My Husband is a Drama King [Book Transmigration]

Chapter 2: Doing Chores

Xu Zhizhou grudgingly believed him. He picked up his axe and said, “We should chop the firewood and get back early. The sun will be stronger at noon.”

Seeing Xu Zhizhou’s expression soften, Sun Ge’er breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, “Yes, we should finish chopping and head back quickly.”

Their group consisted of unmarried ge’ers. While their parents and brothers were busy in the fields, they handled the miscellaneous chores at home. Cutting grass, chopping firewood, tending to the chickens and ducks, and cooking were the most basic tasks. When things got busy in the fields, they also had to go down and lend their strength.

Facing the yellow earth with their backs to the sky, they toiled from spring until winter.

Xu Zhizhou had thin calluses on his hands. He chopped a basketful of firewood, the web between his thumb and forefinger aching from the vibration of the axe. He would chop for a while and then rest.

The other ge’ers finished chopping their firewood and said their goodbyes before heading home. They had endless chores at home and needed to finish early to go back and help.

After finishing his firewood, Sun Ge’er also picked some soapberries on the mountain to take home and wash the whole family’s clothes in the river. It was spring planting season, and his father’s and brother’s clothes were covered in mud, black as pitch. Two pairs of straw sandals in the family had already been worn out.

They generally wore coarse linen short coats, styled with a top and trousers, with narrow sleeves and a short cut for ease of work. The colors were mostly natural. The main materials for linen clothes included ramie and flax. Ramie felt prickly but was very durable. Flax was relatively soft and less scratchy, but it was prone to shrinking and losing its shape.

As written in the Shiji Suoyin: “It is said that coarse cloth, cut vertically, is the clothing for laborers, short and narrow.”

The villagers of Qishan Village mainly wore linen. They wore ramie for working in the fields and flax for daily wear. Every household probably had a set of good clothes stored at the bottom of a chest, waiting for festivals, major celebrations, or visits to relatives.

Sun Ge’er said, “Zhizhou, I’m heading back first.”

Xu Zhizhou nodded. His basket was only half full of firewood. After Sun Ge’er left, Xu Zhizhou glanced up at the sky and resignedly continued chopping.

By the time he had filled the basket with firewood, the sun was high and blazing. The fire in Xu Zhizhou’s heart burned just as brightly.

He had wanted to feign running off to make Song Changxu chase him, so he could push the chore of chopping wood onto him and slack off himself. Who knew Song Changxu would be so clueless?

When Xu Zhizhou got home, he grabbed a water ladle and drank, trying to quell his anger. He looked at his reflection in the water vat.

“See? If he’s not blind, what is he? A boy who doesn’t appreciate his good fortune,” Xu Zhizhou muttered to himself.

The Xu family had no sons, only two ge’ers. His elder brother went to the fields with their parents, so today it was his turn to fetch water, cook, do laundry, cut grass, and tend to the chickens and ducks.

Xu Zhizhou returned to his room. His room was tidy. On the table lay a half-embroidered purse and a jewelry box. Opening the box, there wasn’t much jewelry inside—just a silver hairpin with a small pearl on it. Possessing this silver hairpin was already the envy of all the other ge’ers.

Xu Zhizhou snorted softly. He had only gotten this by throwing a tantrum in Shuibo Town, refusing to leave, and wailing his eyes out until his parents finally bought it for him.

Although the family had some savings each year, buying a silver hairpin for a thirteen-year-old ge’er was still too extravagant.

If he hadn’t been so clever back then, this silver hairpin would have slipped through his fingers. The jewelry box also contained a few different hair ribbons, a red bean bracelet, and three pearl flower ornaments.

Xu Zhizhou closed the jewelry box. He remembered that the betrothal gifts from the Song family included silver jewelry, but his mother had only let him glance at it before putting it away safely, to be given to him when he got married.

He had to make lunch for the family at noon. Xu Zhizhou wasn’t very good at cooking. His best dish was scallion pancakes. Today, he would knead some dough to make scallion pancakes, then go dig up some wild vegetables for a wild vegetable congee, and grab some pickles. That would be a meal.

Farmers went out to work early in the morning. At noon, when the sun was strong, they would eat lunch and take a nap at home before returning to the fields.

Song Ye and Liang Su had gone to the fields to plant seeds early in the morning, and their son, Song Mingyan, went along to help.

As noon approached, Song Mingyan stopped his work. “Father, Mother, I’ll go back and cook first.”

Liang Su waved her hand. “Go on.”

The family had ten acres of high-grade paddy fields and another five acres of ordinary fields. The high-grade paddies, used for growing rice, could earn them five taels of silver a year after taxes. The remaining five acres were used for growing vegetables, fruits, and more rice.

The produce from these five acres could be sold in town after setting aside enough for themselves. They were self-sufficient and lived comfortably.

However, supporting a scholar in the family stretched their finances thin. The Song family used to have thirty acres of prime land, and the many siblings in the family mostly supported each other. By Song Ye’s generation, only Song Mingyan and Song Changxu were left, and heaven was not being generous.

A few years ago, there was a drought, and they barely survived. Farmers with land sold it to landlords and became tenant farmers. Being a tenant farmer for a landlord was no different from being a servant. After renting the landlord’s land, one could only barely make ends meet. If the landlord had any requests, one had to help out for free to avoid offending them.

The Song family had sold a few acres of land to survive. They believed that if they endured, they could always get through the hard times.

Song Mingyan put down his hoe and went straight into the kitchen to start a fire and cook. By now, Cheng’er should be back. Why isn’t he here?

Kids love to play, Song Mingyan thought, wiping the sweat from his brow. When the food is ready, the hungry child will know to come home and eat.

He had returned to his parents’ home with Xu Cheng after his divorce. Fortunately, his parents had taken him in; otherwise, he didn’t know how he and his son would have survived. Back at his parents’ home, his younger brother’s attitude towards him was not good, which Song Mingyan could understand.

He was a married-out ge’er and shouldn’t be a burden on his parents’ family, adding two extra mouths to feed. His divorce was also bad for the family’s reputation, so his brother resented him.

Understanding this, Song Mingyan avoided getting in Song Changxu’s way and instructed Xu Cheng to disturb his uncle’s studies as little as possible. Even in his own home, he lived with apprehension. But Song Mingyan was already very content; at least he had food and shelter and didn’t have to suffer beatings.

It was just that he often felt he was a burden to his family.

He scrambled to do all the chores around the house and didn’t dare to eat much at meals.

Song Mingyan washed some vegetables, planning to make a simple stir-fried green vegetable dish, some coarse grain buns, and fry some soybeans they had at home. He would also grab a handful of pickled cowpeas from the jar, dice them, and make a cold salad.

After getting things started at the stove, Song Mingyan stood up and went to the courtyard to see if Xu Cheng was back. He didn’t see him. Just as he was about to return to the kitchen, he saw Xu Cheng coming out of a room with a flushed face.

“Cheng Ge’er, didn’t I tell you not to disturb your uncle’s studies? Why don’t you listen?” Song Mingyan’s eyelid twitched, and he immediately pulled Xu Cheng over to scold him.

Xu Cheng flinched. His face was sallow and thin, but his eyes were bright like black grapes. At a glance, his features weren’t striking, but a closer look revealed their delicate beauty.

He held out his hand, in which lay a piece of snow-white, delicate pastry that smelled of milk.

Xu Cheng said meekly, “Uncle called me over. He gave me cloud-flake cake to eat.”

“I ate one piece and took another for Adie. This cloud-flake cake is so delicious,” Xu Cheng said, still savoring the taste.

This morning, after he had fed the chickens and ducks, his uncle had returned and gone straight into his room. Adie had told him not to disturb his uncle’s studies, and Xu Cheng was used to Song Changxu staying in his room and not coming out.

But this time was different. His uncle had called him in and asked him some questions. Although Xu Cheng was a little afraid of his uncle, he answered his questions one by one.

Song Changxu had skimmed through the book hastily, and with the passage of time, his memory had become fuzzy. He learned the general situation from Xu Cheng.

The dynasty he was in was the Ningxing Dynasty, and the current ruler was the ninth emperor, Emperor Pingjing. This emperor had ascended the throne at the age of ten. With a weak ruler and suspicious court officials, major state affairs were decided by the regent ministers and Empress Dowager Xiao. This year, the emperor had just reached the age of majority.

Song Changxu knew that this world had men, women, and ge’ers. Ge’ers had a similar status to women; they could marry and bear children.

Song Changxu had received the original owner’s memories, most of which were centered around his study desk. The original owner had been supported by the entire family to pursue his studies, but from his memories, Song Changxu understood that the original owner had not studied diligently. Instead, he had fallen into a vicious cycle of comparison and self-validation.

Arrogant yet insecure, conceited yet lazy.

He had called Xu Cheng over mainly to ask about the social customs and relationships in the village.

In ancient times, the land was vast, transportation was inconvenient, and information traveled slowly. The government’s ability to govern such a large area was limited. In the countryside, governance generally relied on village elders. Farmers were at the bottom of society, and if their interests were harmed, they had to seek help from the village elders. Farmers had to stick together to survive better.

Song Changxu had once read a short story about a downstream village and an upstream village fighting over water, resulting in a violent clash with heavy losses on both sides. If they didn’t fight for water, they would have none to drink, but their actions were too extreme. This, in a way, reflected that in smaller places, sticking together was the key to a better life.

The smaller the place, the more important social etiquette and relationships were.

Song Changxu took the pastry from the table and gave it to Xu Cheng. “You eat it.”

At first, Xu Cheng didn’t take it. Seeing that Song Changxu didn’t say anything else, he timidly raised his head, took a piece, and started eating.

As he was leaving, he boldly took another piece. Adie had never eaten such a pastry before.

“Alright, go help Adie watch the fire. We’ll be eating soon.” Song Mingyan didn’t take the cloud-flake cake, letting Xu Cheng eat it himself.

He hesitated at Song Changxu’s door, then decided to go back to the kitchen to cook. His younger brother was willing to be nice to Cheng Ge’er, and Song Mingyan felt a small flutter of joy in his heart.

Cheng Ge’er’s father had not been good to him, despising him for being a ge’er. In his parents’ home, Cheng Ge’er was also timid and fearful in front of Song Changxu. Now that his brother was showing a little acceptance of Cheng Ge’er, Song Mingyan was already overjoyed.

Xu Cheng brought a small stool to watch the fire and add wood. He said, “Uncle’s room is so big, much bigger than our room.”

“Uncle needs a big room for his studies. And he’s going to marry a husband soon, so two people will be living there,” Song Mingyan explained.

Xu Cheng: “Then I’m going to have an uncle-in-law!”

Xu Cheng was a little expectant and a little scared. He hoped his new uncle-in-law would be nice to him, but he was also afraid he wouldn’t be.

Meanwhile, Song Changxu was unaware that they were discussing his marriage. He held a book, staring at the classical Chinese text, his mind blank, the corner of his mouth twitching.

Fortunately, this dynasty already had punctuation. Otherwise, turning a page would reveal a solid block of text, which was enough to make one’s head spin.

The classical Chinese he had learned was finally coming in handy. He wouldn’t be an illiterate person. He never expected his career path would be in ancient times.

Song Changxu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Author’s Note:

Little Song: Just have to study honestly. [Shrugs]

Translator’s Notes

1. Ge’er (哥儿): brothers, boys

2. Shiji Suoyin (史记索隐): “Seeking the Obscure in the Records of the Grand Historian,” a commentary on Sima Qian’s Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian) written by Sima Zhen during the Tang Dynasty.

3. Adie (阿爹): A familiar term for “father” or “dad.” It’s similar to how one might use “Papa” in English. Can be also a name lol

4. Punctuation (句读, jùdòu): The text mentions that the dynasty has “句读”. This refers to the ancient Chinese system of marking pauses and stops in texts before modern punctuation was adopted. It made classical texts much easier to read and understand.