Becoming the Cannon Fodder Wife of Crazy and Powerful Official - Chapter 30

Xin Yueying returned home after dark.

She had treated Guan Waishan to a meal with Lame Ma that evening, which cost her two taels of silver—a fact that pained her greatly.

In the eastern room of the house, several wooden pillars had been erected, outlining the structure of a small building that was beginning to take shape. The livestock pen at the back had been completed first, just behind the eastern room. She led the little grey donkey into the pen; the exhausted animal went straight to noisily gulping water.

Though the yard was cluttered, it was no longer the desolate sight it once had been.

Several wheelchairs were piled in the corner, likely brought by Shen Qingqi and the others.

Xin Yueying had been busy resolving personnel disputes all day, and even that had worn her out.

Dragging her tired body, she pushed the door open and entered. Xie Asheng and Huo Qi were already asleep. The curtain to the inner room glowed with a warm yellow light. She stepped over Huo Qi’s head and lifted the curtain to enter.

Shen Qingqi was half-lying down, holding a book. His gaze didn’t shift toward her in the slightest. “Finally decided to come back?”

Xin Yueying slumped wearily in front of the dressing table. “I’m exhausted. Today I went to find a constable, gave him some silver to keep an eye on Lame Ma. In a few days, Lame Ma won’t dare act crazy. Once he gets annoyed enough from being watched, he’ll probably come to treat you.”

She raised her hand and removed the pearl hairpin from her hair.

Through the mirror, she saw him holding a book, seemingly reading intently.

“What are you reading?”

“Just something to pass the time,” he said, closing the book and tucking it behind his pillow. He half-lay down and closed his eyes. “I’m going to sleep.”

“Oh, I’m going to bathe.” Xin Yueying stood up, fetched an empty basin, gathered her toiletries and underclothes, and lifted the curtain to head to the kitchen.

Only when she sank into the bathtub filled with hot water did she finally feel herself relax.

She rested with her eyes closed, enjoying the moment. The kitchen was steamy, and she felt hot. She reached out and pushed the window open a crack, only to see Shen Qingqi’s silhouette reflected on the window paper of the inner room.

He wasn’t asleep. He was still holding that book, motionless and completely absorbed.

I thought he was sleeping. Why is he reading again?

Clearly, he wanted to read it in secret.

Is it one of those not suitable for children books?

Heh? Why did she suddenly feel like reading it too?

Xin Yueying finished her bath, changed into her sky-blue underclothes, draped a towel over her damp hair, and headed back to the room.

She lifted the curtain and entered. Shen Qingqi set down the book and glanced at her.

“I thought you said you were going to sleep?” she asked nonchalantly while drying her hair.

“With all the clattering you’re making, it’s hard to sleep,” he retorted, shooting her a look before lowering his eyes to the book.

“Oh no! Pursuers!” Xin Yueying pointed dramatically outside.

Shen Qingqi snapped his head around to look, and in that instant, Xin Yueying swiftly snatched the book from his hands.

Realizing he’d been tricked, he glared coldly at her. “Xin Yueying, give me the book.”

“Nyah nyah nyah,” she teased him with a sly grin. “Come and get it if you can.”

She was openly mocking him. He should have been angry, but inexplicably, he felt like laughing too.

“Give it to me,” he said, deliberately keeping a stern face.

Xin Yueying looked down at the book’s cover. “Continued Tales of the Supernatural by Tao Qian of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.” She tilted her head and flipped through the pages.

It was full of classical Chinese, and she could barely understand any of it.

Clearly, it wasn’t anything inappropriate.

Yet Shen Qingqi was visibly nervous. “Xin Yueying, if you don’t give it back, I’ll hit you.”

Xin Yueying turned to look at him. He was pinching the piece of soap she had left on the kang table between two fingers.

Because she had thick hair, the wet, slimy soap had been worn down to a small piece. Now, held in his distinct, bony fingers, it looked utterly out of place.

“Pfft—” She burst out laughing.

Xin Yueying’s smile froze when she saw the nervous look on his face.

She suppressed her laughter, placed the book on the table, and sat on the edge of the kang. She looked up at him and asked, “Did Meng Ruxin come today?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“Did she give you this book?” She shot the book a glare. “No wonder you were so nervous.”

“It wasn’t from her. I bought it from a bookstall this morning when I went to sell the wheelchairs.” He placed the soap back into its small box and looked at her, puzzled.

The gloom in Xin Yueying’s heart instantly dissipated.

As she toweled her hair, she asked again, “Then…”

“Could you keep it down? You’re splashing water all over my face,” Shen Qingqi interrupted, his sword-like brows furrowed.

He sat up, snatched the towel from her hands, muttered “So troublesome,” and began drying her hair himself.

His words were impatient, but his movements were incredibly gentle.

Xin Yueying collected her thoughts and asked, “What did she come for today?”

“To borrow money.”

Xin Yueying, “How much did she want?”

“Ten taels.”

“Did you give it to her?”

“No.”

Xin Yueying turned her head in surprise to look at him, “You didn’t give it to her?!”

Shen Qingqi helplessly turned her head back forward. As he continued drying her hair, he said,

“I’ve given them money before. In theory, it shouldn’t have run out so quickly. I asked her what it was for, but she was evasive and started going on about the friendship between her and me. So, I told her that now it’s your sister-in-law managing the household accounts. I told her to come talk to you. She refused and left.”

In Xin Yueying’s ears, his long explanation became: “Blah blah blah blah… the friendship between her and me… blah blah blah blah…”

Xin Yueying was adept at finding the key point, “Heh, seems like you two have quite the friendship.”

Shen Qingqi lightly frowned, “All it means is that I didn’t dislike her before.”

“Heh… didn’t dislike her.”

“What are you implying?”

Xin Yueying, “Nothing.”

“……”

Once her hair was dry, Xin Yueying blew out the lamp and went to bed.

With a thump, she lay down, turning her back to Shen Qingqi.

Shen Qingqi propped himself up with his hands and lay down as well. In the darkness, his eyes, bright and intense, stared at her back.

She suddenly flipped over, startling Shen Qingqi into closing his eyes.

“Let me tell you, it’s fine if you didn’t dislike her. But you need to know that I dislike her.”

Shen Qingqi kept his eyes tightly shut, his throat moving as he swallowed. He nodded. “Mm, understood.”

For the next ten days, Xin Yueying didn’t go down the mountain. Regarding how the house should be built and where things should be placed, Xie Asheng would usually ask Huo Qi, who would then ask Shen Qingqi, who would in turn ask Xin Yueying. To save time, Xin Yueying simply took on the role of foreman.

Shen Qingqi ended up making ten wheelchairs and then stopped. Although Carpenter Yang asked him to make more, he politely declined, citing the house construction.

However, Xin Yueying could guess the reason: likely, customers from other families had secretly bought them from Carpenter Yang to study and replicate themselves.

She increasingly felt that Shen Qingqi wasn’t bad at all; on the contrary, he was quite kind.

If he had agreed to Carpenter Yang’s request to continue making wheelchairs at a high price, and then other carpenter shops started undercutting the price, Carpenter Yang would have been ruined.

She mentioned this to Shen Qingqi, but he just sneered and said it was because he was a convicted criminal and saw no need to easily make enemies.

One day, by the small stream, Meng Ruxin sat on a rock wearing a veil hat.

Shang Heng approached and said in a deep voice, “I found out.”

Meng Ruxin turned to look at Shang Heng. “It was her, wasn’t it?”

Shang Heng sat down beside Meng Ruxin and said solemnly, “It was her. She’s very short, with her hair in twin spiral buns, wearing red clothes. It was this woman who called Guan Waishan away that day.”