Becoming the Cannon Fodder Wife of Crazy and Powerful Official - Chapter 24

At the Shen Residence.

Xie Asheng crouched on the ground, watching with puzzled curiosity as Huo Qi split bamboo into thin strips. His intense curiosity finally got the better of him, “Are you making this to practice some kind of martial art? Or is it for a hidden weapon?”

Huo Qi, “……”

He shot Xie Asheng an exasperated look, then shifted his gaze towards Shen Qingqi and Xin Yueying.

Xin Yueying sat on a small stool, wearing the expression of someone who knew they’d done wrong, recounting her side of the fight.
“I threw the first punch, that’s true. But she hit me back too.”

Shen Qingqi, “Show me your hands.”

Xin Yueying hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly held out her two small hands. Her palms were red, silently declaring that she had been the one doing the hitting. She offered a weak defense, “I did hit her too, but it wasn’t hard.”

Shen Qingqi leaned forward slightly, startling Xin Yueying into pulling back, “If it’s really not okay, I promise I won’t hit her again. Can’t we just talk this out…”

“Come here,” he said, his eyes fixed on her.

Xin Yueying sat back down on the stool. Suddenly, both her wrists were caught in his firm grip. His hands were slender; one was enough to easily encircle both her wrists. The temperature of his palms was cool, like smooth, polished jade.

Shen Qingqi looked down, “Open your hands.”

She turned her palms upward again.

Shen Qingqi bent his head and gently blew on them.

The stinging in her palms instantly felt much cooler and soothed.

Her eyes, shimmering with unshed tears, widened in surprise as she looked at Shen Qingqi.

Shen Qingqi examined them carefully, a slight frown forming. With his other hand, he retrieved a small white porcelain bottle from his robe.

He deftly popped the cork out single-handedly and sprinkled a fine, dense powder onto her palms, “This is the medicine I use to reduce swelling.”

As he spoke, he placed the bottle on the ground. Using his fingertips, he gently spread the powder across her palms, working it into her skin.

Her palms felt cool, and a little ticklish. She was usually very ticklish, but for some reason, this time she didn’t pull away.

She lowered her head, slightly embarrassed, “This really isn’t necessary. It was just a few slaps. I don’t need medicine for that.”

Shen Qingqi looked up at her, a teasing tone in his voice, “A few slaps?”

Huo Qi chimed in quickly, “I counted. You slapped her at least thirty times. And that’s not including the hits with the shoe sole.”

Xin Yueying looked at Huo Qi in astonishment, “You all saw that?”

“Good heavens, you really went for it.” Huo Qi tilted his head, seeming almost impressed by the fighting spirit contained in Xin Yueying’s small frame. “When Miss Meng went home, her face was swollen like a little hill. I was worried she’d go complain to her father, but she didn’t say anything, just said to let it go.”

“Let it go?” Xin Yueying glared at Huo Qi. “It’s not that she’s letting it go! It’s because she snuck out of the house in the middle of the night and knows she’s in the wrong! Just you wait, if I slap her in broad daylight next time, see if she doesn’t go running to her father!”

Huo Qi nodded, “You do have a point there.”

Xie Asheng also glanced over at Xin Yueying, though his focus was on Shen Qingqi, “Why don’t you teach your wife martial arts? I think she has the talent for it.”

“Her? Learn martial arts?” Shen Qingqi, still massaging her hand, looked up at Xin Yueying and laughed, “If she learned martial arts, would there be any room left for anyone else to survive?”

“HAHAHAHAHA! If she knew martial arts, if she ever flew into a rage, wouldn’t she just slaughter the entire Niujiagou Village?!” Huo Qi threw his head back and roared with laughter.

Xin Yueying shot Huo Qi a dirty look, but she could tell that Xie Asheng and Shen Qingqi seemed to have reached some sort of tacit understanding, a temporary truce.

She leaned closer to Shen Qingqi, lowering her voice to a near-whisper, “So, is that Xie Asheng just going to live here now?”

Shen Qingqi’s fingers stilled for a moment. He looked up at her, “He has nowhere else to go for the time being.”

Xin Yueying’s eyes darted around shrewdly. She whispered even softer, “Isn’t it a bit of a loss to let him eat and live here for free?”

Shen Qingqi raised an eyebrow slightly, seemingly not expecting this line of thinking.

A calculating smile spread across Xin Yueying’s face, her eyes gleaming. “Why don’t we use the excuse that it’s inconvenient for him to sleep in the main hall? Have him build a room over here. I was thinking, he could build a small house here, a slightly larger one over there, then have him put up a shed for the little grey donkey, and build a chicken coop too. We could raise some chicks and ducklings. Oh, and have him build a pigsty over there to raise some piglets. By the end of the year, we can slaughter a pig for meat! How does that sound?”

Shen Qingqi glanced toward the kitchen, “He could also renovate the kitchen.”

“Hey! I can hear you!” Xie Asheng stood up, frowning deeply, “You two might as well have me build a full siheyuan courtyard house!”

Xin Yueying jumped, startled. She was sure her voice had been extremely quiet; Xie Asheng shouldn’t have been able to hear.

But he did.

She looked back at Xie Asheng. He didn’t seem genuinely angry, more exasperated. Huo Qi asked him what was wrong, and he sat back down to complain to Huo Qi, who burst out laughing upon hearing it.

Shen Qingqi looked at Xin Yueying and smiled faintly, whispering, “He’s trained in martial arts for many years. His hearing and eyesight are exceptionally sharp.” He lowered his voice even further, “Next time you have something to say, whisper it directly into my ear.”

Xin Yueying grinned sheepishly.

Somehow, the courtyard felt increasingly full of life. She looked at Shen Qingqi’s handsome face, then at the distant mountains, the captivating night sky, and finally her gaze settled on the tender green shoots pushing through the earth after a spring rain. She looked back at Shen Qingqi, leaned in slightly, and whispered directly into his ear, “There’s grass growing in the yard. Let’s have him pave it with floor tiles for us too.”

“Hey! I can STILL hear that!” Xie Asheng called out without turning around, a note of protest in his voice.

Xin Yueying turned back and offered an apologetic smile.

In the end, Shen Qingqi also wheeled himself over to where Huo Qi was weaving rattan strips. Xin Yueying wanted to go help, but Shen Qingqi ordered her back to her room to “reflect on her mistakes.” She wasn’t quite sure what mistakes she was supposed to be reflecting on; after all, Shen Qingqi hadn’t been angry about her beating up Meng Ruxin. He only brought it up as a reason when she tried to help with the wheelchair.

She strongly suspected that Shen Qingqi just didn’t want her doing manual labor.

Unable to argue with Shen Qingqi, she had no choice but to return to the room. With nothing to do, she sat on the kang and looked at the spot where Shen Qingqi usually lay.

Now that Xie Asheng was here, and before the new room was built, he would naturally have to sleep in the main hall with Shen Qingqi.

So, what about her? Would she have to sleep on the same kang as Shen Qingqi?

He was so good-looking; it was hard to say who would be taking advantage of whom.

She felt a flicker of anticipation.

She went to the cabinet, took out the new thin quilt, smoothed the bedding on the kang until it was perfectly flat, then carried her pillow to the spot by the window.

Before lying down, she straightened her clothes. She lay down on her back, fully dressed, her eyes occasionally drifting toward the door curtain. When he came in, he would see her lying here.

And so, she couldn’t help but wonder: what kind of sleeping pose should she adopt to greet Shen Qingqi?

Something charming and captivating, perhaps?

She rolled onto her side, propping her head up with her left hand, placing her right hand on her thigh, and gently hooking her left leg forward, creating a curvaceous silhouette.

Not good. Too frivolous.

Something delicate and pitiful, then? Wasn’t that the type he liked?

She curled her body up, clenched her hands into little fists held to her chest, hunched her back, and put on a pitiful expression.

She gazed coquettishly toward the door curtain, imitating Meng Ruxin’s tone, her voice a soft, barely audible whisper, “Brother Shen, I’m scared.”

Gag…

She almost made herself throw up.

Xin Yueying’s eyes shifted. Sanity returned, and she quickly realized what absurd thoughts she was entertaining.

She rolled back onto her back, placed both hands on her abdomen, and decided to greet Shen Qingqi with a gentle, serene, yet dignified and elegant sleeping posture.

Shen Qingqi came in the dead of night. Huo Qi pushed him in. The two of them entered the room, took one look at Xin Yueying’s sleeping posture, and froze in unison.