Ugly girl only wants to farm

Xu Chao, with a fawning expression, waved the book in front of him: "Want to read this before bed?"

Meng Jiuhe: "Don't tug at my sleeve."

Xu Chaoyan quickly moved closer to him: "Okay, I won't tug at your sleeve, but I can sit next to you, right? It's terribly cold today, I'll read a few pages and then go to sleep."

Meng Jiuhe seemed a little resistant to her approach, slightly awkward, and her face flushed slightly: "Reading at night is bad for your eyes, let's put it away?"

Xu Chaoyan brought the book close to him and whispered, "Let's just treat this as a bedtime story, okay? I went to a really far place to buy it for you."

She was determined to appease this man tonight. He was so petty; so many hours had passed, his anger should have subsided by now, right?

While Meng Jiuhe was still in a daze, Xu Chaoyan had already shoved the book into his hand. When Meng Jiuhe saw the words clearly in the dim light, his face turned pale with anger, and his hands began to tremble. He slapped Xu Chaoyan's face hard and then launched into a tirade of scolding.

"You fickle, wanton woman, you can't stand being alone and want to have an affair, right? Why humiliate me with this kind of thing? I'll set you free."

Xu Chaoyan looked at him with a wronged expression after being scolded by him: "Husband, what did I do wrong again? I just bought you a book to please you. Why did you scold me so harshly? Don't you understand my feelings for you?"

Meng Jiu struggled to get up, his chest heaving with anger. He pointed at the book and asked her, "Take a look at what book you bought."

Xu Chaoyan glanced at it and then looked troubled: "These characters are a bit complicated, I don't recognize them."

She only recognized the last character, "记" (ji, meaning "remember"). She searched around the bookstore, not knowing where to start. The shopkeeper, with a mysterious look on his face, told her that this was the book most men liked, and that her husband would definitely like it, and that their relationship would warm up. So she bought it, spending a lot of money just to make her man happy.

Seeing her puzzled look, Meng Jiuhe assumed she was faking it and mocked her a few more times: "Don't you know that you recited the Spring Festival couplets so fluently during the day? You just don't mind that I'm crippled now and in your eyes, right? Do you have to humiliate me like this and destroy my spirit?"

Xu Chaoyan cursed the bookstore owner a thousand times over, calling his books "nonsense" and saying that all men liked them. She got scolded again because of this. He was already hard to appease, and now he was even more dissatisfied, like a cat with its fur standing on end.

Li San Niang carried the lamp out and opened the door with a creak. She thought she had just heard arguing coming from her son's room, and she was worried, so she put on her clothes and got up to check.

"Cough, cough." Two gusts of cold wind came, and she couldn't help but cough.

"Jiuhe, why aren't you two asleep yet? Is something wrong?" she asked tentatively.

The two of them felt something was off that evening and tried to find an opportunity to ask her a few questions, but couldn't. Just now, Xia'er went to bring them water to wash their feet and came back saying that nothing was wrong.

Hearing the cough, Xu Chaoyan frowned: "Mother, why did you get up? It's very cold at night, go back and rest. We just got up to get some water and accidentally bumped into the stool."

Li San Niang quickly shielded the oil lamp with her hand, as a gust of wind nearly blew it out. A chill ran down her legs, making her shiver.

"Okay, be careful. You don't need to get up so early tomorrow. Stay in bed and warm up for a while. I'll cook dinner for you two before you get up."

Xu Chaoyan went over and checked the window that had been blocked by blankets again. She felt another gust of cold wind rushing in, and she shivered and couldn't help but stomp her feet a few times.

She picked up the book and carefully examined the traditional Chinese characters. When Meng Jiuhe saw her looking at it so intently, his anger, which had just subsided, flared up again. He pointed at her and said, "You still have the nerve to pick it up and look at it? Tomorrow you can go find Qi Tianci to read it to you, and the two of you can study it slowly."

Xu Chaoyan came over with the book, looking aggrieved: "What did I do wrong again? This book cost me a lot of money, it hurts me to death. I really don't recognize these words. The bookstore owner recommended this book to me, saying that you men all like it, so I reluctantly bought it for you. Why don't you read it to me?"

Looking at her earnest and ingratiating expression, Meng Jiuhe wondered to himself if she really didn't recognize these words.

He coughed a few times, and Xu Chaoyan quickly patted his back: "Why did you start coughing? Does your throat hurt? Why don't you drink some water to moisten it? You must have caught a chill today. I told you not to go, because you were coughing."

Meng Jiuhe quickly reached out to stop her, and it took him a while to recover: "Do you want to kill me so you can be a widow?"

Xu Chaoyan gave him a reproachful look: "What are you saying in the dead of winter?"

Meng Jiuhe said somewhat awkwardly, "This book was recommended to you by the shopkeeper."

Xu Chaoyan nodded: "He also said that the bookstore only had this one left, and he gave it to me at a discount so that you would be happy. I thought I would buy you a copy to pass the time during the New Year."

Meng Jiuhe stared at her for a long time before finally managing to utter a few words: "You really don't recognize those words?"

Xu Chaoyan pointed to the words: "Teach me how to read them. I'm very curious too. The shopkeeper said I should come back and show them to you so you'll understand."

Meng Jiuhe sighed slightly, "Never mind, put it on the table and I'll look at it next time. Don't buy any more books in the future. The family is struggling now and we don't need these things anymore. It's too wasteful."

Xu Chaoyan was very curious: "Why don't you tell me? What book is it? I'm very curious too. I'll study it myself for a while."

Meng Jiuhe snatched it away and stuffed it under his pillow: "We'll talk about it next time."

He moved so fast that Xu Chaoyan didn't even have time to react.

"Turn off the light and go to sleep. Everyone has things to do early tomorrow morning, right?" Meng Jiuhe looked guilty and then turned his face away to avoid looking at her.

The next day

Meng Jiuhe was slowly awakened by the crowing of a rooster. He glanced at Xu Chaoyan and saw her leaning against him, her legs restlessly draped over him, sleeping soundly. He tried to move, but Xu Chaoyan mumbled something, so he stopped moving and stared blankly at the top of the tent.

He was indeed too impulsive last night. He shouldn't have scolded her without even knowing the facts. He has been a bit too much these days. Xu Chaoyan has really suffered since he injured his leg, and even he, with a heart of stone, has seen it.

Xu Chaoyan had been busy since she got up and had breakfast. Taking advantage of the good sunshine today, she took out all the bedding for the whole family and washed it.

Tomorrow will be the start of the new year. In her hometown, there used to be a custom that you couldn't wash your hair on New Year's Eve. If you did, people would jokingly call it washing a pig's head.

So she would take a bath and wash her hair on or the day before Lunar New Year's Eve. Tonight, her task was to help Meng Jiu take a bath and wash her hair. Just thinking about it made her feel a little excited. Hehehe.