Chapter 37

After that passionate exertion, all of Tian Yao’s pessimistic feelings had vanished. He was still lost in that near-death pleasure; even now, he could feel a faint quivering in his inner thighs.

Yu Nian handed him the congee. He silently sat up. While he was asleep, Yu Nian had already changed him into a fresh inner garment, so he felt no sticky discomfort at all.

The congee Yu Nian made now was much better than the first time he’d tried. It was now fragrant, smooth, and creamy with the scent of rice—not like before, when the rice had clumped into a sticky blob.

The congee was at the perfect temperature. Tian Yao quickly finished one bowl. Yu Nian smoothly handed him a second, which he also polished off. He smacked his lips and glanced at Yu Nian.

“You were very tired this afternoon. You should eat more tonight.”

It would have been fine if he hadn’t said anything, but as soon as he did, Tian Yao’s face flushed again. Only the dim oil lamp hid the color from view.

“Yao Ge’er, there is always a way out. Don’t be too anxious right now.”

Tian Yao nodded. There was nothing else he could do for the moment.

He had just woken up and wasn’t sleepy at all. He wanted to do something else, but the afternoon’s exertions had been too intense, and his body hadn’t yet recovered. “Let’s talk.”

“Alright, what do you want to talk about?”

He leaned against Yu Nian’s shoulder. Sitting for a while longer made his lower half feel even more numb and sore, so he shifted positions. “Let’s talk about the future.”

“Today at the Chen house, I heard Uncle Chen say that the Enlightenment Classroom is set to start at the end of this month.” Yu Nian let him nuzzle against him. “The Village Chief also spoke with me earlier. Being the village teacher naturally won’t bring in the kind of tuition that other schools get. But the villagers won’t come empty-handed either. Basic daily necessities shouldn’t be a problem.”

Tian Yao nodded. “Life isn’t too prosperous for most in the village. Honestly, if they gave too much, I’d feel embarrassed. After Father and Little Dad passed, the villagers took good care of me.”

“I’ve thought it over. I don’t care what the tuition is—a few eggs, a few heads of cabbage, or anything else, as long as there’s a gesture. Too-valuable gifts, I will return.”

Tian Yao’s hand found Yu Nian’s face. His hand wasn’t delicate, and the texture against Yu Nian’s skin felt strange. “What are you planning to teach them?”

“So concerned—do you want to attend school, too?”

Tian Yao shook his head hurriedly. “No, no, no.”

Yu Nian was just teasing him. He then said, “Teach them to recognize basic characters. I’m thinking… teaching them arithmetic. That way, even if they don’t go down the scholarly path, knowing numbers will help them find lighter, easier jobs later—like accountant or work recorder. Much better than selling brute strength.”

Tian Yao knew how tough selling physical labor was. It usually meant never eating your fill and having almost no rest, just endless toil. Most people who did that kind of work were in terrible shape by the end.

“That sounds good.”

At this point, Yu Nian recalled his earlier thoughts. “Today is the twentieth of the third month, right?”

Tian Yao counted on his fingers and nodded.

“The Child Scholar exam results should be out soon.”

Tian Yao wasn’t too familiar with this. He blinked and remembered that he’d heard something in the second month about Tian Wen going to take the Child Scholar exam. Even though the villagers didn’t like that family, they were afraid Tian Wen might actually pass, so they’d all pretended to be nice and saw him off.

Tian Yao was recovering from his injury and helping build the school at the time, so he’d completely forgotten about it. Now that Yu Nian brought it up, he frowned. “He couldn’t have actually passed… could he?”

“I don’t know. I’m not familiar with his scholarly level, but his moral character is deeply problematic.”

Tian Yao pursed his lips. “I curse him to fail.”

Yu Nian pinched his lip. Tian Yao winced and grabbed his hand. “It’s a shame you can’t take the exams. If you could, you’d definitely pass.”

Tian Yao always had this inexplicable, absolute confidence in him.

They talked a bit more, and Tian Yao couldn’t fight off his fatigue and fell asleep again.

The next morning, Tian Yao was mostly recovered. Yu Nian had gotten up earlier and already boiled water. He was in the yard playing with Little Gray. As Little Gray grew bigger, his energy levels skyrocketed, so Yu Nian had to spend some time playing with him every day.

They were playing with a bamboo ball, made from leftover materials when Yu Nian built the chicken coop. Little Gray loved it and took it into his dog house every night.

“Awake?” Yu Nian threw the ball, and Little Gray bolted to retrieve it. He spoke to Tian Yao, “Still feeling any discomfort?”

Tian Yao quickly shook his head. After breakfast together, he went to the vegetable patch and was amazed to see some new sprouts in the soil!

Had a sweet rain fallen from heaven last night?

“Yu Nian! Some seeds sprouted!”

Yu Nian came over. Seeing the smile on Tian Yao’s face, he let out a breath of relief. “See? I told you, take it slow. Everything will get better.”

They lingered by their vegetable patch, watching the new sprouts. But over at the village entrance, a group of bailiffs, accompanied by the sound of horns and drums, was heading straight for Tian Wen’s house. Even from this distance, Tian Yao could hear the fanfare. His eyes widened and he looked at Yu Nian. “No way! He actually passed?”

Yu Nian shook his head, indicating he didn’t know. “It’s got nothing to do with us anyway.”

That was easy to say, but the thought of Tian Wen passing the Scholar exam and continuing to bully everyone in the village… that was unthinkable. Maybe he’d even come over to flaunt it in their faces. And Tian Liu, who’d been practically invisible since Tian Wen’s gambling den incident—there was no way he’d pass up this chance to gloat.

Because Tian Wen was the village’s first Scholar, the Village Chief’s face had a bit of joy on it. This was, after all, a major event. After consulting Wang Cuihua, he decided to open the Ancestral Hall and host a banquet.

This kind of thing naturally had to be announced to Tian Yao’s household as well. He absolutely did not want to go. He even wanted to find an excuse to take Yu Nian to town. But before he could come up with his excuse, Tian Liu showed up at his door.

“I heard you have business tomorrow? Is that true, or are you just jealous that my older brother passed the Scholar exam, and yours…” Tian Liu’s gaze fell on Yu Nian’s face first, then drifted to his legs. The initial admiration he’d felt at that first glimpse had been completely extinguished when Yu Nian outcompeted his brother with the Spring Festival couplets. Now, all Tian Liu felt when he looked at Yu Nian was disdain.

“Tian Liu, I suggest you build up some good karma.” Tian Yao stood protectively in front of Yu Nian. “Don’t be so arrogant.”

Tian Liu let out a laugh, his eyes filled with smug satisfaction. “What? You used to say my brother was just a Child Scholar, nothing special. What about now? Just try disrespecting him now.”

“Yeah, you better latch onto your brother’s coattails. With him around, maybe you can marry into a decent family!” Tian Yao didn’t want to talk to him anymore. He just couldn’t understand why someone he’d been such close friends with as a child had become so unrecognizable as an adult.

“Of course, I’ll marry better than you!” Tian Liu ground his teeth. “All you can marry is a cripple.”

The word “cripple” aimed at Yu Nian was Tian Yao’s greatest berserk button. “Get the hell out of my house, right now! Can a Scholar’s family just barge into someone’s home and spout nonsense? If you say one more bad word about my husband, I’ll beat you up and even if we go to court, I’ll be in the right!”

Tian Liu snorted. He was, admittedly, afraid of Tian Yao’s fists and retreated from their gate.

“Yu Nian, do we really have to go tomorrow?” Tian Yao’s face was scrunched up like a bun. “I really don’t want to see them acting all triumphant.”

“If we don’t go, it’ll make things difficult for the Village Chief. Just show your face. We don’t have to eat anything. It’ll be quick.”

Helpless, Tian Yao had no choice but to agree.

Early the next morning, the sound of firecrackers erupted from the back hills. Tian Yao turned over, throwing his leg over Yu Nian. Last night, using his “bad mood” as an excuse, he’d dragged Yu Nian into fooling around for half the night. He was getting addicted; any touch from Yu Nian could set his whole body ablaze with desire.

He didn’t want to wake up, and even less to face people he hated. But there was no avoiding it; they had to go.

When they arrived, the Ancestral Hall was already packed. Tian Yao squeezed himself into a corner. Spotting Liu Zhi, he quickly made his way over. Liu Zhi saw him coming. “I didn’t want to come, but the family insisted. Later, I’ll pretend I’m not feeling well, and you help me home, and call your Yu Nian over too.”

Tian Yao quickly spat, “Pfft, pfft, pfft! Don’t say things like that! The baby will hear you and get angry.”

“I really can’t stand seeing Tian Liu acting like that.” Liu Zhi rubbed his temples. “So fake, so pretentious.”

Liu Zhi didn’t really know Tian Liu well; their interactions had only been since Tian Liu’s family moved back. Liu Zhi, who was clear about what he liked and hated, simply couldn’t stand Tian Liu’s frail, pitiful act.

They had just gotten together when Shen Qiao, who they used to play cards with, also came over. He was as gentle and soft-spoken as ever, but there was a lot more sorrow in his eyes. “I saw you two from far away. What are you whispering about?”

Tian Yao smiled and greeted him, but his eyes fell on Shen Qiao’s arm, where a large bruise was visible.

Shen Qiao realized Tian Yao was looking and immediately pulled down his sleeve. “Fumbled around in the dark this morning, accidentally bumped into something.”

Tian Yao averted his gaze. “Why were you up so early?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Shen Qiao said, still smiling. “What were you two talking about just now?”

The three of them started chatting, though a nagging doubt lingered in Tian Yao’s mind.

Shen Qiao had married into Huailing Village around the same time as Liu Zhi. He was married to a man from the village named Song Yao. Song Yao’s family consisted only of him and his widowed mother. Usually, Song Yao worked away from home, leaving Shen Qiao and Mother Song at the house. However, Mother Song had passed away a while ago, and Song Yao had supposedly been at home recently.

Shen Qiao’s natal family wasn’t well off either. He had three younger brothers and was the eldest child. To afford a wedding for his second brother, the Shen family had hastily married Shen Qiao off to Song Yao, who offered five taels of silver as a betrothal gift.

Liu Zhi had said before that the Shen family wasn’t marrying off a child; they were selling one—selling Shen Qiao so his younger brothers could marry.

Shen Qiao was always quiet, gentle, and kind in demeanor, so they’d never thought much of it.

Their conversation soon drifted to the baby in Liu Zhi’s stomach, and they completely forgot about leaving. Soon, it was mealtime. Tian Yao looked up and saw Yu Nian chatting with the Grand Elder, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief. No matter how overbearing Tian Wen was, he wouldn’t dare act up in front of the Grand Elder.

But that smug, triumphant look on Tian Wen’s face was still truly sickening.