The rest of the Smithson family had pretty much all gone off to work. Only Grandma, whose legs and feet weren't good due to her age, stayed at home. Lucy spent a long time sitting in the room chatting with her, young and old both having a great time.
Samuel cleaned up the house again, fixing any damaged areas before taking Lucy back home.
"Grandma's house is too far from ours." Back at home, Lucy sat on a small stool in the yard, rubbing her ankles. Walking around the village all day, plus the long distance to Samuel's house and the difficult journey, made her feet feel numb.
Seeing this, Samuel didn't hesitate to squat down in front of her, lift her feet onto his legs, and start rubbing them.
Lucy was startled and immediately tried to pull away.
"Don't move." Samuel's voice was still firm, but his hands performed the perfect blend of pressure.
Lucy stopped resisting. She couldn't fight him anyway, and they were a married couple now, so there was nothing to be shy about. Although she thought this way, Lucy's face still turned completely red, especially since even Ms. Williams had never touched her feet ever since she grew up.
Samuel began to regret after rubbing them a few times. Lucy's feet were very white and soft. Even though he was helping her relieve fatigue, his mind began to wander, and his hands gradually moved up her legs.
Lucy didn't overthink it, believing that he was merely massaging her legs too. She closed her eyes comfortably.
Then the next second, Samuel suddenly put her feet down and stood up. "You rest first. I'll cook. After dinner, I'll go up to the mountain. If you're tired, just sleep."
Samuel was always thinking about the traps he had dug in the mountains. It wasn't urgent before, but now that he was married, he couldn't always let his wife scrape by with meager meals. He planned to go up and check on the traps while there were fewer people around after dark.
Lucy was enjoying the foot rub when Samuel abruptly withdrew. She couldn't help but feel unwilling, "You're going up the mountain when it's dark?"
Actually, Lucy wanted to say it was their wedding night. How could Samuel leave her alone at this moment? Wasn't he deliberately avoiding her?
If Samuel knew what she was thinking, he would surely cry out in grievance.
"I dug traps in the mountains. There are too many people during the day, so I can only check at night." Samuel didn't intend to hide anything from Lucy. They were husband and wife, so there was no need to keep secrets.
"Can you go tomorrow? It's our wedding night, and the groom shouldn't be elsewhere." Lucy reached out, grabbing Samuel's clothes, and looked up at him with her watery, big eyes. Samuel felt a tightening below and quickly averted his eyes.
"Alright, I'll go tomorrow." After saying this, he went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. He couldn't stop thinking if his wife wanted him to stay tonight. Was it that kind of intention? His mouth curled up as he thought, interpreting various signs as evidence that Lucy wasn't into Albert Hudson and wanted to try having a good life with him. However, this had to be further confirmed.
For dinner, Samuel used the pork he bought from town for braised pork, slaughtered a chicken from home to make a stew with dried mushrooms and rabbit heads, stir-fried some mustard cabbage, and mixed cucumbers. Two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and steamed white rice.
Lucy looked at the dining table in disbelief. This was the most lavish meal she had since she first came to this village. Even after the original host had moved to the countryside, they had been living frugally, only occasionally frying some minced meat with vegetables.
"Why did you make so much? What if we can't finish it all?" Lucy found herself becoming a little stingy after getting married. If it were her before, she would have prepared even more than Samuel had. Now, she somehow felt heartache at the expense.
Samuel rarely smiled at Lucy, "It's a wedding, and we should enjoy ourselves. If we can't finish it, we'll just store it in the well in the yard. It won't spoil."
Lucy still looked at him reproachfully before sitting down to eat.
At the dinner table, the two would occasionally help each other with the food and chat about daily life. They didn't resemble newlyweds but rather an old married couple.