The Butcher's Little Husband - Chapter 67

Because he was unhappy, Li Amu deliberately washed things slowly and didn’t start cooking until Le-ge’er said he was hungry.

Li Wenxuan and Father Li came out after cleaning the house. They were happy to see Li Yiran and hadn’t heard the commotion from earlier, so they didn’t understand why he was upset.

The first thing that had been washed was now dry. Li Wenxuan and Li Yiran each carried one end of the cabinet and brought it inside. 

“Brother, what’s wrong? Why do I feel like Amu is a bit off today?”

“Ah,” Li Yiran sighed, “Your brother-in-law caused a scene outside.”

Li Wenxuan didn’t say much when he heard the mention of her. After all, that was his brother-in-law.

…

At dinner time, the yard had been nearly cleaned, and Lian Meng came inside. He was a little uncomfortable after sitting for a whole morning, so he went straight to the room, and Li Yiran brought the meal in.

Everyone at the table ate quietly. Then, Li Amu suddenly asked, “Did you tell him about the imperial examination last time?”

Li Yiran knew that Li Amu was referring to Lian Meng. “I did, but he didn’t agree.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Take the exam!”

At that, Li Amu’s expression softened into a smile. 

People often said marriages should match in family standing—and wasn’t that true? Once their eldest passed the exam and became an official, perhaps Meng-ge’er would stop being this way.

After dinner, Tian Xiaoman and Li Wenxuan returned to their room. 

Seeing that he looked a bit distracted, Li Wenxuan was curious. “Xiaoman, what’s wrong?”

“Ah?” Tian Xiaoman snapped out of his thoughts and didn’t hear the question clearly, so Li Wenxuan repeated it.

“Nothing! I just feel that… my brother-in-law is a little difficult to get along with,” Tian Xiaoman hesitated, worried that Li Wenxuan might think he was saying something bad about his family.

“Don’t worry about him. How long can he stay here? Don’t worry, he’ll leave after the New Year!” Li Wenxuan reassured.

“Do you all… not like him very much?” Xiaoman asked. It was rare to hear Wenxuan speak about someone in that tone.

“It’s not that we don’t like him,” Wenxuan said bitterly. “It’s that he looks down on our whole family.”

As it turned out, Lian Meng’s marriage to Li Yiran had been arranged through a matchmaker recommended by the county magistrate—Lian Meng’s own uncle.

At the time, Lian Meng hadn’t wanted to marry. He’d grown up in poverty and longed to marry into wealth. But his uncle valued Li Yiran’s ability and character, and insisted on forming a connection through marriage, leaving Lian Meng no choice but to comply.

On the wedding night, seeing Li Yiran’s handsome face and polite demeanor, his resentment had been eased.

But it didn’t last long. He couldn’t shake the dissatisfaction of seeing others who were less accomplished than his husband wearing gold and silver, while he had to live in a small farmyard.

His attitude began to change, and he treated the Li family coldly. It was then that he discovered he was pregnant.

With that as leverage, he began demanding that Yiran take him everywhere—to every gathering, every trip, every meeting.

The Li family strongly opposed it; no pregnant person could withstand that kind of constant travel. 

But Lian Meng invoked his uncle’s authority, leaving them no room to argue.

Because of that long period of running around, he went into labor early—an entire month too soon. The birth exhausted him, and Le-ge’er came into the world frail and tiny, no bigger than a kitten.

Amu had been furious at the sight. Only then did Lian Meng calm down somewhat. But still, because of his lingering pain and weakness, he often took out his resentment on Le-ge’er, blaming him for his suffering. 

When the child cried, he would sometimes leave him lying alone in the bed, refusing to soothe him.

When Amu found out, he took Le-ge’er back to Willow Tree Slope, saying it was to let Lian Meng “recuperate in peace.”

As the ger grew older, Amu began to think perhaps Lian Meng’s behavior had been due to his poor health at the time. After all, he reasoned, what parent would truly treat his own child that way?

So he brought Le-ge’er back to the county town. 

It happened to be when the imperial court was appointing new officials, and the county magistrate, eager for promotion, had his staff working day and night compiling reports. During that period, Yiran practically lived at the yamen.

As for Lian Meng, after recovering, he spent all his time out with the husbands of Yiran’s colleagues, even when Li Amu was around.

Seeing that he had no interest in taking care of the child, Li Amu finally became disappointed and took Le-ge’er back again.

After hearing Li Wenxuan’s account, Tian Xiaoman was stunned. 

How could someone be like that? He felt that Lian Meng was incredibly selfish, only concerned with his own well-being and without regard for others’ feelings.

Suddenly, he remembered how he had been rude to Li Wenxuan during a similar situation and felt guilty. “Husband, I wasn’t nice to you back then, will you blame me?”

Li Wenxuan heard Tian Xiaoman call him “husband” and found it a little strange. At his question, he couldn’t help but laugh. “My Xiaoman is hard on the outside but soft on the inside; I’ve known that all along.”

Tian Xiaoman said seriously, “Don’t worry, if we have a baby, I will definitely love him very much!”

Li Wenxuan mischievously smiled, “Then let’s have one, shall we?”

“In broad daylight?” Xiaoman glared at him, then leaned close and whispered, “Tonight.”

Tian Xiaoman had long passed the stage of blushing at such jokes. After all, they were an old couple, even if they had only been married for a little over a month.

As they laughed together, Li Amu’s voice suddenly called from outside—they’d spent the whole day cleaning, and it was time to wash up.