Chapter 79

Chapter 79: Preparations

Tang Yi Chen watched her for a long moment. Then, with no better solution in hand, he nodded.

Tang Yi Xiao and Tang Lu Wu looked as if a mountain had been lifted off their shoulders. Whether Qin Hui Yin truly had a method that suited them or not, it had to be better than Tang Yi Chen’s ruler.

When their elder brother took up teaching, he became a different person. Brotherly affection turned paper-thin, ready to tear at a touch. He didn’t pretend to hit. He hit, and it hurt.

It was already late, and tomorrow would be full. Tang Yi Chen waved a hand and dismissed them to rest.

Qin Hui Yin lay down, but her mind stayed busy, already arranging lesson plans and dividing characters into manageable chunks.

Then she heard it.

A faint, broken sound—moaning that cut off and returned, like breath caught between teeth.

Qin Hui Yin froze.

Her ears burned. Then, slowly, awkward understanding crawled up her spine.

Next door was Tang Da Fu and Li Tao Hua’s room.

Before, Tang Da Fu’s leg had needed rest, and the night had stayed quiet. But now he could get out of bed again. Even if the injury wasn’t fully healed, he’d recovered enough—and he was still in his prime.

Li Tao Hua was only in her early thirties. Young, beautiful, married. There was nothing strange about husband and wife sharing a bed.

Qin Hui Yin understood.

But this house had no soundproofing. Even when they tried to keep it down, every creak and breath carried as if the walls were paper.

At this rate, Qin Hui Yin thought dizzily, she truly had to earn enough to rebuild the house—move that newlywed couple’s room farther away. Otherwise, the four “children” would be forced into this unbearable awkwardness night after night.

“Be gentler,” Li Tao Hua scolded, though her voice came out soft—almost coaxing. “The kids will hear.”

A man didn’t take that kind of “anger” seriously. He cherished it.

“It’s so late,” Tang Da Fu murmured. “They’re asleep already. Wife, you said it yourself—one kiss for each character. I learned eight—”

Qin Hui Yin squeezed her eyes shut.

So the clowns weren’t them.

It was her.

*

By morning, Qin Hui Yin rose with dark circles under her eyes.

Somehow, aside from the mother and daughter looking a little worn, the Tang household’s men all looked refreshed and fine.

“Second sister,” Tang Yi Xiao asked with genuine concern, “didn’t you sleep well?”

Qin Hui Yin stared at him. “…You look like you slept perfectly.”

“I was too tired yesterday,” Tang Yi Xiao said honestly. “The moment I lay down, I fell asleep. I didn’t wake until dawn.”

Tang Yi Chen was washing his face at the basin. He heard them and straightened, then called, “Come with me.”

Qin Hui Yin followed, yawning, into the shadow of the eaves.

Tang Yi Chen pressed a bundle of incense into her hands. “I prepared this earlier. Light it tonight.”

Qin Hui Yin blinked at the sticks. “What is this? There’s no sacrifice day, and it’s not the first or fifteenth. We don’t need to burn incense.”

“It’s calming incense,” Tang Yi Chen said, eyes flicking away as if the words were hot. “It won’t harm you. It just helps you sleep.”

Qin Hui Yin’s cheeks warmed in a rush of mortification.

She understood.

And she wished she didn’t.

So he’d already guessed something like last night might happen. And he’d quietly prepared a solution in advance.

That made it worse—somehow even more embarrassing.

But it was also… considerate, in his blunt, awkward way.

Qin Hui Yin tightened her fingers around the bundle. “Got it.”

Tang Yi Chen’s expression eased by a fraction. He couldn’t exactly tell his father to become a monk. If he couldn’t stop the source, he would at least protect his sister’s sleep.

When Qin Hui Yin stepped back into the yard, she saw Li Tao Hua feeding the chickens with wilted vegetable leaves. Tang Da Fu stood close behind her, one hand covering hers as he tried to steal the leaves away, their bodies pressed together as they tugged and laughed like newlyweds.

Tang Yi Chen cleared his throat softly.

Li Tao Hua and Tang Da Fu glanced back—then immediately went right back to flirting.

Qin Hui Yin pressed her lips together.

“Father,” Tang Yi Chen said flatly, “come help.”

Tang Da Fu answered reluctantly, but he still followed. In this household, the person he feared most was his wife—and the second was this son.

*

They needed to prepare goods to sell tomorrow, so the day’s two meals were cooked by Li Tao Hua and Tang Da Fu. The others helped by washing vegetables, slicing meat, grinding and sorting, hands moving in a practiced rhythm.

Qin Hui Yin prepared everything and waited until nightfall to braise the meat. During the day, the smell would draw attention. Besides, the spices were already measured. At night, she could set the pot to a slow simmer and lift the meat at dawn, rich and ready.

The weather was also turning chilly. Cold noodles and chilled jelly dishes likely wouldn’t sell many more times. A new menu would be needed soon.

“When the well is finished, I’m going back to the private school,” Tang Yi Chen said that evening. “For the next exam, the test site will be the provincial capital.”

“Your injury is almost healed,” Qin Hui Yin replied. “You should go back and do a final push. Leave the household to me. I’ll keep an eye on everything.”

Li Tao Hua came over after counting chicks, face tight with anger. “Those filthy men actually asked what you were busy with today—and why you weren’t the one cooking. I’m so mad!”

She’d made three dishes and a soup—two meat dishes and one vegetable dish. For most families, that was already good. It was only that Qin Hui Yin’s cooking made everyone else’s taste plain by comparison.

Qin Hui Yin hadn’t even used expensive ingredients. She simply took whatever they had and made it sing. Li Tao Hua had watched, learned, and understood the “secrets,” but watching and doing weren’t the same. Li Tao Hua could admit she couldn’t match her daughter’s hands—yet being looked down on still made her furious.

“Mom,” Qin Hui Yin said, hiding a smile, “are you angry?”

“Of course,” Li Tao Hua snapped. “Your mother isn’t some big-hearted saint.”

“Then tomorrow you should cook again,” Qin Hui Yin said. “If they don’t like your cooking but still have to eat it, won’t that feel… satisfying?”

Li Tao Hua blinked. Then her expression shifted, realization brightening her eyes. “That’s true.”

She huffed, but her anger turned into a pleased hum as she walked off, already imagining their faces.

Tang Yi Chen watched her go and laughed under his breath. “So Auntie Li is that easy to coax.”

“My mom isn’t complicated,” Qin Hui Yin said quietly. “If she had a little more scheming, she’d be some rich madam behind high gates by now—not out here in the countryside.”

“Auntie Li can’t,” Tang Yi Chen said, gaze sharpening, “but you can.”

He looked at her steadily. “Have you never thought about finding her a better way out?”

With Li Tao Hua’s looks and Qin Hui Yin’s mind, if mother and daughter truly wanted to scheme, it wouldn’t be hard.

Qin Hui Yin’s expression cooled, not angry—just firm, like a door closing.

“How do you know the path I chose isn’t the best?” she asked. “Steady work is a broad road. Safe. Behind the gates of wealth lie rotten corpses.”

Her eyes held his, unwavering.

“That’s not what I seek.”