Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Song Shian felt he couldn't indulge Jiang Chun any longer; otherwise, she might dare to touch his buttocks next time, who knows where else she would lay her hands on?

Just thinking about it made him blush.

So he decided to do as before, ignore her for a while, to make her fear and restrain her behavior.

At lunchtime, he sat silently at the table, eating without responding to Jiang Chun's attempts to engage him in conversation.

Jiang Chun tried a few more times, but Song Shian remained silent, only then did she realize he was truly upset.

She pouted and said, "When you had a high fever, I was the one who wiped your body. I've seen everything there is to see. Today, I just hugged your waist, is that really something to sulk over? You're making a mountain out of a molehill!"

The corners of Song Shian's mouth twitched slightly.

Just hugged his waist?

What about when she touched and slapped his buttocks? Was that a ghost?

She was good at dodging the real issues.

This girl knew he was too shy to argue about such embarrassing things, which is why she could brazenly twist the facts.

He calmly reached for a spoonful of steamed egg and put it in his mouth, pretending not to hear her.

There was no way he would argue; he had his dignity.

Jiang Chun snorted and mercilessly exposed his pretense, "Stop acting, I know you're not really angry with me. You're just putting on an act to scare me so I won't take advantage of you again."

Song Shian: "..."

Could she be any less dense?

If she saw through his plan, what was left for her to fear?

He lowered his eyes, calmly took a bite of the steamed bun, and remained silent.

As long as he didn't admit it, she hadn't seen through him.

Yes, that's right!

Jiang Chun chuckled, "It doesn't matter if you don't admit it; I've already seen through you."

Song Shian continued to eat, still silent.

Jiang Chun looked up at him and laughed triumphantly, "So, I'll not only continue to take advantage of you, but I'll also push my luck even further."

Song Shian almost lost his composure but managed to hold back.

If he lectured her, not only might she not listen, but he would lose the moment he opened his mouth.

Seeing that he still ignored her, Jiang Chun put down her chopsticks, leaned closer to him, and pouted, pretending to kiss him.

Song Shian quickly moved his stool, dragging it far away to the other end of the table.

He took a deep breath and, unable to bear it any longer, said coldly, "Do not talk while eating or sleep while speaking."

Jiang Chun immediately sat up straight, swallowed her food, and then laughed heartily, "Oh, my husband finally speaks! So, you're not angry with me anymore?"

Song Shian closed his eyes helplessly.

Indeed, the wise words were true: women and small people are hard to deal with. This shameless, cunning, and endlessly scheming person, he was simply no match for her.

But he couldn't let her get away with it; otherwise, she would become even more outrageous.

So he decided to adopt an indifferent attitude, speaking only when necessary and ignoring her the rest of the time.

This way, he could justify his actions to Jiang He.

Until she recognized her mistake and promised not to touch him again, he wouldn't change his stance.

However, Jiang Chun's smile couldn't be suppressed.

She thought to herself: Little boy, think you can outsmart me? Your face is still too thin!

Thick-skinned vs. thin-faced, thick-skinned wins.

Thus, one was smugly satisfied, and the other was silently enduring as they finished their lunch.

After the meal, Jiang Chun found her sewing basket, laid out the half-finished cotton jacket at the foot of the bed, and continued working.

Song Shian placed the writing desk at the head of the bed and resumed his copying work.

Lu Zhengheng had yet to deliver the materials needed for painting, so besides copying, he had no other means to earn money.

Jiang Chun, a chatterbox, couldn't keep quiet for more than a quarter of an hour. She began to babble, "Husband, you paint well. Draw a design for a stove tomorrow, and I'll go to the county the day after to have the blacksmith make one for us."

Before Song Shian could question the purpose of the stove, she explained, "Actually, this stove is for you, a coal-burning heater. Your health is fragile, and the winters in Prefecture Qi are harsh. Relying solely on warm clothes won't be enough to keep you warm.

Although we have a heated bed, it's not practical to lie on it all day.

People need to stay active; it helps improve health."

Song Shian paused, pen in hand, and looked at her.

Worried he couldn't withstand the severe winter in Prefecture Qi, she specifically asked the blacksmith to make a heater for him?

This reminded him of the first winter he spent at the Jiang family home.

Back then, his health was even worse than it is now. Jiang He advised Jiang Chun to take him to the county town to find a good doctor for a check-up, but Jiang Chun detested this son-in-law and wished he would die soon. He only said that getting through the winter would be fine, and there was no need to spend money on a doctor.

Even when he clearly told her that he was a vegetarian and could not eat animal fat, she was unwilling to help him press some soybean oil or rapeseed oil.

He could only eat black flour steamed buns with pickled mustard root, and when the pickled mustard root ran out, he ate the black flour steamed buns dry.

New cotton clothes were out of the question; he only got an old cotton-padded jacket that Jiang He had worn out, without any cotton pants.

Throughout the winter, he could only huddle on the kang (a traditional heated bed), covered with an old quilt, shivering.

His health naturally did not improve, and he developed a serious illness from then on.

But in this life, after the person inside Jiang Chun changed, she took all the soybeans at home to press into soybean oil for herself, and every day she tried to change the dishes she made for herself as much as possible.

She bought new fabric and new cotton to make new cotton clothes and quilts for herself.

She also took him to the town's tailor shop to pick out cotton shoes and boots, buying two pairs.

Now she was even planning to have a heating stove made for him, which would obviously require a large sum of silver, as the government strictly controlled ironware, and the price of iron remained high.

Moreover, the heating stove burned coal, which was difficult to mine and expensive.

Leaving aside her unrefined and unladylike behavior, Jiang Chun was indeed considerate and meticulous towards him, never being stingy with money for his sake.

Song Shian lowered his eyes and sighed deeply in his heart.

He was not a masochist and naturally hoped that Jiang Chun would treat him well so that he could live comfortably in the Jiang family and recover his health.

But she treated him too well. People are not plants or trees; who can remain unmoved? He feared that if this continued, he would fall into her tenderness and lose his heart.

Having experienced betrayal by the previous Jiang Chun, he dared not and lacked confidence.

But at this moment, if he remained silent, it would seem ungrateful.

Song Shian opened his mouth and sincerely said, "Thank you."

Jiang Chun didn't look up, continuing her work while smiling, "What are you thanking me for? We've kissed before, no need to be so formal."

Song Shian: "..."

In an instant, all the warmth flew away.

What a good woman, but she had such a mouth.

This guy, always teasing him, talking about kissing all the time—was it really that interesting to tease him?

If only Jiang Chun knew what he was thinking, she would definitely nod decisively and agree that it was very interesting.

Teasing someone, of course, should be done to a blushing, proper gentleman. Watching him blush, watching him dodge, watching him sigh helplessly, watching him flee in panic—it was simply the most interesting thing.

If he were like her, a master of words with a thicker skin, she wouldn't bother teasing him at all.

How boring!

*

By mid-afternoon, Jiang He returned, driving three pigs he had bought from a neighboring village.

He also brought bad news—they had to serve corvée labor.

Every year, after the autumn harvest and before winter, the court would levy corvée labor, lasting between twenty to thirty days.

The rule was that households with fewer than four adult males must send one person, and those with four or more adult males must send two.

Currently, the Jiang family had two adult males, Jiang He and Song Shian, so they needed to send one person to serve corvée labor.

Jiang He smiled and said to Jiang Chun, "My son-in-law is weak and won't be able to endure the hardship of corvée labor. As usual, I'll go."

Because the original mainstay was strong and capable, whether it was slaughtering pigs, selling meat, or buying pigs, he was skilled at everything. Even if Jiang He went to serve corvée labor, it wouldn't affect the meat stall business, so every year he chose to go, saving one or two taels of silver in labor fees.

However, Jiang Chun opposed this, saying firmly, "No, corvée labor is very arduous. You have to bring your own food and live in a tent with hundreds of people. It's extremely hard and exhausting.

One or two taels of silver, we can save it elsewhere. There's no need to let Father suffer for this."

Jiang He frowned, disagreeing, "One or two taels of silver! We need to sell meat for ten days to earn that much! Anyway, you can manage the meat stall alone, so Father might as well go. At most, it will be twenty days."

Jiang Chun rolled her eyes and directly brought up Song Shian, "Father, you make it sound easy. I managed before because I didn't have my son-in-law.

Now that I have my son-in-law, he is weak and often falls ill. When he's sick, I'm too busy to take care of the meat stall.

Our meat stall earns three taels of silver a month. Father, don't pick up the sesame seeds and lose the watermelon."

Jiang He spoke lightly, but many people died each year serving corvée labor, and Jiang Chun did not want anything to happen to him.

Not to mention that she had a huge amount of five hundred taels of silver, even if she had no money, she would go to the town or county to exchange for money to pay the one or two taels of silver labor fee.

Seeing the father and daughter arguing, Song Shian raised his hand to cover his chest, coughed lightly, and pretended to be weak, "Father, it's all my fault. My poor health has held Mother Chun back."

Hearing this, Jiang He immediately gave up the idea, scratching his head and laughing awkwardly, "Look at me, I forgot about you, son-in-law.

Mother Chun is right. You need to take care of your son-in-law and prepare three meals a day for him. How can you have time to buy pigs?

I'll do the pig-buying job, so I won't go to serve corvée labor."

Jiang Chun smiled contentedly, "I'll give you a string of coins to send to village head Zou, to have your name removed from the list."

Being able to avoid corvée labor, Jiang He was actually quite happy, as serving corvée labor was truly exhausting, and he lost ten pounds every year when he returned.

Now he was also enjoying the benefits of his daughter?

He grinned and went out to wash his hands.

Jiang Chun sidled up to Song Shian, mimicking his actions by clutching his chest and letting out a light cough, then exaggeratedly gasping for breath as he said, "Husband, husband, this 'Xizi holding her heart' look is truly beautiful."

Song Shian closed his eyes and frowned, correcting him, "'Xizi holding her heart' refers to women. It's not appropriate to use it on a man like me."

Jiang Chun pouted again, "Husband, I can't read; I'm illiterate. I don't understand these big words of yours. But I just think that your delicate, 'Xizi holding her heart' look is particularly alluring."

Alluring?

A sense of foreboding immediately rose in Song Shian's heart.

He took a few steps back, eyeing Jiang Chun warily, and warned, "Behave yourself. Father is still here. Don't be reckless."

But it was no use.

Jiang Chun lunged forward, hooking his arms around Song Shian's neck and tiptoeing to plant a quick kiss on his lips.

Then, smacking his lips, he commented, "So sweet!"

Song Shian: "..."

He should just go back to the previous life.