Honey, you didn't really drugged me, did you?-Chapter 20 - Wife, Have a Bite

Pushing the wheelbarrow, Chen Jie quickly returned to the village.

Chen Jie lived in a county called Mianshui County, nestled beside the Mianshui, a tributary of the Yangtze River, which governed eight large towns, each composed of three to five villages.

For instance, Chen Jie was from Mianshui County, Xiantao Town, Xiantao Village, and under Xiantao Town, there were also Upper Peach, Zhongtao, and Lower Peach—three villages.

Chen Jie was soon back in his own village.

As Chen Jie pushed his cart back from outside, all the villagers watched him in shock, because he had returned with so many purchases this time, a whole wheelbarrow full.

And the cart was loaded with quality goods: bags of grain, large chunks of pork fat tied with twine, as well as various sauces and condiments; all these added up would probably cost two or three taels of silver.

Chen Jiusi has struck it rich!

This way, Chen Jie wheeled the cart amid the envious gazes of the villagers.

"Uncle Erba."

On the road, Chen Jie saw Chen Erba and called out to him; Chen Erba immediately exclaimed, "Jiu Si, what's all this?"

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Chen Jie said, "Oh, we ran out of food at home, so I bought some."

Having said that, he continued towards home. Meanwhile, not far away under a big tree root, another one of Chen Jie's uncles, Chen Sanliu, was complaining about Chen Jiusi's wastefulness, saying he had squandered their uncle's inheritance. Had he known it would come to this, their uncle should have given the inheritance to him instead; he would never have let the family legacy be tarnished.

Those listening to Chen Sanliu's gripes wore polite smiles on their faces but inwardly scoffed. Why should the inheritance be given to him? Mr. Chen had a daughter, so why should he bestow anything on you? Besides, based on your heartless and unfaithful behavior, if those things ended up in your hands, it would be like throwing a meat bun to a dog – gone without return. Would you even care about Chen Jiusi's well-being?

Of course, what they knew was one thing, but as neighbors, they all had to maintain superficial harmony, so they just laughed it off.

Just then, as Chen Jie wheeled his cart past, he immediately drew everyone's attention.

"Hey, look, it's Chen Jiusi."

"Yeah, that's really Jiu Si. He, he must have made a fortune, look at all the stuff he bought, whole bags of grain, buying it by the bag, how much would all that cost!"

"Indeed, and look, there's pork. Chen Jiusi must have really hit the jackpot!"

"This load must be worth two or three taels, when did Chen Jiusi get so rich!"

"What's so surprising? A lean camel is still bigger than a horse. Mr. Chen's family was so well-off, even with heavy losses, it's normal to have a few taels of silver left. Who knows, maybe in some nook and cranny he could find something valuable."

"That's true!"

As they spoke, Chen Sanliu's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

How could his family still have money?!

Chen Jiusi wasted so much, how could he not exhaust all of it? Just how much had his uncle left behind!

If only that money were given to me.

Chen Sanliu's eyes were green with envy, and as he listened to the people around him, he scoffed and said, "Hmph, squandering fool, even if you have money you can't just spend it like this! How should a farming family live? Can you even eat meat like that? No sense of how to live properly."

The crowd taking respite in the shade heard the jealousy in his voice from a distance.

They simply looked at each other and said nothing.

Chen Jie, however, paid no mind to what others said, and directly pushed his cart to the front of his house. Upon reaching the entrance, he saw Little Douding sitting at the doorstep on a little stool, staring at something on the ground.

He watched for a while, seeming to have noticed something, then pinched a bit of it, popped it into his mouth, savoring the taste, muttering, "Little ants, don't get lost, or you'll get eaten, you know!"

"Ruirui, I'm back."

Chen Jie called out, Ruirui sitting at the door looked up and suddenly saw Chen Jie. Then his eyes were immediately attracted to the items on the wheelbarrow.

"Meat meat!"

Ruirui immediately stood up and quickly ran over, calling out for meat. But as he approached, he exclaimed, "Brother-in-law~"

If one didn't know better, they'd think he was especially fond of his brother-in-law.

The courtyard gate swung open, and Chen Jie pushed a cart inside, as Ruirui, fixated on the items atop it, exclaimed, "Sister, brother-in-law's back!"

"Brother-in-law has bought so many things back."

Hearing this, Su Yunjin emerged from the house, just in time to see Chen Jie, along with the goods on his cart, surprise plastered across her face.

"This?! What?!"

She was well aware that there wasn't a single cent at home, so where on earth had Chen Jiusi found the money?

She looked utterly incredulous.

Yet Chen Jie said nothing of it, immediately handing over the seasonings to Little Douding, "Help carry these inside."

"Okay!"

Little Douding was thrilled to bits, grabbing the seasonings and eagerly helping Chen Jie to transport them inside.

Chen Jie hoisted a bag of rice onto his shoulder and carried a large portion of pork into the house while telling Su Yunjin, "Don't just stand there, help carry things!"

After hesitating a moment, Su Yunjin promptly responded, "Okay~"

She went over to help with the items, and soon they had all been moved inside. It was only then that Su Yunjin asked, "Where did all this come from?"

Chen Jie laughed, "Heh, I had some good luck today, found a ginseng on the mountain. I sold it in town for some money and bought all this grain and flour."

After saying this, Chen Jie pulled out a handful of broken silver, around eight cents worth, saying, "This is what's left, you keep it!"

"Me?!"

Su Yunjin, shocked, looked at Chen Jie as he chuckled, "Yeah, you're my wife, what's mine is yours!"

With that, Chen Jie continued moving things, while Su Yunjin, holding the silver in her hand, stood stunned. The words echoed in her mind: "You are my wife, what's mine is yours."

Wife, huh?

She turned to look at Chen Jie, who was still carrying things, and at Su Yunrui, gleeful as a little butterfly, and once again her tears began to fall.

It wasn't that she liked to cry, but having experienced the darkness, she found herself moved to tears by this sliver of light.

She didn't really care about the money itself, what mattered to her was that she held a place in Chen Jie's heart, and she was touched that, having earned some money, he hadn't gambled it away but instead bought the urgently needed food for the family. He had truly reformed!

"Sister, brother-in-law bought so much meat, why are you still crying?"

Little Douding, seeing her sister wipe away tears secretly, asked in confusion, as her own tears were usually due to hunger. But with food to eat, why cry? She just couldn't understand it.

Finally, Chen Jie had brought all the things into the house. There was a storage cellar inside, previously used to store cabbage. After placing the items there, Chen Jie glanced at the pork and said to Su Yunjin, "Cut some to make salted pork, and render the rest for lard."

Su Yunjin nodded. Chen Jie found a knife and began to butcher the fat meat, first cutting off a large chunk—about five pounds—to make salted meat.

He then cut off two and a half pounds of belly to leave for Uncle Erba.

The remaining fat back was then cut into large pieces; after washing them clean, he started rendering them for lard.

Little Douding was practically perched on the cooking platform, peering into the pot the moment the meat went in, and asking every few seconds, "Brother-in-law, is it ready yet?"

Watching Little Douding drool over the sight, Chen Jie couldn't help but laugh; meanwhile, Su Yunjin remarked, "It can't be ready that fast."

Pouting, Little Douding complained, "Why isn't it ready yet?"

Chen Jie didn't say much, just watched as the fat in the pot slowly shrank and rendered into grease, turning a golden brown. Knowing it was done, he used a skimmer to lift out three pieces, blew on one, and handed it to Little Douding.

Little Douding couldn't wait to stuff it into her mouth, eating with grease around her lips. Chen Jie also ate a piece. Hmm, delicious.

Looking at the last remaining piece of pork cracklings, Chen Jie picked it up with his hand and passed it to Su Yunjin.

"Try it."

Su Yunjin hesitated for a brief moment but didn't resist. She opened her mouth and bit into the pork cracklings offered by Chen Jie, accidentally touching his fingertips in the process.

Instantly, her face turned red...