Chapter 79: Cornering The Bull For A Wild Chat
After the meal, Lu Chengjing looked at Yuan Yuan with her little head hanging low and beckoned the little one over.
Yuan Yuan obediently climbed onto her own daddy’s lap and sat properly, blinking her big eyes curiously, “Daddy?”
Lu Chengjing turned the wheelchair, taking the little one to the wooden shed to talk.
This short distance allowed Shang Wan to hear the father and daughter’s conversation clearly.
Lu Chengjing was using a storytelling method to help Yuan Yuan understand what Shang Wan had said at the dinner table.
A faint smile welled up in Shang Wan’s eyes as she listened secretly to the story while whittling wood.
Shi Tou used a method learned from the Zhang Family to prepare some hay for the yellow ox, dug a pit in the farther bushes, and used it to bury cow dung.
Xiao Huan boiled the medicine and brought it out. While Lu Chengjing was drinking the medicine, she went to the kitchen and carried out an old wooden bucket.
The wooden bucket was dark inside like it contained vinegar, but up close, one could smell the scent of herbs.
Lu Chengjing looked at the wooden bucket expressionlessly, hoping he wouldn’t have to drink this whole bucket.
Clearly, he had overthought it; the medicinal liquid in the wooden bucket was for soaking his feet.
Xiao Huan placed the wooden bucket in front of the wheelchair, then brought over a wooden basin filled with hot water, poured in a small portion of the medicinal liquid, and stirred it.
“Brother-in-law, this is a special prescription from Doctor Yuan. He said it can unblock the meridians; soak for half an hour every night.” Xiao Huan squatted down to help Lu Chengjing remove his socks and shoes, but Lu Chengjing waved his hand, “No need, I’ll do it myself.”
“Then I’ll take Yuan Yuan to bathe first.” Xiao Huan stood up, reached out to pick up Yuan Yuan, “Doctor Yuan instructed that the water can’t be cold. If the water cools, just call me, brother-in-law; there’s still hot water simmering in the pot.”
Lu Chengjing nodded, “Thank you for the trouble.”
“We’re all family, brother-in-law, no need to be polite.”
When Xiao Huan first started calling Lu Chengjing “brother-in-law,” she wasn’t used to it at all, just like Shi Tou, always getting it wrong, but eventually it came naturally.
They could feel that Lu Chengjing now truly treated them as younger brother and sister, and would sincerely teach them things he wouldn’t have explained in detail before.
Affection between people is always mutual.
Xiao Huan and Shi Tou’s lives were saved by Lu Chengjing to begin with. Before, they saw him as their benefactor and were willing to follow and repay the kindness even after being driven out of the residence, but now they regarded Shang Wan and Lu Chengjing as true family.
With both feet soaked in the medicinal liquid, it was warm yet tinged with a slight stinging pain.
Lu Chengjing leaned against the wheelchair, his gaze shifting from the stove glowing with firelight to the cloth curtain, then to the gray wolf dozing with narrowed eyes on the stone slab, the old yellow ox chewing grass by the big tree, Shi Tou shoveling cow dung, and Shang Wan sitting by the fire whittling wood.
The firelight flickered, warming the woman’s fair cheeks to a healthy pink. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead, and whenever they were about to slide down, she would lift her sleeve to wipe them away in advance.
One hand holding the axe, the other the wood, the cumbersome tool was wielded by the woman with the dexterity of a dagger.
Lu Chengjing watched and gradually became entranced, until the woman suddenly looked up and asked him, “Is the water cold yet?”
Lu Chengjing was stunned for a moment, moving his feet in the wooden basin, trying to generate some warmth.
“Wait.” Shang Wan set down what she was doing, went to the stove to ladle hot water and carry it over. She first poured the cooled medicinal liquid from the basin into the bushes, then added fresh medicinal liquid, letting Lu Chengjing soak again.
“It should need changing once more.” Shang Wan estimated the time, “Call when it cools; don’t be shy.”
“Alright.” Lu Chengjing agreed, a faint smile hanging from the corners of his eyes and brows.
Shang Wan found his appearance a bit novel and stared for a while, her lips curving up as well, asking, “Want to go by the fire?”
Her fox, she wanted to pet its fur.
As soon as Lu Chengjing nodded, Shang Wan scooped him up horizontally. As she bent down, her lips brushed his face lightly, a warm soft touch that parted instantly.
In that moment, Lu Chengjing thought it was an illusion. Meeting Shang Wan’s smiling eyes, his ear root flushed slightly, but the smile at his lips deepened slowly, like a night-blooming flower just opening.
Shang Wan: Was this fox deliberately seducing her?
She glanced down at Lu Chengjing’s pale slender calves, inwardly sighing it wasn’t the right time. No matter what, she had to wait until this fox’s injuries healed and he gained some weight, otherwise the experience wouldn’t be good.
After finishing his work, Shi Tou wanted to sit by the fire, but upon lifting his eyes and seeing the exceptionally well-matched pair by the fire, he inexplicably felt it would be dazzling to join them.
“Ah Huang, I’ll chat with you instead.”
He patted the yellow ox’s back three times, and once the yellow ox lay down, he sat beside it, leaning back against the cow’s back, chattering away.
“Ah Huang, do you know about the cowherd and the weaver girl? They also had a cow that helped the cowherd find a wife. But the cowherd wasn’t straightforward; he tricked the fairy, and when the fairy’s mother found out, she drew the Milky Way with a hairpin.”
“One day in the heavens is one year on earth. The fairy could see the cowherd every day, but the cowherd had to wait a year to see the fairy once. Don’t you think that’s retribution?”
The yellow ox mooed, and Shi Tou grinned, “You think it’s retribution too? Let me tell you another story. Do you know the Bull Demon King? He…”
By the fire, Shang Wan kept working with her hands, nodding her chin toward Shi Tou and the yellow ox, asking Lu Chengjing, “Did he used to corner cows and chat like this?”
Lu Chengjing tilted his head in recollection for a moment, hesitating, “Probably not; there were no cows in the Lu Residence.”
Shang Wan: “So?”
Lu Chengjing said helplessly, “He chatted with horses.”
Shang Wan: “…”
“Whatever, as long as he’s happy.” Shang Wan decided to respect others’ hobbies. Seeing the water in the wooden basin had little heat left, she changed it once more.
Soon, the pile of wood by Shang Wan’s hand was also whittled. She washed her hands clean and sat back down, looking at Lu Chengjing, “Do you want to talk now or when we go to bed later?”
Lu Chengjing was taken aback, just about to speak when the freshly bathed little friend Yuan Yuan was carried over by Xiao Huan.
Yuan Yuan’s little face was steamed pink by the hot water, and she was anything but well-behaved in Xiao Huan’s arms, twisting and turning, refusing to let Xiao Huan dry her hair.
“I’ll do it.” Shang Wan took the towel and covered Yuan Yuan’s little head with it. Yuan Yuan immediately settled down, tilting up her little face and giggling at her mother.
Shang Wan helplessly pinched her, placed the little one in Lu Chengjing’s arms to make it convenient for Xiao Huan to freshen up.
By the time Xiao Huan finished freshening up and returned, Yuan Yuan had already fallen asleep holding the milk bottle.
Xiao Huan took Yuan Yuan over, “Sister, I’ll take Yuan Yuan to sleep.”
Shang Wan nodded, turned her head to look at the man and cow leaning against each other, “Stop chatting, go bathe quickly.”
“Coming.” Shi Tou patted the yellow ox’s back reluctantly, “Ah Huang, tomorrow I’ll tell you how the Bull Demon King married his thirteenth concubine.”
Shang Wan: ???
Lu Chengjing: “…”
Shang Wan turned to Lu Chengjing, “Did you hear that, he…”
Before Shang Wan could finish, Lu Chengjing nodded, “Starting tomorrow, I’ll assign Shi Tou lessons.”
He shouldn’t have indulged Shi Tou reading too many street tabloids before.
Shang Wan waved her hand, “No, I just want to ask, does the Bull Demon King really have thirteen concubines?”
Lu Chengjing: “…”
This question was truly beyond his knowledge.
Seeing the expressions flickering on the person beside her, Shang Wan couldn’t help laughing out loud, poking Lu Chengjing’s cheek, “Forget it, let me change the question. Just tell me about that matter.”
