Chapter 7

The entire way, Shen Mo seemed downcast, saying little and creating a rather heavy atmosphere. Zhou Jing tried several times to lighten the mood, but Shen Mo only responded in fragments, leaving Zhou Jing feeling somewhat at a loss.

He had never learned how to cheer someone up in his past life; most of the time, people just gravitated toward him.

After walking for an unknown period, amidst Zhou Jing’s attempts to make conversation and Shen Mo’s burdened replies, Shen Mo finally pointed to a spot and said, “It’s right there. That’s where Zhao Da from the neighboring village found you when he got lost in the mountains!”

The story of Zhao Da finding Zhou Jing was quite uncanny. Zhao Da was a hunter who ventured further into the mountains than most. One day, while chasing a wild rabbit, he unknowingly got lost and spent a long time trying to find his way out of the thicket. Eventually, he heard a noise and, following it, discovered Zhou Jing lying on the ground, covered in injuries and seemingly unconscious for quite some time.

He saw that Zhou Jing was severely injured, and unsure whether his bones were affected, Zhao Da didn’t dare to move him carelessly. He was panicking as he rushed down the mountain. He asked around several villages until he finally found a family that had reported someone missing — the Zhou family.

Shen Mo followed Zhao Da back up the mountain. The two of them used a wooden plank to carry Zhou Jing down. At that time, Zhou Jing looked particularly frightening; there wasn’t a single part of his body that was unscathed. His clothes were tattered and torn, and his hair, for some reason, had become very short, uneven, as if something had cut it off. The villagers speculated that he might have encountered someone wielding a blade, and accidentally cut his own hair in the process.

The area now looked ordinary, just like any other place, with not even a trace of blood remaining on the ground.

But Shen Mo was still able to locate the exact spot, pointing it out accurately. However, his expression was strange, as if he were suppressing a great deal of emotion.

Zhou Jing had his full attention absorbed by the task, crouching down and carefully searching around. As Zhou Jing looked for something in various spots, Shen Mo followed behind, keeping an eye out for any wild vegetables they could dig up, all while ensuring Zhou Jing didn’t stray out of his line of sight.

Suddenly, there was movement in the grass. Zhou Jing immediately stopped what he was doing. A wild rabbit with a three-lobed mouth slowly poked its head out, chewing on some grass.

Zhou Jing felt a surge of excitement and slowly reached into his basket, gently nocking an arrow and drawing the bow. A feathered arrow swiftly flew towards the rabbit.

However, Zhou Jing’s aim was really poor. He missed the rabbit entirely, and instead startled it, causing the rabbit to flee.

Zhou Jing quickly stood up and gave chase, shouting to Shen Mo, “Xiao Mo, keep up!”

The two of them, one after the other, chased after the rabbit. It seemed the rabbit’s burrow was nearby, as it wasn’t running aimlessly but rather in a purposeful direction.

No one knew how long they had been running when, suddenly, Zhou Jing heard a cry from behind—Shen Mo had fallen. Zhou Jing immediately stopped chasing the rabbit and turned back, running towards him.

Shen Mo was on the ground, rubbing his ankle.

“Did you hurt yourself badly?” Zhou Jing was most worried about him twisting his ankle. The bone-setting techniques in this era were not advanced, and it was easy for people here to end up with a limp.

Zhou Jing took off Shen Mo’s shoes and socks. His attention was completely focused elsewhere, so he didn’t notice the tips of Shen Mo’s ears quietly turning red. When he saw that Shen Mo’s ankle was just a little red, not injured or swollen, he finally felt relieved.

“Let’s go, we won’t keep looking. Let’s head home.” Zhou Jing felt a bit of regret. If Shen Mo had seriously injured himself because of his insistence on searching for things, he would have deeply regretted it.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing these words, Shen Mo—who had been in a bad mood ever since Zhou Jing suggested visiting the scene of the incident—actually smiled.

“It’s nothing, I just tripped over something while running,” Shen Mo said as he turned around to look for what had tripped him. Pointing with his hand, he added, “It’s that… I don’t know what it is.”

Zhou Jing followed the direction of his finger, and immediately, his eyes lit up and his heart began to race. Overjoyed, he grabbed Shen Mo and kissed him on the cheek.

Shen Mo stood there, dumbfounded, absentmindedly touching the spot where he had been kissed, utterly dazed.

“Xiao Mo, you’re truly my lucky star! We’ve struck it rich!” Zhou Jing was so thrilled he could hardly contain himself and wanted to rush over immediately. But he hadn’t forgotten about Shen Mo’s twisted ankle, so he gently supported the still-stunned Shen Mo as they slowly made their way over.

Lying quietly in the grass was a tattered yellow suitcase. This color was definitely not something Zhou Jing, a grown man, would use. Zhou Jing guessed it must have belonged to some young girl who had been on the same flight and had fallen with him.

The lock on the suitcase was broken from the fall, and with a little force, they pried it open. Seeing the contents inside, Zhou Jing became even more certain that this was the suitcase of a beauty-loving young girl.

Inside, the space was filled to the brim with cosmetics. Most of the glass bottles had been shattered, and milky white liquid was splattered everywhere, making the scene damp and somewhat messy.

However, Zhou Jing wasn’t the least bit disgusted. Not only was he unbothered by the mess, but he also laughed uncontrollably, as if he had discovered a hidden treasure.

His laughter was loud and couldn’t be stopped.

Shen Mo was so frightened by his almost hysterical laughter that he froze, terrified, and asked, “What… what are these things?”

“These? They’re all treasures! Let me tell you, you won’t find stuff like this around here. Once I take this to town, the women and young ladies from the wealthy families will know what to do with it. They’ll be begging me to buy it!” Zhou Jing, in his excitement, hadn’t even realized that he had misspoken.

“Not around here?” What did he mean by that? Only someone not from this place would refer to the locals as “you people.”

Shen Mo clearly noticed the slip, but he didn’t ask about it. He simply lowered his head and bit his lip.

“Xiao Mo, quickly put down your basket. Dump the things I dug up into yours. My basket will be used to carry the stuff from the suitcase.”

Shen Mo asked, “Aren’t you going to keep that thing you called a suitcase?”

Zhou Jing replied, “No, it’s full of small and large holes. It’s worthless, so I’m leaving it.”

Zhou Jing stuffed all the intact items into his basket in one go and slung it over his back. Since there weren’t many unbroken items, it wasn’t very heavy.

“Let’s go home.” Zhou Jing said, his smile never fading.

Zhou Jing: “Xiao Mo, we’ve struck gold this time! Your good days are here. Soon, you’ll be living the wealthy life, eating and drinking the best. People will have to beg just to see you!”

Shen Mo’s hand was tightly clasped in Zhou Jing’s, as if it was the only thing giving him a sense of security.

It seemed that Shen Mo finally realized the joy in the situation, feeling reassured that this man wouldn’t leave him just because he had found something valuable.

“You’re exaggerating,” Shen Mo said softly. “As long as I have enough to eat, I’m content.”

“You, ah, your expectations for your husband are far too low.” Zhou Jing chuckled. “Just wait, soon your husband won’t just make sure you have enough to eat—he’ll make sure you’re eating meat every meal, until you’re sick of it!”

“How could that be possible?” Shen Mo replied. “I’ll never get tired of eating meat. Besides, what kind of household eats meat at every meal? Even the wealthiest families in the neighboring village don’t eat like that!”

“That’s because their men aren’t capable enough. Your husband is much more skilled, you’ll see soon enough.” Zhou Jing said confidently.

The warmth of their clasped hands spread between them, and as Shen Mo gazed at their intertwined fingers, she couldn’t help but smile.

As they neared the foot of the mountain, they suddenly spotted two wild pheasants chasing each other playfully in the grass.

Zhou Jing stopped in his tracks and realized the pair was in the middle of mating, the rooster was chasing after the hen, completely oblivious to their surroundings.

It was too good of an opportunity to pass up. If he failed to catch them now, he’d embarrass himself in front of his little wife.

Without hesitation, Zhou Jing pulled back his bow, quickly loosing a flurry of arrows. By sheer luck, like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse, one of the arrows hit its target.

Shen Mo’s eyes sparkled with admiration as he looked at Zhou Jing—he was immediately filled with awe.

“Zhou Jing, you’re amazing!”

Zhou Jing scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed by the praise. After all, he had shot off a whole quiver of arrows just to hit two wild chickens. Yet, who wouldn’t be pleased to be admired by his wife?

He quickly tied up the two chickens and tossed them into Shen Mo’s basket, covering them securely. He wanted to avoid any nosy neighbors asking questions on their way back.

—o—o—o—

When they returned home, Shen Lin was sitting in the yard, seemingly idle. Upon seeing them come back with nothing heavy, just two seemingly light baskets, he wore a blank expression.

Zhou Jing, noticing Shen Lin’s demeanor, decided to tease him. “Xiao Di, we didn’t find much wild vegetables today, and there’s no rice at home. You might as well head back to the Shen family for dinner. Just remember not to argue with Wang Chunhua!”

Shen Lin shot Zhou Jing an irritated glare. “It’s all your fault! If you’d let me and Big Brother go, we would’ve filled two baskets by now and wouldn’t have to worry about food!”

“Oh, is that so? Since you blame me, you won’t be eating here tonight,” Zhou Jing said playfully, pulling out one of the wild chickens and waving it in front of Shen Lin.

The little guy’s eyes went wide, foolishly following the chicken’s movement, but Zhou Jing quickly pulled it away.

He then gave Shen Mo a pitiful look.

Shen Mo couldn’t help but laugh at the exchange.

“Alright, alright, your brother is just teasing you! We’ll eat the wild chicken for dinner before you leave,” Shen Mo said, placing a pot of water on the fire to boil for plucking the chicken. “Hand it over, I’ll take care of it.”

Zhou Jing stepped aside and said, “I’ll handle it. You should rest; you’ve had a long day!”

Shen Mo felt a mix of emotions, but he couldn’t deny the warmth that spread through him.

Zhou Jing said that he was tired after a long day, but Shen Mo knew Zhou Jing was equally worn out.

In the village, many of the men treated their partners poorly, expecting them to serve the entire household without gratitude. It seemed that marrying them meant they should be eternally grateful, and failing to cater to the needs of the family was considered a grave sin.

But Zhou Jing was different.

He placed Shen Mo on equal footing—offering him care, warmth, and support.

Despite being a boss in his previous life, Zhou Jing handled household chores with ease. It’s not right to say that a wealthy man couldn’t cook; every person had a gentle side, and that side was only revealed to those closest to him.

“Zhou Jing, should we cut up half of that chicken and exchange it for some brown rice?” Shen Mo asked.

Zhou Jing shook his head. “No, let’s keep this one for ourselves; we still have another. We can take that one to town and sell it!”

“Trading it with someone in the village would only get us a few coins less. If we sell it at the town, we will earn more money.”

Zhou Jing was thinking beyond just a few coins; he also considered the other items they had brought back. If handled properly, those could turn into a small fortune, but mishandling them could lead to trouble.

Thus, it was important to ensure the buyer’s character was reliable—they needed to find someone trustworthy from a reputable family.

Without salt or oil, any dish would turn out bland, but that was just Zhou Jing’s opinion. The Shen brothers were enjoying their meals regardless!

Shen Mo remembered to tear off the big chicken leg first for Zhou Jing, and in return, Zhou Jing tore off a piece for him.

Shen Lin was speechless. Ever since Zhou Jing woke up, he felt his older brother had become quite strange.

Before, his brother had been aloof and indifferent to Zhou Jing. It wasn’t that Zhou Jing dared to provoke him; rather, he sensed that his brother was wary of retaliating, fearing it might lead to embarrassment and ruin his reputation. His(Shen Li) already tarnished name would become even worse than now—making it impossible for him to find a husband in the future.

After dinner, Zhou Jing lounged on the kang while watching Shen Lin wash the dishes. He asked, “You’ve eaten all that wild chicken; why aren’t you heading home yet?”

Shen Lin shot Zhou Jing an irritated glare and walked away in a huff.

Shen Mo sighed. “You shouldn’t always bully Xiao Di.”

Zhou Jing huffed a couple of times in response.

“Do I even have time to bully him? We brought back all those things in a hurry, making sure to grab everything that wasn’t broken. I just want to see what we have. Tomorrow, we can take something to town. If we sell it, we can buy rice, flour, and oil for the household.”