Chapter 36 This Servant Girl Is Not Convenient Today

He suddenly found himself enjoying his present life.

In his previous life, there had been clashing weapons and galloping warhorses, half a lifetime spent amid smoke and blood. Even after turning to the business world, he had remained endlessly busy and had never even started a family.

Never had he lived like this—having family, having responsibility, and feeling the warmth and happiness of being missed and cared about.

As if waking from a dream, only after being reborn did he realize how beautiful the world looked when one paused and allowed oneself to rest.

The little maid-wife who was spinning thread turned her head and saw Li Chen. She quickly set down the thread, stood up, and smiled sweetly, “My husband.”

“Go on with your work.”

Li Chen smiled, walked over, and sat beside her. When he looked at the spinning wheel, he froze for a moment.

It was actually a very old single-spindle hand-cranked spinning wheel.

This kind of spinning wheel was extremely inefficient. From the perspective of someone with dual master’s degrees in mechanical engineering and chemical engineering, the room for improvement was enormous.

He then remembered that the spinning wheel had been left behind by his predecessor’s mother. It had gone unused for a long time and had long been covered in dust.

Who would have thought that his little maid-wife had dragged it out of the workshop and started using it?

Seeing him staring at the spinning wheel, she misunderstood. Her cheeks flushed red as she said shyly, “My husband, I truly had nothing to do, so I learned spinning and weaving from the women in the village. I wanted to make you a piece of clothing with my own hands. I’ve only just begun learning, and I’m very slow. Please don’t laugh at me.”

“I’m not.”

Li Chen waved his hand.

He then crouched down and fiddled with the spinning wheel for a few moments. In his mind, he had already figured it out.

“When I have time, I’ll improve this spinning wheel for you and increase its efficiency.”

He stood up as he spoke.

“Ah? My husband, you even know how to make spinning wheels? You’re truly… truly capable of everything!”

His little maid-wife looked at him with eyes full of admiration, offering him emotional affirmation in perfect measure.

Li Chen could not help but laugh. “There’s a lot your husband knows how to do. It’s getting late. Let’s rest.”

As he spoke, his large hand naturally wrapped around her shoulder.

She jumped slightly and twisted the hem of her clothes, saying shyly, “My husband, today… I’ve come into my monthly bleeding…”

“…All right then. We’ll rest. After it’s over, we’ll talk.”

The flame that had been rising within Li Chen dimmed with reluctant helplessness. He could only blow out the lamp and lie down.

But just as he settled into bed, a soft, boneless little hand slipped under the blanket.

“Aren’t you… not convenient?”

Li Chen asked in confusion.

“My body is not convenient, but… but I can still use…”

She said shyly as she slipped into his blanket.

There was nothing more to say that night.

The next morning, just after early dawn, Li Chen rose from bed, refreshed and brimming with energy.

He did not know whether it was because the two souls had fused after transmigration, but even though he had been busy these past days—hunting, killing, working hard, and every night doting on his wife—not only did he feel no exhaustion, he instead felt more energetic each day.

It was fortunate that his little maid-wife helped him physically every night; otherwise, he felt his vitality might have grown so abundant that it would burst out of him.

Starting today, he planned to increase his training volume.

However, the moment he stepped out the door, he froze.

In the morning light, Liu Chenxu, Zhao Dashi, and Hou Xiaobai—with his arm still in a sling—were all there, waiting at the entrance.

“You three should be at home recovering. What are you doing here?”

Li Chen walked over and asked.

“Training!”

They answered in unison, grinning.

Li Chen looked at them with appreciation. Perhaps this was the resilience rooted deep in the bones of farming boys.

“Good. Then let’s go!”

Li Chen headed up the mountain.

Though their bodies still ached, they gritted their teeth and followed.

Considering their injuries, Li Chen reduced their training volume, especially for someone like Hou Xiaobai, whose arm was injured. He avoided upper-body strength training for him as much as possible.

“Today I’ll teach you close combat, so next time you run into trouble, you won’t end up beaten with bumps all over your heads.”

After leading them through training for one hour, eating a meal, and drinking deer blood, Li Chen called them to the spacious backyard.

All three looked at him excitedly. They were about to learn real skills.

“Dashi, come here!”

Li Chen beckoned to Zhao Dashi.

When they saw Li Chen single-handedly throw the immensely strong Zhao Dashi to the ground, sending him rolling and scrambling, Liu Chenxu and Hou Xiaobai were stunned.

“My heavens, Brother Chen, h-how are you so powerful?”

Hou Xiaobai clicked his tongue in amazement.

“The moment he gets close, you fall. The moment he touches you, you fly. It’s like Dashi can’t even use his strength. Brother Chen’s combat technique is incredible!”

Liu Chenxu said in shock while thinking it through.

“This is called Tianqiao wrestling. It stretches the tendons, builds strength, and trains technique.”

Li Chen began explaining in detail and let each of them experience it in turn.

Hou Xiaobai could not participate due to his injured arm. Zhao Dashi and Liu Chenxu, however, suffered terribly, being thrown around until their noses were bruised and faces swollen.

“That’s enough for today. We’ll practice again tonight if there’s time.”

Seeing that it was about time, Li Chen stopped the training.

“Brother Chen, this is my plan for refining fine salt and gathering firewood over the coming period. Take a look.”

Liu Chenxu handed him a stack of coarse paper.

Li Chen flipped through it. It was written in remarkable detail, even organizing everyone’s tasks clearly and methodically.

“Let’s talk about your wages. 50 copper coins per day, paid monthly. You’ll also eat at my house every day. Is that acceptable?”

Li Chen asked.

“What?”

The three of them widened their eyes in shock.

50 copper coins per person per day?

That meant one tael and five qian of silver per month.

Heavens. In these times, an ordinary family earned only about five taels of silver a year.

And meals provided daily as well?

“Brother Chen, you’re already feeding us and teaching us things. Your kindness is heavy enough. We can’t accept more…”

They all spoke at once.

“Between brothers, we don’t say such things.”

Li Chen waved his hand, cutting off their words. But the way they looked at him had turned fervent. The three of them were now utterly devoted, ready to follow him for life.

“Also, call Chenyi over to work. She can stay in the inner room with Wan’er to handle the final step of the process. Her wages will be the same as the other female workers.”

Li Chen said to Liu Chenxu.

Chenxu’s eyes reddened.

Chenyi was still just a child. Yet she would receive the same pay as adult female workers. What kind of generosity was this?

“Yes, Brother Chen!”

Liu Chenxu wiped his eyes fiercely and nodded heavily, saying nothing more.

But in his heart, from this day forward, Brother Chen was his sky.

Soon Chenyi was called over. Zhao Dashi’s widowed father and Hou Xiaobai’s widowed mother also arrived.

Under Liu Chenxu’s direction, they all began working in an orderly manner.

Before long, a noisy commotion rose from the foot of the mountain. Then large groups of women came rushing toward Li Chen’s house, like shoppers scrambling for eggs when a supermarket first opens.

Because Brother Chen had said he only needed ten female workers, they were terrified of arriving too late and missing out.

In the blink of an eye, they swarmed in. All the women waved their hands and shouted, afraid of losing the opportunity.

That was twenty copper coins a day. In these miserable times, where else could one find such work?

“My husband, if you only take ten people, won’t the women who aren’t selected grow resentful and cause trouble?”

Yu Qingwan walked to Li Chen’s side and looked worriedly at the noisy crowd across from them.

“Don’t worry. Let’s see how Chenxu arranges it.”

Li Chen smiled faintly. He was deliberately testing Liu Chenxu to see what method he would use.

A true leader must know how to discover talent, make use of talent, and cultivate talent.

He had to give them opportunities to display their abilities.