Chapter 11

“You got up so early this morning—why don’t you take a nap in the afternoon?”

Xie Chen noticed the dark circles under her eyes and felt a little distressed.

Since Jiang Tian came here, she hadn’t stopped working. Besides cooking every day, she had to go up the mountain to hunt and even helped him handle the matters with his family.

She was already doing more than enough for him. Even though he couldn’t do much heavy work right now, he still wanted to help her share the burden in whatever way he could.

“I won’t rest. I’m thinking of making curtains with the cloth I bought today.”

“Curtains?”

“Mm. The yard wall is high enough, but I still want to hang curtains in the two rooms. That way, we can sleep in if we want.”

Xie Chen: “……”

So that’s what she had in mind?

“Whether you agree or not, I’m definitely making these curtains.”

“Then let me help you.”

Jiang Tian pursed her lips. “If you don’t want to, I don’t need you. I can do it myself.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. How about this—you cut the cloth, and whatever’s left to do, I’ll handle it. That way, you can rest a bit.”

Seeing that he was sincere, Jiang Tian finally relaxed.

They cut four pieces of fabric. After measuring the sizes, she sat at the table, drew a little sketch, and explained to Xie Chen how the mechanism would work.

“You hammer a nail on each side of the wall. When you hang the curtain, first string two pieces of fabric together, then tie the rope to the nails.

But the nails have to be thicker, and strong enough to hold the weight.”

Xie Chen nodded. “Got it. You go rest on the kang, I’ll do it.”

Jiang Tian still wasn’t fully reassured, so she directly pulled out a rope and four nails from her space.

“Use these. I don’t think we have any at home.”

Xie Chen took them, tugged the rope discreetly, and found it was much sturdier than the ones they had.

“You hammer first. I’ll fix the holes at the top of the curtains.”

Bang bang bang

While Xie Chen was hammering, Jiang Er came running over.

“Jie, what are you doing?”

“Making curtains.”

Jiang Er looked pained. “But our walls are already so tall, nobody outside can see in.”

“Listen to me. We’ll put one up in your room too later.”

Jiang Er muttered, “Then I’ll help too.”

Once the curtain in the east room was hung, Jiang Er gave it a test pull, and Jiang Tian was quite satisfied.

The fabric here was much thicker than twenty-first century cloth. She had picked out a piece of black cloth, which blocked most of the sunlight.

“Perfect. In the morning we can just pull the curtains open and tie them up with a rope—easy to tidy up.”

When she was about to head to the west room to help, both Xie Chen and Jiang Er urged her to rest on the kang instead.

After everything was done, Xie Chen glanced at Jiang Tian’s peaceful sleeping face and smiled. He pulled the curtain halfway closed and lay down beside her.

She had always been pretty, even back when she was considered simple-minded. But then her eyes were vacant, unlike now when they were full of spirit. Her smile was sweet, her seriousness when working was charming, and when she got flustered she was adorably fierce.

Asleep, though, she was soft and obedient.

He leaned over, kissed her lightly, then wrapped an arm around her. Using the sliver of remaining light, he picked up a children’s book to read.

When Jiang Tian woke, the first thing she saw was Xie Chen.

“You’re awake?”

“Mm.”

She tried to slip away quietly, but the arm around her waist didn’t allow it.

“What are you doing?”

“Holding my wife for a while.”

Jiang Tian’s face burned red. She kicked him under the blanket in anger, but right after, his legs trapped hers.

“Stop fooling around!”

“How am I fooling around with my own wife?”

Jiang Tian had never dated before. Being teased like this made her blush crimson.

“You… who’s your wife? We haven’t even gotten our marriage certificate yet. I don’t recognize it.”

“Then once I get better, we’ll go get it… no, before the New Year we’ll get it.”

Xie Chen suddenly felt anxious. Jiang Tian was so good—he had to secure their marriage quickly, and get stronger soon. What if one day she abandoned him?

Right now, everyone saw him as a sickly man. If someone tried to woo her, he couldn’t even stand up to them.

“In such a hurry?”

He pulled her close and kissed her. “Mm. My wife is beautiful and precious—I’m afraid someone will try to steal her.”

Jiang Tian smacked his chest. “Xie Chen! You…”

He coughed lightly from the hit. “That was harsh.”

“Are you okay?”

“Mm, just a little sore from where you hit me.”

Jiang Tian felt a twinge of guilt, but muttered, “Serves you right for kissing me out of nowhere.”

“Then next time I’ll give you a warning first.”

He answered with a straight face, leaving Jiang Tian speechless.

All she could do was flee the scene.

Before leaving, she tossed back, “What do you want for dinner—dumplings with cabbage and pork, or with pickled cabbage and pork?”

“Make both. And when it’s time to wrap them, come in here so we can do it together.”

“You know how to wrap dumplings?”

“I can learn. Sweetie can teach me.”

Xie Chen winked at her.

Jiang Tian nearly cursed, but held it back.

Was this really how the second male lead was supposed to be?

In the book, he was described as reserved, self-restrained, gentle, considerate—a devoted second choice.

How had he turned into a rough man spouting sweet nonsense at his wife?

He was nothing like when they first met a couple of days ago.

•  

In the kitchen, Jiang Tian secretly tossed the chopped meat and vegetables into the food processor in her space. A few minutes later, after adding seasonings and mixing, the filling was ready for dumplings.

The dough was already prepared; she just had to cut it into pieces.

When she was learning pastry, her teacher had tried to teach her to pinch off dough pieces by hand, but she could never do it neatly.

In the end, she learned to cut them with a knife instead—left, right, left, right—the pieces came out even and tidy.

When she walked back out, she saw that Xie Chen had already set up the table.

She laid down the kneading board, then went to fetch the filling and dough.

Xie Chen went to get the rolling pin and flour.

Clack clack clack

The dough pieces lined up neatly on the board, looking impressive.

Xie Chen washed his hands and came over to roll out wrappers, but clumsily ruined the nicely cut dough.

Jiang Tian helplessly balled up the ruined ones.

“I’ll roll, you wrap.”

“Alright then.”

Xie Chen gave up reluctantly, took one of the wrappers she rolled, and scooped some filling with chopsticks.

“I’ll show you how.”

Suddenly, a whiff of her fragrance brushed past him. His heart skipped a beat as her small hand guided his big one—folding the wrapper in half, pressing it together—just like that, a dumpling was formed.

“Got it?”

Her voice was right by his ear, making his heart stir.

His throat worked as he gave a hoarse “Mm.”

“Then you try yourself. Didn’t think your first dumpling would come out so neat.”

Hearing her casual praise, Xie Chen’s lips curled upward. “Then from now on, I’ll be in charge of wrapping dumplings.”