The Possession of My Beloved - CH 6

Although Cui Jiu drank in the mountain pavilion, he did not eat to fill his stomach. He came down the mountain and he’s feeling really hungry now.

Therefore, he did not wait for Liu Miantang’s orders and raised his voice and said, “Servant Li, bring me some food.”

Unfortunately, as the master’s return was sudden, Servant Li didn’t prepare. The Master asked in a hurry. But, there was no food in the kitchen, so she had to serve some of the food cooked for Liu Miantang in the evening for him.

The dishes for dinner today were dried radish bought from the street. After it was soaked in the water, it was sprinkled with a handful of salt and mixed. In addition, there was a piece of local moldy tofu, which can be eaten after being poured with hot oil.

Although Cui Xingzhou is not particular to food, he didn’t expect that Servant Li would bring such rough and unbearable meals. If it wasn’t for the bowl of white rice, it would be for the sinners in the prison.

However, Liu Miantang was very calm. In her opinion, it is natural to save as much money as she can to manage a family well. However, seeing Cui Jiu frowning slightly, she shouted to Servant Li to bring in some sesame oil and comforted her picky husband, “You have just come to a new place. Money is required everywhere within a rise of the hand. I have to be more diligent and frugal. It’s too late today. Eating too much will hurt your stomach. You can put up with the food first for today. The moldy tofu is especially delicious with sesame oil. If you can’t get used to it, I’ll ask Servant Li to buy you glutinous rice chicken at the street corner tomorrow…”

How could Cui Xingzhou not know that this little woman is trying to coax him to eat like how others usually play tricks on greedy children? He sneered in his heart, but he picked up the bowl and silently ate a bowl of rice with dried radish.

Liu Miantang eagerly mixed the moldy tofu with sesame oil and poured a cup of hot tea for Cui Xingzhou.

After dinner, it was late. Cui Xingzhou knew that if he said to go to the shop and set up an account at this time, even the ones that hurt their brain would not believe it.

He came here intending to catch hold of her motive. Since he wanted to see if she was going to assassinate him, he had to give her a chance.

So when all the dishes and chopsticks were removed after the meal, the house was silent again for a while. Cui Jiu slowly said, “I’m a little tired today. I’d better have a rest earlier.”

Although Liu Miantang had expected that her husband would sleep in her room today, when she heard him say so, she still felt her heart beating loudly.

Fortunately, in the year after her serious illness, she had already accepted the fact that she was the wife of Cui Jiu. Although she was shy, it was not right to push her husband out.

She pursed her lips, hurried to the edge of the bed, straightened the bedding, and then turned to ask, “Which side are you used to sleeping on?”

While drinking tea, Cui Xingzhou said lightly, “I can sleep on the outer side…”

Because there were no clothes for Cui Xingzhou in the house, he naturally could not change his clothes and sleep as usual. After simply washing, he took off his coat and lay on the bed with only his inner clothes.

Although he was separated by a quilt, he could still feel that the body of the fragrant woman around him was slightly stiff. He didn’t know if she was not used to it, or if she was thinking about when to attack him.

Liu Miantang is full of regrets. Why did she ask him which side he will be sleeping on earlier on? She should have just let him sleep on the inside.

Because the dried radish that was mixed by Servant Li was too salty, she drank a pot of water after dinner. Thinking that if she needs to get up at night for the restroom, will climbing in and out like this disturbed her husband’s sleep?

With this on her mind, she could not help leaning slightly to check her husband’s movements.

The moon was shining into the house at this moment and illuminated the tip of Cui Jiu’s nose a little.

Her husband was so close to her that she could touch him as soon as she stretched out her fingertips… Listening to her husband’s steady breathing, Liu Miantang suddenly felt slight happiness in her heart.

Since she was seriously ill, although her husband took good care of her, he never slept with her in the same room again. At first, she felt relaxed. After all, she didn’t want to sleep with a completely unfamiliar person even if he was her husband. But as time went by, she fell into deep worry again.

Cui Jiu is a merchant who always runs business outside. He will inevitably have to go to some brothel places to engage in social activities overnight. In addition, Cui Jiu seems to be born with good features. Wouldn’t the women outside tend to approach him like seeing some fragrant meat?

If he were to pick up any bad habits, wouldn’t it cause her husband and her to gradually feel apart from each other?

Fortunately, now that they have settled in Lingquan Town, her husband finally doesn’t have to travel around for business. She also has to clear up her feelings of being lost after losing her memory and fulfill a wife’s role. Moreover, her husband should have a child at his age…

While thinking of this, Liu Miantang felt that her cheek suddenly turned hot. She slowly reached out to touch Cui Jiu’s hand.

Different from her slender hands, his big palms have distinct muscles and bones, which can completely wrap around hers…

Her husband didn’t move. He seemed to be too tired and had fallen into a deep sleep.

Liu Miantang felt relieved and placed her hand on his palm.

Throughout this year, it was only at this moment did she suddenly have the feeling of being a real married couple.

While secretly delighted, as his wife, she also has full of things to do. Every morning, she must get up early to serve her husband. As there aren’t any freshly cleaned clothes here, she has to iron them neatly before he wears them. Most importantly, she needs to remember to tell Servant Li to buy glutinous rice chicken for her husband… Thinking about it, Miantang folded her hand in his hand, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

When Liu Miantang fell asleep next to her husband, Cui Jiu finally opened his eyes slowly.

He seldom regretted anything, but he felt that he shouldn’t have come here late at night. Originally, he thought that this woman would take advantage and do something when he was sleeping to harm him, but she just placed her tender jade-like hand into his big palm and fell asleep like that.

Under the moonlight, he turned his head and looked over. An 18-year-old gorgeous woman was just a very short distance away from him, with her long hair on the pillow and a long breath. She slept like a baby without knowing it…

Cui Xingzhou looked for a while and felt that the probing was over. Although it is late at night, if he leaves now, he can catch up with the military camp training tomorrow morning. But when he wanted to draw his hand back, the woman beside him groaned like a milk cat, rubbed her face on his arm, and continued to fall asleep soundly.

Prince Huaiyang lay on his side and looked out of the window. After thinking for a while, he suddenly felt tired and lazy, and then closed his eyes again: Since he has already returned, there is no need to trouble himself to walk in the night again. He shall make arrangements tomorrow.

The moon was bright and the stars were sparse the night before, and a light rain fell in the middle of the night. The raindrops knock on the window lattice, letting people sleep extra sweetly.

However, Liu Miantang got up very early with the drizzle because she had something in mind or had slept too long yesterday afternoon.

Liu Miantang got up during the night. Because her husband was in the room, she was too embarrassed to use the toilet stool in the room, so she ran to the courteous room behind the yard with an umbrella.

She didn’t expect that Servant Li didn’t go back to her room to rest. Instead, she took a camp stool and sat under the eaves. It was dark and frightening.

She was surprised to ask, and Servant Li said with red and tired eyes, that the master has come back and needed someone to be on standby to serve  She was afraid that the master and his wife would not be able to find anyone for water at night.

The old servants were indeed loyal and unable to find fault.

However, the term asking for water in the night seemed to have a profound meaning, which made Liu Miantang blush again.

Compared with her back and forth tossing, Cui Jiu’s sleeping appearance is more regular, just like his own gentle temperament. He almost remains in the same posture the whole night, and there are almost no creases on his clothes.

However, he was too lazy to get up the next morning. After Liu Miantang got up, he continued to sleep for another hour before he got up.

When he woke up, a pair of beautiful eyes were still filled with bloodshot, and it doesn’t look like he slept well at all.

Liu Miantang felt sorry when she was serving her husband to wash his face. After the collapse of the Cui family, her husband must have worked hard to make a living, running around, and hasn’t been sleeping well, right?

However, after her husband woke up, he didn’t complain, and even if he was wearing obscenity clothes, he washed his face and rinsed his mouth as gracefully and calmly as in a Confucian shirt.

Liu Miantang admired Cui Jiu’s gentleness and elegance that was down in his bones, so she picked up the clothes that her husband hung on the panels, and ironed his coats personally, to make her husband look more decent when he left the house.

However, the iron was a little heavy after it was loaded with charcoal. Miantang’s wrist was weak, and could not hold the iron. Servant Li look at her in shock, fearing that she would overturn the iron that was loaded with fire and burn the master’s coat, making him unable to go out decently. Thus, she snatched Miantang’s work.

Taking advantage of Servant Li’s efforts to iron the clothes, Liu Miantang first filled the hot porridge that had just been cooked for her husband, and then put the exquisite dishes brought by the mute servant on the table. Then she asked, “Where is your shop located? You didn’t eat well last night. I asked Servant Li to cook roasted pork at noon today, and I can send them to you for lunch personally.”

Although Cui Xingzhou ordered his servant to buy a shop yesterday, he hasn’t gotten back yet. How could he tell her about this non-existent shop?

Maybe it was because he didn’t have a good rest last night. The Ninth Master’s handsome face, which was always as gentle as jade, was a little gloomy. When she asked, he didn’t bother to try to deceive her. He just said it easily, “The shop that was set up earlier, the original shop owner regretted it, refunded the deposit, and took it back. Right now… There’s no shop yet.”

Hearing this, Liu Miantang was angry. She put down her chopsticks heavily and said, “Which merchant is so untrustworthy?”

Cui Xingzhou did not say anything but drank his bowl of porridge.

Liu Miantang, conscious of losing her temper, hurriedly adjusted her sitting posture and said modestly, “Husband, please don’t get angry. Isn’t there a saying indicating that good things take time? Maybe it’s a good thing for him to refund the deposit back to you!”

She was telling the truth. In her opinion, although her husband is very nice, he has some naiveness as a wealthy child. It can be seen that even the finalized shops have been forced to cancel and the deposit was returned to him.

As his wife, she shouldn’t make fun of her husband. Only by helping him personally can she be worthy of virtue.

Liu Miantang then said, “Husband, the people in the neighborhood are all old local residents. You can ask them about it. Choosing a shop is a big deal. Don’t be too hasty. Since the owner of the shop has gone back on his word, you might as well consider it carefully.”

After hearing what she said, Cui Xingzhou also saved the trouble of tricking her out of the door, and said gently, “I’m going to go to the neighboring county for dinner. Since you have nothing to do, I’ll leave the matter of choosing a shop to you.”

After Liu Miantang listened to the words, it was exactly how she wanted it. However, she blinked her charming eyes again, and hesitantly said, “I was seriously ill before, and I can’t remember many things. What if I mess it up?

Cui Jiu smiled, “It won’t be as bad as hurting people in the dark alley. It is just choosing a shop to purchase. If you see any shop that you like, just buy it.”

Miantang turned a deaf ear to the irony of her husband’s first half-sentence but felt that the heroism in the second half-sentence was very manly.

Although his family is in straitened circumstances, her husband grew up rich and noble, and his vision and knowledge are not the kinds of ordinary people in the market.

When she looked at the handsome and quiet face of her husband again, Miantang could not help but soften her eyes.

She secretly made up her mind, She must live up to the trust of her husband and buy a prosperous shop with daily income and money.