Chapter 29: Their New Home

The sun in the sky gradually set in the west. The courtyard was tidied up bit by bit, the roof was patched, and the dust and cobwebs in the house were cleaned up. Wooden planks were laid on the kang (a heated brick bed) to become their temporary bed. The small kitchen was cleaned up, and there was still a place to cook.

But no matter what, this place was their new home.

“Take it, don’t push it back and forth.” Sun Bailian took a tael of silver from his pocket and stuffed it into Qi Wanfeng’s hand. Seeing that he was still pushing it back and forth, he winked, reached out to hold his hand, and said seriously, “I’m giving it to you, just take it. Your husband still needs to see a doctor and buy medicine. If it’s not enough, tell me.”

Holding the silver in his hand, Qi Wanfeng was unwilling to take Sun Bailian’s silver again. He wanted to return the silver, anxiously saying, “Bailian, I’m already very grateful that you were able to come and help me. If it wasn’t for you today, I wouldn’t know what to do. How could I take your money!”

The reason why these people were able to come and help him today was because of Sun Bailian’s relationship. Otherwise, he didn’t know what to do, facing this dilapidated house alone with his husband and child.

“Ai…” Sun Bailian looked like he was going to be angry if he kept being like this. The two silently confronted each other. Finally, seeing the compromise in Wanfeng’s eyes, he smiled and said, “Don’t be so polite with me. I still have to pick up Erbao (a nickname). I’m going to make them something to eat. I’m going home with my husband and them first. If there’s anything you need here, come over and tell me, understand?”

He had entrusted the two boys at home to the amo (grandmother) next door to take care of. It was almost dinnertime, and he had to go back to bring the children back. “Hmm, thank you, Bailian.” How lucky he was to have met Sun Bailian. Qi Wanfeng’s eyes sparkled with gratitude.

The sun in the west was about to set, the roof was patched, the house was cleaned, and the people who came to help were also going back.

“Wanfeng, we’re leaving,” Sun Bailian waved to Qi Wanfeng.

Qi Wanfeng stood by the door, waving to the people who left. He watched them walk away before turning around and closing the dilapidated door of the small yard.

An’an was playing alone in the yard. Qi Wanfeng glanced at him and knew that the child wouldn’t run outside while playing in the yard, so he walked into the house with peace of mind. Seeing his husband lying on the bed, he held out the broken silver in his hand to his husband, saying, “This is what Bailian gave us.”

“If Bailian gives it to you, just take it. We’ll return it to him later. They came to help us today. When we’ve tidied up here, we’ll make a table of food and invite them over to eat.” Seeing the silver in Qi Wanfeng’s hand, Cao Xiangnan didn’t expect that Sun Bailian would bring money with him in addition to helping. Their family owed Sun Bailian a great favor, and they probably wouldn’t be able to repay this favor in this lifetime.

“From now on, you’ll manage the money in the house. You should also put away the land deed that I asked for from Amo.” Taking out the land deed from his arms, Cao Xiangnan handed it to Qi Wanfeng, and didn’t forget to urge him, “You take this land deed. From now on, those three mu of land are ours, and the people from the compound can’t come and ask us to return it.”

Originally, he wanted to sell a mu of the high-quality land to temporarily subsidize the household, but now that he had silver, he dismissed this idea. “There’s also a written household division agreement here. We’ve divided the household with the compound clearly. From now on, we’ll each live our own lives and not interfere with each other. You should also put this away.” Because of the two liang of silver that others gave him to buy medicine, the Cao family compound couldn’t wait to break off relations with him. Cao Xiangnan thought that they would regret it sooner or later. With this thing in hand, he didn’t have to worry about the people from the compound causing trouble for them.

“Hmm.” Qi Wanfeng reached out to take the land deed and document from her husband’s hand. He had never touched these things before, and now his husband was handing them over to him.

He hadn’t been able to help with anything all day, and Cao Xiangnan felt very guilty towards Qi Wanfeng. Qi Wanfeng’s features were three-dimensional, and his eyebrows and eyes were very beautiful. The more he looked at him, the more he liked him. But this person always had an unresolved sorrow between his brows. He knew that all of this was because he was incompetent, making this person bear too much.

In his memory, Qi Wanfeng had never had a good day in the Cao family’s compound. From the moment he entered the door, he was responsible for all the chores in the compound, working from morning to night. His amo was also mean and didn’t treat Qi Wanfeng well. The original owner of this body didn’t like Qi Wanfeng and was a person who was blindly obedient to his mother, watching his amo scold Qi Wanfeng and never saying a word to help.

He now had a feeling that it was a good thing that the original owner of this body died, letting him come to this world. Cao Xiangnan felt that he came here for Qi Wanfeng. He thought that he would never let this person suffer any more grievances in the future, and he would cherish him and love him.

“Wanfeng, come closer,” Cao Xiangnan said suddenly.

“Hmm?” Qi Wanfeng was puzzled. Because the other party was her husband, although she was puzzled, she still leaned over.

“Come a little closer, lower a little.” As Qi Wanfeng leaned over, Cao Xiangnan reached out and put his arm around Qi Wanfeng’s waist, holding the person tightly in his arms. Feeling the person’s body stiffen in his arms, he couldn’t help but laugh. He couldn’t help but drop a kiss on Qi Wanfeng’s forehead, and said seriously, “I’ll get better quickly. I won’t let you bear everything alone. From now on, we’ll work together for this family.”

“…Hmm.” Qi Wanfeng responded in a low voice. It wasn’t the first time he had slept in the same bed as his husband, but he felt inexplicably nervous at this moment.

His husband seemed to have changed a bit from before, and he liked his current husband even more.

“Si, Silang, I’m going out to cook,” Qi Wanfeng said stammeringly, still not being released by her husband. Cao Xiangnan “Hmm”ed and let the person go. As soon as her husband released her, Qi Wanfeng lowered her head and ran away without looking back.

Cao Xiangnan, who watched the person run away, “…” and then laughed silently.

With Qi Wanfeng out, only he was left in the room. Cao Xiangnan lay on the only bed in the room, looking up at the roof with vacant eyes, thinking about what he could do for this impoverished home.

First of all, his leg had to get better quickly, but in a situation where his leg couldn’t get better, what else could he do?

A wisp of smoke rose from the low kitchen, becoming a unique scene in this wilderness.

Qi Wanfeng stood in front of the stove, cooking cabbage and sliced meat in a pot. The vegetables and meat were brought by Sun Bailian. She cut off a slice to cook, and pickled the rest to eat tomorrow. Even now, every time she thought of what her husband did to her in the room just now, her face was still hot.

An’an sat on a small wooden stool in front of the stove, swallowing saliva. Smelling the aroma, he was even hungrier, and urged anxiously, “Amo.”

“Be good, it’ll be soon,” Qi Wanfeng came back to his senses, looked down at the child sitting on the side, knew that the child was hungry, smiled, and said.

The color of the red clouds in the west gradually faded, and their family of three had their first meal in their new home. Cao Xiangnan’s spirit was also much better. There was only their family of three here, and there was less of the usual noise. There was no need to stipulate how many pieces of meat everyone could eat from the pot, and there was no need to worry about someone snatching it. He put the meat from the pot into Wanfeng’s and An’an’s bowls, “Wanfeng, you eat more,” he said.

Even though there was less salt and oil in the dish, they could fill their stomachs first, and then have the strength to pursue a better life.

Qi Wanfeng raised his eyes and looked at his husband, silently put a piece of meat for her husband, and lowered his head to eat his meal. Cao Xiangnan smiled, feeling that this meal was the best meal he had eaten since he came to this world.

They had an unusually satisfying meal and were full. An’an hummed there with his little stomach, and it could be seen that the child was very happy.

They had eaten their fill, but the Cao family compound hadn’t even eaten dinner yet. Cao Amo Chen Zhu woke up from an afternoon nap and found that the house was still cold, so she scolded in the courtyard. In the past, Qi Wanfeng had done these things at home, so now that Qi Wanfeng wasn’t there, no one took the initiative to do these things.

“Eldest daughter-in-law, why don’t you hurry up and cook? The whole family is waiting to eat!” Being named by his amo, the eldest daughter-in-law, Chen Li, reluctantly went into the kitchen to cook dinner for the family. But because he hadn’t done this kind of work for so many years, he couldn’t even make dinner for the family, and was flustered inside.

The second daughter-in-law, Wang Yan, was just lazy. Her beloved son was still young, so she used the excuse of taking care of the child and didn’t enter the kitchen. Even though Chen Li was scolding Wang Yan in her heart for being lazy and not working, he was still cooking dinner in the kitchen while enduring his amo’s scolding.

But they didn’t know that this was just the beginning.

Not far past the old house was a small river. Qi Wanfeng went to fetch some water back. As the sun set, the clouds in the sky disappeared, and as the sky gradually darkened, Qi Wanfeng boiled some hot water, warmed the water, and brought it in to wipe her husband’s body. She gave the child a bath in the yard, put the child to bed, and simply wiped her body before going to bed.

Night fell, and the stars in the sky lit up one by one.

The dilapidated door panels were closed, and wind blew in through the cracks. Lying on the bed in the house, they could still hear the sound of the wind outside. The child, who was tired all day, fell asleep as soon as he lay on the bed. The adults lying on the bed weren’t able to fall asleep so quickly, and a quiet peace filled the house.

“Wanfeng.” Cao Xiangnan grabbed Qi Wanfeng’s hand. This person was lying next to him, and he felt something indescribable in his heart. He felt that he had a lot to say to Qi Wanfeng, but when the words came to his lips, he didn’t know what he could say.

“Hmm.” Qi Wanfeng responded. It wasn’t the first time he had slept in the same bed as his husband, but his mood at this moment was inexplicably tense.

“We don’t have anything here, and we’re missing a lot of things. Are there any carpenters in the village? You go find someone tomorrow to make a table and a few stools. We’re still missing a lot of things at home, and we’ll slowly add them later. If you see anything else we need to add, go buy it.” Cao Xiangnan calculated in his heart. They needed to buy everything in this house. But they didn’t have much money in their pockets, and they would use a little less. They would buy the things they needed to use first.

The original owner had been a waiter in the town for the past few years, so he didn’t know much about these things in the village.

“Hmm.” Qi Wanfeng responded in a low voice, and said, “Silang, now that we have some money on hand, I want to take you to Fenshui Town to find a doctor to see your leg.”

Since there was a glimmer of hope, he didn’t want to give up.

“Okay.” Cao Xiangnan also wanted to heal his leg quickly, so it would be easier for him to do whatever he wanted to do. He also wanted to go over and see if there was anything suitable to do. The memory that the original owner left him was limited, so he still had to go and see for himself.

The sky outside the house was getting later and later, and the voices in the house came and went, and then there was no sound at all. When the person next to him fell asleep, Cao Xiangnan didn’t let go of his hand. In the end, when he fell asleep, the hand he was holding was still tightly grasped.