043 – Wife, I Can Raise You
Opening a shop was not a simple thing. Before opening, it was necessary to decorate the shopfront, supplement all kinds of materials in the kitchen, add equipment, hire employees, and advertise.
The catering business mainly focused on cleanliness. Therefore, Qin Mian didn’t spend much time in the decoration of the shop, only let people clean the roof, walls and ground. There were some unsightly holes in the wall, so he asked Lei Tie to make bamboo pieces and wood chips of different sizes and arrange them into artistic and stylish patterns to fix on the wall that might after all be accepted as a kind of distinguishing feature. The tables and chairs were all new, so as to make the customers feel comfortable when they ate.
In addition, Qin Mian bought a large noodle maker. The noodle maker of the Rich and Honor Woodcraft Shop had its own characteristics in Qin Mian’s design. Its appearance was polished perfectly and was carved with patterns, which sold well. At the beginning of the noodle maker springing up, other woodcraft shops in the town had to buy from here.
After dark, Qin Mian and Lei Tie didn’t go to sleep immediately, but discussed things on the heatable brick bed with the oil lamp lit.“You didn’t say what to sell.” Lei Tie’s back leaned on a lump of a quilt.
Qin Mian raised his head with a smile and looked very confident. “It’s cold, so naturally people want to eat something warm. I want to sell ‘hot spicy soup’ and ‘hot pot’.” He was very glad that people in this world didn’t think that food could be cook by dipping finely sliced ingredients briefly in boiling water or soup.
He explained to Lei Tie in detail how the hot spicy soup and hot pot were made. “In short, I cooked vegetables and meat dishes in the boiling soup. This soup is not a common soup, but a special one, made of 18 kinds of seasonings. Do you remember the cinnamon, dried tangerine peel and vanilla I bought? That’s what this soup needs.”
Lei Tie looked at him for a moment before taking away his brush and paper. “It’s late. Talk tomorrow.”
Qin Mian also began to feel sleepy. He yawned and lay down, “Let’s sleep. I’ll make it for you tomorrow and you’ll know.”
Lei Tie blew the oil lamp and lay down, habitually holding a person in his arms. “Okay.”
Qin Mian was excited when he thought that he would be able to open business in a few days. His sleepiness suddenly subsided and he made a joke: “Now, it’s me raising you.”Lei Tie’s arms stiffened. “I’ll go up the mountain tomorrow.”
Qin Mian laughed, “I’m joking.”
“Spicy hot soup requires meat dishes.” Lei Tie left no room for doubt.
Qin Mian thought about it and acquiesced, “Alright. There are still a lot of things to prepare. Tomorrow I have to grind the dried tangerine peels and cinnamon into powder.” He also bought a stone mill purposely for the seasoning.
“I want to go deeper this time, be back in two days.” Lei Tie spoke again.
“For so long?” Qin Mian vaguely felt that something was wrong with the man, but he was unable to get the words out, so he didn’t think much about it, “Fine, I’ll prepare more dried food tomorrow morning.”
The next day, Qin Mian felt vaguely aware of the movement around him. He woke up abruptly when he remembered that Lei Tie said he would go up the mountain last night.
The morning light had glimmered outside, because the curtains were closed, the room was dark, but the lamp was still lit at the head of the bed.
Lei Tie was sitting on the edge of the heatable brick bed, putting on his shoes. Turning around, he whispered: “Go back to sleep.”
Qin Mian shook his head and looked at his clothes. “No. The temperature in the mountains is low, put on a lined jacket.”
After he dressed neatly, he went to the kitchen to make breakfast and made some thick minced meat pancakes. Then, he wrapped them in oil paper and put it into the bum bag he made for Lei Tie.
They ate the remaining pancakes with mushroom soup.
“Be careful.” This was not the first time Lei Tie went hunting in the mountain, but Qin Mian felt uneasy for no reason, so he repeatedly cautioned.
“Nothing will happen.” Lei Tie stroked his side face. “If there is something, wait till I come back.”
Qin Mian’s heart jumped. How did this conversation sounded like a conversation between husband and wife? He pinched his hot ear and waved his hand to drive the man away. “I know. Go, go. Go early, return early.”
Lei Tie nodded and left.
Qin Mian stood in the yard for a while before walking around the yard to aid digestion and then reviewed the moves he had learned before. Afterwards, he went to work on his proper business, which was grinding dried tangerine peels, cinnamon and Sichuan pepper into powder with a stone mill.
Since there was no one at home, the yard was strangely quiet. Qin Mian felt that the empty yard was an eyesore. He went out with a hoe and a basket, planning to dig out something to decorate the yard.
The sky was overcast, the sun was missing and there was no cloud in the gray sky. It didn’t look like it was going to rain, but Qin Mian still felt very jittery. After wandering at the foot of the mountain for a long time, he found several wild chrysanthemums. Although the white and yellow flowers were small, they were blooming brightly. He planted chrysanthemums in the yard and poured a cup of spiritual spring water.
Until the afternoon of the third day, Lei Tie hadn’t come back, and Qin Mian’s heart sank abruptly. Lei Tie said that he would come back in two days, but he hadn’t appeared yet, could something have happened? He was so flustered by the thought that he couldn’t help running to the mountain in the distance.
At the foot of the mountain, he couldn’t help laughing bitterly. He had gone crazy, he actually wanted to find Lei Tie. This was a mountainous area and he didn’t know where Lei Tie had gone, finding him would be not as easy as he thought it to be?
“Boom—” A thunderbolt sounded overhead. After two days of gloomy weather, it finally began to rain. The continuous patter of raindrops fell and soon the ground was soaked.
Qin Mian’s heart sank to the bottom of the valley. The condition on the mountain on rainy days would be more arduous. Immediately, a burst of anger erupted and he ran into the forest, shouted: “LEI TIE— YOU ASSHOLE—”
His voice was like light swallowed by darkness, leaving not a thread of trace.
He walked back with a cold face and caught a sight of Lei Daqiang standing not far away with a load of firewood, looking at him in a bad way.
“Eldest’s wife, what are you shouting?”
Qin Mian frowned and eased his mood, “Father. Brother Tie went hunting and said that he would come back in two days, but until now, there isn’t a sign of him. Do you think there’s—”
Before he finished his words, Lei Daqiang interrupted, “It’s not the first time for him to go hunting in the mountains, he knows his boundary. But you, since you are eldest’s wife, you should know that he is the most important to you. What did you shout just now?” Lei Daqiang sternly stared at the teenager who stood up as stubborn as a little poplar, not very pleased.
Qin Mian’s face changed. He snorted, “It’s none of your business!” He didn’t look at Lei Daqiang as he walked away quickly.
“You… You…” Lei Daqiang stared at his back in disbelief, trembling with anger as he yelled, “STOP FOR ME!”
Qin Mian pretended not hearing it and walked away quickly. Whether he was filial or not, no one saw him anyway and Lei Daqiang couldn’t do anything about him either.
He wasn’t in the mood to have dinner and only ate two steamed stuffed buns. When it was past ten o’clock and he still hadn’t seen a sign of Lei Tie, he could only put out the light and go to bed.
In the middle of the night, a dull sound in the yard woke Qin Mian up. A thief?
He didn’t dare to light the oil lamp and groped around the door. Then he heard the sliding sound of the main door’s bolt, his heart rose to his throat and he yelled, “WHO?!”
“Wife, it’s me.”
Qin Mian felt both happy and angry, only to find that his night clothes were wet with sweat. His voice carried reproach yet very gentle, “How come you are back now?”
He groped around in the dark and opened the door before he went to light the oil lamp with the fire fold[1] on the side table. Then he looked back. Wasn’t Lei Tie standing in front of him?
“I went to the county.”
The rain was still falling. Lei Tie had brought in a burst of dampness as he conveniently put the bow set on the table, took out a piece of paper from his bosom and said with pursed lips: “I can raise you.”
Qin Mian was taken aback and looked at the paper in puzzlement. Although it was written in traditional Chinese character, he still recognized the three words of ‘five hundred taels’.
“Where did it come from?”
Lei Tie made light of it, “Hunted a black bear and the four paws sold for 500 taels. Is there food?”
Qin Mian was shocked as he connected the man’s ‘I can raise you’ and noticed that the man’s clothes on the waist side were torn as well as there was a faint smell of blood. His heart squeezed tight, his expression also sunk as he threw the silver banknote to the man and sneered: “I was just joking and you slap me in the face with the money. Lei Tie, you are truly skillful!”
He turned around and left. He had gotten up urgently and only wearing night clothes, his body was so cold but it couldn’t be compared with his heart.
Lei Tie was stunned. Seeing Qin Mian storming towards the bedroom angrily without turning his head back, he was flustered and went to grab the other person’s arm. “I’m not.”
“Let go.” Qin Mian said coldly.
Lei Tie’s pupils turned darker and his mouth agape. He fastened the person into his bosom and his big palms pressed the other person’s back tightly.
“You let me go!” Qin Mian couldn’t get free, he was fuming with rage. The bloody smell caught in his nose made him even angrier.
“No.” When the wound was touched, Lei Tie grunted but his arms were not loose, he said in a muffled voice, “I didn’t want to slap you in the face. Wife, I can raise you.”
Qin Mian’s struggling movement froze as there was a burst of acid-like in his thoracic cavity and at the same time, there was a kind of reality enlightenment in his brain. He was also a man, how could he forget how strong a man’s self-esteem was? Although he said that at first, it was really just a joke, but it was a fact that he made more money than Lei Tie before. How could Lei Tie not care? He was angry that Lei Tie didn’t see that he was joking and that he didn’t take his own safety seriously.
He raised his head, the man was still expressionless, but there was a touch of imperceptible bewilderment hidden in his deep eyes and his arms wound around his back were very hot.
He was somewhat defeated as he softened his voice, “Let go, I’ll see your wound.”
Lei Tie grabbed his wrist, went back to the table to get the oil lamp and pulled the other person to the bedroom before he let go. “Get dressed.”
Qin Mian put on his cotton-padded jacket and glared at him unhappily, “Sit down.”
Lei Tie complied and sat down by the heatable brick bed, “Just a small wound.”
Qin Mian ignored him, lifted up his wet clothes and once he saw five bloody scars, there was a tremor in the apex of his heart. He angrily said: “Didn’t you go to the county? Why didn’t you go to a physician’s and bandage the wound before coming back?”
“It looks serious, but the injury is not serious. Afraid you’re worried, I returned as soon as the bear’s paws were sold. The injury is not serious.” Lei Tie said.
Qin Mian gave him a severe look before he fetched water, gauze and wound healing medicine. He carefully cleaned up his wound, sprinkled the powder carefully and bandaged it up.
“When did you go to the county? How did you get back?”
“At about late afternoon[2], I happened to meet someone who drove to the town after going down the mountain and hitchhiked his cart. No one in the town bought bear paws, so I had to hire a cart to go to the county. It was already night when I was going back, couldn’t hire a cart, so I walked back.”
Perhaps he knew that Qin Mian was still angry, he who seldom said so many words, gave a very detailed answer. This made Qin Mian’s heart soften and his anger dissipated.
He stood up. “There is still hot water in the pot. You should take a bath and change into dry clothes. Be careful not to touch the wound. I’ll make you something to eat.”
Lei Tie gave a response and followed him out with the oil lamp.
That silver banknote lay silently on the ground. Lei Tie picked it up and handed it to Qin Mian.
Qin Mian put it in his pocket and walked into the kitchen.
Note:
[1] A tight straw paper roll that was burned and put off but was left only ember. The ember is easily ignited with a skillful blow.
Image credited to Pear Video.
[2] 酉时 [yǒu shí] = 5-7 pm (in the system of two-hour subdivisions used in former times)
