BFCBC-C10

Chapter 10 — Guarding His Husband’s Stall, Don’t Be Jealous

 

The three of them arrived in front of the stall, but the owner was nowhere to be seen.

 

Liang Dashu glanced at the price board beside the stall and immediately exclaimed, “Whoa, these are pretty expensive.”

 

Zhao Junyi lowered his eyes.

 

He didn’t know whether these things tasted good, but they certainly looked like something children would love.

 

He imagined An’an smiling with his eyes curved into crescents, holding one of these little cakes in his hands and chewing away happily.

 

He spoke up.

 

“Boss, give me one of every flavor.”

 

Liang Dashu whipped his head around.

 

Although Pei Ming had already told him that Brother Zhao was a lovesick fool, the reality was clearly much worse than he’d imagined.

 

He knew what Zhao Junyi’s family situation was like.

 

While his grandfather had still been alive, he’d borrowed money to pay for his grandfather’s medicine. Only after becoming a hundred-man commander and then a thousand-man commander had Zhao Junyi gradually paid off those debts.

 

He probably didn’t have much savings even now.

 

And Zhao Junyi wasn’t someone who cared much about food.

 

His monthly salary was high, but he was usually extremely frugal.

 

Spending a few dozen wen on pork was one thing.

 

Spending dozens of wen on these pretty but impractical little desserts?

 

That was downright spoiling his husband.

 

Still, the pastries really were interesting.

 

They were translucent and prettier than flowers.

 

His little sister had even written all the way to the military camp specifically to ask him to buy some.

 

Clearly, they were worth trying.

 

Hearing a new customer, Chu An’an suddenly stood up and grabbed a nearby paper bag.

 

“Customer, one of every flavor, right?”

 

Then he froze.

 

The person standing in front of him was actually **Zhao Junyi**.

 

His subconscious almost made him call out *Brother*, but his rational mind wasn’t used to doing that anymore.

 

In the end, nothing came out.

 

“An’an?”

 

Zhao Junyi had never looked so expressive before.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

He looked around.

 

“Where’s Zhou Run? Didn’t he keep an eye on you?”

 

Seeing that Zhao Junyi was about to start questioning Zhou Run, Chu An’an suddenly felt that his own mouth was useless.

 

He didn’t know how to explain things in a way Zhao Junyi would believe.

 

And this wasn’t exactly a convenient place to explain everything.

 

So he simply waved.

 

“Ah, it’s a long story. Just come inside first.”

 

He motioned for Zhao Junyi to come behind the food cart.

 

At the same time, Pei Ming spoke up.

 

“Brother Run definitely isn’t someone irresponsible.”

 

Chu An’an looked at him.

 

He hadn’t interacted with this man before, but he knew who he was.

 

He’d seen Zhou Run with him before.

 

He was Zhou Run’s husband.

 

As for the other man, Chu An’an didn’t know him at all, though he was obviously one of Zhao Junyi’s friends.

 

He nodded.

 

“Right. Zhou Run only went home after making sure I wouldn’t get into trouble.”

 

With that, he swiftly packed two large bags of bamboo cakes and handed them over.

 

“Here.”

 

Liang Dashu saw him put one of every flavor into the bags.

 

Six cakes in total.

 

He was just about to refuse, thinking they were too expensive for him to afford, when Chu An’an said,

 

“I’m giving them to you to try.”

 

“I saw the prices. How could we possibly take them for free?”

 

Liang Dashu wanted to accept the bag but stopped himself, instead looking toward Zhao Junyi.

 

Zhao Junyi stood behind Chu An’an without saying anything.

 

Chu An’an noticed Liang Dashu’s little questioning glance.

 

He almost wanted to say, *Why are you looking at him? You should be looking at me.*

 

But they were outside, and he had to give Zhao Junyi some face.

 

His mother always gave his father plenty of face when they were outside.

 

So he smiled warmly.

 

“Since you’re Brother Zhao’s friends, you don’t have to pay. Besides, I made them myself, so they’re not that expensive. Give them a try.”

 

A beautiful, friendly little ge’er had just casually handed them several dozen wen worth of pastries.

 

Liang Dashu was internally screaming.

 

*Holy crap.*

 

*Brother Zhao is the big brother I know, but how did something this awesome happen to him?*

 

*Who exactly is this person?!*

 

Pei Ming accepted the paper bag and thanked him before grabbing the still-dazed Liang Dashu and quickly dragging him away.

 

They didn’t stop until they were far away from Chu An’an’s stall.

 

Liang Dashu was dying of curiosity.

 

“Who was that just now?”

 

“Your Brother Zhao’s husband.”

 

“What?!”

 

Liang Dashu’s eyes widened like a bull’s.

 

“Wasn’t he supposed to be a fool?”

 

“How would I know? Didn’t you see how stunned Brother Zhao was?”

 

“How did he suddenly stop being a fool? The entire military camp has been talking about it. Brother Zhao even got laughed at because of it.”

 

“Well, if he’s not a fool anymore, then he’s not a fool anymore. I’m going home.”

 

Liang Dashu blocked his path.

 

“Aren’t you curious about what happened at Brother Zhao’s house? Come on, let’s go have a drink.”

 

Pei Ming suddenly smiled brightly.

 

Unlike his usual sarcastic self, this smile was almost dazzling.

 

“Because I have a husband and you don’t.”

 

“Fuck.”

 

Liang Dashu felt like he’d just been stabbed twice.

 

He lowered his head and looked at the paper bag in his arms.

 

He pulled out a soft, springy bamboo cake and shoved the entire thing into his mouth.

 

He chewed hard twice.

 

Then his expression suddenly changed.

 

His ears perked up.

 

He slowed down.

 

He chewed carefully, savoring every bite, even swallowing in several small stages.

 

—

 

Zhao Junyi’s two brothers had left.

 

Chu An’an secretly glanced sideways at the man beside him.

 

Zhao Junyi was staring at him without blinking.

 

He should have said something.

 

But suddenly, he didn’t know what.

 

He remembered when he was still foolish.

 

Whenever he missed his family, he’d throw his arms around Zhao Junyi and cry his heart out, wiping his tears all over the man’s chest and waist.

 

Sometimes he’d simply sit on the ground and cling to Zhao Junyi’s legs, shamelessly whining,

 

“Brother, take me to see Father and Mother. I miss them. I’ll behave.”

 

He could act so freely because his parents had told him Zhao Junyi was his older brother.

 

And Zhao Junyi had indeed accepted all of his emotions, patiently patting his back and stroking his head.

 

Their relationship had been completely innocent.

 

But those hugs…

 

Without those hugs, Chu An’an could have openly said:

 

**Thank you, benefactor. As you can see, I can now make money. I’ll definitely repay your kindness in the future.**

 

But now he couldn’t say it so casually.

 

He didn’t even know how to begin speaking.

 

Fortunately, a customer came to buy bamboo cakes.

 

Chu An’an hurried over to serve them.

 

Once the customer finally left and things became quiet again, he felt like he should say something to break the awkward silence.

 

The woman selling noodles beside him was staring at the two of them with an unmistakably gossiping expression.

 

“Boss Chu, this is your husband, isn’t he?”

 

Were they actually a proper married couple?

 

Not really.

 

But explaining that was troublesome.

 

And the noodle-selling woman loved gossip.

 

If he started explaining, the entire morning market would probably know everything by tomorrow.

 

So he simply nodded.

 

“Mm.”

 

Zhao Junyi lifted his brows slightly and shifted his stance.

 

“What a young and promising thousand-man commander,” the noodle-selling woman exclaimed, looking at Zhao Junyi’s broad shoulders and tall figure. “And such a fine-looking man too.”

 

After finally selling the last of his bamboo cakes and a small number of yam cakes, Chu An’an turned sideways and lowered his head toward Zhao Junyi.

 

It was the first thing he’d said directly to him.

 

“I’m going to buy some meat.”

 

Then he walked out of the food stall.

 

This was the borderlands, where military households were everywhere.

 

Naturally, there was plenty of news circulating about the military camp.

 

For example, Chu An’an knew one particularly important piece of information:

 

**The food from the army’s cookhouse was terrible.**

 

It was barely enough to fill your stomach and keep you from starving.

 

The smaller kitchen’s food was somewhat better, but it was reserved for officers or soldiers willing to pay.

 

Zhao Junyi finally had a day off.

 

He should be treated to something good.

 

So this time, Chu An’an bought considerably more meat.

 

He wasn’t going to make do with the tiny one-liang portion he’d bought before, which disappeared after barely two bites.

 

The butcher was still as talkative as ever.

 

He joked that Chu An’an was usually so frugal, yet today he was buying so much meat.

 

Was he spoiling his husband?

 

Fortunately, Zhao Junyi hadn’t come along.

 

Otherwise, Chu An’an would have wanted the ground to swallow him whole.

 

After he left, the two small stall owners beside the butcher immediately began whispering.

 

“His husband is that young?”

 

“When I first heard he was a thousand-man commander, I thought he was older. At least thirty-eight or something.”

 

“To become a thousand-man commander so young, his family must have some serious connections, right? Then why is his husband out here running a little food stall? Could he be from a concubine’s branch or something?”

 

“Hey, don’t worry about whether he’s from a minor branch or not. Either way, he’s someone we can’t afford to offend.”

 

Chu An’an’s business was doing extremely well.

 

Everyone on this street knew it.

 

Quite a few people had tried copying him, but none had managed to reproduce what made his products successful.

 

They’d all ended up losing money.

 

Some people therefore started turning their attention toward Chu An’an himself.

 

Those with honest intentions wanted to pay for his recipes.

 

Those with less honorable intentions wanted to trick him into revealing his methods.

 

But despite being so young, the little Boss Chu wasn’t naïve.

 

He knew exactly what he was doing and never let anyone get anything useful out of him.

 

Now, everyone could only envy him privately.

 

Nobody dared resort to anything underhanded.

 

There were constables patrolling the area, after all.

 

Anyone who wasn’t afraid of death was welcome to try.

 

The two stall owners were doing mediocre business and had occasionally thought about secretly learning from Chu An’an.

 

But after seeing that he genuinely had a handsome and imposing thousand-man commander for a husband, they completely abandoned the idea.

 

—

 

When Chu An’an returned with the meat, he habitually reached out to push the food cart.

 

A pair of hands got there first.

 

He happily let someone else do the hard work.

 

“This cart doesn’t have to be taken home. There’s somewhere nearby where we can leave it.”

 

Zhao Junyi gave a quiet “Mm.”

 

Chu An’an glanced at him from the corner of his eye.

 

*So cold.*

 

Now that he was conscious again…

 

Did their marriage still count?

 

Even if it didn’t, they couldn’t simply dissolve it immediately, right?

 

Wouldn’t that mean they’d deceived the government by pretending to be married?

 

So what were they supposed to do from now on?

 

They probably needed to formally discuss it.

 

But Zhao Junyi wasn’t saying anything.

 

So Chu An’an didn’t want to say anything either.

 

The morning sun grew brighter.

 

By nine o’clock, the weather had already become somewhat stuffy.

 

The end of the morning market was always chaotic.

 

Every small stall owner was pushing their food cart around, and traffic jams and people cutting each other off were common.

 

One cart tried to overtake them and nearly crashed into Chu An’an.

 

He hadn’t even noticed.

 

Zhao Junyi suddenly confronted the man.

 

Using his considerable strength, he forced the other cart aside.

 

Only then did Chu An’an realize what had happened.

 

The man who had tried to overtake them had already hurried away.

 

Chu An’an didn’t want to argue with anyone either.

 

But he glanced at Zhao Junyi again.

 

For some reason, he suddenly felt like talking.

 

On the way to the parking area, he explained that he’d regained his mind after falling the other day.

 

It was almost as if his soul had finally returned to his body.

 

In reality, he remembered everything he’d experienced over the years.

 

He’d also watched his mother conduct business when he was young.

 

So he already knew how to cook and run a business.

 

He didn’t have to start learning from scratch.

 

The villagers all assumed that he’d merely been pretending to be insane, so they had accepted his sudden change rather easily.

 

But he didn’t know how much Zhao Junyi actually knew about his past.

 

Or how much of his explanation the man would believe.

 

Either way, Chu An’an didn’t believe Zhao Junyi had married a fool for no reason.

 

There had to be some explanation.

 

He had imagined all sorts of questions Zhao Junyi might ask.

 

Instead, the first thing he heard was:

 

“You said you remember everything you’ve seen over the years?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Chu An’an nodded.

 

“I remember everything from as far back as I can remember.”

 

Suddenly, inspiration struck.

 

“So we’ve met before, haven’t we? We knew each other before?”

 

Zhao Junyi glanced at him.

 

“No.”

 

“Then why did you ask whether I remember everything?”

 

Zhao Junyi simply threw the question back at him.

 

“Do you remember?”

 

Chu An’an was completely silenced.

 

Of course he didn’t.

 

He didn’t remember Zhao Junyi at all.

 

Zhao Junyi must have been handsome even as a child.

 

A cute little boy like that?

 

There was no way he’d forget him.

 

He gave an awkward little laugh.

 

“I was joking. How could I possibly remember everything?”

 

“We really didn’t know each other before.”

 

“Oh.”

 

After leaving the food cart behind, Zhao Junyi thoughtfully picked up the small wheelbarrow they needed to take home.

 

Chu An’an walked beside him with both hands empty.

 

Something felt missing.

 

Then he remembered.

 

**The clothes he’d ordered for Zhao Junyi were ready.**

 

—

 

The two of them arrived at the clothing shop.

 

Chu An’an remembered the butcher’s teasing.

 

Then he remembered how Madam Wan the seamstress had teased him before.

 

He hurriedly emphasized,

 

“I’ll go inside. You don’t have to come in.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Chu An’an took the light-cloud-colored outfit from Madam Wan.

 

The cuffs and collar had been embroidered with delicate cloud patterns.

 

He was extremely satisfied.

 

He happily paid the remaining balance, stuffed the clothes into the paper bag, and walked out holding it tightly in his arms.