Old Lady Wang walked over and saw that the two of them were pressed close together again. She was exasperated that her son was so disobedient and lightly coughed to separate them. She ordered Liu Yizhu, "Go kill a chicken."
Then she turned and pushed open the door of the unoccupied small room nearby. The dust and moldy smell that assailed her made her swiftly cover her mouth and nose. Forcing down her discomfort, she hurried inside and pushed open the window as well to try to dispel the smell first. She planned to tidy up after they ate lunch.
She certainly wouldn't allow her son to cling to his daughter-in-law again tonight. It would be best to clean it out earlier so their future child could live there too after it was born.
Their intimacy having been interrupted, Liu Yizhu straightened up and looked back to see his mother had left. He leaned down again to kiss Li Mingwei lightly on the forehead and patted her reassuringly. "I'm going out now. Rest for a bit and I'll take you for a walk this afternoon."
He carried the wooden basin outside. Li Mingwei couldn't keep lying down either and got up to tidy her clothes before following him out to the yard.
Liu Yizhu stood outside the chicken coop holding a cleaver. Looking at the currently sparse number of chickens inside, he felt a bit sympathetic. "Your time's almost up too, huh?"
"What do you mean almost up? Those few still have plenty of time left!" Old Lady Wang ran over to direct things when she saw he hadn't moved for a while. She pointed to a hen with brownish feathers, "Catch that one. We have to leave the others to lay eggs. We can kill her next year after she finishes brooding."
She counted the number of chickens. "It's not enough. I'll have to go buy some more later."
Liu Yizhu nodded and crawled into the chicken coop while Old Lady Wang added more firewood to the kitchen stove to boil water for scalding the chicken feathers. Seeing her son had already caught a chicken, she took a small bowl to collect the blood.
After plucking some feathers from the chicken's neck, just as Liu Yizhu was about to slaughter it, he saw Li Mingwei sitting to the side unable to help covering her eyes. He turned his back to block her line of sight. "Go back inside if you're scared."
Li Mingwei pursed her lips and stood up to walk back into the house, muttering under her breath. "Poor thing."
Half a sichen later, she drank down the entire bowl of chicken soup in one gulp. "Delicious!"
Old Lady Wang smiled and refilled another bowl for her.
After eating her fill, Li Mingwei only rested for a while before she couldn't sit still anymore. She pestered Liu Yizhu to take her for a walk to aid her digestion. Considering her son was there, Old Lady Wang didn't refuse too much. She only asked them to keep an eye on her.
Liu Yizhu put his right arm around Li Mingwei's waist and gripped her left arm with his other hand, lightly raising his chin to indicate she should walk forward.
Li Mingwei gave him a look. "No need to make such a big fuss about it. Just save that for when I'm seven or eight months pregnant and my stomach has grown huge, okay?"
Liu Yizhu looked at her.
"Mother said not to spread news about my pregnancy to outsiders in the first three months. Other than Sister and Mr. Jin, no one else knows I'm pregnant yet. If you support me walking out like this, won't the whole town realize it?"
Liu Yizhu was persuaded. He withdrew his arm and just lightly supported one of her arms. "Then walk slowly."
Li Mingwei had originally wanted to take a stroll outside town but the Liu family lived fairly centrally in town. Liu Yizhu felt that was too far and told her to pick another place.
"Let's go to the school then. The county yamen found an assistant for Mr. Jin. He's a xiucai too and also plans to take the Autumn Examination next year. I heard he wants to get acquainted with you since you're taking it too."
"Alright."
Mr. Jin and the others were also taking today off. After eating lunch outside, the two men had started a game of chess in the courtyard. Hu Jin was a bit stunned to see Liu Yizhu walk in. He quickly stood up to greet them.
"Liu Yizhu, it really is you!"
"Hu Jin, you..."
Hu Jin smiled and stepped forward to grab his hand, still feeling some joy at their reunion after a long separation. "I kept hearing Mr. Jin say 'Yizhu, Yizhu' and felt it sounded a bit like you but didn't dare confirm since you and the others were from Shuang'an Town too."
"Yang Jingyuan and Zhong Liangyu are also from Shuang'an Town."
"Oh, oh, I remembered wrong then."
Hu Jin scratched his head, embarrassed. He looked towards Li Mingwei. "So the one who usually cooks at the school is your mother. And this must be your wife, Mingwei?"
"Yes." Liu Yizhu pulled Li Mingwei forward a step. "She is my wife indeed. Mingwei, this is Elder Brother Hu Jin. He also previously studied at Honghu Academy."
The two had met in the academy's dining hall. At that time, Liu Yizhu had just entered the academy and felt there was a huge gap between himself and the other students after the entrance exam. He would always stay late in the classroom after lectures finished everyday and went to eat very late. Hu Jin was the same way.
After observing him for a few days, seeing that he was always alone and his clothing wasn't the best, Hu Jin assumed he was also being ostracized. Wanting to make friends, Hu Jin shamelessly went to sit at the same table as him. As they interacted more and more, the two became familiar with each other. However...
"For several days, I didn't see you in the dining hall anymore. After asking around, I found out you had withdrawn from school. You left so suddenly without even saying goodbye to me?"
Hu Jin sighed heavily and lowered his head silently.
An awkward atmosphere descended on them. Mr. Jin realized what was happening and quickly stood up to smooth things over. He brought over stools for them and gave his chair to Li Mingwei.
"Have a seat, have a seat." He extended an invitation to Li Mingwei. "Would you like to play chess? Being cooped up so long must have been stifling."
"It has been a bit stifling but let's wait until Mr. Jin and Elder Brother Hu finish this round first."
Hu Jin forced a smile and sat back down but no longer had any interest left in the chess game. Although he hadn't known Liu Yizhu for long, they had commiserated in their similar circumstances. Seeing him now brought back those memories again and he truly couldn't calm down.
Mr. Jin noticed and said with a laugh, "Forget it. Why don't you play instead? I can see he's a bit tired."
The corner of Hu Jin's mouth twitched as he stood up to give Li Mingwei his seat.
He sat down next to Liu Yizhu and patted his hand. After half a beat, he finally explained, "It's not that I didn't want to say farewell to you but there truly wasn't enough time."
"Do you still remember Teacher Qi's son?"
"Qi Liwu?" Liu Yizhu's brows furrowed. This guy was not easy to get along with. He most enjoyed bullying others and causing trouble. But since he was the teacher's son, most students didn't dare offend him.
He especially remembered the first time he saw Qi Liwu. He and Hu Jin were eating together when Qi Liwu brought a few lackeys in from outside. Seeing them, he had started making snide insinuations, saying things like of course the destitute make friends with each other and wondering how trash like them even got admitted. At the time, Hu Jin had gotten really angry.
Insulting him was one thing but why did he have to drag Liu Yizhu into it too?
Hu Jin had endured it at first before losing control of his temper. Just as he was about to retort, Tang Jue happened to come in and sat down next to Liu Yizhu. He set his tray of food on the table and draped an arm over Liu Yizhu's shoulders, raising an eyebrow at Qi Liwu. "Say that again?"
Of course Qi Liwu didn't dare to when faced with the county magistrate's son. He awkwardly led his lackeys away to avoid them.
Tang Jue coldly snorted. "Bullying my roommate huh."
And that was how Liu Yizhu and Tang Jue became friends.
With Tang Jue's protection, Liu Yizhu was fine. But Hu Jin had no one so Qi Liwu's retaliation against him became even more ruthless.
