Young Couple Chapter 63

  "Mrs. Fang, you're awake." The voice was unmistakably a woman's; she set the wooden basin down on the edge of the kang and turned to move the oil lamp over from the table.

  With the bright light, Xia Tian saw the person in front of her clearly: her hair was coiled at the back of her head and fixed with a wooden hairpin. She wore a coarse linen garment with a blue base and white flowers, and a deep blue apron was tied around her waist.

  "Xiao Tian? Are you okay?" came Yuan Longqiao's voice from outside the door.

  "It's okay."

  "Madam Fang, don't be afraid, your husband is just outside. My surname is Ma, you can call me Sister Ma." She opened a very old cabinet and took out several neatly folded clothes from inside. "These are my clothes, some of them are old, Madam Fang please don't dislike them."

  It wasn't until summer that he got a clear look at her face, in her early twenties, not particularly beautiful but very clean and simple. Seeing her smile at him, Xia Tian subconsciously lowered his head to glance at his own sleep-rumpled robes, his face flushing red as he accepted the clothes and said "thank you".

  Madam Ma was wringing a towel in a wooden basin, smiling as she said: "Young Master Fang has already told us everything. You young couple encountered robbers on the road and lost your belongings, but as long as you're safe, that's more important than anything else. Our family may be poor, but as long as you don't mind, you can stay with us for as long as you like."

  Is it Lord Fang? The road and the robbers? The young couple? Xia Tian was digesting the information that Ma Sao had passed on to her. She didn't even know if she had heard the "Yuan Long Qiao" she had just shouted. Encounter with robbers! She pursed her lips and smiled secretly, losing him for thinking of it.

  A small courtyard surrounded by three thatched cottages, with a hall in the middle that can barely be called a hall, connected to the kitchen. In the summer, following Ma Sao into the hall, a square table was already surrounded by two big and one small.

  She was wearing a slim dress and wide pants, with her beautiful hair tied up loosely, not looking like a young wife at all, but rather a little servant girl. Yuan Longqiao's eyes flickered, his lips pursed in thought.

  The horse's wife pulled Xia Tian to sit down beside Yuan Longqiao, and she herself pointed at another adult man and the three or four-year-old child, introducing them with a smile: "This is my husband Achai, this is our little puppy."

  Xiatian looked at Ma Achai and nodded politely, calling out "Ma Gege". He then turned his head to smile kindly at Dog Er, rubbing his smooth shaved little head.

  Ma Zhai was not good at speaking, and he smiled foolishly: "Fang brothers, you two mustn't be polite. Our family is poor, there's nothing good to entertain you with. You mustn't look down on us!"

  "Ma Ge is too polite, you are willing to take us in, a couple, and Fang Mou is already grateful. Yuan Longqiao's voice was not as cold as before, but instead had a warm tone."

  In the summer, some surprising turns of his head looked at him, took off the jade crown brocade robe, a linen shirt he was like a farmer, but a very stylish farmer.

  Obviously seeing the smile in her eyes, Yuan Longqiao's lips also brought a pleasant shallow smile.

  "Mom, the dog is hungry." The dog turned his bowl in front of him, swallowing saliva and staring at the few dishes of green vegetables on the table.

  The horse's wife smiled awkwardly, serving rice to everyone while saying to Yuan Longqiao and Xia Tian: "Eat, everyone eat."

  Ma Zhayi warmly greeted: "Brother Fang, don't be polite, there's nothing good here."

  In the summer, she picked up a handful of wild vegetables and put them in her mouth to chew. Suddenly, her entire tongue was numb. It's too salty! She picked up her rice bowl and took a few bites, like sand, and there was a strange smell. Turning around, the dog was holding a pair of chopsticks, eating with gusto without waiting for Ma Sao to feed it. The light was very dim, but it could still be seen that Ma Achai and Ma Sao's rice bowls were empty. Looking at Yuan Longqiao again, he was eating very elegantly, chewing slowly and carefully, his face not showing any unusual expression.

  She swallowed her saliva, picked up another piece of cucumber with her chopsticks and took a small bite. Salty, still salty. After taking a mouthful of rice, the strange taste became even more pronounced.

  This can't be a table full of pickled vegetables, can it?! Her heart racing, she held her rice bowl, unsure whether to put it down or keep holding it. From childhood to adulthood, having grown up in a relatively affluent family, she had never truly suffered any hardships, and after marrying into the Hu Guo General's Manor and the Ling King's Manor, she had never eaten anything as unpalatable as this before.

  She was having trouble swallowing, when the dog beside her suddenly raised its bowl and said in a soft, crisp voice: "Mother, I want more."

  Madam Ma's face suddenly turned red, and she quickly covered the dog's bowl, unnaturally softly comforting: "Good boy, you ate too much at night, sleeping will hurt your stomach."

  "No! The dog still needs to eat." The dog's tearful eyes and pitiful appearance made it impossible for Ma Niang to continue speaking. All the remaining millet at home was used up, and originally there were only three people, but suddenly two more mouths were added, which really put this clever housewife in a difficult position.

  In the summer, she was a bit dizzy, and had the heart to give her own rice to the dog, but would it be impolite if she got her own saliva on it? She was still thinking wildly, when Yuan Longqiao took the lead and handed the rice in his bowl to the dog. "I haven't touched it," he said as casually as if speaking to family members.

  "Master Fang, how can this be good? You are a guest, how can this be good?" Mrs. Ma hurriedly tried to push it back.

  Ma Achai was also deeply moved, but his mouth had always been clumsy, and with his hands tied up, he could only repeat one sentence: "This is not good, this is not good."

  Yuan Longqiao smiled: "I'm not hungry."

  Watching the dog eating happily, Ma Achai and Ma Sao didn't say anything else, but their eyes were clearly filled with gratitude and discomfort.

  In the summer, she was really a bit hungry. At lunchtime, when she was with Yuan Longxiang, she only played with him and didn't eat anything. After experiencing that kind of martial arts performance and climbing mountains for half a day, her stomach was growling with hunger. But looking at the food in front of her... okay, she admitted that she wasn't hungry enough. She looked down at the full bowl of millet rice in front of her, then looked at Yuan Longxiang's empty table without even a single dish, and hesitated for a moment before whispering: "I'm full."

  Everyone's movements came to a halt, and at the dinner table, except for the dog, everyone else looked at her.

  Summer lowered her head, feeling guilty and ashamed. The food that others couldn't bear to eat, she found disgusting and couldn't swallow. Even if she had no shame left, at this moment she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

  A long and slender hand reached out in front of her and took away the bowl of rice, a low voice gently brushing against her earlobe, "Don't waste it."

  She stared at him with wide eyes as he calmly started eating from her rice bowl. Good heavens! Was he actually eating her leftovers?!

  The dimly lit room in the Wei Hou Fu was not dark, but the air pressure was so low that it made people breathe hard. The two men sitting there were both gloomy and silent. Suddenly, a man wearing a black cloak rushed in through the secret door, causing the two seated men to jump up from their chairs as if they had been scalded.

  "How dare you come so late!" The face of Grand General Yuan Longkui in the great hall was as black as a pot bottom.

  The man in black seemed to be ready to leave at any moment, and he didn't take off his windbreaker and hat. He sat down on the chair casually and said with a hint of a smile: "What's wrong, are you impatient?"