Chapter 21: Do you like me?

Translator: Kats  Editor: Perriemix

On the second day, Song Qi came over to the house after breakfast to fix the broken table leg. After he saw how badly the table was damaged, Song Qi felt empathy towards his sister-in-law.

“Third in charge is not in a good mood recently, please don’t take it personally sister-in-law. Just treat whatever he says as passing wind.”

“You heard everything?” asked Ye Jiayao, embarrassed.

Song Qi shrugged his shoulders. “With that scream so loud? In the middle of the night? I am not deaf.”

Ye Jiayao muttered, “I just can’t be bothered to respond to him.”

Thank goodness, I put on such a show last night that no one suspected a thing!

Auntie Jiang came to give today’s portion. It was allocated per head, but Ye Jiayao was too lazy to get it. Luckily, Auntie Jiang didn’t mind coming to her house every day just to give her ration.

“You said you were going to make dumplings for the second-in-charge, so Old Yu gave an extra 500 grams of pork and 1500 grams of flour. The food is becoming more and more scarce, even the last pig was killed,” Auntie Jang said, sighing.

Ye Jiayao sympathized, but truthfully, she didn’t have to worry about these problems. Chunyu would hunt for prey every day, and Song Qi would sometimes catch a few fishes and prawns in the Lake Yanxia. There was also a huge excavated area in the mountain to plant all kinds of vegetables. Their food supply was still guaranteed its quantity and quality.

“That’s great! There is still some flour left from last time, so, if you’d like, you and Uncle Jiang could come and eat with us,” Ye Jiayao offered with a smile.

Auntie Jiang grinned widely. “Sure, that would be nice. Although, during lunchtime, the Kitchen need some help, otherwise, I’d lend you a hand in preparing the food.”

“That’s not necessary, Auntie Jiang. I can handle it by myself,” Ye Jiayao assured her.

It was time that Ye Jiayao needed, and the one thing she wasn’t lacking since she was brought to the mountain, was time.

After sending Auntie Jiang away, Ye Jiayao got started on preparing the dumplings. She had to consider the four people in her own house, the second-in-charge, the first-in-charge, and the Jiang couple.

After calculating, Ye Jiayao added three more tablespoons of flour, and another two eggs into the mixture to make the flour more resilient. She then proceeded in controlling the softness of the flour mix by playing with the water content. She decided to wait for Song Qi to massage the flour, and she started on chopping the dumpling fillings.

According to the preference of the two brothers and herself, Ye Jiayao prepared three types of fillings. The second-in-charge wanted to eat pork filling with Chinese chives, and Chunyu liked the filling with mushroom, cabbage and pork meat. Ye Jiayao was more partial to pork with wild rice stem. The others weren’t so picky and were amenable to eat any filling.

The deliciousness of the dumplings depended on the taste of the filling. In the modern times, because of the presence of HCL, people would boil the meat as they prepare it to get rid of any foam. However, in these ancient times, the pork was all natural and uncontaminated, that boiling it would just get rid of its natural flavor. Ye Jiayao only needed to mince the meat into fine grains and marinate it in all kinds of seasonings.

Ye Jiayao then worked on chopping the cabbage, adding a bit of salt in it, and then squeezing the excess water out to make it especially tender. The chives, on the other hand, didn’t need to be dehydrated as it cooked so easily that drying them out would ruin the taste. The rice stem needed to be cubed and stir-fried until it was about seventy percent cooked, and the mushroom needed to be fried in oil to bring out its fragrance.

After she has finished all these, Ye Jia Yao went to call Song Qi. “Song Qi, have you finished fixing the table leg yet?”

“It’s done!” Song Qi stepped out with his tools and smiled. “It’s fixed now, but, it could not withstand another kick from third-in-charge. Big sister, you need to talk to him.”

“As if he would really listen to me. If he breaks it again, I’ll just carry a stone and let him kick it instead.”

“That is a good idea!” Song Qi agreed laughingly.

“Is that a good idea?” The cold voice of Xia ChunYu seemed to ring.

Song Qi flinched and immediately looked down. He didn’t want to see how terrifying third-in-charge looked.

Ye Jiayao wanted to laugh but she didn’t want to add to Song Qi’s misery.

“No, you’re right, Song Qi. I reckon that rock on the mountain is pretty suitable for a kick, you go ahead and carry it back,” said Xia Chunyu casually.

“B-but… third-in-charge, that rock is a few thousand kilograms. How could it be carried?” Song Qi stuttered.

Xia Chunyu slapped Song Qi’s shoulder hard, almost causing Song Qi’s knees to buckle. “I believe you can do it.”

Song Qi cried desperately on the inside. Can I smash it before I carry it? I only agreed with what big sister said! Why are you punishing me?

Ye Jiayao could not stand to see Song Qi being bullied. She threw Chunyu a deadly stare, and said, “Song Qi go and massage the flour. There’s no purpose in carrying that rock. Hurry up.”

Song Qi turned to third-in-charge in desperation. “Third-in-charge, sister-in-law is calling me to massage the flour!”

“Go. You can carry the rock after you finish massaging the flour,” Xia Chunyu said blankly.

Song Qi needed a bit of punishment. Nowadays, he seemed to be permanently glued to Yaoyao’s side, he wasn’t even taking his master seriously.

Song Qi cowardly slipped into the kitchen.

“Big sister, you have to save me,” Song Qi cried.

Ye Jiayao smiled. “Don’t you get that he is deliberately trolling you? Do you really think that he’s going to kill you or kick you down the mountain if you don’t carry it?”

She really didn’t know if anyone else could get away with disobeying Chunyu, but it had always worked when she did it.

Song Qi realized that his sister-in-law made sense. It was just that, given the temperament of third-in-charge, even if he didn’t make him carry the rock, he would still think of other ways to punish him.

“That’s okay, don’t worry. I will talk to him later,” Ye Jiayao consoled him. The most urgent thing was to make the dumplings.

Song Qi started to massage the flour worryingly while Ye Jiayao went to fry a few eggs. After it was cooked, she chopped them up and mixed it with the vegetable and the meat fillings evenly.

“Put your muscles into it! It needs to be a bit hard if its soft then it won’t taste good.” Ye Jiayao told Song Qi. He was feeling so down, he didn’t even have the energy to work.

“Oh, okay.” Song Qi picked up the speed.

“You just work on the flour, and I will go and check out what he is doing,” said Ye Jiayao as she left the kitchen.

Xia Chunyu was sat in the study room, casually turning the pen bottle in his hands. It seemed as though he was in deep thought about something.

“Chunyu, why are you back so early today? Where is Peng Wu?”

Xia Chunyu lightly glanced in her direction, and said dispassionately, “There is so little food these few days, everyone is acting like a sick chicken. No one is in the mood for practicing.”

Ye Jiayao frowned. “If the spy wasn’t found, is the Dragon-breaking Stone going to remain closed forever?”

“Who knows what the first in charge had in mind? Feng Chaolin had collusions with the government so attacking the mountain cottage is imperative. Right now, we were forced to save resources, and it was just making everyone starve. How could the spy be captured, if the way they were doing it was endangering everyone, and dividing people’s hearts?”

“Does he really think that the Dragon-breaking Stone could hold off the attacks of the government troops? Did he really think that their cannons could not be transported up here?” Xia Chunyu smiled coldly.

Could the government really break through the defense? Ye Jiayao didn’t know if she wished the mountain village to be attacked or not. Even though this was the hiding place for gangsters and outlaws, there were still good people within them. Some people were forced to go up the mountain even if they didn’t anything wrong, like the Jiang couple and Song Qi. Also, there were people like herself who were abducted up the mountain. These people were all innocent. If the government troops attacked the village, would they spare these people? Would they spare her? She was the wife of the third-in-charge!

“Then you should talk to first-in-charge!” Ye Jiayao snapped.

“What will I say? He thinks everyone is the spy! I am not going to bring contempt on myself.”

He was right. If first-in-charge already suspected Chunyu, whatever he said would make him appear as though he has other intentions.

“What if the cottage was broken in, what would you do? What should I do? Would you care about me?” Ye Jiayao asked, still perturbed.

“When the government troops get up here, wouldn’t you be saved? Maybe they would want to decapitate me and you can add a stab.” Xia Chunyu’s tone and stare were all kinds of emotionless, it was a bit terrifying.

Ye Jiayao suddenly felt enraged. “How could you say such a thing?”

Even though she was forced to be his woman, and hated his arrogance, and stubbornness, she never wanted him dead. She just wanted to leave.

“Oh? What are you saying? Are you in love with me?” Xia Chunyu smiled mockingly.

Of course not! I am just not like you guys without any humanity! I don’t view killing people like cutting grass!

Ye Jiayao turned and walked away, not wanting to answer his question. If she said yes, she would be lying, and he would mock her. If she said no, she would offend him. It was a lose-lose situation.

He knew where the secret channel was, so even if the troops attacked up here, he could get away. Yes, he treated her like a toy, but surely there would be some gratitude from seeing her serve him with full dedication. Would he take her with him when he escapes?

Xia Chunyu was simply teasing her. How could he leave her behind? There were innocent people in the cottage, and he would also think of a way to protect them. She might annoy him but she still shared the same pillow with him.

He didn’t expect her to walk out on him. Was she mad? Or was she not in love with him at all?

Xia Chunyu felt anxious as he thought about all the possibilities. He couldn’t wait until after everything was finished, and she could go wherever she felt like. It would save him some worry then.

Ye Jiayao returned to the kitchen angrily.

Song Qi saw his sister-in-law came back looking enraged. He wanted to console her, but he was scared that third-in-charge would see and punish him again. He studiously turned back to his task, quietly continuing to massage the flour.

Ye Jiayao shoved Song Qi away, taking over the flour dough, and started squashing it with all her might.  You smelly donkey! Dead donkey! You’re a first-class bastard!

Song Qi watched as Ye Jiayao massage the flour like she was stabbing her nemesis. He couldn’t help but imagine third-in-charge at her mercy.

If that day really came, it would surely be a great feeling to see the mighty fall.