Ye Qisheng turned back to glance at the person standing at the kitchen doorway, though she didn’t know when they had arrived. She pursed her lips and said nothing, following instructions to pick out two pieces of firewood and toss them back onto the pile.
Then, she picked up the blower, gathered her “primordial power,” and blew a few mighty breaths into the stove—
*Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough!*
The half-extinguished, flickering spark didn’t flare up at all; instead, she was the one choked severely by the rising backlash of soot and ashes.
Her nose and eyes itched, and instinctively, she let go of the blower with one hand to frantically rub at her face, quickly turning herself into a soot-smeared little cat.
Liu Shiting stood there speechless for a moment. He walked over, motioned for her to step aside, and picked up a thin, long wooden stick to poke around inside, clearing a path for oxygen to flow properly before stuffing a handful of dry, withered grass into the stove.
Before long, the flammable grass reached its flash point and began to smoke. A flame ignited at the base, and the pieces of firewood stacked on top soon caught fire as well.
Seeing him start the fire so quickly, Ye Qisheng, who knew she was clumsy at this, rubbed her nose in embarrassment and tried to make up for it. “Um, thanks… It’s my first time starting a fire, so I’m bound to be a bit unskillful. I’ll get the hang of it after doing it a few more times.”
Liu Shiting nodded and said nothing, silently adjusting the position of the firewood to let the blaze inside burn more vigorously.
Since he had already helped start the fire, Ye Qisheng was already grateful. How could she have the nerve to let him continue boiling the water? She hurriedly indicated she would take care of it herself. “I’ll do it! Brother Liu, thank you, sorry for the trouble!”
Liu Shiting glanced at her, nodded, and got up to leave the kitchen, leaving her to busy herself.
Terrified that she might accidentally put the fire out, Ye Qisheng watched it with extreme seriousness, her full focus fixed on the intensity of the flames.
She kept in mind everything Liu Shiting had just told her: don’t stuff in too much wood, and only add more once the previous pieces had burned down enough.
After burning for fifteen minutes, the pot emitted a soft, whirring sound—the water was hot.
Ye Qisheng lifted the lid to check the temperature. Feeling it was about right, she stopped adding wood.
Noticing a rectangular brick nearby, she thought it must be used to block the stove opening to prevent sparks from popping out and landing on the nearby firewood pile, so she moved the brick over and blocked the opening tightly.
After finishing all this, she stood up, stretched, and carried a basin of water into the room.
Liu Yuexia had already tidied up and was lying in bed. Hearing Ye Qisheng’s footsteps, she deliberately tossed and turned with great force, creating a loud racket to show her dissatisfaction.
Ye Qisheng pretended she hadn’t heard a thing and continued her mission to get clean with absolute composure.
Having not bathed for two days, she was dirty enough to scrub off a layer of grime. After fiddling around for a long time, she finally finished washing up.
She was just worrying about having no clean change of clothes when she suddenly noticed the straw mat she’d slept on last night, which had been messily spread on the floor at some point, with two sets of blue-grey clothes resting on top of it.
Assuming these must be for her, Ye Qisheng walked over barefoot, picked up the clothes, and shook them out. Although they were of the most basic style and fabric—even featuring a few patches—they were much cleaner than the beggar-like rags Liu Yuexia had given her before.
At the very least, they didn’t smell musty.
Ye Qisheng arched an eyebrow and calmly glanced at the person on the bed. Liu Yuexia was lying with her back to her, so her expression was unclear, but judging by the noise she had just made, her mood must be atrocious.
She didn’t believe for a second that Liu Yuexia had suddenly had a change of heart. It was likely that Liu Shiting had said something, and Liu Yuexia had been left with no choice but to begrudgingly lend her two sets of clothes to wash and change.
After changing into the clothes, she poured out the water in the bathing tub, took her dirty clothes to the well to scrub them clean, and hung them on the bamboo pole in the courtyard before finally carrying her basin back to the room.
Even though she had caught up on sleep in the afternoon, she was still exhausted. As soon as she lay down on the straw mat, she drifted off into a dream.
In contrast to her restful sleep, Liu Yuexia, lying on the big bed, was grinding her teeth in rage. With a ball of fire burning in her heart, she tossed and turned for a long time but couldn’t manage to fall asleep.
A stranger had suddenly appeared in the room, and on top of that, a detestable little vixen! How could she possibly sleep?
She was so angry she felt full!
Relying on Mother Fan’s backing, she had run wild in the house for years. She had done even worse things in the past, and although her brother had disciplined her then, he had never been as harsh as he was today!
It was as if he had taken her face and ruthlessly ground it into the dirt!
So what if she deliberately framed that little slut!?
If he was so capable, he should make this little slut get out! What was the meaning of her dead-weighting it in their house!?
She had been living perfectly well with her own boudoir, and suddenly this outsider had come to occupy her domain. How could she not hate her!?
The more Liu Yuexia thought about it, the more choked her chest felt. The more choked she felt, the more the evil fire in her heart burned—she was practically smoking!
Things couldn’t go on like this. She had to find a way to chase this vixen out!
Her brother had long since reached the age of marriage, but it just so happened that her father had contracted a disease and passed away suddenly, which delayed things.
Having finally weathered the mourning period, the village had suffered two consecutive years of flooding, and as the village chief, her brother had to handle many things personally, leaving him with no time to attend to his own lifelong affair. Before he knew it, he had been dragged along until now.
Now that he was protecting Ye Qisheng so fiercely, though he claimed it was to fulfill his promise to Dr. Xu, a man’s mouth was just a deceitful ghost—who knew how “pure” that claim was?
Besides, what man wasn’t lustful? Even though that vixen had half her face ruined, the other half was still worth a look, and that didn’t stop her from having a figure that tempted men into committing crimes. Maybe her brother had really started to develop feelings for her, otherwise, why would he have been so fierce with her just now?
He had even insisted that she pull out two of her better outfits for that vixen to change into!
And Dr. Xu had said Ye Qisheng’s disfigurement was only temporary and would heal before long.
She was already captivating souls with only half a face—if she fully recovered, wouldn’t that be the end of everything!?
What if her big brother really fell in love with Ye Qisheng?!
She absolutely did not want a vixen for a sister-in-law!
Harboring these chaotic, messy thoughts, Liu Yuexia became even more restless and sleepless, and it wasn’t until the second half of the night that she finally managed to drift off.
But before she could even close her eyes for long, she was startled awake by the crowing of the roosters outside.
A new day had begun, and she had to go to the fields to work again.
Getting out of bed with a mattress full of resentment, she inevitably had to pass by Ye Qisheng, who was lying on the straw mat, as she went out to wash up.
Seeing her sleeping so soundly, completely undisturbed by the roosters crowing outside, a wave of rage rushed over Liu Yuexia. She walked over with deliberate heavy strides and “accidentally” kicked Ye Qisheng twice.
But Ye Qisheng only muttered a few words, rolled over, and clutched the clothes covering her body as she fell right back into a deep sleep.
With one plan failing, Liu Yuexia was completely blown away with fury. In a rage, she went out, drew a basin of water, brought it back in, and—*splash!*—threw the entire thing directly at her!