“Today just stay at home.” Xie Yu stressed out again after eating breakfast.
“Today I won’t go out. I’ll stay at home drawing.” The woman replied as she was tidying up the table. ‘Xiao Yuan, take this and bring it to the kitchen. Big sister will come later to wash it.”
“You don’t need to hurry and draw many of them. One or two storybooks are enough. Maybe, in the end, no one will buy it.”
“Uhm. You’re right. Then I’ll try to complete drawing the storybook by this morning and then in the afternoon I’ll go to the bookstore to have a look?” Shen Mu Mu wiped the table while asking him.
“You’re not familiar with the town. When I will be free in few days, I’ll help you.” The man paused for a while and then added, “I’ll talk with them about this matter. Even if things do work out you just concentrate on drawing. A woman showing her face in public all day long, how will it look to others?”
Shen Mu Mu looked up at him. The economic development of this dynasty was very good. Except for the unmarried maidens and the noblewomen, women were not much restricted. Many of them carried on a business outside. Besides, nobody would talk about an ordinary married woman like her.
“You don’t want me to go out. Why?” As the conversation went, Shen Mu Mu actually heard something fishy in Xie Yu’s words. There was something going on with this man.
“What’s with your many whys? Go and wash your pots.” The man seemed to grow impatient.
“Did you realize that your bride is quite a beauty, thus you don’t want other stinky men to look at me?”
“Who taught you to speak like this?” Xie Yu glared at her.
“Hmph, tactless wood!” The glare he gave her made her lose all confidence. As a result, she pouted her lips and went to the kitchen. To be honest, Xie Yu looked quite scary when frowning.
Shen Mu Mu had a soft personality, thus when she was being glared at by someone, all her previous thoughts dissipated. As a result, she could only obediently carry out the man’s ‘order’.
The resentful Shen Mu Mu entered the kitchen. Xiao Yuan who arrived before her came up to her to take her bowls and cutleries from her hands. Looking at his damp hands, Shen Mu Mu knew that he had already cleaned up. Hence, she promptly dodged him, “Xiao Yuan, big sister had already said, your own things can be done by yourself alone. The other things that big sister didn’t let you do, you don’t have to do. Do you understand?”
As a married woman, Shen Mu Mu took all the housework like laundry, cooking and sweeping the floor as mother Xie could not do the chores and Xie Yu was the type of person who would kick away a broom if someone threw him one. Thus, she could not count on him to help her at all.
Shen Wen Yuan was a pampered young master brought up by a wealthy family in the capital city. Naturally, he wouldn’t know how to do these chores. But this young man loved dearly his big sister. He would always rush to do all the housework. As long as his big sister was not resting he also wouldn’t rest.
The young man knew how to dote on people. Shen Mu Mu was happy enough to let him help her with lighting the fire, serving the food and so on. Firstly, the education she received before time-traveling was that one ought to do one’s thing by oneself. Secondly, Shen Mu Mu wanted the young man to experience livehood a little.
Unexpectedly, the young man, who originally should not know to do anything, was very proficient at lighting wood and serving the dishes. He became aware of how to carry a plate so he wouldn’t get burnt by a hot dish. In addition, he knew how to properly clean his room, tidy up his bed, wash and dry his clothes……
He did everything very well. When they were in the capital, the young man had never got into contact with these things. In that case, he must have learnt it all while staying at uncle’s house. But, uncle had servants at his household!!
The original’s memory of life in uncle’s house was somewhat vague and since the places she could stroll were limited, Shen Mu Mu understood very little about the life of two siblings in their uncle’s house. Moreover, Xiao Yuan never mentioned it. Even the few times when she asked, the young man has hazily skipped the matter.
All this time she had the memories of the original. Everything in her memories was like a movie. When you watched it, your emotions would be stirred, yet you are still unable to completely understand the original’s pain.
It wasn’t until Shen Mu Mu saw the young man stretch the clothes line that she came to understand how hard it has been for the siblings who had to live by relying on somebody else’s charity.
“Uhm. I know. It’s alright.” Xiao Yuan did not care.
“Wash your hands and return back to your room to read books. Big sister will do the rest.”
Shen Wen Yuan washed his hands but did not go away. He stayed and watched his sister.
“It’s not a heavy or tiring job. Are you worried it’ll tire your big sister or what?”
“I’ll go back to my room then. If there’s something, call me.”
“Uhm. I know. Go now.”
The young man knew how to dote on her. She also could not bear to see him wronged. She did not want him to become a weak scholar, nor did she want him to be bound by trifle matters and have them dull his personality.
“Tonight, I won’t be back to eat.” While Shen Mu Mu’s mind has been preoccupied, a man’s voice echoed by her ear. She wondered how did this person come to silently stand behind her.
“Uhm. Remember to eat and don’t drink too much alcohol.” After learning that both the old and the young in the household would wait for him before eating, the man would always tell them if he would eat at home or not. She Mu Mu was not concerned about this matter, hence she replied without thinking.
Yet, the man did not go. He stood by her side, watching her washing dishes.
“Aren’t you in hurry?”
“What? You want me to quickly go away?”
Shen Mu Mu:…………..
Here it comes again. Shen Mu Mu couldn’t withstand this kind of rhetorical tone at all. She felt like if she replied carelessly, the man would do something.
Hell, how was she to answer?
“Are you in bad mood?” Shen Mu Mu knew a little how to weigh up one’s words and observe their facial expression. Usually, when the man spoke like this, his mood would not be good. He belonged to the kind of people that would mess with others whenever they were in bad mood!?
Such a strange interest.
“Tonight…… tonight I probably won’t be back. You don’t have to wait for me.” When the man spoke, he rarely paused amid speaking.
“Did you run into a trouble? Something happened in Yongli House?” Shen Mu Mu heard something wrong in his speech, so she stopped her chores and looked up to ask him.
The man knew that she would keep lights on every night and wait for him. Sometimes he would return earlier, sometimes later. All in all, he would return home. Thus, when she heard that he won’t return home tonight, her first reaction was that he has run into a trouble. She hasn’t thought about the other kind of options at all.
“How do you know I’m not visiting some other woman?’ Seeing the fair and soft face of the woman showing a concern for him, the man asked ill-naturedly.
Uh…….
At this time, wasn’t the male protagonist supposed to embrace the female protagonist and comfort her: “Dummy, I’ll deal with the matters outside.” Afterward, the two’s feelings were to intensify…..this was the direction the plot should have followed!
This darn man Xie Yu. He didn’t even bother to follow the trend in stories.
“Are you going to look for another woman?” Shen Mu Mu didn’t know what to say.
“Are you truly going to look for another woman?” Shen Mu Mu pulled at the hem of his clothes, asking silly.
“No. Don’t forget to close the window in the evening. I’m going.”
Apart from occasionally showing his strange interests, he was not the kind of person who was fond of pestering one endlessly. Seeing the incredulous expression on little woman’s face, he teased her for a bit and then stopped.
“Ah, your clothes, I have sewed it. Tonight when you come back you can try wearing them.” After the man walked to the door of the courtyard, Shen Mu Mu run out to shout out such a sentence to the man.
The man did not turn his head therefore Shen Mu Mu was unable to see the man’s slightly raised mouth.
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