Chapter 102 - 48: Craving Wolf Tooth Potatoes
Dawn was breaking as Jie Jingchen and Jie Jinghun finally returned.
Jie Jingchen was chilled to the bone. Back in their room, he took off his jacket, picked up the thermos, and poured hot water into the washbasin. After washing his face and hands, he poured the water from that basin into the foot-washing basin. Once he’d washed his feet, he carried the foot-washing basin outside and emptied it.
Jie Jingchen lay down and frowned. The bed wasn’t as warm as he’d expected. Qin Mei was curled into a ball, her hands and feet ice-cold. She had been asleep for hours, yet the bed was still cold. ’How did she even manage to fall asleep?’
Jie Jingchen radiated a great deal of body heat and was an excellent bed-warmer. After just a few moments, the space under the covers grew toasty. Without any invitation from him, Qin Mei instinctively rolled over toward the source of the heat.
She tucked her ice-cold hands and feet wherever it was warmest, using Jie Jingchen as her personal furnace. She was cozy now, but Jie Jingchen was the one being tormented.
Jie Jinghun had only dozed for a short while when Shen Qing got out of bed, waking him up.
"Pack a few changes of clothes. We’re going to your mother’s place to stay with our daughter for a few days." Jie Jinghun sat up, leaning against the headboard and rubbing the bridge of his nose.
Shen Qing froze, stunned. She turned to look at Jie Jinghun. "Aren’t we staying home to watch from the sidelines?"
Jie Jinghun looked up, a gentle smile gracing his lips as he looked at Shen Qing. His voice was low and smooth. "I’m afraid of getting caught in the crossfire."
The relationship between the wives of the second and fourth brother was already strained. First, the fourth sister-in-law dislocated the second sister-in-law’s brother’s jaw, and then Aunt Qiao went and crippled him completely.
The Xu Family only had one son, Xu Chunwang. He was a philanderer who had never properly married or given the Xu Family any children. Now that he was crippled, the Xu family line was severed. Jie Jinghun didn’t dare to imagine what kind of scene the Xu family would make when they came to the Jie Family’s home.
Shen Qing opened her mouth as if to say something, but seeing Jie Jinghun’s attitude, she ultimately said nothing.
She didn’t want to get involved in the conflict between Xu Chunyan and Qin Mei, and now that their friction had escalated into a bitter feud, she wanted to be involved even less.
"Alright, I’ll pack. You go tell Dad and Aunt Qiao," Shen Qing agreed.
"Forget Dad. I’ll just tell Aunt Qiao." Jie Jinghun wasn’t stupid. If he told his father, his father would surely chew him out.
"Suit yourself." Shen Qing left the room, carrying her toiletries.
Mr. Xie and Mrs. Xie left the house together. Before they left, Mr. Xie woke Jie Jingjue up and reminded him to take Jie You to school.
Jie Jingjue gave a half-hearted reply. After Mr. Xie left, he completely forgot about taking Jie You to school and fell back into a deep sleep beside the little one. By the time he woke up, the sun was high in the sky. Seeing the little one lying next to him, Jie Jingjue was dazed for a second before a sudden realization hit him. He shot up and roughly pulled Jie You upright.
"Xiao You, you’re late for school! Get up, quick!"
"Fifth Uncle." Jie You rubbed her sleepy eyes, pouting unhappily. "Fifth Uncle, I want to keep sleeping."
"What do you mean, sleep? You’re late for school!" Jie Jingjue frantically helped Jie You get dressed.
The jacket she wore yesterday was filthy, but Jie Jingjue couldn’t worry about that now. He wanted to change her into something else, but her parents’ room was locked and he didn’t have a key, so they had to make do.
Jie Jingjue finished changing his own clothes. With Jie You still in her dirty jacket, her face unwashed and her teeth unbrushed, he grabbed her schoolbag in one hand, took her hand with the other, and biked her to school.
After Jie Jingjue left, Jie Jingchen woke up. Looking at the woman in his arms, he carefully extricated himself, got out of bed, changed his clothes, and crept out of the room.
"Fourth Brother." Jie Jingshan was in her wheelchair, just about to leave her room, when Jie Jingchen walked in.
"Have you had breakfast?" Jie Jingchen asked.
"I have," Jie Jingshan nodded, then added, "Third Sister-in-law bought it for me. She also said that she and Third Brother are going back to her mother’s place for a few days."
Jie Jingchen wasn’t surprised at all. Last night, he had told his third brother that he’d deliberately claimed Mother was taking Qin Mei to Xiangjiang to take refuge. He figured his third brother had been inspired by that, which is why he decided to take his wife to his mother-in-law’s for a few days.
That was his third brother’s way—never taking sides, never showing favoritism, always staying out of it.
"Fourth Brother, is Fourth Sister-in-law awake?" Jie Jingshan asked.
"No," Jie Jingchen replied.
"Fourth Brother, push me into your room. I want to wait for Fourth Sister-in-law to wake up," Jie Jingshan said to Jie Jingchen with a smile.
"Okay." Jie Jingchen pushed Jie Jingshan out of her room and into his. As he was about to leave, he caught sight of a kitchen cleaver hidden by Jie Jingshan’s side. His expression darkened. "Jing Qi, give me the cleaver."
"Fourth Brother, it’s for self-defense," she said, making it clear she had no intention of giving it to him.
Jie Jingchen’s thick brows furrowed. He could see the anxiety in Jie Jingshan’s eyes. "Jing Qi, a cleaver isn’t safe."
"Fourth Brother, I’ll be careful. I promise I won’t hurt myself," Jie Jingshan assured him.
Seeing Jie Jingshan’s strong sense of self-preservation, Jie Jingchen was gratified, but he was still worried and tried to persuade her, "Jing Qi, a cleaver really isn’t safe. Be good, give it to me. I’ll give you a dagger for self-defense."
"Really?" Jie Jingshan’s eyes lit up. ’A dagger would be much easier to hide than a cleaver.’
Jie Jingchen found a dagger for Jie Jingshan, and she finally agreed to trade the cleaver for it.
As Jie Jingchen took the cleaver to the kitchen, Qin Mei opened her eyes. She had been awake ever since they entered the room.
"Fourth Sister-in-law, did we wake you?" Jie Jingshan asked, toying with the dagger.
Qin Mei’s eyelid twitched as she watched Jie Jingshan admiring the dagger, unable to put it down. She got out of bed to change and wash up.
Qin Mei pushed Jie Jingshan into the courtyard, where Jie Jingshan offered the dagger to her. "Fourth Sister-in-law, here. You need this more than I do."
Qin Mei was taken aback. She looked at Jie Jingshan, deeply touched. ’The girl hadn’t wanted the dagger for herself, but for me.’ Qin Mei smiled and patted the small cloth satchel slung across her body. "No need. Silver needles suit me better than a dagger."
"Can you really use silver needles for self-defense?" Jie Jingshan asked in surprise.
"Of course," Qin Mei said smugly. "It depends on who’s using them. To you, silver needles are just for acupuncture. But for me... hehe..."
Qin Mei didn’t elaborate, just chuckled, leaving the rest to the imagination.
After dropping Jie You off at school, Jie Jingjue bought three breakfasts. He got steamed buns for himself and Jie Jingchen, and sweet potato congee for Qin Mei.
After breakfast, Jie Jingjue decocted the medicinal herbs—one bowl for Jie Jingchen and one for Jie Jingshan. After she drank her medicine, Qin Mei gave her acupuncture. This time, Jie Jingshan didn’t fall asleep after the treatment.
Worried the Xu family might show up to cause trouble, Jie Jingjue decided not to go out. With one person disabled, one injured, and one a "weak" woman, he knew Qin Mei would be at a disadvantage if the Xu family came knocking and she had to face them alone.
In the courtyard, Jie Jingchen sat reading in a rattan chair. Xu Chunwang had broken the previous one, so Jie Jingchen had bought a new one.
Jie Jingshan was also reading. Once her legs were healed, she would have to go back to school.
Qin Mei didn’t feel like reading, and Jie Jingjue didn’t like to read. The two of them were draped over the stone table, bored out of their minds.
Qin Mei’s eyes landed on a basket of potatoes in the courtyard, and she suddenly got a craving for wolf-tooth potatoes. "Jing Wu, want some wolf-tooth potatoes?"
"What kind of potatoes?" Jie Jingjue didn’t hear clearly.
"Wolf-tooth potatoes," Qin Mei repeated.
"Are they good?" Jie Jingjue asked.
"Delicious," Qin Mei nodded. Seeing the doubt on his face, she thought, ’For someone who doesn’t like potatoes, just hearing the word is probably enough to kill his appetite.’
"I don’t like potatoes," Jie Jingjue said bluntly.
"I don’t like them either, but I love wolf-tooth potatoes," Qin Mei fibbed. In reality, she loved potatoes, whether they were shredded and stir-fried, stewed with pork ribs, or mashed.
"Is there a difference?" Jie Jingjue asked. ’To me, anything made with potatoes tastes the same anyway.’
Her interest was piqued. "Of course there’s a difference! Wolf-tooth potatoes are delicious, it’s just that cutting them is a bit of a hassle."
In this era, they didn’t have the special crinkle-cutters for making wolf-tooth potatoes. If you just cut them into regular strips, they’d lack soul and wouldn’t be as appetizing.
"You peel them, I’ll cut," Jie Jingjue volunteered. ’I’m bored anyway, and it’s something to do to pass the time.’
"Okay." ’That’s exactly what I was waiting for him to say.’