Chapter 21: Picking Tea

Hu Yao wasn’t feeling well and only ate half of her meal. She put the rest in the kitchen.

Jiang Xiaochao had been playing all morning and came back feeling sleepy. He showed Hu Yao all his toys and snacks before falling asleep on her lap.

It was hot, and he was a hot-natured child. He was wearing a tank top and shorts, his hair was damp with sweat, and his little face was flushed.

Hu Yao carried him back to bed, took off his little shoes, and fanned him with a palm leaf fan. She also wiped his sweat, making him comfortable enough to sleep.

Through the window, she could see her beautiful profile, calm and gentle, her eyes filled with tenderness. Jiang Han had been watching her for a while, finding the sight pleasing and strangely comforting.

Hu Yao didn’t know he was looking at her and continued to fan Jiang Xiaochao diligently.

With Jiang Xiaochao in the house, it was always noisy, often with Jiang Han scolding him.

Although Jiang Han was home, he was busy, coming home late every day.

He rarely ate dinner at home, often returning late at night, seemingly in a bad mood and not bothering Hu Yao.

Hu Yao breathed a sigh of relief.

After a month of recovery, her injuries were completely healed, leaving only a scar. She didn’t know if it would fade, but thankfully it was on her forehead, mostly covered by her hair.

Besides washing clothes and cooking, she had nothing else to do at home. These days, she went tea picking with Jiang Xiaochao.

The freshly picked tea leaves had to be sent to town to be processed by a special craftsman. Hu Yao wasn’t familiar with the process, but she had learned from other villagers that Jiang Han paid them a good wage.

In recent years, Jiang Han had made some progress. While people were wary of his past misdeeds, they also wanted to curry favor with him but hesitated.

Hu Yao, looking completely different from Jiang Han, was easy to talk to. Even though she had been “stupid” for so many years, Jiang Han had raised her for so long. She was even more beautiful than before, and it was clear that Jiang Han cherished his wife. The villagers’ minds started to become more active.

In recent days, many aunties and young wives had come to show concern for Hu Yao, and some even envied her for marrying Jiang Han.

Their words were laced with flattery.

The most obvious was Li Zhen, Liu Jie’s wife. She was extremely affectionate towards Hu Yao, feeling that her relationship with Hu Yao was closer than anyone else’s because of the connection between Jiang Han, Liu Jie, and her brother.

She praised Jiang Han so much that Hu Yao wondered if he was the same person everyone knew.

Li Zhen was a good talker and could read people’s emotions. She was a clever woman, but Hu Yao didn’t like her very much.

She could still sense Li Zhen’s disdain for her and her constant badmouthing of Lin Zhaodi.

Her family was from the city and looked down on people from the village.

Jiang Han had other businesses, and he had put Liu Jie in charge of the tea picking wages. Li Zhen seemed to consider the tea fields as her own, often bossing around the tea pickers. She acted more like the mistress of the house than Hu Yao.

When Hu Yao said she wanted to help with the tea picking, Li Zhen was delighted. Hu Yao didn’t want wages, so they could pocket the extra money.

Since Jiang Han had asked them to find workers, Liu Jie had been running around outside. Li Zhen, however, still remembered Jiang Han’s promise to bring them into the tea business when it was successful. They would earn more than just a little bit of money then.

Li Zhen had often seen Jiang Han scold and yell at Hu Yao. Earlier, she had noticed the bruises on Hu Yao’s arm. Unlike other villagers who thought Jiang Han cared for Hu Yao, she didn’t believe it. She thought Jiang Han just kept her like a toy, and because Hu Yao had no family to support her, she was just a bought wife. He could beat and scold her as he pleased.

If it weren’t for the fact that Hu Yao was technically Jiang Han’s wife, Li Zhen wouldn’t even pretend to be nice. Why should she, a city woman, have to curry favor with a village woman like Hu Yao?

Li Zhen was still unbalanced and dissatisfied. She secretly hoped that Jiang Han would treat Hu Yao even worse.

It wasn’t surprising that she thought the marks on Hu Yao’s body were from Jiang Han beating her. After all, they didn’t look like marks of love. Even Jiang Han, the perpetrator, saw Hu Yao’s pitiful appearance and thought she had been beaten badly.

It was only because Hu Yao looked so miserable and the marks on her body hadn’t disappeared that he hadn’t touched her lately, being busy with work.

Although Hu Yao felt Li Zhen’s insincerity, she didn’t know how she truly felt about her.

She didn’t like her very much and avoided interacting with her.

Jiang Xiaochao was a playful child. While Hu Yao was picking tea, he ran around with the other children in the village. He even picked some wild fruits with them and brought them to Hu Yao, acting like a little mountain king with his group of followers.

“Look at you, all sweaty,” Hu Yao said, squatting down and wiping his sweat.

“Yeah, it’s so hot,” Jiang Xiaochao fanned himself with his little hand.

He was holding his shirt with his other hand, using it to hold the wild fruits. His white, round belly was showing a little.

“Do you know which ones are edible? Don’t pick or eat everything. Some are poisonous and can make you sick,” Hu Yao said patiently, smiling and taking the wild fruits from his shirt to check them.

“Daddy told me! This one is the sweetest! For Yao Yao,” Jiang Xiaochao said, pointing to a fruit in the pile.

His little friends were standing by, eagerly waiting for him to go back to playing with them. Their innocent eyes were heart-melting.

Hu Yao smiled even wider, rubbed Jiang Xiaochao’s head, and let him go back to playing.

They came back a little while later, carrying some bamboo shoots, wanting to take Hu Yao with them to dig for bamboo shoots.

Suddenly, Hu Yao remembered some scenes.

Well, these children were not only Jiang Xiaochao’s friends, but also hers. She had played with them often over the years…

Hu Yao felt a little embarrassed.

Looking at their expectant eyes…

God, she couldn’t bear to refuse, nodded, and agreed to go pick bamboo shoots with them. After all, there were many tea pickers, and they wouldn’t miss her. Jiang Han didn’t even let her pick tea, telling her to just cook at home.

The south side of the village had a large bamboo forest. Now that it was the season for bamboo shoots, villagers would go digging and picking whenever they had free time. Making dried bamboo shoots was a delicious dish, and almost every household would make some to store for winter.

Hu Yao poured the tea leaves from her basket into another crate, preparing to go with them.

“Sister-in-law, you’ve finished picking here, right? They are still busy over there, you should go pick there.” Li Zhen came over with a smile.

Now that they didn’t have to work collectively, she lived a very leisurely life after marrying Liu Jie. She didn’t have to do farm work, and now she just calculated wages for the tea pickers every day.