I Transmigrated and Already Had a Wife - Chapter 17

With their house construction underway, Jiang Zhou asked Zhang Tieniu to gather a few men from the village to help. Seeing Jiang Zhou emerge from the courtyard, Zhang Tieniu waved at her and called out, “Brother Jiang, everyone’s here. Hurry up and tell us how you want us to dig!”

Jiang Zhou responded, walked over quickly, and stopped two meters away from him. She handed him the blueprint she held. “I drew this plan in advance.”

Zhang Tieniu unrolled the blueprint, feeling puzzled. He leaned in and couldn’t help but ask, “What are these trenches dug under the house for?”

Jiang Zhou glanced at him, guessing that most villagers were poor and built houses just for shelter, so no one would dig “earth dragons” (underground heating pipes) for warmth. She quietly took a step back, increasing the distance between herself and Zhang Tieniu, and carefully began to explain.

After hearing her out, Zhang Tieniu sighed with admiration, feeling that Brother Jiang was truly talented, someone who had seen the world. His respect for her deepened.

Jiang Zhou, however, was unaware of this. At the moment, she felt a little guilty, occasionally glancing towards the small courtyard. Just moments before she was shooed out, Lin Muwan had suddenly called her back.

In front of her, Lin Muwan put the silver away. She stepped forward and raised her hand, her jade-like fingers resting on Jiang Zhou’s collar, carefully straightening it for her. Her cool fingertip accidentally brushed Jiang Zhou’s jaw. Her expression was no longer cold but exceedingly gentle as she said, “Husband, you must be careful when you are outside. Don’t tell me you’ve been pretending to be a man for so long that you’ve forgotten your own identity?”

They were standing extremely close, their breaths mingling, the warm air reaching her limbs and bones.

Her voice was soft and warm, just like that night. Jiang Zhou’s body suddenly tensed, her breathing deepened, and she turned her face away, looking to one side. Her throat subtly bobbed as she swallowed.

She managed to maintain her composure.

Her attitude was serious and sincere.

“I understand.”

In light of her obedient behavior, the smile on Lin Muwan’s face deepened. She patted Jiang Zhou’s chest and said, “Husband, go and get busy.”

She moved back, turned, and sat back down on the edge of the bed, her expression already restored to normal.

Jiang Zhou felt a wave of relief, yet simultaneously a faint sense of loss. She secretly licked her lips, feeling thirsty.

After a moment, “Then, my wife,” she gestured outside, “I’ll go out first.”

Lin Muwan looked at her and nodded.

After Jiang Zhou left, the fingers clenched in her sleeve slowly relaxed, leaving a row of deep crescent marks on her palm.

“Brother Jiang.”

“Hmm?” Jiang Zhou snapped back to attention, startled, and offered an apologetic smile. “Where were we, Big Brother Zhang?”

Zhang Tieniu pointed to the empty space. “Can we start digging from here?”

Jiang Zhou looked at it. The location was exactly where the west wing was planned. She said, “Let’s start here.”

The houses in the countryside during that era were built with yellow mud and stone. Jiang Zhou didn’t like such houses; she could reluctantly accept stone, but a house stacked with yellow earth made her feel completely unsafe. Using the knowledge she had acquired in the 21st century, she took out the stored plant ash, refined calcium hydroxide and calcium carbonate through burning, and then mixed it with mortar to create a simple form of cement.

With the cement problem solved, the house foundation would use stones hauled back from the mountain. When they ran out, Zhang Tieniu would use the ox cart to go and quarry more on the mountain.

When hiring people to work in the village, the hosts were responsible for providing meals. Since both Lin Muwan and Madam Jiang were poor cooks, Grandma Zhang brought her daughter-in-law, Xinghua, to help prepare the food. Vegetables were delivered from the vegetable patch at the village entrance, and the meat was always wild game that Jiang Zhou caught using traps. Poor people weren’t picky; as long as there was meat, they were happy. A large piece of meat wrapped in a steamed bun was fragrant and soft with every bite, and after eating, their enthusiasm for work grew even stronger.

“Brother Jiang, I didn’t realize you knew how to raise rabbits, too?” one of the men asked.

Jiang Zhou smiled. She didn’t really know how. In the past, when she watched videos, she enjoyed watching pet-keeping videos because they were very therapeutic. Some people raised rabbits, and when they had too many due to the rabbits’ strong reproductive ability and couldn’t bear to sell them, they would build a rabbit hutch in the yard for them to play in. The conditions here were limited, so she had simply built a basic hutch based on the videos, and she was still figuring out the rest.

“I happened to see someone else raising them before,” Jiang Zhou scratched her brow awkwardly, cleared her throat, and turned her head, meeting Lin Muwan’s eyes. The events that happened earlier in the room instantly came to mind. Her heart tightened, and she felt an unbidden sense of nervousness. She immediately turned her face back, tightening her grip on her bowl.

Lin Muwan walked over and sat down beside her. Jiang Zhou looked up at her, and once she was composed, she quietly asked, “Have you finished eating?”

Lin Muwan gave a faint reply and then sat quietly by her side.

Jiang Zhou turned her head to look at her. Her long eyelashes were like tiny fans, fluttering as she lowered her eyes, seeming to fan a spot in her heart, making it feel tingly and numb.

Lin Muwan lifted her gaze, and her peach blossom eyes unexpectedly met Jiang Zhou’s. She pursed her lips and then looked down again.

Her fingers were slightly bent, hidden in her sleeve.

Both of them were silent, listening to the people around them talk. Occasionally, Jiang Zhou would respond to a comment and then lower her head to continue eating.

The afternoon work session started, and Jiang Zhou began to worry again. When building a house, she still preferred to use bricks. Currently, they only had four taels of silver. Just hiring people would take up two taels. She wondered how many bricks those two taels could buy.

Just as she was pondering this, the small courtyard gate opened. Jiang Zhou looked back. Lin Muwan came out of the courtyard carrying a bucket. Jiang Zhou immediately put down her tools and stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”

Lin Muwan dodged her outstretched hand, looked up at her, and pursed her lips. “I’ll go. Grandma Zhang and the others will be coming over later.”

“You don’t have the strength,” Jiang Zhou murmured softly. Then she scanned Lin Muwan from top to bottom with her eyes: her cheeks were thin, her small face was even smaller than her own palm, and her figure was slender, like a delicate willow in the wind. Especially her waist—she had touched it and knew she could pinch it with just one hand.

Jiang Zhou didn’t listen to her. She took the wooden bucket from Lin Muwan’s hand, turned and stepped into Grandma Zhang’s house. When she came out, she had two more wooden buckets in her hands. She smiled and said, “We’ll take the ox cart to fetch the water. No one needs to use their strength.”

Saying that, she led the tied-up ox cart over, placed the wooden buckets on the cart bed, and hopped onto the cart. “Get on.”

In truth, she could have gone alone, but somehow, she had developed a selfish motive.

Lin Muwan pursed her lips, maintaining her usual cool demeanor. She got onto the cart from the other side, her shoulder resting against Jiang Zhou’s.

“Hold on tight.” She cracked the whip on the cow’s rear. Old Yellow Cow flicked its tail and slowly began to move.

“We’ll buy a cart later, too,” Jiang Zhou leaned closer to her and turned her head to look at her.

Lin Muwan seemed lost in thought, only replying after a long while. Her eyes were fixed on one side, and she didn’t seem very keen on communicating.

Even a fool like Jiang Zhou could tell after all these days that Lin Muwan wasn’t happy; a faint sadness always clouded her brows. This made her begin to doubt Lin Muwan’s relationship with the original owner of the body.

Although Lin Muwan seemed very compliant, mostly agreeing with whatever Jiang Zhou said, and was obedient to her mother-in-law, she occasionally showed small flashes of temper. The more this happened, the more she questioned Lin Muwan’s true personality. This speculation grew rapidly in her heart, like grass breaking through the soil.

The ox cart hit a bump. Jiang Zhou drew back her gaze and stopped the cart by the river. “Wait for me here. I’ll go fill the buckets.”

“I’ll help you.”

“No need.” Jiang Zhou pressed her shoulder, leaned forward slightly, immediately adjusted herself, withdrew her hand, and clenched her palm as if the residual warmth of Lin Muwan’s body was still there.

Jiang Zhou jumped off the cart, filled the water, and drove the ox cart back home. Both remained silent throughout the journey. Jiang Zhou said nothing, feeling awkward under Lin Muwan’s influence, occasionally glancing at her. Lin Muwan was accustomed to silence. Facing the wind, she closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the rare feeling of ease.