Chapter 24

Ji Yanli’s leg finally healed.

When he got up in the morning, he no longer needed to hold on to the wall and move slowly. Instead, he could walk steadily to the yard and stretch facing the morning sun.

The strength of his muscles returned to his body, he clenched his fists, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously rose.

The first thing to do is to go to the carpenter Chai’s house in the village.

“Uncle Chai, I want to make a bathtub.” He took out something like a blueprint from his pocket and handed it to Chai the carpenter. “I want it to be big and sturdy.”

Chai the carpenter, holding a pipe in his mouth, squinted his eyes and looked at him: “Hey, Yanli, is your leg okay?”

“Yeah.” Ji Yanli nodded, with an unconcealable smile in his eyes, “You’ve worked so hard, please speed up. I’m still looking forward to giving my wife a surprise.”

Chai the carpenter understood and smiled: “Okay, I promise to make it beautiful for you. Come back in three days to pick it up!”

For the next two days, Ji Yanli worked during the day to earn work points, and after work at night, he squatted behind the kitchen to build adobe bricks. He wanted to build a bathroom for Jiang Ning.

His craftsmanship was not very sophisticated, but he worked very seriously and smoothed out the earthen bricks.

When the villagers found out about this and saw him, they all joked, “Yanli, you’re going to spoil your wife to the heavens!”

Ji Yanli just smiled and said nothing.

He thought to himself that after the bathroom was built, he would save some money and buy Jiang Ning a piece of Dacron fabric to make a new dress.

She always wore those two old coats that were washed so white that they looked pale, and he felt sorry for her when he saw them.

However, just when he was looking forward to a happy life in the future——

That night, Jiang Ning suddenly spoke.

“Um…” She sat on the edge of the kang, twisting the corner of her clothes unconsciously with her fingers, and said softly, “Didn’t we agree before that we would divorce after you recovered?”

The towel in Ji Yanli’s hand fell into the basin of water on the ground with a “pop”.

He stared at her blankly, as if he didn’t understand what she said.

Jiang Ning avoided his gaze and continued, “Your legs are healed now and you can work normally. It’s time for me to leave.”

Ji Yanli’s breathing suddenly became rapid.

He strode over and grabbed Jiang Ning’s wrist with such force that she frowned slightly.

“Why?” His voice was hoarse, with indescribable emotions surging in his eyes. “Did I do something wrong?”

Jiang Ning opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Ji Yanli suddenly hugged her in his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head, and spoke in a muffled voice.

“Don’t go…”

Jiang Ning froze.

This man who was so strong on the battlefield was now like a naughty child, holding her and refusing to let go.

“I will definitely work hard to earn money and let you live a good life.”

“you……”

Without waiting for Jiang Ning to say anything, Ji Yanli tightened his arms and said in an almost pleading tone, “The bathtub is almost ready. Can you…can you use it at least once before you leave?”

Jiang Ning felt a pang of pain in his nose.

She didn’t expect him to be like this.

They had clearly agreed to divorce after his leg healed. But at this moment, listening to his low, hoarse voice and feeling the warmth from his chest, she suddenly couldn’t say the word “no”.

Seeing that she was silent, Ji Yanli let go of her slightly, lowered his head to look into her eyes, and spoke in a soft voice as if he was afraid of scaring her away.

“Jiang Ning, please stay, okay?”

Jiang Ning looked into Ji Yanli’s eyes. His black eyes, which were always as sharp as an eagle, now contained a hint of wet pleading, just like a big dog drenched by the rain, making people want to rub his head.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say “No”, but when the words came to her lips, they turned into “…I’ll think about it.”

Ji Yanli’s eyes lit up instantly, like torches in the dark night, suddenly ignited.

The corners of his mouth rose slightly, but he suppressed the smile and nodded calmly, “Okay, you take your time to think about it.”

But his hand still held her wrist tightly, as if he was afraid that she would disappear in the next second.

Jiang Ning looked down at his bony fingers, then raised his eyes to meet his expectant gaze, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

——She really wasn’t completely indifferent to him.

From the first day she traveled to this era, this man broke into her life in a stubborn and clumsy way.

He couldn’t even stand steadily, but he always wanted to help her fetch water.

Although he was a man of few words, he would sit at the door and wait until dawn when she went out; he even… built the adobe bricks for the bathroom for her one by one with his own hands.

How could she really remain indifferent to Ji Yanli like this?

But she is a time traveler, carrying secrets that do not belong to this era.

If Ji Yanli knew her true identity, would he be afraid?

Jiang Ning was struggling in her heart, but Ji Yanli had already let go of her hand, turned around, took out a small cloth bag from the kang cabinet, and stuffed it into her hand.

“What is this?” she asked puzzledly.

“Open it and take a look.” He whispered.

Jiang Ning unwrapped the cloth bag and found inside a stack of brand new food coupons and cloth coupons, as well as a small piece of brown sugar wrapped in oil paper.

“Where did you get these?” She looked up in surprise.

Ji Yanli’s ears turned red and he turned his face away: “I caught eels in the fields at night and exchanged them for the black market.”

He paused, then added, “There will be more later.”

“When did you go to the black market? How come I didn’t know?” Jiang Ning asked puzzledly.

“You always go out in the second half of the night, and I go out in the first half. I have acquaintances in the black market, so I received the eels and went to the town to exchange them.” Ji Yanli explained.

Jiang Ning’s eyes became hot and he suddenly didn’t know what to say.

No wonder Ji Yanli didn’t go to bed until after midnight these two nights. It turned out that he was doing these things.

She had always thought that he was so busy building bricks that he had forgotten the time.

This fool…his family is obviously very poor, but he still wants to give her the best.

She took a deep breath, finally raised her head, and looked into his eyes: “Ji Yanli.”

“Um?”

“When will the bathtub be ready?”

Ji Yanli was stunned for a second, and then his eyes lit up with ecstasy.

He pulled her into his arms, his voice filled with suppressed excitement.

“Tomorrow! It can be used tomorrow!”

Jiang Ning was strangled by him and couldn’t breathe, but he couldn’t help laughing.

——Perhaps, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to stay and give it a try?

After a while, Jiang Ning was strangled to the point of being unable to breathe. She pushed Ji Yanli and said, “Okay, let go quickly. I can’t breathe.”

Ji Yanli let go of Jiang Ning with some reluctance after hearing this. He stared at his young wife and slowly said, “Aning, tonight I can…”

“Can’t!”

Jiang Ning raised his hand to cover his mouth and said with a serious expression.

Ji Yanli’s smiling brows drooped instantly, and he reluctantly distanced himself from you. “Oh, actually, I just want to be closer to you when I sleep.”

After he finished speaking, he hung his head and got into his quilt, with his back to Jiang Ning, like a neglected and abandoned young wife.

Jiang Ning frowned at the sight and helplessly patted the seat beside him, “Alright, come over here! But only rest next to me. Don’t think or do anything else.”

Ji Yanli’s originally dull eyes suddenly lit up. Like a happy puppy, he quickly pulled his quilt and lay down next to Jiang Ning.

He lay there obediently, his hands folded on his chest, his eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling, not daring to move, for fear of accidentally upsetting Jiang Ning.

Jiang Ning couldn’t help but find it funny seeing how cautious he was.

She moved towards Ji Yanli and said softly, “Go to sleep.”

Ji Yanli’s tense body slowly relaxed, and the corners of his mouth rose unconsciously.

In the middle of the night, Jiang Ning woke up because of the heat!

She always felt like she was wrapped in a huge torch. She was so hot that she pulled her collar and reached out to push away the heat source on her body.