"You all look tired, hurry up and finish your meal and rest." Aunt Yang put a piece of rabbit meat into Qiu Su's bowl. "Write a letter home tomorrow and, if you get through to them, return it."
"Don't worry, Auntie, we'll be back in a while," Pei Yuan assured her with a smile.
Qiu Su glanced at the child beside her and placed a piece of rabbit meat in his bowl. The child grinned, revealing the gaps in his mouth caused by the loss of two front teeth. You know, kids' baby teeth look much better than adults'. Sweet Potato from Qingfeng Village is missing a front tooth; he tripped and fell while walking, and when he smiles, it looks like a mouse hole. Baby teeth are much cuter. However, Qiu Su mentally shrunk herself to the child's size, and the thought of her own gaping mouth when she smiled still made her feel a little embarrassed.
After finishing their meal and getting up, the child kept glancing at Pei Yuan. Pei Yuan, intrigued, stood up and ruffled the child's hair, asking, "What are you looking at, little one?"
The boy pulled Pei Yuan's hand away, saying, "I'm not a little kid anymore, I'm all grown up."
"Good, you're a real man now."
The boy put his hands on his hips and raised his chin, "You look a lot like my dad."
Aunt Yang shouted, "Chaozi!"
"It's alright." Pei Yuan bent down, put his arm around the boy's waist, and lifted him up, smiling as he said, "Missed your dad?"
"My dad is back."
"Yes, I'm going to the capital too. If I run into him, I'll let him know and tell him that his son Chaozi misses him."
Really?
Pei Yuan raised an eyebrow. "What kind of man would lie like that?"
Unexpectedly, the boy scrambled to his feet and exclaimed, "Mom, write a letter to Dad and have Uncle take it over. Tell Dad I've finished copying all the calligraphy samples he left behind, and tell him to come back quickly."
Aunt Yang was also a little excited. She rubbed her abdomen with both hands and said with delight, "Are you two going to the capital? Could you please help my Wenju carry some things?"
Seeing Pei Yuan nod, Aunt Yang smiled and explained, "You don't know, we mountain people have plenty of food and clothing, but we lack money. Wenju only took two taels of silver with him when he went out, saying he would earn it himself on the way, but I don't know how it went. His father went out of the mountains a while ago and bought some roe deer skins, and saved up some copper coins. You can help take them over, so he can hire a carriage to come back faster. It's been almost half a year since he left."
Pei Yuan patted Chaozi's head, "Write it down, just give it to me tomorrow, I'll definitely bring it to you."
The boy was overjoyed and ran out, probably to his room to write a letter. The young woman, her face flushed, bowed to Pei Yuan and Qiu Su, tidied up the dishes, and followed them out. Aunt Yang said happily, "You two go back to your rooms first, Auntie will give you some hot water to wash up. Hehe, I didn't even know we'd met people from the capital."
Being treated like a noble person made Qiu Su feel a little uncomfortable. She nudged Pei Yuan with her elbow, urging him to come and help. Pei Yuan raised an eyebrow, took her hand, and led her to his room. Once inside, he said, "Even if you go, Auntie won't let you help. I'll just fetch some hot water in a bit."
Qiu Su thought it was unfair to take their meager savings. What if they died on the way or didn't meet Yang Wenju in the capital? Wouldn't that be taking someone else's things for nothing? But then she thought, since she was already taking them, it would put their minds at ease. She would leave them the silver they had on them before they left.
Pei Yuan went out briefly, brought back two buckets of hot water, turned around and went out again, returning with a small bathtub in his hand. Qiu Suben stood to the side with her hands behind her back watching, and became somewhat unsettled when she saw Pei Yuan pour the hot water into the bathtub.
There were no curtains in the room, and the bathtub was placed in the open space at the end of the bed. If she took a bath after undressing, wouldn't that be performing a beauty bathing in front of Pei Yuan? Well, although she might not be considered a beauty, she probably wouldn't be that attractive to him.
Pei Yuan crossed his arms and looked at her with a half-smile. When Qiu Su's lips twitched as if she was about to speak, he chuckled and said, "You wash up, I'll go to the kitchen to take a shower."
Pei Yuan left, and Qiu Su looked at the wooden door that had closed again, feeling somewhat disappointed. Qiu Su raised her hand to touch her face, frowned, and muttered, "Am I really so ugly that even gods and men would be outraged? Nobody has ever said that!"
Sigh, I don't want to think about it anymore; it's just making trouble for myself.
When Pei Yuan returned, Qiu Su was already lying down on the inside of the bed, her long, wet hair trailing along the edge, and she was neatly dressed in her coarse cloth clothes. Hearing Pei Yuan come in, she couldn't help but laugh before she even felt uncomfortable.
"Looks like Yang Wenju isn't as tall as you."
Pei Yuan shook the trousers and sleeves, which were about the same length but looked awkward no matter how he looked at them, and gestured at his chest, saying with a smile, "My wife is too kind here, and those clothes are too small."
Qiu Su looked down at her tight chest and her face darkened. Pei Yuan jumped onto the bed in a few steps, grabbed a cloth and handed it to Qiu Su, who had a dark face. He pulled her head and wiped her hair, saying, "Wife, wipe your hair."
Hmm, holy crap!
Qiu Su knelt behind Pei Yuan, her face fierce as she grabbed his hair and began to rub it, but after a couple of rubs, her movements softened. Qiu Su told herself it wasn't that she was reluctant; after all, hair doesn't feel pain. She was just worried about the follow-up work. If she twisted this black hair into a rope, she would definitely have to untangle and comb it straight one strand at a time.
Qiu Su was indeed right; when her hair was half-dry, she diligently combed it out strand by strand with her fingers. Poor hands, which had some cuts and scratches. Why didn't this person know how to cherish a woman? Well, at least not now.
It's only natural to reciprocate. Qiu Su couldn't resist Pei Yuan's advances, so she turned her body around and let him do whatever he wanted to her head. Pei Yuan's movements were quite gentle; his fingertips always made Qiu Su tremble slightly when they brushed against her scalp.
"My wife." Her warm breath was close to his ear.
The usually composed Qiu Su blushed, losing her composure.
Pei Yuan hugged her from behind, nuzzling her neck with his chin and murmuring, "My wife, to be honest, why did you go back again today?"
"I already said that."
Pei Yuan rubbed his slightly stubbled chin against Qiu Su's chest, and with each rub, Qiu Su's heart trembled and her body tensed up. After a while, Qiu Su suddenly had an idea and asked, "Um, don't you go to the toilet before bed?"
Qiu Su regretted it as soon as she said it. Why did she always make the wrong move when she had a sudden inspiration? How could she forget that a certain organ used for toileting can also do bad things?
Sure enough, Pei Yuan leaned down behind her and chuckled softly in her ear. After laughing his fill, he kissed her on the earlobe, then pulled her into his arms and lay down.
Is it coming? Qiu Su turned her back to him, her eyes tightly closed, and remained motionless. Pei Yuan's hand, however, was surprisingly steady, resting firmly on her lower abdomen.
Boiling frogs in lukewarm water? Qiu Su nervously closed her eyes and waited for a long time, but Pei Yuan didn't make any move. Could it be that he was slowly simmering the frogs in cold water? A croaking sound of a frog echoed in Qiu Su's mind. Oh, it wasn't a croaking sound, but Pei Yuan's sudden snoring. It wasn't loud, just a light snoring, but because it was so close to her ear, it sounded exceptionally loud.
Qiu Su pouted, rolled her eyes at the wall, and then closed her eyes as well.
The next day, after breakfast, Pei Yuan prepared to leave. Xiao Chaozi's letter was already written, a thick stack, handwritten on the back of scrap paper he had practiced writing on. The characters varied in size, but it was clear that he had put his heart into it. Pei Yuan glanced at it briefly, then carefully folded it and put it close to his body, smiling as he said, "I will definitely deliver it."
Aunt Yang brought out a string of copper coins, wrapped them in coarse cotton cloth, and handed them to Qiu Su along with some cornbread and bean cakes. Qiu Su looked at her own clothes and asked hesitantly, "Auntie, may I wear these clothes?"
"Wear them, wear them, they're all old clothes anyway."
Qiu Su was slightly embarrassed. If she didn't take off her clothes, they couldn't just come up and strip her, which really did have a bit of a bandit-like style.
The cart was a donkey cart that Pei Yuan had paid Uncle Yang to find. Whatever kind of cart it was, it was good as long as it provided transportation. As Pei Yuan drove the donkey cart swaying and wobbling out of the village, he saw Aunt Yang chasing after him with a small bundle in her hands.
"Hurry up." Qiu Su nudged Pei Yuan.
Pei Yuan cracked the donkey whip quite high, but the donkey ran almost as fast as a person. However, Aunt Yang was not young either. After chasing for a while and seeing that the two did not stop but instead walked faster, she sighed, stood still for a moment, and then went back.
Pei Yuan was sweating nervously as he pulled on the reins. The donkey kept veering to the left and right, making it quite a struggle to drive. His arms ached from pulling, so he simply let go of the reins and let it run on its own. Unexpectedly, the donkey walked in a straight line after the reins were loosened. Pei Yuan was both amused and exasperated. He poked the donkey's rump with the whip and said, "Pretty picky, huh? I'm too lazy to drive you."
The sun was blazing, and Qiu Su shielded her head with her sleeve. "What did you leave for the old lady?"
"Silver notes".