Something was wrong!
The child had clearly been given to Lin Qingyue long ago, so why was she still the one taking care of him?
This child was going to be the top scorer in the college entrance examination in the future!
She needed to return him to his rightful owner as soon as possible!
Yao Hongyan gritted her teeth fiercely. Gu Niancheng had gone back early in the morning. There had been no news since then. She had no idea whether that little slut Lin Qingyue had gone into early labor or not.
Her son was so weak—why should she have to take care of him when she needed servants? Everything had gone smoothly in her dream, so surely things would be fine when she woke up.
Yao Hongyan struggled to get up and go find someone, but the slightest movement made her break out in cold sweat from the pain.
Her belly was also bloated and uncomfortable. She needed to go to the latrine.
Gu Niancheng, why haven’t you come over yet?
Yao Hongyan couldn’t hold back her tears as they dripped down one by one.
“Waa…” The child on the kang cried out loudly from hunger, making Yao Hongyan even more irritated. She glared viciously at the little thing!
All it did all day was cry. So annoying!
Lin Qingyue knew she couldn’t dodge, so she could only protect her belly with all her might.
“Ouch…”
A cry of pain, and Lin Qingyue suddenly felt something was wrong.
She didn’t feel any pain on her own body. She opened her eyes uneasily and saw that Gu Niancheng, who had been charging at her, had now fallen awkwardly to the ground, groaning in agony.
And standing in front of her was a tall, straight-backed figure.
This was… Fu Xingzhou?
“Brother Fu?” Lin Qingyue still couldn’t believe it. She had thought the two of them were just passing acquaintances, but she never expected to meet Fu Xingzhou in the village.
“Comrade Lin Qingyue, are you alright?”
The man turned his head, his gaze landing on Lin Qingyue, his face showing displeasure:
“Why aren’t you more careful?”
“I…” Though the words were reproachful, Lin Qingyue could hear the concern within them.
Lin Qingyue felt her nose sting with sourness. She felt so wronged.
“And you—can’t you see she’s a pregnant woman? If you had crashed into her like that, could you take responsibility if something happened?”
When Fu Xingzhou turned to look at Gu Niancheng, his voice was even colder!
“Or is this how all the people of Niulan Village behave?”
“Regimental Commander Fu, you’ve misunderstood.”
The Village Chief hurried over, sweat beading on his forehead from the rush.
“It must be a misunderstanding. The people in our village are still very simple and honest.”
“These two are husband and wife. This is just a little spat between them.”
The Village Chief explained awkwardly, not forgetting to turn and glare fiercely at Gu Niancheng:
“It’s fine to fool around at normal times, but your wife is pregnant now. You should know to be more careful.”
Lin Qingyue nearly laughed in anger at these words. The Village Chief was indeed a sly old fox.
It was clearly premeditated harm by Gu Niancheng, but with the Village Chief’s words, it had been forcibly turned into a bit of marital fun.
“The Village Chief is right. It’s all Niancheng’s fault. Niancheng will be more careful from now on.”
Gu Niancheng’s butt and stomach both hurt terribly, but hearing the Village Chief’s form of address, he knew the man before him was no ordinary person. He could only swallow his teeth and bear it.
“Heh heh, just fooling around?”
At this moment, the Village Chief was the local tyrant of the village. If this had been her previous life, Lin Qingyue definitely wouldn’t have argued back—she wouldn’t have dared to. But now, she had no intention of continuing to swallow her anger.
“Village Chief, you arrived late, so you probably didn’t see what just happened.”
“Gu Niancheng deliberately charged at me.”
“Yesterday, he even tried to make me go into early labor!”
“I didn’t agree, but he wouldn’t give up. He wanted to ram the child out of my belly.”
Lin Qingyue spoke and began to cry with grievance. Tears fell like they cost nothing at all.
The Village Chief broke out in a cold sweat even faster from anxiety, and his gaze toward Lin Qingyue carried a few more traces of reproach.
This girl had always seemed quite sensible before… but today—right in front of the leader—couldn’t whatever it was wait until later to be discussed?
The Village Chief was angry inside but couldn’t vent his fury to her face, so he could only force patience and say:
“Now, now, Niancheng’s wife, this must be a misunderstanding. The child you’re carrying is Niancheng’s own flesh and blood—how could he possibly want the baby to come early?”
As he spoke, he winked and gestured at Lin Qingyue, trying to get her to calm down.
But Lin Qingyue acted as if she hadn’t seen any of it. She hadn’t expected to see Fu Xingzhou again, and what’s more, his position wasn’t low—even the Village Chief was wary of him.
As for her own business with Gu Niancheng, it wasn’t easy to completely sever ties. With such a golden opportunity delivered right to her doorstep, why wouldn’t she make use of it?
“Village Chief, everything I’m saying is true. Just now, Gu Niancheng charged at me—if this comrade hadn’t happened to see it and saved me, who knows, me and the child might already be gone. That would’ve been two lives lost.”
“Commander, does this count as attempted murder?”
Hearing this, the Village Chief’s old face turned even whiter.
Their village absolutely could not have a murder on its record—then the “advanced village” title would be completely out of reach.
“Niancheng’s wife, this must be a misunderstanding!”
The Village Chief kept signaling Lin Qingyue with his eyes, but Lin Qingyue simply couldn’t see it.
“It’s not a misunderstanding.”
Fu Xingzhou spoke in a deep voice. “I saw it clearly just now—he deliberately charged at her.”
“The two of them were also arguing just before, about…”
“Lin Qingyue, I agree!”
Gu Niancheng was frightened too. When Lin Qingyue accused him of hooliganism and rape, he’d already been scared.
But in the blink of an eye, it had turned into attempted murder. If this charge were confirmed, he really might end up eating a bullet.
He still had university ahead of him—he had a bright future ahead of him. He didn’t want his whole life ruined just like that.
“Agree?” Lin Qingyue hadn’t expected Gu Niancheng to cave so quickly either.
“Then when will you write the written agreement, and when will you give me the hundred yuan?”
Lin Qingyue raised an eyebrow and asked.
“The written agreement can be written right now. As for the money, I’ll scrape it together and give it to you as soon as possible.”
Gu Niancheng clenched his teeth hard, suppressing the urge to punch someone.
“That won’t do. I want it today.”
A hundred yuan was no small sum, especially in the countryside.
“Lin Qingyue, you know full well the family has no money. Are you doing this on purpose?”
Gu Niancheng’s eyes were red with rage, and he nearly roared the words out.
In the past, Lin Qingyue would have been too afraid to say a single word before Gu Niancheng even got angry. But today, she wasn’t the least bit upset.
“So you’d rather admit to the charge of attempted murder?”
“You—”
“Yueyue!”
A frail, delicate voice rang out. Lin Qingyue turned to look and only then noticed that Yao Hongyan had arrived.
In the middle of summer, she still had a red quilted cotton jacket with big floral patterns draped over her, and she was leaning on a wooden stick with one hand.
Gu Yunyun was supporting her. It was clear that Yao Hongyan was extremely weak right now—her face was deathly pale, and her lips were white enough to be frightening.
Seeing Lin Qingyue look over, a pitiful, pleading expression appeared on her face:
“Yueyue, you’ve misunderstood Niancheng ge. There’s really nothing between him and me. The only reason he helps me is because the two of us are good friends—he does it all for your sake…”
“Heh, Yao Hongyan, do you even believe those words yourself?”
Lin Qingyue scoffed disdainfully: “For me? You took everything in the house over to him? For me, you didn’t even notice the salt jar had tipped over at home, but when your hand hurt, he went over and blew on it for you?”
“I…”
Yao Hongyan grew even more aggrieved, on the verge of tears as she said: “But I really have nothing to do with him.”
“The two of us are completely innocent.”
“If you don’t like it, I just won’t bother Brother Niancheng from now on. At worst, me and my son will just starve to death…”