Chapter 15
When Qi Yun said these words, he hadn't thought it through carefully.
Perhaps it was because the atmosphere was too good, or maybe because the little ginseng had made Second Master Qi completely let down his guard. What was urgent in his heart was spoken aloud.
But when he finished speaking and didn't immediately receive an affirmative response, Qi Yun's smile gradually faded.
His originally relaxed mood suddenly became tense. Qi Yun had been half-lying, supporting himself on his elbow, but now he felt as if he was frozen in place, unable to lie down or sit up.
Just then, Qi Yun heard a voice: "Husband, why should we sleep together?"
These words made Qi Yun's heart sink halfway.
Because today was the new moon with no moonlight, and the candles in the room were extinguished, Qi Yun couldn't see Ye Jiao's expression in the pitch darkness, but he could hear some confusion in the woman's voice.
It was pure bewilderment, as if two people sleeping in the same place was some strange thing.
Qi Yun didn't speak, not because he didn't want to, but because something seemed to be stuck in his throat.
What was there to be sad about?
He was the one who had suggested sleeping in separate beds from the beginning. Although there were reasons about fearing he'd pass his illness to Ye Jiao, wasn't it also because he was afraid in his heart?
Afraid she would find him disgusting, afraid she would distance herself. He should have been prepared for this in his heart.
So what right did he have to feel hurt now...
Qi Yun wanted to say this was just a joke and hoped Jiao Niang wouldn't take it seriously. But when the words reached his lips, he couldn't say a single word.
Ye Jiao waited a long time without getting a response from Qi Yun, but she could hear the man's breathing.
It wasn't that the woman had supernatural hearing, but the room was so quiet that it would be hard not to hear.
Having lived in the same room for so long, Ye Jiao knew this wasn't how Qi Yun breathed when he was asleep. After thinking, the little ginseng suddenly said: "After marriage, you have to sleep together, right?"
Qi Yun was stunned and forgot about his inner conflict, instinctively asking: "You didn't know?"
As soon as he asked, Qi Yun wanted to cover his mouth.
His Jiao Niang had no one to teach her before marriage. The Ye family couple obviously hadn't told her anything, and he hadn't mentioned it after marriage either. It was normal for Jiao Niang to be unclear about this.
But what Qi Yun didn't know was that the original Ye Jiao had some understanding. Even as a young girl, she had the basic knowledge she should have.
But because Second Sister-in-law Ye wanted to sell her, and she was resigned to becoming a living widow, all her memories about marriage were gray and filled with despair. The little ginseng didn't like to look through these memories, so she had skipped over them, not remembering any of that common knowledge.
Now, the little ginseng who should have known nothing about these things could think of this reason because the little fox had casually mentioned the beautiful times she shared a bed with her scholar husband.
She had used other descriptive words too, but unfortunately the little ginseng was as pure as paper and innocent as water, so she hadn't understood.
Seeing Qi Yun remain silent, Ye Jiao felt her guess was correct.
She even thought to herself that her husband had praised her for being clever for nothing earlier, forgetting even this.
Fortunately, the little ginseng was a good spirit who liked to learn, immediately replying: "Wait for me, husband. I'll come over right now."
Her voice was clear and crisp, without a hint of hesitation, instantly blowing away all of Qi Yun's earlier dejection.
From the soft couch came rustling sounds. Qi Yun feared she might not find her shoes when getting down and would step on the floor barefoot, which would make her catch cold. The man immediately felt for his fire striker, blew on it, and when he saw a flicker of light, lit the candle by the bed.
When the dancing candlelight gradually illuminated the bedroom, Qi Yun felt a flash of white light before his eyes.
That was Ye Jiao's arm extending from under the blanket, her skin white as jade seeming to dazzle his eyes.
But Ye Jiao quickly pulled her arm back.
Wrapping herself tightly in the blanket, the little ginseng pouted: "So cold." Just extending her arm had made the exposed skin feel freezing.
Qi Yun looked at the charcoal brazier in the room and realized it had gone out.
Nowadays charcoal was also graded. The finest was reserved for imperial relatives and high officials, an honor that couldn't be bought with money.
For ordinary wealthy households, while the charcoal didn't smoke or irritate when burning, occasionally there were cases of people getting "charcoal poisoning" from bad charcoal. Usually at night, the charcoal fires were extinguished, so the room naturally became cold.
Although there was still some warmth left from the day, being used to the warmth under the blankets, coming out would naturally feel cold.
His eyes showing some heartache, Qi Yun said: "I was just speaking casually. If you..."
But before he could finish, he saw that Ye Jiao had already wrapped herself tightly in the blanket, bundling herself up completely. Holding the blanket corners with both hands, she got down from the couch like this, wearing her embroidered shoes, hopping and bouncing toward Qi Yun's bed!
Qi Yun first thought his Jiao Niang was demonstrating "cuteness" at every moment, and the next second felt extremely grateful he had lit the candle. Otherwise, in complete darkness, being suddenly pounced on by such a hopping "blanket spirit" would have been quite frightening.
Seeing her bounce closer, Qi Yun hurriedly set the candlestick aside and reached out to catch her.
When Ye Jiao fell into his arms, person and blanket together, where was there any trace of Qi Yun's earlier hurt on his face? Slowly, it all turned into smiles.
But Ye Jiao couldn't smile.
She really hadn't expected that human bodies were so hard to control. She had just been too lazy to put on layers of clothing only to take them off again, but who could have imagined she'd end up tying herself up? If Qi Yun hadn't caught her at the last step, she would have fallen onto the bed!
Ye Jiao huffed angrily as she rolled around wrapped in the blanket. Qi Yun released his hands and pulled his own blanket outward, pointing to the space inside: "Sleep here."
Ye Jiao hesitated for a moment but didn't object, obediently lying down properly.
Since neither wanted to leave the warm bed to get another pillow, they made do sharing one long pillow.
Qi Yun blew out the candle. When he settled back down, he felt his arm was somewhat sore.
It wasn't from Ye Jiao's weight just now, but because Second Master Qi had been supporting himself on his elbow the whole time, and due to his emotional turmoil, his body had remained motionless, making his arm go numb.
In his urgency to catch his wife just now, he had reached out instinctively. Now that he'd recovered, he felt a tingling sensation from his forearm to his fingertips.
This made him gently massage his arm after lying down, but he didn't speak about it.
After all, Young Master Qi had his pride, especially in front of his wife. Qi Yun cared about this particularly.
On the other side, Ye Jiao also didn't speak after lying down.
She had originally thought that sleeping in the same place was fine, no problem. She was a bit afraid of making her husband feverish again, so she planned to quietly move away after he fell asleep.
But after lying down, Ye Jiao looked at the thick cotton blankets covering both of them and felt she was overthinking.
Before, the supplementation had been excessive because Ye Jiao had curled up completely in his arms, close enough to hear each other's breathing.
Now the two of them slept with separate blankets. Never mind getting close, it would be difficult even to touch each other, let alone provide any supplementation.
But just lying there like this seemed wasteful. Ye Jiao calculated in her mind that recently Qi Yun had been busy with shop matters, and she had been learning to read and write. Although they hadn't spent less time together, the opportunities for hand-holding had decreased considerably.
Now might be a good time for supplementation.
Thinking led to action. The little ginseng silently extended her hand from her blanket, directly reaching into the man's blanket.
Qi Yun felt his still somewhat numb fingertips being gently grasped.
Ye Jiao didn't use much force, but because his circulation hadn't fully returned, even this light touch made the tingling sensation shoot straight up through Qi Yun, causing him to shiver involuntarily.
This made the little ginseng somewhat curious: "Husband, what's wrong?"
Qi Yun held back, trying hard to massage his arm to make himself more comfortable, while saying gently: "Nothing." Then he grasped Ye Jiao's hand in return.
Their fingers interlocked.
Qi Yun actually wasn't used to sleeping with others. Because of his poor health, he even somewhat disliked being around people. He had thought sharing a bed with his wife would require considerable mental preparation, but before he could think much about it, he had already fallen asleep.
He slept especially soundly and sweetly through the night.
The next day, Ye Jiao woke earlier than him. Feeling that the man was still loosely holding her fingers, Ye Jiao carefully withdrew her hand. Only after seeing she hadn't disturbed him did she sigh in relief.
Qi Yun's body still needed rest, requiring adequate sleep. Ye Jiao didn't wake him. Since her clothes were still at the soft couch, Ye Jiao simply took Qi Yun's thick robe from the bedside and wrapped herself in it before getting out of bed.
Taking care of herself, having someone bring in heated charcoal braziers to replace the old ones, going out—Ye Jiao had become quite skilled at this whole routine.
When breakfast was nearly ready, Qi Yun finally woke up.
Qi Yun, who had once suffered from chronic insomnia, had been sleeping better and better since marrying Ye Jiao, gradually becoming accustomed to sleeping until dawn.
But Qi Yun wasn't like ordinary people who enjoyed staying in bed. He didn't even like being idle. After breakfast, he had Tie Zi call Manager Song over.
Ye Jiao had long prepared the small room for her husband, but even though it was very warm inside, Ye Jiao still watched Qi Yun put on thick clothes and made sure he wouldn't catch cold before letting him go.
Ye Jiao went to Liu Shi's courtyard, not sitting for long. When she heard Qi Ming had come, she got up to leave, not wanting to disturb their mother-son reunion.
But before leaving, Liu Shi instructed: "After Third Son returns to the academy, the managers will need to count the silver for accounting. There will be reward money to distribute then. Go back and ask Second Son if he wants to come supervise."
Ye Jiao had heard Qi Yun mention this matter. After the managers reported their accounts, they each had to tally their silver for storage in the treasury. Although each went to their respective storehouses, this process had to be done in front of the Qi family as the employers.
Father Qi and Qi Zhao would both be present, and if Qi Yun's health permitted, he would also attend.
At that time, it wouldn't be cold figures in account books, but gleaming silver and strings of copper coins, each piece counted carefully.
Liu Shi specifically told Ye Jiao this because the wine shop had high earnings, and she was happy to let her second son come show off.
Ye Jiao agreed and remembered the message before leaving.
On her way back, Ye Jiao encountered little Shi Tou.
This time it wasn't Fang Shi holding Shi Tou, but a servant woman from Fang Shi's room. Shi Tou still had extraordinary fondness for Ye Jiao. Seeing her, he reached out his hands, wanting Ye Jiao to hold him.
Ye Jiao also wanted to hold him. Actually, any young child naturally inspired affection.
But Ye Jiao didn't want to make this little baby feverish, so she just smiled and went over to squeeze his chubby little hands, looking at the servant woman: "Why didn't eldest sister-in-law come? I didn't see her at mother-in-law's place either."
The servant woman replied: "Eldest Young Mistress said she felt unwell last night and has been resting. She still hasn't gotten up."
Hearing that Fang Shi was ill, Ye Jiao quickly asked: "Is it serious?"
The servant woman shook her head: "Not serious." Just troubled at heart. She had followed Fang Shi for several years and could tell that the Eldest Young Mistress was petty-minded, able to get upset over trivial matters, let alone feeling she had lost face yesterday.
In a few days, there would be face-to-face counting again. Fang Shi used to look forward to this day most, waiting and anticipating it every two months. Now she would probably hide if she could.
But these words couldn't be said to Ye Jiao, so the servant woman held back.
Ye Jiao just smiled and said: "Good that it's nothing serious." Then looking at little Shi Tou: "Since I'm free now, why don't you bring Shi Tou to my place for a while? The wind is strong in this garden. Don't let the child catch cold."
The servant woman naturally had no reason to refuse and followed behind Ye Jiao with Shi Tou.
When Ye Jiao entered the courtyard, she saw the door to the small room was still tightly closed, thinking her husband and Manager Song were talking longer than usual today. But she didn't go look, instead taking little Shi Tou into the house.
Usually Ye Jiao practiced calligraphy in the side room at this time, and today was no exception.
Brush, ink, paper, and inkstone were arranged on the table. Ye Jiao ground ink while saying: "Little Su, I remember there was a plate of sand cakes this morning. Bring them for Shi Tou."
Children all loved sweets. Usually when Shi Tou was at Liu Shi's place, he would eat together with Ye Jiao. Although they had a big age difference, they were remarkably similar when it came to eating, so Ye Jiao was much kinder to him.
These sand cakes were steamed cakes made from glutinous rice flour, with filling made from crushed sesame and sugar. They were fragrant, sweet, and soft, especially suitable for small children.
But Shi Tou wasn't attracted by the sand cakes. Instead, he stared at the brush on the table.
When Ye Jiao picked up the brush to write, little Shi Tou suddenly struggled in the servant woman's arms: "Auntie, Second Auntie!"
Ye Jiao immediately looked up at him, but didn't go over. She just smiled and asked: "What's wrong, Shi Tou?"
Little Shi Tou was still small. Sometimes what he wanted to say in his heart couldn't come out of his mouth. He just kept calling Ye Jiao over and over, his round eyes staring at the brush.
The servant woman didn't understand, but Ye Jiao was intuitive: "You want to try too?"
Shi Tou immediately nodded, his chubby cheeks making him look like a porcelain doll.
Ye Jiao didn't refuse. She had the servant woman bring little Shi Tou over and gave him a brush too, but didn't dip it in ink, afraid he might eat it. She just dipped it in water and let him draw on cloth.
Fortunately, little Shi Tou couldn't tell the difference between ink and water. As long as it made marks on the blue cloth, the little one was happy.
As they wrote and drew, one piece of cloth became full. Ye Jiao got up to get him another one, and little Shi Tou obediently held up his brush waiting.
Just then, a voice came from outside: "Sister-in-law."