Reborn in the 1970s — Married a Proud Rough Man

Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Testing the Waters

Jie Jingchen resignedly went to stoke the fire. Fire was nothing to play with. If he insisted on letting Qin Mei do it, he had no doubt she would burn the kitchen down.

He heated water in the large front pot and warmed the porridge in the small pot behind it.

Once the water was hot, Qin Mei stopped Jie Jingchen before it could come to a full boil.

”Don’t let it boil. If you do, all sorts of things will end up in the water,” Qin Mei said.

Jie Jingchen hadn’t planned on letting it boil and was already controlling the flames. Hearing her say that, he looked surprised and remarked sarcastically, ”I thought you didn’t know how to do anything?”

”I don’t know how, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand.” Qin Mei puffed out her chest, only to deflate a second later. ”Your sister told me.”

’Back at the Sun Family’s home, Sun’s mother always heated the bathwater right after stir-frying. The wok seemed clean, but it really wasn’t. The resulting bathwater was... indescribable.’

’When it was time to bathe, looking at the stuff floating on the surface, she truly didn’t want to get in.’

’It was strange—Sun’s mother was always stingy with oil when she cooked, yet the bathwater she heated always had a greasy film floating on top.’

Jie Jingchen’s amber eyes flickered. A complex emotion stirred deep inside him, but he instantly suppressed it. His voice was low and cool. ”Go ahead and eat the porridge.”

Qin Mei lifted the lid on the rear pot and reached right in for the bowl of porridge. The moment her fingertips touched it, she was scalded and snatched her hand back.

”Ah!” Qin Mei cried out. She moved with lightning speed to treat the burn, her reaction swift as she plunged her hand into the water urn to cool it down.

Her actions were so swift that Jie Jingchen was momentarily stunned—not because he was lamenting the half-urn of water, but because he was amazed by her reaction speed.

’You could call her smart, yet she’d dare to grab a bowl from a boiling pot with her bare hands. You could call her foolish, but when she got burned, she didn’t just scream and run around in circles. She knew enough to plunge her hand into the water urn.’

”Fourth Sister-in-law, why are you washing your hand in the water urn?” Jie Jingjue asked, looking at Qin Mei in confusion. The water in that urn was for drinking, yet she was washing her hand in it.

”I...” Qin Mei was both embarrassed and ashamed. ’So much for conserving water—she had just ruined half an urn.’ ”Hehe, your fourth brother wants to take a bath. I was just helping him test the water temperature.”

”What? My fourth brother is going to bathe in the water urn?” Jie Jingjue looked in horror at Jie Jingchen, who was still sitting by the stove.

The corner of Jie Jingchen’s mouth twitched, and his expression darkened. He was rendered speechless, especially by the condemning look Jie Jingjue was giving him.

”No, you misunderstood! I was just testing how cold the water in the urn is, to mix with the hot water from the pot...” Qin Mei felt like the more she explained, the deeper the hole she dug. ’Knowing Jie Jingjue’s train of thought, he’d probably now think Jie Jingchen was going to bathe in the pot.’ She gave up explaining and decided to demonstrate with her actions instead.

Spotting an empty bucket nearby, Qin Mei grabbed a water dipper, poured a scoop of water into the bucket to rinse it out, and then began ladling the hot water from the pot into it. She added a few dippers of cold water from the urn, tested the temperature, and decided it was just right.

”Your fourth brother needs to bathe. Can you help him carry this bucket to the washroom?” Qin Mei said.

”Oh, okay.” Jie Jingjue stepped forward, lifted the bucket, and headed for the washroom, unable to stop himself from muttering a complaint. ”He’s already injured, but instead of sleeping in the middle of the night, he wants a bath. He’s so high-maintenance. Fourth Sister-in-law is too good-natured, putting up with Fourth Brother like this.”

His girlfriend had misunderstood something and was trying to break up with him. He was in a bad mood, which kept him from sleeping, so he’d gotten up to investigate when he heard the noise.

Qin Mei felt a pang of guilt. It wasn’t Jie Jingchen who was being difficult; it was her, and she had dragged him into it.

A grim, forbidding aura surrounded Jie Jingchen, and a bone-chilling coldness swirled in his amber eyes, enough to send a shiver down one’s spine.

”Um... your fifth brother...”

”Help me up,” Jie Jingchen cut her off, his face cold.

”Okay.” Not daring to hesitate, Qin Mei went over and helped Jie Jingchen to his feet.

Before leaving the kitchen, Jie Jingchen took the bowl from the small pot and set it on the stovetop. He didn’t forget to add a warning. ”Careful, it’s hot.”

”I know, I know! I’m not a three-year-old. Just hurry up and go take your bath. I need to wash up after you’re done,” Qin Mei urged impatiently.

”And who was it that just got burned?” Jie Jingchen retorted.

”That was an accident. I was being careless.” Qin Mei glanced down at her reddened fingertips. ’Thank goodness I reacted so quickly, otherwise it would have blistered.’

Jie Jingchen said no more and walked out of the kitchen.

She watched Jie Jingchen’s figure until he disappeared from view. Only then did she let her gaze fall to the bowl of porridge on the stovetop. She was deeply moved. It was just an ordinary bowl of plain congee, but in this era of material scarcity, even something so simple was a luxury for many families.

Inside the washroom, Jie Jingjue hadn’t rushed off. He was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, waiting for Jie Jingchen.

Jie Jingchen first went back to his room to grab a change of clothes before heading to the washroom. When Jie Jingjue saw him shuffling in while holding his lower back, he couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

”Fourth Brother, your back injury really came at the worst possible time,” Jie Jingjue teased with a meaningful smirk.

A chill emanated from Jie Jingchen’s tense, gloomy face. ’Jing Wu has some nerve teasing me. He shouldn’t be surprised if I step on his sore spot.’ ”How about your girlfriend? Did you explain things clearly to her?”

Jie Jingjue’s face darkened, his already foul mood turning even worse. His tone became defiant. ”She misunderstood, and she won’t believe me no matter how I explain it. I explained once, she didn’t believe me. I explained a second time, she still didn’t believe me. I explained a third time, and she *still* didn’t believe me. So I’m done explaining. Whatever she wants to do is fine by me! If she wants to break up, then we’ll break up. A three-legged toad might be hard to find, but there are a million two-legged women out there.”

”If you’re going to have an attitude, then make sure you break up for good this time.” Jie Jingchen rested a hand on Jie Jingjue’s shoulder. ’In the few short months since he’d returned home from the service, he’d already lost count of how many times Jing Wu and his girlfriend had broken up and gotten back together.’

’They were fighting and threatening to break up over some trivial little thing every other day. It never lasted more than two days before they were back together and as thick as thieves. Even if they weren’t tired of the cycle, he certainly was. Their parents didn’t intervene either, just letting the two of them carry on.’

Jie Jingjue really couldn’t guarantee he’d stick to his guns. ’As long as his girlfriend gives me an out, I’ll go running right back without a shred of principle.’ He rubbed his nose and changed the subject. ”Fourth Brother, let me test the water temperature for you.”

Jie Jingchen let out a cold snort.

He wouldn’t have known without trying, but the test gave him a shock. Jie Jingjue stared at Jie Jingchen in utter disbelief.

”This temperature? Is Fourth Sister-in-law trying to raise fish in here?” Jie Jingjue paused for a moment before continuing. ”It’s only early spring, and it’s the middle of the night. You’d be lucky not to catch a cold bathing in water this lukewarm.”

Jie Jingchen remained silent, his amber eyes fixed in the direction of the kitchen.

”Fourth Brother, back in Shanghai, how exactly did Fourth Sister-in-law take care of you at the hospital?” Jie Jingjue asked. ’He couldn’t conclude that she didn’t know how to care for people based on the bathwater alone, but he could conclude that she wasn’t very attentive toward his brother. Anyone who truly cared about a person wouldn’t make such a simple mistake.’

Jie Jingchen remained silent. ’Could he tell him the truth? That Qin Mei had amnesia, had mistaken another man for her husband, and had used his money to care for that man—Xie Jingchen—for a week? She had only looked after him for a single day before he insisted on being discharged from the hospital.’

’It wasn’t that Qin Mei didn’t know how to care for people; he’d seen how attentive she was when she was looking after Xie Jingchen. But when it was his turn, she was just going through the motions.’