Husband, Let Me Touch Your Abs - Chapter 17

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Shangjing is the capital

The rain outside hadn’t stopped yet, and the water had already reached calf height, with the straw sandals making a splashing sound in the water.

The two of them returned to their yard, one in front of the other. Lu Yao looked at the swaying little house in the wind and rain, feeling a bit sad inside.

Although he had only lived here for half a month, perhaps due to a fledgling sentiment, the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was this house, and he had already developed feelings for it.

Just as Lu Yao was about to step inside to get something, he was pulled back by the person behind him.

“It’s dangerous inside the house. Wait here; I’ll go in and take a look first.”

Zhao Beichuan circled around the old house to see if it still needed repairs. When he turned to the back, he saw that the vegetable patch was a mess from the rainwater, and he thought to help tidy it up once the rain stopped.

The main beam of the house had already broken, and the load-bearing wall had collapsed halfway. It was definitely not repairable; only the western wall remained to support it. If it continued to rain, there was a possibility of a collapse at any moment.

Zhao Beichuan stepped through a broken window and entered the bedroom, digging out the clay pot he had hidden earlier from the heating stove and handing it to Lu Yao.

“There are five guan(5k coins) of money here; you take care of it.”

“Okay, alright.” Lu Yao hugged the heavy clay pot, not expecting that this man had quite a bit of money! He had given Lu Yao two guan earlier and secretly saved five more. Lu Yao remembered that the original owner didn’t seem to have this much money; he was quite generous to let him keep it!

Indeed, a generous man is more likable. Regardless of whether this money could be spent or not, at least he trusted Lu Yao, which made him very happy. Initially, he was only interested in Zhao Beichuan’s physical aspect, but now he had developed feelings for this person.

The bedroom was in disarray, the entire roof had collapsed, trapping the storage boxes and bedding underneath. If Lu Yao hadn’t managed to take the two children away in time, the outcome would have been unimaginable.

Zhao Beichuan cleared away the broken wood; one of the two storage boxes was smashed by the beam, while the other was still usable. They planned to move them next door, or else they would be ruined by the rainwater.

The five-dou(5 compartment) cabinet was also broken, but he picked out some usable small items from inside and handed them to Lu Yao in a complete drawer to take outside.

Next were the bedding and quilts. Although they were soaked and covered in mud, they couldn’t be thrown away. After all, getting a new set of bedding was too expensive; just the fabric would cost over a hundred wen(1000 wen = 1 tael of silver), and cotton wasn’t cheap either. They could wash it clean when the weather improved and continue to use it.

The kitchen roof hadn’t collapsed; the two jars were still intact. Zhao Beichuan poured out the water from one jar and moved it outside. There was still some millet in the rice jar, which he planned to take next door for Sister Tian as food.

He packed the ceramic bowls and chopsticks from the bowl rack into a wooden bucket, along with the ceramic pot and lid.

Having cleaned up most of the items in the house, Lu Yao ran to move the chicks outside. He was afraid the continuous rain at night would drown them, and if that happened, the two children would definitely cry.

The two of them carried a pile of things back to the Tian family, saying not a word along the way.

Lu Yao didn’t know what to say; Zhao Beichuan was a man of few words by nature.

After putting down their things, Zhao Beichuan instructed them not to go out again and went to the fields to check on the crops.

This rain had come at a bad time. The end of June was the peak growth period for crops, and it was also when the millet had just started to tassel. The finger-sized millet ears were floating in the water, and it was uncertain if they could survive.

They only grew millet and didn’t plant wheat or beans. The bean field next door at Uncle Zhao’s was in worse shape; the small bean pods on the stalks had all been washed away by the rain. It seemed that this field would be a total loss.

There were many people out checking their crops, and everyone looked worried as they greeted each other.

“Beichuan, how’s your field?”

Zhao Beichuan shook his head with a grave expression. “The uphill land is fine; the elevation kept it from being affected. But the downhill fields are all flooded.”

“Alas, the heavens are unkind; isn’t this leaving people without a way to survive!” The man who spoke had reddened eyes from distress.

The common people rely on these few acres of land to make a living all year round. Now, having suffered a flood, there would be little food harvested in the fall, and after taxes, there probably wouldn’t be enough to eat.

“Let’s see if the rain stops tomorrow. If it does, we can drain the water; perhaps there’s still a chance of saving it.”

“I heard that several houses in the village have collapsed from the rain. In our backyard, the house of Yang Laosi collapsed and injured his father’s leg.”

“By the way, Beichuan, how’s your house?”

Zhao Beichuan replied, “It collapsed halfway too.”

“Oh no! Is anyone hurt?”

“No one’s hurt; my husband stayed up all night and took the kids to Brother Tian’s house next door.”

“That’s good. You can’t say there shouldn’t be someone at home; otherwise, how would the two kids know what to do?”

Everyone was discussing animatedly. Although they felt bad inside, life still had to go on. For now, they could only wait for the heavens to show some mercy and spare them a chance at survival.

After wandering around the fields, Zhao Beichuan had a rough idea of the situation. It didn’t look like the rain was going to stop anytime soon, so he decided to head back and wait. Even if the fields were a total loss this year, he still had his hunting skills, so he wouldn’t let his younger siblings go hungry… and that little husband of his.

Thinking of Lu Yao, Zhao Beichuan felt a little uneasy.

At first, he thought Lu Yao was as sharp-tongued, lazy, and wicked as others said. He had mentally prepared himself to return and divorce him.

Unexpectedly, upon returning, he found that Lu Yao was not as bad as others said. This person was gentle, spoke softly, worked diligently, and, more importantly, genuinely cared for the two children.

This was exactly the kind of husband Zhao Beichuan had always wanted to find.

Unfortunately, his heart belonged to someone else; he had even contemplated suicide for that person…

Zhao Beichuan’s gaze darkened. Forget it; once the rain stops, he would discuss divorce with Lu Yao. It wouldn’t be right to keep dragging him along.

When they returned to the Tian family, it was already late.

Everyone finished eating, and there was a big bowl of porridge left in the pot for Zhao Beichuan.

Zhao Beichuan drank it in a few gulps and went inside, seeing Zhao Xiaonian and Zhao Xiaodou feeding the chicks and playing while Lu Yao was lying on the kang with his back to them, sleeping.

“Brother, you’re back,” Zhao Xiaodou greeted him, getting up.

“Shh, be quieter.”

Zhao Xiaodou covered his mouth, and Zhao Xiaonian lowered his voice, “Big brother, it seems like sister-in-law isn’t feeling well today. She lay down as soon as she got back and didn’t even eat dinner.”

Zhao Beichuan frowned and sat at the edge of the kang, asking, “Is she not feeling well?”

No one answered.

“Lu Yao?”

The person beside him remained motionless.

Zhao Beichuan couldn’t help but reach out to touch his forehead; it was burning hot! He quickly pulled him up.

“Ugh, so cold…”

Zhao Beichuan wrapped him in a quilt.

“Xiaonian, hurry and call Aunt Tian over here!”

Lu Yao, feverish and hazy, opened his eyes and saw the man beside him, struggling to sit up.

Zhao Beichuan held him down, “Don’t move; you have a fever.”

So it was a fever; no wonder he felt so cold.

It was probably because he got caught in the rain last night, and today his clothes hadn’t dried properly, leading to a chill. But Zhao Beichuan and the two children had also been in the rain and were fine, yet he was the only one who had fallen ill.

After a while, Aunt Tian came over and touched Lu Yao’s face, “Oh dear, you’re burning hot! What are we going to do?”

Zhao Beichuan stood up, “I’ll go to the town’s pharmacy to buy medicine.”

“It’s already this late, and it’s still raining outside. What pharmacy is still open?”

Lu Yao forced himself to wave his hand, “No need… just help me find a needle.”

Aunt Tian quickly brought over a sewing basket. Lu Yao took out a needle, heated it over the oil lamp for a moment, gritted his teeth, and pricked the tip of his thumb. Blood immediately oozed out!

Then he pricked his other fingers one by one.

Aunt Tian was startled, “What are you doing?!”

“This method can reduce fever; there’s no need to worry.” This method was called the “Ten Fingers Bloodletting Method,” which he had learned online. During the pandemic in his last life, with a shortage of medicine, Lu Yao had learned many remedies from the internet while being quarantined at home, fearing he wouldn’t be able to buy medicine if he had a fever.

After pricking all ten fingers, Lu Yao felt a sweat break out on his forehead from the pain. “Please help me boil some hot water.” Without medicine, he could only rely on drinking more water to speed up his metabolism and expel the inflammation from his body.

Zhao Beichuan got up to light the fire and boil water in the kitchen while Zhao Xiaonian and Zhao Xiaodou leaned beside him, looking worried.

“Sister-in-law, does your hand hurt? Let me blow on it for you.” Xiaodou pouted and gently blew into his palm.

Zhao Xiaonian helped him tuck in the quilt, “Sister-in-law, you should rest well. I’ll keep watch over you tonight.”

“No need, sister-in-law is fine.”

“I’m not sleepy; if you feel unwell, you can tell me.”

Lu Yao smiled with appreciation; how thoughtful these two children were.

“You two don’t disturb him; hurry and go to sleep.” After a while, Zhao Beichuan came in with a bowl of hot ginger soup.

The two children crawled into the quilt slowly. Lu Yao propped himself up, took the ceramic bowl, and slowly drank the water, which seemed to have sugar in it, tasting both spicy and sweet.

Zhao Beichuan said, “I found a piece of cane sugar in the bowl cupboard and put some in just now.”

Lu Yao finished the hot water, and feeling a bit sweaty, quickly covered himself with the quilt and drowsily fell asleep again.

In the middle of the night, he suddenly felt his stomach churning and quickly crawled out of bed, vomiting all over the floor.

Since he hadn’t eaten anything that night, he was throwing up sour liquid, and he felt so miserable that he was shaking all over.

In the darkness, someone supported him, wiping his mouth with a cloth, a rough palm gently patting his back to comfort him.

When a person falls ill, they can feel particularly vulnerable. Lu Yao didn’t even know why he suddenly started to cry.

Maybe it was because his stomach hurt too much, maybe it was the pain from the pricked fingers, but mostly it was the burden of crossing over to this new life that he couldn’t let go of.

An adult’s breakdown often happens in an instant.

When Zhao Beichuan saw him crying, he panicked, “Are you feeling really bad? I’ll go to the town right now to buy medicine.”

“Come back.”

Zhao Beichuan paused, immediately returning to his side.

Lu Yao choked out, “Didn’t you say you wanted to divorce me? Why do you care about me now?”

“When did I say I wanted to divorce you?”

“You said it the last time you came back. You’d divorce me if I was bad to Xiaonian and Xiaodou.”

“At that time, I didn’t know what kind of person you were.”

“Do you know now?”

“Um… you’re a good person.”

Being labeled a good person made Lu Yao’s nose tingle, and tears flowed even more fiercely. He grabbed Zhao Beichuan’s hand and bit down hard!

He didn’t want to be a good person; he wanted to be a rogue!

A **kang** (炕) is a traditional Chinese heated brick bed or platform, commonly found in northern China. It is raised above the ground and designed to retain heat from a fire or stove, making it a warm and comfortable place to sleep, especially in winter. The kang serves as a multifunctional space for sleeping, gathering, and socializing, often central to family life in rural homes.