Chapter 4 Wu Jian

  This matter is too important, it's about the happiness of life and also about the big deal of passing on the family line. Wu Ji cannot not put more thought into this. If it's malnutrition, just improving living conditions and letting the little body grow stronger will solve the problem. If it's dysfunction, then the trouble is big.

  In this situation, Wu Ji was not clear which reason it was, and could only comfort himself, making excuses to avoid committing a crime. Yang Xiu Xiu was just 14 or 15 years old, a young girl, an immature maiden, who would need to be raised for several more years before she could be married. If he were to take action now, that would be a crime.

  Wu Ji found that the quilt on Yang Xiuxiu's body was problematic, and when he touched it with his hand, it was very thin, just a thin layer covering her body, almost like not having one at all. How did she manage to get through the winter?

  It's already August, but because it's in the north, it's very cold and frosty. This thin quilt can't keep out the chill, Yang Xiuxiu is shivering with cold, but she grits her teeth and endures it.

  Wu Ji sighed silently, how could the girls of this era be so virtuous? Being able to marry such a girl is a blessing in life, what more could one ask for?

  Wu Ji covered Yang Xiuxiu with the quilt on his body, and then covered Yang Xiuxiu's thin quilt on top. This way, they were now covered with two quilts, and it was much warmer.

  Yang Xiuxiu was trembling with excitement, not fear, but tension. Since their marriage, the two had never been so close before. Wu Ji turned over and leaned against Yang Xiuxiu, and Yang Xiuxiu's tension slightly eased.

  Time slipped away in silence, and Yang Xiuxiu didn't know how long it had been before she quietly began to sob, her delicate body shaking uncontrollably. Since getting married, she had never received such care and attention, and her heart was deeply stirred. Wu Jia comforted her for a while, but soon felt tired and unknowingly fell asleep.

  The next day, Wu Ji woke up to find that Yang Xiuxiu was gone. He opened his eyes to see the dark sky, and it wasn't dawn yet. Wu Ji thought to himself that he needed to exercise more since his body was too weak. Taking advantage of the fresh morning air, he decided to go for a walk, which would be beneficial for him.

  Getting dressed and getting out of bed, just arrived at the door, but found that there was a wooden board on the door. The wooden board was dismantled to make a coffin, what time did it become a wooden board again? What time did Yang Xiuxiu get up? Did she crawl out in the middle of the night?

  Look at this situation, it's very likely!

  As soon as the door was opened, Wu Ji took a step out and heard heavy footsteps approaching. A dark figure swayed over, causing Wu Ji to jump in fright, shouting "Who's there?"

  "Ah!" came Yang Xiuxiu's scream, followed by her concerned voice: "Wu Lang, how did you get up? Hurry back to the house, it's too cold here, don't catch a chill!"

  "Xiu Xiu, where are you?" Wu Ji's eyes were wide open, looking left and right, but couldn't see Yang Xiu Xiu's figure.

  Only to see a large bundle of firewood swaying over, it turned out that Yang Xiuxiu had returned with the firewood. This bundle of firewood was huge, and compared to it, her figure could only be called tiny, Wu Ji didn't notice.

  At dawn, there was already a faint light. Wu Ji found that Yang Xiuxiu's face was red and her small nose had dew on it. Her body was covered in white frost. It was clear that she had been outside for some time, or else there wouldn't be frost on her body.

  "Quickly get down!" Wu Ji hurried forward, wanting to help, but Yang Xiuxiu took a step ahead and pushed him into the house.

  Yang Xiuxiu put down the firewood, didn't even have time to catch her breath, hugged some in her arms, and quickly entered the house, just about to go make a fire for Wu Jisu. Wu Jisu grabbed her with one hand, carefully examining her, the small person's face was full of exhaustion, dark circles under her eyes, a pair of small hands frozen like ice pops, couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart, and covered her small hands on his chest, a chill spreading throughout his body, Wu Jisu gritted his teeth to endure.

  "Wu Lang, no, no! Don't get frostbite!" Yang Xiuxiu was anxious and wanted to pull her hand out.

  "Don't move!" Wu Ji was very overbearing and asked, "Have you finished making the door board?"

  "No door panel, it will be very cold, Wu Lang's body is weak... Wu Lang, all blaming me, too useless." Yang Xiuxiu began to blame herself again.

  Wu Jie couldn't bear it anymore, tears burst out, and he hugged Yang Xiuxiu: "Don't do anything today, just stay at home and rest. Look at you, your eyes are dark, so tired, can you take it if this continues?"

  "That won't do! That won't do!" Yang Xiuxiu was anxious: "We still have to turn over the soil. If we don't turn it over now, maybe next year will be too late."

  Insisting on working, planning for the coming year, Yang Xiuxiu was very determined. Wu Ji's overbearing behavior didn't work, and after eating some porridge, Yang Xiuxiu almost cried. Wu Ji had to agree to let her go dig up the land. Originally, Wu Ji wanted to follow her together, but Yang Xiuxiu strongly disagreed, so he could only stay at home and enjoy special treatment.

  The frost was very heavy in the morning. At a glance, it was white and puffy everywhere. Wu Ji did not dare to stay outside, so he could only go back inside to make a fire.

  A person at home, bored to death. This world, no TV, no internet, a person's days are particularly dull. Wu Jie really couldn't stand it anymore, went to flip through Wu Xiutai's books, all of which were Confucian classics, the Four Books and Five Classics, as soon as he saw them his head hurt, he hated to throw them into the fire and burn them.

  "Brother Jī, are you there?" A tender voice rang out.

  "Is it Wu Jian? Come in quickly! Come in quickly!" Finally someone arrived, and Wu Jian's spirits lifted.

  The door creaked open and a fourteen or fifteen-year-old half-grown child came in, holding a bowl of dried meat that emitted a savory aroma. Wu Ji couldn't help but take a deep breath, swallowing hard.

  I don't know how long it's been since Wu Xiuzai last had meat, but now that Wu Ji has smelled the aroma of meat, he can't help but want to devour it: "It smells so good! It's too delicious!"

  "Brother Qian, this is some braised venison. Father said that today they're going up the mountain to hunt, eating some meat will give them energy, and then they can catch a bear." This child was Wu Qing's youngest son, named Wu Jian, who was also Wu Qian's cousin: "Father said Brother Qian needs to nourish his body, so you eat this meat first. When Father catches a bear, he'll give you a big piece."

  "Hmm!" Wu Jie couldn't help himself, grabbed a piece of venison, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed fiercely several times, and swallowed it down. He felt that the flavor was beyond words, this was the most delicious meat he had ever eaten in his two lifetimes.

  He ate two more pieces, Wu Ji's right hand stretched out and then withdrew, constantly swallowing saliva, forcing himself to turn his head away from the meat. He thought of Yang Xiuxiu, who was growing taller and needed more nutrition. Yang Xiuxiu took such good care of him, if he ate alone, it wouldn't be human.

  "Hehe!" Wu Jian couldn't help but laugh at Wu Qian's greedy expression.

  "Has Third Uncle gone bear hunting?" Wu Ji hurriedly changed the subject to avoid drooling.

  "He's gone! He left as soon as it got light!" Wu Jian replied with a nod.

  "Wu Jian, can you read? If not, I'll teach you." Wu Ji didn't want to stay in the house alone, that was too boring. Having Wu Jian to talk to could alleviate his boredom, and teaching him to read was just an excuse.

  "Great! Great! Brother Jī, I was just going to ask you to teach me how to read!" Wu Jian couldn't help but get excited when he heard this: "I want to be like Brother Jī, know many characters, read many books, and become a scholar. It would be best if I could become a prominent figure in the Wu family village, so that wherever I go, people will respect me. Ah, Brother Jī, I can write a few characters, including the character for 'person'."

  He was so excited, his eyes shining brightly, as if he had discovered a new continent. Reading books in this era is a luxury, and Wu Jian couldn't help but be delighted.

  "Do you know the character for 'person'? We don't write it, we arrange it. Can you arrange the character for 'person'?" Wu Jie decided to test Wu Jian's reaction ability and gave him a small challenge.

  "What's with the pose?" Wu Jian's eyes flashed with a hint of confusion, followed by a burst of excitement. His legs spread apart and his hands hung down, forming a human character: "Brother Jie, does this look like a person to you?"

  "Not bad, not bad! That's it!" Wu Ji was quite appreciative of Wu Jian's quick reaction and asked: "Can you set up the big characters?"

  "What's a big character?" Wu Jian pondered, dazed for a moment, as if suddenly enlightened, and raised his hands: "Ji Ge, is this a big character?"

  "Not bad, very good!" Wu Ji nodded in approval and asked again: "Tai Zi, can you?"

  "Too lazy? I remember there's a bit of this somewhere, where did I put it?" Wu Jian tilted his head in thought.

  "This is easy to find, just take off your pants and you'll have it." Wu Ji suddenly had an idea and wanted to tease Wu Jian a little.

  "Have you taken off your pants?" Wu Jian was a clever person, stunned for a moment, and immediately reacted, his face turned red with anger, shouting: "Brother Jie, how have you become so bad? You weren't like this before! You never said things like that!"

  Such a vivid teaching method is not used, isn't that rigid? Wu Ji muttered to himself, his face turned serious, pretending to be stern: "Wu Jian, the word 'enter', do you know how to write it?"

  "What's the word? I don't know." Wu Jian was quite disappointed.

  "It's all about the head, it's just entering the character." The difference between entering characters and human characters lies in the crooked neck. Wu Ji's metaphor is very vivid, and Wu Jian's eyes are shining with excitement, praising Wu Ji: "Brother Ji, you're much more powerful than before. In the past, when you taught me to recognize characters, I could only write them, not arrange them. Now it's fine, I won't forget again."

  Such a vivid teaching method, if you still forget it, your memory must have been eaten by dogs.

  Wu Ji continued to teach and found that Wu Jian had a good memory and quick reflexes. The two of them, one teaching vividly and the other learning quickly, lost track of time.

  "Hurry! Hurry!" Just as he was instructing, a loud shout came from the village, with quite a few people.

  "Dad is back!" Wu Jian suddenly lost interest in reading and writing, excitedly jumping up: "Ji Ge, let's go divide the bear meat!"

  "Alright!" Wu Qing promised a big piece of bear meat to Wu Ji, and with Wu Ji's status as a big shot in the village, getting a big piece of bear meat was no problem. Wu Ji had been looking forward to it for a long time and gladly agreed.

  Wu Jian pulled Wu Ji and ran straight into the village. After running for dozens of steps, Wu Ji was already panting, but looking at Wu Jian, he seemed to be fine. This was still with Wu Jian pulling Wu Ji, otherwise, Wu Ji would have been unable to run anymore.

  "Waaah!"

  A sorrowful cry echoed over.

  "She is Wu Qiang's sister. Why is she crying?" Wu Jian was surprised, the hunting party had returned and everyone was gathering to share the meat, they should be happy, why would she cry?

  "Wuuu!" Another cry came, Wu Ji's heart skipped a beat, had something gone wrong?

  Wu Jian also felt something was off and pulled Wu Ji to quicken their pace.

  "What smell? The smell of blood?" Wu Ji heard the smell of blood in the air, and he was even more convinced that something big had happened.