The Team Leader’s expression softened a little as he listened.
He looked at Lu Shiyan and asked, “Lu Shiyan, tell me. Are you two really planning to register your marriage?”
Lu Shiyan stood there. Moonlight fell on his face, making his expression hard to read.
He glanced at Su Wanqing.
Su Wanqing was also looking at him. Her eyes were still red, with tears hanging on her lashes, but there was clearly a hint of mischief in them.
It looked like she was saying, just play along, what are you standing there for?
Lu Shiyan almost laughed.
He held it back, lowered his gaze, and said in a low voice, “Yes, I will listen to Wanqing.”
The Team Leader looked at him, then at Su Wanqing, and let out a soft sigh.
“Alright then. Everyone disperse. It is late. Stop making a scene here.”
Zhang Hongying immediately panicked.
“Team Leader, you cannot just let this go! She hit me!”
The Team Leader gave her a look.
“Do you not understand in your heart why she hit you?”
Zhang Hongying opened her mouth but could not say a single word.
The Team Leader continued, “Zhang Hongying, you did not sleep in the middle of the night, secretly followed people, watched them all night, and then ran to report them in the act. In the end, they were properly dating and discussing marriage. Does what you did make any sense?”
Zhang Hongying’s face turned red.
“I I was doing it for the collective”
“Enough,” the Team Leader interrupted impatiently. “Go back. Stop embarrassing yourself here.”
Zhang Hongying bit her lip, her eyes completely red. She glared at Su Wanqing fiercely, then turned and ran off.
The crowd of onlookers slowly dispersed as well.
Flashlight beams faded into the distance, and the barking dogs also quieted down. The area beside the haystack returned to silence.
Moonlight poured down gently over the two of them.
Su Wanqing finally let out a long breath, wiped the tears on her face, and turned to look at Lu Shiyan.
Lu Shiyan was already looking at her. Under the moonlight, his eyes were deep and unreadable, filled with complicated emotions.
Su Wanqing felt a little uneasy under his gaze and looked away.
“What are you looking at?”
“You are indeed good looking,” Lu Shiyan replied.
“Talk properly,” Su Wanqing said, flustered, pushing him lightly. “It is over now. I am going back.”
Just as she turned, Lu Shiyan suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist.
She looked back at him.
He stared at her and asked in a low voice, “The marriage registration, were you joking or serious?”
Su Wanqing blinked and did not answer directly. Instead she asked, “Then what do you hope? Joking or serious?”
“You tell me,” Lu Shiyan said, his gaze so intense it felt like he wanted to tear her apart.
“I was of course joking,” she raised her eyebrows. “Otherwise how could we get through that situation? Do you want us to be paraded through the village with a label on us?”
Lu Shiyan looked at her without speaking.
The more he looked, the more uneasy she felt. She forcefully pulled her hand back.
“Alright, I am going back. You should also go back and rest early.”
She hugged her cloth bag and turned to leave.
Lu Shiyan stood there alone, looking somewhat lonely.
After walking a few steps, Su Wanqing suddenly stopped.
She turned around and ran back toward him.
Lu Shiyan froze for a moment.
She stopped in front of him and looked up at his face.
Under the moonlight, there were no tears left on her face. Instead she was smiling brightly, her eyes curved like crescents.
“Oh,” she teased, tilting her head. “Are you about to cry?”
Lu Shiyan said nothing.
Seeing his expression, Su Wanqing could not help bursting into laughter. She laughed so hard her body shook, the cloth bag in her arms swaying with her.
“Lu Shiyan, your expression just now was too funny. Did you think I really left? Did you think I did not want you anymore?”
His face darkened slightly.
This little troublemaker.
After she finished laughing, she finally calmed down.
She looked at him, her eyes bright.
About that question, she said, whether joking or serious.
Lu Shiyan looked at her, waiting.
She stepped closer and said seriously, “Of course it is serious.”
His gaze instantly changed.
She reached out and gently poked his chest.
“I have already been taken advantage of by you. Now you are asking me if I was joking. What, do you want to refuse responsibility?”
“Of course not,” he blurted out immediately.
Only after speaking did he realize he had been led by the nose again.
Su Wanqing smiled at him again, eyes curved.
“Oh, not refusing responsibility. So you are willing to take responsibility?”
Lu Shiyan gritted his teeth slightly as he looked at her.
This woman had completely thrown his heart into chaos, sometimes saying she would leave, sometimes coming back, sometimes saying it was a joke, sometimes saying it was serious.
His heart had been lifted and dropped like a swing.
And she stood there laughing like a flower.
He really wanted to
Lu Shiyan suddenly reached out, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her forward.
She stumbled into his arms.
He stepped back and sat down on the haystack, pulling her down onto his lap.
She froze.
“What are you doing?”
Lu Shiyan did not answer.
He lifted his hand and slapped her on the backside.
A clear sound echoed. It was not too heavy, but it was loud.
Su Wanqing went completely still.
Realizing what he was doing, her face instantly turned bright red.
He slapped her again.
“Still acting mischievous?”
He kept going, one hit after another.
“Still messing with me?”
Smack, smack.
She lay on his lap, her face burning hot, from her ears all the way down her neck.
She had never in two lifetimes been treated like this.
Not before crossing over, and not after.
“Lu Shiyan!” she struggled. “You are insane!”
He held her firmly so she could not move and slapped her again.
“Who are you calling insane?”
Tears of embarrassment welled up in her eyes.
“Let me go!”
He looked down at her, amusement in his eyes. Under the moonlight her ears were red, her neck flushed, and she twisted in his lap like a startled rabbit.
“Still going to be naughty?”
She could not break free, feeling both wronged and furious, tears falling one after another.
“Lu Shiyan you are a bastard! I am not marrying you anymore! I will never marry you!”
He gave her another slap at those words.
“Not marrying?”
She cried harder.
“Not”
Smack.
“Hmm?”
Finally she gave up resisting, sobbing on his lap.
“Marry! I will marry! Is that enough!”
Only then did he stop.
He helped her sit up properly in his arms and looked down at her.