The room was perfectly quiet, lit only by the dim glow of a kerosene lamp. Gu Zhouye had just washed his face and was looking at the woman before him, his gaze gradually clearing.
When Shen Qiuqiu first arrived at Qingshan Village, she had worn two thick, jet-black braids. Her face had been fair and clean, her eyes innocent. She had followed Xiao Yi around everywhere and had never spoken a word to Gu Zhouye. And yet now, the two of them were about to be tied together.
Gu Zhouye spoke. “I know you like Xiao Yi. There’s nothing in it for you to be with me.”
Shen Qiuqiu lay completely unbothered on the narrow bed.
“That bastard is all over Bai Xueying now. And I forgot to tell you — I like you now.”
As she said this, one of her eyes quietly watched Gu Zhouye. She knew his identity wasn’t simple; otherwise, how else would he have survived being falsely accused as a rapist in his past life?
Gu Zhouye looked at Shen Qiuqiu coldly, his eyes sharp and harsh — but his ears turned red.
Shen Qiuqiu turned over in fear. Gu Zhouye must think she was incredibly frivolous. But then she suddenly felt strange. For the first time, she blushed as she looked at him.
“Um… could you heat up some water for me?”
Shen Qiuqiu was now wearing Gu Zhouye’s oversized shirt, her two pale bare legs pressed together. Gu Zhouye’s handsome face instantly flushed crimson. He quickly rushed outside to gather firewood and boil water.
…
At the Qingshantun village clinic, Bai Xueying could sense Xiao Yi’s displeasure the moment she walked in. Sure enough, Xiao Yi slammed his enamel mug hard onto the ground. Bai Xueying turned to see his furious gaze.
“Shen Qiu and Gu Zhouye slept together. What the hell is going on?”
“Yi ge, I don’t know…”
Bai Xueying reached out to grab Xiao Yi’s hand, but he shoved her away roughly.
“You went to town a few days ago and picked up some medication. Don’t treat everyone like they’re stupid!”
Seeing Xiao Yi like this, Bai Xueying’s heart ached with bitterness.
“Do you still have feelings for Shen Qiu?”
Xiao Yi froze. A complicated expression flickered across his face.
“I already told you — I’ll break off the engagement with her and marry you. Why do you keep going after her? What good does it do you to ruin her reputation like this?”
Bai Xueying suddenly shoved Xiao Yi away.
“The only spot in the village for someone to return to the city was given to Gu Zhouye. Why do you think I did this? Xiao Yi, I’m a doctor — I save lives. For you, I stooped to harming someone. And you still blame me? Don’t you have any conscience at all? I gave you my body. I gave you my whole heart. And you’re still thinking about other women!”
Seeing the tears streaming down the woman before him, Xiao Yi’s heart softened. He pulled her into his arms and lowered his voice to soothe her. “Alright, alright, I was wrong. Stop crying.”
Seeing that her show of vulnerability was working, Bai Xueying continued to sob. “Then… have you missed me these past few days?”
Xiao Yi wrapped his arms around her soft waist from behind. Compared to Shen Qiuqiu’s thin, delicate frame, Bai Xueying had a fuller, more womanly figure, which Xiao Yi found very pleasing.
“I’ve been at the study center in town. Even during class… I was thinking about you.”
Bai Xueying led Xiao Yi into the back room. Before long, faint rustling sounds drifted out.
…
Back on Shen Qiuqiu’s side, the two had cleaned up and were now sitting on opposite ends of the tattered bed. The reckless, devil-may-care energy Shen Qiuqiu had carried when she first woke up in this world had completely vanished. She was suddenly hit with the overwhelming sense that she had truly been reborn — into the 1960s.
In this era of scarcity, with food and clothing both in short supply, she would also have to wear the label of “female hooligan.” What if the male supporting character refused to help her? Would she really end up in prison?
Shen Qiuqiu curled up in the corner, looking like a pitiful little bride. Gu Zhouye pulled a ragged blanket off the bed, grabbed a random chair, sat down, wrapped himself in the blanket, and closed his eyes.
Outside, it was minus thirty-something degrees Celsius. This was a small mountain village in Northeast China. Although the kang bed was heated, the room was still unbearably cold.
Shen Qiuqiu poked her head out from under the covers.
“Get on the kang. We’ve already done that. No need to stand on ceremony.”
Gu Zhouye let out a cold snort and turned away, refusing to look at Shen Qiuqiu.
“What, are you disgusted by me?”
Gu Zhouye opened his eyes, glanced at Shen Qiuqiu, and spoke.
“The organization sent me a notice a few days ago. I’m supposed to return to the city to report to the machinery factory. But after what happened, that spot is probably gone.”
Shen Qiuqiu jolted upright like a spring, sitting up in one swift motion.
“Now I get it. This is why Bai Xueying set me up — she was after your spot to return to the city. In Qingshan Village, you and Xiao Yi are the only two university students. If you can’t go back to the city, then the only one who can is Xiao Yi.”
Gu Zhouye looked at Shen Qiuqiu with a dark, brooding gaze.
“So… was that Bai Xueying’s idea? Or yours?”
Shen Qiuqiu’s heart slammed against her ribs. The original Shen Qiu’s strange behavior after the incident in her past life, combined with the villain’s eventual descent into darkness…
It all made sense now. The original character might very well have been trying to help her own fiancé. Shen Qiuqiu looked up at Gu Zhouye, then climbed off the bed, walked over to him, and grabbed his arm.
“It really has nothing to do with me. Bai Xueying is the one who set me up.”
Gu Zhouye’s eyes were ice-cold.
“Weren’t you just saying you liked me? Now you’re saying you were framed by Bai Xueying? You lied to me, Shen Qiu.”
Gu Zhouye grabbed Shen Qiuqiu by the throat, his eyes bloodshot, and pinned her down on the bed. Shen Qiuqiu wasn’t wearing much, and the position was impossibly intimate.
Hatred consumed Gu Zhouye in that moment. More than anything, he hated being betrayed.
Shen Qiuqiu choked out a single sentence.
“Is it not allowed to fall for someone after the fact?!”
In a certain sense, she was telling the truth. She was an overworked, older virgin corporate slave from modern times. Her daily routine consisted of looking at handsome guys with abs and reading spicy stories to please her eyes. She had thought it was just a wet dream, but it turned out to be a real-life 180-something-centimeter-tall, chiseled, ab-muscled handsome guy who skipped straight past the dating phase and got down to business.
How was that any different from a love that barged in like a home invasion?
It wasn’t any different.
The expression on Gu Zhouye’s face looked like a paint box had been knocked over.
Shen Qiuqiu decided to just go all in. She reached out and boldly ran her hand over Gu Zhouye’s firm, muscular chest.
“I admit, at first I wanted to drug Xiao Yi. I got the wrong person. But you see, I was young before. I didn’t know what a real man was. But… now I understand.”
Shen Qiuqiu felt like she had turned into one of those brazen, scandalous heroines from cuckoldry novels. Life was just a performance, and it all came down to acting. Wasn’t this way more exciting than pretending to be a good employee at her corporate job?
Gu Zhouye released Shen Qiuqiu and sat down to the side. His expression at that moment could no longer be described as merely complicated. It seemed like his brain had encountered something utterly incomprehensible that it couldn’t process.
Gu Zhouye: “You…”
Shen Qiuqiu: “Don’t bother saying it. I’m just that shallow. I only just found that out about myself too.”
Gu Zhouye took a deep breath. The next second, Shen Qiuqiu pulled him onto the bed and covered them both with the blanket. His ear was assaulted by a sickly sweet nickname from Shen Qiuqiu.
“Honey, go to sleep. If you don’t want to sleep alone… you can sleep with me, too.”
Shen Qiuqiu hadn’t realized she could be this shameless. Maybe she was getting old. Maybe she had simply lost her mind.
Either way, looking at Gu Zhouye’s flushed handsome face… she felt pretty damn good about it.