The Cultivator's Reborn to 1970s
Chapter 114 - 96 (first watch)_2

Chapter 114: 96 (first watch)_2

Mo Junhua decided that, whether he had free time or not, he needed to find time to practice more calligraphy with the brush. Lan Tian stopped writing after an hour, as the rest of them, including Chunhua, were going outside to work in the fields, and Mo Junhua was going to join them when Wang Guiyu sent him back to keep Lan Tian company.

With only the adults Lan Tian and Mo Junhua at home, Wang Guiyu and her husband had also gone out to the fields, taking their grandsons with them. Lan Tian paced back and forth, feeling bored; she thought about going home several times, but remembering Wang Guiyu’s past kindness made her endure for these three days.

She went back to the room to read a medical book from the table, while Mo Junhua looked through a book on military affairs, occasionally glancing up at Lan Tian.

The room was quiet, occasionally filled with the sound of turning pages. Sunlight from outside the window fell upon Lan Tian, as if anointing her with a golden glow, captivating Mo Junhua, who couldn’t turn his gaze away. A warm atmosphere flowed between them, one reading a book, the other watching the reader—a scene that lasted the whole afternoon.

As the light of day slowly faded, approaching the time to prepare dinner, Lan Tian put away her book and looked toward Mo Junhua, standing up to go outside. Seeing her leave, Mo Junhua put down his book and got up to follow. He approached her as she paced in the hall and asked, "What’s the matter?"

Lan Tian pointed to the twilight outside, "It’s time to cook."

Skipping a meal didn’t matter to her, but the Mo Junhua’s family couldn’t go without eating. It was just Lan Tian and Mo Junhua at home; with Wang Guiyu and Mr. Mo out working in the fields, it wouldn’t be right not to cook. Were they expected to wait for them to come back and cook?

Lan Tian had lived in this family for several years and knew exactly where everything was placed; she could find them with her eyes closed. However, Lan Tian couldn’t let on, having just married into the family and having only been there for a day. To her, this house was still unfamiliar—how could she know where everything was kept?

Not knowing would be normal; knowing would be strange. Why would she know? That wasn’t something she could simply explain away in a sentence or two. Could she say that she was reborn, that in her past life she had also married Mo Junhua, so she knew the location of everything in the house? Mo Junhua would surely mistake her for a demon and burn her at the stake.

"I’ll cook, you take care of the fire," Mo Junhua intoned, expertly starting to prepare rice in the kitchen, lighting the firewood, then asking Lan Tian to watch the fire while he picked out, washed, and chopped the vegetables. He had done all sorts of household chores before enlisting in the military, including cooking.

Lan Tian looked incredulously between him and the knife, stunned to discover that Mo Junhua knew how to cook! They had lived together for half a lifetime, and she had never known this—probably because she didn’t spend much time with Mo Junhua.

Thinking back, Bai Lianhua seemed also unaware that Mo Junhua knew how to cook; at least from what she had observed, every time it was Bai Lianhua who prepared a table of delicious food, waiting for Mo Junhua to return and eat. With one bite, Bai Lianhua would ask with adoring eyes.

Mo Junhua rolled up his sleeves, firmly gripped the knife, and ’chop chop chop,’ he precisely sliced the potatoes on the chopping board, his knife skills professional, creating even julienned strips better than Zhao Li, making Lan Tian click her tongue in amazement.

Feeling privileged to eat food cooked by Mo Junhua, something even Bai Lianhua hadn’t been treated to, Lan Tian was notably excited.

Rural life offered little in the way of fancy vegetables; apart from greens and radishes, it was radishes and greens, with a bit of minced meat tossed in to make a ’meaty’ dish. The vegetables lacked Spiritual Energy, but Lan Tian still ate a bowl of rice, casting a meaningful glance at Mo Junhua from across the table, surprisingly impressed with his culinary skills.

After dinner, they took a walk in the courtyard to digest, with several nephews running around creating a racket, nearly colliding with Lan Tian several times. She was wary of harming them, and after being teased by Chunlai’s wife, she retreated back to her room, where a dilemma awaited.

There were no public bathhouses in the countryside; bathing was done in one’s own room. Before marrying, Lan Tian always bathed in her own room. Now that they were married, she naturally lived with Mo Junhua, and this room, once his, was now hers too. Naturally, bathing also took place in this very room.

Having not bathed the previous night, she felt uncomfortable throughout the day. After Mo Junhua entered the room, he sat reading a book by the window. Lan Tian sat cross-legged, waiting for Mo Junhua to leave so she could bathe. As night grew darker and Mo Junhua’s reading became more engrossed, Lan Tian could wait no longer.

She approached him and pulled his book away, "I’m going to take a bath; go out first. After I’m done, you can come back and continue reading." Lan Tian gestured with the book for him to leave.

Mo Junhua looked at Lan Tian calmly, stood up, and headed out, "I’ll go get you some bathwater."

Happy to have someone willing to help, Lan Tian looked for clothes in the wardrobe to change into. She remembered there was a large bath barrel among her dowry, big enough to be hugged by two people and half a person tall—perfect for a bath.

Wang Guiyu had prepared a big pot of hot water in the kitchen. It was still early, and neither the adults nor the kids were contemplating a hot bath; it was summer heat after all, and a hot bath would only make them hotter. Seeing Mo Junhua coming to fetch water, Wang Guiyu allowed him to take it all, as the family did not need hot water.

When Mo Junhua returned with the water, he saw Lan Tian standing on a stool, trying to reach the wooden tub from the attic among her dowry. Despite standing on the stool, she was still too short, stretching and bouncing on her toes precariously. The stool wobbled dangerously, and Lan Tian swayed, almost falling.

Mo Junhua’s heart leaped to his throat; he put down the bucket and lifted Lan Tian down, then climbed up to retrieve the wooden tub himself and set it on the ground, "Climbing so high is dangerous. If you get hurt, how will you go to school in Shanghai? Leave these tasks to me from now on."