The Farm Girl and the Executioner (Rebirth) 100

Chapter 100: Building the Medicine Shed

Jiang Huaizhen bought some fish and pork belly. For lunch, they had steamed fish, and the pork belly was saved for dinner to be stir-fried with sweet bamboo shoots.

After lunch, the two of them took yesterday’s dirty clothes to the stream to wash.

They scrubbed them in two basins.

The other things were fine, but when it came to washing that silk mat, the slippery touch made Lin Shuang subconsciously soak it in the water. When she turned her head, she found that Jiang Huaizhen was looking at her. She couldn’t help but say with a shy annoyance, “It’s not just mine on there.”

Jiang Huaizhen took the basin and said, “I know. I didn’t say it was only yours.”

Lin Shuang felt that it was a little embarrassing to let her wash it and reached out to grab it.

Jiang Huaizhen didn’t give it to her. She lowered her head and applied the soapberry, then carefully scrubbed it.

Lin Shuang simply sat by the stream and watched her wash.

Her hands were long and slender, and her eyes were cool and distant. Who would have thought that she would turn into another person at night? She just didn’t know if she would also turn into another person in her eyes at night.

So she asked, “How can you be so calm in the face of those unspeakable things?”

“What kind of unspeakable things?” Jiang Huaizhen looked up at her, as if she really didn’t understand.

Lin Shuang turned to look the other way and bit her lip. “You know what I’m talking about.”

Jiang Huaizhen said, “I don’t know.”

Lin Shuang was barefoot and stretched out her foot to splash water on her.

Jiang Huaizhen turned her head and smiled. “Don’t mess around.”

Lin Shuang looked at her softened eyes and pretended to urge, “Hurry up and wash. I’m going back to take a nap after you’re done.”

With that, she couldn’t help but let out a small yawn.

She had stayed up too late last night and had woken up quite early this morning. She was very sleepy now.

Jiang Huaizhen looked at her sleepy appearance and said, “You go and sleep. I’ll go back after I’m done washing.”

“No,” Lin Shuang shook her head. “Let’s go back together. You can also sleep with me for a while.”

Jiang Huaizhen rarely took a nap. After all, country folk were busy all year round, and there was always something to do every day. Where could they find the time to sleep? But since Lin Shuang had come, she had slept with her a few times.

But now that Lin Shuang was asking her to sleep with her, she was quite willing, especially after the strange dream she had had this morning.

Her demands were very low now. As long as Lin Shuang didn’t leave her, she would do anything she asked.

So she replied, “I’m almost done. If you’re too sleepy, you can lean on the side and take a nap. I’ll carry you back later.”

Lin Shuang said shyly, “No. It’s not good if Grandma sees.”

With that, seeing that Jiang Huaizhen was indeed almost done, she got up and came over to rinse them together.

“We can’t stay up so late tonight,” she said.

Jiang Huaizhen hummed in agreement.

That’s what she said, but when it came to the night, who would remember what they had said during the day?

After rinsing the clothes and hanging them under the tree, the two of them went home.

The house was quiet. In the spring, you get tired, and in the autumn, you get drowsy. The old woman and Ping’er were also taking a nap.

Jiang Huaizhen put down the water basin and turned to look at Lin Shuang.

Before Lin Shuang could react, she was picked up by her. She let out a low cry and quickly wrapped her arms around her neck, her two legs unconsciously wrapping around her waist.

Jiang Huaizhen carried her from the water vat to the room and gently placed her on the bed.

“Grandma is asleep. She can’t see. I can carry you on my back, hold you…” Jiang Huaizhen said.

Lin Shuang sat on the bed, her arms around her neck, and opened her mouth to kiss her.

Jiang Huaizhen pressed her down and responded in detail.

She was so engrossed that she didn’t want to stop.

In the end, it was Jiang Huaizhen who held her face and took the initiative to end the kiss. “If we continue to kiss, we won’t have to sleep.”

Lin Shuang was in fact already a little aroused, but she still pretended to be calm and turned the tables. “What, are you thinking of having sex in broad daylight?”

Jiang Huaizhen’s breath was a little hot. “If we were in the city… it’s not impossible.”

In that courtyard in the city, there were only the two of them. They could do whatever they wanted.

Lin Shuang smiled. “You’ve come up with a good idea. Let’s go to the city tomorrow.”

It wasn’t impossible to go and stay in the city for two days just for that.

Jiang Huaizhen’s face was red, and she didn’t respond. She laid her flat, gave her a light kiss on the cheek, and then lay down, ready to sleep with her for a while.

Lin Shuang was so well taken care of by her that her heart was soft. She tilted her head and leaned against her arm, and fell asleep.

When they got up in the afternoon, the two of them carried their hoes down to the fields again.

Jiang Huaizhen said, “Now that these few mu of land have been planted with medicinal herbs, and we said before that we were going to build two medicine storerooms, why don’t we start building them in these few days? If we delay, it will be cold and not good for work.”

Only then did Lin Shuang remember this and nodded. “Let’s build a green-tiled house. In the future, we won’t have to worry about leaks when it’s windy and rainy.”

They also had to build a shade shed near the house to facilitate the planting of precious medicinal herbs that liked shade, such as ginseng and lingzhi. In addition, she had promised Jiang Huaizhen before that she would build another shed near the stable to raise rabbits. All these had to be put into practice.

Jiang Huaizhen naturally listened to her.

The old woman asked, “Won’t that cost dozens of taels?”

Lin Shuang nodded. “It will. But we’re not short on silver now.”

After they had bought the house in the city last time, they still had three hundred taels of silver left. They had spent ten taels on a trip to Yinzhou, but they still had a continuous income from the sauce and the mohele in the prefectural city every month. Even if they built a house, it wouldn’t cost much.

And they also had gold.

The reward silver from the yamen had not yet been counted. The two of them had a total of thirty-five taels, and they hadn’t spent a single coin yet.

Hearing her say this, Old Madam Jiang was at ease.

“The villagers just got their silver from the yamen yesterday. Every household is planning to build a new house. If we also build one, it won’t be too eye-catching. But I’m just afraid that everyone will be busy with their own things, and it will be difficult to hire people.”

Lin Shuang said, “What’s so difficult about that? We can just go to the next village to hire them.”

Jiang Huaizhen: “Seventh Grand-uncle knows people. We can have him help us find a dozen or so people later. It will be done in half a month.”

Lin Shuang said, “You can tell him that we also want women. A husband and wife can come and do it together.”

Their valley was full of women. If all the workers were men, it would be a little uncomfortable. With women around, it would be easier to talk and explain things. Many women were also strong and worked even more efficiently than men.

Jiang Huaizhen agreed.

After a busy afternoon, the sun set, and the family carried their hoes home to rest.

After dinner, Matron Yan and Old Woman Hai came to play with a few children. The children and the old women gathered together to talk.

They had just dealt with Lin Mancang yesterday, and today’s topic was all about the Lin family.

“I heard that Lin Guo made the decision to sell the rest of Lin Mancang’s house and fields.”

Of the money that Lin Mancang had cheated, some had been spent on food, drink, and also renting a house and pleasing the woman outside. Perhaps this money had come easily, and he was not as stingy as before. He was very generous and had spent ten taels of silver at once.

The jar that Lin Shuang had dug up that day had a shortfall of exactly ten taels. The yamen had made the decision to sell a part of the land to fill the gap.

“He’s only twelve. How can he make this decision? It must have been Ma Guihua who instigated him to take the silver and go to her. That way, she would have the silver, and she would also have a child to take care of her in her old age.”

“Why didn’t she just come back and live? Anyway, Lin Mancang is gone, and Lin Guo is her own son. If she brought him back, others couldn’t say anything.”

“Their reputation in our village is already ruined. How can they dare to stay?”

“That’s true. It’s good that a family like that has left completely. If they stay, they’ll be an eyesore, and we’ll have to be on guard against them.”

“Sigh, that Old Woman Hao is also quite pitiful. Her only son was first crippled, and now he’s committed a crime and has been sent to the mines. She’s all alone, and she has no one to talk to about her bitterness.”

“Pah, that’s her own doing. She looked down on her daughter and sent her out to be a child bride early on. She let Wasong have his way in everything and raised a good-for-nothing. When her daughter-in-law came, she disliked her for not being able to give birth to a son and tormented her, and she didn’t even spare her granddaughter. How could she not run away? In my opinion, her fate today is what she deserves.”

“Shuang’er’s matter has made some people see clearly that a girl can also stand on her own.”

“Now, the old men in the village even come to her for her opinion on any major matter.”

After whispering for a long time, and seeing that it was getting dark, the two old ladies called for the children to go home.

Jiang Huaizhen also got some water for the old and the young to take a bath, and only then did the two of them wash.

Seeing that the old woman and Ping’er had gone back to their room, Jiang Huaizhen brought a bucket of water into the room and closed the door.

Lin Shuang looked at her with some suspicion. Just as she was about to ask why she had brought such a large bucket of water in, she suddenly remembered what the old woman had said in the morning, that she had to take a second bath after plowing in the middle of the night, and her face instantly turned red.

Last night, they had opened the door to a new world. They had tasted the sweetness and, when they got into bed, they had gone straight to the point without any words.

Jiang Huaizhen had already experimented by mistake last night. It was fine when Lin Shuang was lying flat, and even when she had her back to her, it was also fine.

And she had also found that she could use her mouth and her hands.

If they were used together, Lin Shuang’s reaction would be very strong.

Lin Shuang was very sensitive. Just being pressed against her back without any clothes was enough to make her tremble all over.

Jiang Huaizhen knew the advantage of her female body, so she didn’t waste it.

Sure enough, when Lin Shuang felt Jiang Huaizhen rub against her back, she couldn’t help but shiver.

“Huaizhen…”

Just the thought of that scene was unbearable.

After rubbing for a while, Jiang Huaizhen asked softly, “Can you turn around… and face me?”

Face to face, that was… Lin Shuang’s breath hitched.

Too…

“No,” she said.

Since it was a new trick, Jiang Huaizhen did not insist and just stayed in her side-lying position.

After an unknown amount of time, Lin Shuang felt that her waist was very tired. She endured the waves of ripples in her body, reached back, and held the hand that was still moving. After she had come out, she turned over and lay flat on the bed.

Jiang Huaizhen hugged her and kissed her, brushed her long hair, which was stuck to her neck, back, and said softly, “You must be exhausted.”

Lin Shuang turned to bite her.

The room was filled with a smell that was never there during the day. Jiang Huaizhen liked it very much and lowered her head to sniff.

Lin Shuang wrapped her two legs around her head and closed her eyes.

It wasn’t until very, very late that the old woman next door got up to go to the latrine, and the two of them finally stopped.

One bucket of water, for two people, was barely enough to get clean.

After she had changed the mat that had been soaked with water, she finally lay down.

Jiang Huaizhen said, “Let’s also make a bathing place behind our east room later.”

The only bathroom in the house was outside the kitchen, surrounded by a few wooden boards. There was a large water vat outside, which was connected to the mountain spring by a bamboo pipe. In the morning, they would wash up and wash clothes there.

The kitchen was on one side, and the old woman’s room was on the other.

Usually, after they were done, Jiang Huaizhen would go and get water to rinse, and Old Madam Jiang would inevitably hear her.

Lin Shuang was so tired at this moment that she hummed a couple of times and replied, “You can just do as you see fit…”

With that, she fell into a deep sleep.

Jiang Huaizhen looked at her, who had fallen asleep as soon as she had closed her eyes, but she was a little afraid to close her eyes. The dream from last night was too strange and too real. She was afraid that she would have that dream again if she fell asleep.

She turned on her side, moved Lin Shuang into her arms, and until her nose was filled with her scent, and what she touched was also her, only then did she feel at ease and fell asleep, pressed against her.