Chapter 13: The "Irritable" Wife Loves to Dote on People (13)

However, Yun Zimu never imagined that his wife could actually read and write, and his face was filled with surprise.

After stepping off the kang and going out for a moment, Su Qi-ruo returned carrying a large wooden chest. She placed the chest on the kang and opened it, revealing a box filled to the brim with books.

"These were left by my mother when she was alive, though they are some old texts from years ago. If you want to read them, we can buy some new ones later."

Hearing the word "mother," Yun Zimu was startled once again.

Ordinary village households usually called her "Niang," yet Su Qi-ruo called her "Mother." In this Lu Village, the Su family was the only one with the surname Su; could it be that she had also moved here from elsewhere?

Despite the doubts in his heart, Yun Zimu did not ask.

"Just leave them in the corner for now. If you have nothing to do, you can flip through them to pass the time."

Since she had already moved the items in, Su Qi-ruo had no intention of moving them back. She moved them directly to the corner of the kang against the wall to make it easier for Yun Zimu to find things.

Once the items were put away, Su Qi-ruo prepared to tidy up the western room. Although the room wasn't large, she had commissioned a small kang eight feet wide; it was enough for her to sleep in alone.

Seeing Su Qi-ruo start to put on her shoes, Yun Zimu assumed she was going out. Seeing that the sky was about to darken, he wondered if she was going out to drink again.

"Wife..."

Yun Zimu's eyes flickered, his hands tightly clutching his sleeves. He pursed his lips and spoke boldly,

"It's time to make dinner. Are you still going out, Wife?"

Su Qi-ruo froze, somewhat failing to understand Yun Zimu's meaning, until she saw the fear in the depths of his eyes. She realized then.

"I'm going to clean out the western room," Su Qi-ruo said with a smile, clutching the old bedding.

"Wife..."

Yun Zimu's face flushed red, feeling ashamed of his wild thoughts. But hearing Su Qi-ruo say she would move to the western room to sleep, he felt a pang of unease in his heart.

This was originally his Wife's home; the main room and the large kang should belong to her.

But ever since that time when his Wife had hit him, she seemed to have been filled with guilt, giving him all the best things. Now, she was even giving him the room.

Yun Zimu thought he might say something more, but after waiting for a long time without him opening his mouth, Su Qi-ruo left with the bedding.

Compared to the previous kitchen and bamboo chair, this new kang was truly comfortable to sleep on. As soon as Su Qi-ruo closed her eyes, she fell fast asleep.

Yun Zimu, however, could not fall asleep for a long time. His dark, bright eyes shimmered in the night for a long while, though no one knew what he was thinking about.

When the chickens crowed outside, Su Qi-ruo climbed up. She had to head into the deep mountains again today, so she had to leave early.

Carrying the hunting traps she had made over the past few days, shouldering a sack and hemp rope, and packing two extra fried dough cakes, Su Qi-ruo finally set out with confidence.

This time, she also had a book about medicinal herbs tucked in her bosom, which she had found in her mother's book chest. Even if she couldn't catch any valuable prey, it would be good if she could gather some herbs.

The little silver saved at home had already been mostly spent on repairing the house; living off savings was not a sustainable solution.

She walked and stopped along the way, set the traps, gathered some herbs, and caught two wild pheasants, but had no further harvest.

Based on her experience selling herbs last time, Su Qi-ruo estimated the contents of her bag. If she ate one chicken and sold the other, all of this combined would be worth at most a little over two taels.

"Relying on this luck-based method, when will I ever be able to afford a house!"

Su Qi-ruo weighed the bag on her back, feeling that relying on the mountains for food was not a long-term plan; the fastest way to make money was through trade.

But she had never done business in her previous life, so she didn't know what she could do.

"Ouch..."

Her foot slipped, startling Su Qi-ruo into grabbing a large tree nearby, but her arm was still sliced by the overgrown vegetation. She watched as blood droplets began to well up and drip toward the ground.

She wiped it away casually and grimaced.

This damn "Su Qi-ruo" had lived so many years and left nothing behind, only leaving a mess of trouble.

Mother Su had previously left some family assets, but they had all been squandered by the original Su Qi-ruo.

Now that Su Qi-ruo had become "Su Qi-ruo," everything had to start from scratch.

"Hiss..."

It stung with a burning sensation. If Yun Zimu saw this wound, he would surely forbid her from going up the mountain again next time.

Su Qi-ruo glanced sideways at the wound, and her eyes could no longer turn away.

The thing lying next to the blood droplets was something she was seeing with her own eyes for the first time, but she had seen plenty of it on television. Was this the legendary Blood Lingzhi?

This thing should be very expensive, right?

Su Qi-ruo's eyes grew wider and wider, and at this moment, she could no longer care about the pain.

She pushed aside large patches of leaves with both hands and dug the two Blood Lingzhi out of the soil. After carefully patting off the dirt on them, the corners of Su Qi-ruo's mouth nearly reached her ears.

"Zimu, oh Zimu, you really are my little God of Wealth."

Just thinking about how Yun Zimu had "found" the Blood Lingzhi—even though she didn't know how much this was worth, it was certainly more expensive than the things in her sack.

"Since there is Blood Lingzhi here, it means the soil is fertile and spiritual. There should be other things as well; I must look more carefully."

Su Qi-ruo had originally planned to walk further into the mountains, but she now changed her mind.

With these two Blood Lingzhi, she had enough to start some small business; why should she continue to risk her life?

The midday sun was intense. After eating a few bites of the dry dough cake, Su Qi-ruo continued her searching.

Although she didn't find any more Blood Lingzhi, she found quite a lot of Baiji and Bulong Grass; these medicinal herbs were also extremely precious.

Seeing the sun tilting toward the west, Su Qi-ruo did not dare to linger in the mountains any longer. She stood up with slight disappointment, rubbing her waist and turning her neck, preparing to head back.

However, because she had gone quite deep out of greed, Su Qi-ruo took many detours on her way back.

If she didn't make it home before dark, Yun Zimu would surely be worried.

"Ginseng? Is this ginseng?"

Su Qi-ruo's eyes lit up. She took a few quick steps and crouched down to dig. Sure enough, it was a ginseng plant with half its body exposed from the soil. Looking at its quality, it must be quite old.

It seemed that the heavens still favored Su Qi-ruo greatly, as they truly hadn't let her trip this journey in vain.

As she carefully dug out the old ginseng, the sky had already grown dark.

Startled, Su Qi-ruo hurriedly packed her things and strode toward the east.

The trap she had set in the morning had caught a rabbit. By the time Su Qi-ruo left the mountain, the moon was already hanging in mid-air. Carrying an injured rabbit in her hand, she walked with rapid steps.

Before she even reached the small river by the village, Su Qi-ruo saw several dark shadows rushing toward her from a distance.

"Brother Su, don't worry. Qi-ruo grew up in these mountains since she was a child; she will surely be fine. She might have just been delayed by something and returned a bit late."

Lu Dasheng walked with large strides, comforting Yun Zimu, whose eyes were already red with anxiety.

In truth, he was also uncertain in his heart. Su Qi-ruo only ever wanted Yun Zimu to have a good life; who knew which deep part of the mountain she might have wandered into!

(End of Chapter)