W Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Does Ge’er-husband really think it’s nothing? …

Chapter 17: Does Ge’er-husband really think it’s nothing? …

The Shen family was at the foot of the mountain, and the wild path that Shen Hui found led directly to the Shen family, a hundred meters away.

Once they arrived, Shen Hui put Ling Xing down. He lifted the clothes covering Ling Xing’s head, brushed off the small branches and leaves stuck to them, and helped him put them back on properly.

Then, he took off the bamboo basket and steamer from Ling Xing’s back and carried them himself. “Ge’er-husband, don’t tell the family that I carried you back.”

Ling Xing didn’t quite react, not understanding why he needed to hide it. “What’s wrong with Second Brother carrying me back?”

Shen Hui’s hand, which was searching for a branch, paused. He turned his head to look at Ling Xing, his eyes narrowing slightly, as if sizing him up. “Ge’er-husband really doesn’t know?”

Ling Xing’s mind was a mess.

Shen Hui looked down at him, pondering Ling Xing’s expression. “A younger brother carrying the husband of his deceased older brother. If Mom and Dad find out, Ge’er-husband really thinks it’s nothing?”

Ling Xing suddenly understood. Ah, right, my current identity is a ge’er who can have children, not a man!

In that case, it was indeed inappropriate for Shen Hui to carry him all this way.

Ling Xing scratched his head awkwardly. He’d made another joke. But he couldn’t be blamed for it. Apart from some differences in his physical structure and the fact that he could have children, psychologically, he still completely regarded himself as a man.

He really didn’t think there was anything wrong with it, nor did he have the awareness to avoid suspicion with men.

Just as he was thinking about how to subtly remind himself that he was a ge’er to avoid unnecessary trouble, he felt something strange in his hand.

Ling Xing looked down and saw a branch.

The other end was in Shen Hui’s hand. He subconsciously grabbed it, and was led forward.

It was only a hundred meters, and they both walked very slowly.

Ling Xing’s heels were throbbing with pain, while Shen Hui was accommodating Ling Xing.

Xu Youfang came out with a pottery basin to pour water and saw the two of them slowly walking back.

She quickly put down the pottery basin and hurried towards Ling Xing. “Oh, Xing ge’er, what’s wrong? Why are you being led back?”

Ling Xing said, “My feet are blistered.”

Xu Youfang looked down at Ling Xing’s heels. “The skin is all rubbed off. Mom will carry you inside to rest.”

Ling Xing quickly waved his hand and refused. “No need, Mom, we’re almost home.”

Seeing that Ling Xing was determined not to, Xu Youfang had no choice but to give up.

She replaced Shen Hui, not using the branch to lead him, but supporting Ling Xing as they continued forward.

After sending Ling Xing to rest in the east room, Xu Youfang’s first task was to find Shen Hui.

He wasn’t in the courtyard, so she went to the kitchen and happened to see Shen Hui coming out of his room.

“Second Son, did anyone see you leading Xing ge’er with a branch?”

Faced with her mother’s worried face, Shen Hui glanced at her and squatted down to sort out the things in the back basket. “No, I specifically took the wild path, it’s close and there’s no one there.”

Xu Youfang breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”

If someone saw it, she didn’t know how nasty the gossip would be.

“Mom, should I take this money box to Ge’er-husband?”

Shen Hui took out the money box from the bamboo basket. The wooden box was newly made for the stall, and Shen Hui had polished it well, making it smooth to the touch without any splinters.

“You go deliver it, Fifth Son is also in the east room. Mom needs to cook, or we won’t be able to eat on time.”

Xu Youfang sped up her movements, not wanting to delay the meal.

Shen Hui didn’t say anything else, and walked towards the east room with the money box in one hand.

He had just lifted the curtain when Shen Lai’s chattering voice, which had been so lively a moment ago, stopped abruptly.

“Second Brother, why are you here?” Shen Lai asked softly.

Shen Hui glanced up and saw Ling Xing sitting on the edge of the bed, still wearing his straw sandals.

Shen Lai was kneeling on the bed, his whole body leaning on Ling Xing’s back, his arms around Ling Xing’s neck. The person being hugged had a smile on his face.

“Shen Lai, don’t bother Ge’er-husband.”

Shen Hui’s words were more effective than an imperial decree. Shen Lai shrank his neck and let go of his hand. “Got it, Second Brother.”

“It’s okay, Second Brother, Fifth Son just wants to play with me. He said he hadn’t seen me all morning and missed me, wanted to be affectionate.”

Ling Xing spoke with a smile on his face, his voice clear and gentle. Shen Lai, hiding behind him, gently rubbed his head against Ling Xing’s back when he heard Ling Xing speaking up for him.

He was still careful to keep the arc light, so his second brother wouldn’t notice.

This time, Shen Hui didn’t just put the things on the wooden box near the door like he did when he brought noodles before.

He stepped forward, put the money box on the edge of the bed, and then conveniently pulled Shen Lai out from behind Ling Xing.

Ling Xing felt Shen Hui’s arm reach from the side of his ear. His nose slightly touched the jacket Shen Hui was wearing because of Shen Hui’s movements.

That jacket had been covering his head not long ago. It didn’t have any strange smell, but it had a scent similar to grass after rain. He didn’t know what Shen Hui used to wash his clothes.

“Second Brother, it hurts!”

Shen Lai was pulled out by the back of his collar. Shen Hui’s tone was cold. Although the window in the room was open, the light inside was still very dim because of the small window area, and he couldn’t see the expression on his face.

“Get some water to clean Ge’er-husband’s wound, and then apply medicine to it. Don’t bother him anymore. Next time you go into the mountains, I’ll try to get you a pheasant to eat.”

Shen Lai felt a warmth in his palm, squeezed it, and found it was a small pottery bottle.

His brain suddenly received too much information and couldn’t process it.

He was surprised to ask Ling Xing how he was injured, and then excitedly asked Shen Hui when they could go into the mountains.

Pheasant! Meat! He didn’t even dare to dream of eating meat!

Shen Hui didn’t stay in the room for long. He told Shen Lai that he would go into the mountains in the spring and left the room directly.

After getting the time to go into the mountains, Shen Lai rolled around excitedly on the bed twice before remembering what his second brother had told him to do.

“Ge’er-husband, wait for me, I’ll get some water.”

Ling Xing didn’t refuse Shen Lai. Now was not the time to be brave. He didn’t dare to look at the wound, afraid that he would faint again if he looked at it, so he could only trouble Shen Lai.

But Shen Hui surprised him a bit. He always felt that Shen Hui seemed to have noticed that he didn’t dare to look at the wound.

Shen Lai came back quickly. The water in the pottery basin was warm. Xu Youfang had just boiled water for cooking and gave him a spoonful when she heard that he was going to clean Ling Xing’s wound.

“Ge’er-husband, how did your heels get so badly blistered? Can you still walk tomorrow?”

Shen Lai’s face was wrinkled when he wiped around the wound with a cloth towel. The appearance of the flesh turning out was painful just to look at.

Remembering what Shen Hui said about not letting the family know that he was carried, Ling Xing only said, “It’s okay, I’m used to blisters, I can bear it. I’ll put something behind it tomorrow.”

Shen Lai thought that Ling Xing had come all the way from the south as a refugee, and that road must have been difficult to walk, and it must have been even worse.

Now looking at Ling Xing’s feet, there were a lot of visible scars.

He completely believed it in his heart, cleaned the area around the wound, and prepared to apply medicine.

The small pottery bottle contained herbal powder. After tearing open the cloth strip that was blocking the bottle mouth with a little force, the smell of herbs floated out.

Shen Lai gently tapped the pottery bottle with his fingertip to let the herbs out.

Ling Xing reminded Shen Lai, “Fifth Son, the medicinal powder is expensive, it costs a lot of money, just put a little bit on.”

“It’s okay, this medicinal powder was ground by my second brother himself, it doesn’t cost money. And it’s the most effective for this kind of external injury. Second Brother uses this when he gets injured himself, and it gets better quickly.”

Shen Lai said this, but the strength of tapping with his hand was still a little less.

The herbs haven’t grown yet, and there won’t be new ones when they’re used up.

After applying the medicine, Shen Lai wrapped the cloth strip into a ball and stuffed it back into the bottle mouth. He put the pottery bottle under the pillow. “I’ll help Ge’er-husband apply the medicine again at night, it’ll be more comfortable to walk tomorrow.”

Ling Xing smiled gently, “Fifth Son is so considerate.”

Shen Lai scratched his head, very embarrassed, and said honestly, “Hey, I’m thinking of Ge’er-husband, but I’m also afraid that I won’t do well and Second Brother won’t give me a pheasant to eat.”

Ling Xing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry after hearing this. He really was a true child.

Shen Lai ran to pour water, while Ling Xing opened the money box to calculate how much money he had earned today.

Ten pounds of fermented dough, four pounds of tofu filling, made a total of fifty-three buns and fifty-four steamed buns.

The first pot of twenty-four buns and twenty-six steamed buns brought in a total of 163 cash.

He had promised that the second pot of buns could be sold for one cash cheaper if two were bought together, and basically everyone bought two together. Ling Xing didn’t know how many people bought one and how many people bought two.

Moreover, there was some dough and tofu filling left over, so Ling Xing directly steamed all the remaining dough and tofu filling when the first cage of the second pot was sold out.

He couldn’t calculate it as clearly and in detail as before, but he only knew that after deducting four buns and steamed buns each for Wang Youmai and Xu Qi, the remaining buns brought in a total of 129 cash.

The total amount of copper coins in the money box was 312 cash. The entire cost price was 220 cash, so his profit today was 92 cash.

Renting the stall costs ten cash per hour, and the warehouse costs ten cash per day. After deducting these costs, he went out at four in the morning and returned home at eleven in the morning, and he earned a solid 72 cash today.

Ling Xing was actually quite satisfied. Here, a strong laborer goes out to find work and earning 30 cash a day is considered good.

Moreover, he only sold for two hours. If he went in the evening, he could double his earnings.

Ling Xing stared at his feet. Sigh, he had to get some scraps of cloth and have his mom make a pair of cloth shoes.

Otherwise, going out to sell once a day would be like throwing money away every day.