Chapter 98: His Composure

In the kitchen, Shen Lie's ears twitched. Turning towards the door, he saw Sang Luo standing briefly before heading towards another gate.

He asked Shen An, "How much tax did our family pay this year?"

Shen An knew exactly, "Four shi four (bushels). Grain is so expensive. We didn't have that much at home. Sister-in-law borrowed money from the shopkeeper who buys our goods to pay the tax. Then came the labor levy, and with no able-bodied men at home, Sister-in-law paid a shi of grain to hire someone from Uncle Zhou's family to take our place."

Five shi four.

Shen Lie felt a pang of guilt. The responsibility for the family's taxes fell on her, and even he unknowingly added a burden of two shi for her.

"Do you guys know the current price of grain here?"

Sang Luo never kept secrets from the kids about household matters. Shen An and Shen Ning were aware of the grain prices.

"It's 350 wen per dou (unit of volume), and Sister-in-law has been slowly stockpiling, but it's too expensive."

Shen Lie nodded and asked if the piles on the shelves in the main house were all grains.

The two children nodded in unison: "Mostly millet, and a few bags of flour."

Shen Lie silently estimated. The grains that would have lasted over a year would now barely last until late next summer with him added.

After quickly finishing his meal, he washed the dishes and then headed to the main house, where Sang Luo was sitting at the table with a bundle of reed poles and three rolls of hemp twine.

Shen Lie knocked on the open door, and upon seeing Sang Luo look up, he entered the room.

His gaze fell on the reed poles, slightly puzzled, but he first went to his large bag on the floor beside the table.

Sang Luo thought he was getting clothes for bathing and didn't say much, focusing on twisting the three strands of hemp twine into a thinner rope.

However, Shen Lie wasn't taking out clothes but a cloth package, which he placed in front of Sang Luo, revealing a wooden box that wasn't finely crafted.

Sang Luo looked puzzled at Shen Lie: "What's this?"

He opened the box, revealing an aged ginseng root inside.

Sang Luo was startled.

Shen Lie explained, “Most of the past eight or nine months, I was in the deep mountains. I was lucky to find this ginseng. I heard from Shen An that the household paid five shi four dou of grain for taxes and levies, and you borrowed money to buy them. I'd like to give this ginseng to you.”

Sang Luo glanced at the ginseng and then at Shen Lie: “Do you know the age of this ginseng?”

With its aged skin, dark color, and densely packed, deep iron-like lines, Sang Luo couldn’t determine its exact age but knew it was something of value.

Shen Lie nodded, “When I dug it up, it had three palmate compound leaves. Da Shan understands these things and said it should be at least thirty years old.”

Sang Luo asked in surprise, “And you’re giving it to me?”

Shen Lie was taken aback by her question. The household had bought so much grain, and this ginseng was pretty much all he had of value. Wasn’t it right to give it to her?

After a pause, he added, “This is all I have right now.”

Sang Luo almost laughed but didn’t want him to see, so she lowered her eyes for a moment. When she looked up again, she said, “The grain purchases cost a bit over eleven taels in total.”

She gestured towards the sacks of grain near the wall, “Including these.”

Shen Lie looked at her, waiting for more.

Sang Luo’s eyes curved into a smile, “So, we don’t need this ginseng. If you really want to contribute to the household, selling the ginseng and giving me six taels of silver would suffice.”

She didn’t ask for the full eleven taels, considering she would be eating some of the grain too.

Shen Lie was surprised by her proposal, wondering about her calculations – eleven taels, and she only wanted six?

He felt a moment of oddity but didn’t dwell on it. “No need, I’ll give it all to you. If there’s extra, buy more grain to store. When passing through Qi Zhou a few months ago, the grain price was already 660 wen per dou. Who knows how much it is now. If the world is going to be chaotic, it won’t settle down for a few years. While the grain prices here are still reasonable, it’s better to store more for security.”

Sang Luo's breath tightened when she heard the price of 660 wen per dou: "You're saying it was 660 wen per dou months ago?"

Shen Lie nodded: "Yes, about four months ago."

Four months ago, that was still during her predecessor’s time.

When Sang Luo arrived in August, grain prices had risen, but not exorbitantly, around 70 wen per dou. However, by September, prices spiked from around 80 wen to over 150 wen, with restrictions on sales.

Compared to the North, the South's response lagged by a month. Now, in Qiyang County, grain prices had reached over 300 wen. What level might it have reached in the North?

Just thinking about it made Sang Luo's scalp tingle.

Previously, she was somewhat optimistic since grain merchants limited sales but didn’t hoard excessively or transport most grains to the North. After hearing Shen Lie’s account of the North, she realized it wasn’t the merchants’ reluctance, but the rampant bandits and uprisings, making it risky to transport grain there.

Grain shops in the county withholding grain might be waiting for prices to rise or saving for future needs.

Sang Luo closed the wooden box with the ginseng, wrapped it in cloth, and said, “Alright, let’s go to the county in a few days to sell this ginseng and exchange it for grain. I’ve also saved some silver, we’ll buy some common medicinal formulas and stock up on medicines.”

In chaotic times, grain and medicine are most scarce – grain is essential for survival, and medicine crucial in critical moments, while money becomes the least useful.

Shen Lie didn’t expect her to react so quickly. She didn’t even bat an eye at the price of 350 wen per dou, which he found impressive. Considering what Shen An and Shen Ning said about her storing grain, she’s always been keenly aware of its importance.

After she secured the ginseng, Shen Lie prepared to fetch his clothes for a bath. Standing up, he glanced at the reed poles on the table: “Are you planning to make something with these?”

Sang Luo had just finished storing the ginseng. Hearing his question, she wasn’t sure how to respond.

She was thinking of weaving two screens.

Shen Lie has returned, and it wouldn't be right to make him stay elsewhere or sleep on the floor in the kitchen during the cold winter. Even though he's been sleeping outdoors during his travels, it's only fair he sleeps in a bed at his own home.

Sang Luo never considered making such an unreasonable request.

She thought of letting Shen Lie share a bed with Shen An, while Shen Ning would sleep with her. They could hang a curtain between the two beds for privacy, keeping a reasonable distance.

Sang Luo trusted her judgment of character. Although she didn't know Shen Lie well, her brief interactions led her to believe he was decent. Most importantly, she didn't have many other options.

So, it was a form of compromise.

When Shen Lie asked, Sang Luo pursed her lips, braced herself, and suggested, "I'm thinking of making two roll-up curtains to hang between our beds. We can roll them up during the day and lower them at night."

Shen Lie's brow twitched slightly, and he listened as Sang Luo continued, "Actually, there's something I want to discuss with you."

Shen Lie felt he might be grasping something important, yet it was as if it was obscured behind a veil. Unsure of what to make of it, he sat down again as she mentioned having something to discuss.

"Go ahead," he said.

Sang Luo glanced at his expression and cautiously revealed, "I don’t know if Shen An and Ah Ning have told you, but I’m a refugee who escaped from the north."

Shen Lie nodded in acknowledgment.

Sang Luo then confessed, "When we got married, I already knew you were gone."

Realizing her words were a bit off, she corrected herself, "I mean, I heard that you had fallen in battle."

Shen Lie wasn't overly concerned and gestured for Sang Luo to continue speaking.

Sang Luo explained, "Back then, my decision to stay was mainly to secure a stable identity and a place in the household registry, somewhere to settle down."

At this point in the conversation, Shen Lie began to understand something; she hadn't married him, but rather, the household registration he represented.

So now that he has returned alive…

With this thought, his fingertips twitched slightly, but he remained silent, watching her, waiting for what she would say next.

Sang Luo felt quite awkward too, but she kept an eye on Shen Lie's reactions, noticing the slight changes in his expression, which suggested he understood.

Clearing her throat softly, she proposed, “It’s great that you could come back, but since we are complete strangers, I was thinking, maybe we should spend some time getting to know each other first. See if we are compatible before deciding whether to continue together. What do you think?”

Throughout these few sentences, she carefully watched his expression.

As she asked for his opinion, her eyes were filled with hopeful anticipation.

Hoping for his agreement.

Shen Lie had processed her words, especially the part about deciding whether to continue together in the future, and only then realized her real intention when his eyes fell again on the reeds on the table and recalled her mention of hanging a curtain between the beds.

Though only eighteen and having spent two years in the army, where others seldom considered his marital status and would often discuss various topics, Shen Lie had learned enough to understand what she really meant.

Realizing the true meaning of her words, and then meeting her expectant gaze, Shen Lie genuinely felt for the first time the sensation of embarrassment, as his face and ears heated up, spreading down to his neck.

His face, ears, and neck felt ablaze.

For the first time, he was grateful that his skin had darkened from his time in the mountains, hoping it would hide the obvious redness of his face.

Unable to meet her expectant gaze any longer, he hastily nodded, “Okay.”

“I'm going to take a bath.”

Shen Lie wasn’t even sure how he managed to get up and find his clothes in his bag. He thought he should have taken his bag outside to change, to avoid staying any longer and possibly revealing his red ears and embarrassment, right?

But there he was, oddly maintaining his composure.

He managed to nod calmly, agree calmly, stand up calmly, turn around and walk to his bag calmly, find his clothes calmly, and walk out calmly…

He was truly composed.

Thinking this, Shen Lie vigorously rubbed his face and tugged at his burning ears.

Shen An and Shen Ning, who had just finished feeding their cherished chickens and ducks, came in to see their big brother standing under the eaves outside the house, tugging at his ear.

Shen Ning asked, “Big brother, did you get frostbite on your ear?”

If it was frostbite, it would itch terribly. She and second brother had suffered from it too, and it only got better after their sister-in-law specifically went to town to get ointment for frostbite.

Shen Lie was so embarrassed he felt like he might start smoking, especially with Ah Ning’s shout, the people inside would surely know he was still standing just outside the house, right?

His ears felt like they were about to smoke again.

“No, I’m going to take a bath. Where do we bathe in our house?”

“The bathroom.” Shen An pointed to the location of the bathroom and said, “Big brother, I'll get a bath towel for you.”

Shen An quickly ran into the house. His sister-in-law had made him four bath towels before winter: one new cloth for bathing and three patchwork ones for drying hair.

He headed straight to where he kept his bath towels. He treasured them greatly, always washing and neatly storing them with his clean clothes after each use.

While searching for the bath towels, he reported to Sang Luo, “Sister-in-law, I’ve fed the chickens, ducks, and geese with Ah Ning, and put the chickens and ducks in their coops.”

Sang Luo smiled, “Good, thank you for your hard work.”

Shen An thought his sister-in-law was unlike anyone else in their village, always so exceptionally polite. Whenever he and Ah Ning finished their chores, they would either be praised or receive her kind acknowledgment of their hard work.

Shen An really liked that. Grinning, with his eyes sparkling, he said, “It’s not hard. Sister-in-law, you’re the one who works hard every day. I'm going to take this bath towel to big brother.”

Seeing Sang Luo busy, he asked, “What are you doing, sister-in-law? I’ll come and help you in a bit, with Ah Ning.”

Without waiting for her to respond, he happily dashed out with the bath towel.

Sang Luo couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle.

Indeed, a big reason for her hesitation and reluctance to leave was these two kids, who were genuinely warm, caring, and adorable.