The Formidable Lady of the Poor Scholar’s Household

Chapter 15: A Prudent Scholar

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

When Auntie Wan returned, she was carrying a basket with peaches in it.

“These are peaches from our basement cellar. They’re very fresh.” As she spoke, she placed the basket in the kitchen.

“Auntie Wan’s peaches are the sweetest in our village. We only get to eat them once a year.”

When Qian Sishui heard Shi Jinhua say this, she asked curiously, “Why?”

Many families in the village planted peach trees. If Auntie Wan’s were the sweetest, couldn’t they just pollinate the flowers from her trees?

“Auntie Wan’s peach tree makes the sweetest peaches in the entire village.”

“Can’t we just use Auntie Wan’s peach seeds?” If they did not know how to cross-pollinate, then they could simply plant new trees with seeds.

“It’s not like we’re planting an orchard. Who’s going to plant it?”

“I want to plant them.” It would best to plant them both in the front and back of the house.

“Don’t we have one in the backyard? What’s the point of planting another one? There’s not enough land.” Clearing land was tiring. Besides, they didn’t have enough money!

“Having an orchard is good.” Orchards were beautiful too.

Shi Jinhua stopped talking, but he muttered in his heart, This woman can never stop. She doesn’t know how to do anything, but she wants to do so many things! What a headache!

“What orchard?” Auntie Wan came out and heard Qian Sishui mention the orchard.

“I said that Auntie’s peaches are the best in the village. In the entire village, only your family has them. And then she said that she wanted an orchard,” Shi Jinhua explained, wondering if there was a wasteland nearby for her to plant an orchard.

“Hey! What’s wrong with an orchard? Our town is so big, but there aren’t many orchards. You’ll definitely be able to sell the peaches if you have an orchard. I was even thinking of asking my husband to grow a few more peach trees.”

“Do you think it’s so easy? After planting the trees, someone has to take care of it too.” Wouldn’t that cost money? Didn’t they know how poor he was?

“That’s true. For families with many people, it wouldn’t matter that much. But there are only the two of you in your family. Forget it. Neither of you knows anything about planting trees.” The more Auntie Wan spoke, the more she felt that apart from looking good, the two of them had nothing to boast about!

“Sigh! If only my elder brother lived here…” Shi Jinhua was extremely envious of other people’s large families.

“I swear, I’ll have more children and plant more trees in the future!” He wasn’t going to let the Shi family die out just like that.

“Giving birth is a serious matter. Experienced people can tell at a glance that you two are not sleeping together. How can you think about having a child? What? Do you think children come by just talking?” Young people were really naive.

In an instant, Shi Jinhua’s face turned red and he stuttered, “A-auntie… I-I… Let’s go have dinner!”

He quickly fled the scene and did not dare to even look at Qian Sishui.

Seeing that Shi Jinhua had escaped, Auntie Wan’s gaze turned to Qian Sishui.

“Sishui, couples live their lives together until they grow old. Look at me and your uncle. We never met before our marriage, but we consummated our marriage the moment we met. I’ve been through this before. It’s useless to talk about love! Just look at how much he cared for you while you were sick.”

She thought for a moment and said, “Look, flowers are beautiful, but they’re not enough to fill your stomach! Although the steamed buns have no taste and are not good-looking, they can keep you alive. Living is more important than anything else.”

“I know, Auntie.” It was especially important to know that living was more important than anything.

“Hua isn’t young anymore. People his age already have two children. You have to hurry up and give birth while I’m still young and can still make decisions. When I give you a hand, others won’t dare to say anything.”

After dinner, Shi Jinhua sent Auntie Wan’s off. He closed the door and bolted it, preparing to wash up and sleep.

“Why is Auntie Wan so concerned about you?” Qian Sishui asked.

“Auntie and my mother were childhood friends. They had a good relationship since they were young. When my mother died, Auntie was the one who helped to organize the funeral. At that time, I didn’t know anything.” Eldest Brother was not at home. His two sisters had already married out. One of them couldn’t manage things, and the other didn’t want to come back at all.

He was left alone to guard the empty mourning hall. If Auntie Wan had not asked her two sons to help, he might have died of exhaustion.

“I think there’s water at the foot of the mountain. We can plant peach trees, pear trees, apple trees, and all kinds of fruit trees there.” It was rare for Qian Sishui to say so much. She just couldn’t bear to see this man depressed.

“That won’t do! How much will it cost? No!”

When it came to money, he immediately became cautious!

Not wanting to hear more, Qian Sishui simply turned around and left. She closed the door, covered herself with the blanket, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

She hadn’t gone anywhere in the past few days because the weather was too hot and she couldn’t be bothered to move.

Using the memories of the body’s original owner, she tailored the cloth that she had bought, and even embroidered flowers on her dress. The flowers appeared lifelike and very eye-catching as the dress swayed in the wind.

As Auntie Wan came to visit the Shi family from time to time, she would always hold the clothes and exclaim, “If I had a daughter, I would beg you to teach her a thing or two.”

With this ability, she wouldn’t starve to death anywhere. A woman’s popularity was the most important.

“It’s the same for granddaughters,” Qian Sishui said.

“That’s different. A granddaughter is different from a daughter. Every generation is different. Old people like us can only help, but we can’t interfere.” A domineering mother-in-law did not exist in their family.

Following the dress, she made a long robe for Shi Jinhua according to his height. Qian Sishui had no creative talent, and could only embroider bamboos on the sleeves according to her memory. She just wanted to live quietly and freely. But when Shi Jinhua took the clothes in his hand, his entire body stiffened.

He was in a daze. He had never thought that there would be a day when someone would make clothes for him. In the past, it was his mother who had made clothes for him. Ever since his mother died, Auntie Wan had been the one to mend his clothes.

Ready-made clothes were too expensive, so it had been many years since he had new clothes. Only his washed-out clothes did not have patches. He couldn’t even bring himself to wear them for fear of damaging them. But now, someone was making clothes for him!

“Thank you.”

In order not to let Qian Sishui see the tears in his eyes, he lowered her head and turned to enter his room. After closing the door, he looked at the clothes in her hand.

As he touched the embroidered bamboo on it, he was afraid that he would dirty the new clothes.

During dinner, he announced, “I’ll go to Mingde Academy in town for class tomorrow. I’m a day student, so I’ll go in the morning and come back in the afternoon. I’ll eat lunch at the academy.” As she spoke, he glanced at his wife.

“Alright.”

Shi Jinhua did not expect Qian Sishui to say anything nice.

“I’ll tell Auntie Wan tomorrow and ask her to cook lunch for you.” He was afraid that this woman would starve to death!

“No need! I already know how to start a fire.” Last time, she had messed up only it was too difficult to control fire in this era, and had accidentally burned her hand and dropped the firewood.

“Don’t set the kitchen on fire again!”

In Qian Sishui’s heart, Shi Jinhua was now family.

Hearing Shi Jinhua’s words, she glanced at the man who didn’t even know how to hold a conversation.

“Am I wrong? If you set the kitchen on fire again, our kitchen will be gone!” Just thinking about it made his heart ache!

“I’ll be careful.” She put down her bowl and chopsticks and turned to sit on the rocking chair.

Shi Jinhua quickly placed some mugwort sticks beside Qian Sishui.

“Why is this mosquito only chasing you and biting you?” It was very rare.

Qian Sishui closed her eyes and said, “My soft skin and tender flesh!”

Shi Jinhua was completely convinced. If he were a mosquito, he would also choose to chase after Qian Sishui and bite her instead of himself!