Chapter 13: Let’s Talk About Origins

“Daddy!”

The eldest child, seeing his father being woken up by his younger brother, happily jumped over as well. He hadn’t seen his father in several days and had missed him dearly.

What could He Yanxin do? He could only smile and accept it.

He quickly got up and dressed.

Meanwhile, the two brothers were overjoyed and made no attempt to hide it.

The younger one clung tightly to his leg, while the older one grabbed his shirt, asking to be lifted high.

He Yanxin laughed and picked them both up, one in each arm.

Not to brag, but even though he wasn’t exactly a “child magnet,” he was great at playing video games and loved to play around, so most kids loved hanging out with him.

Especially his cousin’s eight-year-old son—every school break he’d run over to stay with He Yanxin, always saying, “I want to be with Uncle!”

Honestly, he just wanted to go there and play. Since He Yanxin wasn’t the type to nag or discipline kids, it was a very free environment.

Though it often earned him a scolding from his cousin.

So, while Song Yeqing was busy trying to make the coarse grain porridge as tasty as possible, she suddenly saw He Yanxin walking in with a child in each arm.

“Morning.” Maybe it was because the night had passed, but He Yanxin now seemed much more natural.

Song Yeqing was momentarily stunned. “…Morning.”

Did she guess wrong? Was this actually the original husband?

“What’s for breakfast?” He Yanxin walked in holding the kids and looked at the coarse grains on the table, already washed and ready for cooking. His face twisted slightly with a subtle expression of distaste.

He’d had porridge made from coarse grains in the modern world too, but the ones here were nothing like those. The taste and texture were leagues apart.

“Use the stuff I brought back yesterday to cook instead.”

Song Yeqing: …

Now she was thrown off. He was just so direct and self-assured.

As a celestial master who had long dealt with spirits, she wasn’t exactly skilled at reading people.

She rarely had to interact much with outsiders—she simply maintained her lofty image.

At school, most classmates avoided her due to her cold demeanor and the Song family’s background.

So she really couldn’t tell if the man before her was the original He Yanxin or not.

If he wasn’t, then how could he be so close to the kids? He didn’t act like someone who had just arrived.

But the original husband would never have proactively asked Song-niangzi to cook.

Song Yeqing found herself once again confused—was he or wasn’t he?

Despite the storm of thoughts in her mind, her hands never stopped. She began to unpack the items from the sack.

It wasn’t that she was submissive or obeying him blindly.

It was simply that the kids were present, and it wasn’t the time to say too much. She also couldn’t reveal her spatial storage yet. And since she’d already benefited from the man’s supplies, she had no room to argue.

In truth, right after saying that line, He Yanxin realized it may have been inappropriate. In the modern world, he was used to telling the housekeeper what he wanted to eat. He forgot that in this household, the original husband used to cook.

But the words were already spoken. Besides, hadn’t he just seen how miserably he had fumbled lighting the fire yesterday? Better not to make a mess again.

He was practically useless in daily life—he’d struggle just to cook a packet of noodles.

Back then, with takeout and housekeepers, it didn’t matter. Even when busy with work, he could at least manage instant noodles.

Now, thrown into a feudal society with extremely low productivity, his reliance on modern technology made survival a nightmare.

So for now, he’d have to trouble Song-niangzi with the cooking. In the future, he’d definitely hire someone.

Still, he felt guilty just standing around, so he put the kids down and went outside to fetch water.

Song Yeqing quickly scooped the rice and picked some vegetables, told the kids to stay put, and headed out to wash the ingredients.

He Yanxin fetched the water and sat by the well, deep in thought.

Song Yeqing looked at the wooden bucket. The water inside was slightly murky, with some sand and gravel at the bottom.

She wasn’t surprised. She’d noticed this the first time she fetched water from the well.

Except for the first day, all the cooking water had come from her space. The well water, once settled, was only used for washing vegetables and faces.

The household well wasn’t very deep. In normal years it was sufficient, but now it could only be stretched so far.

If it didn’t rain soon, the area might become uninhabitable. In other words, she needed a backup plan.

Take the kids and leave? But what about He Yanxin…

She looked down at the man who seemed to be facing an insurmountable problem.

If He Yanxin stayed at home, he could watch the kids, freeing her to go out and collect water.

Her space had a water purifier, so even river water could be turned into clean drinking water.

Especially in this all-natural ancient world, the rivers weren’t heavily polluted.

The only issue was that the purifier was large and couldn’t be taken out openly. And she couldn’t operate it directly inside the space either—it only allowed storing and retrieving items.

Once the water had settled a bit, Song Yeqing carefully poured the upper layer into another basin and began washing rice and vegetables.

“Um…”

He Yanxin snapped out of his thoughts and looked awkwardly at the busy Song Yeqing.

“After breakfast, I’d like to talk to you about a few things.”

Better to eat first. After all that walking, yesterday’s food wasn’t enough to sustain him.

“Alright.” She had intended to bring it up anyway, so this saved her the trouble.

She lit the stove and put the rice in an earthen pot to cook, then turned to chop vegetables.

Standing at the stove, He Yanxin wiped sweat from his face. He’d managed to light the fire step by step based on his memory—it felt like an accomplishment.

“How’s that? Pretty awesome, right?”

He proudly showed off to the kids.

The eldest son clapped and cheered, playing along perfectly.

“Wow! Daddy’s amazing!”

The younger one didn’t really understand but joined in the clapping anyway.

“Of course I am!” He smiled even more smugly, as if he hadn’t just lit a basic fire but had ignited the Olympic flame.

So Song Yeqing looked over and saw a man, sweaty and smudged with soot, grinning like a fool in the firelight.

Oh, nothing. It just confirmed that this man was definitely not the original husband.

He Yanxin was good to the kids, but he usually maintained a strict fatherly image—not like this.

Water was boiling in a copper kettle on the stove. Before it fully boiled, He Yanxin poured some out to wash his face.

Because it had been used so often and was no longer valuable for selling, this copper kettle had been kept at home.

Once the porridge was nearly done, Song Yeqing cracked four eggs and put them into a different earthen pot to boil.

One per person. No steamed eggs today.

Ten minutes later, the table was set with vegetable porridge, a plate of pickled vegetables, and four boiled eggs.

The older child skillfully peeled his egg. Though it was a little uneven, it was still well done.

Seeing him eat slowly in small bites, Song Yeqing relaxed. As long as he didn’t choke.

The younger one wasn’t as skilled—he banged the egg on the table several times. He Yanxin took over and helped peel it, then used a knife to cut it into pieces before sitting down to eat his own.

He held his ceramic bowl and used chopsticks to eat the porridge. His movements were a bit hurried but not at all crude.

Not that the original He Yanxin was crude either, but the man in front of her had more refined and careful mannerisms.

He didn’t seem to mind showing how different he was from the original in front of them. Thinking back to his earlier mention of a “talk,” Song Yeqing began to understand.

She ate silently while observing him, using her limited social experience to judge whether he was someone worth cooperating with.

Yes—she had decided to cooperate with him.

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(End of Chapter)