The Lady’s Sickly Husband

Translator: Antonia

When Jian Qingyou left, it was already four o’clock.

In winter the sky got dark early. Mo Qianxue mainly did business in the morning and at noon. In the evening when the porters went home, there wouldn’t be ships, so there was no business for her to attend to.

She ordered Yunyao to check out windows and doors and then called Ning Shaoqing and Juniang to get out of the restaurant and headed home.

Although Juniang was a little numb, she wasn’t a fool. Seeing that the couple were going home together, she, a strong country woman, found an excuse that her husband was waiting for her to cook and ran away quickly.

Mo Qianxue knew what she meant and giggled behind her hand.

She took delight in the river bank line and glowing pink clouds above it. There wasn’t chores for her to do at home, so she asked Ning Shaoqing to take a walk with her along the bank.

Ning Shaoqing smiled and didn’t talk.

Mo Qianxue ran in small steps all the way to the river bank.

Ning Shaoqing shook his head, looking over at her and telling her to slow down. Now and then he blamed her that she, as an adult, should act like such a child.

The blame came out of his mouth, yet his eyes were full of love and he subconsciously sped up in order not to fall too far behind.

Su Qi stood on the other side of the river under cover. Today was the day her restaurant first operation. How could he not show up?

As long as he took a glance at her, it was good already.

Dark, dark be reed and rush,

The white dew turns to frost;

What manner of woman is this?

Lost?

Grin I ran up,

Grin I go down,

Upstream heavy, there she’d be

In mid water distantly.

Seeing Mo Qianxue cracked a smile, he felt his heart skipping a beat and smiled too.

Then, he saw the man following behind her like her shadow…

It was getting late and suddenly thin snow began to float in the air, swirling and falling on the skin, cold and tiny as mini thorns, like a dream-poker.

The soft dancing snowflakes momentarily turning hard ice gave people a clear mind and fluster.

It was indeed a beautiful picture of flakes of thin snow falling down and dancing to the wind. Mo Qianxue reached out to let it fall on her hand, but what she got was a chilly small dot of water.

She put down the hand, turning a circle, and smiled.

Ning Shaoqing smiled back at her lovely action.

Mo Qianxue felt that his smile was so warm that it was able to melt the snow, to trigger the Spring, to bewitch people and to enchant the whole world…

Snowflakes, a handsome man, a creek, and lush mountain. She really wished to keep the moment forever.

Mo Qianxue couldn’t help stretching out her hands and made a frame of a camera, smiling like a flower, “Come on and laugh again…”

Ning Shaoqing didn’t cooperate and still displayed a faint smile, walking over to grab her hands and blow warm air to them, saying with concern, “It’s getting colder. Don’t let your hands frozen.”

Mo Qianxue numbly stared at him, suddenly got up on her toes and stamped a quick kiss on his cheek before turning around and quickly running toward the forest of the Wang village.

Ning Shaoqing was taken aback but didn’t catch up immediately. He stood at where he was, intentionally or unintentionally looking over to the other side of the river.

When she looked back and found Ning Shaoqing standing still there, Mo Qianxue stamped her feet with shily anger, “Fool. Come one and let’s go home!”

Others fell in love before getting married while she got married before falling in love. Shouldn’t he catch up with her and kissed her at this moment? Was this a real relationship? Why did she sometimes felt like playing a show alone?

Depressed, she heard a sound, “Who is a fool?” The cello voice was as gentle as clear spring water. The tone sounded blaming but loving and caring at the same time, which instantly moisturized her heart.

“You! You’re a fool! Hem, come and get me!”

“Be careful; don’t run too fast…”

The woman in front of him ran into the forest with her light, lithe and graceful body like a mountain elf.

The man behind her paced with a smile, at a speed not lower than hers, but he still carried his elegance of strolling steps.

At dusk, the sky turned darker and darker.

The person on the opposite side of the river was still there, standing motionless like a wood stake. The white swirling snow made the sky appeared less dark.

However, at this moment, he only felt that the light was losing inch by inch as the sky became darker and darker. The darkness swallowed the sky and the ground and him, overwhelmingly, to smash everything into ashes, only to leave the pair of love birds.

If his was in another frame of mind…

If this was another scenario…

He would find it a lovely and eye-pleasingly harmonious picture to watch the handsome tall man and the pretty tiny woman, with love and chemistry between them…

Nevertheless…

*

The next day, the team heading for the restaurant added another person onto the list—Wang Tiansong.

Last night, the students were finally decided.

Four of them in total, surnamed Wang, Fang, Gao and Li respectively, a coincidence like certain mysterious balance.

Mo Qianxue had met those boys who aged between ten and twelve. Their parents were of good characters and they themselves were docile too.

Currently, she didn’t have much time to manage the root carving program, let alone teaching the students one by one on how to hold the knife, how to use the force, or how to make a sharp, so she had to take Wang Tiansong to the restaurant and, when she had a spare moment, teach him something to pass onto the children.

Wang Tiansong wasn’t a lazy person. At noon when the work was busy, he also helped serve the guests and cried out at the dock to solicit customers.

By his crying out, many waves of ship passengers were attracted to the restaurant, and most of them ordered many dishes. This intrigued Mo Qianuxe.

She thought that she should discuss it with manager Tang to set up a banner at the dock written the name and specialties of her restaurant.

After all, her restaurant was situated behind the warehouses. If not paying attention the ship passengers couldn’t see it at all.

It would be long before the restaurant earned its name by words of mouth.

In the after, she turned to manager Tang and told him her thought. He went back to discuss with manager Jin and quickly approved the next day.

On that day, the banner was set up. With the assistance of manager Tang, the managing office of the dock only charged one hundred cents per month for it. Mo Qianxue was so happy.

In modern times, advertising costs were scarily expensive. To advertise in such a visible place would cost more than the restaurant itself.

It snowed for a few days and got colder with each passing day, but the business became better and better.

All dishes Juniang cooked were taught by Mo Qianxue. At the beginning, Mo Qianxue always found the dishes a little weird, but as Juniang cooked more and became more proficient, the taste also became more and more authentic, according to Mo Qianxue.

Many ship passengers praised that the dishes here were not worse than those in a famous brand restaurant.

On this day, a luxury carriage parked at the front door of Mo Qianxue’s restaurant. Off jumped a girl servant, holding a letter inviting Mo Qianxue to Jian mansion.