Li Feng was speechless.
So now he was the wild boar.
He said to Lu Liu, “Xiao Liu, you’re not Xiao Liu—you’re baby bok choy.”
Lu Liu didn’t get the wild boar/bok choy comparison at first and just laughed. “Bok choy doesn’t sound as nice as Xiao Liu. Da Feng and Xiao Liu sound like a good match.”
Da Feng was coaxed into a good mood by Xiao Liu. That night, they went vegetarian.
…………..
The day after the snowfall, Lu Yang had to go sell vegetables in the county.
Just like always, he woke up in the dead of night.
Ever since he got married, no one made him get up to work anymore. Still, he just couldn’t lie around. But he was slowly getting used to his new life—now, when he woke up, he’d stay under the covers for a while longer.
It was freezing out because of the snow, the heated bed was warm, the blankets cozy, and someone was holding him like he was the most precious thing in the world. All of this made it really hard to get up.
Xie Yan wasn’t a peaceful sleeper. He always had to wrap his limbs around Lu Yang. Even though Lu Yang had slept like that all night without discomfort, once he opened his eyes, it felt like there were bugs crawling and biting along his bones—itchy and achy all at once. He had to move around, but no position felt right unless he actually got up and did something. Only then did his body feel good again.
No matter how gently he tried to move, it still woke Xie Yan.
With his eyes still closed, Xie Yan spoke in a husky, half-asleep voice, his tone like he was whining: “It’s snowing. Sleep a little longer.”
Lu Yang told him, “You go ahead and sleep. I’m getting up to sell vegetables.”
He’d mentioned it yesterday. Xie Yan hadn’t thought he was serious. His eyes snapped open in surprise, still heavy with sleep and burning with dryness. He blinked several times until tears welled up and spilled down his cheeks.
“Can’t you go tomorrow? It’s freezing outside.”
They hadn’t lit any candles yet—the room was pitch black. Lu Yang couldn’t see the face of his scholarly husband, so he listened carefully to his tone instead. He laughed and said, “It’s only going to get colder from here, and it’ll probably snow more often too. Are we just never going to go out again?”
Xie Yan paused, a little stunned. Then he said, “Let’s sleep first. Once I’m awake, I’ll go with you.”
With two people working, they could afford to sleep in a bit.
But Lu Yang couldn’t fall back asleep. He always woke up this early.
Xie Yan yawned. “Wanna listen to a reading? I’ll recite something to you. Back in school, my classmates always got drowsy when I did.”
Lu Yang perked up—no one had ever tried to lull him to sleep before.
“Do you get sleepy reading yourself?” he asked.
Xie Yan replied, “Not really.”
Lu Yang rolled over in the blankets, refusing to let Xie Yan cling to him anymore. He shifted around so much that he drove all the warmth out of the bed, and just when it got chilly, he found a comfy spot and pulled Xie Yan close again. He touched Xie Yan’s thin, flat waist and stomach, and told him, “Okay, I’m ready. Start.”
Xie Yan: “…”
He was more prepared for this than for making soup.
Xie Yan knew many texts by heart. For Lu Yang, he chose to recite the Thousand Character Classic.
From “Heaven and earth, mysterious and yellow…” all the way to “…thus and so.”
Lu Yang had thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep, that he’d get bored and impatient listening—but he was honestly exhausted. After chatting with Xie Yan and finding a new sleeping position, he quickly drifted off to the steady rhythm of Xie Yan’s voice.
Xie Yan counted quietly in his head. By the sixtieth character, Lu Yang’s breathing had slowed. By the hundredth, it was shallow and peaceful—he was sound asleep.
Lu Yang was out cold. Xie Yan, meanwhile, was wide awake.
When Xie Yan was little, he had to get up early every day to study. But he wasn’t good at waking up—he’d drag himself to the desk with no energy at all. Back then, his father would have him recite the Thousand Character Classic.
At first, he was still learning characters and hadn’t gotten to that book yet. But his father told him, “If you can memorize this in the morning, you can go back to sleep.”
He had a good memory but didn’t recognize all the characters yet. He remembered what they looked like but didn’t know how to pronounce them. It frustrated him so much. For three months straight, he got up early every day. By the time he’d learned all the characters, he could recite the whole thing—but by then, he didn’t want to go back to sleep anymore.
It was like, somewhere in the haze of sleepiness, his brain slowly woke up—and once it was awake, he was fully alert.
And the fact that he could memorize a full text so quickly fascinated him. He craved more books to read.
It had been a long time since he’d opened a book.
For the imperial exam, there were five Confucian classics. Most people only studied one—Xie Yan memorized all five.
Lying there holding his husband, Xie Yan stayed perfectly still with his eyes closed, trying to recall them. A lot of it had gone rusty, and the passages weren’t coming back smoothly.
He let his thoughts drift where they may until a faint sound outside caught his attention and broke his concentration.
Curled up in his arms, Lu Yang was a light sleeper. Even a soft footstep outside was enough to wake him.
This nap was only to recharge. As soon as Lu Yang opened his eyes, he left the warm blankets without hesitation. He quickly climbed off the bed, got dressed, tied his hair in a few swift motions, slipped on his socks and shoes, opened the door, and walked out—without sparing Xie Yan a single glance.
Xie Yan lay there in confusion, rubbing his eyes and knocking lightly on his own forehead, wondering if he’d dreamed the whole thing.
What just happened? He had been trying to lull his husband to sleep… so why did his husband wake up mad?
He got up too and went to find Lu Yang to ask.
Lu Yang was already in the kitchen starting breakfast. The footsteps he’d heard earlier were from Zhao Peilan, his mother-in-law. Lu Yang quickly took over and had her sit down while he handled the meal.
They had a clear savings goal now, and time was tight. The household food budget had been downgraded. There were no meat buns, and certainly no meat stir-fries or noodle soups for breakfast. So, Lu Yang cooked porridge, reheated some pickled vegetables, and made a quick stir-fry with fresh greens.
Xie Yan came in with questions, but Lu Yang still found time to tease him:
“I’m a man with ambition—I can’t get lost in love and comfort.”
In truth, Lu Yang just wasn’t used to it.
If he hadn’t actually fallen asleep while being coaxed, he would’ve just joked around with Xie Yan for a while like usual, and things would’ve been fine.
But since he had fallen asleep, something in his emotions had been cut off. He didn’t know how to interact with Xie Yan anymore.
Luckily, his scholar husband was a bit of a blockhead—and he’d followed him out like a puppy.
When Xie Yan heard the real reason, he looked ashamed.
Lu Yang burst out laughing. He laughed so hard, he didn’t even notice at first that his stomach started hurting again.
He held his side, annoyed. Why did being happy have to hurt?
He complained to Xie Yan:
“My stomach’s cramping from laughing. This is all your fault.”
Xie Yan accepted the blame without protest, muttering “mm-hmm” as he poured a cup of hot water.
Lu Yang took it and drank, which helped ease the pain. But then he turned to scold him anyway:
“My stomach’s cramping from laughter, and you give me hot water? What’s that supposed to do?”
Xie Yan had heard this line before—Lu Yang said the same thing last time he laughed too hard.
Still, he’d made the same “mistake” again, because, honestly, the hot water had helped.
“I figured you needed it,” he said simply.
Lu Yang looked at his dumb expression and chuckled.
“You sure are observant for someone so quiet.”
“That’s because I’ve been watching you every day.”
Xie Yan’s calm words hit Lu Yang right in the heart.
That kind of watching wasn’t out of suspicion or fear that Lu Yang might slack off. It was pure affection—he liked looking at him, couldn’t get enough, afraid he might disappear.
Lu Yang started laughing again. This time, he was truly amused, but the laughter stirred up his stomach, hurting more with every shake of his body. He tried holding back several times, but one look at Xie Yan’s earnest face made him want to laugh all over again. In the end, he shoved Xie Yan out of the kitchen, telling him to fetch water for his mother to wash up. Only after being alone for a bit did he finally calm down.
He thought to himself with unexpected depth:
Even happiness can hurt.
Breakfast was simple. Xie Yan mentioned during the meal that he wanted to go to the county with Lu Yang today.
Zhao Peilan tried to talk them out of it, suggesting they take a break.
Lu Yang told her, “There’s only one month left. After that, Xie Yan will be back in school.”
Zhao Peilan went quiet, then after a moment, she asked,
“Then why not stay in town?”
It was tiring to travel back and forth, even with a donkey cart. Their shop was ready, and they could just sleep there for now, make do.
But Lu Yang shook his head.
“There’s still stuff in the village we haven’t dealt with. If we go to town now, we’ll lose control of things here. That’ll only cause more problems later. Living in the village might be exhausting, but we can keep an eye on both sides. When we’re busy, we go do our thing. When we’re home, we make the rounds, stir things up if needed—it’s more convenient.”
The issues in the village were still a knot in their hearts.
After breakfast, Zhao Peilan went to her room and returned with a pair of earrings. She handed them to Lu Yang and told him to pawn them.
“Trying to save seven taels of silver in a month? That’s too hard. See how much these are worth.”
The earrings were made of jade. Lu Yang couldn’t judge the quality of the stone, but he did recognize the hooks—they were real gold.
The Xie family really had been wealthy once.
Lu Yang caught a glimpse of the surprised expression on Xie Yan’s face and noticed that he seemed like he wanted to say something but held back.
He guessed that these earrings were probably a gift from Xie Yan’s father to Zhao Peilan.
So, he didn’t take them.
