FIMA Ch46.2: Red Sleeves Add Fragrance

Everyone present was family, and being from the countryside, they weren’t overly formal.

After serving tea, everyone sat down to have breakfast.

The Gu family’s conditions were slightly better than those of other families in Huangyang Village, having three meals a day except during the deep winter. Of course, they didn’t eat anything extravagant.

However, there were still quite a few dishes left from yesterday’s banquet, making this morning’s meal more sumptuous.

In addition to the usual large bowl of mixed grain porridge and a large bowl of coarse buns, there were also three reheated hot dishes, including pork fat cabbage and stir-fried green beans.

Xie Changyue usually didn’t have much of an appetite in the morning, and having eaten a lot last night, after drinking a bowl of mixed grain porridge, he couldn’t finish the bun he had.

He subconsciously looked at Gu Siyuan beside him, smiling, “Husband, you still have to study later. Let me give you my bun!”

Gu Siyuan glanced at him, seeing through his intentions.

However, he still took the bun over. In a farming household, food was precious and not a bit could be wasted.

He took the larger portion for himself and left a small piece for Xie Changyue, knowing that although he felt full now from the porridge, he would be hungry later in the morning without something solid.

Xie Changyue was very satisfied with this, tearing the bun into small pieces and slowly eating them.

Seeing the two even sharing a bun, the others couldn’t help but chuckle. This marriage seemed to be going well; they had never seen such affection.

After breakfast, they saw off Gu Laosan’s family, who were returning to the county town.

Gu Siyuan then held Xie Changyue’s hand and followed Mu Xia and Xie Er to sit under the eaves of the east wing.

Next, it was time for their family to spend together.

Gu Siyuan opened the window, practicing calligraphy in the morning sunlight, occasionally looking up to see his three closest people.

Mu Xia was at the loom, Gu Er was making rattan crafts, and Xie Changyue was chatting with them.

Recently, the family had just planted the seedlings in the fields, so there wasn’t much to do except occasionally catching insects and checking water levels.

Each household was busy earning some extra money.

In previous years, Gu Laosan would go to the manor near Wuqing County with Gu Laoda to work.

But lately, thanks to Gu Siyuan, they made more money and had an easier time selling various rattan crafts, so Gu Er no longer went, leaving only Gu Da to go.

Regarding this, Li Xiangtao, who had become very friendly towards their second branch due to the marriage arrangement, couldn’t help but make a few sour comments.

Seeing the rattan crafts reminded Xie Changyue of the small lion Gu Siyuan had given him through the matchmaker when they first arranged the marriage.

Hmph, his husband was truly cunning.

But since his husband and father both knew how to make rattan crafts, he wanted to learn too.

He looked at Gu Er and Mu Xia, acting coyly, “Father, Pa, I want to learn to make these too, to help earn money for the family.”

Hearing this, Mu Xia smiled and looked at his smooth, fair hands, shaking his head gently and making a few gestures.

Xie Changyue couldn’t quite understand, but fortunately, Gu Er explained in time, “These rough tasks are very hard on the hands, you shouldn’t do them. Your Pa is asking what skills you have; just do what you’re good at.”

Xie Changyue propped his fair chin with his hand, frowning as he thought carefully.

When he was at the Marquis residence, besides studying and learning to read with the tutor, he also learned bookkeeping and embroidery.

However, he didn’t like embroidery much and only learned it passably; he preferred tending to the flowers and plants in the garden and making ointments and such.

But it seemed that rural families didn’t grow flowers.

He curled his fingers, feeling a bit embarrassed, “I’m good at taking care of plants.”

Mu Xia and Xie Er were momentarily stunned, not knowing what to do.

At that moment, a cold voice came from the window, “Good with plants?”

Xie Changyue quickly turned around and nodded vigorously at his husband.

The plants he tended always grew well, even better than those cared for by the gardener hired by the Suining Marquis residence, perhaps because he was a farmer’s child by nature.

Gu Siyuan put down his brush, walked out, and handed Xie Changyue a cloth bag.

“These are some seeds I recently acquired. The merchant said they were from overseas, but I don’t know what they are. If you have time, you can help me plant them and see.”

Xie Changyue took the bag and immediately opened it to look, exclaiming in surprise, “Wow, they’re so pretty! I’ve never seen seeds like this, yellow and shiny, like… like tiny pieces of gold!”

Both Gu Er and Mu Xia, being farmers, naturally loved seeds and couldn’t help but look too, also pleasantly surprised.

“These seeds look so nice. I wonder what kind of flowers they’ll produce?”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen seeds like these before.”

Clutching the bag tightly, Xie Changyue made a determined little fist, “Husband, don’t worry. I’ll make sure to grow these flowers well and not waste such beautiful seeds.”

Mu Xia and Xie Er also nodded firmly.

“…” Gu Siyuan.

He quietly watched his three family members, thinking to himself: Don’t expect too much from the flowers; they’ll probably look worse than foxtail. But the fruit will surprise you.

Although his memories of the previous two worlds were hazy, the rewards he received after completing the tasks were still stored in the system.

The rewards from the lottery could be taken to other worlds.

In the first world, he got a spatial use card, which he hadn’t used yet.

In the second world, he got a batch of crop seeds, just in time.

It was summer now, and there were enough vegetables in the fields, even more than they needed, so sparing a small patch for planting flowers wasn’t an issue.

After some discussion, the old lady agreed to allocate a small section of the vegetable garden behind the house for Xie Changyue to plant his flowers.

Because it was the first time seeing these seeds, Xie Changyue was unfamiliar with their habits, so he divided them into several parts for treatment.

Some seeds were planted directly in the ground, some were soaked alternately in warm and hot water, and some were preserved with plant ash. If these seeds weren’t suitable for this season, he could try again in autumn or winter.

Gu Siyuan watched the little one busying about and thought: he does seem to have some talent for seed cultivation.

After planting the seeds, Xie Changyue was incredibly attentive, wanting to check on them eight hundred times a day.

Gu Siyuan, watching his small figure running back and forth, felt quite speechless and beckoned him inside.

Xie Changyue obediently went over.

Gu Siyuan asked him, “Do you know how to grind ink?”

Xie Changyue nodded, smiling brightly, “Of course.”

Saying this, he slightly rolled up his sleeves and stood next to the desk, carefully grinding the inkstone.

Gu Siyuan nodded, satisfied with his obedience.

He resumed writing.

He wasn’t writing anything complicated, just the texts required for the imperial examination.

The original body’s knowledge was average; many books were learned in a general sense without deep understanding or the ability to apply and infer. Even many crucial passages were not memorized properly.

So, taking advantage of the farm leave, Gu Siyuan copied the previous books from beginning to end, memorizing them to deepen his impression and also practicing his calligraphy.

After grinding ink for a while, Xie Changyue’s wrist felt a bit sore, so he glanced at his husband, who was writing.

He was literate and roughly knew it was something from the “Book of Songs”. Coincidentally, he had only learned the “Book of Songs” among the Five Classics and stopped there; he had only heard some sentences from the other Four Classics, which were for scholars.

“Wow!”

But what amazed him was how outstanding his husband’s handwriting was.

Probably for the imperial examination, the script used was the most formal and upright style, initially looking dignified and proper. But amidst the straight lines and strokes, his personal style was almost spilling off the paper, with iron strokes and silver hooks, hidden sharpness, even making the cheapest yellow mulberry paper look noble.

Xie Changyue couldn’t help but praise again, “This handwriting is really good!”

He had seen the handwriting of his previous father and elder brother Shen Changye in the Marquis residence, but they were not as good as his husband; even the widely praised Xiao Jingchuan was just comparable.

However, his husband’s handwriting was obviously still immature, with great potential for improvement, surpassing Xiao Jingchuan significantly.

Gu Siyuan’s mouth curved slightly as he handed him the brush, “You write a few characters too.”

Seeing his husband’s handwriting, Xie Changyue felt a bit shy.

But since coming to Huangyang Village, he hadn’t written anything for a long time. He extended his fair hand, took the brush, and a familiar feeling welled up in his heart.

Back at the Marquis residence, he studied with the sons and daughters in the mansion, learning the regular script of Ouyang and the small script of Zanhua, which was delicate and beautiful.

However, he stared at the characters next to him for a few moments.

When he started writing, though it was still in Ouyang style, it was easy to see that he intentionally imitated Gu Siyuan’s style, with a hint of flowing pride amidst the elegance and grace.

Gu Siyuan observed for a moment and nodded seriously, “Not bad.”

Xie Changyue was also very satisfied, not expecting that not only hadn’t he lost his touch, but he seemed to have improved a bit.

However…

“Wind and rain, melancholy and dreary… Since seeing you, how can I not be happy?” Gu Siyuan’s low, magnetic voice softly recited beside him, “You’ve learned the Book of Songs well, and your mood seems quite good.”

Xie Changyue’s ears instantly turned red.

But this poem indeed reflected his recent true feelings.

His life had suddenly turned upside down, and his heart had once been filled with silence and sadness. However, because he met his husband and because of his affection, all those worries and sorrows vanished in an instant, how could he not be happy?

In the yard, Li Xiangtao had just finished threshing soybeans and was carrying a large bundle of soybean stalks back, muttering curses.

Threshing soybeans was laborious, but she had done it for many years, so it wasn’t a big deal.

However, she felt uncomfortable seeing Gu Er help Mu Xia with it. Her husband worked hard on the manor, while Gu Er earned more just by weaving those rattan crafts and could still help with the household chores. Hmph…

Gu Zhen just came out of the room and was about to help.

Li Xiangtao quickly dodged, “Zhen’er, you don’t need to do this. You’re a scholar; you can’t do such rough work.”

Saying this, she hurriedly ran a few steps and threw the soybean stalks in the corner pile.

Looking up, she saw the window of the east wing open, with Gu Yang and Xie Changyue leaning together at the desk, talking about something with Xie Changyue’s face all red.

She remembered that the idea of making money with rattan crafts came from Gu Yang and couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable, snorting coldly, “Not as smart as my Zhen’er, still so inattentive, playing around with his husband. How can one study like this? And he even said he wanted to take the exam next spring, huh… It’d be a miracle if he passed.”