Xie Jinwen’s curse was famously accurate—this was an accepted fact in Laowo Village. Zhang Cui’er didn’t dare gamble on whether her words might be wrong. Furious to the point of distortion, she could only glare at Xie Jinwen hard before running off.
Xie Jinwen’s gaze returned to Ling Xiao. She frowned.
“Where did these clothes come from?”
The military jacket Ling Xiao had been wearing had already been stripped off on the mountain. He had been carried back to the village shirtless. Now, however, he was wearing a set of old cotton-linen long pants and a short-sleeved shirt.
The style was outdated—it was her grandfather’s old clothing.
Her grandfather had passed away when she was very young. The clothes had originally been burned, but her grandmother kept one set, saying she would take it out to look at when she missed him.
When her grandmother passed away, Xie Jinwen had buried that set of clothes together with her.
And now, it was on Ling Xiao’s body—dirty and wrinkled.
As she asked, she was already calculating something with her fingers. Her brows furrowed deeper and deeper.
Ling Xiao answered honestly. “Grandma told me to take good care of you. Seeing I had no clothes, she gave me this set…”
“Shut up!”
A tightness rose in Xie Jinwen’s chest that she couldn’t release.
Her grandmother had returned last night. And this set of clothes really had been given by her because she felt sorry for him having no clothes.
There were no men’s clothes in the house. And because Xie Jinwen had a poor relationship with the villagers, she would never ask them for help.
In her view, a grown man going shirtless wouldn’t feel cold anyway. Besides, Ling Xiao was physically strong—she wouldn’t bother finding him clothes.
And anyway, she had already allowed him to sleep on her bed. He was the one who ran outside for no reason.
Her grandmother, however, had always been meticulous and kind. She considered that Ling Xiao was shirtless, his military pants were dirty, and he would feel uncomfortable after a serious injury. Physical comfort mattered for recovery.
There were no spare clothes in the house except a burial outfit of her grandfather’s. Though somewhat unlucky, it was still better than having nothing at night—so she gave it.
What angered Xie Jinwen was not that her grandfather’s burial clothes were used.
It was that her grandmother had come back… but didn’t come to see her.
Only him.
Why?
Why did she only see Ling Xiao and not her?
She had spent over ten years with her grandmother. Ling Xiao was just a stranger who had arrived recently.
“Take off the clothes!”
Her voice rose as she stood up abruptly. Even the wild pear in her hand no longer tasted sweet. She threw it behind her and rushed straight at Ling Xiao.
A small white paper figure jumped off her back and hurried to catch the pear. It grabbed the half-eaten fruit with surprising strength, then even wiped its tiny forehead as if it had sweated.
Meanwhile, Xie Jinwen pounced on Ling Xiao and started pulling at his clothes, eyes blazing.
“What clothes are you wearing? Do you deserve them? And taking care of you? Do I need your care?”
Ling Xiao only felt soft hands moving over him. The girl was very close, fragrant, and it made him awkward. He stepped back.
That retreat only made her angrier.
She shoved him to the ground, straddled his legs, and pinned him down so he couldn’t move, quickly stripping off his shirt.
“Ts… ts… society really is going downhill.”
Outside the low courtyard wall stood a young man—Wang Xiaoge, the man previously mentioned. He had come to build connections with this outsider.
He arrived just in time to see Xie Jinwen pressing Ling Xiao down in the courtyard, frantically stripping his clothes.
Seeing someone watching, Ling Xiao struggled to get up. Just as he propped himself up, he was slapped twice across the face, leaving him stunned.
He saw that Xie Jinwen’s eyes were red, glistening with tears.
“I…”
Ling Xiao panicked. “Don’t cry. I’ll take it off…”
Before he could finish, his pants were also pulled off.
In the next second, Wang Xiaoge saw one figure rushing out of the gate and another rushing into the house. In an instant, both disappeared.
He stared at the closed door and swallowed.
“This trip wasn’t wasted at all.”
On Chicken Crown Ridge, in front of a grave.
Xie Jinwen crouched down, trying to fold the clothes neatly. But they were stained with ash, wrinkled and dirty, making them difficult to straighten. She struggled for a long time before finally managing to fold them properly.
Her hands and clothes were also covered in dirt.
She placed the clothes in front of the tombstone.
Her voice was slightly hoarse.
“Grandma, after you left, you never came back to see me. But the moment he appeared, you came back.”
“I don’t care whether he’s some chosen one or a person of destiny. I just want to ask you one thing—are you really so heartless that you won’t even come see me once?”
The wind howled loudly across the mountain ridge, brushing past her ears.
She continued, “Ling Xiao is the man destined for me. But Grandma… do you know? He has strong fortune—and strong romantic luck too. He won’t remarry, but even when he’s old, young girls will still chase him.”
“Do you really think he’ll take good care of me?”
From the grass nearby came rustling sounds.
A small white snake slowly crawled out. Its movements were sluggish, like an old person. It slithered toward the clothes and coiled itself on top, raising its head and flicking its tongue, its vertical pupils filled with a gentle, almost affectionate look.
Meeting its gaze, Xie Jinwen finally couldn’t hold back her tears.
“I know… Grandma always loved me the most.”
“The deadline is approaching. I will leave Laowo Village. I will leave this cage and go see the outside world. That way, my life won’t be wasted.”
“I know my fate is special. Without Ling Xiao’s fortune supporting me, the rules of the outside world won’t accept me—I won’t be able to leave the mountains.”
“I’ll live well with him. As for whether he gets entangled with other women… I don’t really care. As long as he can take me out of the mountains, he has already fulfilled his purpose.”
The wind roared across the ridge, lifting her hair and clothes. But she remained still.
After a long moment, she suddenly turned her head sharply toward the trees.
Her tear-stained face was cold again.
“Ling Da-shao, do you also enjoy eavesdropping?”
Ling Xiao stepped out from behind the tree, looking slightly embarrassed. He was still shirtless, wearing only his washed-but-still-damp military pants.
The fabric clung to him, outlining his legs, while his upper body revealed well-defined muscle lines.
He had a very good physique—slim in clothes, strong when exposed.
Her gaze lingered briefly on him. Ling Xiao’s ears turned red again. He turned slightly away.
“I… I just got worried when you suddenly ran off.”
But that only made his posture more obvious.
Xie Jinwen snorted and didn’t argue. She wiped her face, but her hands were dirty from earlier, so she stopped mid-motion.
She glanced at him, clearly signaling him to help.
But Ling Xiao, instead of understanding, awkwardly stepped back several paces.
Xie Jinwen thought silently:
If you’re going to be shy, why did you even come after me? You shouldn’t be here—you should be inside the house.