“Are you that happy?”
Su Qiruo asked with a smile, her eyes filled with doting affection.
“Mm.”
Yun Zimu secretly curled his lips, his large eyes finally willing to leave the cage to look at his wife.
“Since you love raising these things so much, when I’m not as busy in a few days, I’ll go catch a little piglet for you to keep in the backyard, so you can be happy to your heart’s content.”
Su Qiruo didn’t know what she was thinking, but she reached out and flicked the tip of Yun Zimu’s nose, the movement so practiced it was as if she had done it countless times before.
The tips of Yun Zimu’s ears turned red, and he shyly lowered his eyes, whispering, “I don’t want to raise a pig…”
Su Qiruo suddenly widened her eyes, looking at her little husband with some surprise.
How could he like raising chickens and ducks but not pigs?
Before Su Qiruo could ask for the reason, Yun Zimu said it himself: “Pigs eat too much.”
Su Qiruo was amused by Yun Zimu’s adorable little expression and burst into laughter. So, this child was still a bit of a “penny-pincher”!
As soon as they returned home, Yun Zimu took his large cage and put the chickens, ducks, and geese into the pen. Watching those little yellow and white things running around, Yun Zimu was even more delighted.
Next to the chicken coop was a small cage containing the four little rabbits Su Qiruo had brought back from the mountains earlier.
Yun Zimu picked fresh grass every day to feed the rabbits, and now those four little rabbits had grown quite a bit.
“Zimu, come over and see where these fabrics should be put.”
Su Qiruo’s voice came from inside the house. Yun Zimu hurriedly withdrew his gaze, turned to close the gate, and then walked quickly into the house.
“The weather is hot today, and this meat won’t keep well. I’ll go deliver it to them first and be back soon!”
Su Qiruo picked up the three legs of meat that had already been portioned and tied with red string and headed out, while Yun Zimu began to tidy up the things they had bought today.
The smooth, slippery texture of the fabric under his hands startled Yun Zimu. Before he knew it, he found himself staring blankly at the items.
When exactly did his life become so wonderful?
A home that wasn’t very big but was very warm, a wife who cherished him, a vegetable patch behind the house, chickens, ducks, and geese running in the yard, and every morning he could go to the coop to collect a few warm eggs to cook for his wife…
In the future, perhaps they would have a few cute children, and the family would be happy together forever.
Thinking of children, Yun Zimu couldn’t help but feel his ear tips turn red. Even with no one watching, his pretty face still flushed with shyness.
He just didn’t know if his wife preferred boys or girls. She probably liked daughters, right!
Yun Zimu sighed with a sudden sense of loss, then pursed his lips and continued to tidy up the fabrics.
In the chest lay the new shoes he had already finished making, but Su Qiruo couldn’t bear to wear them, insisting that since it was summer, straw sandals were cooler. So, the new shoes had to stay in the chest for the time being.
Just as he finished tidying up, Su Qiruo returned carrying a basket of wild fruits.
“The village chief’s husband specifically gave these to you, so I accepted them.”
If it were anything else, Su Qiruo might have declined, but knowing that Yun Zimu liked to eat these things, she didn’t refuse.
Seeing Su Qiruo repairing the house and building the courtyard walls, the couple at the village chief’s house—having heard from their own daughter that she wanted to earn money with Su Qiruo in the future—were exceptionally enthusiastic toward her.
But this didn’t affect the relationship between Su Qiruo and Lu Qimei; the bond between them didn’t need to be measured by such external things.
Yun Zimu went to pour a bowl of water for Su Qiruo and set the candied melon seeds they had bought in town on the table. Only then did he climb onto the *kang* to sit opposite Su Qiruo, picking up a newly bought book to flip through.
A silver hairpin suddenly appeared before his eyes. Yun Zimu was startled. Looking at the gentle woman in front of him, he pursed his lips, not knowing what to say.
“You’ve been married to me for so long, and I haven’t even bought you a decent thing. This hairpin isn’t worth much, but it’s a token of my heart. When our life gets better in the future, I’ll buy you something even better.”
Su Qiruo deliberately emphasized the word “married.” She wanted Yun Zimu to know that although they hadn’t held a wedding ceremony yet, he was her husband—Su Qiruo’s husband—and the only man in her life.
“Wife… this is really too extravagant…”
Yun Zimu was currently using a simple wooden hairpin to hold his hair. He had never dared to hope that one day he would receive a silver hairpin from his wife’s own hands.
In the entire Lu Village, there probably wasn’t another husband who wore a silver hairpin. Only his wife would be so willing to spend on him.
“Zimu deserves the best in this world. It’s just that I can’t give it to you yet. I’m already content that you don’t find me poor and shabby.”
Su Qiruo deliberately lowered her posture, just wanting Yun Zimu to have more confidence.
Yun Zimu carefully took the silver hairpin, clutching it tightly in his palm, his eyes growing warm.
It wasn’t that Su Qiruo wasn’t willing to pin it for him, but there was no mirror in the house, and even if she pinned it on him, he wouldn’t wear it.
In this village, if anyone went out wearing a silver hairpin, they would be considered an oddity.
But whether he wore it or not was his business; whether she gave it to him was Su Qiruo’s.
After they moved, let alone a silver hairpin, her little husband would be wearing the finest white jade hairpins.
Thinking this, Su Qiruo suddenly stood up. The matter of making soap could not be delayed any longer.
“Where is Wife going?”
Yun Zimu hurriedly collected his thoughts, clutching the silver hairpin as he asked Su Qiruo.
“I want to try making a bar of soap.”
In her previous life, Su Qiruo had DIYed lipstick. Although she hadn’t made soap by hand, she felt they were similar in principle.
“I’ll go help you.”
Yun Zimu hurriedly got up to hide the hairpin in the cabinet, then went to assist Su Qiruo.
Su Qiruo first washed the lard she had bought and put it in a pot to render. Before long, the fragrance of pork cracklings wafted out.
Su Qiruo picked up a piece and popped it into her mouth; it was full of savory, oily flavor.
She picked out another piece and fed it to Yun Zimu, who was tending the fire. Yun Zimu took a careful bite and couldn’t help but say, “Fragrant.”
“The drier these cracklings are fried, the better they taste. Some people like to use them to make steamed buns, and others like to eat them mixed with salt. They’re even more fragrant than meat!”
Su Qiruo thought of her childhood in her previous life, when she would go to her grandmother’s house in the countryside for the New Year. When the family slaughtered a pig, they would render the fat just like this, then scoop out the cracklings to make buns or stir-fry them with chili—it was so delicious she could have swallowed her tongue.
But later, as she grew up and ate more good things, she could no longer recall the taste of those cracklings.
Yun Zimu looked at the large basin of cracklings with bright eyes. It was his first time seeing lard being rendered!
How magical.
Su Qiruo placed the scooped-out cracklings next to Yun Zimu’s small stool and whispered a reminder: “Be careful, it’s hot!”
(End of chapter)