Reborn in the 1970s — Married a Proud Rough Man-Chapter 16: Heating Bathwater

Qin Mei ignored him. She lifted his shirt and, twirling a silver needle between her fingers, inserted it into an acupoint on his lower back. As she placed several more silver needles, Jie Jingchen felt the sharp pain gradually subside until it was gone completely.

’Qin Mei really knows her stuff,’ Jie Jingchen thought to himself.

Half an hour later, Qin Mei removed the silver needles. When she saw Jie Jingchen still lying face down, she frowned. "I’m hungry. Go heat up the congee for me."

"Go yourself. I can’t move," Jie Jingchen refused. He closed his eyes and hugged the pillow, showing no intention of moving at all.

Qin Mei wanted to fly into a rage. ’She gives him acupuncture, he heats up her congee. It’s a perfectly reasonable arrangement where no one takes advantage of the other.’

"Jie Jingchen," Qin Mei ground out, glaring at him. "I don’t know how."

"You can learn." Jie Jingchen opened his eyes and shot her a cold glance.

He believed that Qin Mei didn’t know how to cook. The entire Qin family had spoiled her rotten, ensuring she never had to do a day of manual labor in her life. He wasn’t asking her to cook, just to heat something up. Surely she knew how to start a fire? There was no technical skill involved in that.

"Even if I learn, someone has to teach me! I’m stupid; I don’t have the talent to be self-taught." Qin Mei rubbed her aching kneecaps. She remembered kneeling on both knees before she fainted, and it seemed to have left some lingering pain.

"Go ask my mom to teach you." Before the words were even out of his mouth, Jie Jingchen closed his eyes again. His back wasn’t hurting as much anymore; it wouldn’t stop him from getting out of bed and going to the kitchen to heat the congee for Qin Mei. He was just unwilling. It wasn’t about some noble principle of a gentleman staying away from the kitchen, he simply didn’t want to.

Qin Mei gritted her teeth. ’Go wake up my mother-in-law in the middle of the night? I might have the nerve, but I don’t have the guts.’ The relationship between a daughter-in-law and mother-in-law was already a delicate thing. Disturbing her in-laws’ sleep for her own selfish reasons would plant the seeds of future conflict.

"Which way is the kitchen?" Qin Mei conceded, deciding to fend for herself.

Back home, they had a maid who arranged three meals a day perfectly. After she’d transmigrated here, Sun’s mother, in exchange for the ten yuan a month Jie Jingchen provided for living expenses, had also arranged her three daily meals. When she went to Shanghai to take care of... him, she bought all her meals at the hospital cafeteria. Unless she was absolutely starving, she would rather skip a meal than cook for herself.

People say "God helps those who help themselves," but she truly didn’t know how.

"Left of the main hall," Jie Jingchen said without opening his eyes.

"..." Qin Mei was speechless. She’d forgotten where the main hall was.

’Forget it. It’s useless trying to get any valuable information out of Jie Jingchen.’ She was in an unfamiliar place, and it was pitch-black. Even if he gave perfect directions, she wouldn’t be able to follow them.

Qin Mei got up and walked to the door. Using the light from inside, she could just barely make out the courtyard. She stood under the tree in the yard, arms crossed. There were so many buildings, but only Jie Jingchen’s room was lit. She really couldn’t tell which one was the kitchen.

In the end, Qin Mei gave up. ’I’ve been hungry this long already. A few more hours won’t kill me.’

Qin Mei went back inside, closed the door, and climbed onto the bed. Jie Jingchen was lying on the outer edge, so Qin Mei had to lie on the inside. As she climbed over him, she couldn’t resist and stomped on his calf.

"Qin Mei." Jie Jingchen’s eyes snapped open, glaring at her.

"Sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose," Qin Mei said, but her expression screamed, ’I absolutely did it on purpose.’

Jie Jingchen raised an eyebrow. He watched as Qin Mei lay down, hugged the blanket, and rolled over with her back to him, taking the entire blanket with her.

A chill washed over him. Jie Jingchen felt completely helpless. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and asked in a low voice, "Weren’t you hungry?"

"I’m full now," Qin Mei said, her tone unfriendly. Hugging the blanket, she turned to face him. Staring at Jie Jingchen’s sinfully handsome face, she added, "I just went out and filled up on the cold night air."

"Filled up on the cold night air?" Jie Jingchen’s deep voice held a trace of exasperation, but a smile started to spread across his lips.

"Yep, it was delicious. You want to go out and try some?" Qin Mei said with a straight face, her innocent expression particularly endearing.

"You couldn’t find the kitchen." It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

Qin Mei’s silence was her answer. She hugged the blanket, rolled over, and once again presented Jie Jingchen with her back.

Jie Jingchen relented. He got up, put on his shoes and a jacket, and shot a glance at Qin Mei’s back before turning and striding out of the room.

Listening to his fading footsteps, Qin Mei sat up, hugging the blanket. She began to wonder if she had gone too far.

’If Jie Jingchen weren’t injured, I could accept this with a clear conscience. But he’s the patient. Logically, I should be the one taking care of him, not the other way around.’

Ashamed and guilt-ridden, Qin Mei threw off the blanket and got out of bed.

The kitchen light flicked on. Qin Mei walked over and stood in the doorway, watching Jie Jingchen add water to a pot with one hand while the other supported his lower back. A wave of shame washed over her, and she wished the ground would swallow her whole.

"Let me do it," Qin Mei said, walking into the kitchen.

Jie Jingchen paused, then set the water ladle on the stove. He took a step back, standing to the side with a hand on his waist, the corner of his mouth lifting in a barely perceptible smile.

’He’s actually letting me do it.’ Qin Mei steeled herself and stepped forward. She picked up the water ladle, and her eyes fell on the water vat to the side. ’Whoa.’ It was a vat carved from a single, solid piece of stone. The Sun Family had a similar one, but it was much smaller.

Qin Mei poured a ladleful of water into the pot. As she was about to pour the fourth, Jie Jingchen couldn’t help but speak up. "Are you heating congee, or are you boiling water for a bath?"

Qin Mei stared at Jie Jingchen and asked with a completely serious expression, "Is it too much water?"

"What do you think?" Jie Jingchen retorted. ’Qin Mei is a disaster in the kitchen. It’s rare to see someone this hopeless.’

And yet, she looked so earnest about it.

Qin Mei thought for a moment, then poured several more ladlefuls into the pot. "I haven’t bathed in two or three days. I feel gross all over, and I probably smell. I should take a bath."

An unnatural look appeared in Jie Jingchen’s deep, star-like eyes. He had a feeling Qin Mei was taking a jab at him. She had only gone two or three days without a bath, while he hadn’t bathed in nearly half a month.

She was meticulous about cleanliness; even in the hospital, she would find a way to bathe. But him? When Xiao Liu was taking care of him, he had been too embarrassed to ask for help with a sponge bath. Now that it was her turn, even though they were husband and wife, they were still strangers. Especially since she had amnesia and had forgotten him completely, he was too embarrassed to ask her to help him wash.

When they got home, he had mentioned it, but his mom wouldn’t allow it.

"Add more water," Jie Jingchen said.

"You want to bathe?" Qin Mei asked. When Jie Jingchen nodded, her brow furrowed, and she blurted out, "Who’s going to help you?"

Jie Jingchen’s face darkened. "I injured my back, I’m not a cripple," he reminded her. "You just need to help me carry the bucket into the washroom."

Qin Mei added several more ladlefuls to the pot. If they heated up a large pot of water and mixed it with half a bucket of cold water, it would be enough for both of them to bathe.

The two of them, fussing over boiling water in the kitchen in the middle of the night... it certainly left a lot to the imagination.

She put the lid on the pot, and the two of them just stared at each other. "Well, start the fire!" Qin Mei said.

"I hurt my back." The implication was clear: Qin Mei should do it.

"I don’t know how," Qin Mei said, throwing up her hands. She genuinely had no idea. The Sun Family burned firewood, while the Jie Family used coal. She couldn’t even light a wood fire, let alone a coal one.