RCAC chapter 4

At dawn, the rooster had already crowed once.

Qi Shuo opened his eyes, and a fair, tender hand brushed aside his inner clothing, rubbing against his abs inside his clothes. He turned his head to look at the man beside him; Qiao Shen had his mouth slightly open and was sleeping soundly. Xiao Changle curled up in a strange position in Qiao Shen’s arms, also with his little mouth open, sleeping with a look of complete satisfaction.

Qi Shuo gently took Qiao Shen’s hand, sat up, pulled down a pillow to surround xiao Changle, and had Qiao Shen rest his hand on the pillow. Seeing Qiao Shen unconsciously squeeze the pillow, Qi Shuo took a deep breath, put on his clothes, and left the room.

When Qiao Shen woke up, the courtyard was filled with the rhythmic sound of someone hitting wood, which seemed to have been going on for a while. Xiao Changle was sleeping soundly, puffing out his cheeks like a little pig.

Touching Xiao Changle’s body, he felt it warm from sleep, but there was no sweat, and Qiao Shen felt relieved. He got up, dressed, and wrapped Xiao Changle tightly with a pillow, leaving space to turn over.

The sun was already high outside. Qiao Shen washed his face and brushed his teeth with a twig dipped in salt. The porridge had already been cooked in the kitchen, and Qiao Shen heated up the leftover braised dish from last night and brought it out.

In the summer, they always ate in the courtyard, which was comfortable and cool. When he went inside, he saw that Xiao Changle was still sleeping, so he called to Qi Shuo. The two of them quietly finished breakfast, leaving a portion for Xiao Changle to keep warm by the stove.

After breakfast, it wasn’t too hot yet. Qiao Shen thought about washing the dirty clothes early, so that when Xiao Changle woke up, they could also take out the bedding to let the sun dry it and sterilize them.

After eating, Qi Shuo went back to do his wooden work. Watching Qiao Shen come out carrying dirty clothes and make trip after trip to fetch water from the well, he finally spoke: “I’ll call Aunt Yang to wash them for you. You should rest and take care of your health.”

Aunt Yang was a woman in this small alley who earned silver by washing clothes for people. She was a widow, had an elderly mother in poor health, and lived with fifteen-year-old Xiao Yang Liu. Xiao Yang Liu was a young boy who had recently started helping in the kitchen at Fumanlou.

“Summer clothes aren’t heavy anyway, I can handle it myself. Are you going out today? To the shop?” Qiao Shen knew that the original owner was extravagant, and Qi Shuo always spoiled him, so the family hadn’t really saved any money.

Later, there were expenses for rescuing him from the water, medical treatments, and caring for his lungs, which all cost quite a bit. Since he woke up, he was on three to four meals a day, so money didn’t last long; of course, it had to be saved when possible.

“Yes, I’m going out. Master He on West Street wants to make a reclining chair for his father-in-law, so I’m going to negotiate with him, not the shop.” Seeing that Qiao Shen was handling the cleaning fairly easily, Qi Shuo relaxed a bit.

“I’m planning to sell some snacks to make a bit of money.” Qiao Shen hesitated for a moment but finally spoke up, worried that Qi Shuo might not agree.

“Don’t worry about the money, just take care of yourself. I’ll start running the shop soon and make the money.” Seeing Qiao Shen beginning to take care of the family, Qi Shuo didn’t want him to overwork himself.

“Anyway, I’m free every day, and you’re already so busy you don’t have time for anything, let alone spending time with Changle. Kids need their parents around to be mentally healthy. Besides, Changle loves to eat, and he’s so skinny, I need to make him more tasty food to help him gain some nutrition.”

After saying this, Qiao Shen thought to himself: It’s all your fault, both of you—one’s never home busy making money, and the other’s never home busy spending it. Poor xiao Changle is already two, can’t even talk yet, and he’s not getting enough nutrition.

“Moreover, Changle is already two years old, and soon he will start school. We need to save enough money for him. Since I came—uh… I mean, I woke up—I must make sure Changle gets an education.” In ancient times, there were only two paths: either study for the imperial examinations or join the military and go to the battlefield.

Thin sunlight shone on Qi Shuo’s face. His eyebrows were sharp and reaching his temples, his eyes deep, making his nose look prominent. He lowered his gaze, his long eyelashes leaving shadows on his cheeks—a face that could make people’s hearts skip a beat.

Qi Shuo listened as Qiao Shen rambled endlessly about parenting, saying we should raise our son this way and that, and Qi Shuo felt happy inside. When he married Qiao Shen, he didn’t have much affection in his heart. His husband was lazy and liked to eat well, and whenever Qi Shuo came home exhausted after a long day, the kitchen was cold, and his husband was never satisfied, always speaking with a sting, looking down on him for not being rich enough.

He was somewhat weary of all this. Until Qiao Shen gave birth to a son for him, and seeing the newborn Xiao Changle’s pink, wrinkled little body, he experienced an indescribable feeling of being a father. This blood relationship connected him. Watching the exhausted Qiao Shen after childbirth, he let go of his inner weariness and worked even more diligently, thinking about earning more silver to provide a better life for his husband and son.

Actually, if his husband didn’t insist on spending money on everything and hiring people to do it, they would still be quite well-off. Seeing Qi Shuo being understanding of him taking care of their young child, Qiao Shen actually went even further and didn’t even take good care of the little one.

Qi Shuo recalled a month ago, their frail child lying weakly in bed, crying like a little kitten due to weakness. Even the doctor couldn’t help but get angry, scolding them for being so heartless toward their own child.

At that time, Qi Shuo was in great pain, wondering if he had been wrong for favoring Qiao Shen just because of his son’s love for him.

“Waaa… wuuu… da… dia…” Xiao Changle’s cries interrupted Qiao Shen’s endless parenting plans and also snapped Qi Shuo out of his memories.

Qiao Shen dried his hands and hurried into the room to pick up the now-awake xiao Changle. Xiao Changle, upon opening his eyes, couldn’t see adults and let out a couple of wails to protest, but didn’t shed any tears.

Qi Shuo watched as Qiao Shen changed Xiao Changle’s diaper and, after holding and comforting his son until he was more awake, started feeding him breakfast. Qi Shuo continued with what he was doing. Oh well, he thought, just give him one more chance. The kid is still little, and as long as Qiao Shen can let him grow up healthy, it doesn’t hurt to do a bit more.

After a couple of bites, Qiao Shen encouraged Xiao Changle to hold the wooden spoon and feed himself, then let go and sat back down to continue washing clothes. Xiao Changle watched his dad sitting nearby doing laundry, feeling reassured, and kept happily eating his breakfast with a good appetite.

“I’m going to spend some money today, need to buy more ingredients. I’ll try to cook more. A few days ago, Liu’s family husband took good care of Changle, so I’ll make some and send it over. I want to see what the neighbors think. If everyone likes it, I might try making it to sell.”

After saying that, Qiao Shen didn’t dare look at Qi Shuo. After all, the original owner had a habit of wasting money, so if Qi Shuo didn’t agree, he’d understand and just figure out another plan.

After thinking for a moment, Qiao Shen timidly tried to argue again: “Besides, I see that Changle also likes to eat it. Last night and this morning his appetite was so good, he didn’t need any coaxing and ate voluntarily.”

“Do as you see fit. Buy whatever is needed; you can always earn more silver,” Qi Shuo replied calmly. The taste was indeed good. Since he actually wanted his son to go to school and learn to read, he might as well let him try it—after all, it wasn’t a bad thing either way.

After hanging the clothes and bed sheets to dry, Qiao Shen counted the money, packed it into a money pouch, and then quietly sneaked.

At this time, Xiao Changle, full and content from his meal, nestled in his father’s arms, being carried around the courtyard to walk off his meal.

He had no idea that his dad had left him behind.

Qi Shuo played with Xiao Changle for a while in a game of tapping the ground with small wooden sticks, then let his son wander around the yard on his own, sitting down to work on his own woodcraft.

From time to time, he glanced at Xiao Changle to make sure he was safely under his watchful eyes, then buried himself back into his hard work.

Qiao Shen went up to the street and first went to the butcher shop, buying some pork belly and pork ribs, and also saw some offal piled up in the corner.

“I’ll take all this pork offal too, how much for everything?”

The butcher looked at him in surprise: “All of it?”

Seeing Qiao Shen nod in confirmation, the butcher packed it up right away and said, “This stuff isn’t worth much; if you want it, just take it.”

It turned out that everyone just bought this offal to feed their dogs, and even neighbors on the street sometimes got it for free.

The butcher looked at who was buying the most meat and simply asked if they wanted some for free. So Qiao Shen ended up getting pig intestines, lungs, hearts, and other pig offal without spending a penny.

Qiao Shen felt a bit embarrassed and decided to buy some pork fat to render lard. In the Great Zhou, pork fat was the most expensive because oil was costly, so most people mainly ate boiled dishes and didn’t often cook stir-fry dishes that required oil.

After buying the meat, Qiao Shen went to the rice and flour shop.

To his surprise, he found that there was some starch available, so he bought starch and refined rice. Xiao Changle is malnourished, so refined rice is better for his stomach.

On the way, he also bought some vegetables and frim tofu and dried tofu for braising, and picked up some spices and seasonings before heading back home.

Xiao Changle was a bit thirsty from playing, so he went up to his father, clinging to his father’s thigh, looking up with a soft smile, and opening his small mouth to make ‘ah ah’ sounds.

Qi Shuo put down his work, had just cleaned his hands, and quickly supported xiao Changle’s head.

It turned out that xiao Changle had tilted his big head for too long, and he plopped down on his father’s foot with a thud, his head nearly hitting the ground.

Xiao Changle wasn’t scared; on the contrary, he found it amusing and laughed heartily. As soon as Qiao Shen entered the alley, he could hear his soft, tender little voice from afar, and he smiled. Qiao Shen quickly entered the courtyard and saw the father and son sitting under the willow tree.

Qi Shuo, taking advantage of his son acting spoiled to get attention, decided to take a short rest. At that moment, he was comfortably seated on a lounge chair by the stone table, gently fanning xiao Changle with a palm leaf fan.

Xiao Changle was holding a bowl and gulping down plain water. Qi Shuo looked at the kid’s cute little face and thought to himself that raising a child is truly a job that’s both exhausting and fulfilling.

When xiao Changle saw Qiao Shen, he wobbled over to his feet, holding the bowl up high with unsteady little steps.

The little bit of water left in the bowl spilled everywhere as he wobbled, but he still grinned foolishly and held the bowl out to his daddy.

“Awesome, xiao Changle is bringing water to Daddy~” Qiao Shen handed the ingredients to Qi Shuo, who walked over to receive them.

He took the bowl that xiao Changle was holding, pretended to take a sip, then handed it back to him, leaning in to give xiao Changle a kiss on the forehead.

Xiao Changle giggled happily, holding the bowl and pressing his head against Qiao Shen’s leg while acting cute. Qiao Shen just squatted down, playing along with xiao Changle and gently stroking his small, thin body.

After indulging Xiao Changle’s act of being spoiled, Qiao Shen went into the kitchen to start working. Xiao Changle obediently sat on the little stool at the kitchen door, and while Qiao Shen busily worked, he also guided Xiao Changle to start talking, at the very least teaching him to call him ‘Daddy’ or ‘Father.’​

Kotha : If like my translation or want extra chapter released, please support me on Kofi ☕ It would be a great help 🌸🌸