As soon as they left the blacksmith’s shop, An Jing asked, "Husband, spending over twelve taels today, does it hurt your heart?"
Xiao Changyi shook his head slightly.
"Why doesn’t it hurt your heart?" An Jing continued knowingly.
"I know it’s for me."
An Jing immediately laughed and pushed him, "Flatter yourself, I definitely didn’t do it for you."
Xiao Changyi immediately said sternly, "Jing Er, no lying allowed." He paused, "You may deceive others, but you’d better not deceive me."
"Then you’re not allowed to lie to me either!" An Jing bargained.
Xiao Changyi agreed without a second thought, "Mhm."
An Jing was satisfied and then spoke the truth with a smile, "Of course, it’s for you. Threshing rice is so hard, this way you can relax a lot when the time comes."
Threshing is usually done by men, as they have greater arm strength. Lifting and striking down the rice time and again may be manageable for women at first, but after a while, women definitely can’t compete with men.
Even though Lin Anjing was strong, in the past, it was usually Lin Daqiang and Lin An Dong who did the threshing, while Lin Anjing would cut the rice with Mrs. Gu and the others.
Knowing she wouldn’t be much help to her husband when the time came, therefore, she had to find a way to make it easier for him.
"Husband, I can help you thresh as well. The threshing machine only requires stepping on it to operate, not like wielding a flail which is so exhausting with the repetitive lifting and striking."
Xiao Changyi was very pleased that An Jing wasn’t lying, a barely noticeable smile curling at the edge of his mouth, but he did not agree with the latter part of her statement.
"I can do the threshing myself." As if fearing that she would misunderstand and get angry, he paused, then added, "It’s good for you to cut the rice."
Her man was like that, knowing she wanted to share his burden, knowing she also wanted to be good to him, so he gave her the easiest tasks, not stopping her from doing anything at all.
She wasn’t a delicate and frail lady; she could withstand hardship. She couldn’t bear just sitting and watching her man do heavy labour—that was something she could never do.
As always, what she wanted was to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, not to be a drag on him.
"Okay," An Jing’s smile became even more radiant, and her fingers interlocked with Xiao Changyi’s tightened, "I’ll cut the rice, and you’ll thresh when the time comes."
Xiao Changyi didn’t say anything more, but his fingers interlocking with An Jing’s also tightened. This hand, he would hold for a lifetime.
In the following half-month, An Jing and Xiao Changyi were either making fermented tofu at home or reclaiming land on the mountain. With the help of the ox, their speed of clearing land had increased a lot, even though making fermented tofu had taken up much of their time. Still, An Jing and Xiao Changyi managed to clear another acre of land and planted the whole acre with sweet potatoes.
Originally, Xiao Changyi had planned to plant sesame, because they had already planted a third of an acre with sweet potatoes. However, An Jing suggested that the sweet potatoes could be made into vermicelli to sell. Although Xiao Changyi didn’t quite understand what vermicelli was, since An Jing wanted to plant sweet potatoes, he had no objections.
That day, An Jing and Xiao Changyi were at home waiting for Shi Xiaolan and An Fu to deliver tofu. Lately, Shi Xiaolan and An Fu had been bringing two hundred catties of tofu every two days for them to make fermented tofu.
But the appointed time had passed, and Shi Xiaolan and An Fu had not appeared. Shi Xiaolan and An Fu have always been early; they had never been late. An Jing asked Xiao Changyi to go see if something had happened.
Indeed, something had happened.
An Fu had been beaten by Wu Dashan and Wu Xiaoshan, the two brothers, who had cornered him at the entrance of Jiuping Village and even smashed his head open.