The first time in history

"Do you remember that I wrote something every day a few days ago?" Qian Mingduo asked.

"Remember!"

"I sold the things I wrote today and got 150 taels of silver. It's the same as the money I made from selling calligraphy."

Li Shishi couldn't help but open her eyes wide, "Is it possible to earn this much money just by selling some calligraphy? You didn't lie to me, did you?"

"Sister, your eyes are already beautiful, and now you open them so wide. You're making people want to eat or not." Qian Mingduo said jokingly, "Don't seduce me while I'm eating."

"You are amazing!" Li Shishi pouted and said, "I can't even imagine it."

Qian Mingduo raised his glass and said, "What's so great about that? I just came from a faraway place. People of this era don't understand what I wrote."

"How far away are you from?" Li Shishi asked indifferently.

Qian Mingduo sighed softly, "Very far away, a place more than a thousand years later."

"I'm going to ignore you. You always lie to me!" Li Shishi picked up a piece of food for Qian Mingduo with chopsticks. "You have lied to me several times."

Li Shishi put down her bowl and chopsticks. "I don't care if you are lying to me, but I feel very happy now." She reached out and smoothed the messy hair on Qian Mingduo's forehead. "I feel at ease having you accompany me every day."

"Me too." Qian Mingduo held Li Shishi's hand, kissed it gently, and looked at her tenderly. "When I first arrived at this place, I felt a little lost. I even felt very lonely until I met you. This may be our destined fate!"

Li Shishi nodded, "I have a bad fate. I originally wanted to live alone in this quiet place for the rest of my life. But after meeting you... I don't seem to be so lonely anymore. It's great to have you by my side!"

After dinner, Li Shishi wanted to go out for a walk, so she and Qian Mingduo walked hand in hand on the empty street.

Before they knew it, they arrived at the palace which was being expanded.

"Eight years later, Emperor Gaozong of Song moved the capital here." Qian Mingduo pointed to the palace. "He couldn't defeat the Jin people, so he moved the capital here."

Li Shishi looked at Qian Mingduo and asked, "How did you know?"

Qian Mingduo smiled and said, "I'll know it if I count on my fingers."

"Hateful," Li Shishi laughed sweetly, "You lied to me again."

"Do you like living in the city or outside the city?" Qian Mingduo asked.

"What about you? Where would you like to live?"

Qian Mingduo sighed softly, "If you ask me, I prefer to live outside the city. I like a quiet environment and don't like the hustle and bustle of the city."

Li Shishi nodded. "I used to envy the prosperity of the city and got used to that kind of life, but... now I also like to live in a place with fewer people."

"If there's a chance, let's find a quiet courtyard outside the city. Okay?"

"Okay!" Li Shishi smiled. "As long as I'm with you, I'll feel safe and happy wherever I live."

The street ahead is brightly lit and very busy.

"Let's go back. We don't want to go any further." Li Shishi pulled Qian Mingduo and turned around. "Let's go home. You still need to heat the kang!"

"I'll listen to you, my sister!" Qian Mingduo hugged Li Shishi's waist, "Let's go home, heat the kang and get into bed."

Southerners are more resistant to cold in winter than northerners. They always think that winter will not be cold for a few days. Just bear with it and it will pass. However, some people will buy some charcoal to burn, but charcoal can be good or bad. Good charcoal is smokeless and odorless. Although it is not as good as the clean coal used by Li Shishi, it is also very good for heating.

Qian Mingduo and Li Shishi no longer needed to burn charcoal. Qian Mingduo heated up the kang, making the whole bedroom warm.

Qian Mingduo took off Li Shishi's coat, and her hands were red from the cold. When Qian Mingduo went out, he put a copper basin on the bed with some water in it.

When they came back from outside, the water in the basin was already very hot. Li Shishi sat on the edge of the kang, and Qian Mingduo helped her take off her shoes. Li Shishi's feet were also frozen red like her hands.

Putting his feet in the copper basin, Qian Mingduo said, "Brother, let me wash your feet!" Without waiting for Li Shishi to answer, he gently rubbed her feet.

Qian Mingduo couldn't bear to use any force on Li Shishi's jade-like tender feet, so he just stroked them gently.

"Don't tickle my soles!" Li Shishi said with a sweet smile, "I'm ticklish!"

Qian Mingduo lifted one of Li Shishi's feet and looked at it carefully.

"Why are you looking at my feet like that?" Li Shishi said shyly. "What's so good about a walking foot?"

"Have you ever heard such a sentence?" Qian Mingduo asked.

"What?"

Qian Mingduo gently kissed the soles of Li Shishi's feet. "A woman with beautiful feet can't be ugly, and a woman with a nice voice can't be ugly either!"

"Do my feet look nice?" Li Shishi wanted to put her feet in the water. "Don't you mind my feet being dirty?"

Qian Mingduo kissed Li Shishi's other foot again, "Your feet are beautiful, and they're not dirty. Why should I dislike them? I like them so much."

Li Shishi looked at Qian Mingduo shyly, "You are really my little enemy."

Qian Mingduo kissed along Li Shishi's feet all the way up...

The Spring Festival was coming, and Qian Mingduo bought a lot of things for the New Year. On New Year's Eve, after he and Li Shishi had finished their New Year's Eve dinner, they started to boil water on the stove.

After a long time of effort, the two finally moved the huge bathtub to Qian Mingduo's bedroom. Qian Mingduo boiled water while Li Shishi added firewood under the eaves to heat the kang to a sizzling heat.

The small canal in front of the courtyard had frozen over, so Qian Mingduo used an ice pick to poke a hole in it and scooped out water with a ladle. Soon, half a bucket of hot water was ready.

Qian Mingduo went outside to fetch two buckets of cold water. When he felt the water temperature was about right, he boiled another pot of water on the stove. When the water was completely boiled, he brought it back into the house and put it aside for later use.

"Come on, little darling," Qian Mingduo took Li Shishi's hand, "I'll undress you and we'll wash together."

"Aren't you afraid that the tub will collapse if you sit on it?" Li Shishi pouted her cherry lips. "We are both taking a bath together. Are you worried that the tub can't bear it?"

Qian Mingduo had already stripped Li Shishi naked, and he quickly stripped himself as well. He picked up Li Shishi and said, "This bathtub is very sturdy, it won't get in the way."

It was freezing cold outside the window, but the house was warm as spring. Both of them stretched their legs and leaned against the wall of the tub. Their faces were flushed. Qian Mingduo gently stroked Li Shishi's jade feet, and Li Shishi also rubbed Qian Mingduo's feet.

"Can you rub mud out of your feet?" Li Shishi wrinkled her nose. "They are a little dirty. Let me rub them for you."

"Okay, it would be great if you could rub my back again." Qian Mingduo closed his eyes comfortably.