Bride Swap Backfire: My Cousin's Rebirth Made Us a Power Couple-Chapter 16 - 13: Homelife

Chen Song returned quite late that day. It was nearly midnight when he finally made his way home through the deep darkness.

Chen Wanqing was still awake. She had to go to the county seat to deliver goods the next day and needed to take inventory of her fragrances one more time to avoid any oversights or mistakes.

A sound came from the main gate. Hearing her father’s familiar footsteps, Chen Wanqing quickly walked out from her room.

"Dad, why are you back so late today? Have you had dinner?"

The words had barely left Chen Wanqing’s lips when the doors to the other two rooms were pulled open from the inside, one after the other.

Chen De’an, with an outer robe draped over his shoulders and rubbing his sleepy eyes, had just stepped out when he was shooed back by Xu Su Ying, who was emerging from the main room.

"You’ve only just recovered; you need to be more careful. Hurry up and get well so you can go back to the private school. Day in and day out, you’re no help at all, just standing around being an eyesore. You’re driving me crazy."

Chen De’an said, "...It’s not that I don’t want to help. You’re the one who said I was in the way and shooed me back. And I haven’t been idle! Today was the first day I felt a bit better, and I spent most of it reading."

Chen Song also waved a hand at Chen De’an. "Go back to sleep... Since you’re feeling better, I’ll take you to the private school first thing tomorrow morning."

Chen De’an laughed with exasperation. ’What kind of parents are these? Anyone who didn’t know better would think I was adopted.’

’This is too cruel!’

’He’d been sick for five or six days and only started feeling better today, yet this old couple couldn’t even stand him for one more day. They were sending him back tomorrow. Was he really that annoying?’

"Fine, fine, fine! I’ll go, alright? This time, I’ll just leave and not come back. You three can have your happy family life here... Good thing Eldest Sister isn’t married, or you’d be shooing her back to her in-laws, too. You two are really something else, complaining all day that us kids are an eyesore. I’ve never seen such absurd parents."

Chen De’an went back to his room, muttering to himself. He closed the door and lay back down on his bed in the dark.

His body was weak, after all, and he had spent half the day reading. Not long after he lay down, loud snores could be heard from his room.

Xu Su Ying told Chen Wanqing to go back to her room and rest too. "Dad hasn’t eaten, has he?" Chen Wanqing said. "I’ll make him something to eat."

"You don’t have to. The dough is already kneaded; I just need to roll and pull it into noodles. Mom will do it. Are you done with your inventory? If you are, you should get to sleep early, too. We’ll go to the county seat with your dad tomorrow morning."

"Almost."

"Then hurry up and finish."

After shooing her daughter back to her room, Xu Su Ying grabbed Chen Song’s arm and pulled him toward the kitchen.

Chen Song braced himself as if for a great battle, his scalp tingling with dread.

He had spent the entire day investigating a case with the County Magistrate and had no time at all to scout for a suitable son-in-law for his daughter.

"Wife, I was just swamped today. A merchant went missing in the county some years ago. A few days back, a server at a tavern overheard a drunk customer say he’d killed that merchant. Now the drunkard stubbornly denies committing the crime, but we can’t find the merchant’s body, so the case is at a standstill."

Without a body, the perpetrator was adamantly denying it, claiming it was just drunken nonsense. The problem was, the man had some influence, so the county government couldn’t detain him indefinitely.

The County Magistrate was so worried sick about it that he had come out to investigate personally. We constables have been run off our feet following him. After a full day, even a strong man like Chen Song had aching heels.

Xu Su Ying gave a couple of noncommittal grunts. "If you can’t find the body, it was either chopped up and fed to the dogs, tied to a rock and sunk in the river, thrown down an old dry well, or maybe even bricked into a house. If not that, then it was just dumped out in the wilderness somewhere."

Chen Song suddenly grabbed Xu Su Ying’s hand. She smacked him hard. "Let go, I’m about to roll out the noodles. What are you doing now?"

Chen Song’s whole body went stiff, but his mouth seemed to have a mind of its own and started talking automatically.

"That perpetrator extensively renovated his house years ago. Could it be... No, I have to get back to the county government office right away!"

Chen Song thought his wife’s speculation was extremely plausible.

He couldn’t just dismiss his wife’s words as idle chatter. The only reason he had his current position was thanks to her giving him advice from behind the scenes.

He remembered when he was just a man from the countryside, supporting his family by doing odd jobs, carpentry, and manual labor.

It was only later, when the children were older and they felt he needed a more respectable job, that he and his wife started putting their efforts toward that goal.

And so, "coincidentally," he caught and brought back an escaped convict.

The newly appointed County Magistrate had just taken office at the time and was in need of his own men. Because of this achievement, and because he was powerfully built, Chen Song was promoted unconventionally to a constable at the county government.

Later, he found a secret passage used for hiding people and a false wall containing gold and silver, which earned him even more favor with the County Magistrate and helped him secure his position in the government office.

Chen Song started to dash back to the county government, but Xu Su Ying put her hands on her hips and scolded him. "Go back, my ass! Have you seen what time it is? You may not need rest, but the Lord County Magistrate does. Just wait until tomorrow. It’s not a matter of a few seconds."

"How is it not urgent? I’m worried sick! What if the culprit gets released from jail soon?"

"If he gets out, you’ll just arrest him again. Unless he can fly to the heavens or tunnel into the earth, you’ll catch him eventually. Now, hurry up and stoke the fire. By the time you get the water boiling, I’ll have the noodles rolled out. I made a big bowl of fried pork belly topping at noon, and I’ll add it all for you."

Chen Song was dedicated to his duties and rarely came home before dark. When he was on a case, it was common for him to be busy until the dead of night.

But no matter how busy he was, he always came home every day.

With his two boys away at the private school, leaving his beautiful wife and daughter at home alone, he couldn’t rest easy.

A blazing fire ignited in the stove’s firebox, accompanied by the CRACKLE of burning straw. While cutting the noodles, Xu Su Ying said quietly to Chen Song, "You should focus on your case first. Put Qing’er’s marriage prospects on hold for now."

"What’s this? Have you really taken a liking to Li Cun? Are you planning to settle Qing’er’s engagement to him?"

"Like hell I have! Unless Li Cun separates his household from that mother of his, there’s no way I’m marrying my wonderful daughter into that family to be tormented."

"Then why did you..."

"Come closer and I’ll tell you everything."

Xu Su Ying lowered her voice and whispered, explaining the purpose of the old lady’s visit that day.

Chen Song was first shocked, then speechless. When he finally understood what his wife was implying, he grew agitated.

"You mean you want to..."

"I’m waiting to pick up the pieces! Why are you looking at me like that? Don’t you like that boy, Jing? Do you think he’s not good enough to be our son-in-law, not worthy of our Qing’er?"

Chen Song shifted on his stool and used the poker to stoke the fire in the stove, making it burn brighter.

He was silent for a moment before saying in a placating tone, "The boy is excellent in both character and appearance; how could I not like him? But for cousins to be swapping fiancés... it’s just not proper."

"Oh, so now you know the word ’proper’."

"Stop teasing, Wife. Let’s be serious. If Jing had been engaged to some other girl before, this wouldn’t be so awkward. But he was engaged to Wanyue. Wanyue is Qing’er’s cousin, after all. The gossip will not be pleasant."

"Then what do you suggest? We just forget about Zhao Jing? He’s such a good kid. We can’t look down on him just because he broke off an engagement. If you want to talk about that, our Qing’er has broken off two engagements herself..."

"Wife, don’t be unreasonable..."

The couple bickered back and forth in the kitchen, unable to reach a conclusion for some time.

Meanwhile, in her room, Chen Wanqing finished inventorying the last of the Moonlight Fragrance, placed it securely in its custom-made wooden box, and finally relaxed, undressing to get ready for bed.

The night was deep and still, and a sense of peace settled over the world. Soft moonlight filtered through the papered window, filling the small room with a warm and cozy feeling.

Chen Wanqing tossed a couple of times in bed, quietly listening to her parents’ soft whispers from the kitchen. As she listened, her eyelids grew heavy, and she drifted off to sleep before she knew it.