Husband, Let Me Touch Your Abs - Chapter 4
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Shangjing is the capital“It’s done. Next time, don’t add too much firewood all at once, or it’ll burn through again,” Lu Lin said as he replaced the clay pot, standing by and tapping his crippled leg.
“Thank you, second brother.”
Lu Lin was momentarily taken aback. He thought to himself that the youngest had become much more easy-going since getting married, unlike before, when he was always so unpredictable.
“I’ll take the burnt pot back with me and see if I can fix it. You can keep it for later use.”
“Alright, second brother. Why don’t you stay for dinner before you go?”
Lu Lin shook his head, picked up the clay pot, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke. He wasn’t good with words, but seeing the strangulation marks on his younger brother’s neck, he couldn’t help but say something.
“Don’t blame father for finding you a family like this. Even though the Zhao family is poor, it’s a simple household—no in-laws above to supervise, and your husband is hardworking and diligent. As long as the two of you live well together, your future won’t be too bad.”
Lu Yao nodded, understanding that Lu Lin’s words were genuinely for his own good.
The original Lu Yao had been proud but lacked ability, stubborn in temperament, always dreaming of marrying into a scholar’s family. If he had really married into a complicated household, life would have been unbearable.
Ancient times were different from modern times. Mothers-in-law were typically the authority in a family, and if they wanted to torment their daughters-in-law, the authorities wouldn’t interfere.
Even in modern times, Lu Yao’s mother had suffered a lot after getting married.
He remembered how, as a child, his mother would often complain about being bullied by his grandmother.
Lu Yao’s grandmother had bound feet and a sharp, mean personality. When his mother first married, the old woman imposed many rules on her.
She had to get up before dawn to cook for the whole family, tend to the pigs and cows, and take care of everyone’s needs. Even when she had children, there was no time to rest.
Thinking about all the potential conflicts with a mother-in-law made Lu Yao’s head spin. So, marrying into the Zhao family suited him just fine. At least when the pot was burned, no one scolded or beat him for it.
“I’m heading back now. If you ever need anything, just come home. Mother is always thinking of you.” Lu Lin slung the clay pot over his back and left.
As soon as he was gone, the two Zhao siblings returned and saw Lu Yao scrubbing the new pot.
Zhao Xiaonian hesitated for a moment before saying, “If you don’t know how to tend the fire, I can help.” Before leaving, her older brother had reminded her to get along well with their new sister-in-law. Who would’ve thought that the very first day their sister-in-law would try to hang herself? It had almost scared her to death.
Lu Yao chuckled. “No need. You two can go play outside. The water will be hot soon.”
Zhao Xiaonian didn’t leave. Instead, she summoned the courage to come closer and help Lu Yao break firewood. Zhao Xiaodou, who was more timid, stayed hidden behind his sister, too scared to speak.
Soon the water was boiling. Lu Yao lifted the lid and placed all the bowls and chopsticks from the cupboard into the pot to boil.
In this era, there was no dish soap, and with the weather being so hot, any leftover food on the bowls was bound to start fermenting. Yesterday, when they had porridge, Lu Yao had noticed a sour smell coming from the earthenware bowls. He had forced himself to finish eating despite feeling nauseated.
After soaking the dishes, Lu Yao went into the inner room and found the red wedding veil, which he wrapped around his head. He also tied a cloth around his face, picked up a worn-out broom from the corner, and began sweeping the dust and cobwebs from the walls.
The mud walls had long since fallen into disrepair. A gentle sweep sent dirt crumbling down. After clearing out the cobwebs in all four corners, the room was filled with dust.
Zhao Xiaonian and Zhao Xiaodou ran out to borrow a broom from the neighbors and came back to help, sweeping the dust into piles and carrying it out bit by bit.
Lu Yao glanced at the two children and felt warmth in his heart. They were sensible and easy to get along with. In his previous life, children this age were treated as little treasures, never expected to do chores. If they could eat and sleep well, they’d be showered with praise.
Seeing how enthusiastic they were, Lu Yao didn’t stop them. He pulled out two pieces of coarse cloth from the cabinet and tied them around the siblings’ noses and mouths to prevent them from inhaling dust.
After cleaning the walls of both the inner and outer rooms, Lu Yao wiped down the furniture in the bedroom. The Zhao family’s furniture was simple: a five-drawer chest and two wooden trunks. They were quite old, and he had to scrub hard to remove the black grime, revealing the original wood underneath.
The mat on the kang (bed-stove) was taken outside and beaten. A bunch of lice fell out. No wonder his whole body had been itching. The thought of lice crawling on him gave Lu Yao goosebumps.
Taking advantage of the good sunlight outside, he decided to scrub the mat and hang it out to dry.
Next door, Tian Ersao was feeding her chickens in the yard. Seeing how busy Lu Yao was, she thought to herself, *This little husband is quite diligent.*
“Busy, huh?”
Lu Yao pulled down the cloth covering his face. “Sister, I’m just tidying up the house.”
“Oh, Da Chuan doesn’t have such attention to detail. If you ask me, a household really needs someone to help keep things in order.”
Lu Yao smiled but didn’t reply. He wasn’t doing this for his husband. He just wanted the place to be clean so he could feel comfortable living in it.
On the way back that morning, he had thought long and hard about this whole situation. Whether good or bad, the fact was that he had traveled through time. Since it had already happened and there was no way to change it, he might as well accept it calmly.
He didn’t consider himself a man of great talent or ambition. In this feudal society, where people’s heads could roll at any moment, rising to prominence was harder than ascending to heaven. Even if he did somehow stand out, one wrong move could offend the powerful, and his life would be gone in an instant. Rather than living in constant fear, it was better to be an ordinary person, content with a modest but secure life.
Besides, he was curious to meet his little husband. With two siblings who weren’t bad-looking, the man himself couldn’t be too unattractive.
After clearing out all the dust, Zhao Xiaonian and Zhao Xiaodou came running out to ask, “Is there anything else we can do?”
“Take the bedding outside to air it out.”
“Okay!” The two children, tasked with the job, sprinted off, and shortly after, came back carrying the bedding.
There weren’t any bamboo poles in the Zhao family courtyard to hang clothes on, so the bedding had to be hung on the fence and watched carefully. Don’t be fooled by how dirty and stiff the bedding looked, like a wooden board; it could still be stolen. In these times of extreme scarcity, even a few feet of torn cloth was a valuable item, let alone a large quilt like this.
Lu Yao had the two children move stools to sit by the fence and keep an eye on the bedding while he himself cleaned the kitchen. He wiped everything down, placed the washed dishes upside down on the windowsill to dry, and then stored them in the cupboard.
After refilling the pot with fresh water, Lu Yao prepared to wash his hair and clean himself up. The itching had almost driven him crazy.
Once the water boiled, he scooped some into a wooden basin, mixed in cold water, and let his hair down to wash it. In rural households, there was no shampoo—only plant ash was available. After the first wash, the water had turned into a muddy mess. The second wash was slightly better, and by the third, his hair was finally clean.
One has to admit that people in ancient times had really good hair. His hair was black and shiny, but it was unbearably hot sitting on his head. Lu Yao decided he would sneakily cut some off later.
After washing his hair, he used the water to wipe himself down. Fortunately, his body wasn’t too dirty, likely because the original host had bathed the night before the wedding. He gave himself a quick wipe, changed into clean clothes, and sat in the courtyard to start picking lice.
Lice were utterly disgusting creatures, and once you got them, they would multiply endlessly. He remembered being infected by a classmate when he was young, and his eldest sister had patiently combed through his hair with a fine-toothed comb until he was rid of them.
Thinking about his elder sister, Lu Yao couldn’t help but feel a lump in his throat. He wondered how she was doing now. His sisters probably hadn’t told their parents about his death; otherwise, with their age, the shock would have been too much for them.
But his sadness was quickly washed away by the sheer disgust of dealing with the lice.
Knowing there were lice on you was one thing, but seeing them with your own eyes was another. As he plucked sesame-sized lice from his hair, one by one, Lu Yao felt like hanging himself all over again!
—
After feeding her chickens, Madam Tian went out. It was the slack season for farming, so the men were away doing corvée labor, and the women had plenty of free time. A few women and husbands were sitting under the big elm tree at the village entrance, cooling off.
“Madam Tian, come join us!” called out a long-faced brother. His name was Song, a widowed husband with a six-year-old son.
Madam Tian sat down, and he immediately leaned in to ask, “Did the one from the Da Chuan family survive?”
“Yes, he did. Fortunately, Aunt Zhao and I got there in time. If we had been a moment later, he would’ve been gone.”
“Tsk tsk tsk, to hang himself just after getting married—how dissatisfied must he have been with the Zhao family?” said a square-faced woman.
Song, the widower, nodded in agreement. “If he didn’t like Da Chuan, he should’ve just divorced him early on. Hanging himself in their house—what was the point of that?”
Madam Tian waved her hand. “You can’t say that. Maybe the young lad got stuck in a bad mindset, but after hanging himself, he seems to have figured things out. I saw him cleaning the house today; he looks quite diligent.”
Song the widower pursed his lips, feeling quite disdainful.
Two years ago, his husband had been killed by falling rocks during labor service, and the government had only paid out ten taels of silver in compensation. He never saw that money, though, as his mother-in-law had kept it all, saying it was for her grandson’s future bride.
Song wanted to remarry but couldn’t bear to leave behind his son and the silver. He had been planning to marry another husband, and Zhao Beichuan, with no parents, had seemed like the perfect candidate.
He had planned to ask someone to help matchmake after the labor service was over, but that Lu guy had swooped in first. The frustration had kept him up for several nights, leaving his mouth full of blisters.
Zhao Beichuan was such a good man, especially with that strong body… Just thinking about it made Song blush and his heart race.
“That Lu fellow doesn’t know how good he has it. If you ask me, at his age, he should be grateful he found anyone willing to marry him! And he still dares to be picky?”
“Exactly! He’s almost twenty and still hadn’t married. Maybe there’s something wrong with him?”
The more these people talked, the nastier their words became. Madam Tian found it hard to listen any longer and got up to head home.
As she passed by the Zhao household, she saw Lu Yao washing the two children’s hair. Zhao Xiaonian and Zhao Xiaodou were blushing, squatting obediently on the ground, waiting for Lu Yao to rinse their hair.
Ever since their parents died, the two children had become like little wildlings. Although their older brother took care of their food and shelter, as a man, he rarely washed their hair.
Zhao Xiaonian was seven this year, the age when little girls start to care about their appearance. She couldn’t help but feel envious whenever she saw other girls her age in the village, neatly dressed and groomed by their mothers. Now that she had a sister-in-law, someone was finally helping her wash her hair!
“Busy, Madam Da Chuan?” Madam Tian called out as she walked into the courtyard.
“Not really,” Lu Yao replied, quickly rinsing the plant ash from the two children’s hair and letting them sit in the yard to dry.
“Come inside and sit,” Lu Yao said, dumping the dirty water and following her inside.
Madam Tian looked around the house. Though still dusty, it was much cleaner than before, and the bad smell had disappeared. Clearly, having someone to run the household made a difference—it seemed like a proper home now.
“So, Madam Tian, is there something you need?” Lu Yao asked.
“Oh, nothing in particular. I just came to see if you needed help with anything.”
“I’ve mostly taken care of everything. I’ll be washing clothes in a bit.”
Madam Tian hesitated for a moment before asking, “You seem like a diligent and kind person. So, tell me, why did you try to take your life that day?”
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Nabong_uwu
OMG THE LICE I CAN’T
If I had Lice on my hair I would collapse and cry QwQ but yeah, if in modern times it’s a hassle to deal with I can’t imagine how they had it in ancient times and with such a long as hair 😭