Qiao Wanyue…
The man quickly pulled Zhou Wenwen out of the water. But her clothes had been torn by water weeds, and when he carried her up, her body had been completely exposed. He took off his own clothes and wrapped them around her.
“Comrade, don’t do anything foolish.”
Zhou Wenwen covered her face and cried. “Wuwuwu… I have no face to live anymore. I’m sorry, comrade—just let me die. No one will marry me now, and I can’t disgrace you either. Don’t stop me.”
As she spoke, she tried to jump back into the river.
The man panicked.
He was clumsy with words and didn’t know what to say.
Someone nearby said, “Comrade, it’s not like that. Everyone knows you fell into the river by accident. This comrade saved you—no one will say anything.”
The speaker was a young girl.
Zhou Wenwen shot her a sharp glare.
Mind your own business.
She continued crying. More and more people gathered. Some who didn’t know the situation began pointing and whispering, saying Zhou Wenwen was shameless—her body had been seen by a man, so she might as well die.
The man understood.
“Miss, I’ll marry you.”
Just as Qiao Wanyue stepped into the crowd, she heard those words.
Her legs went weak.
The man crouched in front of Zhou Wenwen. “Don’t worry. I’ll go home and ask my mother to propose marriage to your family.”
“My name is Yang Dazhuang, from Xiaohe Village.”
Zhou Wenwen lowered her head, clutching the clothes around her, then ran off. “Qiao Brigade, Zhou family.”
She left.
Watching her retreating figure, a smile curled on Yang Dazhuang’s lips.
With the main person gone, the crowd gradually dispersed.
“Yang Dazhuang.” Qiao Wanyue called out to him before he could leave.
He turned and, upon seeing her, a look of delight flashed across his face.
“Wanyue, what are you doing here? I heard you’re about to marry into the Yang family.”
Qiao Wanyue replied, “Not anymore. I’m marrying into the Lu family.”
Yang Dazhuang smiled shyly. “I’m also going to marry a girl from your brigade. Then we’ll be even closer.”
Qiao Wanyue almost wanted to crack his head open.
Couldn’t he see such an obvious scheme?
They had been elementary school classmates. Qiao Wanyue dropped out because her family couldn’t afford it.
As for Yang Dazhuang, he simply wasn’t good at studying. He couldn’t even calculate one plus one clearly and was dismissed by the teacher.
“Do you know her?”
Qiao Wanyue didn’t want Yang Dazhuang to be ruined by Zhou Wenwen.
Yang Dazhuang grinned. “I do now.”
“I touched her body, so she has to marry me,” he said matter-of-factly.
Qiao Wanyue: …
“She’s pregnant. You still want to marry her?”
Yang Dazhuang’s eyes widened. “What did you say? She’s pregnant? Then I definitely have to marry her.” He scratched his head and immediately turned to run. “Wanyue, I’ll go home to get the bride price from my mom. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Stop.” Qiao Wanyue shouted sternly.
He froze, staring at her blankly.
“I was joking. I mean—you don’t even know her, and you’re already planning to marry her. Shouldn’t you go home and discuss it with your mother first before deciding?”
Qiao Wanyue gave up telling him the truth.
Yang Dazhuang thought for a moment.
“My mom will agree. She said as long as I find someone who knows to run home when it rains, that’s enough.” He smiled happily.
Qiao Wanyue: …
How could she forget? His mother was even more outrageous than him.
A truly unconventional thinker.
To put it simply—she couldn’t understand reason.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so easily fooled by Zhou Wenwen.
“Go talk to your grandmother,” Qiao Wanyue said, placing her hopes on the only sensible elder. If she remembered correctly, the old lady had been angered to death by Zhou Wenwen on the very day she entered the family.
“Wanyue, is there something wrong with her?” Yang Dazhuang might be slow, but he wasn’t stupid.
Qiao Wanyue pursed her lips. “She used to target me. She likes my sister’s husband.”
“She likes Lu Yunzhou?” Yang Dazhuang didn’t understand.
Qiao Wanyue explained clearly, “Qiao Shanshan and I swapped marriages. Yang Huaiyuan and Qiao Shanshan have already registered. Zhou Wenwen just reported them for improper relations. If you don’t believe me, go to the police station—they’re still there.”
Yang Dazhuang scratched his head. “That’s fine. Yang Huaiyuan is already married. If I marry her, she’ll belong to me. Who she liked before doesn’t matter—she’ll be my woman.”
He looked delighted.
His grandmother always worried he’d never find a wife.
Now hadn’t he found one?
Qiao Wanyue felt a headache coming on. Doing a good deed was harder than expected.
“Just make sure to tell your grandmother everything,” she said.
She gave up trying to reason with him. No matter what she said, he would argue back.
It had been the same in her previous life. She once advised him not to listen to Zhou Wenwen too much, but he repeated her words to Zhou Wenwen. Zhou Wenwen threw a tantrum and threatened suicide, and the Yang family accused Qiao Wanyue of stirring trouble.
Better to say less.
Now, she had no proof that the child Zhou Wenwen carried belonged to Yang Huaiyuan. If Zhou Wenwen turned the tables on her, she would be the one to suffer.
So Qiao Wanyue chose silence.
They parted ways.
But at the entrance of the police station, she unexpectedly saw Yang Dazhuang again.
Coincidentally, Zhou Wenwen was there too. She was wearing Yang Dazhuang’s jacket. Standing beside her were Qiao Shanshan and Yang Huaiyuan.
Zhou Wenwen signed the bail document for Yang Huaiyuan and was lectured by the police—if they wanted intimacy, they should do it at home, not in public.
Qiao Shanshan was furious.
She shot Zhou Wenwen a glare.
It was all her fault.
But Zhou Wenwen had seen everything and knew she had been detained. If she fell out with her now, who knew what Zhou Wenwen might say? How would she remain in the village?
Qiao Shanshan bit her lip and swallowed her anger.
Zhou Wenwen, afraid Yang Huaiyuan would blame her, followed behind them meekly like a quail.
“Dazhuang, what are you doing here?” Yang Huaiyuan asked.
Yang Dazhuang narrowed his eyes. “You know Zhou Wenwen?”
Qiao Wanyue’s earlier words flashed through his mind.
Yang Huaiyuan nodded. “We’re classmates. She and Shanshan are good friends. Something happened, so she came to bail us out. Why are you here?” He didn’t connect Zhou Wenwen with Yang Dazhuang at all.
Zhou Wenwen looked down on him.
Zhou Wenwen spoke first. “He’s my future husband.”
Yang Dazhuang had thought she wouldn’t admit it.
Hearing her words, his sense of satisfaction reached its peak.
People always said he was stupid and would never find a wife.
But now, a girl had publicly declared she was his future husband.
Yang Dazhuang grinned widely, almost ear to ear.
“You should go home first. Marriage requires both families’ approval,” Zhou Wenwen said to him.
Yang Dazhuang completely forgot Qiao Wanyue’s warning and ran off immediately.
Watching his eager retreating figure,
Zhou Wenwen curled her lips in mockery.
Yang Huaiyuan frowned. “You’re going to marry him?”
Zhou Wenwen lowered her head, her voice so soft he couldn’t hear. “You won’t marry me, so why does it matter who I marry?”
“What?”
Zhou Wenwen raised her head again. “Nothing.”
“We’ll be sisters-in-law in the future. Aren’t you happy, Shanshan?” Zhou Wenwen hooked her arm around Qiao Shanshan’s, her nails digging into her flesh as she hid the disappointment on her face.