The General's Delicious Wife Chapter 068: Who doesn't have a little secret
Xia Yue Chu was already aware, in regards to their use of language or temperament, they looked nothing like poverty stricken youngsters who came from deep mountain villages.
Even though Xue Liang Ping was certain that he was his son, but Xia Yue Chu had an intuition that something was amiss.
Hearing this at such a time, confirmed her previous guesses which made her a little distraught.
When an uniform snore resounded from the outer room, Xia Yue Chu was still tossing and turning on her brick bed, unable to fall asleep. She kept weighing over the implications to herself from this situation in her heart, repeatedly.
No matter what schemes Xue Zhuang and Qin Zheng had, at least ever since they met, they had not harmed her, instead they were defending and protecting her.
The most important thing was that Xue Zhuang had been keeping his distance deliberately all this time, and he had no intentions to get closer.
Initially, she thought it was because of his injury, but the last time when she gave Xue Zhuang the leg massage, she was sure that Xue Zhuang had been aroused.
That time, she had no idea where her courage came from. Taking the opportunity as Qin Zheng was not home, she boldly took a step further to test him.
Xue Zhuang's evading attitude made her put her heart down once and for all (Meaning: Rest assured).
Combining with their usual behavior, Xia Yue Chu gradually sorted out her thoughts.
She herself, also, had a secret history that must be buried deep in her heart and cannot be told.
As long as there would be no harm to her, she would not hold any interest regarding Xue Zhuang's secrets.
Judging from the current situation, no matter what Xue Zhuang's objectives were, it should at least be beneficial and harmless to her plans to leave the Xue family.
Maybe when the time comes, she could make a deal and collaborate with them.
After thinking about it over and over again, Xia Yue Chu then closed her eyes and allowed herself to go to the dream land.
But it had not even been long before she was awakened by the rummaging noise outside as Xue Liang Ping was searching for something.
Xia Yue Chu stretched herself awake and got up dressing herself while she was in a state of a daze. She went out to wash her face with cold water, only then did she completely wake up.
Looking at the dawning sky, she accepted her fate and rolled up her sleeves to start a fire for cooking.
Qin Zheng came out with his sleepy eyes, he finished a set of punches in the open space in the courtyard before he became alert. He scooted beside Xue Liang Ping curiously and watched him packed the things in his hands.
Xue Liang Ping was sitting on a wooden stool in the yard, taking advantage of the faint morning light, dealing with the item that he just took out from the garage.
Although he doesn't speak much usually, he had a good hand in farming.
He could thrive in any random work that was related to farming.
So there were always people joking that Xue Old Mister had used up all his ingenuity for farming.
More importantly, he had never slacked off when he was tending the land. If he had to plow through the ground three times, he would never just plow twice. If he had to cultivate two inches deep, he would never reduce it by half an inch.
Xue Liang Ping would often say, "How much effort you put into the land, the yield would be returned to you in equivalent."
Thus, every year during the autumn harvest, the Xue family's plot would cultivate the best crops in the entire village.
It was thanks to Xue Liang Ping's willingness to exert his strength, otherwise it would be difficult for such a large family to even fill their stomachs.
"Uncle Xue, what are we going to do in the field today?"
Because Xue Zhuang's legs and feet were inconvenient, Qin Zheng had to substitute him for the farming labor, considering it as the labor contributed from the eldest branch*.
Although Qin Zheng had never done farm work previously, he was not worried about it, he thought to himself that regardless of the task, it would just be as laborious.
Back in the days when he was in camp, his Big Brother would exhaust them to their deaths everyday, and these good men would become lively and energetic again after waking up the next day!
Xue Liang Ping checked the farming tools that they would be using that day, then straighten his back to declare, "Let's go plow the ground today and then plant the seeds."
He took a small pinch of tobacco from his pocket around his waist, rolling it and squeezing it into the smoking pipe, lit it up and took two deep sips.
"Don't worry, our land is easy to manage." Xue Liang Ping blew out a smoke ring and continued calmly, "The stubbles in the ground was all cleared away before it snowed last year, the ground was also plowed a few times. I plowed though it once when the snow was beginning to melt, we only need to plow through it one more time then we can draw the ditch and sow."
Qin Zheng listened attentively, but he did not know anything about these agricultural matters.
Yet, Xue Liang Ping was happy to talk.
No one in the family liked to hear him talk about these farm work usually, so now that he had an audience, he opened his chatterbox immediately.
"As the saying goes, bruising your skin in autumn it is better than bulldozing many times in spring. So, in autumn, it is good to plow deeply several times, and the crops in the coming year will definitely not be bad!"
Xue Liang Ping smoked his tobacco, squinted his eyes and continued, "The snow melted late this year, and the temperature couldn't get warmer. Looking at the climate, I'm afraid it has been more than ten days later compared to previous years. Those families who did not plow their ground or remove the stubbles in autumn are going to be so busy these few days."
While they were talking, Xia Yue Chu had already prepared breakfast. She called Qin Zheng in to eat, then she turned around to hang the medicine pot over the fire.
She made use of the fire that had yet to be extinguished to bake a few flour wraps, and wrapped them up into portions with cotton cloths once they cooled down. She brought them in and handed them to Qin Zheng.
"Sister-in-law, what is this?" Qin Zheng was sipping on his hot porridge, eating it happily with dry maize cakes and salted vegetables. Upon receiving the cotton parcel, he felt its softness and warmth.
"Its a few baked flour wraps. Remember to deliver some food to Feng Qi before you go down to the fields. There would be too many people in the village during noon, so don't go then, tell him to ration his own food, once it gets dark at night go deliver again." Xia Yue Chu took another jar and filled it with porridge and salted vegetables, setting it aside on the table together. "The remaining wraps are for you to fill your stomach when you are working in the field."
"Ai!" Qin Zheng responded with a smile. "Sister-in-law sure knows how to dote on me."
Although Xue Zhuang had woken up, he had not gotten up from the brick bed, listening to how natural Xia Yue Chu and Qin Zheng were interacting, he felt an indescribable annoyance in his heart.
Qin Zheng was totally oblivious. After eating his warm breakfast, he carried the wraps and jar, and slipped away through the back door.
He avoided the early risers in the village on his way, went around the outskirts of the village before he reached the thatched cottage.
Who knew that when he entered, there was no one on the brick bed, even the old quilt that had been brought over last night was gone.
"All clear now to be gone, saves this mister the trouble to deliver food and medicine!"
Qin Zheng puffed through his nose, dissatisfied with Feng Qi's decision to leave without a word.
As for whether Feng Qi's wound would split or bleed again, who else would care if he himself did not care about it.
Qin Zheng turned around to leave, when he suddenly heard a sound coming from the beam. He turned subconsciously, moving fast, taking steps back till his back was against a pillar, and a dagger had already slipped into his hand.
Feng Qi jumped down with a pale face. When he landed, his entire body tilted and he collapsed onto the brick bed panting, stirring up a cloud of dust which triggered him into a fit of coughs.
Qin Zheng lauded his vigilance in his heart, but his face was full of despise. He waited until the dust settled down before saying, "Ha, Hero Feng has such good skills, may I dare to ask which sect and which division is this special attack from? It's totally a stealthy art of killing!"
Feng Qi was not annoyed by his sarcasm, he pushed himself up with both of his arms and asked. "What is for breakfast?"
Qin Zheng put the clay jar aside and responded with raised eyebrows. "Are you a pig? All you know is to eat?"
After he said so, he grabbed Feng Qi's outstretched hand that was trying to reach the jar. He dragged him away without being polite about it, removing the layers of bandage on his thigh, scrapping off the medicine that was soaked with dark red blood.
The wound was too deep and it would not be healed anytime soon. After the powder was scraped off, it began to bleed again.
Qin Zheng applied the medicine evenly to the wound and wrapped the wound with bandage again.
Feng Qi's face paled with pain, huge droplets of sweat dripped down his thin face, but he was still wearing an indifferent smile.
Watching Qin Zheng's serious face, he still had the leisure to spite him. "Ai, it is me who is injured, why is your face so black?"
The blue veins on Qin Zheng's forehead popped, and his hands exerted enough pressure to see Feng Qi inhaled laboriously. He smirked, raising one corner of his lips, "There are porridge and salted vegetables in the jar, there are also three pieces of flour pancakes here. If you still have a little brain, don't eat it all in one go. In case no one comes to deliver your meal at night, at least you still have something left to satisfy your hunger so that you can have the strength to climb up the beam again."
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Translator Notes:
*Eldest branch, the direct translation in Chinese is "Big room" or it should be understood as "first room". Members related to the family through Xue Zhuang, the eldest son, would be considered from the first branch. Members related to the family through Xue Li and Xue Yong, the second son and the third son, would be considered from the second and third branch respectively.
Translated by YellowBean.