Chapter 7: Righteousness

"What do you mean? Isn't it just that I didn't fold the quilt? Is it worth kicking me out? Everyone knows I'm your wife; if you don't want me, who am I supposed to marry? Wuwu, I'm going to be a spinster." Li Yingtang panicked. She threw herself face-down onto the bed and wailed, but after crying for a while, she turned her head to secretly observe his reaction. He was silently tidying up the items she had tossed at the foot of the bed.

Was he really going to kick her out?

That wouldn't do.

She simply scrambled up and threw herself into his arms: "Don't kick me out, okay? I'll learn how to do chores."

Qin Xian stood stiffly for a long time: "Who is kicking you out? And no one asked you to do chores."

Li Yingtang looked at him, confused: "Then what do you mean? Why are you packing my things?"

"Don't you think it's too messy?" Qin Xian frowned at her. She had been crying for ages, so why wasn't there a single tear?

Her hands were still restless, constantly reaching inside his clothes.

"Oh." Li Yingtang felt relieved. She let go of him and pinched his waist through his sweater.

So thin!

So firm!

"Where should I put them once they're packed?" The trunk was already full of his belongings.

"Put them in a cardboard box for now. When I have time, I'll ask the village carpenter to make a wooden one." Qin Xian lifted the old quilt, folded it in a few quick motions, placed it on the trunk, smoothed out the new sheet, and laid the cotton batting on top: "Do you know how to put on a quilt cover?"

Li Yingtang shook her head, embarrassed.

Qin Xian: "What *can* you do?"

Li Yingtang said weakly: "I can eat."

Qin Xian: "..."

Li Yingtang helped Qin Xian put on the quilt cover, then went into the kitchen to check on the hawthorn berries.

The top layer was dry, but the underside was still a bit damp, so she decided to start skewering them first.

By the time she finished the last one, it was already dark.

She stood up to turn on the light and returned to the stove to start a fire.

No matter how she tried to light it, the firewood just wouldn't catch.

Frustrated, she pulled the wood out from the bottom of the stove and threw it toward the door. Qin Xian happened to be lifting the curtain, and the stick landed right by his feet. She jumped up in fright.

"Who upset you now?"

Li Yingtang was annoyed: "I can't get the fire started."

Qin Xian glanced over: "Who starts a fire with thick logs? Don't you often go camping with friends? Don't you have to start fires when you eat and live outdoors?"

Li Yingtang was speechless. She couldn't exactly tell him that decades later, people used gas canisters and burning wood wasn't trendy anymore. "I was just bragging."

Qin Xian: "...Use straw to start the fire first, slowly add thin twigs, then add the thick logs. How can you be so helpless at everything?"

Li Yingtang muttered: "Isn't it enough that you know how?"

Qin Xian: "..." Who exactly was whose wife?

Once Qin Xian got the fire going, Li Yingtang added water and sugar in the right proportions to make syrup. She drizzled it over the skewered hawthorn balls, and after letting them cool, she took a bite: "Sweet and sour, it's actually quite good." She held out the remaining one to Qin Xian's lips: "Try it."

Qin Xian leaned back, his eyes fixed on the candied hawthorn she had already bitten. For some reason, he wanted to lean in and take a bite from the same spot she had eaten from. Realizing this, his face gradually turned red. "I don't like sweets."

"Fine, I guess I'll have to eat them all myself."

It was already eight o'clock by the time Li Yingtang finished all the candied hawthorns.

Qin Xian cooked a pot of dough-drop soup. Li Yingtang ate until she was sweating: "So delicious, your cooking is really good."

Just mixing some flour paste, dropping it into boiling water, adding a handful of greens and a pinch of salt—it turned into a delicacy.

The chefs her parents had hired at great expense, who cooked elaborate meals every day, couldn't compare to even half of his skill.

Qin Xian: "Don't talk while eating."

Li Yingtang shut her mouth reluctantly.

After dinner, she went to the infirmary to find a cardboard box, lined it with wax paper to store the hawthorns, and woke up before dawn the next day to push them to the market in a wheelbarrow.

Before she left, Qin Xian instructed: "Be careful on the road, and don't trust others easily."

Li Yingtang felt smug and giggled: "Worried about me? Why don't you come along?"

Qin Xian didn't say a word.

Li Yingtang raised an eyebrow—he was still shy. "I'm off!"

When she arrived at the market, Li Yingtang picked a busy intersection to set up her small stall.

Candied hawthorns in the market were two mao each; she sold two for three mao, three for five mao, and even offered free samples.

A crowd quickly gathered around her stall.

"I want two."

"I want the three-for-five-mao deal, three sets."

"Alright, one at a time, please!" Li Yingtang used her loud voice to maintain order.

She sold one of her three large boxes in less than half an hour.

The man at the neighboring stall selling goat milk said enviously: "You're really good at business, girl. I'm not; I've been here all morning and hardly anyone has bought anything."

"You're so quiet, how would anyone know what you're selling?" Li Yingtang said while collecting money, passing on her experience: "You have to shout, the louder the better."

"People are coming and going, I'm a bit embarrassed."

"You're not stealing or robbing, what's there to be embarrassed about?" Li Yingtang shouted for him: "Fresh goat milk for sale! Boosts immunity, helps you sleep, and beautifies the skin! Don't miss out as you pass by!"

After that introduction, business at the goat milk stall improved significantly.

Li Yingtang's stall, however, became quiet, so she prepared to move: "Uncle, your goat milk is five mao a bowl. Can I trade seven skewers of hawthorns for two bowls?"

"Sure! If it weren't for your help, I wouldn't have had such good business. Where should I put the milk?"

Li Yingtang poured out the water from her canteen to store the goat milk, then pushed her cart toward the residential area.

It took her the whole morning to walk through the streets and alleys, but she finally sold all the hawthorns.

She had earned a total of twelve yuan and sixty cents.

She went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a ball of yarn, planning to knit a scarf for Qin Xian to thank him for buying her the cotton coat.

She also went to the police station to ask about registering as a resident without a household registration.

The staff learned she had no parents and no fixed address, so they gave her two suggestions

1. Get married; once she and her husband registered their marriage, her household registration would be moved to his family.

2. Get an introduction letter from the brigade where she lived permanently and use it to apply for residency.

Li Yingtang was thoughtful, thanked them, and left. On the way back, a strong wind blew, and the three-hour journey took until dark to reach home.

The cold moon jumped onto the treetops, and a dim light shone from the small house.

"A-Xian, A-Xian."

A moment later, the young man's tall figure appeared before her: "Why so late?"

"Business was hard, the wind was so strong I couldn't open my eyes, it was cold, and I was walking—how could I be any earlier? I'm freezing to death. Is there food?"

Qin Xian: "Wild duck stewed in an iron pot."

Li Yingtang headed straight for the kitchen. Qin Xian followed, pushing the cart, and shook the canteen that had been tossed inside.

It was full.

She hadn't drunk any water all day?

He unscrewed the cap and smelled a fishy scent: "You bought milk?"

Li Yingtang: "It's goat milk. I'll make you double-skin milk tomorrow."

Qin Xian: "Double-skin milk? Never heard of it, don't know what it's like."

"You'll see when I make it." Li Yingtang went into the room, washed her hands, sat down, and took out nine yuan: "You're my man, and you can cook. From now on, you handle the inside, I'll handle the outside. I'll give you all the money I earn to keep. Take it."

Qin Xian: "..." So, he was the wife, then?

He hesitated for a second, then took the money.

Li Yingtang nodded with satisfaction. Once he took her money, he was officially hers.

Qin Xian: "What's stuck to the back of your clothes?"

Li Yingtang turned her head and gasped: "It looks like bird poop! My new cotton coat!" The firewood in the earthen stove was burning brightly, and the room was quite warm, so she immediately took off the coat to check. As luck would have it, her secret stash of money fell out with it, hitting the floor with a faint *pat*.

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(End of chapter)