Husband, Let Me Touch Your Abs

Chapter 22

The rooster's crow woke the sun, signaling the start of a new day.

Lu Yao opened his eyes; the person beside him had already gotten up.

He stretched lazily, feeling refreshed. Thinking about last night, he felt so good that even this dilapidated house seemed endearing.

After folding the quilt and tidying up the thatch, he planned to reinstall the clay pot later. Today, he wouldn't need to cook next door anymore.

Around dawn, Lu Guangsheng and Lu Lin arrived. They always came the earliest and stayed until the very end.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw Zhao Beichuan already hard at work, gripping the stone pestle with great effort.

"Got up early, huh?" Lu Lin greeted him.

"Dad, Second Brother, I couldn't sleep, so I started working."

"Almost done with the adobe bricks?"

Zhao Beichuan put down the stone pestle and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Counted them yesterday—over seven thousand."

Lu Guangsheng suggested, "That should be enough. Why don't we start building today? With the good weather, we can finish before it rains and ruins the bricks. If we need more bricks later, we can make them then."

"Sure, whatever you say, Dad."

Lu Guangsheng smiled. This son-in-law was truly easygoing, diligent, and obedient. He agreed with everything his father suggested, which made Lu Guangsheng particularly pleased.

Soon, the other workers arrived, and they discussed starting the wall construction today.

Before laying the bricks, they needed to mix mud for the mortar. The mud required a specific blend: yellow clay mixed with two-inch-long straw rods to enhance its tensile strength, making the walls more durable.

Moreover, the water used for mixing could not be ordinary; it needed to be a mixture of cooked millet and ash flour, cooled and then poured into the soil to increase the clay's viscosity.

The Zhao family had little millet left, so Lu Yao decided to buy some in the village but wasn't sure where to go. He took the money and went to find Zhao Beichuan.

"Zhao Beichuan, come here a moment."

The man mixing mud stiffened, a suspicious flush creeping onto his face. Luckily, his sun-tanned skin hid it well.

"What is it?"

"We're out of millet. Who sells it in the village? I'll go buy some."

"I'll do it."

Lu Yao took out the money and placed it in Zhao Beichuan's hand. "While you're at it, get some beans too. I'll make some tofu."

Their hands touched, and Lu Yao's were much smaller, slender and white like freshly peeled onions. Zhao Beichuan remembered last night... and recoiled as if electrocuted, quickly pocketing the money and turning away with a stern expression.

Lu Yao looked at him, puzzled. What's wrong with this guy?

A short while later, Zhao Beichuan returned with a sack of millet and half a sack of beans. Buying rice in the village was cheaper than in town; one measure of millet cost eighty coins, and the beans only fifty.

He put the millet in the kitchen and left the remaining money on the stove, returning silently to work.

Lu Yao pocketed the money, feeling a bit annoyed. He clenched his fist at Zhao Beichuan's back, thinking, fine, ignore me if you want; I don't care either!