Husband, Let Me Touch Your Abs - Chapter 14
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hi guys im translating nother wn of the same author in another site you can read it here - LINK
Shangjing is the capitalIn the evening, Lu’s father came home from work. Recently, a wealthy family in the town had been renovating their house and had hired several tile workers, paying them twenty wen a day. Lu’s father had been working for about seven or eight days, and the renovation was nearly complete.
During dinner, Lu’s mother recounted the day’s events.
“The family of the second son is unhappy today because I lent money to the third son.”
Lu Guangsheng remained silent as he picked up his food; all the family affairs were managed by his wife, and he was only responsible for working and earning money.
“Look at the third son; how could I refuse him when he comes to borrow money? He’s so desperate that he’d rather hang himself over a scholar. What if he seeks death again?”
“It’s all your fault for spoiling him.”
Lu’s mother was so angry her chest hurt. “Fine, fine, it’s all my fault. Isn’t Lu Yao your son? If he hadn’t nearly died from illness back then, I wouldn’t have…”
“Alright, what happened later?”
“Just in time, Lu Yao came and returned the money.”
“Then that’s settled. If the second son’s wife makes a fuss again, just say a few words to her; it won’t affect her daily needs. Don’t keep staring at the family’s small amount of money.” Lu Guangsheng finished his meal and handed the bowl to his wife for a refill.
“Are you going to the town again tomorrow?”
“No, I’m not going. The house is finished. I’ll see if there’s work in other villages.”
“That’s good. Lu Yao wants you to go help him; you should go over tomorrow.”
“Hmm.”
*
After returning from his mother’s house, it was still early. Lu Yao took some corn to Grandma Zhao’s house to exchange for two dou of beans, cleaning and soaking them in water.
Yellow beans needed to be soaked for at least six or seven hours before they could be ground into a paste. In the meantime, he planned to take a trip to the town to buy gypsum and hemp cloth; he wanted to try making tofu today.
The journey took more than an hour, leaving him drenched in sweat. This was the downside of ancient times: there were no means of transportation, and one had to rely on walking. He missed the little electric scooter from his past life, or even a bicycle would be nice.
Alas, he wasn’t a science student, and it seemed unlikely he would ever ride a vehicle in this life.
Today wasn’t a market day, so the town was quite deserted. Occasionally, a passerby hurried by.
Lu Yao first went to the fabric store to buy hemp cloth. Hemp cloth and ramie cloth were commonly used materials by the locals. Untreated hemp cloth was light brown, thin, breathable, and absorbent, but the downside was that it wore out quickly and would tear after a while.
The price of hemp cloth was quite cheap, costing only three hundred wen per bolt. Lu Yao didn’t need that much for making tofu, so he only bought five feet, spending thirty wen.
After purchasing the hemp cloth, he looked at other fabrics. He intended to buy some soft fabric to make himself a pair of underpants. Wearing only one pair of pants every day made him feel exposed and insecure.
The clerk at the fabric store introduced him to several types of fabric: coarse cotton was fifteen wen per foot, fine cotton was thirty wen per foot, silk was sixty wen per foot, and satin was even more expensive at a hundred wen per foot, which wasn’t sold by the piece unless he bought at least ten feet.
Lu Yao felt the copper coins in his pocket and gasped; the prices were outrageous! If he didn’t work hard to earn money, he wouldn’t even be able to afford underpants in the future.
Finally, gritting his teeth, he spent sixty wen to buy two feet of cotton fabric.
Although Zhao Beichuan had given him two guan, he couldn’t spend it recklessly. He needed to be careful in case they fell out one day, leaving him without a way to borrow money to repay it.
After buying the fabric, Lu Yao inquired about nearby pharmacies. The clerk at the fabric store told him that he would see one just around the corner of the back street. Following the directions, he quickly found the pharmacy.
Upon entering the pharmacy, the scent of Chinese medicine wafted in the air. A clerk approached and asked, “Are you here to buy medicine or see a doctor?”
“Excuse me, do you have cold water stone?”
“Yes, how much do you need?”
“What’s the price?” Lu Yao felt worried about his limited money and was concerned he might not be able to buy much.
“It’s five wen per pound.”
The price was reasonable, and Lu Yao bought two pounds for ten wen. This amount of gypsum, when dissolved in water, would last him for a while.
Next to the pharmacy was a pottery shop. Lu Yao went in and bought three coarse porcelain bowls; each bowl cost seven wen, and the shopkeeper only charged him twenty wen. It seemed that plates were not sold in this era, probably because clay pots couldn’t be used for stir-frying, making plates less practical.
On his way back, he passed by a grain shop and couldn’t resist buying fifty wen of cane sugar.
Fifty wen could buy half a corn or a dou of beans, but the sugar only got him a pitiful handful, which was mostly impure and roughly processed cane sugar.
He couldn’t help but lament the high price of sugar in ancient times; it was something ordinary people could hardly afford.
*
By the time he got home, it was already dark. Zhao Xiaonian and Zhao Xiaodou had prepared the meal.
“Sister-in-law, you’re back!” Zhao Xiaodou ran out to help carry things.
Lu Yao pulled a little sugar from the small cloth bag and popped it into his mouth.
The child’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wow! So sweet!”
Lu Yao couldn’t help but laugh, and he gave Zhao Xiaonian a piece as well when he entered the house.
“Sister-in-law, you bought sugar!”
“Yeah, later I’ll go grind tofu, and tonight I’ll make sweet soybean milk for you.”
“Yay~” The two children cheered, even though they didn’t know what sweet soybean milk was; it just sounded delicious!
After dinner, Lu Yao checked the beans soaking in the basin; they had already swelled and felt very soft to the touch.
He scooped the beans into a bucket and rinsed them twice. The two children took a water ladle and a wooden basin, bouncing along behind him to the village to grind tofu. Ever since his sister-in-law married into the family, life seemed to have become much more interesting.
Arriving at the village’s old grinding stone, there wasn’t a soul in sight. By this season, everyone had finished grinding flour, and the stone mill was idle, covered in a layer of leaves and dust.
Lu Yao first filled a basin with clean water and washed the large stone mill inside and out twice, ensuring no dirty water flowed out before starting to grind the beans.
He mixed the yellow beans with water in a roughly one-to-seven or eight ratio and slowly poured them into the hollow in the center, then pushed the wooden handle to start grinding.
Lu Yao pushed once, but the stone mill didn’t budge…
He didn’t believe in evil. Gripping the wooden handle tightly, he pushed again with all his strength, and the stone mill turned slightly.
No way! Is the stone mill really this hard to use?
“Sister-in-law, I’ll help you!” Zhao Xiaonian rolled up his sleeves, his little face turning red as he pushed the millstone. Zhao Xiaodou was too short to contribute much, so he could only clench his fists anxiously from the side.
With all his might, Lu Yao finally got the millstone to rotate.
Once it started turning, the resistance was less, but it was still labor-intensive. After pushing for less than three minutes, Lu Yao was drenched in sweat and his arms trembled.
This body was just too weak. He wasn’t sure if it was due to hormonal reasons or lack of exercise, but he had almost no muscle; his thighs and arms felt soft, completely different from his previous life’s body.
While gritting his teeth to push the mill, Lu Yao silently vowed that for the sake of his health, he had to exercise every day from now on. In this era of scarce food and clothing, if he fell ill, he would be in serious trouble.
Before long, milky-white soy milk began to flow slowly from the stone mill’s groove, dripping into the wooden bucket beside it.
A large bowl of beans produced a bucket of soy milk. Lu Yao’s hands were blistered, and his clothes were soaked through. Zhao Xiaonian was also quite exhausted, sitting on the ground and panting heavily.
No wonder this is one of the three labors: forging, rowing boats, and making tofu.
“If only Big Brother was here. He’s so strong that he could grind all the corn at home, and he even helped Grandma Zhao grind flour,” Lu Yao recalled Zhao Beichuan’s strong arms, feeling his face grow warm. “When your brother comes back, let him grind the beans.”
After taking a break, Lu Yao lifted the wooden bucket to head back. Zhao Xiaonian draped her arms over her younger brother’s shoulders and exclaimed, “I’m so tired! Little Dou, hurry up and grow taller so you can carry me!”
“Jie, don’t squash me! If you do, I won’t grow taller!” After saying that, he shook off her arms and ran away.
“Wait for me, you little rascal!” The two kids chased and played, returning home under a sky full of stars.
The raw soy milk had to be cooked before drinking. Lu Yao lit the fire and poured the soy milk into the clay pot to heat it.
This heating process was also quite troublesome. The soy milk needed to boil seven to eight times, and if he didn’t control the heat properly, it would have a burnt taste, making the tofu unpalatable. Of course, if the heat was too low, it would also have a bean smell.
At this hour, it was already time for the two kids to rest. They waited eagerly to drink that sweet soy milk, reluctant to sleep, sitting by the stove and yawning.
Since they had some idle time, Lu Yao said, “Let me tell you a story.”
“What story?” The two kids perked up.
“This story is called ‘The Mermaid Princess.’” Lu Yao didn’t have many stories to tell, so he picked one he was familiar with from his previous life to share with the two kids.
“In the East Sea, there are mermaids that can live for a thousand years. Their tears turn into pearls, worth a fortune. Moreover, every mermaid is very beautiful; they have the upper body of a human and the lower body of a colorful fish tail.”
“Wow~” The two kids exclaimed in surprise.
As Lu Yao stirred the soy milk, he told them the story. When he got to the part where the little mermaid turned into foam for love, Zhao Xiaonian’s eyes turned red.
“How could that prince mistake the wrong person! Boo hoo, the mermaid princess is so pitiful. She can’t even speak anymore, and she turns into foam. How can this happen?”
“Sister-in-law, are there really such mermaids?”
“I don’t know; there probably are, but they all live in the sea, so ordinary people can’t see them.”
Lu Yao couldn’t help but chuckle and reached out to ruffle her hair. “Okay, don’t cry anymore. The soy milk is ready to drink, right?”
Zhao Xiaonian sniffed and said, “Yes.”
Zhao Xiaodou fell asleep before the story ended, and Lu Yao carried him into the room. It seemed like he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the soy milk today.
Once the soy milk was boiled, it couldn’t be drunk directly; it needed to be filtered to remove the bean dregs for a smoother texture.
Lu Yao took out the pre-washed hemp cloth, tied the four corners with rope under the bowl rack, and placed a wooden bucket underneath to catch the liquid.
As the soy milk poured through, its fragrant aroma filled the entire kitchen.
Lu Yao served two bowls of soy milk, broke off a piece of brown sugar, crushed it with a rolling pin, and added it to the bowls.
Once the sugar dissolved, he took a sip, and the taste was almost indistinguishable from what he remembered from his previous life, even richer than the soy milk he’d had before.
Zhao Xiaonian took a sip and her eyes widened in surprise. “Mmm! Sister-in-law, this is so delicious!” She had never tasted anything so fragrant and sweet, and couldn’t help but take another sip. Then, she carried the bowl into the room and shook her sleeping brother awake.
“Wake up and drink the soy milk! Hurry up!”
Zhao Xiaodou, still half-asleep, took the clay bowl and took a sip, instantly waking up and licking his lips, asking, “Jie, what is this?”
“It’s sweet soy milk that sister-in-law made for us!”
“It’s really delicious! Let me have another sip.”
“Go get your own bowl and let sister-in-law serve you.”
Zhao Xiaodou, now fully awake, got up and ran outside, saying, “Sister-in-law, I want to drink sweet soy milk too!”
Lu Yao handed him his bowl. “Take it and drink.”
There wasn’t much soy milk left from today’s grinding, and if he drank another bowl, he might not be able to make many pieces of tofu.
After finishing the soy milk, the two kids could no longer resist their sleepiness and went to bed.
Lu Yao still had one last step to complete: pressing the tofu.
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Obrigada pelos capítulos 😘🧡