TIPS – Chapter 155

“……” Shen Junxi carefully observed his wife’s expression. Once he confirmed that he was being sincere, he finally let out a breath of relief.

“No need to overthink. Just be like this,” Song Jingwei said. After all the back-and-forth, he finally understood what the other cared about. He found it both amusing and touching—Shen Junxi cared so much about his opinion, probably because he was afraid he wasn’t good enough or likable enough.

He took Shen Junxi’s hand and said, “Maybe others don’t like you, maybe you don’t appeal to them, but I like you.”

Such straightforward and sweet words sounded like heavenly music to Shen Junxi. He couldn’t hold back for even two seconds before he broke into a smile, gripping Song Jingwei’s hand with a hint of excitement.

“Be confident, okay?”

“Okay,” he wrote in the palm of his hand.

His heart was overflowing with emotion, and he couldn’t resist leaning down to kiss those lips he thought of day and night.

Song Jingwei reached up and wrapped his arms around his neck. One of them was sitting, the other standing, and they kissed for a long time. Until Shen Junxi looked at him with burning eyes, full of urgent longing.

That night, things were passionate and intense.

Shen Junxi was on top, working diligently. The usual gentleness gave way to a touch of wildness, showing that no matter how gentle a man might be, he could still be quite assertive in bed.

Summer intimacy came with its own discomforts—the heat made everything even hotter. Both of them were drenched in sweat, and once they were done, another shower was inevitable.

After catching his breath on the bed, Song Jingwei, stark naked, got up and headed to the bathing room.

Shen Junxi quickly grabbed a robe and followed to drape it over him.

“No need,” Song Jingwei said with a laugh. He was so sticky that putting on clothes would only dirty them.

“Mm.” Shen Junxi then noticed he was also stark naked, so the two of them ended up taking a cold shower together.

“So you did plan this ahead. You filled the tub with water in advance, didn’t you?” Song Jingwei said when he saw the clean water in the wooden tub. There was no doubt it was Shen Junxi who had prepared it—he was always so thoughtful, always making sure things were ready.

“Mm.” Shen Junxi nodded and fetched a ladle to pour water over him.

Cold water flowed down his shoulders, and Song Jingwei let out a long sigh, finally feeling refreshed.

At first, he was just helping his wife bathe, but seeing him all cool and fresh, Shen Junxi couldn’t help but hug him. One arm wrapped around all that cool skin—it felt wonderfully satisfying.

But with his higher body temperature, he made Song Jingwei frown in disgust.

“……” Shen Junxi smiled and refused to let go, leaning in to kiss him.

“You cool off too…” Song Jingwei scooped a ladle of water and poured it over his neck.

Seizing the moment, Shen Junxi kissed him again, and the two started making out in the bathing room, unrestrained. Since they were both naked, one thing led to another very quickly.

“……” Shen Junxi lifted his wife onto his lap, parted the plump cheeks, and slowly slid himself inside.

So they ended up messing around again in the bathing room, using up even more time. It was already deep into the night by the time they finally got to sleep.

The next morning, both of them were lazy and sluggish—until Yang Shi brought Benben over for them to watch.

“I don’t know what’s going on outside. I think I heard someone banging a gong,” Yang Shi said uncertainly.

“Hmm? Really?” Song Jingwei asked. He had no real concept of ancient gongs, but Shen Junxi, born and raised here, knew what it meant.

“Maybe a government document has arrived,” he gestured, though he was confused too—such notices usually only came to the town, not the village.

“We can just go take a look later,” Song Jingwei said with a yawn.

“……” Shen Junxi gently rubbed his face, feeling a bit guilty—they had gone too far last night.

“It’s fine,” Song Jingwei rubbed his palm and said. Just waking up, he looked especially soft and gentle.

“Papa… papa…” Benben pounced into his arms and rubbed his little face against Daddy’s.

“Good boy.” He kissed his son’s forehead, and Benben returned the favor, hugging him and planting kisses from his forehead all the way down to his face and mouth.

“……” With a strange expression, Shen Junxi picked Benben up. He and Song Jingwei had different views on this—he never kissed their son all the time.

In their household, even Yang Shi only occasionally kissed Benben’s cheeks. No one else did it. Only Song Jingwei, who looked so cool and aloof, played kissy games with their son every day.

Cheek kisses would be fine, but the father and son duo had no boundaries—they kissed wherever they pleased…

“What, are you jealous of your own son now?” Song Jingwei raised an eyebrow at him.

“……” Shen Junxi solemnly shook his head, denying it.

Benben was affectionate toward him too. He hugged his neck and slobbered all over him. Seeing Shen Junxi’s helpless yet doting expression, Shen Junxi also gave their son a kiss on the cheek—but a kiss on the lips was off-limits.

“Pfft…” Song Jingwei chuckled and got up to get dressed and wash up.

After the couple got ready and fed their son a good breakfast, they took up Yang Shi’s suggestion and went with Shen Dongming to see what was going on in the village.

“By the way, carry Benben too. I’ve got work to do and can’t look after him.”

”Alright.”

Naturally, the task of carrying Benben fell to Shen Junxi, the seasoned baby-carrier. As soon as Song Jingwei brought out the baby carrier, Benben got excited, grinning from ear to ear—it was obvious he loved going out.

“This child takes after who, I wonder? He grins every time we head out.”

Everyone instinctively looked at Song Jingwei, including Shen Junxi, whose teasing gaze clearly said: Like you.

“My son doesn’t look like me—what, you think he takes after the neighbor Old Wang?” Song Jingwei said calmly as he settled Benben onto his father’s back.

Shen Junxi responded seriously, “There is no one surnamed Wang next door.”

“…” Song Jingwei didn’t bother explaining what kind of joke that was, and simply stayed quiet.

The four of them—grandfather and grandsons—slowly headed toward the village.

“Mother really has sharp ears, huh? Even from here she could hear the noise from the village.” They hadn’t heard a thing themselves earlier, and still couldn’t now—who knew if it was true?

“Hehe, your mother really does have sharp ears. If she hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have known either,” said Shen Dongming, implying that Yang Shi had mentioned it to him.

“Hmm, the war just ended. Maybe the court’s planning some policy changes for our region?” Song Jingwei said uncertainly.

“No way to know.” Shen Dongming scratched his head. “If there’s some kind of subsidy, that wouldn’t be bad.” Although no lives were lost in their village, many houses had burned down.

When they arrived at the village, it was clear many people looked uneasy. They casually asked a nearby villager what was going on.

The villager scratched his head and said, “I’m not quite sure either, but there’s an official notice posted on the wall at the village entrance. Everyone’s going to take a look.”

“Alright, thanks.” The group walked over toward the village entrance.

From a distance, they could already see a crowd gathered there. A large red notice was indeed posted on the wall, black characters on red paper, clearly written.

“Master Song is here…”

“Master Song is here! Let him take a look!”

The villagers spotted Song Jingwei’s family and hurriedly made way for them to come forward.

“What’s going on?” Song Jingwei asked as he stepped up.

“Master Song, take a look at this! None of us understand what it means. Is it saying we all have to move away?” The villagers were confused and anxious, not knowing what to make of the notice.

“…” Song Jingwei was stunned too—the court was planning to relocate the capital?

The document stated that Lihua Town was within the scope of requisition. It listed the boundaries of land to be taken for public use. Seeing this, Song Jingwei frowned. But then, he noticed the issuing authority—it didn’t seem to come from the central government…

“What does it mean? Are we really being forced to move?” the villagers asked anxiously.

“Not necessarily,” Song Jingwei replied. “This seems to be… something issued by the prefectural government. The final decision depends on how things unfold.” After all, moving the capital was a huge matter. Even if it were true, it wouldn’t happen overnight.

“The prefecture?” The villagers weren’t reassured—if anything, they became more worried. “If it really happens, where would we go?”

“Yeah, where would we go?” They had lived here for generations. The idea of moving the whole village was unimaginable.

“Everyone, please stay calm. Right now, it’s just a possibility. Let’s wait and see what happens next,” Song Jingwei said. He didn’t believe the government would seize a large amount of farmland from the villagers—after all, this area wasn’t remote, but it wasn’t exactly prime development land either.

“Right! Isn’t Master Song good friends with the county magistrate? Maybe he can ask him about it?” someone suggested.

Song Jingwei had already considered writing a letter, though he hadn’t made up his mind. For now, he just reassured everyone and decided to think it over later.

That same afternoon, a letter from Zhang Benqing arrived—it was in response to one Song Jingwei had sent earlier.

Upon opening it, Song Jingwei saw that it did mention the capital relocation. Zhang Benqing wrote that the issue had been causing quite a stir in and out of court, and everyone was very enthusiastic about it. It seemed the matter was already decided. However, the location he mentioned didn’t include Lihua Town—it was still a distance away.

If the capital really did move, Lihua Town would just fall within the outskirts of the new capital.

Now that was interesting. Song Jingwei stroked his chin and thought—maybe the prefectural officials were planning ahead?

He immediately wrote back to Zhang Benqing, describing the public notice. He also sent people out to check if nearby villages had received similar notices.

The result: nearby villages had also received the same notice. But strangely, there was no such notice in the town center of Lihua Town itself.

A few more days passed. There was still no reply from Zhang Benqing—but instead, a group of soldiers arrived.

The leading soldier banged a gong and summoned the villagers loudly: “You all saw the notice, right? Got your things packed?”

The villagers looked utterly confused and all shook their heads. They hadn’t packed, nor had they prepared to move.

“You didn’t see the notice? Weren’t you told to move? Why is no one getting ready? Are you trying to defy the imperial court?” The soldier scowled. Since this village was the closest to Lihua Town, they came here first—but seeing that no one had made any preparations, of course he was angry.

“Uh… do we really have to move out? But Young Master Song said we don’t have to yet…”

The villagers immediately erupted in protest. Everyone said there was no need to move. Even Young Master Song hadn’t said they needed to—he told them to go home and wait for further news. So no, they weren’t moving.

The officer’s face darkened even more as he snapped, “Who’s Young Master Song? Who does he think he is? Does what he says count, or what the imperial court says?”

Ordinary folks barely saw any government officials all year long. They feared the court in their hearts, but in daily life, they didn’t really have a clear idea of who they were supposed to listen to. Now being sternly questioned by these soldiers with scowling faces, their reaction was to stay silent.

Not a single person stepped forward to tell the soldiers who this Young Master Song really was.

“Well, speak up! Is he your village chief?” the officer barked.

“No,” the villagers shook their heads.

“Then who is he?”

This time, they fell silent again, making the soldiers so angry they nearly exploded. Shouting and yelling, they declared, “I don’t care who he is! Either way, you people need to move. This area is now off-limits for residents. Did you hear me?”

Still, the villagers didn’t respond, but their eyes held a stubborn unwillingness. Their families had lived here for generations—how could they just up and leave because someone said so?

“Hmph! If you’re still here in five days, we’ll come back and help move you out ourselves!” the officer threatened viciously before leading the troops toward the next village.

Once the soldiers were gone, the village erupted into anxious chatter—all of it about the forced relocation.

“What do we do now? Looks like the court really wants us to move, but we don’t want to!”

“My family doesn’t want to either.”

“We just finished building our new house. How can we move now?”

“Hurry, someone go tell Young Master Song. Maybe he can think of something.”

“Yes, he must have a plan!”

The villagers chose two representatives to urgently seek out Song Jingwei.

When Song Jingwei heard the soldiers had come again—this time pushing hard and even threatening the people—he frowned. That wasn’t typical behavior for the court.

“Young Master Song, do you have any solutions? Are we really going to be forced to move?” the villagers asked anxiously.

Song Jingwei replied, “Everyone, please stay calm. Honestly, there’s no immediate solution. After all, they’re flying the imperial court’s banner. All we can do now is wait. A turnaround might still be possible.”

“But they said if we’re still here five days from now, they’ll move us out themselves.” Could things really turn around in just five days?

“We’ll wait,” he said. There was nothing else to do.

After sending off the two obviously worried villagers, Shen Dongming’s expression also turned grim. “What’s going on with the court? Since when do they just tell people to move like this?”

Even if people had to be relocated, they shouldn’t be treated like this—driven out without discussion or compensation.

“Maybe it’s not the court,” Song Jingwei guessed. “It could be some officials trying to profit during the chaos. The frontlines are still at war, but victory is near. They’ve already conquered half the enemy’s territory.”

It was still too early to talk about moving the capital—at the very least, that wouldn’t happen until next year. And even then, building the new capital would take time. Two years from now would already be considered quick.

“If it’s not the court, then who is it?” Yang Shi looked at him, puzzled.

“No way to be certain. But there’s no need to panic just yet,” Song Jingwei said. He believed in Zhang Benqing’s abilities and character. If something fishy was going on, Zhang would take care of it. Even if he didn’t do it for the people, he’d do it for the sake of his political achievements.

“How can we not be worried? They’ve already come twice!” And the next time would be in five days. Who knew what might happen then?

Song Jingwei just smiled. He wasn’t worried because he had weighed the situation from all angles. But he knew he couldn’t stop them from worrying, so he said nothing more.

Shen Junxi, holding Benben in one arm, reached out with the other to take his wife’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. It was a habit of his—a gesture of comfort.

“Are you worried?” he asked Shen Junxi.

Shen Junxi shook his head, then signed with one hand: “Wherever you are, I’ll be there too. I’m not worried.”

Looking at him, Song Jingwei suddenly found him very endearing. He leaned in and gazed deeply into his eyes.

Shen Junxi held his breath, waiting—thinking that Song Jingwei would kiss him. But no, it was just a look.

“Pfft.” Seeing the disappointed look on Shen Junxi’s face, Song Jingwei chuckled.

Shen Junxi turned his head away in embarrassment. His husband was really too mischievous.

Four tense days passed. Then suddenly, another group of soldiers arrived at the village.

Everyone was alarmed—weren’t they supposed to come on the fifth day? Why had they arrived early?

They were pale with despair, convinced that this was the end—that they really were going to be forced out.

But to their great surprise, the soldiers said nothing. They simply took down the eviction notice. 

And then… they turned around and prepared to leave.

“…What’s going on?”