The Lady Butcher and the Delicate Bride - Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Chu Yu jerked her hand back as if stung by a bee, sitting up abruptly in a flurry of agitation. She sat on the edge of the bed with her back to Mu Dingxiang, her entire neck and the tips of her ears flushing a deep crimson.

She had no idea where her thoughts had strayed just now to let her hand wander to that place; no wonder the sensation beneath her palm had been so soft and comfortable.

No, stop it right there.

Chu Yu didn’t dare turn back to look at Mu Dingxiang. That move just now was far too reckless. Despite being many years older, she had never done such a thing; how could she treat her like that?

What would Xiangxiang think? Would she think she was a lecherous old woman?

Chu Yu buried her face in her palms, remaining motionless, not daring to glance behind her. Yet, she didn’t dare leave either; it wasn’t her style to bully someone and then turn tail and run, but for the moment, she truly couldn’t face the person involved.

Just as her mind was racing with wild thoughts, a warm sensation suddenly pressed against her back soft and fragrant.

Chu Yu froze, unsure of what Mu Dingxiang intended to do.

Mu Dingxiang’s abdominal pain from overeating had long vanished under Chu Yu’s massage. She simply hadn’t spoken up to stop it because she craved the touch of those seemingly magical hands. She never expected that Chu Yu’s hand would unconsciously wander higher and higher, finally resting upon her newly developing softness.

In that instant, her heart pounded wildly. She felt as light as if she were floating above the clouds, yet she was also trembling with trepidation.

She wanted her to stop, yet she wanted her to continue.

When Chu Yu suddenly stopped and lurched to the edge of the bed, Mu Dingxiang realized that the moment just now had been an unconscious movement while Chu Yu was lost in thought. While she felt a sense of relief, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of disappointment.

Knowing Chu Yu’s character, Mu Dingxiang feared she might feel guilty or self-reproachful, and perhaps even distance herself because of it. Overcome with sudden panic and forgetting her shyness, she sat up and hugged the woman’s waist from behind.

Pressing tightly against that slender, straight back, she could hear the pounding of Chu Yu’s heart even from behind. She spoke out falteringly:

“Chu Yu, don’t leave me.”

Chu Yu, who had been at a loss, felt the soft, pleading voice from behind and realized how much her reaction had hurt the girl. Simultaneously, she felt the deep-seated unease in the girl’s heart a lingering lack of security.

Compared to that, her own embarrassment was trivial. Her heart constricted with pity. She turned around with difficulty, gathered the small girl into her arms, and stroked her slender back to soothe her anxious emotions.

Without mentioning what had just happened, the two simply leaned against each other quietly, feeling the warmth of each other’s embrace.

Mu Dingxiang’s racing heart finally settled. She knew Chu Yu wouldn’t push her away again, wouldn’t leave her in a state of isolation, and wouldn’t leave her to fret over her own anxieties alone.

Feeling the small girl in her arms gradually calm down, Chu Yu released her and asked, “Are you sleepy? Do you want to take a nap with me for a while?”

Chu Yu rose every day before dawn to slaughter pigs. If she didn’t rest for an hour or so at noon, she wouldn’t be able to sustain the physical labor. Therefore, after returning from work every day, she made it a rule to sleep. Over the past six months, Mu Dingxiang had slowly grown accustomed to this, but since she didn’t have to rise so early and villagers generally didn’t have the habit of napping, she usually busied herself with other tasks while Chu Yu slept.

Now, with the woman before her looking at her with eyes as gentle as water, asking if she wanted to join her, Mu Dingxiang couldn’t resist such a tender invitation. She nodded muddledly.

Seeing her dazed and stunned look, Chu Yu burst into a laugh.

She was used to maintaining a fierce expression before outsiders, but all her rare softness was now given to Mu Dingxiang. This smile was like a winter plum blossom delicate and beautiful. Mu Dingxiang watched in a daze until she was snapped out of it by a light tap on her forehead. With a flushed face, she scooted inward to make room for Chu Yu and slowly lay down.

Chu Yu, having witnessed the relationship between two women before, could feel the ripples of affection in her own heart and understood roughly what was happening. Seeing Mu Dingxiang’s reaction muddled but showing no signs of rejection—she felt relieved. She didn’t plan to force anything, simply following her heart and letting things happen naturally.

As Chu Yu’s breathing became steady after lying down, Mu Dingxiang’s half-closed eyes slowly opened. She turned gently onto her side, her gaze remaining glued to Chu Yu.

At night, in the pitch black, she had never been able to observe her closely. Now, with both of them lying in bed during the day, beams of sunlight filtered into the cave through the cracks in the stones, with one beam happening to fall upon Chu Yu, making her look exceptionally radiant.

The woman lay flat, covered by the same wide, thin quilt as her, rising and falling slightly with her abdominal breathing. The softness at her chest was not as prominent while lying down as it was normally, but it was still something that inspired longing.

Mu Dingxiang’s ears grew slightly warm as her gaze greedily swept over Chu Yu’s beautiful face. At twenty-six or twenty-seven, it was the stage where a woman was fully mature, unlike the awkwardness of a seventeen-year-old girl. This flower before her was in its most vibrant and red bloom, as if a single touch would leave one’s hand covered in sweet nectar…

When Mu Dingxiang woke up, Chu Yu was no longer in bed. She sat up, somewhat annoyed at how deeply she slept every time. It must be because she never slept well at the Mu house; now that she was with Chu Yu, she could finally let down her guard and sleep soundly. Every time she woke up, her bedfellow had already risen.

When she emerged from the cave, she saw Chu Yu among the ruins of the old house, hammering and measuring here and there.

“How long will it take to build the house?”

Chu Yu heard the voice and looked up. Seeing she was awake, she smiled. “Why didn’t you sleep a bit longer?”

“I don’t usually sleep during the day. Why did I sleep so long this time? You didn’t even wake me when you got up,” the girl said with a bit of a pout.

“Sleep when you can; you can’t be exhausted every day. It will take over a month at the fastest to build this house. I’m wondering whether to ask people from the village or just hire professional masons from the county. It’s just a matter of paying money,” Chu Yu said, quickly changing the subject.

Mu Dingxiang didn’t understand such things, but thinking of how some men in the village were notoriously lazy—and once hired, she wouldn’t know who was serving whom she spoke up: “When Little Stone’s family built their house, they asked villagers for help. They provided three meals a day and thirty wen daily for a one-entry courtyard. But it coincided with the busy farming season, so they worked one day and rested for three. It took three or four months to finish.”

Hearing this, Chu Yu made a decision: “Tomorrow I’ll go to the county and ask if there are specialized masters for this. If I can contract the whole thing out, that would be best.”

However, before she could ask, Liu Heng came by excitedly again halfway through the meat-selling the next day.

“The ninth of this month is a lucky day. That’s five days from now. Go back and prepare; work can begin then.”

Chu Yu was slowly adapting to the unbidden enthusiasm of this couple. Anyway, the favors weren’t really for her; she was just an intermediary, so she accepted them all.

“I haven’t looked for people to help yet, and I don’t know when the stone materials can be transported in.” Chu Yu thought of another problem. Regarding the meat stall, if she continued to go out and slaughter pigs as usual, she wouldn’t return until noon. If she hired workers be they from the village or outside they would be a group of grown men. She herself was used to dealing with all sorts of people, but leaving Mu Dingxiang home alone to face such a group of men was truly inappropriate.

But if she let go of the meat stall entirely, there would be no meat to sell for nearly two months, and neither would have an income. By the time the house was built, they would be “whistling for their dinner.” Furthermore, Shi Man was bringing Wang Xiaoxi over after the New Year and needed to repair his own house; stopping work for two months would mean losing a large sum.

Shi Man said somewhat helplessly, “Finding someone to replace you for two months isn’t easy, and you’d need at least two to three people. Usually, temporary help either can’t wake up or spends half a day and still hasn’t killed a single pig. By the time it reaches the stall, it’s already noon.”

Chu Yu smiled. “I can do the slaughtering, but I have to return immediately after. If you can handle the rest, it’ll be fine.”

Shi Man’s eyes lit up. “If you finish the slaughtering, I can ask Xiaoxi to come and sell meat with me for the rest of the time. Didn’t Dingxiang do it with you for a day before? I’ll cut the meat, and Xiaoxi can help me weigh it and collect the money.”

Chu Yu thought this was a good idea, but she didn’t know what Wang Xiaoxi would think. She asked, “Is Xiaoxi’s family not busy? If she can come, I’ll give her half of my share of the profit; it’s better than her looking for other work.”

“Not busy, not busy! When I saw her yesterday, she said that now that the rice harvest is over, there isn’t much to do. Their land isn’t good, so they can’t plant a second crop. She said she was going to the county in a couple of days to buy thread and fabric to do embroidery for a bit of pocket money. And the wages don’t need to be that high; she only earns a few coins a day doing needlework. Giving her a dozen or so wen for helping for a morning is about right.”

Chu Yu couldn’t help but give Shi Man a sharp rap on the head. “She’s coming to help, putting in time and effort, and she’s family—can you be any stingier?”

Liu Heng, listening nearby, felt even more that Chu Yu was a very decent person. No wonder throughout the years, while more and more butcher shops opened in the county, their stall’s business only grew more prosperous. Others might not finish a single pig in a day, but here, everything was sold out before noon every day.

Seeing them resolve the labor issue, he spoke up: “Well then, the date is set. The stone materials didn’t we already settle with Boss Zhang? Have them haul them over in the next day or two. As for hiring workers, do you want people from your village or from outside? Better find them outside; I don’t trust the people in your village.”

Hearing Liu Heng ask this, Chu Yu knew he must know master masons. She said without ceremony, “I also want to find them from outside, but I don’t know anyone.”

“Alright then, I’ll handle the whole thing for you. I’ll go ask Old He this afternoon if he’s free. He specializes in building houses for people. He doesn’t do the labor himself; he manages over a dozen workers. Once he takes a job, he brings the whole team and starts immediately. The work is fast and good. You only have a one-entry courtyard; for him, it might be finished in less than a month.”

Chu Yu was overjoyed. “I’m truly troubling Uncle Liu too much. When I go back and tell Dingxiang, she’ll be thrilled. Last night she was telling me she wanted the house built quickly and didn’t want it dragged out too long.”

Hearing her mention Mu Dingxiang, Liu Heng’s plump face crinkled until his eyes were just slits. He said joyfully, “She thinks that? Then did you tell her it was her Auntie Ji and I who helped find the bricks and pick the date?”

Chu Yu naturally played to his preferences, replying, “I told her, I told her. Her heart is full of gratitude, saying the Ji family is her benefactor. When she had no meat to eat and was starving as a child, it was always Auntie Ji who secretly stuffed her with food. If not for the Auntie, she might have starved or frozen to death somewhere long ago.”

As she spoke, she watched Liu Heng’s expression out of the corner of her eye.

Sure enough, the moment Liu Heng heard “starved or frozen to death,” his face, which had been blooming like a flower, collapsed. He lost his desire to talk, his nostrils huffing slightly with suppressed anger. He said, “Old Man Mu and his wife are truly worse than pigs and dogs. I’ll go find Old He first. If he’s free, I’ll bring him to your place tomorrow to take a look at the terrain so he knows what’s what and how many people to arrange. Does that work for you?”

Chu Yu was naturally more than willing. After several words of thanks, Liu Heng left in a huff.

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