Chapter 5

Chapter 5

With one more pair of hands at home, Mother-in-law and I both had it a lot easier.

When farming season came around, under the guidance Mother-in-law and I gave him, he could even help with the harvest.

Everyone in the village thought he was the man I’d taken in, and they all praised me for being lucky.

He never explained.

It was the same in the shop. When outsiders mistook the two of us for husband and wife, he didn’t refute it either.

Honestly, I felt like aside from not sleeping in the same bed, we were pretty much like an ordinary little married couple.

He worked in my house without pay.

He didn’t have to spend money on food or lodging, and I bought all his clothes, shoes, and socks. Whatever I told him to do, he did. When he had free time, I even gave him pocket money and let him go out on the town by himself.

All his expenses were charged to my account.

Mother-in-law said one thing on the surface, but in private she raised my wages by one tael of silver.

After Ah Liu arrived, business at the shop got even better.

He was handsome, and even in coarse cloth and plain hemp clothes, he couldn’t hide the natural air about him.

Standing next to him, I was a beautiful woman beside a handsome man. We really stood out.

We attracted a lot of customers.

At New Year, Mother-in-law gave the two of us a big red envelope. When we kept the night vigil, he gave it all to me.

“How could I possibly accept that?” I said as I quickly stuffed the red envelope into my pocket.

He gave a faint smile. “I don’t have any use for money anyway.”

Then he asked me, “Cuiniang, what’s your New Year wish?”

Without hesitation, I said, “Have a daughter with you.”

He sighed helplessly. “Anything else?”

“Then a son too.”

He was speechless.

He didn’t talk much, and there was always a faint trace of sorrow between his brows.

After being silent for a long time, he said softly, “Cuiniang, this is as far as my life will go.”

“Hm?”

“I won’t achieve any official success, and I won’t become rich and powerful. Maybe for my whole life, I’ll only be helping you out and taking care of the household. Even so… would you still be willing?”

He knew I had been married before, and that my late husband Shen Jingzhi had been a scholar who had earned his degree.

I wasn’t good with pretty words. I just tilted my head and imagined such a future for a moment. “What’s so bad about that?”

“Then,” he said, “let’s pick an auspicious day in the first month and get married.”

“I’ll say this upfront: you’re marrying into my family, and our children will take the surname Wang.”

He nodded. “Of course.”

I said shyly, “Can I kiss you now?”

Warm breath brushed against me, and my lips softened…

10

Less than two months after Ah Liu and I were married, I was pregnant.

I quietly let out a breath of relief.

During the three years I’d been with Shen Jingzhi, I had never gotten pregnant once. I’d been worried maybe I was the one who couldn’t have children.

Now it was proven. It was Shen Jingzhi who had been useless.

Ah Liu was overjoyed. He took care of me with great care and refused to let me do even the slightest bit of work.

After ten months of pregnancy, I safely gave birth to a boy and a girl.

Mother-in-law named the children.

The older sister was called Wang Feng, and the younger brother was called Wang Long.

Ah Liu added a character to each of their names. The older sister became Wang Zhanfeng, and the younger brother became Wang Yilong.

Both children were very good-looking, perfectly inheriting the best of me and Ah Liu.

After we had children, Mother-in-law handed the household finances over to me, and she also quietly told me the recipe for the wontons.

The wonton shop did very well, but we never expanded it.

Mother-in-law said that once the shop got too big, the flavor would go downhill.

So I took charge and bought two more storefronts, one selling cloth and the other selling general goods.

By the time the two children were three, we had moved into a larger residence and even bought an estate.

We could be considered a fairly wealthy family by then.

The gloom that had long lingered between Ah Liu’s brows gradually faded away.

But late at night, he would still occasionally stare into space.

Maybe he was thinking about the past.

When I picked him up, I already realized his identity wasn’t simple.

He was a man with a story.

Back then, I only wanted children, and I didn’t think much beyond that.

But after all these years together, I’d gradually become unable to live without him.

Just thinking about him leaving me made my heart ache so badly I felt like I was being ripped apart inside.

When Shen Jingzhi didn’t want me anymore, I had been sad too, but more than that, I was angry and unwilling to accept it.

Later, when he gave me a hundred taels, I was actually pretty happy.

But no matter how much money Ah Liu gave me, I would still be sad.

Still, I’d accept the money.

Come to think of it, how much would he give me?

I was no longer the farm girl Wang Cuiniang from back then.

A mere hundred taels could no longer move me…

Ah, I was thinking too far ahead.