When the day was lighter and the sun started to rise, Jing Chen climbed the tree with a carrying basket on his shoulder. Jing Chen carefully sat on the branch and tied the basket there tightly. He swatted away some bees that were still around, then cut the honeycomb from the branch with a cleaver. Since the honeycomb was huge, Jing Chen was forced to cut it into three pieces. 

Surprisingly, just above the current branch where Jing Chen was sitting, there was  another honeycomb! This honeycomb was smaller and had lighter colour than the one he just harvested. It showed that this honeycomb was younger and didn’t have as much honey as the first honeycomb. Even so, the size was quite big, so Jing Chen decided to harvest that one too. 

While waiting for Jing Chen to climb off the tree, Xue Yu put out the fire and cleaned up the ash. He also made sure that there was no trace of fire left. He was very cautious  because he was scared that the bees would come back and sting them.

“Xiao Yu, we get more honey than we expected!” Jing Chen said. He wanted to show Xue Yu his full basket as soon as his feet touched the ground. 

“This is… really great!” Xue Yu smiled as he peeked into the basket. His happiness was  so vivid that Jing Chen couldn’t help but smile too. Jing Chen touched Xue Yu’s  forehead lightly and said, “It’s all for you and the kids.” 

Xue Yu’s heart was warm when he heard it. 

After carefully covering the honeycomb with coarse clothes, they went deeper into the mountains. They picked snow-fungus and wood ears they saw last time. They also picked more pears. In addition to that, they picked up wild vegetables and taro roots  which grow well near the river’s spring. Xue Yu caught two jungle fowls and a rabbit as well. Their baskets were full, so Xue Yu prepared to go back. Nevertheless, Jing Chen didn’t stop. He kept going up toward the direction of the mountain’s cave. 

Xue Yu was confused, but he didn’t say anything. There must be a reason why Jing Chen wanted to go there.

When they reached the cave, Jing Chen dug the south corner of the cave’s floor quite deep, using the cleaver. He took out an old wooden box from the ground. This box was  where the original owner hid his most precious things. He also used this box to keep some money to previously buy candies and dried fruits for his family. Although the original owner was very filial to his parents, he knew deep down his parents treated him poorly. So, he had to keep money for urgent situations. 

Mother Jing wasn’t wrong when she accused the original owner didn’t giving all of his  money from the military to them. The original owner kept 40 taels he earned for himself. There were 27 taels left inside the wooden box along with a pocket knife made of metal, a jade token, some paper scrolls, and one broken plum blossom hairpin made of silver. 

Xue Yu who kneeled beside Jing Chen gasped when he saw the hairpin. It was so delicate, you could see how expensive it was at one glance. The stamens had gold colour and the buds were made of pearls. Although it was the lowest quality of pearls, and the gold was gilded, no one in the village ever wore such a beautiful hairpin. Xue Yu was very amazed. However, this amazement quickly turned into sadness. For the first time Xue Yu wondered if Jing Chen had a sweetheart? Did he prepare this hairpin as a gift to her? A capable person like Jing Chen was forced to marry a ger like him; Xue Yu thought Jing Chen must have been unwilling. 

Since Jing Chen treated him nicely and didn’t show any hate towards him, naturally he held a hope in his heart. They were married after all; feelings could grow over time, right? Xue Yu always thought he was content with their relationship, but if there was a possibility of course he wanted to improve it. He didn’t want Jing Chen to like another person. But with how he was, could he win Jing Chen’s heart? He was a ger; he wasn’t a beautiful, good-looking person from a good family either. His skin was dull, his hands  were rough, his first born were gers not sons, and he didn’t have any quality that men liked. 

If one day Jing Chen wanted to add another room, he didn’t have any right to say no. 

“With this money, we can buy a lot of things. Xiao Yu, let’s go to the county town tomorrow!” 

Jing Chen, who didn’t know Xue Yu’s train of thought, talked happily. He put the box in Xue Yu’s basket and hid it under the wild vegetables. He took the jungle fowls and rabbit from Xue Yu’s hands and carried it all the way home. They walked side by side quietly, both full of thoughts. Jing Chen was busy planning ways to make money while Xue Yu was worrying about how to continue his life once Jing Chen decided to marry someone else.

Thanks for reading everyone! Shout out to my beta, @Fancy Dreamer, she's really great!

Note:

- Add another room = take concubine, polygamy is common in ancient times. Although Jing Chen is a poor farmer right now, he can take concubine if he has enough money in the future.

Pics:

[1] Snow fungus, Wood ears

[2] Jungle fowl, Wild Rabbit

[3] Jade token, Plum blossom hairpin