How I Tamed My Wolfish Husband Back in 80s-Chapter 78 - Old Objects_1
78: Chapter 78: Old Objects_1
78 -78: Old Objects_1
Old Mrs.
Qin personally saw her off, then returned to find Li Qiao, “Did you have a fight with your mother?
Why did she leave just like that?”
Li Qiao feigned confusion, “Fight?
No, we didn’t.”
Old Mrs.
Qin was relieved, “That’s good to hear,” and she left.
Li Qiao wrote until dusk before standing up to stretch.
The aunties outside gradually left one after another, and Old Mrs.
Qin went back home to cook.
Thanks to knitting, the family’s living standard had improved and their diet had gotten better as well.
Old Mrs.
Qin no longer made the watery soup and thin porridge they often used to eat; instead, she made dough and cooked large pancakes.
Li Qiao followed along and learned.
After cooking two, he got the hang of it easily.
Old Mrs.
Qin often praised, “Our Qiaoqiao is really smart, he picks things up at just one glance.”
Li Qiao smiled with a curling lip, “It’s not technically challenging or anything.”
“Don’t underestimate this pancake flipping.
Working with the dough requires a bit of skill, and you also need to manage the heat…”
After Li Qiao finished making pancakes, he picked a couple of bundles of vegetables from the doorway, cracked two eggs, and boiled a pot of soup.
He fished out some sun-dried radishes from earlier in the year, washed off the salt, chopped them into small pieces, added two chili peppers, sprinkled some sesame seeds, and stir-fried it all into a dish.
Getting ready to call out to Qin Jin at the door, he had just opened his mouth.
“Qiaoqiao.”
The voice of a young man, full of vigor and vitality, reached his ears.
Li Qiao smiled, “I was just about to call you for dinner.”
“You guys go ahead and eat without me, no need to wait.”
Li Qiao asked, “What’s that you’re holding?” It looked like a ladle, with a handle shorter than the chopsticks used for frying dough sticks, completely dark and covered with rust spots.
Qin Jin glanced at her and after a slight hesitation, revealed, “It’s a ‘dou’, a wine vessel from the Shang and Zhou dynasties.
Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
Li Qiao pondered, then said after a moment, “Is this old thing really valuable?”
“What’s the use of keeping it if it’s not valuable?” Qin Jin’s eyes were hiding an excited gleam.
Today, he stumbled upon it in Liu Er’s village when a child was using it to play with sand at the village entrance.
He bought it from the child’s parent for fifty cents.
Looking back, he ought to be able to sell it for one hundred and fifty or sixty.
He had struck it rich!
Li Qiao asked, “How much can it fetch?
Five or six yuan?”
“Right, five or six yuan.
I’ll buy some meat for you once it’s sold,” Qin Jin said with a smile in his eyes.
Li Qiao replied cheerfully, “Okay!” He was so kind, always wanting to spend money on her.
Qin Jin went to put away the vessel, washed his hands, and sat down next to Li Qiao, who handed him a pancake.
The fragrance of the dough blended with the spicy radish, and biting into it made their taste buds come alive.
The salty pickles he used to hate the most were definitely not made by his grandmother.
She was truly capable.
Ordinary things became delicious in her hands.
“Delicious, your cooking skills are not bad at all.”
Li Qiao pressed her lips together in a smile — stir-frying radishes was hardly any cooking skill.
And she had learned it from her grandmother anyway.
After dinner.
Qin Jin started to get cleaned up, urging Li Qiao to come into the room.
Old Mrs.
Qin noticed and pondered for a moment, worrying her presence might inhibit the young couple, so she intentionally went out for a walk.
Inside the room, Li Qiao hesitated, then awkwardly said, “Jin, have you prepared…” She was too embarrassed to say it and gestured with her hands instead.
Qin Jin frowned, “What’s that?
Be quick about it.
You’re always doodling, leaving me hanging every time.
You’ll drive me crazy one of these days.”
Li Qiao: “…” She didn’t recognize the contraceptive amulet, so he definitely hadn’t prepared.
What if she got pregnant?
“I…
I’m a bit scared.”
“Scared of what?
It’s not the first time,” said Qin Jin as he stepped forward and pulled her towards him.
Li Qiao thought she ought to explain properly.
She bit her lip and shyly said, “Actually, I’m still a virgin.”
“Enough, no need to pretend.
I don’t care,” Qin Jin said.
His brothers had warned him during the betrothal that a woman like her would have definitely been with men before; they said even if she offered herself, he shouldn’t take her.
But his grandmother had already agreed, and at that time, he really disliked the idea.
But now it was different.
She was not that person.
Understanding how to flirt, she must have been deceived by other men.
Anyway, she couldn’t be at fault.
Li Qiao wanted to keep explaining, but he wasn’t listening, pushing her towards the bed.
Li Qiao lay down as he pushed, and the young man pressed up against her.
She closed her eyes and nervously clutched the sheets.
After a while, a low voice pressed from above her head, “Qiaoqiao, open your eyes and look who wants you.”
Li Qiao: “…” Is he crazy?
Is there anyone else in the room besides him?
And why should she look to see who it is!
And, with the lights on, how awkward would it be to open her eyes?
“Qiaoqiao…”
Unable to resist, Li Qiao opened her eyes as told, and a large gecko on the ceiling came into view.
She shrieked and pushed him away, “There’s a gecko!”
Qin Jin stumbled in shock, “So there’s a gecko.
What are you screaming for?”
Li Qiao’s face turned pale, “Afraid it might fall on the bed.”
Qin Jin thought back to the mouse in the haystack that day and her similar fear.
He’d better not really scare her.
He stood on the bed with a broom to swat at it, and when the gecko ran, he jumped to hit it.
A cracking sound was heard.
Li Qiao screamed again.
The leg of the bed couldn’t withstand the force of his jump and snapped.
Both of them fell together.
His head collided with her face.
Li Qiao hissed, “That hurts.”
Qin Jin quickly got up to check on her, a large red bruise forming on her fair cheek; he massaged it while feeling distressed, “Why were you sitting on the bed?
Did I hit you anywhere else?”
“Just my face, it’s all over now.
When I go to school, my classmates will definitely think you’ve beaten me up,” Li Qiao said as she put on her clothes and shoes and took a mirror to look.
A big red blotch on her left cheek, faintly turning blue.
She needed to cook an egg quickly and roll it over the spot to reduce the bruising.
Li Qiao went out to boil an egg, and Qin Jin fixed the bed leg.
Old Mrs.
Qin felt it was about time to return, and as she came in, she immediately saw Qin Jin fixing the bed with a hammer.
She thought to herself, even the bed has been shaken loose.
A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she turned to Li Qiao, “Oh!
Qiaoqiao, what are you doing in the kitchen?”
Li Qiao, “Grandma, you went out.
I accidentally bumped my face, and it’s quite red, so I’m boiling an egg to reduce the bruising.”
Old Mrs.
Qin came over and took a careful look in the light of the stove fire, “It is red.
How did you manage to bump your face like that?”
Li Qiao recounted what had happened.
Old Mrs.
Qin felt as if she had been doused with cold water and said angrily, “Damn boy, what were you jumping on the bed for?
Tomorrow go and get a sturdy bed made at Carpenter Feng’s house!”
Qin Jin, “It’s fixed.”
“Once untrustworthy, never again used.
Throw it out.
Haven’t we earned some money now?
Change the bed,” Old Mrs.
Qin decreed without room for argument.
Li Qiao, “Grandma, beds are quite expensive, and if this one can still be used, I think we don’t need to change it.”
Having a carpenter work for a day would cost about one yuan.
Wouldn’t a bed take about three to four days to make?
With materials, it would probably cost ten yuan.
Qin Jin also felt a bit reluctant to part with the money, especially since the bed was still usable.
Old Mrs.
Qin, “The two of you should have prepared a new bed when you got married, but the conditions at the time didn’t allow it.
Now that we have the means, it’s precisely the right time to get a new one.” She changed the subject, “It’s getting late, Qiaoqiao, guide him to rest early.
Even if the bed is unreliable, standing works just as well.”
Li Qiao, “…” She hesitantly responded and started by rolling the boiled egg on her bruise.
After it had cooled down, she let Qin Jin eat it.
Qin Jin, “Are you sleepy?
Shall we continue?”
Li Qiao was somewhat impulsive, but since he had no protection, she was worried about getting pregnant.
Better to hold back.
Otherwise, creating a life would be troublesome.
“I don’t want to anymore.
If you want me, I can still satisfy you; let’s go to the threshing field.”
Qin Jin was excited, “Outside?
Okay.”
Li Qiao covered her mouth and laughed, wishful thinking!
The two arrived at the threshing field under the bright moonlight, where everything around was clearly visible.
Li Qiao showed him the combat skills for self-defense that the private coach had taught her, even flaunting a set of martial arts moves.
She said to Qin Jin, “The book says if you know how to use this set of moves, one person can fight against more than a dozen people.
It’s just a pity I don’t know how to properly use it.” It was more for strengthening and improving health.
Qin Jin watched her in astonishment.
She could actually perform martial arts.
Unfortunately, there was no vigor in her moves.
Against someone strong, no amount of skill would be effective.
She successfully diverted his attention, and now he was keen on learning, “Slow down your movements, they’re too fast to remember.”
Li Qiao guided him through the moves by hand twice.
“Learn slowly, there’s no rush.”
It took her more than half a year of twice-weekly private lessons to master what the coach had taught.
Qin Jin, “Take a look, is it like this?” He ran through the moves from start to finish, as smoothly as flowing water, even making a whooshing sound through the air.
Li Qiao was utterly shocked.
To learn so quickly on just the second attempt, a martial arts prodigy indeed.
She instantly became infatuated, eyes sparkling, “My boyfriend is so handsome!”
…..
