Chapter 107: If Line: Reborn Before Marrying Xizhi [6]
The wedding banquet was so grand that only a little over two taels of silver were left. But in Shen Xizhi’s eyes, this was still a lot.
Her beautiful eyes widened. She couldn’t believe it as she looked at the two pieces of silver and a bag of copper coins in her palm, and asked in a small voice, “Are you really letting me hold them?”
“Mmm-hmm, you can just hold them. I don’t really need money for anything besides buying you something to eat.”
In her past life, she had liked to hold the money herself and give Xizhi pocket money, because at that time, she had just transmigrated and felt uneasy without money on her. She also didn’t know what kind of personality the villain had, whether she would backstab her. But now she already liked the villain very much and understood her well.
There would be no backstabbing. Xizhi was very good and obedient. She wouldn’t do that kind of thing. It was completely fine for her to keep the money.
It was the first time Shen Xizhi was managing money. Her eyes were sparkling, both expectant and feeling novel. She held the money and said obediently, “I will manage the household expenses well.”
“Mmm, don’t be too frugal. Just spend it as you please. Buy whatever you like. But there’s one thing you can’t do.”
She suddenly said, “You can’t give this money to your parents. You can spend it on yourself, but you’re not allowed to give it to your family. Do you hear me?”
If it weren’t for that group of people who had mistreated her Xizhi, she would also have been very good to them.
Hmph.
But if it weren’t for them mistreating Xizhi, she also wouldn’t have been able to marry her own wife as a woman.
Shen Xizhi thought she just didn’t like her helping her family and nodded seriously. She would definitely not give that family any money, definitely not!
Being stroked on the head by her wife, “Mmm, Xiaobao is so good.”
She called me Xiaobao. Does that mean ‘treasure’? I’ve never been anyone’s treasure before.
Shen Xizhi’s heart was also soft and sweet.
After being given the silver, her wife was clearly much more at ease and no longer as anxious as before. Song Yugui went back to work, selling meat in town again. Only then did Shen Xizhi know that a butcher could actually earn more than a tael of silver a day.
She had never seen such a person who could earn so much money, her jaw almost dropping to the ground.
When Song Yugui handed over her wages, she found her own wife in a daze.
She couldn’t help but reach out and poke her wife’s small face, which startled her. Her small, pale hand covered the spot that had been poked, and she said sullenly, “Don’t you always mess with me.”
She was always so handsy and not at all honest.
Being told this, she didn’t care and just smiled with her eyes narrowed. “Mmm, you’re my wife. What’s wrong with me poking your face? Even if I were to kiss you, it would be what I should do.”
She was saying this kind of thing again.
Shen Xizhi snorted lightly. “I’m ignoring you.”
Then she ran to the front hall to start a fire and cook.
Song Yugui also followed her out, but she didn’t want her help, saying that she had been tired all day and should be resting well.
It wasn’t a whole day, just half a day.
She couldn’t win against her wife, so she moved a small stool and sat beside her, talking to her.
Their relationship became more intimate day by day, and Shen Xizhi was finally not as anxious and cautious as she had been at first. She also had her own small temper and couldn’t help but show it.
This day, when Song Yugui returned home, the house was unusually quiet. Her wife, who loved to sit in the courtyard and embroider pouches while waiting for her, was nowhere to be found. At first, she didn’t think much of it. She walked into the house, and her wife was still not there, only a pouch on the ground.
Song Yugui: ?
The piglet pouch was exquisitely and beautifully embroidered. Xizhi had said she was going to give it to her.
Now it was just… thrown away?
Thrown on the ground?
Song Yugui didn’t know what had happened. She picked up the pouch with a wronged expression. In a short while, there was a noise outside. It was Xizhi coming back.
She held the pouch and went out, just about to ask, but she hadn’t expected her little wife to see her and actually snort at her fiercely, then hold the newly washed clothes and go to the side to hang them, ignoring her.
Song Yugui: ?
Such an obvious angry posture made her bewildered and at the same time, she began to think hard. Did I bully her too much last night, and she got angry? No… I remember that when she cried, I didn’t continue. Why be so angry? Song Yugui was stunned. She stuffed the pouch into her robes and quickly chased after her. “Xizhi!”
She called out, but Shen Xizhi still ignored her. Her slender face was puffed out, and she could see it from behind.
Song Yugui: …
“Where did I make you unhappy? You can just tell me.”
Why are you torturing me like this by not talking? QAQ.
Shen Xizhi was harassed by her several times and couldn’t hang the clothes properly. Only then did she suddenly turn around and glare at her angrily.
This look of ‘you’ve done me wrong’ made one subconsciously feel guilty.
Song Yugui couldn’t help but start to recall where she had done her wrong.
Until she put her hands on her hips and questioned her angrily, “You originally wanted to marry Song Xinyu, and only came to marry me after she rejected you, right?!”
Snap. A string in Song Yugui’s head broke. She began to curse the original owner and her eight generations of ancestors again.
With their current relationship, Xizhi would definitely not believe in such a thing as borrowing a corpse to return a soul.
The original owner’s blame was firmly on her. This was too heartbreaking.
“I wanted to marry you because I sincerely like you.”
She could only explain drily first.
Shen Xizhi’s doe-like eyes widened even more, and she said angrily, “But you definitely like her more!”
She was angry. She forcefully walked from outside into the house. She had known from the beginning that she had someone she liked, that she was a very fickle and frivolous person. But when she was truly clear that she was her second choice…
Shen Xizhi could have died of anger!
Song Yugui was about to follow her when the other, after walking to the door, turned around again, held the edge of the door, and ordered her, “Go and hang the clothes!”
…
Good job. It seems she’s really angry. She even dares to order me to do things.
Song Yugui looked helplessly at the closed door in front of her, then at the basin of clean clothes. She obediently turned around to wash the clothes, her mind already racing. How do I explain? I don’t like Song Xinyu at all! A huge pot falling from the sky!
There were only a few clothes for two people. Song Yugui had them hung up in a short while.
Hearing no noise from the room, she guessed that Xizhi had run to the bed in anger, and was probably hiding under the quilt, secretly cursing her. Just like in her past life, she just loved to throw a little tantrum, but it was very cute.
The corners of Song Yugui’s mouth curved up.
She pushed open the two doors and went in. Sure enough, she didn’t see Xizhi, just a small bump under the quilt on the bed. Half her bottom was even exposed, but her head was carefully hidden in the quilt.
Only a few strands of dark hair were left.
She walked over and coughed lightly, lowering her voice to call out, “Xizhi?”
Xizhi ignored her and burrowed further in.
Song Yugui sat on the edge of the bed and casually patted her uncovered little bottom, her voice becoming even softer. “Who told you this? This person has bad intentions and wants to drive a wedge between us!”
The moment she spoke, the body under her palm shrank further in, helping her own bottom to escape the bad person’s hand.
After a long while, a voice finally came from under the quilt, muffled. “It was Miss Song who told me. She said she was afraid I would be tricked by you and told me to keep an eye on you.”
But she really couldn’t hold it in. The moment she saw her, she got angry. And when she got angry, she blurted everything out.
Song Xinyu?
Wait, sis, you’re harming me again!
She rubbed her forehead with a headache. “Don’t listen to her nonsense. I’ve given you all the money in the house to manage. What else can I trick you out of?”
Xizhi’s bottom had already shrunk very far in, but Song Yugui reached out and pulled at a corner of the quilt. With a slight pull, she was pulled over, quilt and all, in a daze.
After she came to her senses, the young woman was even more flustered and wanted to hide in the quilt, but in a short while, her small head saw the light of day again. She had been pulled out and was held in her arms, her expression still dazed.
Song Yugui lowered her head and nibbled on her.
“Sss.”
She didn’t bite lightly, and Xizhi cried out in pain, her large, watery eyes glaring at her.
Song Yugui also feigned an angry look and glared back. “You ungrateful little thing! You don’t know in your heart how good I am to you? Someone says a couple of words, and you come back and get angry with me? Where did I like her more? I clearly like you the most! You can go and ask around in a ten-li radius. Have I ever given Song Xinyu anything that costs more than fifty wen?!”
Many thanks to the original owner’s stinginess, which gives me some room to argue.
Shen Xizhi pressed her lips together, unconvinced. “Then you’ve never given me anything so expensive either!”
Being flicked on the head, she covered it with a wronged expression, thinking that she was starting to be unreasonable and bully her because she couldn’t win against her.
“You’re so stupid! The phoenix crown I bought you on our wedding day was more than ten taels of silver!”
And she still says she’s never spent more than fifty wen on her. You ungrateful little thing.
“What—”
Shen Xizhi’s voice immediately trailed off, her face filled with an unparalleled shock, simply unable to believe what she had heard.
She swallowed hard. “You said… that phoenix crown, how much did it cost?”
Song Yugui thought for a moment and shook her head. “I don’t remember. Over ten taels.”
Shen Xizhi’s vision went black, and she almost fainted in her arms.
How much?
Over ten taels!
She had never seen so much money in her life, and it had been spent by Song Yugui on some phoenix crown?
She… she hadn’t even had a good look at that phoenix crown!
How could it be so expensive?
“Why did you have to spend that money?”
Although it had been bought before she married her, this did not stop her from feeling sorry for that sum of money.
Song Yugui held her wife and nuzzled her small face against hers, snorting lightly. “I just feel that you deserve the best things in this world. Of course the wedding can’t be sloppy. If it weren’t for the fact that I don’t have enough money, it wouldn’t have been so simple.”
This… this is still simple?
The unworldly young woman was simply stunned. There was even a sedan chair. Could that also be called simple?
Renting a sedan chair was also very expensive. Few people in the village had a sedan chair when they got married.
But Song Yugui had given her a red sedan chair, a phoenix crown, and a wedding dress. When her mother had seen it, she had even asked her to ask her wife if she could return the phoenix crown after the wedding, so that it could be used for Shen Yaozu.
Of course she hadn’t agreed. Her mother had been scolding her for being an ungrateful wolf.
Such a wedding, how could it be called simple?
Shen Xizhi wrinkled her nose, her red lips slightly parted. Being discovered, she secretly poked her mouth with her finger. Hey, she actually poked it in.
Shen Xizhi: …
She bit that mischievous finger in anger, but it didn’t hurt.
Tsk, she can’t bear to bite me.
This would only make an excessive person push their luck.
Song Yugui narrowed her eyes. It was one thing for her not to take her finger out in time, but she was even angrily pulling at her tongue.
Shen Xizhi immediately glared at her. This time, she bit much harder, leaving a not-so-deep tooth mark.
Song Yugui was not angry and continued to kiss her. “Do you believe me now? I like you, I really like you. As long as I have a little money on me, I want to spend it on you.”
Shen Xizhi was once again dazed by a string of sweet words and could only skeptically retort with Song Xinyu’s words, “But Miss Song said that the person you like is her, that you often pester her, and that she’s very annoyed with you.”
Song Yugui: …
“In the past, in the past. That’s all in the past. Why don’t you go and ask her how long it’s been since I’ve pestered her?”
She had been trying her best to please her own wife for a long, long time!
But who would have thought that after she had said this, Shen Xizhi would have a wronged expression again. “But she said that’s because she rejected you and was unwilling to marry you, and that you were deliberately being angry with her.”
Song Yugui: …
She knew that Song Xinyu was a little narcissistic, but this…
Alright, it couldn’t be said that she had guessed wrong. After all, the original owner really was like this. But that was just the original owner’s thought.
Song Yugui said righteously, “She’s talking nonsense! I liked her in the past, but it was just because I was young and didn’t know what love was, so I mistakenly thought I liked her. But ever since I met you, I’ve understood! The person I really like is you, not her.”
Shen Xizhi was so coaxed she was stunned. She was not a very smart person in the first place, or she wouldn’t have been so suppressed by her family for so long. Now she also felt that Song Yugui’s words sounded very credible and was a little bewildered.
Song Yugui knew her wife was sometimes stupid and didn’t expect her to figure it out immediately. So she just pointed at her head and coughed lightly. “If you can’t figure out who to listen to… then just listen to me. After all, I’m your wife.”
That’s right! I’m my wife’s wife! How can she believe everything Song Xinyu says? Shivering with anger.
Shen Xizhi thought for a long while before she finally nodded seriously. She also didn’t know why she had listened to Song Xinyu. It was just that after she had found out that her wife had once liked her, her heart had been a little unbalanced.
She was always not confident. Where could she compare to Miss Song?
“So good.”
Seeing her agree, Song Yugui stroked her head and praised her.
But Shen Xizhi didn’t just agree for nothing. She sat up straight, her lips pressed together, and made a rather dissatisfied request. “You’re not allowed to harass any other women in the future. You can’t like others anymore. If you have to like someone, you can only like me. I’m your wife. You can like me, but not others!”
Others are not your wife… how can you like them?
She felt a little sullen when she thought of how many people she had liked in the past.
Song Yugui couldn’t explain and could only hold her nose and take the blame for the original owner. “I didn’t know what love was before. Now that I know, of course I only like you and will never like others again.”
She said in a warm and soft voice.
Only then was Shen Xizhi coaxed into happiness. She lay softly in her embrace, her two long legs swaying back and forth because she was sitting on her lap.
She clearly looked very happy.
The knot in her heart was temporarily put down. “Mmm, then… then I’ll go and cook for you. What do you want for lunch?”
She had lost her temper with her in a fit of anger, fussing about being coaxed and explained to. Now that she was calm, she felt a little guilty. Her beautiful eyes blinked, and her long, slender lashes also drooped gently, covering her eyes, as if she were too embarrassed to look at her.
Song Yugui rubbed the delicate back of her wife’s neck and said casually, “I’ll eat anything. How about we have noodles? This is a little more convenient. I brought back some tenderloin today.”
“Mmm, mmm.”
The young woman obediently nodded. “Then I’ll go and knead the dough.”
As she spoke, she was about to get up but was held back, her rosy lips held. “Don’t go yet. A couple of kisses first.”
Shen Xizhi: …
“Oh, oh, alright…”
She also had no objection. Since the other wanted to kiss, she obediently sat on her lap and let her have her fill, her chin slightly lifted until her lips were swollen before she was let go.
Shen Xizhi complained in a small voice, “You were a little rough.”
“Mmm, I only promised to be gentle when I’m doing this. I never promised to be gentle when I’m kissing you.”
She lightly pointed to her lower abdomen. Shen Xizhi’s face instantly turned even redder.
She… she’s just a rogue who likes to talk nonsense!
“I’m going to cook. I’m ignoring you.”
The person in her arms nimbly jumped out of her embrace and ran to the front hall without looking back. Song Yugui couldn’t help but say with a laugh, “If you’re ignoring me, you’re ignoring me. Run a little slower. Don’t fall.”
The moment the words fell, a woman’s panicked cry came from outside. “Ah—”
Accompanied by a muffled grunt, Song Yugui’s expression changed. She quickly ran over and held her wife, who had accidentally fallen, by the arm, her expression nervous. “Where did you fall?”
Shen Xizhi rubbed her knee with a troubled face. Song Yugui could see that she had bumped her knee and reached out to rub it for her. “Besides your knee, where else does it hurt?”
She also rubbed her own elbow.
It had hit the ground here and also felt very painful.
Song Yugui was helpless. “Why weren’t you more careful? You can even trip on flat ground.”
She had tripped over her own left foot with her right, which was why she had accidentally fallen. It was a little embarrassing to talk about, so she decided not to say it and just kept her mouth shut, looking at her with watery, wronged eyes.
Seeing this, Song Yugui was quite helpless. She gently rubbed her knee a few times, then picked her up horizontally.
Shen Xizhi rested her small head in her embrace and complained in a small voice, “It’s all your fault. You’re a jinx.”
It was clearly you who wasn’t careful.
Song Yugui thought in her heart, but her tone was not like this. She comforted her with a warm voice. “Mmm, it’s my fault. It’s my mouth’s fault for talking nonsense.”
She was just acting coquettishly and shifting the blame. She hadn’t expected Song Yugui to actually admit it.
Her small face turned red. By the time she was placed on the bed, she was saying in a small voice, “I… I was just joking. It’s not really your fault.”
“Mmm, I know.”
“Oh.”
Shen Xizhi lowered her head. Seeing her rummaging through something, she poked her head out with curiosity. “What are you looking for? I might know where it is.”
“Looking for medicine. Your leg is injured. It’s not convenient to go to town. I’ll get you some medicine to apply.”
“It’s just a small injury. I’ll be fine after I lie down for a while. I don’t need medicine.”
She felt that using medicine was a waste of money. She wasn’t seriously injured herself. Why use medicine?
It was just a fall. Medicine was so precious.
But in terms of her body, her wife had never listened to her. She still lowered her head to seriously look for medicine and found it in a short while.
She carefully lifted the skirt and pants on her leg, revealing her snowy white thigh. A patch of red was on her knee, with a bit of blood showing through, which was really heartbreaking.
Song Yugui frowned. “How can you fall so seriously even at home?”
It wasn’t a stone road outside.
Seeing her frown, Shen Xizhi was afraid she would be angry and immediately said, “It’s not very serious. It doesn’t hurt.”
“It still doesn’t hurt? I saw you were about to cry just now.”
Her wife’s doe-like eyes were covered in a thick mist, on the verge of falling. The sight of her made her heart ache every time.
“Then I don’t have to apply medicine. These medicines must be very expensive to buy.”
The cool ointment was applied to her knee without a word. She was so cold she was instantly silenced.
“No matter how expensive the medicine is, it has to be used on the body to have value. If you just leave it there and are reluctant to use it, then why did you buy it?”
“Oh.”
She seemed to have shrunk her neck as if she had been scolded, and then she became obedient. She let her pull her clothes, and after the medicine was also applied to her elbow, Song Yugui got up and took out a loose set of clothes for her. “You can wear this. Don’t wear your pants. There are only the two of us at home. It’s alright. Don’t rub the medicine off. I’ll go and cook.”
Shen Xizhi nodded slowly, her jade-like ears dyed a faint pink.
“Mmm…”
We’ve been married for several days, and she still cares about me like this, is so good to me. My heart is both moved and happy. Her eyes quietly looked at the closed door, quietly waiting for her to come back.
Song Yugui was also cooking noodles, with finely shredded meat and green vegetables added. It looked very tempting.
Shen Xizhi was helped to stand up with a bit of unaccustomedness. She wasn’t wearing any pants, and her pale, plump thighs would be exposed when she took a couple of steps, and she always felt a little chilly.
“Hurry up and eat. After you’re done, you can go and lie down on the bed and wait for me to come back. You have to walk less these next two days, you know? If your leg is injured, you can just stay at home and wait for me.”
She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to stand steadily and would fall if no one was watching.
“Mmm, I know.”
Shen Xizhi swallowed a mouthful of noodles and only then said with an obedient and easy-to-bully expression.
.
For various reasons, the two of them did not follow the custom of returning home after their wedding. The Shen family was very unhappy. And so, they came to their door when Song Yugui was not around.
Xizhi had injured her leg and didn’t dare to run around, so she could only lie in the courtyard and sunbathe. The deck chair had been specially made by Song Yugui, and it was even covered with a fluffy blanket, which was very comfortable to lie on.
And then, she was scolded.
Shen Xizhi was bewildered.
She even looked up in a daze. It wasn’t until she saw the source of the voice, her mother whom she hadn’t seen in a long, long time, that her expression suddenly changed.
The other was looking at her fiercely. “You damn girl! A married daughter is really like spilled water! It’s been so many days, and you don’t even know to bring Song Yugui home to see us! Do I have to personally come and invite you!”
Shen Xizhi’s small face was pale, and she looked as if she were about to collapse even while sitting on the deck chair.
After a long while, she finally stood up and looked over nervously. She only glanced at her once before she quickly lowered her head, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, filled with fear. “You… why are you here…”
She just saw that behind Wang-shi was a crowd of relatives from the Shen family. Their gazes were either assessing her or her house behind her.
Shen Xizhi’s heart was in her throat. She just saw her aunt, who usually ignored her, suddenly say with a smile, “Aiya, sister-in-law, look at Xizhi’s clothes! She looks like a fairy in them! I suppose Song Yugui is good to her. You can rest assured.”
Wang-shi snorted coldly. “Who isn’t at ease about this ungrateful wolf? The moment she got married, she even forgot who her parents were.”
After she spoke, she looked over again fiercely. “Aren’t you going to come and invite us in? Can’t you see our whole family is waiting outside?”
Wang-shi was so annoyed. If it weren’t for her husband telling her to come, she would absolutely not have come to Song Yugui’s house. To this day, she had not forgotten how Song Yugui had threatened her with Yaozu.
Hearing that they were still going to come in, Shen Xizhi was even more scared. She kept retreating and, in a fluster, quickly said, “My wife won’t let me casually let people in. You can go back.”
Everyone: …
The couple from Auntie Li’s, who had just heard the noise and were about to come out and help: …
They couldn’t help but laugh out loud, but they still helped to speak up, going over to stop the person who was about to cross the fence, glaring at her, and saying in a rough voice, “That’s right! What are you people here for? The matters of their family are always decided by Yugui! If you have something important, you can wait for Yugui to come back and say it! How can she, a newly married woman, make the decision?”
Wang-shi was so angry. She was here specifically to take advantage of Song Yugui’s absence. How could she wait for her to come back!
“Who are you? My family and Song Yugui are related by marriage. Will she not let me in? I’m her mother-in-law! If she doesn’t let me in, then she’s unfilial!”
After Wang-shi spoke, she looked at Shen Xizhi again and scolded her even more fiercely. “You useless girl! Aren’t you going to come and open the door? Someone says your mother doesn’t even know to open her mouth. Are you a mute!”
Auntie Li had never seen such a mother before and was shocked for a moment. She just heard her husband by her ear say, “Yugui is back. You can stop blocking here. If you have something to say, you can say it to Yugui.”
Seven or eight people had come together. They said they had just come to see their daughter. Who would believe that?
Song Yugui saw her house surrounded from a long way off. The familiarity of this scene made her face immediately turn black. She carried a butcher’s knife and went up the slope with a fierce aura.
