Title: Fortunate Wife
Chapter 118 - Wanting to pee (1)
"Huh?" Li Man was taken by surprise. Right after she asked her question, Li Mo had already quickly turned around and strode to the stool by the lower part of the stove.
What? Why had he run away? Feeling a sense of uncertainty, she picked up the item to take a closer look. It was a bracelet that was made of woven red strings. It looked quite nice.
But, why had he given this to her? Li Man's heartbeat speed up, and her face slightly heated up too. She knew the intended significance that even a simple bracelet would have in this era.
This man was taciturn and calm. It must have taken him a lot of courage to give her something like this.
Li Man hesitated. She squeezed the bracelet in her palm a few times. She wasn't sure what to do next.
By the lower part of the stove, Li Mo's heart was beating like a drum. He picked up a bundle of dry straw and put into the stove, then he picked up the fire starter to light a fire. He tried several times, but he wasn't able to get it to spark. These hands that were accustomed to doing this type of task, such as nimbly lighting a fire, were shaking uncontrollably.
So, he simply stopped and tightly held the fire starter in his hand instead. He quietly listened to the other person's movements.
Since she hadn't said anything, this meant that she had accepted his gift, right?
However, just as Li Mo was feeling increasingly hopeful, Li Man's hesitant voice broke the silence in the kitchen. She walked to his side, handed the bracelet to him, and said, "This bracelet is quite pretty. Are you going to give this to someone?"
Li Mo raised his head and looked at her with a frozen silent expression.
Li Man hurriedly stuffed the bracelet into his hand. "Here, take this back."
Right after these words were said, Li Man hurriedly turned around and wanted to leave. However, Li Mo was too anxious. His large hand that was holding the bracelet grabbed her small hand. "Wait."
"Huh?" Li Man was unable to move. Her small face wrinkled.
Li Mo released her hand in panic. "Did I hurt you?"
"No." Li Man shook her head. However, the back of her hand felt bursts of numbness. His hands were really strong. He had only lightly grabbed her hand, but it felt as if he had used iron pliers instead.
She had returned the bracelet, so she wanted to go back to kneading the dough for the soup, but to her surprise, Li Mo followed after her.
Their gazes met, and they both said, "You?"
The atmosphere couldn't possibly feel more awkward than right now.
"You can speak first." Li Man slightly shrugged. She tried to pretend to be relaxed, but her eyes subconsciously glanced towards the doorway. Please, someone come here, ah.
But, Li Mo didn't say anything. Instead, he picked up her hand, and stuffed the bracelet back into her palm.
"This?" What did he want to do? Li Man felt as if that bracelet was like a strand of thorns that stabbed her hand. She hurriedly tried to return it.
Seeing that she wanted to refuse, Li Mo simply grabbed her little hand and put the bracelet directly onto her wrist. "This is for you. I requested this item from the Goddess. Once it's on, you can't take it off."
"Ah?" Li Man was dumbfounded. She wanted to take off the bracelet, but she couldn't figure out how to untie it. It had looked simple enough when Li Mo was tying it. But, once it was on her wrist, she wasn't able to untie it. It was if this bracelet was tailor-made for her.
Seeing her like this, Li Mo didn't get angry. Instead, he slightly smiled. "It's getting late. Let's prepare dinner. Second brother and the rest of them have already said they're hungry." After he finished speaking, he smiled as he looked at her again. Then, he went back to the lower part of the stove. This time, although his heart was still beating wildly, his motions in starting the fire were clearly calmer and steadier than before. It didn't take long for the straw to ignite. He stuffed the rest of the straw into the stove and added some firewood. Soon after, there was a flourishing fire.
Chapter 119 - Wanting to pee (2)
Illuminated by the red cooking fire, the strong man's eyes looked soft and warm.
The fire quickly heated up the pot, and the water droplets in the pot sizzled. Li Man quickly called out, "Wait, I haven't finished preparing the dough yet."
"You should hurry then," Li Mo replied, but he didn't remove any of the burning firewood that was in the stove.
Li Man was worried that pot would become burnt. She hastily ladled out two scoops of water and poured into the pot. She didn't have the time to pay attention to the bracelet that he had forcibly given to her.
Hearing the sounds of boiling water and dough being added to the pot, Li Mo's heart gradually settled down. Besides, the shrine's priestess had said that once a woman wore the marriage bracelet, it meant that she belonged to him, and they were destined to be together.
Moreover, Li Man hadn't asked him to take off the bracelet, right?
Thinking of the hairpin in her hair and then that marriage bracelet, Li Mo had to admit that his second brother's words were right. Sometimes, a woman would reject a soft approach but yield to force.
After Li Man anxiously rushed around for a while, the big pot of dough drop soup was finally. She added a splash of sesame oil and a sprinkle of chopped scallions and briefly covered the pot with the lid to cook the food a little longer. After that, she picked up a bowl and started to transfer the food.
Worried that soup would overcook, Li Mo extinguished the cooking fire. Then, he stood up and scooped out some clean water to wash his hands before going back to the stove.
Li Man glanced at him, but she didn't say a word and stayed focus on transferring the soup.
Once she was done with adding the soup to one bowl, he took the initiative of placing it down on the side. Once another bowl was filled, he picked up both bowls along with two pairs of chopsticks. "I'll go deliver these."
"En." Li Man very naturally agreed without looking up. She continued filling the remaining four bowls.
Soon after, Li Mo returned to the kitchen. Seeing that Li Man was holding two bowls, he wanted to take them. "I'll take those too."
Li Man gestured towards the stove and said, "There's still two more bowls on the stove."
"Oh." Li Mo was slightly smiling as he picked up those two bowls and followed Li Man to the eastern hut.
An oil lamp had been lit and placed on the windowsill in the eastern hut, and Li Hua was lighting another oil lamp. Soon, the lighting in the hut became much better.
Under the shadows cast by this lighting, the crowded hut immediately seemed quite narrow.
Li Mo had previously given one bowl to Li Yan and the other bowl to Li Shu, who had been whining that he was starving to death.
Li Man went over and offered one bowl to Little Five and the other bowl to Li Hua.
After seeing that Li Mo was following after her with two more bowls, Li Hua took the offered bowl.
Seeing that Li Man's hands were empty, Li Mo handed her the bowl that had a slightly thicker soup, "Here, be careful, it's hot."
"En." Li Man used both of her hands to hold it. Because the bowl was very full, some of the soup almost spilled out. She hurriedly lowered her head to sip the soup. She forgot that the soup that she had taken out last would be hot enough to burn her tongue. She instinctively stuck her tongue and licked her lips a few times.
Her actions happened to be seen by Li Yan and Li Mo.
Something flickered through Li Yan's eyes, and his eyes gradually darkened. Who knows what he was thinking of?
Li Mo asked in worry, "Slow down. Did you burn yourself?"
Li Man pursed her lips and blew on her bowl a few times. Awkwardly laughing, she replied, "It's a bit too hot."
“Wife, sit here." Li Shu took the initiative of scooting over so that she could sit on the bed too.
Li Man looked at the spot. There were already too many people siting on the bed. It wouldn't be good for her squeeze herself in there, so she shook her head. "It's okay. I'll sit on a stool." And so, she looked around, found a small stool in the corner, and sat down there.
Chapter 120 - Wanting to pee (3)
“Wife, it's so dark over there." Li Shu walked over to her while carrying his bowl.
Li Man secretly rolled her eyes. It was exactly because this spot was dark, and she wanted peace and quiet so she had come here to hide. She wasn't an imperceptive fool. The recent burning look in Li Yan's eyes felt as if he was stripping off her clothes...
Gah, no, no, no. What was going on today? Was Li Yan confused from his fever, or was there something wrong with her eyes? Although that rascal had previously looked at her with strange gazes, it wasn't as wantonly wicked as right now.
“Wife, what are you thinking about?" Li Shu crouched down by her side. He saw that she was lost in thought with her head dropping down. She didn't even notice that her soup was going to spill out soon because she wasn't holding the bowl level. He hurriedly steadied the bowl for her.
Sure enough, Li Man showed a reaction to his movement. As soon she raised her head, her eyes met with Li Shu's doubtful gaze. She hastily stood up and said, "The soup is a bit bland. I'm going to go add some salt."
After saying this, she moved away from Li Shu and headed outside. She darted straight into the kitchen. Once her butt touched the stool by the stove, she breathed a long sigh of relief.
Ah, the kitchen was preferable. She felt more at ease being alone in the peaceful and quiet kitchen.
Li Shu wanted to follow after her, but Li Yan stopped him by saying, "Third brother, drink your soup."
"What?" Leaning against the doorway, Li Shu turned his head back to look at his second brother.
Li Yan was leaning against the heated bed with his head lowered to eat the dough drop soup. He didn't answer Li Shu's question.
Li Mo glanced at his second brother, then looked at his third brother before finally saying, "Third brother, come sit here and eat."
Li Shu suddenly laughed. “Oldest brother, second brother, are you guys worried about me spending time alone with wife?"
Li Yan finished drinking the soup and went back and forth with picking up the lumps of cooked dough. "I said that for your own good. If you don't believe me, you can go after her. Wife will definitely shoo you away."
"Why?" Li Shu was somewhat unconvinced.
Li Yan slightly raised his right eyebrow. He didn't say the answer right away. Instead, he took a bite of the cooked dough and suddenly said, "It's a bit too salty."
"Huh?" Li Shu came to an abrupt mental halt.
Li Mo doubtful took a few bites. "It's okay."
Little Five added, "It's yummy."
However, Li Hua understood the meaning of his second brother's words. When Li Man had recently fled from the hut, she had said she was going to add salt but that had obviously been a fabricated excuse. Was she feeling oppressed because all five of them were here?
Second brother didn't let third brother follow after her because he wanted to give her space to relax. Although they couldn't provide her anything particularly good to eat or drink, they hoped that she could at least eat her fill and enjoy mealtimes more.
---
A while later, the brothers had emptied their bowls. As the oldest sibling, Li Mo took the initiative of collecting the bowls. Then, he went to the kitchen to get more food.
Li Man ate slowly. When he came over, her bowl was still more than half full. Seeing him with the empty bowls, she was about to stand up. "I'll fill those bowls."
Li Mo hastily said, "You can sit. I can do it."
"Oh." Li Man shrank back and quietly resume eating the dough drop soup by the stove.
Once Li Mo was done filling the bowls, he brought the bowls over to the eastern hut in two trips. On his return trip to the kitchen to get the remaining bowls, Li Man kept her head lowered and didn't acknowledge him.
And so, Li Mo took the initiative to tell her, "There's one bowl's worth of soup left in the pot. You should eat quickly while it's still warm. It'll get cold soon."
Briefly stumped for words, Li Man uttered, "Oh, okay."
Li Mo picked up the three bowls and carefully went to the eastern hut.
Chapter 121 - Wanting to pee (4)
However, Li Man discovered that she felt full enough after eating one bowl of dough drop soup. She wasn't used to eating too much at night. And so, she scooped out the remaining soup into a large bowl and brought it over to the eastern hut. Putting it down on a small table, she said, "There's one more bowl of soup left. You guys should divide it amongst yourselves. The dough in the soup will get too soggy if you leave to tomorrow to eat, and it won't taste good."
Little Five rubbed his stomach. He already felt way too full after having two bowls of soup.
The amount of food that Li Hua could eat wasn't a lot. He wasn't hungry either after eating two bowls of dough drop soup.
Li Yan was sick, so he didn't have much of an appetite. He had only eating one bowl of soup and gave his second bowl to Li Shu.
Li Shu usually had a pretty good appetite, but after eating three bowls of soup, he balked at eating the large bowl of soup on the small table. "I'm full."
"You're all full?" Seeing that the large bowl of soup was going to become unappetizing soggy leftovers, Li Man felt distressed.
Li Mo looked at her and asked, "You only had one bowl of soup?"
"En, I ate a lot during lunch, so I wasn't hungry at dinnertime, "Li Man said as she was about to pick up the bowl of soup and bring it back.
But, Li Mo stopped her. "I was worried there wouldn't be enough. Since you're all full, I'll eat all of this then."
"Ah?" His brothers all looked at him.
Li Shu cried out, "Oldest brother, didn't you say before that you were full? I'm feeling too full now because you didn't want to eat any from second brother's second bowl."
Li Mo didn't answer him. Sitting on the side of the bed, he picked up the bowl and started to eat. He looked like he was enjoying the food so much that it really didn't seem as if he was already full.
The corners of Li Yan's eyes were twitching as he watched Li Mo, "Oldest brother, is it that tasty? Don't eat to the point of getting a stomachache."
Li Mo didn't say anything. He kept his head lowered as he ate with gusto. He really hadn't eaten enough to be full. It was because he had seen there wasn't much left in the pot before, and he wanted to leave behind more food for her. Third brother usually had a big appetite, so he had turned down second brother's remaining share to his third brother. He just hadn't expected that wife would eat so little. She had gotten full from eating only a small bowl of soup.
Moreover, he knew that wife would feel distressed if such a large bowl of soup went to waste.
Seeing how happily he was eating, the corners of Li Man's lips slightly curved up. She liked to cook, and she liked it when people enjoyed her cooking. The more happily they ate her food, the more accomplished she felt.
Seeing the smile in Li Man's eyes as she watched his oldest brother, Li Shu couldn't help feeling a bit jealous. Oldest brother, how about leaving some for me to eat? I feel a bit a hungry too now."
"Third brother, don't be so immature." Li Yan irritably looked at in Li Shu in askance.
Li Shu rubbed his stomach. His face wasn't twitchy or red as he lied, "I really do feel a bit hungry."
"Alright, third brother, even if you feel hungry, you'll have to wait until tomorrow morning." In a few bites, Li Mo finished the last piece of dough drop in the bowl.
Li Man clapped her hands. "Great." She stood up to take the bowl back.
"I'll do it." Li Mo had already picked up the bowl and was one step before her in heading to the kitchen.
Li Man hurriedly followed after him. When she got to the kitchen, Li Mo was already scooping water into the pot. She said, "I can wash the pot and bowls myself.
She had washed the dishes with Little Five as well as Li Hua. That had seemed normal enough. But, Li Mo was a grown man. She felt it was a bit strange to see him by the stove.
"I'll be done soon." Li Mo had finished adding water to the pot. He put the bowls and chopsticks into the pot, then he started washing them one by one with a dishcloth.
T/N: Aww, Li Mo is such a thoughtful older brother.
Chapter 122 - Wanting to pee (5)
Really... Li Man lightly shook her head as she watched from the side. His hands were very big. When he was holding the large bowl, it looked a like child's toy. Moreover, he seemed skillful enough when he was doing other tasks, so why did he look so awkward with washing bowls? He only needed to swipe the dishcloth a few times on the bottom before washing the rest of the bowl. Why did he keep moving the dishcloth in circles on the bottom. There were several times when the bowl looked as if it was going slip out of his grip. Each time made Li Man's heart jump in alarm. There weren't many bowls in this home.
As she was watching, her eyes widened when a bowl did slip from Li Mo's hand, plop into the pot of water, and splash Li Mo's face.
It really did fall. Li Man involuntary laughed.
Li Mo wiped his face in embarrassment. He looked at her and stammered, "The bowl was too slippery."
"Really, just let me do it." Li Man took the initiative of approaching him, nudging him over, taking the dishtowel from him, and started to wash a bowl.
Li Mo's face was flushed red. "Actually, I have washed bowls before."
"En." He was good at heavy manual labor, but he clearly wasn't good at careful work like washing bowls and scrubbing pots.
Li Mo stood next to her for a while. He watched as Li Man scrubbed the bowls, then rinsed them with water and dried them off one by one. After that, she neatly put them away in the cabinet, poured out the water in the pot, wiped the pot lid and the top of stove clean, neatly arranged the jars for oil and salt...
Li Man knew that he was watching her from the side. Once she was done with everything else, she washed the dishtowel and spread it out on the stove to dry. This way, the dishtowel wouldn't have any lingering smells the next morning.
"I'm done," she said to him.
"Oh." Li Mo had blanked out a bit from watching her nimble work. It wasn't until she said something to him that he partially returned to his senses. But, his mind couldn't erase the images of her working. She had looked so at ease and comfortable. It had even looked quite graceful to him. Even as a person watching from the side, he had felt a sense of delight.
Seeing that he was still somewhat blankly looking at her, Li Man asked, "Should I boil some hot water so you guys can take a bath?"
"Oh, sure, I'll boil the water," said Li Mo.
"En, I'll leave that to you then." She normally didn't do any work after dinner like heating up the water, so she was about to leave after saying this.
Li Mo took one step forward to follow her and asked, "Where you going?"
Li Man turned her head to look at him, "Back to my hut."
"Your hut is still too wet," Li Mo said, "You can't sleep there tonight."
It was only now that Li Man remembered this. Somewhat vexed, she bit her lip. Then tonight...
"Wait here." Li Mo walked to a corner of the kitchen and moved the random bits and bobs off the bamboo couch. "I'll move this bamboo couch over there and set up a new bed for you."
"Okay." This really was the only alternative, but... "You don't need to take that much trouble. I can just move my quilt and sleep here."
"No," Li Mo firmly refused, "The window paper is already torn here. It's not secure. What if... Anyways, it's not safe here."
After saying this, he found a rag and started wiping off the dust on the bamboo couch.
"Let me do it. You can go boil the water," said Li Man.
"Okay," Li Mo didn't insist. He handed the cleaning rag to her.
(T/N: Their bamboo couch probably looks something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTejJnrzGPM.)
Chapter 123 - Wanting to pee (6)
It didn't take long to boil a large pot of water. Other than keeping some water for drinking, the rest of the water was used for bathing.
Li Mo really did move the bamboo couch to the eastern hut. Then, he put Li Hua's clean quilt on it.
"Huh? Is wife sleeping there tonight?" Who knows what Li Shu was thinking? But, he sat down on the bamboo couch.
"I haven't finished making the bed." Li Man pushed him away and smoothed out the quilt in the area that he had been sitting on.
"Third brother, go sleep on the heated bed," Li Mo ordered.
"Okay." This time, Li Shu didn't protest.
Once Li Man was done making her bed, she saw the brothers were scattered on their bed in sitting positions and couldn't help furrowing her brow. They didn't seem like they were going to sleep anytime soon.
Li Mo looked at his brothers in askance. First, he got onto the heated bed, then ordered Li Shu, who was still loitering around Li Man's bed, "Third brother, blow out the lamp and come to bed."
"I'm not sleepy," said Li Shu.
"Keep it down. Your second brother is sick. Stop saying nonsense" Li Mo imposingly said while he deftly blew out the lamp.
The room suddenly darkened. Li Shu yelped, “Oldest brother, you didn't even wait for me." He fumbled his way to the bed.
Li Man was sitting on the bamboo couch. It took a long time for her eyes to adapt to the darkness in the room. After she slowly got under the quilt, she started taking off her outer clothing.
However, this bamboo couch was a bit too old, so the bulk of it wasn't in a good condition. As soon as she slightly moved, the bamboo couch would start creaking. In the silence of the night, it was easy for the sound of her movements to cause the other people to have wild thoughts.
Helpless, she stopped undressing after only taking one arm out of a sleeve. She didn't dare to move, not even to turn over.
However, on the other side, people were still listening. Since it didn't take long for the sound of movement to stop, Li Shu grinned as he asked, "Wife, are you asleep?"
What an annoying chatterbox. In the darkness, Li Man rolled her eyes. She instinctively started to turn over, but she didn't want the bamboo to creak again. She felt frustrated enough to want to smack the ground with her fist.
On the other side, Li Shu started embellishing, “Wife, are you taking off your clothes?"
Li Man really wanted to rip off his mouth, but the truth made it worse. She really was undressing before, but she had only taken off one sleeve. Sleeping on this old bamboo couch like this, it felt even more uncomfortable.
"Third brother, stop talking. Go to sleep." Li Mo admonished in a deep voice.
"Oh." Li Shu obediently listened to him. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Very quickly, the sound of quiet snoring was heard on the side of the heated bed. It wasn't clear who was snoring.
Time slowly passed. In the darkness, Li Man stared at the window, but she didn't feel sleepy at all. She was used to being able to comfortably sprawl out. This small bamboo couch wasn't big enough for her to move around. Moreover, she couldn't move without the bamboo couch creaking. It was so uncomfortable having to keep her body stiffly still.
When she thought the men on the heated bed had all fallen asleep, she carefully changed her posture. Just as she was feeling slightly more comfortable and wanting to sleep, she felt an urge from her lower abdomen. It was a feeling that made her want to jump up and curse.
Who could understand how it felt when everything was just right - snuggled up in a cozy quilt and about to fall into a good night's sleep - then, suddenly struck with wanting to pee?