His Peasant Wife : Yao Ling

"I can see the admiration in both of your eyes," Wang Luo Hai smiled. They should have known that he wasn’t going to put his life and his family’s life to incompetent princes and he was just lucky that they were both his nephew. The bond was deeper than a master and an ordinary subordinate.

"They are able to prolong our time to make the robe in one night. Not everyone can do that. Who won’t admire them?" Yao Ling gave him her honest opinion, smiling.

Wang Luo Hai laughed. "True that..."

"So... how many days that I have?" Yao Ling asked curiously. She hoped that she at least got more than one week, otherwise, even with her ability... she would have to work crazily to finish it in time.

"One week. Can you do that?" Wang Luo Hai asked her back.

Yao Ling sucked in a deep breath, knowing that they were actually asking a bit too much to her. Her premonition came true! She should finish it less than half the time of her usual pace. She knew that she should pull an all-nighter for one whole week. She looked at Yao Ying and knew that she should do this for him. Sighing, Yao Ling nodded. "I can, but I will not be able to do anything else except doing the embroidery for one whole week." The meaning was clear... she would stay in this room and would not be able to pay respect to the elders just like usual.

Wang Luo Hai understood. "I will arrange everything. Don’t worry about your lesson, home matter, and Fu Rong matter. Your focus should be fully in finishing the robe. Do you need someone else to have you?"

"I can only trust Ning-jie, Father," Yao Ling answered. She realized that Wang Luo Hai probably already knew about Ning-jie. She wasn’t too naive to believe that Wang Luo Hai didn’t know what Yao Ying and Yao Ling did behind his back. Wang Luo Hai probably did nothing, because he wanted them to learn too.

Wang Luo Hai nodded, acknowledging her decision. "Go ahead!"

Yao Ling turned to Yao Ying and said, "You can go to General Lin’s house. Isn’t it time for you to have Shi Fu to teach you? You don’t want to be late. I already prepare the wine beforehand."

Yao Ying nodded. He already saw that Xiu held a jug of wine and brought it along to Fu Rong. If she didn’t prepare it for him, he would have forgotten about it. Having a caring wife was truly the best!

That one whole week both of them were working really hard. Yao Lin was focusing herself in finishing the embroidery, while Yao Ying took care of all Fu Rong’s matter and learned martial arts skills from Shi Fu along with Lin Jian. His martial arts skills improved a lot because of Shi Fu’s special training, but he still wasn’t on par with Xiu and Feng’s skill. Everything took time... he consoled himself. Besides, based on what Shi Fu said... Yao Ying was talented and he was able to learn everything at a fast rate.

Lin Jian invited him a few times to have a drink together, but Yao Ying rejected and promised him that he would only be able to go with him after Yao Ling finished her embroidery. Yao Ying felt that it didn’t seem right for him to go for a drink and have fun when Yao Ling was very busy. He saw with his own eyes how diligent she worked and she only slept for half to two shichen at most every day. He could even see her eyebags were darker than usual and it pained him.

Yao Ying and Yao Ling didn’t have the time to spend together, except when he went to Fu Rong and watched her work. Intimate moment? Don’t even think about it! He couldn’t even steal a kiss from his dedicated wife and it made him a bit lonely. That’s why he kept loitering around Yao Ling with a dejected face.

Yao Ling didn’t know whether she should laugh or cry. Yao Ying looked like an abandoned puppy --- even Ning-jie noticed his weird behavior but didn’t dare to laugh at his face. Yao Ling decided to ask him, "Husband... why don’t you go out with Lin Jian? I heard from Xiu that he had been asking you a few times to have a drink together? Don’t worry about me! The robe is almost finished anyway." Yao Ling hoped that he would listen to her encouragement.

If Yao Ying kept loitering around her with a forlorn look, she also couldn’t fully concentrate on doing the embroidery. Her eyes kept darting around him and well... she also wanted to laugh out loud. Yao Ling also knew that he also waited for her promise to give him pleasure, but too bad... she didn’t have any time to entertain him until the robe was finished. She was very busy ah~

"How can I leave you just like this?" Yao Ying furrowed his eyebrows, feeling dissatisfied with the way she indirectly chased him away. He was just worried about her ah~

Yao Ling felt a headache coming. She understood how he felt responsible about this, but they were husband and wife ah~ She also helped him willingly, why did he have to feel guilty all the time? She did this not for gaining any merit in his eyes, but for sharing the burden together.

Yao Ling sighed and said, "It’s really okay, Husband. You can go and tell me what kind of stories Lin Jian will tell you. He usually has a lot of interesting stories, right? You can use his stories to entertain me when I’m feeling bored while doing this." Yao Ling tried to coax him while pointing at the robe. If she could, she would just kick him out of the room and sigh in relief.

Yao Ying saw the stern look on Yao Ling’s face and knew that he had no choice but to follow her wish. Yao Ling could be really stubborn sometimes and he could also see the pleading look. "Fine..." He pouted but still went out, following her order. Before he reached the stairs, he turned back and asked, "I’m going now..." He still felt unwilling and hoped that Yao Ling would call him to go back.

However, it was just wishful thinking. Yao Ling only nodded and grinned at him, then made a gesture to shoo him away. "Just go..." So, he could only go and bring Xiu along with him.

After he was gone, Yao Ling was finally able to sigh in relief. She heard a burst of laughter from behind her and she knew it was Ning-jie. She turned around and asked in annoyance, "What?"

Ning-jie tried to stifle her laugh but fail. "I never know that your husband is henpecked by you. He doesn’t even want to leave you even for a second." Ning-jie still remembered Yao Ying’s expression and it made her want to tease Yao Ling more.

"He’s not henpecked! He’s just feeling guilty because I have to do all the work for him and he can’t help me at all," Yao Ling shyly explained.

"Still a very rare man... For example, my father. If you were his wife, he would let you do all the work and he would probably stay with the concubines," Ning-jie said bitterly. That was what had happened to her mother, so she knew all about man’s cruelty in the first hand. Yao Ying was indeed a rare breed of man.

Yao Ling just sympathetically looked at Ning-jie and said, "There are a lot of types of men. You just met the bad one. Who knows? You will probably have a kind and loyal man. Why bother with the past?"

Ning-jie nodded at Yao Ling’s suggestion. "I wish what you said will come true. But for now, I will focus on the children first. I’m not in a hurry to find a man."

Yao Ling sighed. It wasn’t that she wasn’t in a hurry... it was more like she didn’t trust that men were capable to love a woman wholeheartedly. Yao Ling admitted that she was lucky to meet such a good husband.

Before they could say anything else, Xiao Yu rushed into the room in a hurry. Yao Ling always told Xiao Yu to go back to Wang Fu after she accompanied Yao Ling walking to Fu Rong in the morning because she needed someone to become her eyes at Wang Fu. Yao Ling couldn’t stay long at home for one week and she didn’t feel good not knowing the matter inside Wang Fu. She could only trust Xiao Yu, so she needed her to be her eyes and ears inside Wang Fu.

Yao Ling asked, "Why are you in a hurry? Has something happened at Wang Fu?"

Xiao Yu quickly greeted and relayed the news. "Young Mistress, Liu Li has recovered for a little bit and she is finally able to get out of bed."

"And?" Yao Ling smiled.

"Just like what Young Mistress has predicted before... she starts to work on her revenge," Xiao Yu grinned. She never thought that Young Mistress could correctly predict Liu Li’s next step.

"This kind of person... she’s too restless. I know that she won’t lay low for long and she is good at harboring a grudge," Yao Ling said. She already paid special attention to Liu Li and she knew her like the back of her hand.