Chapter 90 - 89: The End of Confinement
They say children grow up as fast as weeds, and they’re not wrong. In the blink of an eye, it was time for Zhou Lian to finish her postpartum confinement. Nuonuo was now forty-five days old, a chubby, round, and fair-skinned little girl. Just looking at her made one’s heart melt with affection.
First thing in the morning, Zhou Lian was urging Li Xiu to hurry up. She could finally wash her hair and take a bath; she had barely managed to get through the past month and a half.
Seeing his excited wife, Li Xiu couldn’t help but laugh. ’Just how badly does she want to wash her hair and take a bath? My wife loved being clean in our last life, but she was never *this* desperate. Besides, she already washed her hair twice!’
When it was finally around eleven in the morning—the warmest part of the winter day—Li Xiu brought the prepared ginger water into the room. He watched as Zhou Lian eagerly stripped off her clothes and settled into the wooden tub. With a long, comfortable sigh, she said, "I can finally take a proper bath. I feel like I’ve gone sour."
"You’re exaggerating. Didn’t you have two sponge baths? Don’t soak for too long. Your body has only just recovered, and on a cold day like this, you absolutely can’t catch a chill," Li Xiu said, walking over to the tub and crouching down to scrub her back.
No matter how well she had recovered, her body had still just been through childbirth. Zhou Lian lay on the edge of the kang bed, letting Li Xiu dry her hair, but she fell asleep halfway through. Seeing her asleep, Li Xiu didn’t have the heart to wake her. He simply finished drying her hair quickly, adjusted her sleeping position, and made her a little more comfortable.
As he was cleaning up, Grandma Li arrived. She smiled when she saw Li Xiu pouring out the bathwater. She had known her granddaughter-in-law would insist on bathing and washing her hair today, and just as she’d expected, it had happened.
"So, Nuo Nuo’s mother washed her hair and had a bath?" Grandma Li asked Li Xiu with a smile.
"Grandma, you’re here," Li Xiu said. Seeing her arrive, he quickly finished cleaning up and helped her into the house.
Looking at the mother and daughter sleeping on the kang bed, Grandma Li patted Li Xiu’s hand. She turned, walked back to the kitchen, and only spoke after sitting down. "Let’s stay out here, we might wake them. Have you two eaten yet?"
"Not yet. She just finished her bath and fell asleep before her hair was even dry," Li Xiu said, sitting down across from Grandma Li. "Grandma, have you eaten?"
"I have. I came over after I ate," Grandma Li said with a smile. "I figured today was the forty-fifth day, so I came to check on you. Nuo Nuo’s mother was kicking up a fuss to bathe, wasn’t she?"
"Yes, she was bursting with excitement first thing this morning."
"She likes to be clean. It’s been forty-five days, so it’s fine for her to wash up now."
Looking at her grandson before her, Grandma Li asked softly, "Spring plowing is coming up. Nuo Nuo’s mother will have to work in the fields. Should I come watch the baby then?"
"That won’t be necessary, Grandma. I don’t plan on having her work in the fields," Li Xiu said with a slight pout. "Nuonuo needs to nurse every two or three hours right now. If she’s out in the fields, Nuonuo can’t eat on time. The family doesn’t need her few work points that badly. It’s enough for her to stay home and take care of Nuonuo." ’Work in the fields?’ he thought. ’My wife has finally gained back a bit of weight. One stint in the fields and she’s guaranteed to get tired, tanned, and thin again. How could I possibly let her go through that?’
She gave him a long, knowing look. ’For the child’s sake, my foot. This boy is just worried about his wife.’ "Alright then," she said. "Have you spoken to the team leader about this yet?"
Looking at Grandma Li, Li Xiu said with a smile, "I have, and the team leader agreed."
Once the mother and daughter on the kang bed both woke up, Li Xiu tended to his little girl while Grandma Li held Nuonuo, cooing and playing with her. She urged her grandson and his wife to hurry and eat their meal.
After the meal, they sat and chatted for a little while longer before Grandma Li left.
"Bao’er, what would you like to eat? I’ll make it for you tonight," Li Xiu said languidly, lying on the kang bed with his wife in his arms.
"You can decide, there’s nothing I’m particularly craving," Zhou Lian said nonchalantly. Even though her confinement period was over, her daughter still needed to nurse, so she had to be careful about her diet.
That evening, after they had eaten and washed up, Li Xiu lay on the kang bed holding Zhou Lian. "Bao’er," he murmured.
Zhou Lian gave him a speechless look. ’Honestly, starting his nonsense already. The man has no shame.’
"By the way, Bao’er, Grandma asked today about helping to watch the baby, but I declined," Li Xiu said, peeling an apple for his wife.
"It’s because of the spring plowing, isn’t it?" Zhou Lian said, looking at him with a knowing expression. ’Now that my confinement is over, I’ll have to go back to work soon.’
"You don’t have to work in the fields again," Li Xiu said gently. "I’ve already spoken with the team leader. You won’t have to go this year; you can just stay home and look after our child."
"Is that really okay? So many people in the village will be watching!" She understood her husband’s intentions, but ’the village gossips will be a nightmare.’
"Don’t worry," Li Xiu said nonchalantly. "Our daughter is too little to take to the fields. Besides, if you don’t work, we don’t get work points, which means our grain ration will be reduced in the autumn. Not that many people will be paying attention."
"Okay," Zhou Lian agreed readily. ’Next year, the household responsibility system will start,’ she thought. ’No one will have anything to say about it then.’
After coaxing his daughter to sleep, Li Xiu was too excited to rest. He got up, planning to write a love poem for his wife. Not one he’d composed himself, mind you—it was from an old book he’d read, which was full of poems perfect for teasing her. ’The look on her face when she sees it tomorrow will be priceless!’ he thought.
He put his plan into motion at once. Tiptoeing to the other bedroom in the main part of the house, Li Xiu lit a lamp, found some paper and a pen, and began to recall the verses.
He wrote one poem on each sheet of paper, for a total of nine. ’One a day,’ he thought. ’How romantic! When we’re old, we can take them out and look back on this.’
’None of these are quite right for tomorrow,’ he thought. After thinking for a long while, a wicked grin spread across Li Xiu’s face. Zhou Lian was asleep and couldn’t see it; otherwise, she would have surely scoffed and called him a scoundrel.
Elegant characters appeared on the paper. ’This is the one I’ll give her tomorrow.’ Li Xiu eagerly anticipated the look on his wife’s face when she saw this poem. It would be absolutely priceless!
Uncle Ge, who had taught Li Xiu for many years, had attended a private classical school in his youth. Having been educated in the Four Books and Five Classics from a young age, he was steeped in traditional Confucian ideology. He used these same classics for Li Xiu’s early education, and Li Xiu absorbed it all, developing the free-spirited, unrestrained air reminiscent of the Wei and Jin dynasties. However, the hardships of his past life had beaten him down, turning him into a mundane and ordinary man, someone who would disappear in a crowd.
With the experiences of two lifetimes, coupled with the stubborn and unrestrained nature in his very bones, he wanted to live more freely this time, more wantonly. Apart from his wife, only his two children held a place in his heart. But children always grow up and leave home; his wife was the only one who was his and his alone. For her, there was nothing he wouldn’t do.
He had spent his previous life repressed and frustrated. Having been reborn, he was determined to live as wantonly as he pleased. His wife was his one and only obsession in this life, and he had to make her slowly get used to him—the real him, this time.
Thinking about his wife’s reaction tomorrow, Li Xiu couldn’t help but let out a mischievous chuckle. In their last life, his wife had always been so self-disciplined, gentle, and proper. This time, he had no intention of letting her live like that again. He would make her live a little more wantonly, and then a little more wantonly still!