“Are you alright?” Han Sheng asked Ruan Qingli.
Seeing that the man who had thrown him aside was Han Sheng, Fang Shubai quickly climbed to his feet and cupped his hands in greeting.
“Brother Han, you’ve arrived just in time. Please help me persuade A’Li to come home with me.”
Ruan Qingli shot back,
“Fang Shubai, are you sick? You’ve already divorced me. We have absolutely no relationship anymore. Why should I go back with you?”
“A’Li, I know you’re only speaking out of anger. You love me too much to leave me. Besides, what’s so good about working as a servant in the Han household? Come home with me, and I’ll let you live as the young mistress of the Fang family.”
“I’m not interested.”
With that, Ruan Qingli turned and walked inside.
Fang Shubai tried to follow, but Han Sheng stretched out an arm and blocked his path.
“I suggest that from now on, Young Master Fang stays away from my house. I don’t want to see you here, and neither does A’Li.”
After saying that, Han Sheng also walked inside, leaving Fang Shubai standing alone in the cold wind, completely stunned.
He had believed that as long as he humbled himself, Ruan Qingli would happily return with him.
After all, she had loved him so deeply.
How had things turned out like this?
Just then, Fang Xiuxiu came out to call him.
“Brother, Mother wants you to come back.”
Dejected, Fang Shubai returned home.
This time, he had truly lost everything.
He had thought the county magistrate favored him, only to discover later that the man had merely been looking for someone to take the blame.
The magistrate’s daughter was already six or seven months pregnant.
The moment Fang Shubai saw her, he felt like a cucumber painted green—ridiculous and utterly humiliated.
Even so, he had accepted the marriage.
Yet in the end, they still rejected him because the unborn child’s real father suddenly returned with a guilty conscience.
He didn’t even qualify to be the scapegoat anymore.
After all that scheming, he gained nothing.
Instead, he had even lost his wife.
It truly was…
Seeing her son looking utterly defeated, Zhou Shi sighed.
“Shubai, listen to your mother. Three-legged toads are hard to find, but two-legged women are everywhere. Ruan Qingli can’t even bear children. Why cling to her? Be good. In a few days, I’ll have the matchmaker find you a better wife.”
Fang Shubai snapped impatiently,
“Mother! Before I left home, didn’t I specifically tell you to make proper arrangements for A’Li? How did you let her end up with nowhere to go, working as a servant in the Han household? Didn’t I tell you? I only wanted her to leave the Fang family temporarily—I never intended to abandon her.”
Zhou Shi stammered,
“I… I tried to keep her. She was the one who insisted on leaving. If you don’t believe me, ask your fourth sister.”
Fang Xiuxiu hurriedly nodded.
“That’s right. Mother even tried to stop Sister-in-law. They struggled with each other, and Sister-in-law pushed Mother onto the ground. Mother’s waist still hurts.”
Fang Shubai closed his eyes.
“What’s done is done. There’s no point talking about it now. But it doesn’t matter. I believe A’Li is only angry with me for the moment. Once she’s had time to calm down, she’ll come back on her own.”
Zhou Shi stared at him in disbelief.
“Shubai… you still want her back?”
“Mother, stay out of my affairs. Don’t worry. When A’Li comes home, I’ll teach her the proper rules. From then on, she’ll listen to everything you say.”
Next door, in the Han household, Ruan Qingli and Han Sheng had just finished dinner.
Ruan Qingli was washing the dishes in the kitchen while Han Sheng leaned casually against the doorway.
Sensing his gaze, she looked back and met his deep, star-like eyes.
Han Sheng didn’t look away.
He simply stared at her.
Fang Shubai’s claim that Ruan Qingli loved him had left Han Sheng feeling inexplicably unsettled.
“A’Li…”
“Will you go back?”
Ruan Qingli shook her head.
“No.”
Hearing those two simple words, the corners of Han Sheng’s lips lifted into a quiet smile.
He walked over, rolled up his sleeves, and reached for the dishes.
Ruan Qingli hurriedly stopped him.
“How can I let you do that? You’re paying me wages. How could I ask you to help with my work?”
Han Sheng simply replied,
“I want to.”
His tone was firm enough that she had no choice but to let him help.
Winter was approaching, and the weather grew colder by the day.
That night, as she returned to her room, Ruan Qingli suddenly realized something.
Han Sheng’s bed in the main hall had nothing but a bamboo mat.
There wasn’t even a quilt.
Only then did she realize that she had been sleeping on Han Sheng’s bed and using his only quilt.
Since there was only one quilt in the entire house, Han Sheng had spent the last two nights sleeping under nothing but his clothes.
The realization filled her with guilt.
After thinking for a moment, she carried the quilt she had been using back out.
The moment Han Sheng entered the room and saw the neatly folded quilt, he immediately understood what she intended.
Smiling, he walked over and knocked on her door.
“A’Li, are you asleep?”
She was naturally still awake.
She was busy trying to stuff rags into the cracks around the windows to keep the cold wind out.
Strangely enough, the days weren’t very cold while the sun was out.
But once night fell, the chill became piercing.
Hearing the knock, she answered vaguely,
“Young Master Han… is something wrong? I… I’m already asleep.”
Han Sheng’s lazy voice drifted through the crack in the door.
“Open the door. I’m returning your quilt.”
Ruan Qingli had known that was why he came.
But she couldn’t possibly accept it.
Han Sheng was sleeping in the drafty main hall, which leaked even more wind than her room.
His clothes weren’t padded with cotton either.
He wasn’t made of iron.
If anyone was colder, it was him.
She didn’t open the door.
Speaking through the wooden panel, she said,
“I’m not cold. My family was poor when I was growing up. During winter, we never had cotton quilts either. I’m used to it. You should keep it.”
Leaning against the door with the quilt in his arms, Han Sheng asked,
“How much does a new quilt cost?”
She calculated for a moment.
“Cotton is expensive this year. A thick quilt costs about half a tael of silver. Even a thinner one costs around three hundred copper coins.”
“Then with the money we have left, can we afford one?”
After a quick calculation, Ruan Qingli answered,
“We’ve spent quite a bit these past few days buying household necessities and vegetables for winter. I still have a little over eight hundred copper coins left. Young Master Han… would you like to see the account book?”
Han Sheng chuckled.
“That’s not necessary. I already told you—buy whatever the household needs. I still have another three hundred copper coins on me. I’ll give them to you tomorrow. Go buy a cotton quilt.”
Ruan Qingli’s eyes immediately brightened.
“Young Master Han, you’re buying a brand-new quilt?”
“Mhm. A thick one.”
“For you?”
“No.”
“It’s for you. This house is too drafty during the winter. Without a thick quilt, you won’t be able to endure it.”
His words moved her deeply.
Back at the Fang household, the thickest quilt had belonged to Zhou Shi.
Fang Shubai and Fang Xiuxiu each used quilts stuffed with three jin of cotton.
Only hers contained a single jin.
It was little more than a thin layer.
Every winter night, she woke up shivering from the cold.
And now…
Han Sheng wanted to buy her a brand-new quilt.
In her entire life, she had never once slept under a new cotton quilt.
It must feel wonderful.
Unable to hide her excitement, she spoke through the door.
“Young Master Han, we don’t actually have to buy a finished quilt. They’re much more expensive. I know how to make quilts. We can buy loose cotton and a few yards of coarse cloth to sew the cover ourselves. It’ll save us quite a bit of money.”
After a brief pause, she continued,
“I noticed your old quilt is worn out too. Tomorrow I’ll take the old cotton out, fluff it up, mix it with some new cotton, and replace both the inner and outer covers. That way, for the price of making one new quilt, we’ll end up with two.”
Han Sheng asked softly,
“Won’t that be a lot of work?”
She smiled.
“Not at all. As long as it saves money, what’s a little hard work?”
Even through the closed door, Han Sheng could hear the excitement in her voice.
She had already begun happily calculating the amount of cotton they would need and the proper dimensions for the quilts.
Her words overflowed with simple joy.
Han Sheng found himself smiling as well.
Ruan Qingli reminded him of wild grass growing from the cracks in stone—unyielding and full of resilience.
She felt pain when others hurt or deceived her.
But she never stayed buried in that pain for long.
As long as the slightest breeze of spring touched her, she would immediately come back to life, vibrant and full of hope once more.