Only after Jiang Ji’s lips parted did Ye Li snap back to reality.

His back pressed tightly against the wooden door.

His buttocks dangled in midair, Jiang Ji’s arms firmly cradling his thighs.

His hands gripped Jiang Ji’s shoulders.

This position—even after living two lifetimes—was an entirely new experience for him.

At this moment, Jiang Ji merely extended his tongue to lightly trace Ye Li’s lips—not a passionate kiss.

Ye Li drew a deep breath, freeing one hand to punch Jiang Ji’s shoulder playfully.

“Don’t like it?” Jiang Ji’s lips parted slightly as he murmured the question.

“…It’s just… you’re so skilled at this.”

Truly.

Ye Li never imagined his husband could pull off something like this.

He tried swaying a couple of times. Seeing his body remained steady, showing no sign of falling, he grew bolder.

He cupped Jiang Ji’s strikingly handsome face, raising an eyebrow. “My dear husband, where did you learn all this?”

Jiang Ji countered with a question instead: “Are you satisfied?”

The single sentence made Ye Li chuckle.

With that kind of arm strength, how could he not be satisfied?

He leaned in with a smile and planted a quick peck on Jiang Ji’s lips. “Next time we make love, shall we try this position?”

“…”

Jiang Ji’s pupils contracted sharply, his throat instantly tightening.

He hadn’t expected Ye Li to throw out such a line.

Right now, the smile on Ye Li’s face held a hint of mischief and was nine parts alluring. Clearly, Ye Li was deliberately teasing him.

He gritted his teeth and pressed his lips down hard onto Ye Li’s.

This time, he didn’t just nibble and tease his lips like before. He pushed his tongue past his teeth and attacked his upper jaw.

This was Ye Li’s sensitive spot.

Previously, the mere touch of his tongue there would make Ye Li cling to him as if unable to bear it.

Now, focusing his attention solely on this spot, Ye Li couldn’t help but squirm in his embrace, humming softly.

By the time he released Ye Li’s lips, Ye Li was already panting heavily, cheeks flushed crimson.

This sight only intensified his desire to carry him back to the bed and repeat last night’s actions.

But in the end, he merely held him close, slowly calming his own breath.

Ye Li had sensed the changes in Jiang Ji’s body, and he himself had reacted.

Before, without ever having truly done it, even when aroused, he’d simply touch himself and move on.

Now that he’d experienced it, well, perhaps it was because this body was that of a Fulang, constructed differently from a true man. Either way, he felt empty now.

An emptiness inside his body.

It felt uncomfortable.

He dared not tease any further, simply holding his husband obediently while taking slow, deep breaths himself.

His husband would be gone for ten days.

Ah, such melancholy.

Once the discomfort subsided, he spoke: “Just focus on your studies. I’ll handle everything at home.”

“I know. If anything comes up, don’t hesitate to come find me.”

Jiang Ji spoke, tightening his embrace around the person in his arms.

Ye Li nodded, not forgetting to remind him, “On the tenth day, you must come back to collect the silver.”

Jiang Ji hummed in acknowledgment.

He remembered.

Of course, he remembered.

They wanted to say more, but they weren’t close enough. After exchanging these few words, they fell silent.

Neither could bear to let go. They remained embraced until the voices of Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya drifted in from outside. With a shared understanding, they exchanged one last hurried kiss before reluctantly parting.

Jiang Ji pulled Ye Li into the east room. Ignoring her protests, he retrieved a steamed bun from the bamboo basket and insisted she eat it.

“The ones you fry are for later. You’ve worked all day today—how could you not taste even one?”

That single sentence silenced all Ye Li’s remaining protests.

He smiled as he accepted the doughnut, his heart sweet with joy.

With such thoughtfulness from his husband, Ye Li was more than willing to give his all for this family.

Just then, Jiang Ya’s voice called from outside: “Big Brother! Sister Liu is here!”

Hearing this, the two stepped out of the main hall one after the other.

Jiang Liu carried a sack filled with cornmeal. All the grain the Jiang family ate came from Jiang Dahu’s household.

With Jiang Ji home these past few days, the flour had been consumed at an alarming rate.

Jiang Liu had brought thirty pounds.

Moreover, starting tomorrow, Jiang Liu will be going to work.

Ye Li and Jiang Ji greeted Jiang Liu. As Ye Li spoke, he broke the pastry in his hand into several pieces and shared them among those present.

Jiang Liu tasted the flour pastry for the first time, finding it somewhat novel.

However, upon learning these pastries sold for five wen each, she was startled.

“That expensive?”

“Even at that price, we barely make any profit. The cost per pound is twenty-two wen.”

Ye Li calculated for Jiang Liu, counting on his fingers.

Wheat flour: seven wen per catty.

Malt syrup: forty wen per catty. To achieve a distinct sweetness in the noodle cakes, at least four spoons of sugar per catty of flour were needed—that’s sixteen wen.

Then there was oil. Oil was added when kneading the dough, and frying required another three taels per catty of flour.

A jin of soybean oil costs twenty-seven wen; three liang would be eight wen.

He also cracked several eggs.

But today was a special treat for Jiang Ji, hence the extra eggs.

If sold commercially, one egg per jin of dough would suffice.

Even the smallest egg costs one wen.

When the business expands in the future, the firewood collected by Jiang Mai and Jiang Ya won’t suffice. Then the cost of dry firewood must definitely be factored in.

For now, Ye Li simply added it in, counting it as one wen.

Therefore, excluding labor costs and calculating only the five ingredients—flour, syrup, oil, eggs, and dry firewood—the cost to fry one catty of flour is thirty-three wen.

One catty of flour yields roughly one and a half catties of flour cakes.

Thus, a rough estimate puts the cost of one catty of flour cakes at twenty-two wen.

Each flour cake weighs one liang and six wen, priced at five wen. Six cakes weigh less than one catty but can be roughly counted as one. The selling price for that catty is thirty wen.

Subtracting the twenty-two wen cost, he only made eight wen per jin.

But he couldn’t let Ye Liang and Liu Yi work for nothing.

He gave them a three-wen discount.

In the end, for every jin of flour cakes sold, he earned five wen, while Ye Liang and Liu Yi earned three wen.

This was truly hard-earned money.

Jiang Liu listened to his explanation and fell silent.

Calculating it this way, it really wasn’t expensive.

But she’d have to push the stone mill for three days just to afford one jin…

If she wanted to hire a man, who knew when that would happen?

She took a deep breath, pushing the gloomy thoughts from her mind. Forget it. This wish was like a dream—better not think about it.

After exchanging a few words in the courtyard, Jiang Ji returned to the house and retrieved his backpack. It was time for him to go.

The sun was setting. If he left too late, he wouldn’t make it into the city.

And early morning reading begins tomorrow.

He had to leave today.

Securing the basket on his back, he suppressed the wave of reluctance washing over him. He waved to Ye Li, Jiang Mai, Jiang Ya, and Jiang Liu, then turned and strode forward with purpose.

Though Jiang Mai felt the tug of sadness, he managed to keep his emotions in check.

Jiang Ya, however, pouted, his big eyes fixed on his brother as he grew smaller in the distance, looking as if he might cry at any moment.

Ye Li also couldn’t bear to look away.

But he wasn’t a child. He took a deep breath, smiled, and ruffled Jiang Ya and Jiang Mai’s little heads, comforting them, “Your big brother will be back in ten days. It won’t be long.”

“Ya-ger, when your big brother comes back, will you make him another gourd bun?”

The gourd bun Jiang Ya had made that morning was eventually shared between him and Jiang Ji, each taking half.

At those words, Jiang Ya’s small body twisted, and he darted into Ye Li’s embrace, tears welling in his eyes.

Ye Li bent down and lifted the little one up. “Good boy, let’s go home and eat some hemp leaves, okay?”

This embrace instantly changed Jiang Ya’s mood.

Because even Jiang Ji hadn’t held him like this in so long!

He was five years old now—a big kid already!

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Jiang Ya turned his little face away and softly agreed.

Ye Li smiled, patting his back, and called out to Jiang Mai and Jiang Liu to follow them home for hemp leaves.

Jiang Liu shook her head in refusal. It was nearly evening, and she needed to go home to cook.

She’d need to come grind grain at early morning tomorrow, so she had to sleep early tonight.

Before they knew it, night had fallen. Without Jiang Ji around, Ye Li, Jiang Mai, and Jiang Ya even lost their appetite for the steamed buns.

After dinner, Ye Li and the two little ones retired to their respective rooms to sleep.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ji lay awake.

The private academy he attended, Chenji Academy, was located south of the city. By the time he walked there, the sun had already set.

The academy was a three-courtyard compound. The front courtyard housed the teachers’ offices, the main courtyard contained the classrooms, and the rear courtyard held the dormitories and kitchen.

Living conditions in the dormitories were austere—several students shared a single large heated bed—so only those from outside the county town resided there.

Those from the county town returned home after classes.

When Jiang Ji reached the dormitory, his fellow students were already there. He exchanged greetings with several of them before beginning his evening meal.

He devoured three steamed buns and an egg.

After finishing, he fetched his washbasin and toothbrush to clean up.

After all that fuss, by the time he lay down, it was already the hour of the Dog—time for lights out.

The room quickly plunged into darkness. He closed his eyes, but the Lord of Dreams didn’t come to visit him as he usually did.

Beneath him, the kang was covered only by a straw mattress. Lying on it for too long, it had become stiff and hard.

The room wasn’t quiet—the snores and teeth-grinding of the grown men echoed incessantly.

He let out a long sigh and rolled over.

He thought he’d go home tomorrow…

Time slipped away silently, and before he knew it, the rooster crowed.

At the village, Jiang Dahu eagerly rose to take Jiang Liu to Ye Li’s house for work.

It was off-season, and the village was quiet at this hour. Sending a young girl out alone worried Jiang Dahu, so he made a point of escorting her.

Jiang Dahu didn’t linger. He told Jiang Liu to work hard, then left.

Ye Li led Jiang Liu into the mill.

As a grown man, he felt awkward leaving all the work to Jiang Liu. He planned to handle minor tasks: scooping soybeans into the mill, sweeping bean residue and pulp from the grooves.

If Jiang Liu couldn’t manage, he was prepared to take over.

But to his surprise, Jiang Liu volunteered, “Brother Li, go back to the main room and rest. I can handle this alone.”

“It’s fine. I’m already up,” Ye Li shook his head with a smile.

Jiang Liu thought for a moment and changed her mind. “Alright.”

It made sense. On her first day, she should let Brother Li, her employer, see how she handled the work.

Once time passed, Brother Li would feel comfortable letting her grind soybeans alone.

She grabbed the grinding rod and began pushing it steadily, neither too fast nor too slow.

Her strength wasn’t as great as Jiang Ji’s, so she couldn’t afford to rush.

Her strength needed to be used sparingly, like a trickle of water over a long distance.