great-warnovel Chapter 4 Starving? She softly called out "Husband"
Chapter 4 Starving? She softly called out "Husband"
Old Seven's life was snatched back from the jaws of death.
As the tense atmosphere in the room eased, a more real sense of embarrassment immediately welled up inside.
"Gurgle—"
It's unclear whose stomach growled first, but as if it were contagious, the stomachs of the seven men began to rumble one after another in a thunderous symphony.
Su Wan huddled at the foot of the kang (heated brick bed) and rubbed her flat belly.
She was hungry too.
This body was already weak, and after a day of tossing and turning, it was so hungry that its vision was blurring, and it felt like a hand was twisting inside its stomach.
"Fourth brother, is there any food left at home?" The eldest brother, Qin Lie, turned to look at the fourth brother, Qin Yue, who was in charge of the housekeeping, with a dark face.
Qin Yue's usually smiling, almond-shaped eyes had lost their luster. He helplessly spread his hands: "Big brother, to raise money for Lao Qi's medicine, we sold the last half bag of old rice yesterday. Now, even a mouse would come out of the rice jar with tears in its eyes."
Everyone fell silent.
All twenty taels of silver were spent on Su Wan, and now the Qin family is not only poor, but destitute!
"I'll go chop wood!" Qin Lie was agitated, and the pent-up frustration made him feel unwell all over.
He grabbed the heavy axe by the door and strode out.
Even if there's no food, the fire in the house can't be turned off, otherwise this delicate wife and the newly awakened seventh son will freeze to death!
In the courtyard, the cold wind howled.
Su Wan looked out through the tattered window paper. In the wind and snow, Qin Lie took off his tattered cotton armor, wearing only a thin black short jacket.
As he raised the axe high, the strong muscles in his back bulged, like mountains brimming with boundless explosive power.
Sweat rolled down his bronze back, steaming up a layer of white heat.
That's the most primal taste of male hormones.
Su Wan swallowed hard. It wasn't her body that was craving food, it was the rice.
She just secretly glanced at the system space.
Because I just saved Lao Qi, I used up all the points from the newbie gift pack. Now, the rice seeds in the black soil are in a "dormant" state.
If you want food, you have to ripen it quickly. If you want to ripen it quickly, you have to make a man's heart race.
Although Qin Meng's "power bank" was useful, he's currently hiding in the corner reflecting on his mistakes (embarrassed). If we were to flirt with him again, we'd probably scare that big oaf to death.
Su Wan's gaze settled on the tall figure sweating profusely in the courtyard. The eldest son of the Qin family, the head of the household.
It looks the fiercest, but it's doing physical labor right now, and its energy is at its peak. It should be... a top-quality "fertilizer," right?
For a meal! I'll give it my all!
Su Wan gritted her teeth, wrapped her sheepskin coat, which still held the warmth of her third brother's body, tighter around herself, pushed open the door, and walked out into the wind and snow.
"Bang—!" Qin Lie cleaved a piece of hardwood in half with his axe, sending wood chips flying everywhere.
He was feeling upset.
There was another mouth to feed in the family, and it was a young lady from an official family who could only afford to eat coarse food.
How will we live from now on? Are we really going to abandon her in the mountains?
Just then, I heard a very faint sound of footsteps behind me. They crunched on the snow, as light as a cat's footsteps.
Qin Lie paused, about to turn around and scold him, when a small, cool, soft hand timidly tugged at the hem of his clothes.
"Husband... my lord..."
This sound was crisper and lighter than the sound of chopping wood earlier, yet it was like a thunderclap that struck Qin Lie directly on the forehead!
Qin Lie froze, and the axe weighing dozens of kilograms in his hand almost smashed onto the back of his foot.
He turned around abruptly, his movements as stiff as a rusty iron tower.
What catches the eye is a small face, pale from the cold, yet still breathtakingly beautiful.
Su Wan tilted her head back, her big, watery eyes filled with grievance and dependence, just like the weaned little animals he had seen in the deep mountains.
"I...I'm hungry."
The girl's voice was soft and sweet, with a hint of flattery and a touch of shyness.
Her fingers, gripping his clothes tightly, turned slightly white, and her fingertips accidentally brushed against his bare skin on his waist.
Icy cold and scalding hot. Delicate and rough.
boom--!
Qin Lie felt as if the point of contact was on fire, and a strange tingling sensation instantly spread throughout his body from his waist, even making his scalp tingle!
Is this woman... a fairy in disguise?!
He's a ruthless, hardened man who kills without hesitation. In his entire life, he's only ever been a rough guy in the military or a dead man. When has he ever been pampered by such a delicate and soft creature?
She still calls him "husband"? Who taught her to call him that!
"If you're hungry, just bear with it!" Qin Lie's Adam's apple bobbed violently, his voice fierce as if he wanted to devour someone, trying to hide his momentary panic. "There's no rice at home! If you yell again, I'll throw you out!"
He cursed with his mouth, but his actions betrayed him horribly.
His deep eyes were fixed on Su Wan's face, which was so close to his own, and his breathing became heavy like a bellows, with the veins on his neck throbbing.
[Beep! Top-tier attraction detected!]
[Target: Qin Lie. Identity: Head of the family.]
[Heart rate skyrockets: 130...160...200 (Extremely suppressed excitement)!]
[Congratulations, host! The rice has successfully ripened! You have obtained 100 jin of premium fragrant rice!]
It's done! This Boss Qin's "fertility" is even stronger than the third brother's!
Su Wan was overjoyed inside, but on the surface she pretended to be frightened, her eyes instantly reddening, and she let go of her hand and took a step back.
"Waaah... I was wrong..."
When she let go, Qin Lie felt a sense of emptiness.
Damn it! Isn't he too fierce? What if this delicate little thing starts crying?
Qin Lie irritably threw the axe on the ground. Just as he was about to coax her in a rough voice, Su Wan pulled out a heavy cloth bag from her bosom (actually, her spatial storage) as if by magic.
"Actually...actually I also hid some food." Su Wan sniffed and handed the bag to Qin Lie. "I was afraid of being robbed earlier, so I didn't dare to take it out. Since...since my husband doesn't have any rice, then eat mine."
Qin Lie was taken aback. He subconsciously took the cloth bag. It felt heavy in his hand, and something felt off.
He suspiciously untied the ribbon and looked inside—
In that instant, Qin Lie's pupils suddenly contracted!
White! Snow-white! Each grain of rice was like a pearl, round and plump, exuding an enticing fragrance. Even back in his days in the General's Mansion in the capital, let alone this remote and impoverished Langya Village, he had never seen rice of such high quality!
This isn't rice; this is life itself!
"This..." Qin Lie suddenly looked up at Su Wan, his eyes filled with extreme complexity.
She had just said she had hidden some food, and he assumed it was dry, hard cornbread or moldy, stale rice. But she actually produced this kind of fine, tribute-grade grain?
Does this woman even realize what this bag of rice means at this moment?
That was something that could save several lives! She just... gave it to him without any reservations?
"What's wrong?" Su Wan blinked her innocent big eyes. "This rice... can't we eat it?"
Qin Lie took a deep breath and gripped the bag tightly.
He gave Su Wan a deep look, his gaze no longer that of someone looking at a burden, but rather one that held a burning intensity he himself was unaware of.
"I can eat it." His voice was hoarse, and he roughly ruffled her hair with his large hand, the calluses on his palm making Su Wan's scalp tingle. "Go inside and wait! Don't stay out in the wind too much, you're too delicate!"
After saying that, Qin Lie hugged the bag of rice as if it were some rare treasure and strode into the house.
"Get up, everyone! Start a fire! Cook!"
The brothers, who had been living a lifeless life in the room, were jolted awake by this shout.
When Qin Lie poured that bag of white rice into the broken ceramic basin, the entire Qin family's mud-brick house seemed to explode.
"I can't take it anymore... Am I hallucinating from hunger?" Fourth Brother Qin Yue rubbed his eyes, even his usual sly smile froze. "This... this is tribute rice, isn't it?"
"It smells so good! Even raw rice smells so good!" The fifth and sixth twins pounced on it, burying their faces in the pile of rice and taking a deep breath, their mouths watering.
"Where did this come from?" Qin Mo's hand was trembling as he pushed up his glasses.
Qin Lie glanced at Su Wan, who was now obediently walking into the door and shrinking back into the corner of the kang (a heated brick bed).
Her nose was red from the cold outside, and she was now breathing on her hands to warm them, looking completely harmless and utterly cuddly.
"My wife gave it to me," Qin Lie said in a low voice, his tone carrying a hint of boastfulness that even he himself didn't realize.
The eyes of all seven men in the room instantly focused on Su Wan.
That look was no longer scrutinizing the goods, but rather as if he were looking at a living god of wealth, so eager that Su Wan felt as if she were being stared at by seven hungry wolves.
Su Wan shrank back, muttering to herself: What are you looking at? If it weren't for these heartbeat points, I wouldn't even have enough rice for myself!
This meal was the most satisfying and delicious meal the seven Qin brothers had eaten during their three years of exile.
There were no side dishes, just the rice oil from the boiled white rice porridge, so fragrant it could make you swallow your tongue. The steaming heat on your face dispelled all the chill and despair.
Su Wan held the chipped bowl and sipped her porridge. Seven men sat around her, eating ravenously, but each of them intentionally or unintentionally protected her, giving her the warmest spot closest to the pot.
Qin Lie held the bowl, his gaze piercing through the swirling steam, landing on Su Wan's small face, flushed pink from the heat. He chewed the sweet rice, the thought in his mind growing stronger:
This delicate little thing... doesn't seem so troublesome after all. If I could keep taking care of her like this, it might not be so bad?
[Beep! Everyone is full and satisfied.]
[Qin Lie and Qin Meng's heartbeats are detected to be consistently stable. Space Black Soil upgrade progress: 5%.]
Su Wan finished the last mouthful of porridge and squinted her eyes contentedly. She was full. Now, it was time to think about how to... live more comfortably in this den of wolves.
Just then, a sharp shout of cursing suddenly came from outside the courtyard, shattering this rare moment of warmth.
"Those Qin family members who have no descendants! Get out here! I smell something delicious! Where did you get this rice? You must have stolen it!"
Su Wan frowned. Was this... a total jerk coming to cause trouble?