Husband, Let Me Touch Your Abs - Chapter 18
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Shangjing is the capitalThe illness hit hard, burning for three whole days before it showed any signs of improvement.
It had been raining for three days outside, but this morning the heavens finally relented, and the sun shyly peeked out.
Although Lu Yao was recovering, the illness had come on suddenly and left him feeling utterly weak, as if all the bones had been pulled from his body, leaving him soft and limp.
Early in the morning, Zhao Xiaonian brought a bowl of thick, dark medicinal soup into the room. “Sister-in-law, it’s time to take your medicine.”
Lu Yao wrinkled his nose, deeply skeptical that this bitter, foul-smelling concoction could actually help him.
He heard that it had been hard to find this medicine, with Zhao Beichuan making several trips to town to buy it. Pinching his nose, he gulped it down in one go, the bitter herbal taste exploding in his mouth, making him feel nauseous.
Zhao Xiaonian quickly shoved a piece of sugar into his mouth. “Is that better?”
“Yeah, much better. Where’s your brother?”
“He went to work in the fields. He left before dawn.”
The crops in the fields had been soaked by the rain, and everyone was busy draining the water to see if they could salvage them. Otherwise, they would have nothing come autumn.
The Zhao family had a total of twelve acres and six fen of land, with seven acres on the mountain and the remaining five acres at the foot of the mountain.
The mountain crops were mostly okay, with only a few ridges washed away, while the fields below had suffered greatly, nearly all submerged in water.
Zhao Beichuan was digging trenches at the edge of the field, trying to drain the water as quickly as possible; the longer they delayed, the more crops would perish.
Many others shared the same thoughts and were busy digging trenches to drain the water.
Early in the morning, Widow Song came to work in the fields with his mother-in-law and father-in-law. Having heard that the laborers had returned, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. As soon as he reached the field, he spotted Zhao Beichuan not far away.
As a fellow man, Zhao Beichuan exuded confidence, especially with those strong arms, which made Widow Song feel stirred inside.
Song Laotai glanced at her son-in-law. “Stop staring, hurry up and work!”
Reluctantly, Widow Song withdrew his gaze and picked up a shovel to start digging.
They worked until noon before Zhao Beichuan finally finished clearing his land. Looking at the wilted crops, he wasn’t sure how many would survive.
After washing his hands, he was about to head home when someone called out from behind him.
“Beichuan, are you done?”
Zhao Beichuan turned to see Widow Song approaching with a water pouch.
“Are you thirsty? Want some water?”
“No, I’ll drink when I get home.”
“Are you hungry? I brought some bean cakes.”
Zhao Beichuan frowned. “What do you want? Just say it quickly.” There were so many people around, and he didn’t want to give anyone the wrong impression.
“About that matter I mentioned last time, do you still remember?”
Zhao Beichuan’s expression darkened as he nodded. “I remember.”
Widow Song shyly shuffled his feet. “When are you planning to… divorce him?”
“When did I ever say I would divorce him?”
“Huh? He’s like that now, why don’t you… divorce him?”
Zhao Beichuan narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice. “What does this have to do with you? If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll make you regret it!” With that, he left without looking back.
Widow Song turned pale with fright, nearly shedding tears.
How could Zhao Beichuan treat him this way? It must be that vixen who bewitched him. No, he had to make Zhao Beichuan understand that Lu Yao was not a good person, and that he was the better match!
*
Zhao Beichuan returned home with the shovel and saw two people standing in the yard—his father-in-law and mother-in-law.
Over the past few days of heavy rain, Lu’s mother had been worried. Yesterday, she sent someone to inquire and learned that the Zhao family’s house had collapsed, shocking her so much that she couldn’t sleep all night. That’s why she insisted on coming over as soon as it got light.
On the way, Lu’s mother had complained the whole time, blaming him for finding such a poor family for Lu Yao. The broken house couldn’t even withstand the rain; what if it harmed her child?
Lu Guangsheng didn’t bother arguing with her; he wasn’t a deity and couldn’t have predicted such heavy rains this year.
When they arrived, they saw that Lu Yao had lost a lot of weight, his small face pale and bloodless. Lu’s mother’s heart tightened, and she hurriedly approached him. “Did you hurt anywhere? Why do you look so awful?”
“I’m fine; I just caught a chill in the rain and had a fever.”
“You’ve always been weak; you should take better care of yourself. What if something serious happens!”
Seeing his mother’s reddened eyes warmed Lu Yao’s heart. “It’s not that serious. Beichuan bought me medicine, and I’m almost better now.”
Just then, Zhao Beichuan walked into the yard with the shovel. “Dad, Mom, you’re here.”
“Ah.” Lu Guangsheng responded with a smile. He genuinely cherished this son-in-law; he couldn’t help but find him more and more agreeable.
“You two go inside and sit. I’ll buy some vegetables. Stay for lunch.”
Lu Guangsheng quickly waved his hand. “No need to trouble yourself; we just came to check on you and will leave.”
Lu Yao pulled the two inside. “Come on in; you’ll need to see the house later. It’s a mess after the collapse. Let’s see how much it’ll cost to rebuild.”
The two didn’t refuse any further and followed Lu Yao inside.
Inside the house, when Zhao Xiaonian and Zhao Xiaodou saw the adults arrive, they quickly got up to greet them and then ran outside to play.
Mother Lu: “These two kids are quite sensible. By the way, when do you plan to have children?”
Lu Yao was momentarily stunned by her question. “N-No hurry. Dachuan just came back.”
“Well, you need to hurry up a bit. The older the Ge’er gets, the harder it is to conceive.”
Lu Yao suspected this issue might be related to hormones. The gender of “Ge’er” is somewhat between male and female. When young, they likely secrete more estrogen, but as they age, the estrogen decreases, leading them to appear more masculine.
He had seen older Ge’ers who, apart from not having beards, looked almost indistinguishable from men.
“Ahem.” Father Lu cleared his throat, interrupting their conversation. “How are things with your village’s fields?”
“Every family’s land has been flooded. It’s just a matter of how much.”
Mother Lu sighed. “Our land has also flooded quite a bit. Your second brother and sister-in-law took the fourth and fifth ones to dig ditches early this morning. Who knows if the crops will survive.”
“Mom, don’t get too worked up.”
“How can I not? I haven’t been able to eat these past few days.” The old lady wiped her eyes and pulled out a handful of cash, looking like a few hundred coins.
“Take this money for now. You can pay me back later when things settle down.”
“No, no, Sister-in-law will definitely get angry.”
Mother Lu shot him a glare. “If I say take it, then take it. I run this household, and it’s not up to him to decide!”
Lu Yao was left speechless. “Mom, I really don’t need the money. Dachuan has money. You keep it for now, and if we don’t have enough for the house later, I’ll ask you.”
Seeing that he didn’t look like he was putting on a brave front, Mother Lu put the money away.
Before long, Zhao Beichuan returned, carrying a chicken and a jar of yellow wine.
As soon as Mother Lu saw it, she waved her hand. “Hey, why are you buying chicken during neither a festival nor a holiday? It’s too expensive; take it back!”
Zhao Beichuan replied solemnly, “Lu Yao has been sick these past few days and needs to replenish his health.”
Mother Lu fell silent and took the chicken from him to help prepare it.
Lu Yao glanced at Zhao Beichuan, thinking that this kid really knew how to soften the old lady’s heart.
He didn’t dare to take the knife to kill the chicken and could only assist his mother by fetching a clay bowl to collect the chicken’s blood.
Zhao Beichuan and Father Lu were in the kitchen boiling water to scald the chicken feathers.
“Dad, I want to rebuild the house, but I’m not sure how much it will cost.”
“How big do you plan to build, and what style?”
Zhao Beichuan thought for a moment. “Build four rooms. If the money is enough, we’ll use blue bricks; if not, adobe bricks will do.”
The kids will soon grow up, and it’s best to have separate living spaces. He also wanted to leave space for his younger brother to marry later.
Lu Guangsheng was an old bricklayer who had built houses for half his life and had a clear idea of costs. After calculating a bit, he gave a price.
“For brick walls, there are three-inch, five-inch, and seven-inch options. The thicker the wall, the more bricks are needed. The wealthy families in town build seven-inch walls, which are warm in winter. In our village, we’ll use five-inch walls. Building four rooms, four zhang(13.2m) long and one zhang eight chi(5.94m) deep, will need about over sixty thousand blue bricks altogether.”
“Not long ago, I repaired a courtyard for a landlord, and the brick price was five coins each. Just buying bricks will cost about fifteen guan(15000 coins). That doesn’t include tiles, labor, beams, doors, windows, and miscellaneous expenses; it won’t be less than thirty guan.”
Zhao Beichuan didn’t expect rebuilding to be so expensive. “What about building ordinary adobe houses?”
“The price is much cheaper. First, you won’t have to pay for soil; the labor costs are what make it expensive. About five or six guan(5-6k) should be enough.”
Zhao Beichuan felt relieved. He currently had more than six guan in hand. Even if he spent it all, he could go hunting in the mountains in autumn and still earn some money.
Lu Guangsheng asked, “When do you plan to build? Is the money you have enough?”
“It’s enough. I plan to start building during the farming slack in the next few days; otherwise, everyone will be too busy after autumn.”
“Okay, I’ll come help you then with your second brother.”
The water in the pot boiled, and Zhao Beichuan took a wooden basin, poured it out, and went outside to scald the chicken feathers.
After cleaning the chicken, Tian Er’s family returned and greeted Mother Lu.
When Tian Dazhuang saw the chicken, he couldn’t stop himself, pulling at his mother’s arm. “Chicken! There’s chicken! Mom, I want to eat chicken!”
“I see you as a chicken!” Tian Er’s wife kicked him, causing Tian Dazhuang to cover his face and start crying.
Lu Yao quickly said, “Sister-in-law, don’t hit the child; let’s eat together once it’s done.”
“Is that okay?” She said it was embarrassing but didn’t refuse, taking her son inside.
Mother Lu muttered under her breath, “A shallow-eyed coward.”
“Living in someone else’s house, yet wanting two pieces of meat.”
Mother Lu shot him a glance. “Now you’re being generous. When you were at home, you bit your fourth brother’s hand just to grab a piece of meat.”
Lu Yao was surprised. Was there such a thing? Reflecting on it, it seemed that the original body really had done that.
“Ahem, Mom, don’t bring up my past shortcomings. That was just me being immature.”
Mother Lu sighed. “Oh, it’s all due to poverty. If we had money, who would care about a piece of meat? By the way, how did you make that tofu your dad brought back a few days ago? It was so delicious?”
Lu Yao roughly explained the method of making tofu to her. “Tofu is cheap to make but labor-intensive. I’m thinking of making and selling tofu in the future; I just don’t know if it will work.”
“Of course, it will work! Your big dumb guy has a lot of strength; let him grind the tofu, and when you make money, buy your mother a set of satin funeral clothes.”
“That’s not enough. We should at least add a sturdy coffin!”
Mother Lu laughed and playfully punched him. Mother and son carried the cleaned chicken into the house.
1- “Blue bricks” likely refers to fired clay bricks that have a bluish hue, often used for their durability and strength in construction. They are typically made from clay that has a specific mineral composition, giving them their distinctive color.
“Adobe bricks,” on the other hand, are made from a mixture of clay, sand, and straw, which is molded and then dried in the sun. Adobe is known for its insulating properties and is often used in regions with a hot, dry climate. These bricks are less expensive than fired bricks but may not be as durable, especially in wet conditions.
2 – In traditional Chinese measurements, a **zhang** is equivalent to approximately **3.3 meters** (or **10.8 feet**), while a **chi** (foot) is about **0.33 meters** (or **1.1 feet**).
Given the dimensions you’ve provided:
– **Length:** 4 zhang
– 4 zhang ≈ **13.2 meters** (or **43.3 feet**)
– **Depth:** 1 zhang 8 chi
– 1 zhang = 3.3 meters
– 8 chi = 8 * 0.33 ≈ 2.64 meters
– Total depth ≈ 3.3 + 2.64 = **5.94 meters** (or **19.5 feet**)
So, the building’s dimensions would be approximately **13.2 meters long and 5.94 meters deep**.
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Obrigado pela tradução!