Seeing him act as if he wanted to stay as far away as possible, Ye Qing felt a mischievous urge and took another step forward.
Xiao Yang glanced over in alarm, then quickly lay down and pulled the quilt over himself, pretending to be asleep.
As if closing his eyes was not enough, he pulled the quilt all the way over his head, burying himself completely underneath. From a distance, the quilt could still be seen trembling slightly.
This was too much for Ye Qing, who burst out laughing.
“What are you hiding from? Am I going to eat you?”
The trembling stopped instantly. The quilt settled smoothly over Xiao Yang, rising and falling steadily with his breathing—as if he had fallen asleep in the blink of an eye.
Losing the desire to tease him, Ye Qing yawned and slowly began to undress, preparing to climb over to the other side of the kang.
Just then, Chen Xiuzhi walked in. Seeing this scene, she instinctively glanced toward Ye Qing, her heart filled with concern.
It was only natural, she thought. A young woman just turned twenty, who had never known her father’s love or her mother’s affection growing up, had now married into their family—only to have her own husband avoid her like this.
As she undressed, Chen Xiuzhi tried to soothe her. “Don’t take it to heart, child. Ever since Xiao Yang got injured, his personality has changed a bit. I reckon he’s still shaken up. Give it some time; once he gets used to being married, he’ll go back to how he was. He wasn’t always like this before.”
Ye Qing climbed onto the kang and smoothed out her own quilt.
“I understand, Mom. Don’t worry. Feelings take time to grow between people. It’s not just Xiao Yang—I also need time to adjust to everything.”
“That’s exactly right,” Chen Xiuzhi nodded firmly. She lay down beside Ye Qing, then added thoughtfully, “You’re such a hardworking girl, with a good temperament and sensible way of speaking. I’d say your parents must have been blind not to see what a treasure they had.”
Ye Qing closed her eyes and said nothing, though she could hear Xiao Yang’s breathing, which sounded a little heavier than usual.
Chen Xiuzhi looked at her son, then back at Ye Qing, and let out a soft sigh.
“It’s just a shame we don’t have extra money right now; otherwise you two wouldn’t have to share the same bed with me. Once Xiao Yang gets his permanent work position, we’ll start saving up to build a small separate room. Then you and he can sleep together properly. For now, we’ll just make do. In a couple of days, I’ll find some cloth and hang a curtain across the kang so you two can have some privacy as husband and wife.”
Ye Qing’s skin prickled instantly. She was far from comfortable sleeping in such close quarters with a stranger.
Before she could even reply, Xiao Yang threw off the quilt and spoke firmly. “I don’t want that!”
Chen Xiuzhi’s face flushed with embarrassment at her son’s blunt rejection. She sat up, ready to give him a scolding.
“Nothing suits you, does it? What do you want, to fly up to the sky? You and Xiao Qing are already married—you’re husband and wife now. Are you going to keep sleeping apart forever?”
Xiao Yang fell silent for a moment, then muttered in discontent, “I never agreed to this marriage. You and Dad forced it on me. All I did was save someone’s life—who knew it would land me in a marriage out of nowhere?” He was full of grievances.
Chen Xiuzhi lowered her raised hand, her anger fading into helplessness. She felt a twinge of guilt toward her son.
“This whole matter is one tangled mess, no way to untangle it clearly,” she sighed, lying back down again.
Ye Qing lay in the corner, listening to their exchange, and found the whole family rather endearing.
Clearly doted on by his older brother and sister, Xiao Yang had a personality that was far less gloomy and reserved than most men around here. Ye Qing found that rather appealing.
She patted Chen Xiuzhi’s hand gently. “Let’s not worry about tomorrow today. Xiao Yang and I will figure things out between us. Let’s just get some sleep.”
Having worked all day, Chen Xiuzhi was exhausted. She stopped dwelling on the matter, yawned, and closed her eyes. Within minutes, soft snores filled the room.
Ye Qing was not used to sleeping so early. She stared blankly at the dark ceiling, her mind drifting back to the days she had lived in the mountains in her past life. Before long, her thoughts grew hazy and she drifted off.
When she opened her eyes again, the room was still pitch black, and the moon hung high outside—definitely the middle of the night.
Rubbing her eyes, Ye Qing sat up and stretched.
No sooner had she moved than she heard rustling sounds from the far end of the kang. She turned to look, only to meet Xiao Yang’s wide, bright eyes.
“Were you just waking up, or did you never fall asleep at all?” Ye Qing asked, still rubbing her eyes.
Her sudden question startled Xiao Yang so much he jumped.
Pulling the quilt tight around himself, he whispered, “I… I can’t sleep.”
“Is your arm hurting, or do you just not feel tired? If it’s your arm, I can take a look at it for you.” Ye Qing began to crawl toward him.
But every time she moved closer, Xiao Yang inched further back, until he was practically pressed flat against the wall like a gecko.
He shook his head frantically. “Don’t come any closer!”
This confirmed it for Ye Qing—Xiao Yang was genuinely afraid of her.
But what exactly was he so scared of?
She couldn’t understand it. Seeing how pale and frightened he looked, Ye Qing stopped teasing him and backed away a little.
“Easy, I won’t come any closer. I’m just going to use the outhouse.”
When she returned, she didn’t glance in his direction at all, just slipped back under her covers and settled down to sleep again.
The next morning, she was still the first one awake. For a moment after opening her eyes, she felt disoriented, half-convinced she was still living through the apocalypse.
A few minutes later, she got up and dressed. That was when she noticed Xiao Yang was still awake.
After a whole night, dark stubble had appeared along his jaw, and heavy shadows hung beneath his eyes.
As soon as Ye Qing rose, Xiao Yang scrambled up and began to put on his clothes too.
Ye Qing turned to look at his haggard, exhausted face. “You’ve got quite a serious case of insomnia. Once I’ve fully recovered, I’ll go up the mountain to look for herbs—maybe I can find something to help you sleep better.”
Xiao Yang climbed down from the kang, looking drained, and followed a few steps behind her as they walked toward the kitchen.
Ye Qing started heating water, while Xiao Yang automatically sat down by the stove to stoke the fire, his expression tinged with resentment.
By the time the water came to a boil, the rest of the family had also gotten up.
Shi Fengxia came out of the room yawning, and almost bumped into Ye Qing as she stepped out of the kitchen.
“Hey! You look so much better today!” she exclaimed. “Mom, come take a look—Xiao Qing’s complexion is improved, and she moves around much more easily than yesterday!”
Hearing this, Chen Xiuzhi, who was just putting on her outer clothes, beamed with satisfaction.
She walked into the kitchen, took over the cooking, and instructed Ye Qing to stay by the fire, Shi Fengxia to go wash the sweet potatoes, and the two men of the house to tend to their own chores.
Before long, the small courtyard of the Xiao household was filled with the clatter and bustle of morning activity.
While cooking, Chen Xiuzhi noticed Ye Qing frequently craning her neck to peer outside, her eyes bright with longing. She warned gently, “You’ve only just started feeling stronger, and your body is still weak. Don’t go wandering off anywhere. The slightest breeze could give you a cold, and if you overexert yourself, you’ll never fully recover. Stay home and rest. If you get bored, you can tidy up the house, but leave the work in the fields for now—it’s not your concern.”
Ye Qing had wanted to say she felt far better already and was eager to head up the mountain, but thought better of it. Her rate of recovery was already fast enough to raise eyebrows, and she knew Chen Xiuzhi was determined to make her rest. There was no point arguing right now.
She nodded obediently and agreed.
There was still plenty of wild yam that Xiao Da had brought back from the mountains. Chen Xiuzhi peeled several, cut them into chunks, and tossed them into the pot—promising a hearty breakfast to look forward to.
After washing the sweet potatoes, Shi Fengxia went to check the henhouse out of habit. Usually, the two young hens never laid eggs, but today, to her surprise, she found one sitting there.
Even though it was quite small, her face flushed with delight. Forgetting her own pregnancy, she ran back inside excitedly.
“Mom! Ye Qing! Look what I found!”
Held proudly in her palm was a smooth, round egg, only about half the size of a regular one, as if she had discovered a precious treasure.
Ye Qing stared at it in fascination, her mouth watering involuntarily.
Chen Xiuzhi was equally thrilled. “That’s a pullet egg! It means one of our hens has just started laying. The very first egg is always this small. We’ll give them extra feed today, and hopefully, we’ll have eggs every day from now on.”
Thanks to that tiny egg, all three women wore smiles on their faces throughout the morning.
Chen Xiuzhi was generous—after all, everyone in the family had been working hard lately. She saw no point in hoarding just one small egg. She cracked it against the edge of the stove and dropped it straight into the porridge cooking with yam and cornmeal.
Stirring it well, the white and yolk dissolved evenly into the pot.
Whether it was just her imagination or not, Ye Qing felt the porridge suddenly smelled much richer and more fragrant.
After breakfast, everyone slung their farming tools over their shoulders and headed off to work in the fields, leaving Ye Qing at home as usual. But she didn’t stay idle. Seeing the feed in the henhouse running low, she took a sickle to their small plot of land and cut some fresh grass. Chopping it fine, she mixed it with discarded yam peels and crushed eggshells, then set the mixture outside the coop. The two hens clucked happily and hopped right out to eat.
After washing her hands, Ye Qing began to familiarize herself with her surroundings. Always careful to maintain her “frail health” persona, she didn’t wander far—staying within sight of the house. Whenever she caught a glimpse of neighbors passing by, she would simply smile demurely and act shy.
The next few days followed the same pattern: the family left for work, and Ye Qing stayed home, exploring the yard and gathering more feed for the chickens.
And to everyone’s delight, those two hens proved to be far more productive than expected.
From the day they laid that first tiny egg, there was always at least one egg to collect each morning—sometimes even two.
When only one egg was found, Chen Xiuzhi would set it aside. When there were two, one would go straight into the breakfast porridge to give everyone a little extra nutrition.
Though each egg was small, Chen Xiuzhi divided it fairly. Once mixed into the pot, no one got more or less than anyone else—everyone got a taste. It was too small to favor one person; giving it only to her son would upset the daughters-in-law, saving it for the pregnant Shi Fengxia might make Ye Qing feel left out, and giving it to Ye Qing alone would raise questions. So the fairest way was for everyone to share.
She had said it clearly at the dinner table once: whatever food or resources the family had belonged to everyone equally. No matter who worked harder or contributed more, everything stayed within the household—no one outside would ever benefit at their expense.
After only a few days, Ye Qing understood why the Xiao family got along so harmoniously.
Though gentle and soft-spoken, Chen Xiuzhi was fair-minded and reasonable, and everyone respected her judgment. Ye Qing found herself growing more and more fond of the warm, steady atmosphere in their home.
Over these days, Ye Qing carefully controlled her recovery, making sure to appear to grow stronger only gradually.
By the fourth or fifth day, she was moving around normally and had gained a much clearer understanding of this world and the family she had married into.
But the more she learned, the more she realized just how precarious the Xiao family’s current situation truly was.