Wen Yan complained that his back hurt, and Jiang Zhou naturally felt distressed. After all, he was also the culprit of the back pain, wasn’t he?

He could only hang a pot over the brazier and cook glutinous rice balls in it while pressing Wen Yan’s waist.

As soon as he took off his clothes, Wen Yan couldn’t help but let out a slight hiss. The pain was really severe. He turned his head and looked at his waist.

Fortunately, today he was wearing a short coat, so he didn’t have to lift up the whole thing like wearing a robe, but he could see my waist by gently undoing a few buttons.

As soon as he saw it, Jiang Zhou felt a little guilty.

Wen Yan’s milky white and delicate skin would leave marks with the slightest exertion. Now, his slender waist was densely covered in blue, occasionally mixed with continuous hickeys. The green and red mixed on the white skin, especially obvious.

Jiang Zhou couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed.

Yesterday, he just drank a few glasses of wine and became less serious. It was really a beast to torment Wen Yan like this.

Wen Yan was indeed a little ashamed when he saw it. Those marks… His mind was filled with the time yesterday when Jiang Zhou affectionately pinched his waist.

In the past, Jiang Zhou was very restrained. He didn’t dare to use force or go too far for fear of hurting him. His movements were extremely delicate. The two of them just did each other for a while and then rested. At that time, he felt warm and satisfied.

However, last night, Jiang Zhou changed his past style, sparing no effort, and his movements were fierce. It gave him completely different feelings – one was calm and the boat was rocking slowly, and the other was the storm and the rippling blue waves. He didn’t know which one was better, but his heart and body told himself that he did not reject it, and even liked it.

He was thinking wildly in his mind and felt Jiang Zhou’s rough fingers on his waist.

Jiang Zhou’s fingertips were still a little hot. He had specially warmed his hands. He pressed Wen Yan’s waist with gentle force and took medicinal wine to rub the bruises for him.

While rubbing, Jiang Zhou was inevitably a little distraught. However, he knew that Wen Yan was exhausted to the limit, so naturally he did not dare to make any other moves. He pressed his desire and rubbed the waist seriously.

His technique was naturally excellent – he used to massage Mother Jiang when he was young, and later he married Wen Yan and often massaged him. Practice makes perfect, and he had a very good grasp of strength.

Wen Yan was pressed so comfortably that he almost fell asleep. However, as soon as he squinted his eyes, Jiang Zhou shook him awake. A bowl of glutinous rice balls was handed to him: “Eat something first before going to sleep.”

The small glutinous rice balls were handed to him. The sesame filling inside would flow out from the gap when pressed with a spoon. The unique sesame fragrance was thick in the air, seducing Wen Yan’s greedy senses.

Jiang Zhou only cooked six for him. Looking at Wen Yan’s unfinished expression, he comforted him: “Just eat six. If you eat too much glutinous rice, your stomach will bloat. You will feel uncomfortable in your stomach and you won’t be able to sleep.”

Then Wen Yan reluctantly put down the bowl: “Why do I feel sleepy after I’m full?”

Jiang Zhou touched his head: “Go to sleep if you feel sleepy. I’ll wake you up later.”

Wen Yan couldn’t hold it any longer, so he fell asleep again.

.

Jiang Zhou put away the bowls and chopsticks, turned around, and took another bowl of glutinous rice balls to the door.

Lu Xiangxi was still beating the eggs seriously, and when he saw him coming out, he greeted him: “Teacher!”

“Shhh–” Jiang Zhou made a silencing gesture and turned his head to make sure Wen Yan hadn’t woken up. He said in a low voice: “Your madam is asleep, let’s keep your voice down.”

He handed the bowl of glutinous rice balls to Lu Xiangxi: “Here, are you tired from working all morning? Eat a bowl of glutinous rice balls to relieve your stomach.”

Lu Xiangxi, without being polite, quickly finished the small half bucket of eggs in his hand, took the bowl of glutinous rice balls, and squatted by the fire to eat.

Jiang Zhou saw that he was eating seriously and asked, “You come here to work on the first day of the new year. Where is your mother?”

Lu Xiangxi buried his head and said, “My mother is resting at home. There are only two people at home, it doesn’t matter whether it’s the Chinese New Year or not. I’ll go back to accompany her after I finish the list in my hand.”

Jiang Zhou heard what he said was pitiful, and then remembered that Aunt Lu had taken good care of him after he woke up, so he said: “Let’s do this, I’m just celebrating the New Year with my wife here, there’s no point in that. If you don’t mind, just take your mother over, and the four of us can celebrate the New Year?”

Lu Xiangxi knew that he meant well, but he still refused: “The two of us are used to it, but Teacher, you just reconciled not long ago, so it’s better to cultivate relationship between you two.”

After he said this, Jiang Zhou stopped trying to persuade him and just changed the topic: “Those things you said before, among the masons, are there any who are trustworthy and quick at work?”

Lu Xiangxi thought for a while and provided him with a choice: “Of course, there is, and speaking of it, it has something to do with you!”

“Oh? Who is it?”

“Liu Sanlang’s brother Liu Erlang, he is a mason. Their family are all honest people. You should also know that Sanlang helped Teacher kill pigs.”

“Liu Sanlang? Their family is indeed a good family, the eldest is a carpenter, the second is a mason, and the third is a good hunter.”

Besides, Jiang Zhou and Liu Sanlang had a good relationship, so he should have some security.

“It’s convenient to find Liu Erlang. All the wood for the beams can be provided by Liu Dalang, so you don’t have to bother to find a lumber dealer yourself.”

“That’s good. In that case, I’ll go find Liu Erlang tomorrow.”

The two chatted about the craftsmen for a while, and Jiang Zhou confirmed the candidates according to the suggestions given by Lu Xiangxi, preparing to find them all at once tomorrow.

.

After chatting, Jiang Zhou raised his head and looked at the sky. It was almost noon. It would be too troublesome to ask Lu Xiangxi back again, so he kept him for dinner.

Villagers usually eat two meals, one dry rice meal near noon and another meal in the afternoon close to dinner time. They wouldn’t eat anything again until the next day. The same was true for Aunt Lu’s family.

Only Jiang Zhou’s family seemed to eat three meals a day. He noticed that his teacher often opened a small stove for his wife, and Wen Yan was always the first to taste the freshly baked pastries.

Lu Xiangxi didn’t have anything to eat when he went back, so he simply stayed. He had been craving his teacher’s cooking skills for a long time.

When Jiang Zhou was cooking yesterday, he didn’t cook much. He and Wen Yan didn’t like leftovers, so every time they cooked, they cooked for two people. They always had to make fresh food anyway.

“I’m going to cook. The heat for your steamed sponge cake needs to be lowered. I looked at it earlier and found that the base ones were too hard.”

“Okay! Teacher, thank you!”

.

Jiang Zhou finished cooking, and woke Wen Yan up. After the three of them had a meal, Jiang Zhou turned to Liu Erlang to discuss building a house.

As soon as he left, Wen Yan cleaned everything inside and outside the house, and sat on the bed to sew clothes for Jiang Zhou.