Editor: Atlas Studios
"Do you know that Young Master Xiang?"
On the way back, Long Yue recalled Young Master Xiang, always feeling that the way that person looked at her own husband was off. They called each other brothers, but from their expressions, they seed distant.
Li Qingmu softly tapped the wooden board beside him, remaining silent.
Long Yue saw him like this, knew he was hiding sothing from her, and said angrily, "Fine, don’t say it then, hmph!"
Li Qingmu lowered his head and gazed at her deeply, softly saying, "I’ll tell you tonight."
"Why wait until tonight?"
She was sowhat perplexed, while he smiled without speaking.
Returning ho, it was already afternoon. The family had left so food, but Long Yue and the others had already eaten buns at a nearby bun shop, so they weren’t hungry, just ate a little symbolically.
"Mother."
"Oh, Qiu’er, what’s up?"
Li Qingqiu shoveled a mouthful of wild vegetables, then jumped off the slightly elevated chair padded with bricks and tiles, excitedly ran to Mrs.Li Zhou’s side who was tidying up the dishes, and offered up two taels of silver with both hands.
Mrs.Li Zhou stared at the pristine silver, eyes straight: "Qiu’er, this, this..."
"Mother, this is the money A qiu and I got from selling the herbs we picked in the mountains yesterday. It’s all here to help with household expenses."
Long Yue had taken half the money, yet she didn’t blush or heartbeat when saying this, Li Qingqiu secretly glanced at her, ending with getting a head pat.
"Mother, quickly keep it hidden from Second Sister-in-law."
Long Yue shrewdly helped Mrs.Li Zhou grip tightly, luckily at this ti Second Sister-in-law had returned to the room to sleep, otherwise if seen, another fuss would ensue.
Mrs.Li Zhou evidently hadn’t recovered from the sudden addition of two taels of silver, Li Qingqiu muttered softly, "Mother, act as if nothing happened with this money, don’t let the family know, otherwise the house won’t find peace."
Mrs.Li Zhou thought about her son’s words and agreed repeatedly.
...
"Honey, keep this."
Entering their small thatched cottage, Li Qingmu handed over the money from selling the paintings to her.
Long Yue glanced at his handso face, realizing this man still had so male pride, giving her money outside felt embarrassing.
Forget it, n all care about face.
She kept the money, placed it inside a piece of brick in front of him, then covered it with bricks and dry grass again.
"The money is all here, for future exams."
"Alright."
After that, Long Yue took out those scraps of cloth, asuring and mapping them, trying to make the most embroidery with the least loss, while Li Qingmu continued his paintings.
Both sides kept to their own business, coexisting peacefully all afternoon.
In the evening, A qiu ca to call them for dinner, with a slight improvent to the al, with an added bowl of egg drop soup.
The Li family occasionally made egg drop soup, Second Sister-in-law Mrs. Zhang not knowing the Li family gained an additional inco, ate dinner rather smoothly.
After eating her fill, Long Yue went back to wash up, finished everything while the night had turned dark.
She sat at the edge of the bed, quietly waiting for him to co in.
"Uh, my wife?"
Li Qingmu ca in and saw Long Yue sitting there seriously, a bit surprised.
"You promised during the day, wouldn’t have forgotten?"
"How could I?" He chuckled softly, ca over, wrapped his arm around Long Yue’s slender waist to bring her into the bedding, whispered, "If my wife insists, then I’ll speak, just worried my wife would get scared, so it’s better to speak in bed."
Long Yue glared angrily, "You think I’m timid?"
He remained silent, then said, "My wife can just treat it as listening to a story."
Listening to a story?
A ghost story perhaps?
Listen scared snuggling in your arms?
Long Yue shot him a glare, this man was truly irritating, even when talking about sothing he pondered how to take advantage, in her past life she didn’t realize his intentions weighed so heavily?
"Hurry up, finish speaking then sleep!"
The man chuckled softly, tightened the young woman in his arms, slowly said, "It was the autumn three years ago. Young Master Xiang’s household was involved in comrce, financially well-off, and he was carefree, our classmates had good relations with him..."
That autumn, in the school, the son of a wealthy rchant Xiang Yin befriended a governnt official. The official suggested going hunting in the mountains, the students all eager to make a good impression agreed. Li Qingmu’s father used to be a hunter, so he was adept at archery and joined in.
Unexpectedly, a sudden rainstorm hit in the mountains, they chased a deer into the deep woods, unable to find their way back, they had to find a cave to take shelter. At this point, a group of bandits suddenly appeared, chasing them.
Li Qingmu happened to be with Xiang Yin’s official, initially they thought the bandits were after money, so they tossed all valuable items over, yet the bandits relentlessly pursued, only then did they realize they were there to kill.
Seeing themselves cornered, Li Qingmu had prepared to die fighting together, but to his surprise, the opponent said they were only after the official. The official, eyes darting, suddenly pointed at Li Qingmu, saying he was the one they sought, the bandits imdiately surrounded Li Qingmu...
"I never expected him to be so despicable. I originally thought even if I had to die fighting, I would protect him, but I was wrong. Not only did he point out, he urged them to kill quickly, fearing I might suddenly speak against him."
Li Qingmu recounted this, suddenly laughing softly. His laughter contained a chilling cold and murderous undertone.
"I certainly wouldn’t point him out if I did that, they would think we’re fickle and mocking them, then we’d all die. So, I could only fight them desperately, I pretended to be weak and scared, fooled the first two people, then killed them, after which I fought another..."
Long Yue quietly listened to his narration, though he was calm, like speaking of unrelated matters, Long Yue could imagine the brutality of the battle, a faint scent of blood seed to pervade the air.
She couldn’t imagine what this man experienced that night, but she knew, at this mont, they were completely open-hearted.
She nestled herself further into his embrace, reached out to hold his hand, only realizing then his fists were tightly clenched, even making creaking sounds.
"Those three bandits were killed by , the official seeing the safety, ca to cozy up to , and then... he was killed by too."
An oil lamp flickered weakly, the room frighteningly quiet.
Long Yue raised her eyes to the handso man beside her, seeming like eting him for the first ti.
In the previous life, after he beca the Pri Minister, outsiders evaluated him as ruthless, with sharp thods, now it seems those words were true.
She suddenly felt delighted; she was the descendant of a military family, she naturally disliked n too cowardly, in the past she distanced herself from Li Qingmu and even resented him because he was too servile towards her.
"Well done killing him!" She raised her brows slightly, looking at the man with admiration in her eyes, "Such a despicable person should be killed! If it were , just killing him with one stab would be too kind!"
Li Qingmu looked down surprised at the little woman in his embrace, expecting her to disdain him as before after revealing this shaful past, but instead...
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