38 & 39

Haven's face turned red with embarrassment, but there was also a little bit of excitement in his eyes.

He was willing.

The butcher, Ma, had a strange look on his face.

But when he thought about it, it all made sense. After all, Lizheng had been married for over half a year already.

"Normally, no one buys pig's feet here. There's not much meat on them. Usually, they're given away for free when people buy pork. If you want them, I'll just give you all four." Ma wasn't sure if four pig's feet would be enough for the three husbands at home.

Maybe she should kill another pig tomorrow and send more pig's feet to Lizheng?

"Alright, please cut them up for me," she said. Pig's feet are good for making soup. Should she cook them with soybeans or peanuts?

Ma the butcher had been doing this job for many years. Just by cutting a piece, she could roughly tell how much it weighed. Even if it wasn't exact, it would be very close.

After cutting, she weighed them again, then handed them to Julie. Seeing that Julie had bought a lot and it was hard to carry, she also gave her a basket.

She placed the four pig's feet inside, along with two pig ears as a bonus—since they probably wouldn't sell anyway.

After paying, Julie thanked her and left.

She then went next door and bought 30 eggs, two radishes, a bunch of green vegetables, five tomatoes, three potatoes, some green onions, and two jin (around 1kg) of peanuts.

The eggs were three coins each. The rest of the vegetables weren't expensive. Altogether, she spent 105 coins.

The two of them were carrying lots of stuff when they came back.

Julie was in a pretty good mood. Finally, they could have something different to eat today.

At home, Bailee, Lorrie, and Mr. Leng had already gotten up.

When they saw that their wife and Haven weren't home, the two brothers felt a little worried.

Where did they go?

Lorrie couldn't sit still and ran to the door to wait.

When he saw Julie and his second brother coming back, his eyes lit up happily.

Seeing they were carrying a lot, he quickly ran over to help.

Julie saw he really wanted to help.

Thinking about how she had refused him before and he had looked a little upset, she decided to make him happy this time. She handed him a jar full of freshly pressed soybean oil.

She thought, Now he should be happy, right?

Lorrie staggered a little under the weight of the jar, which was about ten jin (around 5kg).

Julie's low voice sounded, "Be careful. It's soybean oil. Don't drop it. Can you carry it?"

Seeing his expression wasn't very relaxed, she couldn't help but ask.

She really didn't want her hard work this morning to go to waste if he dropped it.

Otherwise, she might not be able to stop herself from giving him a beating.

Lorrie really was struggling a bit. He instinctively wanted to say something when he saw her.

But who knew it was so heavy?

Looking at Julie, he stubbornly refused to admit defeat.

Even if it was heavy, he couldn't say so.

"Who says I can't? Don't look down on me. This is too light! I can carry another ten jin easily!" he said.

Even though he said that, he walked very slowly, just making sure he stayed steady.

He wanted to walk faster to the kitchen, but if he hurried, his hands would shake.

He was really afraid of spilling all that oil.

When he finally made it to the kitchen and carefully placed the jar on the table, he let out a breath of relief.

He quickly told his big brother, who was cooking, to store the oil properly.

Then he hurried out of the kitchen, proudly saying to Julie, who was feeding Xiao Hei the little black cow, "See? I told you I'm strong! You didn't believe me before, but now you know, huh?"

At the same time, he secretly rubbed his sore arm behind his back.

Looks like he would need some medicine for the soreness later.

He had to do it secretly when she wasn't around—he didn't want her to laugh at him.

One wanted to prove himself and be praised.

The other didn't understand what the big deal was.

What did he want her to do? Give him a big red flower?

Still, to encourage him, Julie nodded a little.

Lorrie stomped his foot proudly, gave a small huff, and ran off—his mouth pretending to pout, but a sweet smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

Bailee saw the vegetables and eggs his wife bought and smiled.

Although his wife didn't talk much, she was very thoughtful and cared a lot about them.

She noticed that they didn't have many vegetables left at home.

So early in the morning, she went out to buy more.

Julie thought to herself, "…I just wanted to eat something different."

Bailee put in a lot of effort, and breakfast was very rich.

Julie came to the dining table, and when she saw the dishes, her eyes lit up.

There were handmade noodles with vegetables and eggs, a small bowl of sweet tofu pudding for each person, and a big bowl of braised pork made with fatty and lean pork belly.

Of course, he also added slices of white radish to stew together with the meat.

Otherwise, just the meat alone wouldn't have been enough.

Bailee grew up in hard times and was the eldest in the family. He would always do the hardest and dirtiest work without complaining.

Even though their life was much better now, he still stayed careful and thrifty out of habit.

If he hadn't noticed that his wife wasn't picky with food but liked meat a bit more, he probably wouldn't have used so much meat today.

Every time he cooked meat dishes, his wife would pick up a few extra pieces with her chopsticks.

Today, he used a whole pound of meat.

Julie ate very happily. The food was good, and it tasted great. She ate a big bowl before stopping.

After eating, she went back to her room to practice martial arts.

Before leaving, she told them that if Mr. Leng and the others arrived, they should call her out right away.

Usually, when building a house, the head of the family had to be there.

The three brothers agreed.

They also ate until their mouths were shiny with oil.

Especially Lorrie, who burped after eating, rubbed his stomach, and leaned back comfortably in his chair.

Haven and Bailee were not as dramatic as Lorrie, but they were also clearly happy and relaxed.

Half a month ago, they could not even imagine having such good days.

Now they had new clothes, new cotton quilts, and could eat their fill at every meal with eggs, and sometimes even meat.

Even though they didn't say it out loud, they all knew it was the wife who brought them this good life.

Now they were even going to build a new house — a brick house!

In their village, very few families could afford to live in one.

Other than the village head Pan Li and an elder's family, their family would be the third one to live in a brick house.

The three brothers felt a burning excitement in their hearts.

Haven and Bailee managed to stay calm, but Lorrie had already run into the yard to sweep the ground.

He kept glancing outside, eager for the builders to arrive so he could quickly call his wife out.

Haven thought about the pig's feet in the kitchen, and then about how his wife seemed colder and more distant toward them lately, and his heart felt a little heavy.

Why was it that as their days got better, their wife became colder?

Before, they only wished that she wouldn't hit or scold them.

They had thought that as long as they could eat and stay warm, it would be enough.

But now that they had those things, he started to wish that their wife would turn around and look at them.

Haven lowered his head and looked at his own belly... he wondered when he would finally be able to have a child for his wife, hopefully a child who looked more like her. His eyes showed a hint of longing.

Julie didn't know what Haven was thinking. Even if she did, it wouldn't change her own thoughts.

They had been married for over half a year but not yet a full year.

Their house wasn't even built yet — what was the point of thinking so far ahead?

It wasn't that she hadn't thought about their future.

As long as they continued to behave and live properly like they were doing now, she would eventually give them children.

In this dynasty, if a married couple had no children after several years, even though the government didn't force a wife to divorce or sell her husband, it would still cause gossip and finger-pointing.

After all, in any era, whether it was a common home or the palace, without children to rely on, life always felt uncertain.