The Second Young Master’s Obedient Husband : Chapter 3

Su Qingyu carried the grain sack home, placed the grain in the kitchen, and first went to the main room to check on Mother. The room was dim, permeated with the bitter smell of medicine, carrying the decaying air of someone nearing death.

Su Mother was asleep. A pottery bowl sat on the table. Su Qingyu stepped forward to tuck in the quilt corners, looked at Mother’s withered face, and silently cried for a while.

Su Qingyu wiped his face clean, clenched his fist to give himself some encouragement, carried the pottery bowl out, and carefully closed the door.

In the chicken coop, two or three chickens were scrawny and thin. Su Qingyu entered the coop and searched around, found two eggs, and fed the chickens. Taking the two eggs and the washed pottery bowl, he knocked on the neighbor’s door, and a voice responded from inside.

The door opened. It was a fair-faced, round-faced woman. Su Qingyu handed her the bowl, smiling sweetly, “Thank you, Aunt Wang, for sending food to my mother. Please take these two eggs.”

Aunt Wang sighed, only accepting the bowl: “How is your mother?”

“Still the same, coughing badly at night.”

“Yu, wait a moment.” Aunt Wang took the bowl inside, then came out carrying a full basket of vegetables and handed it to him. There was also a fish in the basket. “Grown in our own garden, to add a soup for your mother. The fish was caught by your Big Brother Da Shan this afternoon, to nourish your mother. These past few days, those few idle bachelors in the village have been restless, always hanging around widows’ doors. Your household only has you, a young man, and your mother is ill. You must be careful.”

Su Qingyu accepted the basket, his heart bitter.

“Thank you very much, Aunt.”

“What thanks, we are neighbors.” Aunt Wang waved her hand, then lowered her voice and added, “If it really won’t do, go beg the village head’s family? Their family has wide connections. Eldest Brother Liang is a juren, and Second Brother Liang just came down from the battlefield. The village head is generous. Having some work to do would make life a bit easier.”

Su Qingyu agreed, carried the basket home, entered the kitchen to first brew the medicine, stewed fish soup in a small pot, and cooked a pot of vegetable porridge.

First he carried the medicine for Mother to drink. When the porridge was ready, he brought the fish soup and porridge to the inner room. Su Mother had awakened. Su Qingyu placed a small table on the kang, and the two of them ate. Su Mother had no appetite, eating a bowl of fish soup and half a bowl of porridge before lying down again. The fever had subsided somewhat, but she was still drowsy. Su Qingyu finished eating, tidied the kitchen, boiled hot water to wipe Mother’s body, washed himself, and fell asleep utterly exhausted.

The next day, after eating and finishing the chores around the house, Su Qingyu went to the mountain to gather firewood.

Su Qingyu’s health had been damaged during the refugee years, so his body was not well and his strength was small. Having exhausted himself yesterday, today his body ached. He barely gathered a back basket full, but the full load was too heavy. As soon as Su Qingyu put it on his back he fell over, like an overturned little turtle flailing about. He wasted much effort before he could unload the basket, take out half the firewood, and only then barely manage to carry it on his back. The faint red birthmark of fertility at the corner of his eye was reddened further by the cold wind, making his complexion appear even paler.

After walking a stretch of mountain path, Su Qingyu was leaning against a tree trunk to catch his breath when the sound of snapping dry branches came from behind.

“Well, if it isn’t Su Family’s Yu, the young man?”

Su Qingyu turned his head and saw Liu Laizi from the east end of the village rubbing his hands as he approached, a pair of murky eyeballs licking up and down his body. Subconsciously he retreated half a step, his heel pressing against tree roots.

Liu Laizi smiled even more happily, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth: “Gathering firewood alone on the mountain? With those thin arms and legs, what can you carry? Better let me help you, and in return… you just be good to me.”

As he spoke, he reached out to grab.

Su Qingyu ducked his head to avoid, but that hand went down along his collar. Su Qingyu shuddered all over, suddenly pushed with force, and turned to run.

“Running where?” Liu Laizi grabbed his wrist, his strength terrifyingly great, “Your mother is ill and waiting for money to buy medicine, yes? Be with me, I’ll pay for the medicine, I’ll gather the firewood, you just need to…”

Before he could finish, the back of his collar went tight, his whole body lifted into the air and then thrown heavily to the ground.

Liang Yu released his grip, looking down at the person rolling on the ground from above. His leather shoes stepped on that hand still trying to grab about, slowly grinding down.

“Master…Second Master Liang…” Liu Laizi’s face went completely white.

Liang Yu said nothing, bent down to pick the man up like a chicken waiting to be slaughtered, and casually tossed him aside. Liu Laizi crashed into a tree trunk, and when he slid down, blood foam emerged from his mouth.

“Scram.”

Liu Laizi scrambled and crawled down the mountain, not daring to turn back even to retrieve the shoe he had lost.

Only then did Liang Yu turn around.

Su Qingyu still stood in place, his eye sockets rimmed red, tears hanging on the tips of his eyelashes about to fall but not yet falling, looking utterly pitiful. The collar of his hemp padded jacket was askew, exposing a section of white, tender neck with a red mark on it, scratched by Liu Laizi’s fingernails.

Liang Yu’s gaze paused on that red mark for a moment.

Su Qingyu raised his hand to pull his collar tight, bent down to pick up the scattered firewood. His fingers trembled when they touched the dry branches, and the firewood fell again before he could grip it steady.

Liang Yu walked over and bent down, picking up the firewood one by one and placing them into the back basket. His movements were unhurried, his distinctly knuckled hands gripping the dry branches. After collecting all those on the ground, he added another half basket of firewood from his own basket, then turned his head to look at the person beside him.

Su Qingyu lowered his eyes, his throat moving, as if wanting to say something but swallowing it back.

Liang Yu straightened up and dusted the ash from his hands: “You can’t carry it.”

Su Qingyu pressed his lips together, his voice light and soft, still carrying a bit of hoarseness: “I can carry it.”

Saying this, he went to shoulder the back basket. His waist bent down, he exerted force several times, but the basket only lifted a span’s height from the ground before falling back.

Liang Yu stood nearby with his arms crossed, watching.

Su Qingyu tried once more. This time he barely managed to lift it, staggering forward two steps before his knees went soft and his whole body pitched forward.

Liang Yu reached out to catch him.

When his arm encircled that slender waist, the sensation beneath his palm was startlingly soft. Through several layers of coarse cloth, he could still feel the yielding warmth of the flesh underneath. Su Qingyu stiffened in shock, the back basket falling to the ground, the firewood scattering once again.

But Liang Yu did not let go.

Su Qingyu struggled, but that arm only held tighter. He raised his head to meet those pitch black eyes, dark and heavy, making one’s heart flustered to look at them.

“Brother… Second Brother Liang…”

Liang Yu looked down at him, his eyelashes casting faint shadows on his cheekbones.

“I’ll help you carry the firewood back.”