The Second Young Master’s Obedient Husband : Chapter 5

Liang Yu returned home, and that restless heat in his heart had not yet dissipated, his mind a jumble of Su Qingyu’s face.

Liang Yu washed his face, pulled over a bench and sat in the main hall, settling his mind to start tanning the new hunt’s pelts. After finishing his work, the sky was already darkening, and the restless heat had dispersed somewhat. From the east room came the aroma of cooking, his eldest brother Liang Feng’s courtyard making dinner.

His sister in law Zhang Yun’s voice calling Liang Yu to eat also drifted into the courtyard, and Liang Yu answered, going to the main house to eat. After the meal, helping to clear the dishes, Liang Yu returned to his own courtyard, heated a pot of hot water in the small kitchen, and carried it to his room to wipe his body.

Removing his clothes, he revealed a lean and muscular upper body, the muscles tight and smooth, broad shoulders and narrow waist, with several old scars on his abdomen from the battlefield. Liang Yu wrung out the cloth, wiping from top to bottom, and when he reached below his waist, he lowered his head to look, and again recalled the way that ger had walked past him.

That restless heat rose again.

Liang Yu closed his eyes, his hand pressing harder, wiped himself hastily, and threw the cloth into the basin. Lying on the kang bed, staring at the pitch black roof, he tossed and turned unable to sleep.

The words those old soldiers had said came out one by one.

“A ger’s body is soft, the flesh at the base of the thighs is the tenderest, pinch it and water comes out…”

Liang Yu took a deep breath, closed his eyes.

Slender waist, round hips, long legs.

That red mole at the corner of his eye.

And that sweetness mixed with the scent of medicine.

Liang Yu cursed himself inwardly. The other person had just lost his father, his mother was still sick, and he was so poor he couldn’t even afford food, yet here he was having indecent thoughts. He might not be a good man, but he wasn’t that low.

Yet in his mind it was still that back view, that slender waist, those tightly stretched trousers and the round curves beneath.

He didn’t know how long it took before he finally drifted off to sleep in a daze.

The next day when he rose, Liang Yu cast those thoughts to the back of his mind, and went into the mountains to hunt as usual, going to town to sell pelts for silver. Su Qingyu was like a wild hare in the mountains, occasionally seen, looked at a few extra times, and forgotten when not seen.

The next day Su Qingyu rose, ate his meal, and fed his mother medicine. He began busying himself with household chores, and since the family was poor, there weren’t many chores to do. Su Qingyu watered the small vegetable patch, fed the few chickens, and there wasn’t much else.

Thinking that his mother had been sick for so long, Su Qingyu wanted to heat some hot water for her to wipe her body. Just as he was adding firewood to the stove chamber, the courtyard gate was knocked upon.

“Is the Su family’s Yu ger at home?”

It was a woman’s voice, sharp and thin, carrying a smile.

Su Qingyu opened the courtyard gate, and outside stood a woman of about forty years, wearing an indigo cotton jacket and skirt, a silver hairpin in her hair, face powdered, smiling until her eyes narrowed into slits. It was the village matchmaker Liu, who specialized in arranging marriages.

“Oh my, it’s so cold, why haven’t you rested yet?” Matchmaker Liu entered uninvited, poking her head into the room, “Just you alone? Where’s your mother?”

Su Qingyu moved sideways to block the doorway: “What does Aunt Liu want?”

“Good news, great news!” Matchmaker Liu slapped her thigh, pulling Su Qingyu’s hand to walk inside, “Let’s talk inside, let’s talk inside, it’s cold outside.”

Entering the room, Matchmaker Liu sat by the table, rubbing her hands, looking Su Qingyu up and down, her gaze pausing on that pregnancy mark, then sliding around his waist and hips, her smile growing ever more ingratiating: “Yu ger is eighteen this year, right? It’s time to talk marriage.”

Su Qingyu stood by the table without making a sound.

“I’ve found you a good match,” Matchmaker Liu lowered her voice, leaning closer, “The Zhou family’s eldest son at the west end of the village, twenty-five this year, with three tiled rooms and two mu of paddy fields, living a comfortable life. The previous wife passed away, leaving a girl, and if you go over you’ll be the proper head husband, with no worries about food and clothing.”

Su Qingyu’s face changed.

The Zhou family’s eldest son, who in the village didn’t know that the Zhou family’s eldest son was lazy and fond of eating, that the previous wife had been beaten away by him, and though it was said she had passed, in truth she was gone, everyone knew what happened.

“Aunt Liu, I don’t…”

“Don’t be in a hurry to shake your head,” Matchmaker Liu interrupted Su Qingyu’s words, her smile growing ever more kindly, “The Zhou family says the betrothal gift will be five taels of silver, two bolts of cloth, and a pair of silver bracelets. Five taels of silver! Enough for your mother’s medicine for a year.”

Su Qingyu pressed his lips together, lowered his eyes, and said nothing.

Matchmaker Liu looked at that face, sighing inwardly, this little ger was truly handsome, no wonder the Zhou family toad wanted to eat swan meat. Handsome he might be, but poor he was too, an orphan and a widow, what could he pick and choose?

“Think it over carefully,” Matchmaker Liu stood up, patting Su Qingyu’s hand, “Once this village passes there won’t be this shop. The Zhou family is waiting for a reply, in three days I’ll come to hear the news.”

Matchmaker Liu left, the courtyard gate closed, and Su Qingyu pressed his lips together, returning to the kitchen to tend the fire. Su Qingyu crouched by the stove, hugging his knees, his face buried in his arms, not moving for a long while.

From the inner room came coughing sounds again, one after another, like a dull knife cutting flesh.

Su Qingyu had been starved during the years of fleeing famine as a child, his foundation damaged severely, his strength even less than that of an ordinary ger, unable to work in the fields for long before needing to rest, and even when going to the mountains to gather firewood, he brought back half as much as others.

Su Qingyu hugged his knees, calculating the family’s money, not much money left, a little over one tael of silver. His mother’s illness didn’t know when it would improve, the medicine money had no source, and entering winter they still needed to add a cotton quilt, the cotton batting in the old cotton jacket had already clumped and was no longer useful. Su Qingyu sat by the stove in a daze, his pretty little face full of worry.

Someone knocked outside.

Su Qingyu’s heart tightened, he stood up, not rushing to open the door, and asked through the courtyard gate: “Who?”

“It’s me, your Brother Ma Shan.” The voice outside was slippery, carrying a smile, “Come to see if you two need any help.”

It was that bachelor surnamed Ma.

Su Qingyu pressed his lips together, making no sound.

“Open the door, it’s broad daylight, what are you afraid of?” Ma Shan patted the door, “I brought you a piece of cured meat, to nourish your bodies.”

“No need, Brother Ma Shan.” Su Qingyu’s voice was light, “My mother just fell asleep, it’s inconvenient.”

Outside went quiet for a moment, then Ma Shan laughed again: “Alright, I’ll come another day. Yu ger, if you need anything just speak up, don’t be polite with your brother.”

Footsteps faded into the distance.

Su Qingyu stood behind the door, clutching his clothes corner, waiting for a good while before returning to the kitchen.

In the evening going to the village entrance to draw water, passing by the drying ground, several women gathered there talking, and when they saw Su Qingyu approaching, their voices lowered, but their eyes drifted over, carrying that look of watching a spectacle. After Su Qingyu walked past, whispering resumed behind him.

“The Zhou family asked Matchmaker Liu to go propose, who knows if he’ll agree or not.”

“He’ll agree my foot, what kind of goods is that Zhou eldest son, how the previous one disappeared everyone knows.”

“And if he doesn’t agree? An orphan and a widow, can he still pick and choose.”

“That’s true, that Ma Shan isn’t any good thing either, these past few days always hovering around their door.”

Su Qingyu lowered his head, carrying the water buckets and walking quickly past, his ear roots burning.

At night after attending to his mother washing her body, and taking her medicine, lying back in his own small room, Su Qingyu couldn’t sleep.

The window paper let through moonlight, illuminating the pitch black roof beams. Su Qingyu opened his eyes, calculating the family’s accounts over and over again. The wheat, if eaten sparingly, could last until next April, the medicine bought for a few months was still enough for now, but firewood needed at least two large cartloads, the cotton quilt needed to be re fluffed, his mother’s jacket should also be replaced, and there was the seed money for spring…

Calculating back and forth, it was all holes.

He turned over, and again recalled Matchmaker Liu’s words, recalled Ma Shan’s smile when he patted the door, recalled those eyes at the drying ground. Su Qingyu bit his lip, staring at the moon outside the window.

If it truly came to that step, he couldn’t enter the Zhou family’s door, that was a pit of fire, once inside not even bone scraps would remain. Ma Shan was even less of a thing, idle all day, unable to support himself, what could he use to support a family?

If he had to find someone, he had to find someone who could earn silver.

At least… at least someone who could keep this life going.

A person emerged in Su Qingyu’s mind: Liang Yu.

The village head’s second son, had fought in war, now a hunter, it was said a good pelt could sell for at least three taels of silver, with a large house of blue brick and tiles, a single courtyard, never lacking food and drink.

He was handsome too, far better than those crooked melons and cracked dates in the village.

Recalling that kiss in the kitchen, Su Qingyu buried his face in the pillow, his ears burning hot.

What use was thinking about these things. What were his conditions compared to the other’s, what did he have to climb up to him?

But if he didn’t think about these, what else could he do?

The Zhou family was still waiting for a reply, and in three days Matchmaker Liu would come to hear the news. If he refused, he would offend people, and life would be harder in the future. If he agreed, that was pushing himself into a pit of fire.

Su Qingyu turned over, looking at the pitch black roof, tears sliding from the corners of his eyes, flowing into his hair, wet.

He didn’t know how long it took before outside came the rooster’s crow, and the sky was about to lighten.

Su Qingyu sat up, wiped his face, put on that old jacket, and pushed open the door. The morning fog was thick, and the cold air hit his face, making him shiver.

In the kitchen, he scooped a ladle of water to wash his face, then scooped out wheat from the vat, preparing to grind some flour to make a bowl of paste for his mother. The wheat was rough and coarse in his palm, and Su Qingyu looked at those golden grains, suddenly recalling that in the past in the south, the family never lacked food, and every year his mother would embroider many handkerchiefs and sachets, and the small clothes he wore were always embroidered with flowers.

Those days, they would never return.

After grinding the flour, he made the paste and carried it into the inner room. Mother Su was already awake, leaning against the kang head coughing. After drinking the paste, she felt around and grasped Su Qingyu’s hand: “Qingyu, last night… was someone here?”

Su Qingyu paused, then said softly: “No one, someone collecting debts, already paid.”

Mother Su asked no more, but held Su Qingyu’s hand without letting go, that hand thin and withered, yet gripping tightly.

Su Qingyu lowered his head, and suddenly spoke: “Mother, if… if someone was willing to give a betrothal gift, could cure your illness, could make a living, but the person wasn’t very… would you say I should go or not?”

Mother Su was startled, and murky tears rolled from her eye sockets, her voice trembling: “Is it… is it that Zhou family one?”

“No.” Su Qingyu paused, “Just asking.”

Mother Su was silent for a good while, then said: “Qingyu, your mother is useless, and has dragged you down. But you remember, no matter how hard it gets, you can’t jump into a pit of fire. If the person is no good, even with silver don’t go. If the person is good, even being poor is not to be feared, we’ll slowly endure.”

Su Qingyu nodded, making no sound.

He cleared the dishes and came out, standing in the courtyard, looking at the foggy sky.

If the person is good, even being poor is not to be feared.

But in this world, the good people are poor as a bell, and how many of those with silver are any good?

Su Qingyu bit his lip, his fingers twisting his clothes corner, twisting that piece of cloth into wrinkles.