Translated By April

The two of them went early in the morning to help. Wei Qingshan helped borrow tables and stools, while Lin Yu worked together with the other husbands and women picking vegetables. Even He Dongdong moved a stool and squeezed in beside Lin Yu to help.

At night, there were two meat dishes on the table, as well as tofu and two vegetarian dishes. This already counted as a pretty good banquet in the countryside—two meat dishes were not considered few.

Lin Yu sat at the same table as He Dongdong. He Dongdong urged him to eat quickly, “Hurry up and eat, they’re going to snatch up all the meat.”

He Dongdong didn’t act at all like someone who was going to be a new husband tomorrow—he was still sitting at the table today, fighting for meat with others. Not only did he eat for himself, but he also disliked how slow Lin Yu was and wanted to share some with him to eat as well.

Only when all the dishes on the table were finished did He Dongdong wipe his mouth and pull Lin Yu along, “Yu-ger, come early tomorrow, I’ll be nervous by myself.”

Lin Yu laughed—he really hadn’t seen any signs that Dong-ger was nervous.

The next day, Lin Yu wore his new clothes and arrived early. Today, both he and Wei Qingshan had to help escort the bride. The relatives that the He family had invited to escort the bride had also arrived.

Lin Yu stayed in He Dongdong’s room, keeping him company, helping him put on the wedding robes. Today, He Dongdong was uncharacteristically shy, wearing the wedding clothes and letting the old woman apply makeup and powder his face.

Today, on his head, he wore the silver hairpin that Shi Tou had given as a betrothal gift. The people who came to escort the bride all gasped in amazement when they saw it. “There’s even a silver hairpin!”

The room was small, and with many people inside, someone bumped into Lin Yu. He glanced and saw it was a young man he didn’t recognize.

“Dong-ger, why did you bring someone so unlucky here?”

He Dongdong looked over. “Who are you calling unlucky?!”

Lin Yu looked at the unfamiliar young man, feeling a bit baffled. He hadn’t offended him, had he?

“Yu-ger, come here, let’s ignore him.” He Dongdong called Lin Yu over to his side.

That unfamiliar young man glared and muttered under his breath, “It’s true, though, who doesn’t know he has no father or mother.”

That sentence was very quiet, so neither Lin Yu nor He Dongdong heard it. Otherwise, given He Dongdong’s temper, he would’ve already fought him.

Outside, the wedding procession had arrived. Lin Yu helped He Dongdong cover his face with the red veil and supported him out. He Dongdong was still whispering to Lin Yu, “Yu-ger, hold me steady, my legs feel a little weak.”

Lin Yu wanted to laugh—hadn’t he been just fine earlier?

As soon as He Dongdong came out, he caused a wave of exclamations. “Who embroidered the wedding robe on this new husband?!”

There were relatives from both sides of the couple present today, and even quite a few people from other villages. He Dongdong’s wedding robes were embroidered with intertwined gold and silver threads. The collar featured golden auspicious clouds and five doves, while the lower skirt was embroidered with a golden phoenix, and even the hem had a circle of auspicious clouds.

Walking in the sunlight, it seemed like the gold and silver colors shimmered and changed. While embroidering it, Lin Yu had even added some silver threads inside, which created the color variation and made the wedding robe look very luxurious.

“Aiya, Yu-ger’s embroidery is truly amazing! I’ve lived so many years and never seen such beautiful wedding clothes.”

Most country folk were poor. Wedding clothes were usually embroidered by the newlyweds themselves. Very few could afford to hire a professional embroiderer. Beneath the red veil, He Dongdong was quite proud. He just knew that his wedding robes would make them all jealous today!

The guests all clicked their tongues in admiration. “Was it that young man supporting the new husband who did the embroidery?”

“And I heard someone from their village say that a husband in their village got pregnant after touching the child embroidered on a quilt.”

“Is that true or not?”

“Just touch it later and you’ll know.”

The He family only had this one ger. He Daniang had prepared a generous dowry—clothes and shoes for all four seasons, two embroidered quilts, two regular quilts, two bolts of cloth, and some other miscellaneous household items.

Especially when those two embroidered quilts were brought out, quite a few women and husbands craned their necks to look. One quilt cover had a pair of twin lotuses embroidered on it, with two plump, fair-skinned babies sitting on top, looking very delightful.

Whether it was real or not, someone had already secretly touched the embroidered baby on the quilt.

The bridal sedan was carried around the village, and after the wedding ceremony, He Dongdong was sent into the bridal chamber. He Dongdong whispered to Lin Yu, “Later, when Shi Tou brings food for us two, I already told him to bring more meat, just for us to eat, hehe.”

The banquet at the Shi family was also quite well-prepared. After the meal, the bridal veil was lifted, and quite a few women and husbands crowded around the new bed to touch the embroidered quilt with the baby.

At first, He Dongdong didn’t understand what they were doing. Once he realized it, he crawled onto the bed and hugged the quilt tightly, “Don’t touch my baby, don’t touch, this is mine!”

Someone said loudly, “Let us touch it! What if there are ten or eight babies? Would Dong-ger have to give birth to all of them, haha?”

“I will! I will! This baby was embroidered for me by Yu-ger, no one’s allowed to touch it!”

He Dongdong actually believed in it a little, worried that someone might steal away the baby that was supposed to belong to him. He hugged the quilt and wouldn’t let anyone touch it. The room burst into laughter, and someone regretfully said they hadn’t gotten to touch it yet.

After He Dongdong’s wedding was done, Wei Qingshan and the others became busy buying and selling grain. The couple asked around in the village for those with lots of land. Everyone was willing to sell them some grain, only waiting to pay the land tax in a few days before they could sell it to them.

Wei Qingshan planned to buy more grain. The amount from one or two households wasn’t enough, so he asked several more.

After the land tax was paid, Wei Qingshan went to haul the grain. He especially went to the village chief’s house to borrow a mule cart. Lin Yu carried the money pouch and simply followed behind to pay the silver.

The new grain had just come in, so the price of paddy rice was still reasonable. One jin of rough rice was ten wen. Lin Yu used copper coins that hadn’t yet been exchanged into silver taels to pay. When the copper coins ran out, he used silver taels instead. Fortunately, this household had a lot of land and sold them five jin of rice.

Both the buyer and the seller were happy. Wei Qingshan gathered twenty jin of grain in the village. The mule cart had to make two trips to transport it all, and they spent two taels of silver.

Lin Yu hadn’t expected to collect this much. “Qingshan, isn’t this a bit too much?”

“No, the more the better. It gives us peace of mind.”

This amount of grain was enough for the two of them to eat for a whole year. This kind of farming depended entirely on the heavens. Wei Qingshan felt that when it was just him living alone before, it was fine, but now that he had his little husband, what if one day they ran out of grain? He feared a sudden natural disaster—without land, they would have no food to eat.

Wei Qingshan carried the sacks and stored them in the east room. Nearly twenty sacks of rough rice made Lin Yu feel hopeful inside. With this much grain, he no longer feared going hungry.

Having finally finished this major task, Wei Qingshan felt at ease.

At dinner, Wei Qingshan told Lin Yu that he was going up the mountain. He would only come down every three or four days. Lin Yu was a bit reluctant, “Why don’t I go with you? I can wash clothes and cook for you.”

“You stay home and take care of the vegetable garden and chickens. This time it’s not a walk of one or two hours. I have to walk at least half a day deep into the woods. It’s dangerous. You just stay home and behave.”

Lin Yu nodded, “Then don’t go too deep into the forest.”

“Okay. I’ll let Baixue stay home with you.”

Lin Yu nodded reluctantly, “Got it.”

The next day, Lin Yu began helping Wei Qingshan prepare to go up the mountain. All the meat at home was chopped into ground meat and made into meat patties, so that they could be roasted over fire easily. Lin Yu made over ten meat patties at once, afraid Wei Qingshan wouldn’t have enough to eat.

He also packed rice, flour, and eggs into the backpack. He picked the tender hanging melons from the vegetable garden for Wei Qingshan to take with him.

“You have a place to live in the mountains, right? Are there quilts? If not, take one from home. Is there a pot?”

Wei Qingshan enjoyed his little husband’s fussing and answered one by one, “Yes, there is. It’s a small wooden house left by a hunter. I stayed there the last time I went up the mountain. Don’t worry, everything’s in there. I just need to bring food.”

Lin Yu sent Wei Qingshan off to the mountain. He walked all the way to the back mountain before reluctantly returning home.

The deeper into the forest, the more wild animals there were. Lin Yu couldn’t stop worrying about Wei Qingshan.

With Wei Qingshan not home, he spent the daytime doing embroidery, and at night, he locked up early to rest. With Baixue guarding the house, he wasn’t afraid.

That day, Lin Yu was in the courtyard doing embroidery when Dong-ger brought a strange elderly woman with him, “Yu-ger, she came looking for you!”

Lin Yu offered her a stool and poured hot water. The elderly woman opened her mouth and asked, “I heard the wedding robe for Shi Tou’s new husband was embroidered by Lin-ger?”

Lin Yu nodded. The woman looked very happy. “My daughter is about to get married, and I wanted to ask Lin-ger to help embroider the wedding robe.”

Lin Yu was a little surprised that someone was coming to ask him to embroider a wedding robe. He happily agreed, “Auntie, it’s just that embroidery for a wedding robe takes a lot of work. Dong-ger’s wedding robe took me over a month to rush out. To embroider one wedding robe, it’s one tael of silver. Is that okay with you?”

He charged one tael total for both Dong-ger’s wedding robe and the embroidered quilt, mainly because He Dongdong was his good friend. Embroidering a wedding robe was very labor-intensive. If he did it slowly, even a month wouldn’t be enough time.

The elderly woman agreed without hesitation, “Alright, then let’s agree that I’ll come pick it up in a month.”

She promptly paid fifty wen and left the cloth she brought. As for the rest, she said she would pay it when she came to collect it.

Lin Yu was still a bit dazed—just like that, she gave the money? She didn’t even bargain?

When he saw her off, Lin Yu was still in a bit of a trance. He Dongdong tugged at his clothes, “Yu-ger, you’re really amazing! Just like that, fifty wen in hand!”

He Dongdong was truly surprised—it was good to have a skill.

Lin Yu smiled, “No way, this will take at least a month of work.”

He Dongdong clicked his tongue—having a skill was just great. “This client had a set of bed, table, and stools made at our place, all dowry for her daughter. On the day of my wedding, her daughter saw that my wedding clothes were beautiful and asked about them, so she came over.”

“No wonder she was so straightforward. The family must be well-off.”

“I wish I could do embroidery too, but I’m too clumsy to learn.” He Dongdong laughed twice. “Oh, right, my eldest sister-in-law is pregnant—already over three months. We only found out after I got married.”

He Dongdong leaned in close to Lin Yu, “She said she also heard from Chun-ger at the time, and touched the embroidered quilt after taking it home. She said it was because of touching the embroidered quilt that she got pregnant.”

“Just a coincidence.” Lin Yu didn’t believe it—the baby on the quilt was embroidered by him, so why didn’t he have one?

Lin Yu continued embroidering what he had in hand. They had just bought grain a couple of days ago, and another two taels of silver had gone out from their savings. He wanted to embroider more, so that next year they might be able to buy two mu of dry farmland.

He Dongdong had just gotten married, so naturally, he had lots to talk about with Lin Yu. Now that the busy farming season was over, he had more free time. Dressed in new clothes with a silver hairpin on his head, he looked like he was living well.

He Dongdong grumbled that Shi Tou talked too little, but he had a smile on his face. “Shi Tou’s just too honest. A couple of days after the wedding, my mother-in-law had me manage the household. Even the family’s silver is all under my care now.”

“That’s good. Shi Tou and his mother aren’t hard to get along with.”

He Dongdong also smiled, “Shi Tou listens to everything I say.”

He Dongdong looked joyful. His mother-in-law was easy to get along with, his husband listened to him, the Shi family was small, and food and everything else were all saved for him. Life was naturally going well.

While the two of them were chatting, a few ger came walking in at the door. “Yu-ger, are you doing embroidery?”

Lin Yu didn’t go out often, so he wasn’t too familiar with the villagers. Seeing that there were guests, he offered them stools, but the gers waved their hands. “No need to sit, no need to sit. We just wanted to ask Yu-ger if you could help embroider a handkerchief.”

“A handkerchief? I’ve got some embroidered ones in the basket, pick whichever you like.”

A few people stepped up and picked them up to take a look. “Yu-ger, your embroidery is so good—these flowers look almost real.”

There weren’t many people in the countryside who could embroider, and even those who could barely manage to make it passable. Naturally, they couldn’t compare to those embroidery maidens in town who relied on this craft to make a living. It was said that if you wanted to learn from them, it would cost at least one tael of silver a year, not to mention sending meat and rice during holidays.

Who would spend a whole tael of silver to send their daughter or ger to learn embroidery?

After browsing for a while, they put them down, faces full of fawning smiles. “Yu-ger, what we want isn’t these kinds. Do you have ones with babies embroidered on them?”

Lin Yu shook his head. These handkerchiefs were mostly flowers and grass—who would embroider babies on them?

“Yu-ger, embroider one for me, will you? The price is negotiable.”

“I want one too, I want one too.”

The group scrambled to ask Lin Yu to embroider. Lin Yu was squeezed in the middle, not knowing what to do, until He Dongdong came forward and pulled him out. “Enough. Yu-ger just took on a job to embroider a wedding outfit for someone. Where would he have the time to embroider babies for you?”

One of the gers huffed, “That’s because you already have one, so you won’t let Yu-ger embroider for us. You’ve got such a big one already—what’s wrong with us wanting to buy a smaller one?”

It was hard for a ger to conceive, so they just wanted to try this method to see if it worked.

“So what if I have such a big one? That was embroidered for me by Yu-ger, too. Didn’t you use to look down on Yu-ger? Now you’re begging him for embroidery, hmph!”

That ger was red-faced from He Dongdong’s words. He had spoken a few gossiping words about Lin Yu before, and now He Dongdong was airing it in front of Lin Yu. His face turned beet red with shame as he hurriedly pulled Lin Yu and apologized, “Yu-ger, I’m sorry. I used to say a few things behind your back. I’m sorry, I truly apologize.”

He Dongdong snorted, “You just want Yu-ger to embroider a baby for you.”

Seeing that the group was about to argue and fight, Lin Yu quickly spoke up, “Dong-ger is right. I just took on a wedding outfit job, and I probably won’t be able to embroider more.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, we’re not in a hurry. Yu-ger, just do it when you’re free.”

He Dongdong stretched out his basket. “Alright then. Yu-ger’s embroidered handkerchiefs are fifteen wen each. If you want one, pay with copper coins first and line up. No one’s allowed to fight. And Yu-ger is busy right now, so where’s the time to embroider babies for you? No one is allowed to rush or make a fuss. Anyone who does won’t get one.”

“I want one, I want one!”

“Me too, embroider mine first!”

“Aiya, you squeezed me, move aside a bit, that’s my copper coin.”

Several people hurriedly took out their copper coins from their bodies, afraid of being a step too late and getting snatched by someone else. The copper coins in the bamboo basket clattered noisily.

In just that short while, Lin Yu had already collected over a hundred copper coins.

He Dongdong helped send the people away, and Lin Yu was still a little dazed at this moment. This was even faster than when he went to town to sell embroidered handkerchiefs.

He Dongdong shook the copper coins in the bamboo basket, making a clattering sound. “What’s wrong, dumbfounded?”

Lin Yu saw that his handkerchiefs hadn’t even been embroidered yet and were already sold out. He was very happy. “Why is everyone scrambling to buy them?”

“Isn’t it because Chun-ger and my eldest sister-in-law are both pregnant, so of course everyone believes it now. Yu-ger, don’t worry, just take your time with the embroidery. If anyone causes trouble or anything, you just tell me, I’ll go find them, and we won’t embroider for them.”

“Mm, Dong-ger, thank you.”

These days, people come one after another looking for Lin Yu to embroider handkerchiefs. Lin Yu really couldn’t keep up, so he said he could only start embroidering a month later. Even then, everyone was afraid they wouldn’t be able to buy one, all saying they wanted to pay in advance. Lin Yu politely declined, saying they could wait until he finished the embroidery to buy.

Xia Hehua also heard about this. She snorted, “Isn’t it just embroidered handkerchiefs? If buying one really meant getting pregnant, then wouldn’t everyone go buy one? And besides, Wei Qingshan and Lin Yu, that couple have hard, inauspicious lives—yet you all dare to buy from them.”

“What inauspicious? I think the two of them are blessed. Just a while ago, Qingshan bought a lot of grain—he had to make two trips with the mule cart to get it all back.”

“Exactly, I think that Yu-ger has the face of a blessed person. What bad reputation or misfortune? Dong-ger’s wedding robe and quilt cover were all embroidered by Yu-ger.”

“That’s right, I heard a girl from the neighboring village also asked Yu-ger to embroider her wedding robes. He’s already overwhelmed with orders.”

“What bad reputation? That couple didn’t steal or rob anyone, they’re just people with hard lives—why talk behind their backs?”

Everyone chimed in one after another, leaving Xia Hehua with no retort. “Hmph, I don’t know who was gossiping behind their backs before. Now that he’s embroidering handkerchiefs for you, you’re not saying anything.”

“Hehua, Yu-ger is your sister-in-law after all. We outsiders can’t even buy them. Why don’t you go ask Yu-ger to embroider one for you, too? Maybe you’ll get pregnant.”

“I don’t believe it!” Xia Hehua turned away angrily and left. What kind of effectiveness was there?! When He Dongdong got married, she also secretly touched the baby on the quilt cover—why didn’t anything happen to her?

Lin Yu counted the days. Wei Qingshan had already been in the mountains for three days and should be back soon. If not today, then definitely tomorrow. Lin Yu put away the embroidery hoop and was about to cook when he heard barking outside. Dahei ran home quickly.

Lin Yu rushed to the door and, sure enough, saw Wei Qingshan carrying a basket on his back, holding something in his hand. Lin Yu ran over to help him take it—it was two wild pheasants with their feet tied up.

Wei Qingshan had gained quite a lot after a few days in the mountains. The deeper the forest, the more game there was. He had caught many wild pheasants, hares, and even wild geese.

“This year, it looks like there’s even more game than last year.”

“Hurry and get in, I was just about to cook.”

“I’ll clean a pheasant, we’ll stew it later.” After a few days in the mountains eating dry food, he missed his little husband’s soupy meals. “Let’s also make some tofu meatballs.”

“Okay, I’ll go to Chun-ger’s and buy two pieces of tofu.”

While Lin Yu went out to buy tofu, Wei Qingshan heated water, slaughtered a pheasant, then took a bath and changed clothes, feeling much lighter.

He hadn’t seen his little husband for several days and missed him terribly, especially seeing him run toward him with sparkling eyes just now. Even if life in the mountains was hard, it all felt worth it.

When Lin Yu went to buy tofu, Chun-ger was the one selling. His belly was already big, and he could only do light work now. Seeing Lin Yu come to buy tofu, he joked, “You look so happy—did Qingshan come back?”

“Mm, I’m buying some tofu to stew for him.”

“I heard the village women and husbands are all looking for you to embroider babies?”

“I’ve been busy with wedding robes lately, I can’t keep up.”

Chun-ger looked a little envious. “Still, it’s great to know embroidery. Unlike us, who only do laborious work.”

After chatting for a couple of lines, Lin Yu hurried off. After all, Qingshan probably didn’t eat well in the mountains, and he had to hurry back to make himself a hot meal.

When Lin Yu got home, he saw the chicken had already been chopped. He picked some meat to make tofu meatballs. Since Wei Qingshan had a heavy palate, he stewed the chicken with chili peppers, then went to the vegetable garden to pick cucumbers. After Wei Qingshan finished tidying up, he came over to help Lin Yu tend the fire.

The weather was getting a bit hot, so Lin Yu rolled up his sleeves. His arms were thin and white, and he looked especially attractive with his head lowered as he stir-fried vegetables.

“You should go rest. There’s not much to help with here.”

“It’s fine, I just want to be with you.”

Lin Yu blushed slightly and lowered his head, ignoring him.

Wei Qingshan had returned, and Lin Yu felt very happy in his heart. For dinner, he cooked stewed chicken, scallion-fried tofu, cold cucumber salad, and a bowl of water-steamed chicken meatballs for each of them.

“Eat more, it’s not easy to get hot food in the mountains.”

His little husband’s cooking was delicious, and Wei Qingshan had quite an appetite, eating a lot. “I just saw there’s a wedding robe on the embroidery hoop. Are you embroidering another wedding robe?”

“Mm, a woman from the neighboring village is getting married, I’m embroidering it for her. One tael of silver.”

This look on his little husband as if asking for praise made the corners of Wei Qingshan’s lips curl up. “That’s amazing, you’ve even earned more silver than I did hunting in the mountains.”

Lin Yu was a little embarrassed by the compliment. “It’s not like that, if I embroider slowly, it’ll take me a whole month to finish one.”

“That’s still really impressive.”

“I just saw two embroidered handkerchiefs in the embroidery basket—why are there two children embroidered on them?”

Wei Qingshan was a bit curious. Don’t those handkerchiefs used by women and husbands usually have flowers or grass or something? Why were there children embroidered on these?

Mentioning this made Lin Yu feel a bit awkward, and he quietly explained it to Wei Qingshan. Wei Qingshan chuckled, “So my little husband is actually the Goddess of Childbirth.”

Lin Yu glared at him in feigned anger. “Don’t talk nonsense. They just asked me to embroider it for peace of mind.”

“I think in the future, if my little husband earns a lot, I, as your man, will have to rely on you to support me.”

“Well, I can support you, too. The mountains are dangerous. Once we buy land, we can just farm at home.”