Wei Xunzhou looked at the few pieces of silver in Di Yao's palm...
Wei Xunzhou heard the sound of Di Yao getting into bed and felt a bit at a loss for a moment.
"Husband, aren't you going to rest?" Di Yao's sweet voice came from the other end of the room, her tone perfectly normal, but Wei Xunzhou still found it awkward.
When he walked over to the bedside, Di Yao had already burrowed under the covers and was yawning. Wei Xunzhou parted his lips: "Aren't you going to farm anymore?"
Again with this topic. Di Yao's drowsiness instantly dissipated.
She had heard from Xiang Yun that even if something grew here, it would only die; it couldn't survive. At the time, Di Yao had thought she would wait for Xiang Yun to water it with clean water and see what happened, but she knew the chances of saving it were slim.
So was it still worth trying again?
Di Yao was pondering her decision while Wei Xunzhou watched her.
"Farm? Of course I'll farm. I'm stubborn—I won't give up until I hit a brick wall. I'll come back early tomorrow and continue working before it gets dark," Di Yao said as she lay down, flashing him a smile. "What do you want to say, husband? If you're still trying to persuade me to give up, then don't say it... Even if you do, I won't listen."
Wei Xunzhou looked at the sky outside. The sky was as dark as ink, the daytime chatter of neighbors had gradually faded, and the wind had picked up outside, rattling the doors and windows.
Di Yao followed his gaze, not understanding why he looked so downcast. She didn't ask further, just patted the bed, signaling him to get some rest.
From her limited understanding of Wei Xunzhou, he always talked her out of doing this or that, but if she insisted, he wouldn't interfere much, and once she did it, he would stop talking. Besides, she had made it clear: as long as he didn't discourage her or oppose her farming, she was fine with everything else. They could live peacefully, and she could even put on a smile for him.
Seeing Di Yao turn over and bury her head under the blanket, Wei Xunzhou propped a chair against the door to keep it from rattling, then blew out the lamp and got into bed, moving carefully to avoid making much noise.
"Good night, husband." Di Yao's voice was muffled and soft, but because the surroundings were quiet and Wei Xunzhou was secretly attentive to her, he heard her clearly.
This was the second time. If he didn't respond, it would be impolite.
"Good night."
That night, Di Yao dreamed of Wei Xunzhou—a hysterical, furious, and violent Wei Xunzhou.
In the dream, she had finally managed to till the land, and the things she planted had survived and were growing well.
She was crouching on the ridge pulling weeds when suddenly Wei Xunzhou stomped into the field, crushing the vegetables. Mud splattered all over her face as he lifted his foot. She hurriedly stood up to stop him, but he shoved her away.
She was about to roll up her sleeves and argue when Wei Xunzhou's face twisted into a terrifying grimace: "I told you not to waste time on useless things at home, but you wouldn't listen. Today, I'll show you what it feels like to fail at the last moment!"
Then, from somewhere, he produced a flame, waving it in front of her triumphantly before tossing it into the field.
The fire raged, and thick smoke billowed from the backyard. It hurt even to breathe, and tears streamed down her face as she ignored everything and lunged at him, slapping him hard twice.
"Wei Xunzhou! You bastard!"
...
When she woke, her eyes were still moist. As she recalled the dream, Di Yao, though surprised, also reflected a lot. Even though she didn't think Wei Xunzhou was as hateful as in the dream, she still felt unsettled.
Could the calm and normalcy he showed now be just a facade? Would he deliver a fatal blow when she finally harvested her crops?
The more she thought, the more anxious she became. She shook her head firmly to rid herself of unpleasant thoughts.
She got up and washed up as usual. The clean water she had gotten from Meng Po, they had been using these past few days, especially for rinsing their mouths. A few days ago, Wei Xunzhou didn't care and used water drawn from the city, but after Di Yao scolded him several times, he changed.
While she was rinsing her mouth, Wei Xunzhou had already poured water for her and placed it on the table.
Di Yao silently praised his thoughtfulness, but suddenly she heard Xibian barking outside.
A knot formed in her heart, recalling last night's dream.
When she went out to check, Xibian was nowhere to be seen. Following the sound, she went around to the backyard and froze at the sight.
Xibian was tugging at a lantern with Wei Xunzhou. Not only that, but Di Yao saw that roughly every zhang along the three hedges of the backyard hung a lantern, probably around twenty or thirty in total.
Several more lanterns lay on the ground; Wei Xunzhou was evidently picking them up and arranging them, while Xibian was clearly causing trouble.
Di Yao called Xibian's name and frowned at it. When Xibian saw this, it let go and pretended to be innocent, pushing the lanterns on the ground toward Wei Xunzhou with its nose.
"What a performer Xibian is. Husband, are all these lanterns ours? How come I've never seen them before?" Di Yao smiled as she went over to help, picking up a lantern at Wei Xunzhou's feet. She noticed the lantern body was still warm, obviously just extinguished.
Though she didn't dare believe it, she still asked: "Were these lanterns here last night?"
Wei Xunzhou looked at her incredulous expression and only answered the first question: "Bought."
Di Yao took his silence on the second as affirmation.
"Oh my, so many lanterns. It must have taken a whole day to prepare. Husband, you're so thoughtful. And here I was last night saying those unkind things..." Di Yao's words trailed off as guilt crept in, and she pouted.
"I was measuring your gentleman's heart with my own mean measure... I'm so sorry. It was all my fault. Yesterday I wronged you and said harsh words. But why didn't you think to explain? If you had, maybe I wouldn't have dreamed..." about cursing you.
"What?"
Di Yao shook her head like a rattle-drum: "Forget it, nothing."
Recalling the night before last, when Wei Xunzhou saw her hoeing in the dark and told her to stop, and she'd talked back to him, Di Yao felt even guiltier.
In her heart, she was already satisfied that he didn't oppose her, and she never imagined he would one day help her.
She didn't know how to repay him. After much thought, she took out five taels of silver, what she'd earned from Meng Po these past few days.
"Where did you buy these lanterns, husband? They must have cost a lot, right? I only have this much silver on me now. I don't know if it's enough."
Wei Xunzhou had actually gone door to door in Wrongful Death City to buy all these lanterns, and each household had its own price; the most expensive single lantern had cost him six taels.
Wei Xunzhou looked at the few pieces of silver in Di Yao's palm and didn't tell her the truth.
"One tael is enough." He only took one tael, and before Di Yao could marvel at the price of commodities here, he explained first: "After all, this place is different from the mortal world. There's not much need to spend money, so to many, money is almost entirely a useless external possession. So not many people value it."