Chapter 45: Is this a human life?! This is the life of immortals

To be honest, nobody has ever seen a man like this.

The men in the village are mostly honest and inarticulate; they never say such sweet talk, and nobody has ever heard it.

When Lu Yuan said that, without even mentioning how Su Liyan felt, everyone felt strangely moved.

The women in the courtyard watched Lu Yuan, one arm holding Su Liyan, the other hand rubbing her hair, his face full of smiles.

To be honest, everyone was envious.

Is this how Su Liyan spends every day?

This match is a very wealthy young master, and he's also handsome.

Most importantly, he especially values Su Liyan, truly treats her as important—just look at all these things in the courtyard.

This feeling—even a father doting on his son in the village isn't like this, is it?

He's also so good at caring for people, feeling for them, speaking pleasantly, making one feel strangely comfortable inside.

Such a scene—nobody has ever seen anything like it.

Everyone either married in during the turmoil or before it.

At that time the Great Zhou Dynasty was extremely dark, famine everywhere, people constantly on the verge of starving to death.

Then women were worth the least; three catties of coarse flour could buy a wife.

Some of the women in Qiu Qiu Village didn't even know what their husbands looked like before they married in.

Some were simply kidnapped by traffickers during the flight from famine.

As for weddings and love, nobody had even heard those words before.

They had never experienced them.

Of course, things aren't much better now, especially for the village girls.

Sometimes when the father gets drunk outside, he rashly promises something; after sobering up, he can't back out due to face, so he really sends the daughter away.

Or else, just half a sack of white flour, and the family sends her off.

Such things happen frequently in the village.

The village women are also accustomed to enduring and submitting.

Actually, Su Liyan should have been like that too, except she is just too beautiful.

She's famous throughout the surrounding ten li and eight villages, which is how the matchmakers found out.

Those matchmakers thought it a shame for such a pretty girl to stay in the village; going to the city she might fetch a good price.

So they took her to the city to have a look.

Even if the men in the city aren't great, they're still better than the village ones.

Who would have thought? A good match, and the result is this son-in-law—even in the city you'd have to search with a lantern to find a son-in-law like him.

Envious—really, extremely envious.

At this moment Lu Yuan, holding Su Liyan, grinned and said:

"What's this? Just follow me well from now on, and you'll enjoy endless blessings."

"To get people to follow you wholeheartedly, you've got to know how to paint big pies."

"Of course, Lu Yuan isn't just painting pies—after all, with Su Liyan following him, how could they suffer hardship?"

"Su Liyan in his arms kept nodding and said:"

"Mmm~ As long as big brother doesn't abandon me, I'll always follow big brother~"

"Joking aside, anyone who doesn't want this wife must be crazy!"

After a moment, Su Liyan rose from Lu Yuan's embrace, saw the people around her with their half‑smiles, and blushed deeply.

After sitting for a while, Lu Yuan felt tired—last night he had been tossed about, and this morning he got up early.

He was sleepy.

Seeing her son‑in‑law yawn, Su's mother quickly said:

"Son‑in‑law, if you're sleepy, go rest quickly—Changliang's room was already prepared for you yesterday."

Lu Yuan nodded, rose from the stool, and then said:

"If I don't wake up by noon, you just eat without waiting for me."

Lu Yuan feared they'd call him while eating, waking him from his sound sleep—that would be really unpleasant.

Su's mother also nodded repeatedly.

Su Liyan hurried to make the bed for her man and heat the kang.

At noon Su's father and Su Liyan's younger brother Su Changliang returned; upon learning that their son‑in‑law had come back, and after bringing a bunch of things, they couldn't stop smiling.

Since the son‑in‑law didn't get up to eat at noon, the Su family just made something simple to stave off hunger; after eating, Su's father and Su Changliang went out again.

Lu Yuan continued sleeping.

That afternoon a group of village women came again, gathering in the courtyard to chat.

To be precise, they were curious—everyone wondered how city folk live their lives.

Especially how Su Liyan lives in the city.

Su Liyan sat beside her mother; when anyone asked something, she answered with a face full of happiness.

"Ah?? You're now an artisan?"

Su's mother, hearing Su Liyan talk about recent events, exclaimed in astonishment:

"This is a great thing!!"

The villagers' mindset differs from that of city people.

Of course, most importantly, everyone in the courtyard thinks Su Liyan is supporting Lu Yuan, unaware of his family background.

But the villagers know, ah.

What a fine match — the son-in-law is actually the young master of the household.

For them, working is just for fun; they don't mind earning over thirty dollars a month.

Su's mother knows, though, that those two shops bring in a rent of one hundred twenty dollars each month.

She also knows that her son-in-law cleaned up the old house and sold it for over nine thousand silver dollars.

Nine thousand dollars!

A rural person couldn't earn that much even if they didn't eat or drink their whole life, right?

Hearing Su Liyan's words, Su's mother nodded repeatedly, her face full of joy — this is really good.

Never mind the artisan's identity; from now on it's a guaranteed harvest rain or shine, an iron rice bowl.

Just saying that Su Liyan will be able to earn money in the future — that's a great thing.

Otherwise, you say your daughter just eats and drinks for free at home all day; in the short term it's fine, but over time people might start to dislike her.

Now that she's gone out to work, your daughter is earning money too — that's really a good thing.

Su's mother smiled and nodded, then suddenly thought of something and said solemnly:

"When you earn money, keep just two or three dollars for your own meals, and hand the rest over to your husband — a woman shouldn't keep large sums of money, understand?"

Su Liyan nodded repeatedly and said:

"I know — my wages are just for Brother Yuan to collect… but…"

But what?

Everyone stared at Su Liyan with strange looks.

Su Liyan, however, felt a bit embarrassed yet also proud and boastful, and said:

"But… but Brother Yuan dotes on me especially… he gives me thirty dollars for living expenses every month."

Everyone: "???"

Upon hearing this, Su's mother snapped back to reality and, gritting her teeth anxiously, said:

"I really want to beat you to death, you dead girl — Yuan'er gives it, and you just take it?!!"

"What does a woman need that much money for?!!"

Seeing her mother really getting worked up, even ready to put down her scissors and hit her, Su Liyan hastily said:

"Oh dear, Mom, I definitely wouldn't dare take it, but Brother Yuan insists on giving it — if I didn't take it, he'd…"

Saying this, Su Liyan's pretty face flushed red, and she hurriedly added:

"But Mom, don't worry — I'll definitely not waste this money; I'll keep it all for Brother Yuan."

Having said that, Su's mother also calmed down a bit — her son‑in‑law really dotes on her daughter.

He dotes on her to the point that even as a mother I feel it's a little inappropriate.

Su's mother is certainly not jealous of her daughter's good fortune; she's just afraid her daughter will get carried away.

But Su's mother also thinks her daughter should know her own limits.

Her daughter is definitely not the type to cause trouble.

The surrounding women were truly envious — thirty dollars a month for living expenses?

Eating white noodles every day, every meal — that's totally doable!

Then an aunt curiously said:

"What do you guys eat for dinner tonight?"

Su Liyan blinked, thought for a moment, then seriously recalled:

"We had hot‑pot lamb the night before last, the day before that was sour cabbage fish, two days ago was dumplings, and before that was spare ribs…"

Everyone: "????"

Is this how people live??

This is how immortals live!!

(Thanks to him and her, and their cat Old Brother, for the reward of 100 book coins — thank you so much, muah muah)

(End of chapter)