Her words immediately settled the matter once and for all.
Mu Xinyao turned to Huo Yunqiao. Although her breathing was still somewhat unsteady, her gaze brooked no argument.
“Yunqiao, go clean up the east room next to yours. Let Comrade Peiru stay there.”
“Huh? Oh!”
Huo Yunqiao was still immersed in her mother’s bold declaration that “your brother can’t win against me,” and it took her a moment to process what she had just heard. She quickly nodded.
She took Lin Peiru’s hand, a shy blush appearing on her face. “Sister Peiru, come with me.”
The Huo family’s courtyard was quite large, paved with blue bricks. It was obvious that they had once been a respectable family.
But now, there were gaps in the walls, piles of miscellaneous things in the corners, and an unmistakable air of decline.
Fortunately, they had planted some vegetables, green onions, garlic, and the like in the yard, adding quite a bit of life to the otherwise dilapidated courtyard.
Huo Yunqiao pushed open a wooden door beside her own room.
“Creak—”
The sound was like the groan of an old man.
As the wooden door opened, the musty smell of accumulated dust rushed toward them. Under the sunlight streaming inside, countless specks of dust could be seen dancing in the air.
“This is the room.” Huo Yunqiao’s face reddened slightly, and her voice became very soft. “It’s been empty for many years. My brother said he wanted to keep it for…”
She stopped halfway and swallowed the rest of her words.
Lin Peiru quickly swept her gaze around the room.
It wasn’t large. A brick kang took up nearly half the space, with various miscellaneous items piled on top.
A chipped, paint-peeling wooden chest stood in the corner, while all sorts of clutter was scattered across the floor.
It was so shabby that it tugged at the heartstrings.
Huo Yunqiao became even more embarrassed. She twisted the corner of her clothes. “Sister Peiru, don’t mind it… There’s only a kang, and there’s nothing else… I-I’ll go to the production team later and bring you some straw. I’ll lay it down thick, so it won’t feel uncomfortable when you sleep.”
As she spoke, she found a piece of old cloth and prepared to wipe the dust off the kang.
“Sister Peiru, you should go outside first. There’ll be a lot of dust while I clean.”
But Lin Peiru grabbed her hand.
She rolled up her sleeves, revealing a section of dazzlingly fair wrist, and smiled brightly and sincerely.
“Yunqiao, what silly thing are you saying?”
“I’m going to live here from now on. This is my home. How could I just stand by and watch you do all the work by yourself?”
Huo Yunqiao froze.
Her home…
Those three words, spoken so naturally by this beautiful city girl who looked like a fairy, somehow sounded so warm.
Before she could even finish being touched, Lin Peiru had already gotten to work.
She wrapped a cloth around her hair and began moving things around. Her movements were so practiced that she hardly looked like a pampered girl from the city.
Seeing this, Huo Yunqiao quickly joined in.
The two of them carried the miscellaneous items outside. Then one swept the floor while the other wiped down the kang. The dust inside the room was thoroughly stirred up, making them cough repeatedly, yet the atmosphere was surprisingly cheerful.
As Lin Peiru wiped the wooden chest, she casually spoke.
“Yunqiao, I heard you say earlier that your brother makes all the decisions in the family?”
“Mm!” Huo Yunqiao nodded. Whenever she mentioned her brother, her face showed both admiration and a hint of helplessness.
Without stopping what she was doing, Lin Peiru continued in the casual tone of someone making conversation.
“Your brother… how old is he? He’s so capable. He must already be married, right? What’s his temper like?”
She had to find out.
She had to understand this completely unfamiliar nineteen-year-old Huo Yunshen.
The moment she heard the words “married,” the rag in Huo Yunqiao’s hand dropped to the floor with a smack.
She picked it back up and let out a heavy sigh, the sound filled with worry.
“My brother… will be nineteen in a few months.”
“A wife? Of course not!”
She pursed her lips, lowering her voice as if afraid someone might overhear.
“With my brother’s stubborn temper, he’s like a mule! Cold and hard, just like a stone from a latrine. What girl could possibly put up with him? I think he’ll be a bachelor his whole life!”
Lin Peiru’s heart trembled, and she nearly burst out laughing.
Wasn’t that exactly what happened in her previous life?
He really had remained a bachelor until his forties, when she finally claimed him for herself.
Suppressing the turmoil in her heart, she deliberately put on an appropriately surprised expression.
“No way. Your auntie and you both seem to have such good tempers. How could your brother be like that?”
Huo Yunqiao’s movements paused.
The helplessness and complaints on her face instantly faded, replaced by a complicated, indescribable sadness.
“My brother… wasn’t like this before.” Her voice was soft, carrying a distant, drifting quality. “When my dad was still around, my brother was cheerful and lively too.”
“He only became like this after our father passed away…”
Huo Yunqiao’s eyes reddened. She sniffed, as though trying to force her tears back.
“When there was no man left in the family, people all wanted to bully us, a widow and her children. My brother… he used that hard shell of his, those sharp thorns, to turn himself into the pillar of our family, into a protective wall for Mom and me.”
“He doesn’t smile at others or treat others kindly because he saves all of that kindness for us.”
Lin Peiru’s heart felt as though something had struck it hard.
It was both bitter and burning hot.
Huo Yunshen had always been like this.
Beneath that cold, hard armor was a soft and burning heart, one that would do anything to protect his family.
Looking at Huo Yunqiao’s reddened eyes, Lin Peiru put down the rag and said seriously, word by word, “From the way you describe him, your brother… actually sounds like a really, really good person.”
Lin Peiru’s heartfelt praise left Huo Yunqiao stunned for a moment.
The corner of her mouth twitched uncontrollably, and her expression became somewhat complicated.
“To me and my mom… he probably is.”
She muttered softly, as though trying to encourage herself, or perhaps simply stating a fact that only family members could truly understand.
“But to outsiders…”
She stopped halfway, as if remembering something. Then she cautiously raised her eyes and quickly glanced at Lin Peiru.
There was a hint of worry in her gaze, as though she feared she had frightened this beautiful new housemate with what she had just said.
She quickly added, “But Sister Peiru, don’t worry. My brother… he just looks fierce. He usually doesn’t lose his temper at people for no reason. As long as they… don’t provoke him.”
Hearing this weak reassurance, Lin Peiru was practically overjoyed inside.
Yet on the surface, she flashed a sweet smile brighter than the sunshine and raised three fingers solemnly.
“I promise, I absolutely won’t provoke him!”
While she said this with her mouth, her heart was screaming wildly.
No way! Absolutely not!
In this life, she was going to provoke him.
She was going to relentlessly pursue him and stir up trouble until he could no longer bear to be apart from her!