Translator: Storm in a Teacup
Guri was somewhat uneasy about Tarico. Seeing that Tarico and the others were here, she knew that Tarico would definitely be fishing by the river, so she came to take a look.
She didn’t expect to see Tarico and Jin Xiaoyu making out by the river.
Apart from Ye Xiaoxian, Guri had never seen Tarico be so passionate to any woman. It seemed that this woman was indeed charming.
In the afternoon, Guri returned to her own yurt and talked to her parents about Tarico, “Tarico fell in love with a woman from the Zhongyuan Area again. Why does he always like those women from the Zhongyuan Area? Are the women there more attractive than those in our tribe?”
Dati said, “Now that things have come to this point, don’t think about Tarico anymore. Your father has already found a good man for you. You two can get married next year, so forget that jerk Tarico. He was just lucky to meet the Seventh King. Otherwise… Hum.”
Mahal was afraid after being scolded once. Now he dared not to mention Tarico at all, so he did not speak.
Guri added, “Those Zhongyuan people are so strange. A bunch of people came, followed by another. Now that the woman brought a child, I don’t know if he is an illegitimate child or her biological brother. If he is an illegitimate child, it would be unfair for Tarico.”
“Who cares about him? He likes to chase after those women from Zhongyuan. It’ll be great that the kid is her illegitimate child. If she got together with Tarico, her husband back in Zhongyuan Area will come to them. I heard that men in the Zhongyuan Area could not tolerate his wife being together with a second person at all. If Tarico comes across this matter, he would most likely be done.”
Guri and Dati muttered a lot of bad words about Tarico.
……
Just like last year, after being busy for a short period, the New Year came.
Baoshan and Xiao Baofeng also returned.
Ye Xiaoxian felt that ever since Baoshan had talked with Qian Qi, his spirit had improved a lot. Although he still didn’t talk much, he looked a lot better. Even when it was snowing, he would get up early to exercise for a whole morning.
Li Hongmei said to Ye Xiaoxian that day, “Baoshan is amazing. He actually took a bath in the ice bucket naked this morning. Oh my, it made me shiver only by looking at the water.”
Ye Xiaoxian also shivered.
Although she had heard that many people liked to challenge their limits, and some great people liked to swim in the river during winter, she felt that it was unbelievable that this kind of people were living beside her.
Ye Xiaoxian was afraid of the cold, so she liked cuddling with others in sleep during winter. One night, she cuddled with Xiao Baozhu. Baozhu couldn’t help but ask her, “Sister-in-law, why don’t you go cuddle with my brother? My brother’s body is as strong as a buffalo and he is not afraid of the cold. Yesterday, I touched his body. My goodness, he was like a fireball. He must be very warm to cuddle with at night.”
Ye Xiaoxian: “No way!”
Of course, she wouldn’t take the initiative to stay close to him.
Because the days were getting better, their New Year was also better than before. Before the New Year, the Liu and the Yan family had already stocked a lot of grain, as well as dried fish and meat. Vegetables and firewood also filled up a cellar, and a lot of sunflower seeds.
On the days during the New Year, the two of them had nothing to talk about, so they just sang some songs, ate some sunflower seeds, and enjoyed themselves.
Once, Ye Xiaoxian woke up late and everyone else went to the public yurt already. She could only go there alone.
As she passed by Baoshan’s yurt, she heard some noise in there.
Now that Baoshan and Xiao Baofeng were living together, she didn’t know who was in there. She didn’t want to care about it, but she stopped unconsciously.
She walked to the door of the yurt and was about to ask when the door of the yurt opened.
“It’s you?”
“Little Ye?”
Ye Xiaoxian was a little embarrassed and asked, “What are you doing in the house?”
“I just took a shower and I was planning to go to the yurt to join them,” said Baoshan.
“Oh, you soaked in ice water?”
“Yes.”
The conversation between the two had always been so casual and cold. Ye Xiaoxian didn’t find it interesting and, at the same time, was a little angry.
She thought that Baoshan shouldn’t be thinking of her and didn’t like her anymore. Otherwise, why would they always be so polite and indifferent to each other?
Forget it, she didn’t want to talk with him neither. So she simply turned around and left.
Unexpectedly, right at the moment she turned around, Baoshan stopped her from behind, “Little Ye!”
When she turned her head and saw his gaze, she felt that he was actually very enthusiastic.
“What is it?”
Yan Baoshan said, “How about… come in and sit for a while. If you don’t want to go over, I have brought some comic books back. Perhaps… you like to read those.”
Seeing him stuttering and being nervous, Ye Xiaoxian knew that he really wanted to let her stay.
Although she didn’t like to read comic books, she still said, “Okay, let’s read.”
……
His yurt wasn’t heated, and it was cold. It wasn’t until she entered that he lit the charcoal fire.
After a while, the yurt warmed up. Baoshan opened the wooden case on the shelf, took out a few books and handed them to Ye Xiaoxian.
Ye Xiaoxian took over and he gestured her to sit on the bed.
His quilt was folded neatly and it was very comfortable to sit on it. In addition, his room didn’t smell at all, unlike the other men’s yurts that stank at most times.
Ye Xiaoxian opened one of the books and pretended to read.
She didn’t like to read those, and now that there were only Baoshan and herself in the room, it was even harder to concentrate on the book.
Of course, Baoshan did not know. After he handed Ye Xiaoxian the book, he went to brew some tea on the stove.
He didn’t know if it was because he had been in Qian’s house for a long time, but now he seemed pretty experienced in brewing tea. First, he boiled the water, poured the tea into the tea bowl, drained the first cup of tea, and then gave it to little Ye until the second time he brewed the tea..
Moreover, he brought a small stool for little Ye to place her tea bowl, so she didn’t have to hold it in her hands.
Little Ye put down the book and asked him, “You are quite particular about making tea.”
“Mmm, General Qian did it like this. He said in this way it would’t taste so harsh.”
She took a sip and added, “It tastes really good.”
“As long as you like it,” he said.
Then, he sat next to her, wanting to see what she needed.
Ye Xiaoxian asked, “Sit, why do you keep looking at me?”
The stool in the room had already been used to brew tea, so he could only sit by the bed, next to her.
She suddenly felt a little hot inside and started sweating.
But she could clearly hear the screams of the wind outside.
Ye Xiaoxian asked him again, “Did you live at General Qian’s house in Baoning city?”
Baoshan nodded, “Yes.”
“Then you two have many things to talk about. About what do you two men talk together every day?” she asked.
Baoshan thought about it and said, “Just things about marching and war.”
“Aren’t you not having a war now?”
“Maybe there will be war in the future,” he said, “now the war in the north is rising, there can be a fierce battle at any time.”
Ye Xiaoxian smiled. “Even if that is the case, you don’t have to live together and chat everyday.”
Baoshan seemed to taste something else. Little Ye had something in her words, so he asked, “Little Ye, do you think I have other thoughts?”
Little Ye said angrily, “Who knows? I’m not following you every day. And we are not familiar now, so who cares what you do in the city?”
Baoshan was obviously mistaken, which made him very unhappy, but he couldn’t explain.
Little Ye must be suspecting that he had another woman outside.
He said, “I can swear to the heavens that I really only talk about war with General Qian Qi. If I have any other intentions, I will suffer the disaster of thunderstruck!”
Ye Xiaoxian felt a little more comforted in her heart, but she still said angrily, “Why do you swear to me? I have nothing to do with you. I am the woman who was abandoned!”
“It was my fault. I didn’t explain clearly and abandoned you. I really didn’t know what to do at that time. Once my identity was exposed, I would definitely get revenge.”
“There’s no difference. In the end, I was abandoned anyway. We’re nothing now, and you’re not treating me as your wife,” She continued to gamble.
Baoshan was instantly anxious. He asked, “How didn’t I treat you as my wife? It was you who kept to be angry at me. As long as I appeared in front of you, you would be angry.”
“You abandoned me, and then you almost married another woman. Can I not be angry?” She asked.
“It’s my fault, but I’ve always wanted you to tell me what I should do to ease your anger. You ignored me and were unwilling to talk to me. You were even annoyed when I simply appeared by your side, even if I didn’t say a word.”
“…” This was the only time they had such an intense communication.
Even though it was an argument, at least they had expressed everything in their heart.
Ye Xiaoxian tried to calm down.
Yeah, she did treat him coldly at first, but later on, she didn’t anymore. She hoped that he would take the initiative, but he hid himself in his shell like a turtle.
After a while, she asked him, “Then last time at the Six King’s Palace, why did you sleep on the stool alone? I clearly left a place for you on the bed, and you didn’t come over.”
“……” Baoshan suddenly realized something.
He came closer to her, then held her hand, “I didn’t know at the time. I thought you hated me like before, didn’t want to get close to me, and didn’t want to sleep with me.”
She threw away his hands, “You’d rather sleep on the stool alone than approach me.”
“No, it really isn’t like this. I’m really afraid you’re angry. If you said it earlier, I’ll…”
“Didn’t you see me lying inside?”
“I… I thought you wanted to keep a distance from me, so you lay inside.”
Ye Xiaoxian’s anger was mostly gone and she thought that he was indeed a fool.
She added, “Anyway, you have abandoned me officially. We’re no longer husband and wife, so we can’t live together. Who cares about you?”
Yan Baoshan held her hand again. “I can remarry you. I didn’t call the eight carriers when I married you before. If you don’t mind, I can do it again. I can invite everyone we know to come over to enjoy our joyous wine. How about that?”