Chapter 16: It Doesn't Look Quite Right

Xiao Hanzheng's body was very weak; after drinking a bowl of porridge, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Not wanting to disturb him, Shi Qingluo went out to help Mother Xiao and the others tidy up.

Busy until the afternoon, after finishing dinner, Shi Qingluo returned to Xiao Hanzheng's room and picked up a storybook to read.

After reading for a while, Xiao Hanzheng woke up.

He wasn't sure if it was because he had drunk Shi Qingluo's so-called sugar water or the porridge, but he felt less weak now.

He was now able to prop himself up into a semi-sitting position.

Seeing Shi Qingluo reading a storybook, he spoke up and asked, "You can read?"

He wasn't looking down on her, but rather expressing surprise.

In the village, no women were literate, and even for boys, attending school was difficult.

Shi Qingluo looked up from the book at him. "I can!"

"I learned from the old Taoist master when I was at the Taoist temple."

The old Taoist had indeed taught the original owner and the three other Taoist acolytes how to read.

She added, "When the Taoist was refining pills, we had to help record the furnace opening time, the changes midway through, the furnace closing time, and so on."

The Taoist's focus had been on teaching the two boys; the original owner and the other girl were mainly there to do chores, so they only knew common, simple characters, and even then, not many.

Her grandfather loved classical literature, and because she had been a rebellious youth, her grandfather had brought her home, making her use a brush to copy scriptures or classical texts every day to calm her mind.

Therefore, she not only recognized almost all traditional characters but could also write them.

This "old Taoist" excuse was truly useful; she could push anything onto him. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for her wit.

Xiao Hanzheng was half-believing. "I see."

He looked for a topic to chat about. "Is that storybook good?"

Shi Qingluo curled her lip in disdain. "It's nothing special. Just the cliché trope of a young lady meeting a scholar; it's too sappy."

In her past life, she used to read novels to pass the time; the tropes in ancient storybooks were things modern people didn't even play with anymore.

"Then why are you so engrossed in it?" Xiao Hanzheng chuckled.

Shi Qingluo yawned. "I'm bored, just reading to pass the time."

She looked at him with a half-smile. "Do you like reading these kinds of books?"

Her expression seemed to say: *So this is the real Xiao Hanzheng? I misjudged you.*

Xiao Hanzheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "This is a storybook I brought back from the county town to transcribe before I fell unconscious. I don't actually like reading them."

Shi Qingluo actually felt that he didn't seem like the type of person who would enjoy such books.

"So it's for making money."

She asked again, "Then why don't you write them yourself? That should be more profitable than transcribing books."

Xiao Hanzheng said helplessly, "I don't understand the romance between these scholars and young ladies, nor do I like these kinds of plots, so I can't write them."

He chose to transcribe storybooks because the pay was higher.

Shi Qingluo rubbed her chin. "Then what kind of plots do you like?"

"What are you trying to imply?" Xiao Hanzheng felt there was a subtext to her words.

Shi Qingluo said, "I can provide you with ideas, plot concepts, and tropes, and you can do the actual writing."

Xiao Hanzheng raised an eyebrow. "You understand those romance stories between scholars and ladies very well?"

She didn't look like it!

Shi Qingluo rolled her eyes at him. "You're overthinking it. I'm saying we could write other genres."

"Like cultivation." She had watched many cultivation novels and TV dramas.

She had no intention of plagiarizing others; she felt she could come up with plenty of plots herself. Even if she hadn't "eaten the pork," she had "seen the pig run."

She had never been in a relationship before, so she thought that if she were to do a "trial marriage" with Xiao Hanzheng, they needed to have common ground to talk about to make getting along and developing a relationship easier.

If they did the same thing together, it would be easier to find topics of conversation, and their interaction would be more natural.

That was why she suggested Xiao Hanzheng try writing storybooks.

In her youth, she had been both a top student and a school bully; she had beaten up both boys and girls who bullied classmates, so no boy dared to pursue her.

When she went to university, many people pursued her, but unfortunately, she didn't fancy a single one of them.

After graduating from university, she went against her parents' wishes; instead of joining a company, she entered an agricultural research institute.

Her mind was entirely focused on research, leaving her with no time or energy for dating.

Xiao Hanzheng was stunned. "Cultivation?"

Shi Qingluo nodded. "Yeah. For example, the protagonist is a village youth who suddenly encounters a miraculous opportunity and then embarks on a journey of cultivation."

Xiao Hanzheng actually felt a bit interested. "Tell me more. If it's that, I should be able to write it."

He could accept that genre; he truly had no capacity to accept those romantic stories of scholars, ladies, or scholar-spirits.

Shi Qingluo began chatting with Xiao Hanzheng.

They only stopped when a knock sounded at the door.

Shi Qingluo opened the door to see Mother Xiao entering while carrying a quilt.

Mother Xiao smiled gently at Shi Qingluo and said, "Zheng'er has woken up. There's no need for me, Bai Li, or Erlang to keep watch tonight. I've brought your quilt over."

In Mother Xiao's eyes, the two were already married, so a husband and wife naturally had to live together.

"Okay, thank you, Mother." Shi Qingluo understood her meaning.

Besides, there were actually no other rooms in this house for anyone else to live in.

This was the original old residence of the Xiao family, which only had two rooms.

Originally, Mother Xiao lived in one room with her daughter, and Xiao Hanzheng lived in another with Erlang.

The day before Shi Qingluo married in, Mother Xiao had someone build a small partition in their room so Erlang could live there.

It was impossible for Shi Qingluo to squeeze in with Mother Xiao and the others, and even more impossible for her to humble herself to sleep in the woodshed.

In any case, she and Xiao Hanzheng were already married; although there had been no wedding ceremony, they had a marriage contract, which was equivalent to a modern marriage certificate.

Since they were husband and wife and were doing a trial marriage, it didn't matter if they lived together, regardless of whether they divorced later.

Anyway, until she gave her consent, Xiao Hanzheng shouldn't dream of doing anything to her, otherwise, she would smash his head in.

The smile on Mother Xiao's face deepened. "No need for formalities among family."

Xiao Hanzheng hadn't expected Shi Qingluo to agree to share a room with him.

Thinking about it, there really was nowhere else to stay, and with her personality, she wouldn't humble herself to sleep in the woodshed.

Even if she had wanted to sleep in the woodshed, they wouldn't have allowed it.

He suddenly wondered: would she choose to sleep on Erlang's small couch tonight, or in the same bed as him?

Of course, he wouldn't let his wife suffer on a small couch; he was just curious.

Mother Xiao placed the quilt on the inner side of Xiao Hanzheng's bed.

She said to him, "Once you are well, go and personally thank the Clan Leader and the others. While you were unconscious, the family received a lot of care from them."

"The reason the old residence didn't come to cause trouble today was because the Clan Leader was here."

It was also possible that because of Qingluo, those two shrewish women didn't come.

Otherwise, under normal circumstances, the people from the old residence would definitely have come to cause a scene or hog a table of food to eat.

Of course, she didn't tell her son this, as it wouldn't be good if he misunderstood Qingluo as a tigress.

Qingluo was gentle and kind; she only acted out because she was pushed by those terrible people.

Yes, that was it.

Xiao Hanzheng nodded. "I should go and thank them."

In his previous life, both before and after the family separation, the Clan Leader and others had given him and his family a lot of help.

He had always remembered these kindnesses.

He had repaid them in his previous life, but this life was this life, and he would still repay them.

Hearing Mother Xiao mention the old residence again, his originally gentle gaze turned cold for a moment.