Qin i ignored him. She lifted his shirt and, twirling a silver needle between her fingers, inserted it into an acupoint on his lower back. As she placed several more silver needles, Jie Jingchen felt the sharp pain gradually subside until it was gone completely.
’Qin i really knows her stuff,’ Jie Jingchen thought to himself.
Half an hour later, Qin i removed the silver needles. When she saw Jie Jingchen still lying face down, she frowned. "I’m hungry. Go heat up the congee for ."
"Go yourself. I can’t move," Jie Jingchen refused. He closed his eyes and hugged the pillow, showing no intention of moving at all.
Qin i wanted to fly into a rage. ’She gives him acupuncture, he heats up her congee. It’s a perfectly reasonable arrangent where no one takes advantage of the other.’
"Jie Jingchen," Qin i ground out, glaring at him. "I don’t know how."
"You can learn." Jie Jingchen opened his eyes and shot her a cold glance.
He believed that Qin i didn’t know how to cook. The entire Qin family had spoiled her rotten, ensuring she never had to do a day of manual labor in her life. He wasn’t asking her to cook, just to heat sothing up. Surely she knew how to start a fire? There was no technical skill involved in that.
"Even if I learn, soone has to teach ! I’m stupid; I don’t have the talent to be self-taught." Qin i rubbed her aching kneecaps. She rembered kneeling on both knees before she fainted, and it seed to have left so lingering pain.
"Go ask my mom to teach you." Before the words were even out of his mouth, Jie Jingchen closed his eyes again. His back wasn’t hurting as much anymore; it wouldn’t stop him from getting out of bed and going to the kitchen to heat the congee for Qin i. He was just unwilling. It wasn’t about so noble principle of a gentleman staying away from the kitchen, he simply didn’t want to.
Qin i gritted her teeth. ’Go wake up my mother-in-law in the middle of the night? I might have the nerve, but I don’t have the guts.’ The relationship between a daughter-in-law and mother-in-law was already a delicate thing. Disturbing her in-laws’ sleep for her own selfish reasons would plant the seeds of future conflict.
"Which way is the kitchen?" Qin i conceded, deciding to fend for herself.
Back ho, they had a maid who arranged three als a day perfectly. After she’d transmigrated here, Sun’s mother, in exchange for the ten yuan a month Jie Jingchen provided for living expenses, had also arranged her three daily als. When she went to Shanghai to take care of... him, she bought all her als at the hospital cafeteria. Unless she was absolutely starving, she would rather skip a al than cook for herself.
People say "God helps those who help themselves," but she truly didn’t know how.
"Left of the main hall," Jie Jingchen said without opening his eyes.
"..." Qin i was speechless. She’d forgotten where the main hall was.
’Forget it. It’s useless trying to get any valuable information out of Jie Jingchen.’ She was in an unfamiliar place, and it was pitch-black. Even if he gave perfect directions, she wouldn’t be able to follow them.
Qin i got up and walked to the door. Using the light from inside, she could just barely make out the courtyard. She stood under the tree in the yard, arms crossed. There were so many buildings, but only Jie Jingchen’s room was lit. She really couldn’t tell which one was the kitchen.
In the end, Qin i gave up. ’I’ve been hungry this long already. A few more hours won’t kill .’
Qin i went back inside, closed the door, and climbed onto the bed. Jie Jingchen was lying on the outer edge, so Qin i had to lie on the inside. As she climbed over him, she couldn’t resist and stomped on his calf.
"Qin i." Jie Jingchen’s eyes snapped open, glaring at her.
"Sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose," Qin i said, but her expression scread, ’I absolutely did it on purpose.’
Jie Jingchen raised an eyebrow. He watched as Qin i lay down, hugged the blanket, and rolled over with her back to him, taking the entire blanket with her.
A chill washed over him. Jie Jingchen felt completely helpless. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and asked in a low voice, "Weren’t you hungry?"
"I’m full now," Qin i said, her tone unfriendly. Hugging the blanket, she turned to face him. Staring at Jie Jingchen’s sinfully handso face, she added, "I just went out and filled up on the cold night air."
"Filled up on the cold night air?" Jie Jingchen’s deep voice held a trace of exasperation, but a smile started to spread across his lips.
"Yep, it was delicious. You want to go out and try so?" Qin i said with a straight face, her innocent expression particularly endearing.
"You couldn’t find the kitchen." It wasn’t a question, but a statent.
Qin i’s silence was her answer. She hugged the blanket, rolled over, and once again presented Jie Jingchen with her back.
Jie Jingchen relented. He got up, put on his shoes and a jacket, and shot a glance at Qin i’s back before turning and striding out of the room.
Listening to his fading footsteps, Qin i sat up, hugging the blanket. She began to wonder if she had gone too far.
’If Jie Jingchen weren’t injured, I could accept this with a clear conscience. But he’s the patient. Logically, I should be the one taking care of him, not the other way around.’
Ashad and guilt-ridden, Qin i threw off the blanket and got out of bed.
The kitchen light flicked on. Qin i walked over and stood in the doorway, watching Jie Jingchen add water to a pot with one hand while the other supported his lower back. A wave of sha washed over her, and she wished the ground would swallow her whole.
"Let do it," Qin i said, walking into the kitchen.
Jie Jingchen paused, then set the water ladle on the stove. He took a step back, standing to the side with a hand on his waist, the corner of his mouth lifting in a barely perceptible smile.
’He’s actually letting do it.’ Qin i steeled herself and stepped forward. She picked up the water ladle, and her eyes fell on the water vat to the side. ’Whoa.’ It was a vat carved from a single, solid piece of stone. The Sun Family had a similar one, but it was much smaller.
Qin i poured a ladleful of water into the pot. As she was about to pour the fourth, Jie Jingchen couldn’t help but speak up. "Are you heating congee, or are you boiling water for a bath?"
Qin i stared at Jie Jingchen and asked with a completely serious expression, "Is it too much water?"
"What do you think?" Jie Jingchen retorted. ’Qin i is a disaster in the kitchen. It’s rare to see soone this hopeless.’
And yet, she looked so earnest about it.
Qin i thought for a mont, then poured several more ladlefuls into the pot. "I haven’t bathed in two or three days. I feel gross all over, and I probably sll. I should take a bath."
An unnatural look appeared in Jie Jingchen’s deep, star-like eyes. He had a feeling Qin i was taking a jab at him. She had only gone two or three days without a bath, while he hadn’t bathed in nearly half a month.
She was ticulous about cleanliness; even in the hospital, she would find a way to bathe. But him? When Xiao Liu was taking care of him, he had been too embarrassed to ask for help with a sponge bath. Now that it was her turn, even though they were husband and wife, they were still strangers. Especially since she had amnesia and had forgotten him completely, he was too embarrassed to ask her to help him wash.
When they got ho, he had ntioned it, but his mom wouldn’t allow it.
"Add more water," Jie Jingchen said.
"You want to bathe?" Qin i asked. When Jie Jingchen nodded, her brow furrowed, and she blurted out, "Who’s going to help you?"
Jie Jingchen’s face darkened. "I injured my back, I’m not a cripple," he reminded her. "You just need to help carry the bucket into the washroom."
Qin i added several more ladlefuls to the pot. If they heated up a large pot of water and mixed it with half a bucket of cold water, it would be enough for both of them to bathe.
The two of them, fussing over boiling water in the kitchen in the middle of the night... it certainly left a lot to the imagination.
She put the lid on the pot, and the two of them just stared at each other. "Well, start the fire!" Qin i said.
"I hurt my back." The implication was clear: Qin i should do it.
"I don’t know how," Qin i said, throwing up her hands. She genuinely had no idea. The Sun Family burned firewood, while the Jie Family used coal. She couldn’t even light a wood fire, let alone a coal one.
User Comments
0 comments from readers