Chapter 17.1

Translated by Aviana

DǍYÁJÌ* means a sumpteous meal, which people usually had on 1st and 15th of the month.

As she slept late last night, the next day, Lin Qingwan got up very late.

Upon waking up, she found that Yang Tiezhu had disappeared. It was only after asking Yang-shi she got to know that he had gone to the town early in the morning.

Yang-shi had put breakfast aside for her.

After simply eating a few bites, Lin Qingwan washed the dishes and then helped Yang shi with peeling the pea pods.

Those two big black dogs were still in the yard. They were lying under the eaves of the main room and basking under the sun, with their chin on their paws and tails wagging behind, as they lazily squinted at her.

Seeing Lin Qingwan looking at those two dogs, Yang shi said with a smile, “These two dogs were raised by Tiezhu since childhood. Usually, they’re able to understand human body language. Every time Tiezhu goes to the mountains, he would take them along with him. They had helped him several times.”

Yang-shi pointed at the one with a bigger build, “This is Da Hei,” and then pointed at the one with the smaller build, “This is the Er Hei.”

Upon looking at them under the sunlight, Lin Qingwan found that these two dogs were very big, quite similar to those wolf-dogs she had seen in her previous life, not a bit like the native guard dogs she saw in the village.

In Luoxia Village, most households raised dogs, but all of those native dogs had a thin body and a drooping tail. Usually, they could be used as guard dogs but were not fit for hunting.

“It is said that their mother is a wolf descendant. Do they appear a bit similar to a wolf?”

Lin Qingwan looked at them and nodded her head. In her previous life, these sorts of dogs were called wolf dogs and were said to have both wolf blood and dog blood in them. But she hadn’t expected that these sorts of dogs to be present here too.

“Rest assured, they don’t bite people. It would be fine once you are familiar with them in the future.” Yang-shi thought she was sacred, thus she explained to her with a smile.

As they were talking, Yang Tiezhu pushed open the courtyard gate and walked in.

“Aunt, Wan’er, I’m back.”

“You’ve returned? How was it? Did you sell it at a good price?” Yang-shi put down the pea pods in her hands and asked him.

This time, Yang Tiezhu didn’t bring any large preys to sell but merely brought a tiger skin along with a few hares and peasants.

The tiger skin was peeled on the spot in the mountains and brought back, as the distance was very big, and the prey was too big for him to bring it back. Thus, Yang Tiezhu focused only on the valuable thing on the tiger’s body, its skin. Its meat was too sour for people to eat.

“En, the selling price was very good.” Yang Tiezhu said quite excitedly: “The skin wasn’t tanned, but a boss from someplace happened to be looking for this item, so as the skin was intact, he also didn’t decrease the price, and gave me a selling price of 50 taels. And the tiger’s whip was sold for 10 taels.”

Tael (pinyin: liǎng) unit of weight equal to 50 grams

Tiger whip refers to the dry penis and testicles of cats. In traditional Chinese medicine, a tiger penis (Vietnamese: Pín hổ; Chinese: 虎鞭; pinyin: hǔ biān) is said to have important therapeutic properties. However, there is no scientific proof that the tiger penis can be used to treat any medical disorder. Due to wildlife protection and several other studies, it is no longer used in medicine.

Naturally, Yang Tiezhu was happy. Even hunting a few wild boars would not fetch the same price as a tiger skin.

Yang-shi was also very happy upon hearing this.

Now everything was good, the child could get lavishly married. Initially, she had said that she would give a little bit of her private savings for his marriage, but he adamantly refused.

“Good, good, good, that’s good. Then without further ado, take advantage of this good weather and get married.”

“Okay, aunt. In these two days, I will start preparations.” Saying so, his eyes circled around and fell on Lin Qingwan at the side.

Lin Qingwan, who was swatting there and peeling the pods, felt a pair of hot eyes falling on her, and when she heard Yang shi say them to get married without further ado, her drooping face turned red at once.

The sun was strong, and her face was also very hot, sweltering her from the heat.

“Aunt, I will go back home first. After coming down from the mountain, I directly came here”, Yang Tiezhu thought for a while and took out a bag of silver from his bosom. “I’ll leave the money here first…” Who said he was stupid? He was also aware that, if his family saw the silver, he would be unable to keep them.

Yang-shi glared at him, “For what are you leaving it with me? Soon someone will be your wife, let your wife put it away for you.” saying so, her eyes fell on Lin Qingwan, teasingly.

At once, Yang Tiezhu’s face turned red with embarrassment, not knowing where to put his hands and feet. However, he felt sweetness growing in his heart as if soaking in a honeypot.

He dawdlingly walked to Lin Qingwan.

Seeing him walking towards her, Lin Qingwan hurriedly got up. Blushing fiercely, he waved his hand and said shily, “Aiya, my aunt… I don’t want…I will leave it with you…”

Yang Tiezhu looked at the completely red-tinted face in front of him, thinking it was very beautiful, but he couldn’t describe such a beautifulness. His heart that was longing and craving for the past few days finally felt satisfied…

Under the instructions of Yang -shi, Yang Tiezhu unhesitatingly put the bag with silver in Lin Qingwan’s hands.

Upon touching those two delicate soft small hands, his big hands seemed to be scalded as he hurriedly pulled them back. However, he couldn’t help but recall the feeling of tenderness in his heart…Wanwan’s hands were truly…very smooth and so small…making him want to grab them in his hands without letting them go…

“Wanwan, you help me put them away. Let’s, let’s get married.” Saying so, his face also flushed with embarrassment.

Is this so-called handing over financial authority?

Yang-shi beside them smiled and urged her:” Accept it, sooner or later, you would have to put it here.”

Lin Qingwan blushed as she looked at Yang-shi and then looked at Yang Tiezhu, feeling that they were truly genuine and sincere when they said so; thus, she accepted the bag with silver.

The silver in the bag was heavy, embodying his complete trust and sincerity…

Her heart abruptly melted so much so that there was even a trace of peculiar sweetness…

“Don’t you want to keep some for yourself?” She whispered as she asked him with her head hung down.

Yang Tiezhu looked at her tiny face, which was hung down. From his point of view, he could merely see a head full of jet-black thick beautiful hair and her fair neck with a faint blue vein on them. He couldn’t bring himself to move his pair of eyes away, looking avariciously.

“It’s enough to have two pieces of broken silver on me; usually, I don’t spend money. Once we had discussed what’s to be done for the marriage, then I will come back to take them from you.”

“Alright.” If she declined it down again, it would inevitably seem somewhat pretentious. Anyway, she had already decided to marry him, just take it as keeping it in advance.

“Then I’ll go back first.”

Yang Tiezhu, with great difficulty, withdrew his avaricious eyes and stepped out of the courtyard gate.

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