, she reached out and held the railing, pointing at a grove of mulberry trees on the shore, shouting in a very country-bumpkin way: “Wow, so many mulberry trees! It’s a pity it’s not the season for mulberries now—I really love eating mulberries.”
Next to them, a young lady dressed in satin clothes, her head full of pearls and jade, curled her lips disdainfully, then nudged the young gentleman next to her in Jiang Chun’s direction.
In a sarcastic, mocking tone, she said: “Farmers plant mulberry trees for raising silkworms, not because of a famine. Why bother fighting silkworms for food?”
Then she turned her head and said to Song Shi’an: “Some people, they only know one thing but not the other. Silkworms eat mulberry leaves, not mulberries. Being able to say such a thing, it shows she’s never tasted such a delicious fruit as mulberries in her life. Tsk tsk, how pitiful.”
The pampered young lady, being called pitiful by a shabbily-dressed village woman, immediately jumped up in anger. She turned to the group of maidservants beside her and said: “Don’t know where this shrew came from, daring to mock me. You all, go teach her a good lesson.”
After saying this, she herself backed away a few steps, circled around to the other side of the young gentleman, and stood at a distance.
“Yes, Second Young Madam,” the group of maidservants responded in unison, raising their feet to head toward Jiang Chun.
“Han Yanqing.”
Song Shi’an’s cold and clear voice suddenly rang out.
Han Xiao, who had been lazily ignoring the quarrels between women and was looking at the scenery on both sides of the river, was startled and turned his head in surprise when he heard the voice.
On this boat, there was actually someone who recognized him and even called out his courtesy name? Such a coincidence could actually happen?
When he clearly saw the young gentleman’s appearance across from him, his eyes immediately widened round, and a name was about to blurt out from his mouth: “Song…”
Just as the word escaped, only the surname came out, and he suddenly slammed on the brakes.
He braked too quickly, causing his teeth to uncontrollably bite his own tongue, hurting so much that he sucked in a breath of cold air: “Hiss—”
At this moment, Song Shi’an’s voice rang out again: “I advise you to quickly call back your family’s servant women, or else, for the remaining seven or eight days, you’ll have no servant women to use.”
Han Xiao was still in a state of shock, completely not understanding what Song Shi’an was talking about.
The two groups were already standing close, and in the blink of an eye, the servant women had already rushed up to Jiang Chun.
Song Shi’an gave Han Xiao a speechless glare, sensibly stepping back a few steps to avoid affecting Jiang Chun’s performance.
This action amused that young lady, who laughed loudly and mocked Jiang Chun: “Your taste is really poor, marrying such a useless husband—when trouble comes, instead of helping you, he actually runs far away by himself.”
Jiang Chun rolled up her sleeves, grabbed the hand of a servant woman who had come to pull her, and directly did an over-the-shoulder throw.
Then she wrapped her arms around another servant woman’s waist and threw her three steps away.
Immediately after, like picking up a chick, she lifted another servant woman and flung her out.
In just a few moves, she directly flattened all five or six servant women.
The few of them lay sprawled on the ground, groaning and wailing non-stop.
The noise was so loud it attracted the attention of other people on the deck. Everyone gathered around at a distance to watch the excitement.
Only then did Han Xiao finally come back to his senses, belatedly shouting: “Everyone stop! You all stop!”
The servant women who were sprawled on the ground groaning: “…”
They had already stopped. Even if they didn’t want to stop, they couldn’t.
Han Xiao quickly walked over to his wife, Madam Qiu, and whispered a few words in her ear.
Madam Qiu immediately widened her eyes like he had earlier, then hurriedly said to the servant women lying on the ground: “You all quickly come back! Don’t go looking for trouble with that lady.”
The servant women sprawled on the ground: “…”
What’s with the young master and madam today? Why were they both spouting nonsense?
Han Xiao turned around, quickly walked over to Song Shi’an, and said in a low voice: “Brother Song, shall we speak in my cabin?”
Song Shi’an glanced at him, then turned his head and asked Jiang Chun: “Wife, what do you think?”
Seeing how much face he was giving her, Jiang Chun grinned so hard her teeth weren’t visible. As she rolled down her sleeves, she said good-naturedly: “Of course I’ll listen to my husband.”
Only then did Song Shi’an turn his head, look at Han Xiao, and say indifferently: “Alright.”
Han Xiao wanted to smile but held it back, forcing himself to act composed as he extended a hand and gestured:
“This way please, Brother Song.”