NOVPUBChapter 735: Chapter 733: Do You Have a Woman You Like Outside?
Chapter 735: Chapter 733: Do You Have a Woman You Like Outside?
Sally suddenly felt an intense thirst and stood by the window after getting out of bed, her hoarse voice saying, “I… want… water!”
Dongfang Yi, carrying a bucket filled with water, was about to pour it into the water jar.
Upon hearing Sally’s voice, his hand paused slightly, and then he walked toward her.
He effortlessly lifted the bucket to Sally’s face and tilted it slightly, the water reaching the edge, shimmering with dazzling light, “The ladle is broken, drink directly from the bucket.”
Sally looked at him, her cracked lips slowly moving closer, and she sipped the water in small mouthfuls.
Seeing that she could still drink water, Dongfang Yi asked, “You can eat, so why have you been starving yourself before?”
Sally felt the sparkles before her eyes were diminishing, “Living… has… no purpose!” She made up an excuse on the spot.
Dongfang Yi pondered briefly and understood, a fine young lady, forced to marry him, a ‘dead man’, and unable to remarry, truly had no hope in life.
Carrying the water bucket, Dongfang Yi walked towards the small kitchen. He suddenly stopped, and without turning his head, said to Sally, “From now on, I’ll take care of you.”
Sally looked at Dongfang Yi in surprise.
“Why?” After drinking water, speaking had become smoother, “I’m so lazy.”
Dongfang Yi poured the water into a large pot, vigorously scrubbing the rusty pot clean, “You are the wife my mother arranged for me. I failed to fulfill my filial duties while she was alive, but at least, I will take good care of what she left behind.”
“…”
“If you don’t want to live with me, you can leave. I’ll write you a Divorce Paper.”
During these times, there is no such thing as divorce, and with male superiority and female inferiority, if a couple wants to separate, one option is for the husband to dismiss his wife, the other is for him to write a Divorce Paper.
The former would destroy a woman’s reputation so that no one would marry her again.
The latter would allow her to choose a good man and remarry. For writing a Divorce Paper, there is an essential condition: the couple must have never consummated their marriage, and the woman must remain a virgin.
Sally replied, “I’ll keep your words in mind. If one day I want to leave, you can write it for me.”
After cleaning the pot, Dongfang Yi readily agreed, “Okay.”
Sally stood by the window, watching Dongfang Yi throw the prepared fish directly into the pot, add a handful of salt and water, and start boiling it.
Fresh fish, even without many ingredients, if cleaned of blood and viscera properly, has a tempting fragrance.
Smelling the aroma made Sally’s stomach painfully hungry, “Do you have anything to eat?”
Dongfang Yi looked at her, lifted the lid of the pot, and served her a small bowl of fish meat and broth, “This will stave off your hunger for now.”
“Thank you.” Sally took the bowl and scooped up a spoonful of broth, sipping it slowly.
The warm salty fish soup in her belly seemed to revive her, and the pain quickly subsided significantly.
Seeing the way she was eating, slow and deliberate, Dongfang Yi remarked, “Did you often go hungry before?”
“Hm?” Sally looked up at him.
“You know to eat slowly when you’re really hungry.”
If it were the first time being hungry, seeing food would typically trigger a frenzy of eating. But that way of eating is very bad for the body. On the other hand, this slow, small-mouthful manner is just perfect.
Sally said, “…Eating too fast can cause choking.”
The small bowl of fish soup was quickly finished.
Feeling strength return to her body, Sally looked towards the pig that was still tied up outside, “Aren’t you going to process it?”
Dongfang Yi replied, “I will, but the meat has already been sold to Landlord Zhang in the village.”
Seeing her gaze linger, “Do you want some?”
Sally quickly shook her head, “No.”
Dongfang Yi said, “When I slaughter it, I’ll save a piece of meat for you.”
Sally: “…”
Dongfang Yi threw another handful of potato starch into the fish soup to stew. Once it was ready, he seasoned it with some spices before serving it.
Sally, because she had been hungry for so long, only ate until she was about sixty percent full and then stopped, even though her body clamored for her to eat more.
Yi, being tall and strong, ate a lot, and he packed up the leftovers.
Sally didn’t want to eat for free, so she cleaned the pots and pans, and even organized the messy firewood in the kitchen into neat rows, clearing up a lot of space.
Seeing that she wasn’t too lazy to do anything, Yi’s expression lightened somewhat, “I’m going to kill a pig and scald its hair, can you help me heat up a pot of water?”
“Sure.” Sally agreed without hesitation, as this would make her feel more entitled to eat the pork later.
Yi was very efficient at killing pigs, with a swift motion of his knife, and in no time, he had processed a pig, even setting aside a good piece of meat for Sally.
The servants from Landlord Zhang’s house left behind two taels of silver, and then took away the slaughtered pig.
Looking at the leftover organs like the heart, liver, lungs, and intestines that remained, Sally’s eyes couldn’t help but light up, “They don’t want these?”
“Nobody wants these, I was just going to dig a hole and bury them,” Yi said as he went to get a shovel.
“Wait, wait, wait, I want them.”
“You want them?”
“If these are prepared well, they can be really delicious.” Sally rolled up her sleeves, “Help me get water. Cleaning these things uses a lot of water. By the way, I remember there’s a jar of wine under the altar for offering to you, also help me bring that over.”
“My altar…” Yi went inside the house.
He came out quickly, one hand carrying a jar of wine, the other holding an ancestral tablet.
Sally watched as he went straight into the kitchen, threw the ancestral tablet into the stove, and soon a thick smoke rose up, the flames lapping, turning the tablet into ashes.
“Uh… that was me, your spouse since the wedding ceremony, and you just burned it?” Sally said in a faint voice.
Yi’s forehead twitched, “I’m still alive!”
…
In this era, due to wars, there were fewer men than women, and with male-dominated society, it was common for one man to have multiple wives. Someone like him, tall and strong with good looks, could possibly marry a woman from a high-status family.
Even if he were in Beast World, a man like him would be the target of pursuit by females.
Sally, watching Yi help her fetch water, asked, “Do you have a woman you like out there?”
Yi replied, “There are no women on the battlefield.”
Sally nodded, “What about men?”
Yi was speechless: “…”
Although such things existed in the army, he wasn’t interested.
Seeing that he didn’t answer, Sally acted as if she understood, “Mhm, mhm, I see.”
Understood nothing… Yi couldn’t be bothered with her.
After cleaning all the pig innards, Sally started a fire, preparing to blanch them.
At that moment, someone called from outside the fence gate, “Does Yi live here?”
Sally peeked out stealthily.
Yi, holding a hammer while fixing a window, heard the shout and responded, “Who is it?”
“A letter from Changan.” The person at the gate yelled.
Yi went over to take the letter, and as he read it… his brows furrowed tightly.
Sally didn’t inquire further; she placed the clean pig intestines into the pot to blanch them, and then passed the heart, liver, and lungs through the water as well…
Yi didn’t share the contents of the letter with Sally, but he noticeably picked up the pace in repairing the thatched hut.
Sally didn’t ask.
She stewed all the pig offal until they were tender, and the aroma spread all around.
Attracted by the smell, Mrs. Zhang, the neighbor, came by.
