The Wife of a Loyal Servant - Chapter 3

Ling Yu was jolted awake by a sharp tug of pain on her scalp. When her eyes snapped open, she found herself face-to-face with a tiny, drooling little face.

She was dazed for a heartbeat, then instantly came to her senses and sat bolt upright, staring hard at the little guy beside her.

Even though he had ‘shrunk’ so much, she could never mistake him; the tiny bean flashing a toothless grin at her was her son, Xiao Shitou.

So… last night was real? She didn’t die? She’d returned to Chengjia Village? Her husband, Cheng Shaotang, was alive, her mother-in-law wasn’t bedridden, and her son was still a little drooling toddler?

“Mother…” A childish, mushy little voice piped up in the room. She turned to see her son holding his arms out for a hug. Taking in everything around her, she suddenly broke into a smile.

Who cares! However it happened, as long as we live, it’s fine! In this world, nothing outranks simply staying alive!

“Come here, let Mommy hold Xiao Shitou! Oh my, you’re heavy! You little rascal, don’t pull Mommy’s hair—ow, ow, ow! Let go, let go!” Before long, the room was echoing with her yelps of pain and the child’s sweet, giggling laughter.

Ling Yu finally managed to rescue her long hair from the little scoundrel’s grasp. Still a bit indignant, she gave his chubby cheeks a firm pinch. The little guy only blinked at her innocently with those big, glossy eyes.

She gently took Xiao Shitou’s arm in hand. Looking at his round, pudgy face, she could almost picture what he’d look like in a few years—seven or eight years old, swinging a stick like a furious little tiger, desperately chasing after some troublemaking ruffians.

Though he was still just a child, he already knew how to use his own strength to protect his mother.

“I just hope this time your father can live longer, at least until you grow up,” she murmured.

Xiao Shitou didn’t understand his mother’s thoughts; he babbled and occasionally laughed at her with a giggle.

“Silly boy…” Ling Yu affectionately tapped his little nose.

“I’ll watch him, you go wash up first.” A low voice sounded behind her. She froze, only then realizing Cheng Shaotang had come to stand beside her.

“Okay,” she replied, watching the man gently hold the little one in his arms and tenderly wipe his face.

Perhaps his father’s arms simply couldn’t compare to his mother’s soft, comforting embrace; the little fellow cried “ya ya” in protest, patting his father’s chest as though to shove him away.

“You little rascal, already starting to be picky about your father at such a young age, huh?” Cheng Shaotang said, lightly gripping his son’s tiny arm while pretending to look stern.

But all he got in return was another disgruntled “ya ya.”

Ling Yu’s thoughts drifted. Perhaps because so much time had passed, she already couldn’t remember in the previous life—guess let’s call it the previous life—how the father and son used to interact in that previous life.

Back then, Cheng Shaotang, as an escort guard at the escort agency in the county town, often left on months-long assignments. The couple had already spent little time together, so naturally, father and son had even fewer chances to bond.

Only later, after Cheng Shaotang entered Prince Qi’s residence as a guard, did he spend slightly more time at home than he had as an escort. Even then, he was frequently sent out on errands. Sometimes gone for just a few days, sometimes for months at a time.

Married at sixteen, a mother at seventeen, widowed at twenty-two. Altogether, she had only six years of marriage with him. And considering how often he was away, the days they actually spent together were pitifully few.

She shook her head and walked out with an empty wooden basin in her arms.

By the time she returned from washing, the father and son had already disappeared.

She loosely gathered her hair into a bun before the mirror. Then, recalling the layout, she headed toward the vegetable garden to pick some greens.

Calling it a “garden” was generous. It was just a patch of cleared earth on the east side of the courtyard, planted with a few vegetables and fruits. Those were basically what the Cheng family ate each day.

“Big brother, when did you come back? How did I not know at all?” A young man’s delighted shout echoed in the courtyard. Ling Yu halted, turned toward the voice, and met a face she loathed to the bone.

Cheng Shaoan!

She clenched her teeth so hard her jaw ached. If not for the thin thread of reason still holding her back, she would have lunged at him and torn him into a thousand pieces to vent the hatred she had accumulated over the years.

In her previous life, after Cheng Shaotang died, the Cheng family’s village was soon caught up in the chaos of war. Her family was terrified and fled for their lives. Only after countless hardships did they find a place to settle down and start anew. However, the only adult man in the family, the very one who should have supported them, stole all their silver and disappeared without a trace.

And the silver he stole… was the condolence payment from the Prince Qi’s manor.

Whenever she thought back to her previous life, thrown into war for the first time, driven from her home penniless, with an ailing mother-in-law above her and an infant crying for milk below, feeling helpless and desperate as if heaven and earth ignored her cries, she would feel an itching hatred in her teeth.

Just then, as Cheng Shaoan teased the nephew in his brother’s arms, a sudden chill crept down his back. He turned, suspicious, only to meet his sister-in-law’s man-eating glare.

Heavens—terrifying!

He shuddered and instantly yanked back the hand holding the child.

Cheng Shaotang, being a martial artist who lived his days on the edge of danger, immediately sensed Ling Yu’s strange tension and felt a jolt of alarm. Seeing his brother’s guilty movements only confirmed it. He furrowed his thick brows and walked toward her with their son.

“Are you feeling a bit better? Mother is in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Since you’re still weak, I’ve already explained it to her.”

A daughter-in-law rising later than her mother-in-law was unheard of, but Cheng Shaotang had already prepared the excuse for her, and Madam Wang naturally said nothing.

Ling Yu understood at once and nodded gratefully, “Much better. Thank you for worrying about me.”

Her politeness made Cheng Shaotang glance at her again, that odd feeling in his chest deepening, though he kept silent.

Xiao Shitou flung open his arms and lunged toward his mother, but she didn’t pick him up, instead, she pinched his soft, round cheeks and told his father, “He’s learning to walk now. You don’t have to keep carrying him. Let him try a few steps on his own.”

Cheng Shaotang blinked in surprise. “He can already start learning to walk? That fast?”

He always felt like his son had just been born, and yet he was already learning to walk?

“Ah, big brother, think about how long you’ve been gone. Xiao Shitou doesn’t just walk now; he can talk too. He just doesn’t like talking unless you coax him,” Cheng Shaoan interrupted from the side.

A trace of guilt appeared on Cheng Shaotang’s face.

He had missed his son growing up.

“Your eldest brother has to work hard for the whole family. Of course, he isn’t as free as you. It’s normal he doesn’t know all this,” Ling Yu said, giving him a sidelong glance.

Cheng Shaoan rubbed his nose and shrank back to the side, not daring to speak further.

Ling Yu also stopped paying attention to him and gently shook her son’s little hand. “I’ll tidy up the house. You keep an eye on him,” she said to Cheng Shaotang.

He nodded, watching her disappear into the main room before turning to his younger brother. “During the time I haven’t been home, has anything happened in the house? Like a thief sneaking in, for example?”

“A thief? No, everything was normal while you were gone.” Cheng Shaoan scratched his head, puzzled as to why he would ask that.

No? Since he didn’t seem to be lying, Cheng Shaotang frowned.

Meanwhile, after Ling Yu had cleaned the house inside and out, she headed to the kitchen and saw Madam Wang working busily inside.

In her previous life, she and her mother-in-law had practically relied on each other for survival, supporting one another through the most difficult days. But the younger generation they trusted ended up betraying them one after another, and in a fit of anger and frustration, Madam Wang’s already frail health declined rapidly.

Now, if she really had died from that fall back then, leaving behind her mother-in-law and her son, old and young, how would they have survived?

Were they supposed to rely on Cheng Shaoan suddenly sprouting a conscience years later?

The thought made her chest tighten with worry.

“You’re up? Feeling any better? You’re still so young. Take care of your health. If you end up with some lingering illness, it won’t be fun,” Madam Wang said casually as she turned and saw her standing at the doorway.

“Much better; Mother is right. I’ll get some water and go tend to the vegetables first.” She pushed down the worries in her heart.

“Go on, I’m almost done here as well.” Without even turning her head, Madam Wang stuffed more firewood into the stove.

By the time she finished watering the vegetables and tidying the house, Madam Wang had already prepared breakfast.

After the family ate, Cheng Shaotang said, “Mother, I’d like to take Xiao Yu to the county to see a doctor. Is there anything you’d like me to buy while I’m there?”

“No need. I’m already much better. There’s no point wasting money like that.” Hearing this, Ling Yu, who was coaxing her son to call for his grandmother, quickly refused.

Her body was perfectly fine; the story she’d told last night had only been a casual lie.

However, Madam Wang said, “It’s good to have it looked at. Take care of your health, and next year you can give Xiao Shitou a younger brother. As for what to buy, I don’t have anything special I need. It’s just, Xiao Shitou will turn one in a few days. We may be a poor family and don’t make a big deal out of it, but he is our eldest grandson. We should at least hold a proper Zhua Zhou*. Since you’re going to the county, you might as well buy everything needed for the ceremony.” (*TL’s note: 抓周 (zhuā zhōu) A traditional ceremony where a one-year-old chooses objects that symbolically predict their future interests or talents)

“Don’t worry, Mother, I remember.” How could Cheng Shaotang forget his son’s first birthday? He agreed at once.

Since the mother-in-law had already spoken, Ling Yu couldn’t say more. She handed the child to Madam Wang and then listened as Cheng Shaotang asked Cheng Shaoan if he wanted anything brought back.

Cheng Shaoan’s eyes lit up. He was about to list all the things he’d always wanted but could never afford until he caught Ling Yu’s glare. All those words swallowed right back down. He could only mutter gloomily, “No need…”

Ling Yu let out a breath of relief.

This man, idle and useless all day, never had a single coin on him. Even if he wanted something, he couldn’t afford it. Now that he heard someone might buy it for him, wouldn’t he immediately start making demands? These days, making a bit of money isn’t easy, so how could it be spent carelessly?

With everything arranged, the couple returned to their room to prepare. Ling Yu filled the water pouch, wrapped a few steamed buns in oilcloth for the road, and had just finished packing when Cheng Shaotang handed her a money pouch.

She accepted it without thinking. “What’s this?”

“The pay for this escort job came to three taels and eighty coins. I gave Mother one tael, so there are two taels and eighty coins left. Keep them.”

Ling Yu blinked in surprise. “Why so much this time?”

“The client was generous and tipped quite a bit. The head escort master divided it among the brothers,” Cheng Shaotang explained.

Ling Yu thought for a moment, then handed one tael back. “You’re going into the city today to buy the Zhuazhou gifts. You can’t go short on money.”

Cheng Shaotang waved it off. “No need. I still have some; I’ll be able to buy what we need.”

Hearing that, Ling Yu neatly tucked the money away.

Money truly was a precious thing. Without it, nothing could be done. Having suffered the hardships of pennilessness in her previous life, she would never let herself fall into that misery again.

Relying on her memory, she patted here and felt there along the bedboard until her fingers found a hidden compartment. Sure enough, a small box lay inside.

She pulled it out, opened it, and her whole face blossomed with delight.

After pouring in the two taels and eighty coins from her pouch, she carefully counted everything several times, a total of three taels and eighty-nine coins in total. It wasn’t much, but for the “yesterday her” who couldn’t even afford a three-wen bowl of plain noodles, it was already a small fortune.

Watching her happily cradle the money box, Cheng Shaotang suddenly felt an even heavier sense of responsibility pressing on his shoulders.

Ling Yu, however, paid no attention to his mood; her mind was already racing.

If everything still followed the trajectory of her previous life, Chengjia Village would be destroyed in at most five years, so it was never a place they could settle for long. When the time came, they’d be fleeing again, and food and supplies naturally wouldn’t be something they could take with them.

Whether they had to start over in some faraway place or return home once the world finally settled, rebuilding their household would still cost money.

After weighing everything, the most important thing is still money.

She snuck a glance at Cheng Shaotang, anxiety thudding faintly in her chest.

She only hoped he would live longer this time. But if, just in the slightest chance, he left her and their child early again. Then, she needed to have a backup plan ready.