“You came to apologize because you did something wrong—it’s not like I begged you to come.”
“Besides, you were on the afternoon shift today, and you’d have been off at five-thirty. If you wanted to apologize, you could have come at six-something. But you chose the dead of night, when everyone’s trying to sleep—what’s your game? Hoping to catch someone in a state of undress?”
“Let me tell you, it’s only because I’m generous that I even opened the door for you at this hour. Anyone else would have slammed it in your face!”
Chen Xiaoying couldn’t hold it in anymore. Big teardrops came streaming down her face.
Liu Xiaohui couldn’t stand it. She raised her flashlight to curse at Han Jiaojiao, but the beam swept across Shen Junshan’s eyes.
“Ah!”
“Brother Junshan, what’s wrong?”
Chen Xiaoying rushed over to support him, but Shen Junshan shoved her away hard, sending her stumbling into the pile of odds and ends across the way.
Shen Junshan reached out, groping blindly. Han Jiaojiao hurriedly grabbed his hand and said, “Husband.”
He clasped her hand, feeling her warmth and presence, and only then did his nerves settle.
In that instant, Han Jiaojiao suddenly understood. Shen Junshan turning off the lights at night wasn’t just to save on the electric bill—it was probably because there was something wrong with his eyes. In the darkness of night, a sudden flash of bright light caused him pain.
This condition wasn’t something he was born with. It had to be a lingering aftereffect of an injury sustained later in life.
But why didn’t she know about it?
Han Jiaojiao flung the movie tickets at Chen Xiaoying’s face. “We’re a family of illiterates—we can’t appreciate high-class films. Miss Chen, why don’t you enjoy them with your high-class company? Goodbye, no need to see us out!”
Han Jiaojiao slammed the door shut with force, and Chen Xiaoying was left with egg on her face.
She had never suffered such humiliation. She stood frozen at the door, tears swirling in her eyes before streaming down her cheeks.
Liu Xiaohui quickly picked up the movie tickets, dusted them off, and stuffed them into Chen Xiaoying’s pocket.
“Xiaoying, don’t stoop to her level. Who does she think she is? The town’s famous fool! Can you take the words of a fool seriously? Don’t let it get to you.”
“She’s a fool…”
Chen Xiaoying slowly repeated the words, crying even harder.
Shen Junshan was willing to listen to a fool’s words but wouldn’t say a single word in her defense. Did that mean she truly meant less to him than a fool?
Liu Xiaohui handed her a handkerchief. “Stop crying. We won’t lower ourselves to a fool’s level. Shen Junshan will come around eventually.”
Chen Xiaoying forced a smile, shot a resentful glare at the door, and left.
Han Jiaojiao immediately helped Shen Junshan to a stool and sat him down.
After confirming there was no sound outside, she said, “I thought the county flower had thin skin, but it turns out hers is thicker than a city wall. She comes crawling after a married man and still plays the innocent. Did you all smell that tea fragrance?”
Han Fang was confused. “What tea fragrance?”
“Green tea! Such a strong green tea scent—didn’t you smell it?”
What does green tea even smell like? Han Fang was even more puzzled and shot Shen Junshan a questioning look.
But he had no idea either.
Han Jiaojiao watched both men staring at her with blank expressions, and she felt even more irritated.
Sure enough, straight men were useless. Asking them to tell apart a scheming woman was simply too much to expect.
“I’m warning you two—if either of you dares accept anything from her, don’t set foot in this house again!”
Shen Junshan turned his head aside and rubbed his eyes. Only after they were moistened did they feel a bit better.
Han Jiaojiao glanced at the candle, its rising smoke stinging her eyes.
If even she felt uncomfortable, Shen Junshan must be in even more pain.
She reached out and snuffed out the lamp wick. “From now on, we don’t need candles in this house. They’re smoky and unsafe.”
Shen Junshan nodded seriously, unconsciously revealing a faint smile.
At this moment, Han Jiaojiao had no idea that he had already committed her words to heart—the very next day, he packed up all the candles in the house and gave them away to the neighbors.
Han Jiaojiao hooked her finger under his chin, her beautiful eyes staring straight at him.
Shen Junshan froze for a moment.
Partly because he was struck by her bare-faced beauty.
And partly because he couldn’t figure out why Han Jiaojiao had suddenly become a different person.
It was her, yet it wasn’t her.
Call her foolish—yet she had a sharp tongue when sparring with others, and she could save lives and cook better than he could.
Call her clever—yet her brain seemed to be a bit dull.
Shen Junshan studied her little face but ultimately swallowed his questions.
After examining him from the outside and finding no major issues, Han Jiaojiao asked, “Were your eyes injured before?”
“Sis, your memory really is bad. Brother-in-law was discharged because a landmine blast got him in the head—you forgot again,” Han Fang said.
Han Jiaojiao’s little face scrunched up as she tried hard to recall the matter.
But no matter how she tried, she couldn’t remember the details. In her memory, she’d only vaguely heard someone mention it.
She was speechless.
You little fool—at least show some concern for the man sleeping beside you.
Now this was a problem. With incomplete information, she couldn’t tell whether the shrapnel had damaged his cornea or whether the injury to his brain was compressing a blood vessel.
Worrying indeed…
Han Jiaojiao said, “You have a problem with your eyes and you don’t say anything. And you still light candles at home—are you trying to smoke yourself blind?”
Shen Junshan looked at her in silence, unable to utter a single word for a long time.
Han Jiaojiao found it boring too. She pinched his face hard, dragged him into the room, tossed the pillow and bedding onto the floor, and said in frustration, “You blockhead, go to sleep!”
“You want me to sleep here?”
“Where else? You want to sleep on the bed? It’s a 1.2-meter bed—the two of us can’t fit.”
Shen Junshan looked at her suspiciously.
Before, she’d refused to share a room with him no matter what, and he’d had no choice but to swap rooms with Xiaoniu and sleep in Han Fang’s room.
Now Jiaojiao was letting him sleep in her room—was he crazy, or was he dreaming?
Shen Junshan instinctively slapped himself hard across the face.
Han Jiaojiao was startled. “What are you doing?”
Shen Junshan: “Nothing. There’s a mosquito.”
“Would there be mosquitoes this time of year? How strange.”
Han Jiaojiao muttered under her breath as she walked to the window and closed it.
She turned back to straighten out the bedding for him, and then the two of them turned off the lights and went to sleep.
Han Jiaojiao was already exhausted. After getting into bed, her consciousness gradually faded, and she fell into a deep sleep.
Before long, she found herself dreaming.
In the dream, Han Jiaojiao saw Shen Junshan appear at a hospital, with Chen Xiaoying and an unfamiliar man by his side.
A doctor spoke to Shen Junshan at length, his face full of confidence.
But then the scene shifted. Shen Junshan sat by the bedside, his eyes hollow as he stared out the window.
His pupils had turned a grayish-brown…
In the dream, Han Jiaojiao was entangled in a feeling of despair. When she jolted awake, she shifted her body and realized she had broken out in a cold sweat from fright.
It took her a long time to calm down.
As she slowly savored the scenes from her dream, Han Jiaojiao let out a displeased snort.
“Why was Chen Xiaoying the one with him? How strange.”
After grumbling a couple of times, she found she couldn’t fall back asleep, so she got out of bed.
The sky outside had not yet begun to lighten, showing only a hint of pale gray on the horizon. Stars and the moon remained clearly visible, while the chirping of insects and birds rang out especially loud, making it hard for anyone to sleep soundly. The room was cold too, the temperature as low as autumn.
Shen Jiaojiao looked at the floor—Shen Junshan was already gone, and his bedding had been folded and placed at the foot of her bed.
She checked the time; it was only half past five.