TTLJDFL Chapter 19

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Recognizing him was one thing, but the shopkeeper’s wife didn’t dwell on it.

He was a stranger, after all. Why should she care what he had gone through to change from a reckless youth to someone so composed and refined?

Besides, she figured there was a chance she had simply mistaken him for someone else.

Shaking off unnecessary thoughts, she raised her voice again, "Fresh meat buns! Hot and delicious meat buns!"

By now, it was just past noon, and the sun was blazing. Li Jin could have stopped at a teahouse to rest before heading home.

But he was too worried about his husband and child. He took breaks under shady trees along the way before continuing his journey.

With this stop-and-go approach, the trip took him about an hour and a half—roughly three hours in total.

By the time he arrived home, it was just past 4 PM. Cicadas chirped in the corner of the courtyard under the persimmon tree, and the kitchen was filled with the warm aroma of cooked rice porridge.

Li Jin set down his backpack under the eaves, finally feeling relief in his shoulders.

He had overestimated his body’s endurance. After pulling a cart yesterday and carrying a heavy backpack today, his shoulders felt like they were being ground into raw flesh.

Standing in the kitchen, the young man noticed Li Jin rubbing his shoulders. His bright, clear eyes widened, showing unfiltered concern.

Li Jin beckoned him over. "Come here."

The young man had probably been practicing walking a lot today, as he was now able to walk steadily without leaning on the walls.

Before he could react, something warm was placed into his hands.

Looking down, he saw another meat bun from the town’s main street.

Its thin skin encased a generous filling, with juicy meat and crunchy lotus root pieces. It was incredibly delicious.

Li Jin was at least half a head taller than the young man. He ruffled his hair and said, "Go inside and eat. I’ll take care of things here."

But instead of going inside, the young man helped Li Jin combine the rice porridge with goat’s milk before finally heading indoors.

The baby, wrapped snugly in swaddling clothes, was fast asleep, even blowing little bubbles, seemingly lost in a sweet dream.

As the young man took careful bites of his meat bun, he watched Li Jin unpack the bamboo leaf paper and hemp paper, placing them neatly on the storage cabinet at the foot of the bed.

Both bamboo leaf paper and rough-edged paper were relatively cheap and essential for poor scholars practicing calligraphy and writing essays.

Qin Muwen, when he was still the son of the Minister, had always used the finest xuan paper for calligraphy and painting, even though he was not favored.

He thought to himself that Ah Jin was such a good person—he had to earn more money to buy xuan paper for him.

Li Jin was unaware of the boy’s thoughts. After arranging all the items, he said, “We should have a desk made for our home.”

That way, it could be placed by the window, so they wouldn’t have to waste oil lamps when practicing calligraphy during the day.

The boy finished one meat bun and saved the other for Li Jin.

Li Jin smiled and said, “I already ate. You should finish the bun. I’m going to ask around the village about getting a desk made.”

After a pause, he added, “Be good, and I’ll make braised pork for you tomorrow.”

The boy immediately swallowed a mouthful of saliva upon hearing “braised pork.” In the quiet atmosphere, where only the cicadas hummed in the background, the sound was exceptionally clear.

This time, Li Jin didn’t laugh. He simply reached out and pinched the boy’s cheek lightly.

In the village, a few of the older men had some carpentry skills, but since it was the busy farming season, most were occupied with harvesting wheat.

Only one household had enough sons to handle the farm work, leaving the elders with plenty of free time.

These elders usually enjoyed smoking dry tobacco while watching Li Daniu play chess.

Li Jin had learned about this elder, Li Dahe, from playing chess with Li Daniu.

When he arrived, the old man was sitting in the courtyard, a tobacco pipe in his mouth, holding a file in one hand and a carved chess piece mold in the other.

His cloudy eyes squinted as he carefully worked on the piece.

Li Jin waited until he put down the chess piece before knocking on the door.

The old man said, “Ah, it’s that scholar boy from the Li family. Come on in. I saw you earlier.”

“If it weren’t for the fact that I couldn’t stop carving midway, I would have called you in directly.”

Li Jin cupped his hands in greeting. “Everyone in the village knows Uncle Dahe is skilled with a carving knife. Since my business isn’t urgent, I waited until you finished.”

The old man, whose real name was Li Dahe, had apprenticed at a carpenter’s shop in town when he was younger.

“You play chess well, but you’re an even better person,” he said, which was a high compliment.

“The rumors about you in the village were clearly false. So, what brings you here?”

Li Jin then explained his request.

“I need a desk for writing—about five feet long, three feet wide, and two and a half feet high. Do you have time for it, Uncle Dahe?”

A desk was an essential piece of furniture for a scholar, used for writing and painting, and came in different heights.

Five feet was roughly 1.6 meters, three feet was about one meter, and two and a half feet was around 0.8 meters.

Initially, Li Jin hadn’t planned to make the desk so wide, but desks in this era were generally broad.

Since ancient scholars wrote with brushes, xuan paper was typically about four feet in size—approximately 138 cm long and 69 cm wide.

A wider desk was necessary to lay the paper flat.

However, this meant that the already small bedroom would become even more cramped.

Li Jin thought, Practicing calligraphy is the priority right now, especially since there are only eight months left until the county examination.

He could endure the lack of space for now.

Once the villagers finished their farm work, he could hire a few of them to build a study in the open space opposite the kitchen.

Li Dahe said, “Sure, I have some wood that’s already polished. I’ll make the desk and deliver it in a couple of days.”

Li Jin quickly thanked him and asked about the price.

The old man waved his hand. “We’re from the same village, so I’ll be honest with you. The wood is leftover from a job I did for a businessman in town.

“One side is polished, and the other was meant for carving, but the first attempt wasn’t satisfactory, so the businessman replaced it with another board.

“I have no use for that wood, so I’ll throw it in for free.

“As for the rest, just give me 80 wen.”

Li Jin paid half as a deposit, spending another 40 wen.

As he left, he couldn’t help but sigh—being a scholar was expensive.

Paying the teacher’s fee cost 200 wen. Buying 37 wen worth of cured meat, 255 wen for rough-edged paper, bamboo leaf paper, calligraphy practice books, rabbit-hair brushes, and ink blocks—then another 80 wen for the desk.

After calculating, he realized that out of the 640 wen he had earned, only 68 wen remained.

And today, he had also spent 3 wen on buns. Excluding the unpaid balance of 40 wen, he had only 65 wen left in his pocket.

After finishing his errands, Li Jin returned home and, outside the bedroom, faintly heard someone gasping in pain.

Uncertain about what was happening, he quickly pushed the door open.

—The scene before him was of the boy, his inner garments disheveled, holding the baby close to his chest, looking at him in panic.

Li Jin stood still, pretending to be calm.

In reality, his soul had already flown elsewhere.

The boy’s face quickly flushed red. He tried to put the baby down and tidy his clothes, but the baby would cry as soon as he was moved.

In the end, he gave up and let Li Jin see everything.

Li Jin cleared his throat and looked away.

“I heard noises outside and thought you weren’t feeling well…”

The boy was too flustered to respond properly, and he wasn’t sure what he had just said to Li Jin.

Since there was nothing he could help with, Li Jin left the room, fetched water for a bath, and even washed his hair.

By the time the boy finished feeding the baby and came out, Li Jin had already mixed flour with husk, water, and eggs.

He had also chopped some scallions, mixed them with salt, and stirred everything together.

The fire burned under the stove, and after brushing a layer of oil on the pan, he poured a ladleful of batter evenly over the bottom.

Soon, the batter absorbed the oil, and the pan, heated by the flames, quickly transformed it into a golden pancake.

Before the pancake turned golden brown, Li Jin quickly flipped it over. In no time, a perfectly cooked pancake was ready.

Li Jin made four pancakes in total. While the pan was still hot, he sliced some pork belly into thin strips and stir-fried them with shredded potatoes.

In the village, people rarely cooked meat unless it was a festival or a special occasion. Fortunately, the aroma of stir-fried potatoes and meat didn’t spread too far. Otherwise, the village children might have come knocking for a taste.

Although dinner was simple, for the young man who had barely eaten any meat since getting married, it was already an incredible feast.

Plus, Li Jin’s cooking skills were excellent. With a well-balanced mix of meat and vegetables, even the simplest dishes became delicious.

After eating one pancake, the young man sneaked a few glances at Li Jin.

Li Jin said, “You’ve been taking care of the baby these days, so eat more.”

He meant that since he had been out cutting grass or collecting herbs during the day, the young man had been the one looking after the child.

But the young man seemed to misunderstand something. His face turned red, and he lowered his head, retracting his hand that was about to reach for another pancake.

Li Jin: "..."

In the end, he personally fed the young man the last pancake.

The young man looked completely stunned, as if he couldn’t believe Li Jin would take care of him like this.

At that moment, all his previous shyness and hesitation vanished.

A memory surfaced in his mind—his father’s words before passing away:

“Ah Wen, I won’t be around to see you get married. But remember, if your husband treats you well, don’t take advantage of his kindness. If he doesn’t, don’t waste your efforts trying to win his favor. Just have a child and raise them safely. Understand?”

Qin Muwen wondered—was his previous shyness considered “taking advantage of kindness”?

But… Ah Jin didn’t seem to dislike him.

Under the warm glow of the setting sun, he gazed at Li Jin’s profile and suddenly said, “Ah Jin, my name is Qin Muwen.

You never asked for my name before, and I was too scared to tell you…”

He paused, seemingly recalling some unpleasant memories, his face turning a little pale.

Still, he apologized, “It’s my fault. I should have told you.”

Li Jin was slightly taken aback. Over the past few days, he had gradually remembered bits and pieces of the original host’s life, but they were all fragmented memories.

One thing he had wanted to know most—the young man’s name—had never surfaced in his mind.

He had even felt conflicted about it.

But he never expected that the truth was… the original host had been married to the young man for two years and had never even asked for his name.

Qin Muwen thought—he would follow his father’s advice and not take advantage of his husband’s kindness.

But with Ah Jin being so good to him, he couldn’t help but want to please him.

He loved his own name and wanted to share something he cherished with Ah Jin.

After speaking, he anxiously waited, but Li Jin didn’t respond for a long time.

Qin Muwen felt like crying, but he was afraid tears would make Ah Jin dislike him.

So he stiffly forced them back, leaving only a faint red at the corners of his eyes.

At that moment, he was pulled into a warm, if not particularly broad, embrace.

From above his head came Li Jin’s voice: “Xiao Wen.”

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