Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Not long after Qing Shan departed, Aunt Liang and the others returned.

Later, when they journeyed back to the village, Aunt Liang drove the carriage, taking Su Qingruo with her. Along the way, Aunt Liang taught Su Qingruo how to handle the reins, as well as how to manage household affairs and accounts.

Their family’s carriage was small, leaving Yun Changxie and Tian Sang no alternative but to hire an ox cart for their return.

The ox cart moved considerably slower than the carriage. By the time Yun Changxie and Tian Sang reached the village, Su Qingruo and his companions had long since arrived home.

Su Qingruo had already retrieved paper and a brush, diligently learning accounting under Aunt Liang’s guidance. Upon seeing Yun Changxie and Tian Sang return, Aunt Liang immediately offered an explanation to Yun Changxie.

"Young Master, now that you have a consort, many responsibilities should be entrusted to him. As his maternal family never instructed him in household management, this old servant felt compelled to overstep and personally guide him. I hope the Young Master will not consider this old servant meddlesome."

Aunt Liang’s intentions were good, a fact both Yun Changxie and Su Qingruo understood.

Yun Changxie also believed that Su Qingruo should endeavor to learn how to manage a household.

One should not underestimate the task of household management; it involves numerous intricacies and subtle skills. If Su Qingruo could master it, he would undoubtedly gain significant advantages.

For instance, with accounting, no matter what Su Qingruo pursued in the future, his ability to manage finances would prevent him from being easily deceived.

Or, if he were to marry into a prominent family in the future, he wouldn’t have to worry about servants exploiting his ignorance and taking advantage of him.

Yun Changxie nodded. "He has been married into the family for over half a year now, so it is indeed time for him to learn household management. I will trouble you with this matter, Aunt Liang."

Reassured by his words, Aunt Liang dedicated herself even more diligently to instructing Su Qingruo.

Su Qingruo spent an hour learning accounting and calculations, and truthfully, he found it a bit tedious.

However, he was sensible enough to discern right from wrong, knowing Aunt Liang meant well. Thus, he patiently applied himself to the lessons.

That evening, Yun Changxie read the letter Liu Shi had written to him in his room. The letter’s contents were divided into two parts: one expressing her longing for him, and the other voicing her concerns about his health.

In his previous life, Yun Changxie had only his master, and most people in the temple were men. He truly wasn’t adept at interacting with women.

Fortunately, this woman was none other than his mother in this life. Regardless of her past, she certainly harbored no ill will towards him.

While Yun Changxie was reading the letter, Su Qingruo went to Aunt Liang’s room to have his measurements taken.

As she measured him, Aunt Liang inquired, "Has the Lord Husband chosen the fabrics yet? The weather will soon turn hot. Once you’ve made your selection, this old servant can begin making new clothes for you."

Su Qingruo shook his head. He felt the colors were all too vibrant, unsuitable for a village lad like him.

He couldn’t even imagine how the villagers would gossip and point fingers if he went out wearing such eye-catching colors.

"If you haven’t chosen yet, it’s perfectly fine. Let’s pick them now."

After taking his measurements, Aunt Liang gently pulled Su Qingruo along to select fabrics.

There were six bolts of cotton cloth in total. One, in a sky-blue hue, was reserved for the Young Master, while the remaining five were specifically for Su Qingruo’s use.

Summer clothing was lightweight and simple in style.

For a young man or woman, one bolt of cloth could yield about five or six outfits. For a taller man, it would make roughly four sets.

Autumn and winter garments, however, required slightly more fabric. Fortunately, summer hadn’t even arrived yet, so there was no immediate rush for those.

Su Qingruo surveyed the remaining five bolts and instinctively pointed to the spring green one.

Among these fabrics, this was the most muted in color—the others were too bright for his taste.

Seeing this, Aunt Liang smiled and said, "For summer clothes, you’ll need at least three sets, or you won’t have enough to change into. Since the Lord Husband has chosen the spring green, why not pick two more colors?"

Su Qingruo hesitated, looking up at Aunt Liang with a conflicted expression.

Aunt Liang, perceptive as ever, seemed to guess his worries and smiled reassuringly. "What’s there to fear? Even if you don’t wear these clothes, those who love to gossip will still talk. They’ll say that even after marrying into the Yun family, the Lord Husband is so down on his luck he doesn’t have a single nice outfit. Pay them no mind. These fabrics were chosen by the Young Master for you. When he sees you wearing clothes made from them, he’ll be very happy."

Honestly, the colors of these fabrics weren’t particularly flashy.

The cloth available in their small town, though somewhat bright, was hardly extravagant.

Aunt Liang had once accompanied the old madam to the capital, where the fabric shops were truly stunning.

Those fabrics were not only rare in material, but many were also adorned with intricate patterns.

Now, those were what you called beautiful—and ostentatious.

But since the young men and women there all wore such splendid garments, they didn’t stand out as overly showy.

Su Qingruo, having never seen the world, was intimidated by just a few slightly brighter fabrics.

This was indeed rather timid, and Aunt Liang resolved to help him overcome it so he wouldn’t embarrass the Young Master in the future.

Later, Tian Sang also came to choose fabrics. Cheerful and warm-hearted, he first picked out his own cloth before enthusiastically encouraging Su Qingruo.

"I chose soft lilac! The shopkeeper said this color is very popular among the young ladies and lads in town. Since the Young Master bought two bolts, why don’t you pick this color for a set too, Lord Husband?"

After a moment’s thought, Su Qingruo nodded shyly.

Seeing his agreement, Tian Sang tugged at him to choose one last set.

"Pick one more! Let me tell you, my embroidery skills are excellent. I’ll embroider some little flowers on your clothes, and you’ll look quite lovely wearing them!"

Su Qingruo wanted to say it wasn’t necessary to go to such trouble. He didn’t care about looking pretty, and clothes didn’t need to be so elaborate.

But then it occurred to him that his appearance might reflect on Yun Changxie’s reputation.

No matter how reduced Yun Changxie’s circumstances were, he was still the son of the County Magistrate. Su Qingruo had to consider his husband’s reputation.

With this in mind, Su Qingruo pointed to the bolt of blush-red fabric.

This cloth was so vivid and beautiful—if made into clothes, it would surely look stunning. It could... serve as his bridal clothes.

As for the remaining muted pink fabric, its lighter, plainer hue made it suitable for undergarments. Aunt Liang planned to make two sets of undergarments for Su Qingruo to change into.

By the time Su Qingruo finished selecting fabrics and returned from Aunt Liang’s room, Yun Changxie had already retired for the night.

Yun Changxie’s health was frail, and the dim lighting at night in ancient times wasn’t conducive to reading. So, once evening fell, he retired early.

Su Qingruo entered the room quietly, closing the door softly behind him, and noticed that Fu Wang wasn’t there that night.

Fu Wang had been taken away by Tian Sang, who thought that since the Young Master’s health had improved recently, he might wish to share the bed with his husband.

If silly Fu Wang caused any disruptions, wouldn’t that delay the arrival of a little master?

Tian Sang’s reasoning was simple. Unaware of the true nature of Yun Changxie and Su Qingruo’s relationship, he assumed that since they shared a room, intimacy was only natural.

Before Su Qingruo could go out to look for Fu Wang, Yun Changxie, lying on the bed with his eyes closed, spoke up. "Tian Sang took the dog."

Su Qingruo stopped what he was doing when he heard this, then simply washed up, took off his outer robe, and went to bed.

Not long after he lay down, Yun Changxie opened his eyes.

"Did you decide on fabric for your clothes?"

Su Qingruo nodded. To make it easier to communicate with Yun Changxie, he turned onto his side to face him.

Su Qingruo extended a finger and gently wrote the characters "summer clothes" on the back of Yun Changxie's hand.

Then, when Yun Changxie looked up, he held up three fingers, indicating he wanted to make three outfits.

"You don’t have spring clothes either. When I go to town in a couple of days, I’ll buy you two ready-made clothes."

Su Qingruo quickly shook his head. Ready-made clothes were too expensive. Besides, spring would soon be over, so he didn’t think it was necessary to buy spring clothes.

"Before... I was stubborn, which is why I treated you that way. From now on... I won’t. I’ll buy you two more outfits as an apology."

Yun Changxie was a man of his word. Two days later, when he went to town to send a letter, he first stopped by a clothing shop.

The letter was addressed to Liu Shi in the neighboring county.

Last time, Qing Shan had come and gone in a hurry, and the letter he wrote was also rushed, leaving many things unaddressed.

In the original story, Liu Shi was prone to tears, and her eyes had some issues.

After the original host died, Liu Shi cried herself blind. Later, because of her blindness, she was cruelly mocked by passersby and eventually threw herself into a river.

In the letter, he mentioned her eye condition and sent two basic vision-enhancing pills.

Though these low-grade pills weren’t as effective as higher-grade ones, they had the advantage of being free of harmful side effects. Even regular people with no spiritual training could take them without suffering backlash.

After buying the clothes, Yun Changxie sent the letter and the pills.

Great Zhou's courier stations were quite advanced. Not only could letters be sent, but also money and goods.

Since it was overseen by imperial officials and supervised by the local authorities, there was no fear of the items being embezzled by the couriers.

As for whether sending such good pills would arouse Liu Shi’s suspicion—

The original host had been sickly since he was a boy, and both the Yun family and Liu Shi had sought out many famous doctors for him.

Given his condition, frequent contact with famous doctors wasn’t unusual.

Yun Changxie had already explained the origin of the pills in the letter.

He wrote that his recovery from this serious illness was due to encountering a traveling physician, which allowed him to narrowly cheat death.

Now that his health had greatly improved, knowing Liu Shi had trouble with her eyes since she was young, he had requested the pills from that physician for her.

This trip to town, Yun Changxie came with Tian Sang. After finishing his errands, he returned to the village with him. Along the way, Yun Changxie practiced driving the cart with Tian Sang. Once his health fully recovered, he could easily handle the town trips himself in the future.