The Delicate Darling with Her Rough Man

”Wen Wan is so lucky to be marrying Yun Zhiqing. The two of them are truly a perfect match.”

Everyone praised Yun Hao, then turned to praise Xu Wenwan as well.

Sun Yeshu had come over with Mrs. Sun. Hearing this, she spoke up with a smile.

”That’s right. I think Wen Wan and Yun Zhiqing are much better than Leng Yuan and Gu Jiaojiao. They’re both writing couplets, so if Yun Zhiqing can charge one mao, on what grounds does Leng Yuan charge two?”

Mrs. Sun chimed in, ”Exactly! We’re all from the same village! He’s not as considerate as the educated youth.”

Xu Wenwan gave Sun Yeshu a surprised look. In that single glance, the two shared a knowing smile.

It was a look that said they regretted not meeting sooner and shared a common enemy.

’That’s right. They had a common enemy, and wasn’t it Gu Jiaojiao!’

’The enemy of my enemy is what? A friend, an ally, a partner—someone to fight against Gu Jiaojiao with.’

While they were talking, Yun Hao finished writing a pair of couplets.

He wrote the Lin Family’s first. Chen Shulan took the couplets and praised him before even looking at them.

”Yun Zhiqing, your calligraphy is so good, much better than Leng Yuan’s...”

As she spoke, Chen Shulan’s eyes fell upon the couplets.

Then, the rest of her praise died on her lips.

She didn’t really understand the characters, but she felt that Yun Hao’s calligraphy wasn’t as good as Leng Yuan’s.

Leng Yuan had always written their family’s couplets in the past. She didn’t understand his flowing, elegant script, but it carried a certain artistic depth that was clearly extraordinary.

She didn’t understand Yun Hao’s characters either, but compared to Leng Yuan’s, they just seemed... average.

Very average.

’No wonder he only charges one mao.’

Xu Wenwan glanced over, thought Yun Hao’s writing was quite good, and immediately spoke up with a wide smile.

”Auntie, you’re too kind. As long as you’re satisfied, that’s all that matters.”

Chen Shulan stared at the couplets for a long time without speaking. Xu Wenwan naturally mistook her reaction for shock.

’His calligraphy must be too good for words.’

So even though Chen Shulan hadn’t actually finished her praise, Xu Wenwan accepted it all on her behalf.

When everyone else heard what Xu Wenwan said, they took it as fact. They immediately crowded forward, urging Yun Hao to hurry up and write couplets for them.

Being praised put Yun Hao in a much better mood. After being prompted, he started writing with a grin.

He wrote couplets for three days, earning seven yuan in that time.

This included the money for the couplets, and since some people used their red paper, they made a little extra from that too. All together, it was seven yuan.

Yun Hao was incredibly excited holding the money. That very day, he used it to go to the County Town and buy a lot of New Year’s goods.

Leng Yuan kept writing all the way until the Little New Year. Besides people from his own village, people from other villages also came to ask him to write couplets.

In those five days, he earned over thirty yuan.

While Leng Yuan was busy writing couplets, Gu Jiaojiao spent every day with Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang making all sorts of food.

Fried dough twists, crispy rice sticks, meatballs, chestnut cakes, sugar flowers, fried tofu, sugar cakes, braised pork, soy-sauce duck, roasted chicken...

On the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, Gu Jiaojiao also steamed pork buns, pickled cabbage buns, egg buns, and brown sugar cakes.

All these foods were placed in the storehouse. There was no stove in there, making it a natural freezer. However, they had to weigh things down on top to prevent mice from stealing the food.

On the thirtieth, New Year’s Eve, Leng Yuan stopped writing after finishing a few pairs of couplets in the morning. In the afternoon, he helped Gu Jiaojiao cook.

The two of them went to the kitchen, where Gu Jiaojiao took out a piece of meat and two heads of pickled cabbage.

”Let’s chop the filling first!”

Leng Yuan had no objection. He just felt that chopping filling was physical labor that a man should do, so he naturally took the knife from Gu Jiaojiao’s hands and began chopping skillfully.