Lady of Fortune, Jiao Niang

how she had to learn how to read and write.
Although they still spent time together, they didn’t hold hands as often.

Now would be a good time to take that supplement.

Once she thought something, she would act on it.
The Little Ginseng quietly took her hand out of her quilt and fumbled it into the man’s quilt.

Qi Yun, whose fingertips were numb, felt them being gently grasped by someone.

Ye Jiao didn’t exert any force.
However, his blood hadn’t been circulating – even a light touch made Qi Yun feel the numbness of his hand spread straight up his arm, making him involuntarily tremble.

The Little Ginseng thought this was a little weird: “Xiang Gong, what’s wrong with you?”

Qi Yun held it in and squeezed his arm hard to make himself more comfortable.
He gently said: “It’s okay,” and grabbed Ye Jiao’s hand with his.

Interlocking fingers.

Qi Yun actually wasn’t used to sleeping with people.
He’s also a little unwilling to get along with others because of his poor health.
He thought that sharing the bed with his wife would require a lot of mental fortitude.
Who knew that he would fall asleep without thinking more of it.

An evening of good dreams and a very sweet sleep.

The next day, Ye Jiao woke up a bit earlier than him.
Feeling that the man was still holding her fingers, Ye Jiao carefully withdrew her hand.
She was relieved to see that he wasn’t startled awake.

Qi Yun still needed to take care of his body by sleeping an adequate amount of time, so Ye Jiao didn’t wake him up.
Because of her flimsy clothes, Ye Jiao took the thick robe that Qi Yun placed on the bedside and got out of bed.

Ye Jiao tidied up, asked someone to replace the hot charcoal pot, and went out – she was already familiar with this whole set of tasks.

When breakfast was almost ready, Qi Yun just woke up. 

Qi Yun, who used to suffer from insomnia, had been sleeping better day by day since marrying Ye Jiao.
Because of that, he’d been getting used to sleeping until the sky lightened.

However, Qi Yun didn’t like to be lazy like ordinary people; he didn’t even like to have too much free time.
After breakfast, he asked Tie Zi to call Steward Song.

Ye Jiao had already prepared a small room for Xiang Gong.
Even though it was very warm inside, Ye Jiao diligently watched Qi Yun put on thick clothes, making sure he wouldn’t catch a cold, before letting him go.

Ye Jiao, on the other hand, went to Liu Shi’s yard.
After not sitting for long, she heard that Qi Ming was coming and prepared to leave.
She didn’t want to disturb their mother-son reunion.

Before leaving, Liu Shi warned: “When Third Son returns to the academy, the stewards will count the money and put it in the accounts.
When the time comes, the money will be distributed.
Go back and ask Second Son if he wants to watch them do so.”

Ye Jiao also heard Qi Yun talk about this.
After reporting, the stewards had to count the money and put it into the treasury.
Although it all went to their respective treasuries, this process had to be done in front of the Qi family owners.

Father Qi and Qi Zhao would both be there; if Qi Yun’s body was okay, he would be there too.

At that time, it wouldn’t just be cold numbers on the ledger, but shiny white silver and copper coins threaded in strings – each of which had to be carefully counted.

Liu Shi specifically told Ye Jiao because the wine shop made a lot of money and she was happy to let her second son come over to show off.

Ye Jiao agreed, and remembered those words before leaving.

On the way back, Ye Jiao bumped into Little Stone.

This time, it wasn’t Fang Shi who was holding Stone, but the old lady in Fang Shi’s house.
Stone had an extraordinary affection for Ye Jiao, and when he saw her, he stretched out his hand so Ye Jiao could hold him.

Ye Jiao wanted to hold him too.
In fact, anything similar to a bear cub was likable.

However, Ye Jiao didn’t want to burn up the cute child, so she smiled and grabbed his chubby hand.
She looked at the old lady: “Why didn’t eldest sister-in-law come? I didn’t see her at mother-in-law’s place just now.”

The old lady replied: “The Eldest Young Lady said she felt unwell last night, and even now she hasn’t gotten up.”

Hearing that Fang Shi was ill, Ye Jiao quickly asked: “Is she alright?”

The old lady shook her head: “Nothing’s wrong.” It was just troublesome.
She’s followed Fang Shi for several years and she could see that the eldest young mistress had a small heart.
Trivial details would make her angry, not to mention how embarrassed she felt yesterday.

A few days later, she’ll (the old lady) check in again.
Fang Shi used to like this day the most, waiting for it every two months.
Now she was afraid and hiding as much as possible.

It’s just that these words couldn’t be said to Ye Jiao, so the old lady held it in.

Ye Jiao smiled and said: “It’s good if nothing is wrong.” She then looked at Little Stone: “I’m free now – why don’t you take Stone to my place to stay for a while? It’s windy in this garden, and we don’t want it to blow on the child.”

The old lady naturally had no reason to refuse, and followed Ye Jiao with Stone in her arms.

Ye Jiao entered the yard and saw that the door to the small room was still tightly closed.
She thought that Xiang Gong and Steward Song were having a longer conversation today than usual.
Instead of going in to look, she brought Little Stone into the house.

Usually, Ye Jiao practiced calligraphy in the wing during this time, and today was no exception.

The table had pens, inks, papers, and inkstones.
Ye Jiao grinded the ink and spoke at the same time: “Xiao Su, I remember that there was a plate of sand cakes [1] ; in the morning.
Let’s bring some to Stone.”

Children loved to eat sweets, and usually Stone ate with Ye Jiao when they visited Liu Shi.
Although the two were far apart in age, they had similar eating habits.
Ye Jiao also treated him very well.

This sand cake was a steamed cake made of glutinous rice flour with a filling of mashed sesame seeds and sugar in the middle.
It was soft and sweet, especially suitable for children.

Stone wasn’t attracted by the sand cake, but had his eyes on the writing brush on the table.

When Ye Jiao picked up the pen to write, Little Stone suddenly struggled in the arms of the old lady: “Auntie, Second Auntie!”

Ye Jiao immediately raised her head to look at him, but didn’t go over.
She just smiled and asked: “What’s wrong, Stone?”

Little Stone was still young, and sometimes he couldn’t articulate what he was thinking.
He only knew how to call Ye Jiao over and over again while pinning his round eyes on the brush.

The old lady didn’t understand, but Ye Jiao understood his heart: “You want to try it too?”

Stone immediately nodded.
With his chubby cheeks, he looked like a porcelain doll.

Ye Jiao didn’t refuse, and asked the old woman to carry over Little Stone.
She gave him a brush but didn’t dip it in ink, afraid that he would eat it.
She just dipped it in water and let him draw on the cloth.

Fortunately, Little Stone couldn’t tell whether it was ink or water.
Anyway, there were traces of it on the blue cloth and the little guy was also happy.

Writing and writing until the piece of canvas was full, Ye Jiao got up and went to change it with another one.
Little Stone obediently held up the brush and waited.

At that moment, there was a voice from outside: “Sister-in-law.”

***

The author has something to say: 

Author flower: Jiao Niang, you are so good to Little Stone; is it because you’re so sympathetic between foodies?

Jiao Niang: … Hmph! [Eats a plate of sand cake with anger]

***

Footnotes:

[1] Sand cakes are local delicacies made by the Zhuang ethnic group in China.
They have a light, soft, and fresh taste. Baike