"I have already prepared the sugar, just waiting for it to dry." "Now I will measure my husband's body." Su Caier said, and immediately moved to act.
After hearing this, Zhao Ce stood up directly and asked, "How do you measure it?"
"I will use this to measure." Su Caier said, as she spoke, she picked up the measuring cloth and got ready to work.
She stood in front of Zhao Ce, a petite figure with one hand reaching over from his right waist and the other from his left.
The two hands formed a posture of embracing and were about to meet at the back, holding the measuring cloth in between.
When Su Caier came back to her senses, she found that her whole body seemed to be stuck to her husband's body. She raised her head in embarrassment and stuttered, "I, I'm measuring your waistline."
Zhao Ce looked down at her and smelled the faint scent of a young girl, a soapy scent mixed with the smell of smoke from the kitchen fire, and a hint of sweetness in between. Zhao Ce smiled and said, "Hmm, go ahead and measure."
Su Caier quickly measured the waistline and then the arms. When she reached the shoulders and back, she realized that she was not tall enough, but it was not appropriate to ask her husband to bend down.
So she took off her shoes and whispered, "Husband, I have to stand on a stool."
But just as her small foot in the old socks reached for the stool, she felt a big hand supporting her waist.
Zhao Ce saw her movements and instinctively pinched her delicate waist with both hands, lifting her up gently to stand on the stool.
Standing on the stool, Su Caier was almost as tall as her husband. She lifted her eyes lightly and could look at her husband at eye level, which she usually had to look up to do.
Zhao Ce chuckled and turned around, saying, "You continue." Su Caier blushed and continued to measure with the knotted cloth. After tying another knot, she whispered, "I'm done measuring."
Zhao Ce turned around and lifted her down from the stool by holding her waist.
Su Caier put on her shoes and felt dizzy. Zhao Ce stabilized her and touched her forehead lightly, saying, "Light and floaty little thing." "You need to eat more to grow up faster in the future."
After that, he picked up his book box from the corner and left the room, leaving Su Caier behind.
Su Caier covered her pounding heart with her hand and couldn't help but touch the spot where her husband had pinched her waist just now.
She felt like she had already grown up since she was already married. But then she lowered her head and touched the spot again, feeling the residual sensation of being pinched by someone on both sides of her waist."
...
"The little girl was shy. She spent the whole afternoon hiding in her room making new clothes.
Zhao Ce was in the kitchen, thinking about improving his white sugar refining method. The yellow mud water dripping sugar method wasn't too complicated, but the tools had to be specially made.
Due to the school's affairs today, Zhao Ce didn't have time to order the tools. "There is only one big jar for water in the house, which is too big to move easily." "We need to order several smaller ones." "One jar is needed to boil the sugar, and another is needed for stirring the yellow mud water." "We also need a large funnel and a tool to measure it." "As for the yellow mud, we need to find a suitable one in the field tomorrow." Zhao Ce recalled what he needed to do in his mind.
Before these tools were made, he had to first refine the wood charcoal. The little girl had already made a pot of white sugar today. Zhao Ce took out another pot and continued to make it.
A little later, Su Caier walked over with a piece of clothing. The clothes had just been cut and sewn in a fixed position. It had a rough framework. "Husband, try it on first to see if it fits." Su Caier's voice was still a bit shy, and she dared not look up and meet her husband's gaze.
Zhao Ce smiled and took it over, casually putting his hand through the sleeve. One hand came directly out of the middle of the sleeve. The little girl bent her eyebrows and eyes when she saw it. "What about the hole below?" she asked, helping Zhao Ce tidy it up.
The size they measured together naturally fit well. As for the pants, there was no need to measure. After Zhao Ce took off the pants, he handed them to Su Caier.
"After I finish sewing it tomorrow, you can wear it." Zhao Ce nodded and said, "Okay." "If it doesn't work, I can wear an old robe to work." Su Caier lowered her head and took the clothes, seeing the hand holding the clothes. The skin was fair and the bones were distinct. Such hands for reading and writing were still strong enough to lift her up. Su Caier thought to herself and blushed again.
Zhao Ce looked at the little girl's pink ears and wondered what he had said to make her shy. At this time, there was a knocking on the door outside. Zhao Ce whispered, "I'll go open the door."
He walked outside to the fence gate and saw Zhao Wenhao's feet with a load of firewood, standing in front of his house with sweat all over his body."
After Zhao Youcai returned home, he asked Zhao Wenhao to bring over the firewood he had chopped in the morning. After all, there was only one woman in his house while Zhao Ce was away during the day. That's why, Zhao Wenhao didn't want to directly bring the firewood over before knowing that Zhao Ce is home.
After Zhao Ce opened the door for him, he gratefully said, "Thank you, Brother Wenhao." But Zhao Wenhao replied, "My father asked me to do this." "If you want to thank someone, thank him," he added.
Zhao Ce used to exchange a few words with his brother Zhao Wenhua, But towards a commoner like himself, he wouldn't even give him a second glance. Zhao Wenhao still remembered a time when he went to the city and saw Zhao Ce. He greeted him, and even the students next to him saw him. But Zhao Ce directly said he didn't know him and walked away. Thinking about this, Zhao Wenhao became angry.
But Zhao Ce said, "We both need to thank Uncle Zhao." "Come in and have a cup of water?" Zhao Ce offered.
He shouted into the house, "Cai'er, pour a glass of water for your cousin." A faint answer came from inside the house.
Zhao Wenhao said, "No need for water. I'll help you bring the firewood to the shed. Otherwise, you, a scholar, will complain that I dirtied your cups."
"If it weren't for your injured shoulder and arm, I wouldn't even want to step inside your gate." Zhao Ce didn't mind these remarks at all. He said, "I don't mind," and reached down to pick up the firewood with his one hand.
Zhao Wenhao quickly stopped him, saying, "Oh, how can you pick that up with just one hand? It's heavy, wet firewood!" "You, a scholar, don't have any calluses on your hands, so you definitely can't do this kind of work." "Let me handle it..."
Just as he was about to say more, Zhao Ce effortlessly lifted the firewood with the pole and started walking towards the house, leaving Zhao Wenhao stunned.
Zhao Ce walked two steps, turned back, and said calmly, "Brother Wenhao, come inside."