The Cross Over Of A Loving Wife - 7

Ding-Xiang nodded affirmatively. The woman also nodded in exchange. She then reached down and took out a square piece of cloth that was hooked to a wooden frame. Honestly, Ding-Xiang couldn’t tell for certain what kind of fabric it was but it seemed to be linen but much thicker and of higher value than the cotton he was wearing. But it was also not something truly noble families would wear, maybe it would be worn by their servants of a certain level.

He took it from the woman along with a needle and thread, sat down in a chair near her, and began to embroider on it, he could feel her eyes on him but he focused on his work. Around fifteen minutes later, he handed the embroidered fabric to the woman and she nodded.

“The work is good and it seems that you’re skilled enough not to mess up this kind of cloth, so I’ll give you some client work that has been piled up for a while now,” the woman said encouragingly.

She got up and went through the door that was behind her desk and came out a few minutes later holding a bundle of fabric that seemed to be the one that the square piece of fabric was cut from, she wrapped it up in some coarse cloth and then passed it over to him.

“This is the second layer and outer layer robe that a client wanted to be embroidered. She did not have any specific request just for it to be beautiful. I have a second set of replacement robes, so I will give you this one to work on. Bring it back to me at the end of the month depending on the quality, you’ll get from two to twelve taels and I will see what type of work to give you going forward.”

Ding-Xiang nodded and took the robes and embroider tools from her, placed them in the basket. He did not forget to politely thank her and then left and walked from the better side of town to the market area. He stopped at a stall and ordered some warmed milk in a bowl, when he got it; he paid and then sat down to feed Hui-Liang. When the tiny milk bottle was finished feeding he set him back in the sling and went into the market, as he walked he thought of the things missing from the house and the fact that he didn’t want to have to come back to town until he was ready to bring back the robes.

He got a second basket and then began to buy rice, flour, sugar, oil, salt, soy sauce, and other spices. He purchased some pickled vegetables and fresh ones and then looked around until he found a pot for sale. It was a bit expensive but he bit the bullet and bought it. He knew in a month he might be twice as big so using one pot for everything and constantly having to rinse it out would waste time, water, firewood, and make him unbelievably tired so getting another pot was in his best interest.

When he was done he went and bought two egg-laying chickens along with a few eggs and a piece of meat that might be the last until his cheap husband came back. Not that they couldn’t afford it, but that it would be troublesome to come and buy it. If anything he could wait and see if anyone would kill any pigs or chickens in the village and buy from them but that might not happen. He went and bought some medicine in case one of the milk bottles got sick and then slowly carried everything back to the cart.

Halfway there he ran into some fellow villagers, they helped him carry everything back while he kept the robes with him. They all got on the cart and waited for a while for the others to come, soon everyone was present, and the cart set off. The ride was a bit more uncomfortable this time because of how tired everyone was after doing all the selling and buying they had to do. The ride seemed a bit longer, so Ding-Xiang dozed off until someone tapped him to let him know that they had reached.

Ding-Xiang wiped his eyes and looked down at the little milk bottle, who was staring up at him with bright eyes, he smiled and rubbed the baby’s head and then got off the carriage. The villagers helped him to carry the things to the house he thanked them politely before they left.

When he went back inside, he saw the two milk bottles looking at him with watery eyes, and before he could say anything they ran over and latched on to him, causing him to be startled. Ding-Xiang stooped down and pulled them down into a hug, he felt it as they began trembling and could only sigh while saying in a gentle voice, “Didn’t I leave you a note, I said I was coming back, why are you crying?”

Hui-Ling hiccupped and held onto his clothes “Mama lied once! Mama said that we would be fine but then Mama fell asleep and we saw Mama wasn’t breathing. Mama can’t leave again!”

The loud sobs rang out as the words of the milk bottle stunned Ding-Xiang, he didn’t think of the possibility at the time, but the two had watched De-Lun die. How long he had died before Ding-Xiang crossed over, he couldn’t tell, but what matters is two little toddlers watched as their mother die and had no one to turn to. That is why they had sobbed and hugged him like that when he first woke up.

There was no way for Ding-Xiang to comfort them aside from hugging them tightly. Their mother had truly died, if he hadn’t crossed over would these children suffer the same fate they had in the book, or would it have been worse?

Ding-Xiang sighed again, “Mama is here and Mama will never leave you behind and if you want the next time Mama goes anywhere I’ll take you with me.”

The two milk bottles pulled away and looked at him through their tears, their heads bobbed and he laughed, “Okay then my milk bottles need to be good and always listen to Mama and I swear I will always stay here, by your side, okay?”

The milk bottles nodded again and he placed a kiss on each of their heads and wiped their tears. The two children nodded and he said in a happy tone, “Okay, mama brought back a lot of things and can’t fetch them all by myself, so the two of you go bring in what you can lift and leave the rest to me, okay?”

They nodded again and Ding-Xiang patted them on their butts, “Okay, go!”

Ding-Xiang watched as they ran out and then the smile on his face faded, he went to the room and set Hui-Liang down on the bed and then touched his stomach “It’s impossible…” he couldn’t help but mumble as he rubbed it.

He had remembered it clearly, the aunt had come over and said that everything was fine, so even if the original De-Lun had died it couldn’t have been for long. At least not long enough to take the two lives inside him, but he was dead for some time could it have been enough to cause some type of damage to them, would they come out handicapped or with mental issues, if they did how would that man take it?

Ding-Xiang knew for sure that he wouldn’t have a problem if the children came out like that, he wouldn’t mind taking care of two handicapped children, but it was already difficult for those kinds of people to live in the modern world. How could they possibly survive in these ancient times? If he gave birth to two boys it might be fine, they could always just purchase a wife if it came down to it, but who would be willing to take a wife that suffers from a mental disability and the thought of marrying a husband for them would just make that poor person suffer terribly.

Ding-Xiang sighed and sat down, he rubbed his stomach as he mumbled, “Please be healthy, your father is already suffering mentally and I can’t tell how he’ll react to the two of you have the same issue, so please come out normally. I don’t think you’ll be able to live well if you don’t, you survived De-Lun’s death, so I’m sure you’re strong enough to push through this barrier, I’m rooting for you!”

Ding-Xiang sat there with his hand on his stomach until he heard the footsteps of the two milk bottles as they ran into the room, he smiled at them as they grinned and hopped over to him. “Mama, we’re done! We fetched in all the things we could carry and for the things we couldn’t we helped each other lift them and only those we could drag in were left outside!” Two children said at the same time, looking proud and happy.

Ding-Xiang chuckled and petted their heads, “Good job, stay here and watch your brother. Mama will go bring in everything else.” The two milk bottles shouted ”Yes!” and dusted off their feet before jumping onto the bed. Ding-Xiang watched them with a smile and then went out of the room, the smile dropping as he did, he let out a deep sigh, rubbed his stomach, and then went to get the things.