A Good Country Wife

"You, what can I say about you, don’t let there be a next time. The old ancestors’ words, whether true or not, should be heeded to some extent. Besides, you’ve always been frail, so you should be even more cautious," said Zhao Erhu as he washed his hands and playfully poked his wife’s forehead before taking her hair in hand and gently rubbing it.

This delicate Niuniu often complained about her long hair being difficult to manage, wishing she could cut it shorter. However, hair and skin are inherited from one’s parents and should not be recklessly cropped. Moreover, such luscious, smooth black hair would be too pity to cut. Zhao Erhu was very firm on this, with two words: "Not allowed." Lin Yue had never dared to act rashly. Otherwise, although cutting it very short was out of the question, snipping it bit by bit would be an easy snip of the scissors.

Zhao Erhu had been rubbing Lin Yue’s hair for a while but felt that it was still not clean. When he reached into the wooden box for the Fragrant Soap, he realized that it was all used up.

"This bar of Fragrant Soap is finished. Do we have any new ones at home?" asked Zhao Erhu. Recently, he had been so busy with many affairs that he was not clear on such minor matters, only remembering that they had bought several bars of Fragrant Soap the last time.

Lying leisurely on the recliner, Lin Yue answered, "Oh, I was just about to tell you that. We’ve run out of Fragrant Soap at home. Pick up a few more for me when you go to town, will you? They really don’t last long, a small bar like that costs a hundred coins, it’s really not worth it. I’ll make even better ones myself when I find the time later."

Lin Yue had already had this idea for a while; the Fragrant Soap was nothing more than the simplest kind of fragranced soap to make, and there was nothing difficult about the process. When she first arrived here, handcrafting was trendy in the modern world, and she had even taken a workshop on it, making it a few times—it wasn’t hard at all. It was just that she had been so busy recently that there had been no time to attend to it.

"Yeah, you can try making it yourself if you want, but you’ve been busy with embroidery lately. Don’t take on too many things at once; you’ll wear yourself out," Zhao Erhu advised without asking why Lin Yue would know how to make it.

In fact, the little wife would give him surprises now and then, and Zhao Erhu had grown accustomed to them. He hadn’t thought much of it, as his wife’s ideas and practices had indeed been quite unconventional at times. After hearing some truly bizarre tales from elders, Zhao Erhu had his suspicions about his wife’s changes but did not delve deeper into them. Whatever the case, this was his wife, the capricious and beloved woman of his life, and he couldn’t let go. Whether she was a spirit or an immortal, he recognized her as his wife and did not want her to revert to her former self. He liked her just as she was now.