"— Children?!" Chen Liejiu's mention reminded Xu Huaiqian: although men's bodies were identical, they could have children.
"Mm." Chen Liejiu didn't understand Xu Huaiqian's big reaction. "You left seed last night; we might have a little soon."
" No," Xu Huaiqian held Chen Liejiu, shaking his head like a rattle-drum. "A-Jiu, I'm still young. I don't want to be a dad."
" It's fine. I'll raise the child after it's born. You can study or do whatever you need to; you won't have to worry." Chen Liejiu thought he feared trouble and comforted him.
Was it about trouble? It meant going from a world of two to a world of three—a troublesome, annoying creature taking up his and his husband's time.
And they had just gotten married! They hadn't even had enough clingy, affectionate time together before a " third person" needing their care and raising appeared. Xu Huaiqian's head felt big just thinking about it
Seeing Xu Huaiqian fall silent, Chen Liejiu looked up and noticed his unhappy expression. "Do you really not like children?"
Xu Huaiqian leaned on his shoulder, somewhat unhappy: "I don't like them."
"If you don't like them, then we won't have any," Chen Liejiu patted Xu Huaiqian's back comfortingly. "And don't worry; men conceiving is inherently difficult anyway. Maybe I'll never conceive in this lifetime."
Regarding children, Chen Liejiu had no aversion. He thought it would be nice to have a clingy and adorable sticky rice ball that looked like Xu Huaiqian.
Imagine big and small both clinging to him—the thought seemed wonderful.
But if Xu Huaiqian didn't want , then forget it. Children were important, but A-Qian was more important. Besides, the probability was fifty-fifty. What if they didn't get a little like A-Qian but instead a little tyrant with his own temperament and looks?
That would be disastrous.
Thinking this, not having any was just fine.
No matter how Chen Liejiu comforted him, Xu Huaiqian's heart tightened uncomfortably at the thought of some soon dividing Chen Liejiu's affection. He privately decided to be more careful during intimacy in the future.
While they agonized over children, others were also facing their own dilemmas.
"Brother Xu's husband is so good to him." Sitting in the carriage back to Pingxi County, Sheng Yunjin recalled everything he saw at the Chen house. "Just because riding an ox-cart was too bumpy for Brother Xu, he built him a road—a road even better than those in the prefectural city!"
Mentioning this, Sheng Yunjin's expression still held deep admiration for Chen Liejiu. They hadn't noticed the road's difference on the way there.
But on the return trip, their carriage traveled on it and found it unbelievably smooth. It wouldn't turn into muddy soup even during heavy rain, making him even more impressed.
Thinking that both were live-in husbands, Chen Liejiu could do so much for Brother Xu, while he had only caused trouble for Duan Youyan without doing anything for him, Sheng Yunjin's face flushed with suppressed embarrassment.
"You are also very good." Determined to pursue both the imperial exams and medicine, Duan Youyan didn't dare waste a moment, studying on the way back. Noticing his little husband had fallen silent after muttering, he looked up to see him staring with a flushed face. He ruffled his hair.
"A-Yan, I have d too little for you." Sheng Yunjin felt very disheartened. It was his premature heat flush that forced Duan Youyan to marry into his family. Afterward, he hadn't had Chen Liejiu's grand ambitions to do something for Duan Youyan.
Instead, his family had constantly pressured Duan Youyan to abandon medicine, making him compromise again and again. Seeing how Chen Liejiu and his husband interacted, Sheng Yunjin felt his family's approach was very wrong.
How could always demand compromise in a marriage?! And he was the in the higher position. Chen Liejiu showed him that precisely because he was in a higher position, he should do more for his husband.
Just as a wife married into her husband's family expects him to achieve success and bring her honor, he, as a live-in husband, should also build achievements and business like Chen Liejiu to earn dignity for his husband.
And he had only wanted to be a little husband, solely demanding his husband to improve— most improper.
"Every person and every couple has a different way of being together. Don't dwell on it; being yourself is fine." Duan Youyan didn't think Sheng Yunjin had d too little for him.
Although he was a live-in husband, and sometimes his father-in-law mocked him to serve Sheng Yunjin, in private, it was Sheng Yunjin who took great care of him.
While a maverick man like Chen Liejiu was admirable, a lively and virtuous husband like his A-Jin was also not bad. There was no comparison.
But it was useless. Sheng Yunjin had already taken Chen Liejiu as his benchmark. After returning, he kept thinking about what he could do to bring face to Duan Youyan.
Business was definitely not an option; his family wasn't short of my. Earning more wouldn't bring Duan Youyan honor.
Duan Youyan loved practicing medicine but had half-abandd it for him. Sheng Yunjin thought, why couldn't he pick up the half Duan Youyan had given up?
So he made a decision: he would study medicine.
The husband leads, the husband follows. His husband privately wanted to be a doctor; he would accompany him in becoming .
Although starting to learn medicine at twenty was a bit late, didn't the books say the slow bird must start early? He didn't want to be a famous doctor, just to know a bit about healing, so he could better assist Duan Youyan in compiling medical texts on men's heat flushes and developing medicine to suppress them.
He couldn't let Duan Youyan strive al; he had to strive too.
Sheng Yunjin's decision to study medicine certainly shocked the Sheng family. But he seemed serious. He didn't learn from clinic doctors but went daily to Duan Youyan's parents' home, learning the basics from his in-laws first.
Duan Youyan watched him for two days. Not only was he not impatient, he became more enthusiastic, sometimes bringing notes back to ask him.
They were no longer like before, having nothing to talk about when together. Occasionally discussing symptoms and pulses, they could miraculously talk all night, their bond closer than glue and lacquer.
Magistrate Sheng initially strongly disapproved of his son studying medicine, as he had been raised according to, powerful families and court ladies.
But then he thought: now that he had married into another family, it was no longer suitable to hold Sheng Yunjin to the old ways. Moreover, the young couple had finally opened their hearts, willing to strive for each other, their feelings improving daily. Why should he be the villain in the middle like before?
Let them be.
In Yunmeng County, Pei Wangshu returned home. Thinking about the next three years, where he not only had to pass the Xiucai exam but also take the provincial exam with Xu Huaiqian and the others, his whole head felt big.
Especially when he picked up a book, the words still made him dizzy and sleepy. He felt utterly despairing inside. How could he possibly pass the Xiucai and Juren exams like this?!
"If you really can't study, then don't," his mother, Du Yuerong, said with heartache, seeing her son's determined efforts after returning from his classmates' Xiucai banquets. "Come help Mother with the accounts."
She didn't necessarily force her son to get a rank, but being a widow struggling to maintain her late husband's business was already difficult.
If Pei Wangshu didn't strive to make something of himself, who knew how others would bully them mother and son.
"Oh." Pei Wangshu, tears and yawns streaming as he read, hurried over at his mother's words, skillfully picking up the abacus.
He finished calculating an account book in no time. Seeing the profit, he said to his mother in surprise: "Mother, our shop's profit these past few months is quite good! Much more than before."
"Mm," Du Yuerong was also happy seeing Pei Wangshu's joy. "Those novel knots you had people learn from your classmate are not bad. I used a few styles for silk clothing buttons, and they became extremely fashionable. It helped sell other items in the shop too, so business naturally picked up."
"That's great!" Hearing he could also help his mother, Pei Wangshu smiled happily. "I told you that classmate wouldn't cheat me, right?"
Pei Wangshu remembered when he first bought the knots from Xu Huaiqian in the prefectural city, his mother had scolded him for ages, saying he wasted my all day and was generous beyond his means.
But when he sent people to learn the new knots from Xu Huaiqian's house and his mother saw the styles, she immediately stopped talking.
Now, thanks to the new knots, the family business had reached a higher level. His mother had nothing left to say.
"You!" Du Yuerong couldn't stand her son's smug look. "If only you could put a fraction of this accounting and business skill into your studies!"
It was precisely because she saw her son's talent that Du Yuerong so eagerly hoped he could achieve something in his studies.
Otherwise, with only my and no power, they would only be left to humble themselves before others.
"I am working hard." Pei Wangshu was truly despairing. He had really tried hard to force himself to study, but he just didn't know why he had no interest whatsoever in reading.
"Mother knows." Du Yuerong's heart also ached seeing Pei Wangshu's pained, despairing expression. If he were naturally slow, that would be thing, but he clearly had ability. Why did he fail when it came to studying?
But seeing her son strive for improvement without being pushed, it was ultimately improper to pressure him like before. She could only rub her aching heart and console him: "Don't rush. The Xiucai exam is held every year. We can take it slowly; you'll pass someday."
Du Yuerong had thought it through: as long as Pei Wangshu could become a Xiucai within her lifetime—allowing him to see officials without kneeling—and with his business skills, he wouldn't fare too poorly.
Pei Wangshu pouted. He really wanted to tell his mother that if she had said this a few years ago, he might have listened, but now it was not really working.
He had to find a way to keep up with Xu Huaiqian and the others' progress.