Husband, Let Me Touch Your Abs - Chapter 31

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Shangjing is the capital

Early this morning, Lin Daman greeted Lu Yao and went to Song Changshun’s house to collect the grain. When he arrived, the door was locked. Looking at the familiar house, Lin Daman felt a twinge of emotion.

He had lived in this old house for seven years. When he first got married, the Song family was poor, and the whole family of seven or eight squeezed into three rooms. Because of his fiery temper, which displeased Old Lady Song, they decided to split up and kicked him to the old house next door.

At that time, the old house was so dilapidated that it didn’t even have a roof, and it was he who climbed up and repaired it bit by bit.

Back then, he was young, and he didn’t feel the hardships; he thought that as long as the two of them lived well together, there would eventually be a way out.

When Xiaochun was born, Song Changshun’s laziness gradually began to show. He idled around every day, not caring about anything. Lin Daman had argued with him and fought with him; at times, it got serious, and he even resorted to violence. Unfortunately, Song Changshun just wouldn’t change. Not only did he refuse to improve, but he also became worse, hiding away during busy farming seasons.

Later, when the second child was born, Lin Daman stopped arguing with him. He just did what he could; if he couldn’t do it, there was no choice. If he couldn’t rely on the man, he would just treat it as if he didn’t exist.

Thinking about the miserable years he had endured, Lin Daman found it laughable. No man in any family was as useless as him, like a livestock tethered and going backwards.

After waiting for a long time without seeing anyone come back, Lin Daman turned and went to his mother-in-law’s house.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he heard Old Lady Song shouting, “Crying, crying, is this a door of death?!”

“I want to find my mother! I want to find my mother!” Song Ping screamed. After getting sick, he had some complications; when he cried too hard, he started coughing, almost choking.

Old Lady Song was both anxious and angry, patting his back and saying, “Your mother died a long time ago; stop thinking about her!”

“Mom isn’t dead; you sent her to the temple! Bad grandmother, let my mother out!”

Old Lady Song was so angry that she almost fainted. After serving him a meal with all her effort, she felt aggrieved, raised her hand, and slapped Song Ping twice, making him cry even harder.

“Cough.” Lin Daman coughed, and Old Lady Song looked up, her eyes lighting up when she saw him at the door.

“Daman’s back! Come in quickly!”

“I’m not going in; I have something to say right here. We agreed when we divorced that I would get half of the grain. The children are waiting for food, so I came to ask when Song Changshun will give me my share.”

Old Lady Song pouted, “You need to ask the second son about that; I don’t know.”

“He’s not home. If you see him, please tell him for me.” After saying this, Lin Daman turned to leave.

Old Lady Song hurried after him, grabbing his arm and saying, “Daman, don’t leave yet; I need to talk to you.”

Lin Daman pulled his arm away, frowning and saying, “If you have something to say, just say it; stop pulling at me.”

“How much does the little Zhao pay you daily for making tofu?”

“Why do you want to know that?”

“Since he makes so much money from tofu, aren’t you jealous?”

Lin Daman wasn’t jealous at all; the skill of making tofu belonged to others. He was just putting in a bit of effort, living in Zhao’s house while earning wages. What was there to be jealous about?

Old Lady Song’s eyes turned, and she said, “Now that you’ve learned the skill of making tofu, why not come back and work with Changshun? He can make money, and you can too; it’s better than working for him!”

Lin Daman scoffed, “I can’t count on Song Changshun. I’m afraid that if he makes money, he’ll go out and get involved with someone else’s wife.”

“That won’t happen; he’s changed.”

“A dog can’t change its habit of eating shit. Lu Yao treats me well; I won’t share the methods of making tofu with anyone. You can give up on that idea!”

“Hey, you stubborn one! This way of making money is so good, yet you don’t think about your family. What kind of potion has Lu Yao fed you to make you so devoted to working for him? Or are you also interested in Zhao Beichuan, willingly being his little servant?” This mother and son pair were truly cut from the same cloth!

Lin Daman immediately got angry. “Shut your mouth! Do you think everyone is like your eldest daughter-in-law, going around flirting with men, unable to walk straight?”

Old Lady Song was also furious. “Bah! If it weren’t for you asking me to catch him cheating, would we have ended up like this, with a broken family? You, the troublemaker, should never have let Changshun marry you!”

“Your second son is having an affair with the eldest daughter-in-law; now it’s all my fault? If this gets out, people will laugh their heads off!”

Old Lady Song grabbed a broom and threw it at him, and Lin Daman, unwilling to back down, turned around, seized the broom, and threw it back at Old Lady Song.

Just then, Song Changshun and his father came back, saw Lin Daman and Old Lady Song arguing, and without saying a word, grabbed their farming tools and came at him.

Although Lin Daman was strong, he was outnumbered and soon found himself at a disadvantage. His forehead was hit, leaving a cut, and his mouth was bruised.

The noise of the fight attracted a crowd of onlookers.

Just then, Tian Dazhuang and Tian Er’s wife passed by, and upon seeing Lin Daman being beaten, they hurried to report to Lu’s house.

Lu Yao ran all the way to Song’s house, where a large crowd had already gathered outside, three layers deep.

Someone said, “That’s enough; after all, they’re family, no need to fight to the death.”

“Right, Daman has it hard too. They agreed during the divorce to give him half the grain; now they can’t just beat him like this.”

“Excuse me, excuse me, let me through!” Lu Yao pushed through the crowd and saw Lin Daman pinned down by Song Changshun, being slapped while Song Changshun yelled, “I’m not going to stoop to your level; do you really think I’m afraid of you? How dare you come to my house to cause trouble! Let go of me, do you hear?!”

Lin Daman, bleeding from his nose and mouth, gripped Song Changshun’s hair tightly, pulling so hard that blood showed on his scalp.

“Stop! Stop hitting him!” Lu Yao rushed in to separate the two.

Seeing Lu Yao, Old Lady Song was filled with old grievances and rushed at him with a hoe.

Lu Yao dodged in fright, shouting, “Someone help! If this continues, someone will die!”

The onlookers remained indifferent. To them, this was a family matter of the Song family. Even though Lin Daman had divorced, he was still considered a son-in-law of the Song family; outsiders had no business intervening.

“Boss, you don’t need to worry about me. Today, I will fight to the death, and I won’t let them live well!” Lin Daman gathered his strength, flipping Song Changshun over and choking him, wanting to perish together.

Old Lady Song, not caring about Lu Yao, turned back to attack Lin Daman with the hoe. Lu Yao lunged to stop her, and chaos ensued.

When Zhao Beichuan returned, he saw this scene: Lu Yao’s hair was disheveled, with cuts on his face from Old Lady Song, and Lin Daman was fighting fiercely against the two men from the Song family.

“Stop!” His loud shout startled everyone nearby, and they quickly stepped aside to make way.

Zhao Beichuan hurried forward, kicking Old Lady Song away, pulling Lu Yao to his side, asking, “Did they hurt you?”

“I’m fine, hurry and help Brother Daman.”

Zhao Beichuan showed no mercy to the men. He grabbed Song Changshun like a chick and slammed him to the ground, pounding his fists into his face, leaving him with no chance to fight back, only able to flail his arms and legs while letting out pitiful cries.

This was the first time Lu Yao had seen Zhao Beichuan angry, and he was so scared that his legs turned to jelly. He quickly grabbed Zhao Beichuan’s arm, saying, “Stop, stop! If you keep this up, you’ll kill him!”

Zhao Beichuan had wanted to beat him up for a long time. He pointed at the man on the ground and said, “You think I don’t know about your collusion with the widow Song to harm Lu Yao? One more time and I’ll see if I won’t kill you!”

“I won’t dare! I won’t dare anymore!” Song Changshun was scared to the point of losing his mind. He hadn’t expected that Zhao Beichuan would know about that matter.

“Go get the grain for Lin Daman!”

“Okay, okay…” It took Song Changshun a long time to get up from the ground and he limped back home to divide three bags of corn.

Lin Daman, with injuries on his body, had a triumphant expression on his face, like a victorious rooster, as he carried the grain out of Song’s house.

The commotion had frightened the Song family so much that they never dared to provoke Lu Yao and Lin Daman again.

In the blink of an eye, the land of the Lu family was nearly harvested, and when only two acres of sorghum were left, Lu’s father no longer allowed Zhao Beichuan to help.

“I’ll harvest it slowly with your second brother; it will be done in two days. You should hurry back to chop firewood.”

In farming households, there is little leisure time in the month following the harvest. As soon as the fields are cleared, the weather starts to get cold, and every family begins stockpiling firewood.

This year, Zhao’s family needed more firewood for making tofu than in previous years, so they had to prepare it ahead of time; otherwise, once the snow fell, it would be slippery on the mountain and hard to cut.

Every year, Zhao Beichuan took the opportunity to hunt while chopping firewood. Previously, Lu Yao thought he used a bow and arrow for hunting, but it turned out to be more primitive and brutal; he actually used a spear to stab. But thinking about it, it made sense— the mountain had dense forests, making archery inaccurate.

The spear was made by himself, with a sturdy wooden stick tied to a sharp iron tip. Although it looked rough, it had incredible lethality. Coupled with his immense strength, he could easily pierce through his prey.

The first time Zhao Beichuan took this weapon up the mountain, it was to bolster his courage.

He was only thirteen at the time and followed others to the mountain to chop firewood, but being young, he was also timid and afraid of encountering wolves or leopards. So, he made a weapon for self-defense.

Unexpectedly, he accidentally caught two wild rabbits. He sold the rabbits for fifty wen, which made him very happy. The next year, he started hunting while chopping firewood.

When luck was on his side, he could catch seven or eight animals in a month, and it was easy to sell them in town.

In recent years, Zhao Beichuan noticed that in October, merchant caravans returning from Goguryeo passed through town. Those people spent generously, and the better the prey, the higher the price it could fetch.

Since then, he sold his catch to those merchants. Last year, he hunted a red fox and sold it for a high price of three guan!

Early in the morning, Lu Yao packed a water pouch and flatbread into a cloth bag and handed it to Zhao Beichuan, who was tying his pant legs. When going up the mountain to chop firewood, he needed to wrap his pant legs with grass rope ahead of time to avoid being bitten by snakes.

“Why don’t I go with you? Let Brother Daman sell tofu alone at home.”

Without hesitation, Zhao Beichuan firmly refused, “No, it’s too dangerous.”

“I’m not at ease with you going up the mountain alone. If something happens, two people can look out for each other.”

Zhao Beichuan tightened the grass rope and stomped his foot. “Don’t worry; I go there every year. Nothing will happen.” He slung Lu Yao’s handmade backpack, filled with water, food, and a large roll of grass rope. The rope was for tying up firewood, and hunting was secondary; chopping firewood was the main task.

He would be gone until evening. Lu Yao walked him to the gate, and when he turned around, he saw Xiaonian and Xiaodou covering their mouths, stifling laughter.

“What are you two giggling about?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Xiaodou quickly shook his head.

Xiaonian grinned and said, “Sister-in-law, you treat my big brother really well!”

“I’m his wife. If I don’t treat him well, who else will I treat well?”

“That’s not the same. Look at how the neighbor, Sister Tian, treats Brother Tian. She’s not good to him at all. He can’t see clearly, and Sister Tian often puts a stool in front of the door to trip him.”

Lu Yao glared, “You can’t say that outside!”

“Ah, I wouldn’t say it recklessly. Anyway, you and Big Brother are great together. This is called… called… called love.”

“Love? I see you’re just itching for a beating.” Lu Yao pretended to swing his hand to hit her, and Zhao Xiaonian pulled her brother away, laughing as they ran off. They weren’t afraid of their sister-in-law; he was the softest-hearted person.

Lu Yao imitated Zhao Xiaonian’s tone, “Love~~ Pfft! We don’t even have a proper marriage. What kind of love is that?”

After the autumn harvest, tofu sales decreased, returning to the original amount; two boards of tofu weren’t enough to sell, and three boards of tofu couldn’t be sold at all.

The mule cart would take another two days to be finished, so for the next few days, Lu Yao and Lin Daman pushed a small wooden cart back and forth. The unsold tofu was sometimes eaten at home and sometimes given to Grandma Zhao next door.

Speaking of Grandma Zhao, she wasn’t a bad person, but she often offended others with her words. She liked to lecture people, taking advantage of her age.

Because her family and Zhao Beichuan’s family fled from the same place, she always felt she was older than Zhao Beichuan and liked to meddle in their affairs.

For example, when they bought the mule a while ago, most neighbors came to see the excitement, praising Lu Yao for being capable enough to earn money so quickly to buy a mule.

Only Grandma Zhao scoffed, saying, “Why spend so much money? You’ve never raised livestock; if you can’t take care of it, it’ll be wasted. It’s better to save the money.”

Lu Yao’s mouth twitched at her words, and he could barely maintain a fake smile. How could someone say that? Just after someone bought livestock, she wished ill on it. If it had been someone with a temper, they would have had a falling out with her right then.

That evening, Lu Yao complained a bit, and Zhao Beichuan comforted him, saying, “Grandma Zhao isn’t a bad person. When we lost our parents, and Xiaodou was just one year old, and Xiaonian was three, I would leave the kids at her house while I worked in the fields, and she took care of them.” So, Zhao Beichuan owed her a favor and appreciated her kindness.

Lu Yao sighed and said no more; if the old lady wanted to talk, let her talk; it wouldn’t cost him anything.

Zhao Beichuan walked along a rugged mountain path. If he went west for more than ten miles, he would see a large forest where many dead trees stood.

When it came to gathering firewood, dead trees were the first choice because they were dry and easy to carry back for burning. Furthermore, this forest was relatively far from the village, meaning there were more wild animals inside, making it easier to catch prey.

Apart from some thorns along the way, he occasionally heard birds chirping in the woods, but he didn’t encounter any snakes or other wild beasts.

An hour later, he finally arrived at the big forest. Zhao Beichuan hung his backpack on a tree and began picking up dead branches from the ground.

There were plenty of dead branches scattered throughout the forest. On the first day, he didn’t even need to swing his axe; just picking up the branches was enough to bundle a large bunch.

As he picked up branches, he wandered further away, venturing deeper into the forest, where it became much darker. The enormous tree canopies blocked the sunlight, making it hard to tell directions. If Zhao Beichuan hadn’t come here every year, he would surely have lost his way.

The deeper he went into the mountains, the more traces of wild animals he encountered. Occasionally, he heard the rustling of deer running over the leaves behind him; they were too fast to catch up with.

Zhao Beichuan’s main target was foxes; after tasting the sweetness of it, he knew the fur was worth more than the meat. He planned to hunt a couple this year and sell them to Lu Yao and the two kids to make new cotton jackets.

After searching for a while without finding any signs of foxes, he managed to hunt a plump rabbit and found two nests of bird eggs.

Returning empty-handed didn’t discourage Zhao Beichuan. He went back to where he had just collected firewood and continued to bundle branches, working until the sun hung low in the west, carrying two large bundles of wood down the mountain.

That evening, when Lu Yao saw the fat rabbit he brought back, she swallowed hard; she had been unable to eat meat for a long time and felt like her belly was lacking oil.

However, the three Zhao siblings were quite disdainful. Zhao Xiaodou pointed at the rabbit and said, “Sister-in-law, this doesn’t taste good; it has a stinky smell.”

Lu Yao recognized it as the earthy smell; if the rabbit wasn’t properly handled, it would have a strong taste. After all, braised rabbit and spicy rabbit heads became very popular in later times.

But the seasonings in ancient times were really limited, so boiling it in plain water wouldn’t taste good. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Let’s roast it!”

Lu Yao had Zhao Beichuan set up a fire pit in the yard and propped two bricks beside it. She seasoned the cleaned rabbit with salt, scallions, and ginger, then poured half a bowl of yellow wine over it, giving the rabbit a full-body spa treatment.

After marinating for half an hour, the fire was burning nicely, with glowing red charcoal inside.

Lu Yao fashioned a roasting rack from a wooden stick, spread the rabbit flat, tied its four legs to the wood, and placed it over the charcoal to roast.

Before long, the aroma of the meat wafted out. Oil dripped onto the coals, and with a sizzle, flames shot up. Lu Yao quickly used a stick to douse it. Roasting meat had to be done over low heat; if exposed to high flames for too long, it would burn.

Zhao Xiaonian and Zhao Xiaodou moved their stools to sit nearby, eagerly swallowing their saliva. “Sister-in-law, when will it be ready?”

Lu Yao prodded it with chopsticks. “Soon, just wait a little longer.”

The meat’s fragrance soon lured over Tian Dazhuang from next door. He leaned over the fence and looked in, “Xiaonian, what delicious food is your family making?”

Zhao Xiaonian stood up nervously to block the fire pit. “Nothing much!”

Lu Yao said, “Don’t be so stingy; Dazhuang, come over for some rabbit meat.”

“Hey!” Tian Dazhuang jumped up and ran over.

“Xiaodou, go call Xiaochun and Xiaodong over to eat some rabbit too.”

Zhao Xiaodou hesitated before standing up. “Sister-in-law, make sure to leave a piece for me!”

“Don’t worry, Sister-in-law will save some for you.” He hurried to the back of the house and soon returned with Lin Xiaochun and Lin Xiaodong.

The two children had long smelled the meat; their mother had kept them from coming over, but Zhao Xiaodou managed to convince Lin Daman to let the two children join.

Lu Yao took a bite and found the meat was thoroughly cooked. She picked up the rabbit and said, “Everyone sit tight and don’t rush; I’ll share the meat with you.”

She cut the rabbit into small pieces with a knife and distributed them among the children. When it was Zhao Beichuan’s turn, he cut off a big rabbit leg and handed it over, “Thank you, my husband.”

Zhao Beichuan hugged his knees, his eyes fixed on Lu Yao without blinking. The charcoal fire made his face slightly red, and a thin layer of sweat formed on his forehead. His watery eyes sparkled with laughter; at that moment, the person in front of him was more beautiful than the moon in the sky.