Warm tears quickly soaked into the fabric over Gu Ye’s chest, the heat of them making his heart tremble slightly.
All the cold, probing questions he had prepared were, for a moment, blocked by this sudden embrace filled with total dependence.
People had begun to gather in the shadows around them, watching with curiosity and undisguised scrutiny.
Who was Gu Ye?
He was the most notorious troublemaker in the entire mine — cold-faced all day long, as if the world owed him a fortune.
And yet someone could get this close to him… and not be beaten half to death?
So the rumors were true? A man like Gu Ye was actually a hopeless romantic?
Little did they know, the faint stir in Gu Ye’s heart caused by the physical contact had long been drowned out by the irritation from her crying and the annoyance of being watched.
He frowned, his tone carrying a trace of awkwardness and obvious impatience.
“Hey. Stop crying.”
The sobbing in his arms didn’t stop. If anything, his sharp tone made her shoulders shake even harder.
“Tch. Did you hear me? I said—”
Who knew where this so-called fiancée had come from — he didn’t even know if she was real. He must’ve been out of his mind to come out here at all.
He was just about to pull her away coldly—
When the person in his arms suddenly lifted her head.
Her gaze landed on the bandage wrapped around his forehead. Fear and worry surged up, and she didn’t forget to punch him in the chest.
“Gu Ye! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!”
He was stunned by her sudden outburst.
When he came back to himself, his eyes darkened. He was about to flare up—
“There are so many ways to make money! Who allowed you to sneak off to a hellhole like this?!”
“Do you know how dangerous this place is? Thank God it was only your head! What if—what if something worse had happened? What would I have done?!”
“If you wanted to make me a widow, you could’ve just said so! Did you have to treat yourself like this?!”
Her tearful but crisp scolding interrupted his anger again. The breath he had been holding in his chest scattered, and his thoughts drifted strangely off course.
“Are you cursing me?”
How had this turned into her becoming a widow? He was standing right here, alive and well!
Wait.
He hadn’t even refuted the “fiancée” part?
Looks like his brain really was damaged. Fine. That works.
“Cursing you? I’m worried about you! Don’t twist it around on me! You’re the unreasonable one!”
Her questions came like rapid fire, tearful yet firm, like a young wife furious at her husband for risking his life recklessly.
Every sentence stood on the moral high ground of “I care about you,” striking back at his coldness first and leaving him no room to counterattack.
Gu Ye stared at her tear-streaked yet fierce little face. All the cold words he had prepared — even the motion to push her away — froze halfway.
Wait.
Who exactly was being unreasonable here?
The onlookers also quieted down.
She looked soft and delicate — but her temper was fiery?
…
Knowing that too much was as bad as too little, Lin Wan stopped crying once she felt it was enough. She withdrew her hand and sneakily rolled her eyes, recalling the solid thud-thud feeling of that punch.
Not bad. His chest muscles were pretty impressive.
Good taste on her part. They’d all be hers eventually.
For now, she sniffed and asked in a slightly nasal voice, “Do you admit you were wrong?”
For the first time, a brief, almost blank look of confusion flashed through his hawk-sharp eyes.
“I was wrong?”
What had he even done? His biggest mistake was coming out to see some so-called fiancée on a whim!
Whether she was a fiancée was uncertain — but karma, definitely.
“As long as you know you were wrong, that’s fine. Don’t do it again.”
Lin Wan acted as if she couldn’t understand him at all, wearing the air of a magnanimous adult letting him off this time.
A quick combo of moves had completely thrown off Gu Ye’s rhythm. For a moment, he even forgot he had come out with a purpose.
He laughed in anger.
Narrowing his eyes, the scrutiny in his gaze now held something new — not suspicion, but a faint, intrigued amusement at having his rhythm disrupted.
“Fiancée, huh? Fine. You’ve got some nerve.”
Suddenly, he reached out, grabbed Lin Wan’s wrist, and pulled her toward the single brick house.
“B-Bro Ye, let’s talk it out!”
“Sister-in-law’s just a young girl. She ran all this way to find you — who knows how much she suffered. It’s normal to have a temper. Just… don’t hit her…”
Wang Lei stood at the doorway, watching Gu Ye drag her inside with a dark face, trying to persuade him hesitantly.
“Get lost!”
The only reply was the crisp slam of the door.
“Got it!” Wang Lei scrambled off immediately.
Kind-hearted. Slightly.
Once the door shut, cutting off all outside gazes, only the two of them remained in the room. The air seemed to grow heavy.
Lin Wan had enjoyed the thrill of her acting earlier. Now that she’d calmed down, she felt a little guilty.
She stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, fingers twisting the hem of her clothes. Yet her eyes kept darting toward Gu Ye uncontrollably.
“Weren’t you bold outside just now? Hitting and yelling? Why so quiet now?”
Gu Ye sat down on the wooden bed, casually picked up the pack of cheap cigarettes from the table, and put one between his lips — still not lighting it.
He lifted his eyes and gave her a cold sweep from head to toe.
His gaze made Lin Wan’s scalp tingle, but she forced herself not to retreat. Relying on his amnesia, she even stepped forward two paces.
“That’s because I care about you. You have no idea how long I waited for you, how long I searched…”
Her eyes roamed over him, checking for injuries beyond his forehead.
Looking closely, she couldn’t help clicking her tongue inwardly.
Aside from the bandage on his head and his slightly pale face from blood loss, his posture was still straight, limbs intact. Beneath the work clothes, she could vaguely sense the coiled, powerful lines of muscle.
Unbelievable. The mine collapsed and he only hurt his head — barely even scraped.
Of course. Male lead destiny. Tough as nails.
She complained inwardly, but her face showed nothing. Instead, her worry looked even more genuine.
“Oh? So how long did you look for me?”
Gu Ye looked genuinely interested.
If she hadn’t known he had amnesia, Lin Wan might’ve suspected he was interrogating her like a criminal — applying subtle psychological pressure, waiting for her to slip.
Definitely someone trained in the military.
If it had been the original owner of this body, she might have confessed already.
Too bad for him — he was dealing with a lunatic now.
In front of her lover, unreasonable, dramatic, spoiled — that was the persona she had set for herself.
Pinching her thigh, recalling less than a day of transmigration, a wave of grievance and fear surged up.
Her eyes reddened instantly. Tears pooled.
“Why are you being sarcastic? We’ve only been apart for such a short time and you’ve changed. You never used to speak to me like this!”
As if unable to bear his coldness, her voice trembled as she rushed to “confess” first:
“Gu Ye… are you angry with me? Angry that my family asked for so much betrothal money?”
She stepped forward and grabbed his arm.
“I told you back then… I don’t care about the bride price. I’m not afraid of hardship. I just want you. As long as we’re together, that’s enough…”
“But you insisted on giving it. You said you couldn’t let me be put in a difficult position—”
“You said a real man should give his wife the best. That you’d marry me openly and prove to those who looked down on us…”
“I tried to stop you, but you wouldn’t listen. No matter what I said, you insisted on coming here… I don’t even know who’s here…”
You chose this yourself — don’t you dare pin it on me.
She cried with heartfelt sincerity, as if losing him would shatter her entire world.
“And it hasn’t even been that long, and you’ve already become strange.”
“Tell me honestly… have you fallen for someone else?”