Free Web NovelChapter 28: Chapter 28
Chapter 28
"Hey, little cat... don’t scold me too much," he said playfully.
He knew that Yueqian only wanted him to learn how to write. The talk was merely an excuse to push him to do so.
His large hand gently stroked Yueqian’s head. She looked at him in surprise as he moved closer, seizing her waist because she was already backed up against Huan’er’s desk. If she moved back any further, she would bump into it, but his hold only brought them closer.
Mu Heng’s warm breath brushed her cheek as he leaned in, teasing her by calling her a little cat. Their eyes met accidentally, but seemed irresistibly drawn to each other, held in a moment they couldn’t easily break.
If not for the brush that Huan’er dropped..., they probably wouldn’t have separated so soon.
Yueqian’s heart pounded fiercely, feeling her face flush with heat despite the chilly air. Both were a bit awkward, but since there were only a group of children nearby, no one teasing them for greater embarrassment.
"Bring that chair over here and lower the desk legs. And for your paper and writing set, let Xiao Long fetch them." It was Yueqian who talked, yet it was Xiao Long who got up.
Hearing Sister-in-law, he seemed to be just realized. The little one went to retrieve the writing set from his sister-in-law’s storeroom, bringing it back for his brother.
"Sister-in-law says whoever owns the writing set must take care of it themselves," Xiao Long said before placing the set down for his brother.
He then hurried off to arrange his own writing tools, his demeanor like a young scholar selecting tools for drafting official documents, though he only had three brushes in front of him.
"You all are truly despicable," Mu Heng couldn’t help but feel annoyed as he watched such demeanor of the children.
He pretended to scold them once, though the children, more infatuated with their sister-in-law than their brother, paid him no mind.
They eagerly awaited Yueqian’s next lesson on writing. Yueqian, upon seeing them, couldn’t help but laugh. They were truly adorable.
Soon the bustle settled, and Yueqian taught them how to read characters, then had the three siblings practice writing. The other children gathered around, with Xiao Feng and Xiao Fu by Xiao Long’s side.
Each time Xiao Long wrote a character and read it aloud, they read along. When Xiao Long finished a sheet, they took turns trying to imitate the writing with different-sized brushes.
Seeing this, Yueqian felt both sympathetic and respect of their spirit. Lan’er and Lin’er were also by her Huan’er’s side.
All seven were intensely focused on learning. Mu Heng, who picked up the characters quicker than the children, even asked to learn the first set of characters the children had studied that morning. After a few hours, they began repeating what they did in the morning, happily searching for the 16 characters they had learned in the textbooks.
This time they had friends in class, added more to the fun. Yueqian was delighted to see them like this.
As evening approached, the children had to leave before their parents became aware. Mu Heng told Yueqian about the children, who, despite being from the main house, always showed great kindness. Whenever his house began running out of food, these children would sometimes stealthily bring something from their homes, some even eating only half a sweet potato to save the other half for them.
Such friendship made Yueqian promise to always welcome the children to study together without any displeasure.
"I only pity those children. In the future, they cannot get involved with our family’s issues. The rest are just fighting among members at home. It’s sad to think that these children, who are so close to each other, might eventually be affected, as sooner or later, both Xiao Feng and Xiao Fu will have to bring wives into their homes.”
"Lan’er and Lin’er will also have to bring dowries to their husbands’ homes. Right now, their parents are not on good terms either. If they don’t consider separating households, eventually, they will have to fight over the family’s share," Mu Heng complained to Yueqian about family matters.
"It’s good that my parents realized early on. No matter how much they earned, it all went into the common fund. Whatever my parents could scrape together eventually went to others to squander."
"After officially splitting from the main house by informing the authorities, we still faced criticism from them. They accused my father of having secretly saved money to build our house, to avoid being talked about. My father had to send money to the main house every month as if it were living allowance."
"Unfortunately, both of them passed away early, giving those people a chance to take advantage. They seized all the land and even told me to work with them again. In the end, I was still taken advantage of, and we had to involve the village leader several times to settle disputes."
"But I won’t let them hurt you. Since marrying you, I’ve never thought of letting anyone bully my wife."
"I’m not like my father, who easily forgives. Every time my mother was beaten, he only argued back a few words before tending to her wounds. Those people became emboldened. But not with me. If they want trouble, they’ll have to fight me directly," Mu Heng declared with resentment.
Yueqian was being a good listener, though she really wanted to tell him that if the Mu family ever caused trouble, just a call for help from her would see many ready to assist! fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Many households might even prefer to call her a benefactor.
In this village, how many households own farming land? The answer was few. Since those were government’s land, would they allow them to just buy land to farm and then pay whenever they have the money?
Of course not!
But the land Yueqian bought, she leases it without collecting rent, only taking 20% of the produce as payment, which is considered a great favor by everyone. If anyone dares to harm her, they’re ready to defend her to the utmost.
Moreover... if anything happens to her or her family, all the land would immediately be transferred to her mother in the capital.
If the Mu family harbors ill intentions and tries to harm her entire family to claim rights over thousands of mu of land because they bear the Mu surname, they’d better abandon such thoughts. After this, she would have the authorities announce that the contract belongs to her mother. Let’s see who dares to harm her then!
"Thank you very much. I will also take good care of myself."
Yueqian did not deny her husband. If he thinks she is vulnerable and cannot fight with anyone, she will act as a delicate woman, allowing him to be her guardian.
Mu Heng nodded firmly. He looked at his little wife with love.
Although he had been fearful before their marriage that life might become chaotic, he now felt immensely glad to have decided to marry Yueqian.
Since her arrival, his life had improved significantly. She was not weak; she did not allow others to bully her, moreover, she bravely stood by their side. She was the best family member Mu Heng could have hoped for in his life.
Previously, many women had shown interest in him, but he had no desire to marry anyone and complicate his life. Even if they were good-hearted and adorable, Mu Heng was not interested. However, after meeting Yueqian, he knew that if he had not married her today, he would have fallen in love with her if they met in the future.
"Um, let’s rest for tonight. We can talk more tomorrow," Yueqian said.
The beautiful woman turned away from his captivating gaze. Mu Heng watched her with such affectionate eyes, how could a tender-hearted person like her react differently?
Their dinner that day again consisted of the remaining steamed buns and dumplings, and plenty of soup was still left. So, the children told her not to bother cooking more.
Life in these times meant early mornings and very early nights. When she was a lady who lived in a manor, there was always much to do. Now, as a commoner’s wife, she found herself with too much idle time.
Had nothing to fight over with others; she felt sleepy as soon as evening fell.
Yueqian lay down to sleep, with Mu Heng being the last to lie down. He lay down slowly, did not know what was on his mind at the time, he reached out with his strong arms and embraced her small waist.
The unfamiliar warmth made Yueqian startle slightly.
"It’s really cold tonight. Let me hold you," Mu Heng used the skill of being shameless. He hugged his wife using the extremely cold weather as an excuse, although for years he had managed just fine with just his patched blanket.
The little beauty lay tense for a while, but eventually relaxed and drifted off to sleep in the warm embrace. However, it was another night that Mu Heng could not seem to close his eyes.
It was because Yueqian was too soft! The more he touched her, the more he wanted to. Initially, he thought just holding her would suffice, but now he wanted to kiss her clear cheeks, her soft lips, and do everything that husbands and wives do.
In the end, he spent the whole night wide awake.
And the next morning, it was another day that he looked as if he had been punched in the eyes.
The following day, everything was the same except for breakfast being the children’s favorite fish porridge. Lunch was ginger stir-fried pork and stir-fried noodles, delicious with clean white rice. Dinner was bland tasting food, egg soup and plain rice.
As time passed, Yueqian cooked every meal, while the children, besides helping her and focusing on their writing, had no other tasks. Mu Heng, still setting traps, managed to bring back small games occasionally. The four cousins still came to their house after lunch to learn writing.
Until one snowy morning, when a fierce storm blew from midnight, making it extremely cold. The children could not sleep, so Yueqian decided to give them allergy medicine as a precaution due to the rapidly changing weather. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
She couldn’t give them pills directly as it would look suspicious, so she pretended to boil herbs and dissolved a pill in a cup of tea for the three of them, while she herself swallowed a pill directly. Who would want to take bitter medicine otherwise?
