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Ger Yan’s face turned red. He was remembering what had happened, not reminiscing. He turned around angrily, leaving the back of his head for Lin Lixuan to see his hair whirlpool. Lin Lixuan chuckled, walked over, and picked up the person inside the quilt. Ger Yan was picked up by him like a small burrito. His hands and feet were wrapped in the quilt, making him feel like a little turtle that couldn’t turn over.
He let Ger Yan lean his head against the back of the bed. Lin Lixuan rubbed against him and kissed both sides of his face. Ger Yan reflexively blocked him with his hand. The quilt was carelessly wrapped around him and fell off his shoulder, revealing a large number of traces from last night. Lin Lixuan breathed heavily. He couldn’t hold back and had another taste.
…
When Ger Yan was finally able to get up from bed, it was already past noon. During this period, Lin Lixuan was afraid he would get hungry and hurt his stomach, so he coaxed Ger Yan to drink half a bowl of white porridge while he was in a daze. He rubbed his eyes. He’d shed a lot of tears last night. Now, he was a bit uncomfortable when he opened his eyes a lot. He vaguely felt that Lin Lixuan had wiped his entire body while he was asleep, and also changed his clothes. Now, his body was dry and not sticky.
Ger Yan put on his coat and shoes and stared at the closed door. Everything was already taken care of. He didn’t dare go out. It was like going back to the day when he first got married. He didn’t leave the room in the afternoon. Zhao Liniang must be aware… Ger Yan finally mustered up the courage to leave. He pushed open the door and happened to meet Zhao Liniang, who was coming in from outside. Ger Yan whispered, “Mother.”
Zhao Liniang had a clear expression. She smiled lovingly at Ger Yan. “Are you hungry? Mother will cook you some food.”
“Is Ger Yan awake?” Lin Lixuan came over to take a look when he heard movement. “I’ll get you some food from the kitchen…”
When Ger Yan saw the other party, his legs went a little weak. He unconsciously took a step back. Zhao Liniang covered her smile. “Ger Yan, go rest in the room again. Today is the first, so you don’t need to do anything.”
The custom in Jade Creek Village was that one couldn’t go out on the first or second day of the new year. One should stay at home and spend time with relatives. They think you could encounter disasters when you go out. If you encounter anything bad on the first or second day of the year, then it meant the rest of the year wouldn’t be good either.
Ger Yan nodded, returned to the room, and continued to nestle inside the quilt. When Lin Lixuan brought him a meal, he devoured three bowls of rice. Afraid that he would choke, Lin Lixuan brought up a bowl of pork ribs and radish and fed him on the side. The pork rib soup had been simmering on a low fire since this morning. The soup was thick and fragrant.
After eating three bowls of rice and drinking another bowl of soup, Lin Lixuan wiped the corner of his mouth. “Are you still hungry? Do you want another bowl?”
“No need.” His little belly was bulging. Seeing that he was full of food and drink, Lin Lixuan took the dishes and chopsticks to the kitchen to wash them. Ger Yan, who was full, nested inside the quilt. He suddenly had the feeling that he was in charge. The corners of his lips turned up sweetly.
When Lin Lixuan returned to the room, he saw Ger Yan, who was decadent like a lazy pig in bed. It was rare to see this Shuang’er be this lazy. Ger Yan’s eyes were still red from last night. Looking him up and down, he looked very attractive. Lin Lixuan untied his coat and lifted the quilt to get into bed and roll around with Ger Yan.
The big palm touched the round little belly. Ger Yan laughed. “Let go. It’s itchy.”
“I’ll help you rub your belly to help digest your food. You ate until you became a ball…” Ger Yan snuggled into his chest and obediently let him rub his stomach. The new year was good. He could enjoy being a lazy pig to the fullest.
They had to wait until the seventh day of the new year before their shop in the county town returned. Last year, Chu Zihang said his manuscript would be released in a few days. He didn’t know how it would go, but he hoped he didn’t disappoint. After he was paid the money for the manuscript and calculated the income from the store, he would purchase the barren mountain he’d been eyeing behind the village. Although it was a mountainous area, it would still cost close to 300 taels to buy.
there weren’t many members in the Lin family. They didn’t need to go anywhere for the new year. Lin Lixuan and Ger Yan went to the Ji residence with gifts. They gave Ger Yu a red envelope, making Ger Yu so happy that he wished he could celebrate the new year everyday. They also greeted the neighbors. They came to take a look at the Lin family and were surprised to see how different the Lin family were now.
Ge Dingxiang, who was on good terms with Zhao Liniang, came to their house with her family. She looked at Zhao Liniang with envy. “Did you buy this in the county town? I’ve never seen something like this before. How did they create something so skilfully?”
Zhao Liniang was wearing clothes made by Ger Yan. The middle-aged woman looked a lot younger in the red clothes. Under the bright color, the fine lines on her face faded, which was completely different from her usual pallor complexion. She fixed her clothes and said with a smile, “This was made by our Ger Yan…”
“Ger Yan made this?” It was actually made by someone in their village. Ge Dingxiang approached Zhao Liniang. “Ger Yan has really changed a lot since entering your house.” They all saw what Ji Yan was like when he was in the Ji family. Old Lady Ji didn’t like Shuang’ers, so Ger Yan and Ger Yu didn’t have a good life inside the family. It was never their turn to eat or drink. They were originally handsome little Shuang’ers, but they turned pitiful with ghastly skin and thin muscles. Eldest Ji’s family was also a laughingstock and pitiful in the eyes of others. Look at how good Third Ji’s family was doing. What was the point of being filial to Old Lady Ji?
Ger Yan had changed. The Lin family had changed a lot. Zhao Liniang had a hard life. Zhao Liniang was a tough nut to crack. The orphan and widow had turned their lives around. She’d watched Lin Lixuan since he was a kid, and he was the one who’d changed the most. When Ge Dingxiang first arrived, she actually saw the kid getting firewood and washing dishes. Was that still the same Xiucai Lin from before who only knew how to hold books?
And this pair of husbands were really affectionate. She saw Lin Lixuan talking to Ger Yan intimately. Although it was their own home, hugging like that in front of her made her embarrassed to think about it. They had been married for three to four months already but they were still as sticky as newlyweds. They acted like the white rice he had at home.
So sticky and sweet.
Old Lady Ge returned to her home and said to her man, “Their family is eating white rice. The rice is both white and clean. I’ve seen it. Such beautiful white rice must be fragrant and sweet. They even have bone broth to drink… By the way, a few days ago, whatever they were cooking smelled so good. It was fried rabbit meat. They used a lot of oil to cook it. Food with more oil is always more delicious…”
“Stop talking about it. What’s the use of telling me? Our family can’t afford to eat that. We need to save money to find Ergen a wife.” Old Man Ge pouted. His family didn’t have much land. He was busy all year around. It would be good to save a few dollars. How could he care about food? He needed to spend money for his children to get married, right? If their children marry, they’ll have to repair the house too… “How about you ask for her family’s tofu recipe? We can learn from them to set up a stall in the county town…”
“Don’t.” The corners of Old Lady Ge’s mouth twitched. “I can’t ask that kind of thing. That’s their secret method, why would she tell me? Don’t try and cause a riff in our families’ relationship. Look how many people in the village tried to ask before, and what is the result?” They had a grinding disc at home. When trying to make soy milk, lumps would form, making the bean curd stink. If there was no grinding disc at home, how would they be willing to spend money to buy one? They could only watch from the side.
“Then we have no way to make money and can only live bitterly.” Old Man Ge turned his head and ignored his wife. He closed his eyes to rest.
Was this the only way to earn money? Zhao Liniang said that she went to the county town a few days ago to sell chicken and had earned more than one or two taels of silver… Moreover, “I think a Shuang’er isn’t bad either. Our son doesn’t have to marry a wife…”
They were so intimate…
When Lin Lixuan was free, he studied how to cook Ger Yan, making Ger Yan miserable. He wondered how there could be so many ways to toss someone around like that. He would cry every time. Using hands was one thing, but the other thing—in the end, Zhao Liniang couldn’t stand it anymore and kicked them out of the room.
“Alright, enough. I was wrong. I definitely won’t do it again…” Lin Lixuan sincerely apologized as he held Ger Yan in his arms and coaxed him. All kinds of sweet words emerged. Ger Yan didn’t have a big temper. He was easy to coax. If he was told some nice words, he wouldn’t be angry anymore. Ger Yan sniffed and hugged the other party back. He didn’t reject him. He just wished they didn’t do that so often.
Lin Lixuan was also surprised by his current state. How could he be so reckless and domineering as if he was some stupid child in love. Maybe it was because he had held it in for some long that it was like a dam flooding open now. He decided to write a 3,000 word reflection to change his situation.
After coaxing Ger Yan, he took him to the kitchen to get some food. They made some snacks and other sweets. There were a lot of sweet potatoes in the kitchen, they could make sweet potato fries. The two cut the sweet potato into strips. Ger Yan’s knife skills were good. The sweet potato strips he cut were beautiful. Lin Lixuan peeled the sweet potatoes for him.
After heating up the red clay stove, he poured oil into the pot to heat it up. After putting the sweet potato in the oil, the strips became fragrant and crispy. After frying it, he set it aside. He mixed water and white sugar together and cooked it to make a sugar solution. The sugar liquid bubbled. Lin Lixuan scooped some of the liquid and saw that the concentration was just about ready. He placed the sweet potato strips into it. After the sweet potato dipped in sugar water cooled, it was like it was coated in a layer of sugar. It was delicious.
The two fed each other sweet potato strips. They both thought it was delicious.
Ger Yan took the finished sweet potato strips to Zhao Liniang to have a taste. Lin Lixuan stood by the pot. After washing the pot, he suddenly remembered that he could also try to make simple sweet and sour pork ribs. In addition to the pot of soup, there were still a lot of pork ribs left. The pot was still hot, so it was perfect. He quickly boiled the pork ribs, added clean water, white vinegar, and white sugar to boil into a syrup. Then he added the pork ribs into the fire—
Ger Yan went to give Zhao Liniang sweet potato strips, but he didn’t come back for a long time. Lin Lixuan was inexperienced using the fire, but he was finally able to make some “caramel ribs”. When Ger Yan returned, he only saw his Lin-dage shaking his head and sighing as he looked at the plate of unidentified items. He’d tasted his cooking in the past. There was a faint burnt fragrance, and although it looked a bit strange, it was still delicious.
“Ger Yan, why were you gone for so long?”
“Oh, I was sewing clothes with Mother for a bit…”
…He couldn’t let Zhao Liniang find out about this plate. He pulled Ger Yan and the two sat in the corner and whispered to each other as they ate the plate of caramel pork ribs. They silently wiped out the evidence. When Zhao Liniang called them to eat that evening, they both said they didn’t want to eat, which made Zhao Liniang wonder for a long time.
“Lin-dage, it’s better if you don’t cook alone in the future.” The food could still be eaten, but their tongue wouldn’t be their own afterwards.
“Okay…” One couldn’t escape if they caused trouble for themselves.
The two people who had pork ribs together snuggled together. Ger Yan had a rare night of restful sleep.
On the seventh day of the new year, the food shops in the county town reopened.
