After breakfast, Li BaoGui handed coins to his son and sent him off to study. The Li family was a family of scholars, and one of the 'wealthy' families in the small county where they lived. Other families were the Mo and Lu families.
Li Yan now had the memories of his predecessor, who was friends with some of the young men in these households, and he knew that both the Mo's and the Lu's were in the cloth business. In fact, his mother was part of the Mo family before she married, everyone said that was where he had inherited his beauty.
The Li family, as the family of scholars that they were, was dedicated to education and ran the only school in the county. Naturally, the children of this same family studied from the time they were young, as they would be the future teachers and scholars. Li Huan did not have to go far to learn, he had education in his own home, with his foster family. And, as Li Yan recalled, his cheap son was no fool.
Su WuLi and Li BaoGui waved goodbye to their son from the kitchen entrance. Even though Li Huan was already nine years old, this was the first time Su Jian and Li Yan saw 'their' son off to study, the emotion had them on the verge of tears. It didn't matter that they had only recently arrived in this world, this was their precious first child!
"Huan'er, be careful and behave yourself. Don't make your grandfather angry, or your uncles either." Li BaoGui wiped his face with his sleeves, wiping away the tears escaping from his eyes. "Don't forget to ask permission to go to the bathroom. Your father and I will be waiting for you to come back."
On his side, Su Jian could barely speak through his snot and tears. The scene had reminded him of his early childhood, when his grandfather dragged him, amidst cursing and pushing, to his first day of elementary school.
"If any child bothers you, tell me, I'll go beat him with a stick myself!"
Li Huan didn't understand anything, but seeing his parents so excited made him excited too.
"Yifu, yimu, you need not worry. Huan'er will be good." The boy took his leave with those last words, and walked through the opening in the wall that led to the other courtyards of the Li residence.
The two first-time parents leaned on each other and cried for their son, they barely knew him and he was already leaving their hands to study the four books and the five classics.
Almost a minute after Li Huan's departure, a young girl walked through the opening in the wall and into the couple's courtyard. She stopped her footsteps when she saw them crying, and waited silently while holding a bamboo basket full of clean clothes.
It took some time for the two fools to see that someone had arrived, but they wiped away their tears as soon as they saw the young woman and feigned serious expressions.
According to their predecessors' memories, that girl with her hair pulled back in a pair of braids was Hua Zhang. The family had enough money to hire maids, so tasks such as laundry and cleaning could be delegated to others. They could also be required to cook, but the original Li BaoGui preferred to do that on his own.
"You can leave the clothes inside, I'll order them later." Li Yan tried to sound as firm as possible.
The girl looked at both of them, but chose not to ask and went on with her work.
When she entered, Su WuLi and Li BaoGui entered into an awkward silence. Neither knew what to say after crying over such a thing, it was obvious from a thousand li away that they were inexperienced when it came to raising children.
Hua Zhang finished with his work in a few minutes, and went out to witness the couple's deathly silence. She said goodbye quietly and left, that pair was getting stranger by the day, however, the maid knew that Madam Mo would like to know what she had seen.
Inside the courtyard, Li BaoGui broke the silence:
"I want to go outside. It must be interesting, like being in a historical drama. "
"Don't forget that body is still sick, maybe you'd better not exert yourself."
"It'll be just a little walk... But I'll bring money, I need to buy some things."
"Even in this life you're still a rich kid." Su WuLi folded his arms, and after said. "But, since everyone knows you're a married person, I'll go out with you."
Su Jian knew that if he wanted to continue his marriage and make Li Yan fall in love with him, he had to flatter him and behave romantically.
He waited for his husband to finish 'primping' while he thought of a plan, however, his thoughts were diluted once he saw him leaving their home with a basket in his hands.
The original Li BaoGui was not exactly from a humble family, so he had clothes that were as elegant as soft and well-made. He touched the soft fabric of his robes, going over the embroidery as he walked toward the exit. It was not like the ones he had bought in his previous life, it was made in that era to which it belonged and that made it even more valuable to him.
His normally pink and tender skin had turned pale due to the illness, but the blue and white could give his appearance a little more life. Li Yan thought he looked acceptable, completely unaware of Su Jian's thoughts.
He raised his head to look at him, and was met with a strange gesture; Su WuLi had his eyes on Li BaoGui, and at the same time he didn't seem to be looking anywhere, his mouth was open and his face alternated between his natural color and red.
From Su Jian's point of view, an immortal had descended from the heavens to appear in front of him. The robes were baggy and wide-sleeved, yet the sash placed over them allowed one to appreciate that magnificent figure, the sight Su Jian cherished since his teenage years; Li Yan's waist. The girdle was tight enough to support the clothes, but it succeeded in accentuating the thick waist that young Li had always had.
Many men liked thin waists, but Su Jian possessed a weakness for the figure of his supposed nemesis. As his brain short-circuited and saliva almost overflowed from his mouth, Su WuLi recited a few words in his mind like a mantra.
Thick waist, wide hips. Thick waist, wide hips....
Li BaoGui moved the silver hairpin holding his hair a little, then detailed Su WuLi further. To tell the truth, the clothes Su WuLi had were still a bit rustic, even when he had married Li BaoGui he still didn't stop looking like a simple peasant.
The problem was, Su WuLi and Su Jian were the same, they both had the face of a thug. With those sword eyebrows over his fierce eyes, the man in front of him looked like a ruffian.
No wonder Li Yan had those memories of Madam Mo screaming that Su WuLi had stolen her son's chastity, the couple looked like a kidnapper and a poor lady from a good family. Just thinking about it, his heart leapt with excitement, Li Yan and Li BaoGui shared their love for badboys.
"Have you gone outside before?" Li BaoGui asked, and received no answer because Su WuLi kept looking at him like a hungry ghost at a piece of meat.
The intentions were clear in that gaze, but Li Yan was sometimes as blind as he was dense.
Su WuLi shook his head and controlled his thoughts. [I must praise him, saying a couple of things will do, should I mention his hair, or should I praise the way his robes look good on him, or talk about his waist? His clothes, I'd better say something about his clothes. Ah, Li Yan is the most beautiful thing these humble eyes have ever seen.]
What Su Jian finally said was:
"My damn eyes are blind now."
Li BaoGui didn't understand what the comment was about, but it clearly sounded like an insult.
"Should I wear something else, do I look too sick?" he backed up a few steps behind, thinking about going to change his robes.
"Don't you dare take it off!"
"But didn't I blind your eyes?"
"You did... But it's not the first time, it's been... Since we met." Su WuLi hoped to clarify everything by adding those words.
Suddenly, Li BaoGui's expression became somewhat sad.
"I always thought I was attractive." He held his face with his own hands. "I went around with this face all my life, it'll even be at my funeral."
"That's not what I was talking about! There's nothing wrong with your face."
Su Jian got fed up and walked out of his courtyard, Li Yan walked beside him. They had to walk through part of the Li residence to get to the exit, and they were both in awe of the very traditional and modest aesthetics; it was like being inside a historical novel, and indeed they were.
Not to mention when they stepped out onto the street, Li Yan's eyes sparkled with utter excitement. It was as beautiful as a dream; a weirdo's historic fantasy was being fulfilled!
The unpaved streets, the pollution-free air, the green fields and traditional buildings. The noise of the city was also non-existent, there were no noises of engines or machines, only noises of people and domestic or farm animals.
"Su WuLi, this is so amazing." The young man began to walk looking everywhere, the excitement had diminished until the calm expression that was always on his face came back.
"Do you know the laws of the Rong Dynasty?" Su Jian had more important concerns.
However, Li BaoGui seemed more like an energetic and excited child despite his illness. He had memories of his original, thanks to that he knew which way to go to look for the market.
"I need to buy things to make Huan'er's cakes." Li Yan said.
"Do you know how to buy things here? There are no eco-friendly bags, we don't have a fridge either. There aren't even tomatoes."
"No need to worry, we can live without tomatoes. I'll make rice cakes."
"Won't there be something you might miss, drinking water?" Su WuLi folded his arms again.
"...I'll never get to see the end of One Piece."
Su Jian remembered then, Li Yan surely wouldn't bathe if he had nowhere to go.
"Whatever. Make up an ending in your mind and be happy with that."
As they walked through the streets, they were lucky that no one approached to talk to them. There were a few people who greeted them from a distance and nothing more, although Li BaoGui was the one who looked everywhere and noticed every person who passed by him.
Su WuLi was similar to Su Jian in some ways, always walking around looking straight ahead, with an unfriendly expression. For better or worse, he had grown up with a face like that. Inside he was criticizing the hairstyles of the children he saw on the street, he never understood them when he saw them in paintings, and in real life they looked uglier to him.
"Look." Li BaoGui held the corner of one of the other's sleeves, waving it to get his attention. "Why doesn't Huan'er have one of those?"
Su WuLi looked to where his sworn enemy was pointing, and came upon what could be considered a jewelry store. Li BaoGui led him to the object he had seen, a longevity necklace.
"That's right, Su WuLi never bought one for Huan'er. What a bastard."
"It's not too expensive. We should buy one for him, no matter that the 100 days are long gone."
Su Jian was unfamiliar with the currency and prices of the Rong Dynasty, so he just convinced himself that, if he had enough money to buy it without any trouble, then it was fine.
Li BaoGui untied the bag of coins hanging at his waist, and went to talk to the shopkeeper. Su WuLi let him handle it, he hadn't seen enough dramas to know how to interact, and truth be told he hadn't done very well in history when he was studying.
Su Jian was more of a numbers and circuits man, he had even chosen science subjects in the gaokao to evade history. His ancestors and teachers could curse him all they wanted for being ignorant, but he just knew what it took to not look like an idiot in general culture lectures.
Li Yan, on the other hand, had taken the subjects that the gaokao categorized as 'art', because he had always been interested in things related to the traditional. He had an idea of how to behave and speak before these people of the past, and that was an advantage.
After obtaining the longevity necklace for his Huan'er, they both continued on their way to the market and Su WuLi was lost in thought as he watched Li BaoGui buy what he needed.
In the end, on their way back home, Su WuLi refused to allow his husband-enemy to carry anything. However, he could notice Li Yan's footsteps slowing down and lagging behind.
Su WuLi turned to look at him, noticing that the young man had suddenly become paler. Li BaoGui's pretty face had filled with sweat, and the bags under his eyes became pronounced.
"I'm fine." Li Yan used one of his sleeves to wipe his face, his whole body was trembling.
Su Jian walked towards him and touched his forehead, it was boiling. Su Jian might not know much about history, but he knew that people could die from a simple fever in those ancient times. Su WuLi contradicted him:
"You are not well. You should have stayed home. "
"But you wouldn't know what to buy for cakes. "
"Poor, silly excuse. Rest when we go home, you can bake the cakes for dinner." Su Jian restrained his embarrassment and nerves, turned his back to Li BaoGui and bent down slightly. "Climb on my back."
Even though they were in public, Li BaoGui didn't think twice before jumping on Su WuLi, clinging to him carefully. People around them were watching them and some were whispering, but the couple couldn't care less.
It was easy for Su WuLi to carry the weight of both of them, his body was used to the heavy work of the field and he was Li BaoGui; Su Jian could swear that Li Yan's physical weight did not compare to the weight of his love for him. But, if he wanted to say it out loud, what would come out of his mouth might end up being, 'screw the 18 generations of your family'.
Li BaoGui felt sick, yes, and even that was slipping his mind at times as he was carried on his way home. He rested his head on Su Jian's shoulder, the sound of his own heart was so loud that he couldn't hear Su WuLi's, so he couldn't tell that this young man was on the verge of a heart attack.
Hua Zhang, who was sweeping nearby when they arrived, saw them and his face also reddened in the same way. It was damn obvious, Su WuLi and Li BaoGui were red up to their ears, and their faces betrayed their excitement, their happiness and their nerves.
Anyone could have noticed it, except Su Jian and Li Yan.