Chapter 16: It didn’t seem like it

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation  Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Xiao Hanzheng’s body was very weak. After drinking a bowl of porridge, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Shi Qingluo didn’t disturb him and went out to help Mother Xiao and others to clean up the banquet.

She was busy until late afternoon.

After dinner, Shi Qingluo returned to Xiao Hanzheng’s room and found a story book to read.

After reading for a while, Xiao Hanzheng woke up.

Not sure if it was because he drank Shi Qingluo’s so-called sugar water and porridge, but he felt that his body wasn’t so weak now.

At least he could sit up.

Seeing that Shi Qingluo was reading, he asked, “You can read?”

He wasn’t looking down on Shi Qingluo, just surprised.

There were no women who could read in the village, even boys found it difficult to go to school.

Shi Qingluo moved away from the script and looked at him. “Yup, I can read! I learnt it from the old Taoist master when I was in the temple.”

The priest had really taught Shengyuan and the other four Taoist children how to read.

She added, “When he is refining pills, we will help to record the time when the furnace was switched on and off, the observable changes during the process, and so on.”

The old Taoist’s prioritised teaching the two boys.

Shengyuan and the other girl mainly did chores, so they only knew simple words.

Her grandfather was fond of ancient literature.

She was rebellious when she was young, so her grandfather brought her home to let her copy scriptures or ancient literature with the writing brush to calm her heart.

Therefore, not only did she know most of the traditional Chinese characters, she could even write them down.

The old priest’s existence was very useful.

She could push everything onto him to give her brilliance a thumbs up.

Xiao Hanzheng half-believed him. “I see.”

He found a topic for a chat. “Is this book good?”

Shi Qingluo curled her lips in disdain. “It’s not good. The melodramatic plot of a young lady meeting a scholar is too clingy.”

In the past, when she was free, she would read novels to pass the time.

She didn’t read with those with a modern storyline anymore.

“Then why are you still so engrossed in it?” Xiao Hanzheng couldn’t help but laugh.

Shi Qingluo yawned. “I’m bored. I’m just casually reading to pass the time.”

She looked at him with a half-smile. “Do you like reading this kind of novel?”

She gave him a look that said, “I was wrong about you.”

Xiao Hanzheng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “This is a novel that I brought back from the county before I fainted. I don’t like to read it.”

Shi Qingluo actually felt that he didn’t seem like someone who liked to read.

“So it’s used to make money.”

She asked again, “Then why don’t you write it yourself? It should be more profitable than copying a book.”

Xiao Hanzheng said helplessly, “I don’t understand the love between these scholars and young ladies, and I don’t like this kind of plot, so I can’t write it.”

He chose to copy the scripts because the salary was higher.

Shi Qingluo touched her chin. “Then what kind of plot do you like?”

“What are you trying to hint?” Xiao Hanzheng felt that there was a hidden meaning in her words.

Shi Qingluo said, “I can help you think of ideas, plots and any climax. Prepare the writing brush.”

Xiao Hanzheng raised his eyebrows. “You know very well about the love stories between those scholars and young ladies?”

It didn’t seem like it!

Shi Qingluo rolled her eyes at him. “You’re thinking too much. What I’m saying is that we can write about other topics.”

“For example, immortal cultivation.” She had read a lot of longevity novels and TV series.

She didn’t want to plagiarise.

She believed that she could come up with quite a handful of plots.

Even if she had never eaten pork before, she had always seen pigs run.

She had never been in a relationship, so if she wanted to try out marriage with Xiao Hanzheng, she had to have a common language with him first.

If they did the same thing together, it would be easier to have a topic to talk about and hence more natural to get along with each other.

That was why she suggested that Xiao Hanzheng try writing a script.

When she was young, she was a straight-A student and also a school bully.

She had beaten up all the boys and girls who bullied her classmates, so no boys dared to chase after her.

When she was in university, there were many people who wooed her, but unfortunately, she did not like any of them.

After graduating from university, she went against her parents’ wishes. Not only did she not join the company, but she also delved into agricultural research.

Her mind was all on research and she didn’t have the time or energy to talk about it.

Xiao Hanzheng was stunned. “Immortal cultivation?”

Shi Qingluo nodded. “That’s right. For example, the main character is a village youth who suddenly had a fortuitous encounter one day. So, he embarked on his immortal cultivation journey.”

Xiao Hanzheng was getting interested. “Tell me in detail. I should be able to write about this.”

He could accept this topic, but not on love stories of male scholars alluring women.

That’s how they started chatting together.

They only stopped when they heard a knock on the door.

Shi Qingluo opened the door and saw Mother Xiao carrying a blanket in.

Mother Xiao smiled gently at Shi Qingluo and said, “Zheng’er has already woken up. There’s no need for me, Baili, and Erlang to keep watch at night. I’ll carry your blanket over.”

From Mother Xiao’s point of view, the two of them were already married.

The husband and wife usually live together.

“Alright. Thank you, mother.” Shi Qingluo also knew what she meant.

Furthermore, there were no vacant rooms in this house for her to stay.

This was the Xiao family’s old house which only had two rooms.

Originally, Mother Xiao and her daughter stayed in one room, and Xiao Hanzheng and Erlang stayed in the same room.

The day before she married here, Mother Xiao invited others to stay in their own room and created a partition for Erlang to stay in one of the corners.

Shi Qingluo couldn’t possibly squeeze with Mother Xiao and others and would not ill-treat herself to live in the woodshed.

Anyway, she and Xiao Hanzheng were already married.

Although there was no marriage ceremony, there was a marriage contract, which was equivalent to the marriage certificate.

Since they were already husband and wife, there was still a trial marriage.

Regardless of whether they were divorcing or not in the future, it was not a big deal for them to live together now.

Anyway, before she agreed, Xiao Hanzheng could not do anything to her.

Otherwise, she would smash his head with a hammer.

The smile on Mother Xiao’s face deepened. “You’re welcome as a family member of this house.”

Xiao Hanzheng did not expect that Shi Qingluo would agree to share a room with him.

Thinking about the fact that there was really no other place to stay at home, he knew she wouldn’t sleep in the woodshed either.

However, even if she wanted to sleep in the woodshed, they would not agree.

He suddenly thought, would she choose to sleep in Erlang’s little couch or share a bed with him?

Of course, he would not let his wife sleep on the little couch. He was just curious.

Mother Xiao placed the quilt on the side of Xiao Hanzheng’s bed.

She said to him, “When you are better, go and personally thank the chief, village leaders and everyone else. Our family received a lot of care from them while you were in a coma.

“Our extended families didn’t come here and make a nuisance because the chief was here today.”

It might be because of Qingluo, that’s why the two shrews didn’t come.

Otherwise, if it were any other day, they would definitely come and make a fuss and occupy a whole table at the banquet.

Of course, she didn’t tell her son this.

It wouldn’t be good if her son mistook Qingluo as a tigress.

Qingluo was gentle and kind. Even when she took a move, she was forced to do so by those troublemakers.

Yes, it was like this.

Xiao Hanzheng nodded. “I should go and thank them.”

In his previous life, be it before or after he parted ways from his extended family, the chief and others had helped his family a lot.

He had always remembered his saviours.

In his previous life, he had repaid them, but he was not living in his previous life, he would still repay them in his current life.

As Mother Xiao mentioned his paternal relatives, his originally gentle gaze turned cold.