BXBX NOVEL Chapter 127: Lei Xiangli's Betrothal
“Sit, I’ll have people serve the food.” Lei Tie rubbed Qin Mian’s head, poked the fire in the charcoal brazier into ablaze, and opened the door to go out.
Dinner was still hot pot, but with a herbal hot pot soup base. The weather was too cold for fried dishes since they turned cold very quickly.
It was dark after they finished dinner. Lei-Qin Le lit two wind-proof lanterns hanging on the eaves and drove off. White Spot ran along the carriage, full of vitality.
Lei-Qin Shun had gone back earlier after transporting the vegetables. There was only Lei-Qin Le driving the carriage on the road. The wind-proof lanterns swayed along the carriage, which also swayed the lights, adding a little warmth in the night when the wind was howling. Lei-Qin Le tightened the winter hat on his head and hummed in a low voice.
Qin Mian was full and languidly shrank in Lei Tie’s bosom. As a cultivator, he should not have been so afraid of the cold. However, his cultivation was still shallow, and he didn’t know why only a small part of the spiritual Qi absorbed during the practice had refined into the vital spirit, and the rest was missing. For him, using vital spirit to maintain body temperature consumed too much, so he simply used Lei Tie as a human heater, convenient and intimate.
With his eyes closed, his quiet appearance exuded another temptation.
Lei Tie’s throat was tense. Only when he called out “wife” did he realize that his voice was burnt to hoarse by strong desire.
“What’s it?” Qin Mian opened his eyes.
Lei Tie’s hand masterfully drilled into Qin Mian’s lapel.
Qin Mian put his arms around the man’s neck, “En… Ah… A-Tie, slow down…”
The ambiguous sound was blown away by the cold wind. Lei-Qin Le was not at all aware; he raised the whip and drove the carriage fast and steadily. “Ding-ding-dong, ding-ding-dong…” The small bell on the carriage also sounded very lively.
When Qin Mian regained consciousness, he was already lying on the warm heatable brick bed. The light that came through the gap in the curtain was harsh to the eyes. He closed his eyes in discomfort and opened them again. It is the next day?
A familiar noise sounded behind him before a big warm palm fell on his cheek and caressed it. He turned around, Lei Tie’s strong facial features and clear bright eyes came into view.
Lei Tie lay on his side with a quilt up to his chest. He wore only white inner clothing with the lapels opened in dishevel, revealing his wheat-colored clavicle.
“Awake? Still sleepy?” Lei Tie leaned over as he asked in a low voice.
Qin Mian pulled the quilt up to cover the man’s clavicle and tucked the corner of the quilt in. Then, he wrapped himself in the quilt, turned his back to the man, squeezed into the man’s chest, and said lazily, “Lie down a little longer.”
Lei Tie pushed away his hair and kissed his earlobe. Then, a soft kiss fell on his nape, the big palm slid slowly down his waistline…
Qin Mian moaned comfortably and suddenly thought of something, “A-Tie, did we forget something?”
“Nie Heng and Mu Chen have come. I let Uncle Fu take them around the farmhouse first. Wife, think only of me.”
What else could Qin Mian say? His whole person was covered in the quilt.
After a good while, the undulating quilt finally calmed down. Lei Tie’s head emerged first.
In a moment, Qin Mian’s head also came out with red cheeks and slightly swollen lips. He titled his head to look at Lei Tie. Owing to the pleasure just now, the man’s face added a hint of sexiness, which made him unable to move his eyes away. In a hurry to divert his attention, he asked in a hoarse voice, “When did you wake up?”
Lei Tie said, “An hour ago. Hungry?”
Qin Mian nodded his head, “En.”
Lei Tie pecked his wife’s lips, put on his clothes, and went out.
Only then Qin Mian noticed that White Spot and the brown bear – who knew when they had returned – lying on the ground and sleeping soundly.
Bored, he picked up a clothes hanger and poked the bear’s head. The brown bear raised its head and looked at him with groggy eyes. It raised its leg to get on the bed, but Qin Mian hurriedly pushed it down. The brown bear grunted, crawled back, and stayed motionless like a hill.
Hearing the approaching footsteps, Qin Mian sat up, put on his cotton-padded jacket, and leaned against the backrest.
Lei Tie came in with a tray, bypassed the two “obstacles” on the ground, and walked to the side of the bed. He placed a small table well on the bed and put the tray on the small table.
In the tray was a steaming hot bowl of delicious lean meat with vegetable porridge.
“A-Tie, the brown bear still has no name. So, called it ‘Golden Fur’.”
“You decide.” Lei Tie handed a spoon to him, “Wife, eat slowly. I’m going out for a while.”
“Go ahead.” Qin Mian knew that he was going to visit the greenhouse.
Nie Heng and Mu Chen were following Uncle Fu to visit the orchard in Leisurely Farmhouse, watching with lively interest.
Seeing Lei Tie coming, Mu Chen excitedly asked, “Boss Lei, can we pick the sweet oranges first?”
With a poker face, Lei Tie said, “After, I still have something important to do.”
Mu Chen had to change his mind, “Well, go to see the vegetables first then.”
As soon as the few people reached the vegetable garden, they could see four high and long greenhouses at a glance.
Uncle Fu lifted the curtain at the entrance of the greenhouse and led Nie Heng and Mu Chen to visit.
Nie Heng and Mu Chen were deeply impressed by the many kinds of vegetables growing in fine form, which made them more confident and nodded to Lei Tie to express that there was no problem.
Nie Heng put his thumbprint on the three documents on the spot. Lei Tie took out Qin Mian’s seal and stamped it. Lei Tie and Nie Heng each kept one copy.
Lei Tie told Uncle Fu, “Steward Fu, later, you will take Lei-Qin Zhong and Lei-Qin Shun with Boss Nie and Mu-gongzi to the county town and send the document to the local authority for filing.”
Uncle Fu bowed his head as he replied, “Yes, Eldest Young Master.”
Lei Tie turned to Nie Heng and Mu Chen, “The greenhouse is built by Steward Fu with other servants. If you have any questions, you can ask them. Steward Fu will speak without reserve.”
Although Nie Heng didn’t know Qin Mian and Lei Tie very well, he could see that they were very honest people, so he wasn’t afraid of them playing tricks.
“If there’s any question, have someone to call me over.” With that, Lei Tie made an obeisance gesture toward Nie Heng and Mu Chen to excuse himself and turned to leave.
Mu Chen patted Nie Heng’s back with an ambiguous expression, “Surprisingly, Boss Qin didn’t show up. Is he not afraid that his man will suffer in our hands? Do you think he hasn’t got up yet?”
Nie Heng shot a glance at him and pulled him deeper into the greenhouse. “Do you need to worry about these? Get down to business. Steward Fu, first tell us what we need to build a greenhouse like this…”
When Lei Tie returned to the house, Qin Mian’s bowl of porridge had finished. Qin Mian handed the empty bowl to him, “Want more, is there some?”
“A lot.”
Lei Tie came back with the porridge and watched Qin Mian eat. When Qin Mian had finished eating and made sure he was full, Lei Tie said, “Wife, Lei-Qin Le brought Manager Sun’s news. The other three Diamond Members also give up participating in the great adventure.”
“Really?” Qin Mian looked regretful. “I thought that hunting in the mountains would be very attractive to those rich people. It’s a lapse of conjecture. That’s fine, save us the trouble.”
“En. Read a book?” asked Lei Tie.
Qin Mian shook his head. “I’m arranging New Year’s gifts first.”
From inside the drawer, Lei Tie took out his wife’s felt-tip pen and notebook before taking the bowl out of the room.
When he returned home after sending Nie Heng and Mu Chen out of the gate, Qin Mian had written several pages in his notebook.
Qin Mian handed the notebook to him and discussed with him, “A-Tie, see if my arrangement is appropriate. Our servants are good. We haven’t found anyone who is lazy or tries to shirk. I think, this New Year, compared with last year, each person will be given 50 Wen more bonus and 5 jin more meat. Also, starting from next year, the monthly payment of all servants will be increased by 20 Wen. As for the four seasons’ clothes, add a set each for the ordinary servants, and two sets each for the managing servants. What do you think?”
Lei Tie looked over it carefully and nodded, “Do as you say. Wife, Lei-Qin Le and Steward Fu are good. Later, let Lei-Qin Le manage the vermicelli workshop, and Steward Fu manages the winery. This way, you don’t have to work so hard.”
Qin Mian said with a smile, “I think the same. I’ll arrange things after the New Year. Uncle Quan’s character is also trustworthy. If there is no mishap, we can leave the vineyard to him.”
“Doable.” Lei Tie said, “Their sale deeds are in our hands, I believe no one will do stupid things.”
“En.” Qin Mian continued to write down other arrangements in his notebook. “The New Year’s gifts for workers in the winery and vermicelli workshop are still graded according to their usual performance, lest their appetites give birth to wickedness.”
Lei Tie said, “I’ll personally send out the New Year’s gifts.”
On the 18th of the twelfth month, Qin Mian and Lei Tie came to the old house again. This was the day when Lei Xiangli and Sun Yu were betrothed. There were six etiquettes of marriage: making a proposal, requesting birthdate, sending news of divination results and betrothal gifts, sending wedding gifts, requesting the date of the wedding, and fetching in the bride in person. Proposing was the matchmaking. Requesting birthdate was requesting the eight cyclic characters to determine fate, and after exchanging the birthdate characters, the man expressed willingness to go on to the next step. Sending news of divination results and betrothal gifts was to talk about marriage. If the eight characters of both parties were compatible, the marriage could be established and the date of marriage could be set. The date of Lei Xiangli’s marriage with Sun Yu was set on the 18th of the fourth month of next year.
When the marriage had been decided, it was a custom for the family members to have a meal together.
Lei Xiangli was standing at the gate of the courtyard with a smile on his lips.
Qin Mian raised his voice, full of teasing, “Fourth Brother, congratulations! A load on the mind has been lifted, isn’t it?”
“Cough!” Lei Xiangli blushed, “Don’t make fun of me, Eldest Sister-in-law. Please, come in.”
Qin Mian fished out a red small pouch that was prepared earlier from his sleeve pocket and handed it to him. There were 5 silver taels in it.
“This is a little regard from your eldest brother and me, take it.”
Without waiting for Lei Xiangli to speak, he pulled Lei Tie into the central room.
As he had anticipated, as soon as Lei Daqiang saw them coming in, his patience ran out.
“Eldest and eldest daughter-in-law, you two must have not forgotten what you said before during the separation. When Old Four gets married––”
Lei Xiangli hurriedly said, “Father, Eldest Brother and Eldest Sister-in-law already gave me 5 taels. I have received it.”
Du Shi looked displeased. Qin Mian and Lei Tie gave the money to Lei Xiangli, not to her and Lei Daqiang, obviously on guard against them.
Qin Mian laughingly said, “Old man, old lady, and second old lady, we are here to congratulate you. But today’s really unfortunate. Today, we have something important to go to town, so we won’t have a meal.”
Wei Shi rushed to talk before Lei Daqiang and Du Shi, “It’s fine, go ahead if you have an urgent matter. Old Four, send off your eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law.”
Before the three men had gone far away, Du Shi began to attack Wei Shi, “Wei Shi, Old Four is my son! My son is betrothed. When was it your turn to make a decision?”
Wei Shi gave a pleasant smile and said in a soft voice, “Sister, didn’t you see that Old Four looked embarrassed just now? I do it for your own good, lest your third son will be at odds with you.”
Du Shi blew her top, “You!”
“All right, all right.” Lei Daqiang gave Du Shi a discontented look, turned his back to her, blocked her fierce eyes, and looked at Wei Shi with concern, “Wei’er, you’re about to give birth, don’t be too agitated.”
“I’ll listen to my husband.” Wei Shi gently smiled at him, “Husband, accompany me to go out for a walk.”
“Alright. I’ll help you. Slow down.”
As soon as they walked out of the central room, the sound of broken cups transmitted out from within.