TIPS – Chapter 49

“Yes, I also have to thank Wu Xi. If he hadn’t helped me back, I would’ve had to hop all the way here,” Pei Hongxuan said, smiling gratefully at Wu Xi.

“No need to thank me. Mr. Pei is a good person, and good people will be rewarded,” Wu Xi said, a little awkwardly. He wasn’t used to being thanked so formally.

“You two haven’t eaten yet, right?” Song Jingwei gestured toward the food box in Shen Junxi’s hands. “Here, we brought food for you. Eat up.”

Shen Junxi placed the food box on the table and took out the dishes one by one.

“Thank you.” Wu Xi was surprised to see there was a portion for him too, but he was also delighted.

“Junxi, hurry and help me over there, or how am I supposed to eat?” Pei Hongxuan said with a pitiful expression, looking to Shen Junxi for help. He naturally wouldn’t ask Song Jingwei, who was standing closer, because he knew Song Jingwei wouldn’t bother with him.

“Mr. Pei, I’ll help you,” Wu Xi quickly offered.

Song Jingwei, however, pulled Shen Junxi back and said softly, “Let’s step outside. This isn’t our concern.”

“Mm.” Shen Junxi followed him out, but he looked a little worried as he signed, “With Hongxuan’s injured foot, how will he teach this afternoon?”

That was indeed a problem. But who could take over for Pei Hongxuan temporarily?

Song Jingwei furrowed his brows, thinking for a long time without coming up with a solution. Finally, he said, “How about you do it?”

Shen Junxi immediately waved his hands. “I can’t.”

“Didn’t you say you could teach sign language? Now you’re backing out?” Song Jingwei found it amusing, especially seeing how flustered Shen Junxi looked.

Shen Junxi’s face flushed red. He had only been joking back then. Being a teacher was just a dream—one he would never realize unless his voice miraculously healed. But that was impossible. The doctor had already diagnosed it as incurable.

Song Jingwei also thought about his throat condition and asked, “What’s wrong with your voice?” From what Yang Shi had said, it didn’t seem like he was born this way.

Shen Junxi pressed his lips together and simply signed, indicating that it was damaged due to illness.

“What kind of illness?” Song Jingwei wondered. Could it have been something like tonsillitis? That shouldn’t have been a serious illness.

Shen Junxi thought hard, then mimed a scene—rain falling, him hugging his arms and shivering, then pretending to faint. After that, he pointed at his throat, indicating that when he woke up, his voice was gone.

For some reason, Song Jingwei wanted to laugh. But he knew the other man was describing something painful, so he coughed and asked, “Can it be cured?”

Shen Junxi shook his head and signed, “No.”

“Maybe the village doctor just wasn’t skilled enough.” Song Jingwei thought for a moment and said, “I’ll take you to town one day and have someone check it.” Ancient medical knowledge was lacking, but he didn’t believe Shen Junxi’s condition was completely untreatable. More likely, he just hadn’t met a skilled doctor yet.

Shen Junxi initially wanted to refuse—he had already consulted many doctors. But seeing the rare concern in Song Jingwei’s expression, he couldn’t bring himself to reject him. So he signed, “Okay, I’ll go with you.” His wife was worried about his voice, and that made him happy.

“Mm. Once everything at the school is settled… maybe in two or three days, we’ll go.” Song Jingwei thought about Zhang Benqing’s reply—perhaps they could even go to the county and find a more reputable doctor. He asked, “How far is the county from here?”

“Not far,” Shen Junxi signed, then pointed in the direction opposite to Lihua Town. “It takes a day by ox cart.”

Song Jingwei was speechless. But considering how slow transportation was in ancient times, a day’s journey really wasn’t that far. Traveling to another province could take months.

By the time they estimated that those inside had finished eating, Song Jingwei and Shen Junxi walked back in. Sure enough, Pei Hongxuan and Wu Xi had just put down their chopsticks.

Shen Junxi started cleaning up while Song Jingwei sat down and asked Pei Hongxuan, “With your injured leg, how will you handle class this afternoon?”

Pei Hongxuan looked guilty. “It’s my fault for being careless. Now teaching this afternoon is a problem…” He gritted his teeth and said, “I’ll endure it. I just won’t move around.”

Song Jingwei shook his head. “No, you can’t teach while injured.”

“Then what should we do?” Everyone looked at him, hoping he had a perfect solution.

“Here’s an idea.” Song Jingwei glanced at Pei Hongxuan, then at Wu Xi, and said, “Tell Wu Xi what you planned to teach this afternoon, and let him take over the class.”

Pei Hongxuan froze and turned to Wu Xi. “Can you read?”

Wu Xi hesitated before shaking his head, feeling self-conscious. Seeing everyone’s disappointed expressions, he added in a small voice, “I know a few words. I can recognize numbers from one to a hundred.” His father had taught him when he was still alive.

Song Jingwei nodded. “That’s enough. The children are still in the early stages of learning, so just teach them numbers this afternoon.”

The matter was settled just like that. Taking advantage of the midday break, Pei Hongxuan stayed in the study to pass on the afternoon’s lesson to Wu Xi. Song Jingwei, knowing when to step away, pulled Shen Junxi back home instead of lingering there in the afternoon.

“Going back again?” Shen Junxi signed curiously.

“I’m tired. Going back to sleep,” Song Jingwei replied. Then, realizing he might have been overthinking it, he added, “You can stay if you like, but I’m going back.”

With that, Shen Junxi naturally said, “I’m going back too.”

There wasn’t much to see in the fields at noon—just the sweltering heat that made people irritable. It would be much more comfortable to lie on a cool bamboo mat, fanning oneself with a large palm fan.

After sleeping until the afternoon, the scorching sun in the sky seemed to have lost some of its intensity. Shen Junxi got up, preparing to go out and cut pig grass. He turned back and sweetly looked at his sleeping spouse… How was he still sleeping so soundly? Normally, he would be awake by now.

But Shen Junxi wouldn’t let him go to that small hill anymore. It wasn’t actually that beautiful, nor did it bring much joy.

By the time Song Jingwei woke up, it was already evening. He rubbed his groggy head, still feeling drowsy. Getting out of bed, he washed his face and stretched in the courtyard, all while Shen Junxi watched him curiously. But Song Jingwei didn’t stop moving.

“Call your wife for dinner,” Yang Shi called out as she passed through the courtyard, smiling warmly at the two of them. Over the past few days, she had seen her son and daughter-in-law’s relationship improving, which eased her worries.

“Has Pei Hongxuan come back?” Song Jingwei asked, rubbing his shoulder as he walked over.

“Yes.” Shen Junxi nodded and pointed inside the house. “Wu Xi had brought him back.”

“Wu Xi brought him back? Didn’t you ask him to stay for dinner?”

Shen Junxi blinked at Song Jingwei, feeling a bit curious. His spouse usually wasn’t one to concern himself with such matters—why was he suddenly so interested in Pei Hongxuan and Wu Xi?

Entering the house, Song Jingwei saw that Pei Hongxuan and Wu Xi were indeed there. Though he had shown concern in front of Shen Junxi, once in front of others, he didn’t say a word. That was just his personality.

“We made fish today, a full five jin! Come, sit down and eat,” Shen Dongming called out cheerfully, instructing his son to give the fattest, most tender part of the fish belly to his wife.

Shen Junxi, however, didn’t move. After having his offers rejected a few times, he had learned not to casually pick food for Song Jingwei.

“You eat. Don’t worry about me, I can serve myself,” Song Jingwei said, picking up a piece of fish for himself. The taste was indeed excellent. “Delicious. Everyone, eat up.” With that, he lowered his head and ate quietly, as he always did.

During dinner, Shen Junxi mentioned running into Liu Yue at the courtyard, reassuring his parents that he was only there to take a look and wouldn’t cause any trouble.

Yang Shi said, “Although the Liu Shi loves money, they’re not bad people.” Compared to the late Zhang Shi, they were much better.

“What does it matter? As long as they don’t stir up trouble, we won’t interfere with them either,” Shen Dongming said. He didn’t ask for much—just a stable life, and that was enough.

After dinner, Wu Xi rushed to clean up, but Yang Shi quickly stopped him. “You’re a guest. Sit down. How can we let you wash the dishes?”

Wu Xi replied, “Aunt Yang, don’t worry. I live alone, so I handle all the household chores myself. Washing a few dishes is nothing.” He genuinely liked the Shen family. Whether a family was good or bad, you could usually tell from a single meal.

“No, no…” Yang Shi tried to refuse.

“I’ll do it, I’ll do it…” Wu Xi insisted.

Seeing that she couldn’t stop him, Yang Shi simply let him help. While washing the dishes, she casually asked, “Wu Xi, how old are you this year?”

“Twenty.”

“Time to find a wife.”

“I’ll wait until I’ve earned some money…”

Meanwhile, in the house, the men sat together drinking tea to help digest their meal. Shen Junxi remembered that his spouse didn’t drink strong tea. So, whenever everyone drank tea together, he would use a large tea bowl to brew a separate, milder tea just for Song Jingwei.

Pei Hongxuan always found this amusing and teased him about being too good to his spouse.

But Shen Junxi thought to himself: I should be even better to him.

Besides these little things, what else could he do? He didn’t know.

Time flew by, and before they knew it, another year had passed, with the fragrance of osmanthus filling the air. By now, the rice fields had already been harvested for some time, and the Shen family’s new house was in its final stages of construction. Some of the workers had even been sent to till and prepare the fields.

It was only mid-August—not too busy, but not exactly idle either.

Remembering his promise to Shen Junxi, Song Jingwei kept it in mind.

The next day, after bidding farewell to the Shen family elders, the two of them set off for the county.

They rode in a rented carriage. The ride was relatively smooth, but there were occasional bumps. Song Jingwei subconsciously held his stomach, trying not to let the jolts tire him out too much.

Seeing this, Shen Junxi steadied him, letting him lean against his own body.

“No need,” Song Jingwei said. But just then, a particularly rough bump sent him tilting sideways—straight into Shen Junxi’s arms.

Shen Junxi pressed his lips together in a smile and wrapped his arms around his spouse.

This is nice. Just like this.