The passing villagers widened their eyes in astonishment: “Mianmian, you… you’re alright now?”
Tang Ximian smiled and nodded: “I’m fine! My mind is clear now!”
“Ah! It’s good to live peacefully!”
“Yes, Uncle!”
Chu Jiangchuan rarely showed a hint of a smile.
When they reached the field, Xu Guangfen had already harvested half a row.
Next to it was Xia Wenbo’s family’s land, and further over… whose family was next to that?
For some reason, Tang Ximian instinctively felt she had overlooked something.
What was it?
“Mianmian, you’re here.” Xia Wenbo’s voice was gentle, but to Tang Ximian’s ears, it was no different from those male escorts in nightclubs from her past life!
Her face turned cold: “Xia Wenbo, please call me sister-in-law next time! No matter what, Jiangchuan is a year older than you. Have you shown respect to your elders?”
The Xia family members were stunned, and Xia Wenbo looked as if he had been struck by lightning.
“Mianmian, you… what’s wrong with you? What’s going on? Weren’t we…”
“You and I just live in the same village! What are you thinking? I was confused before, but now my mind is clear. From now on, we have no relationship whatsoever!”
After saying this, she turned around, already wearing a smile: “Jiangchuan, you take your time bundling the wheat. I’ll do the cutting!”
Swish, swish, swish!
She was actually quite nimble with her hands and feet, and having done many things alone since childhood, she was quite strong too.
In fact, it didn’t take long for her to surpass Xu Guangfen.
Sweat trickled down her neck into her clothes. After finishing the current row, Tang Ximian looked up at Chu Jiangchuan bundling wheat and gathering wheat ears in the distance, and smiled: “Jiangchuan! No need to rush!”
The sweat sticking to her body wasn’t comfortable, but it made her feel incredibly real!
“Take it easy too.” Chu Jiangchuan’s voice carried a faint joy.
Although he didn’t know why she had changed, he was just glad she could stay!
Fang Juan, who had come to the field to work carrying water, was completely dumbfounded.
Since when did Tang Ximian come to work in the fields?
And she was smiling… smiling at Chu Jiangchuan!
This was unbelievable!
“Mianmian!” Fang Juan called out: “What are you doing in the field?”
This is…
Tang Ximian looked up for a moment, then suddenly understood: “Fang Juan? I’ve come to my senses after dying once! I don’t want anything else anymore, I just want to live steadily with Jiangchuan!”
So that’s whose family’s land was next door!
Fang Juan, her good friend from her previous life, was the one who had persuaded her to pursue free love. In reality, after she left, Fang Juan had tried to seduce Chu Jiangchuan, but he broke her left arm, and she never dared to misbehave again.
Hah… this plastic sisterhood couldn’t even be called plastic—it was foam!
Fang Juan looked utterly shocked.
Chu Jiangchuan looked up at her, his gaze sending a chill down Fang Juan’s spine.
Did he like this woman so much? Couldn’t he stand anyone saying a word against her?!
What should she do now? Why was everything so different from her previous life!
After harvesting a large area, Tang Ximian was thirsty and exhausted. She directly sat down next to Chu Jiangchuan to drink water, pulling Xu Guangfen over too: “Mom, we can’t finish all the work in one day! We can manage these two acres if we put in effort, but we mustn’t exhaust ourselves!”
Seeing her work diligently, Xu Guangfen didn’t say anything negative, only advising: “Drink more water. You haven’t done this before, don’t overwork yourself!”
Chu Jiangchuan took out a handkerchief and handed it over: “Wipe your sweat.”
Tang Ximian took it, her eyes reddening: “You still kept it…”
Chu Jiangchuan remained silent.
When Tang Ximian returned the handkerchief to him, her little finger lightly scratched his palm.
This lifetime, I’ll take the initiative and become a doting wife!
Chu Jiangchuan’s hand trembled, recalling how she had kissed him in the kitchen, and his face instantly flushed red.
Tang Ximian smiled gently before turning back to continue working.
Of the two mu of land, only one mu remained, which would likely be finished by this afternoon.
Xia Wenbo watched Tang Ximian’s busy figure, completely baffled by her drastic change.
Hadn’t she always been chasing after him before?
What was going on now?
What exactly had happened?
Not just him, everyone who saw Tang Ximian today felt like they were dreaming.
Had that Tang Ximian—the one who constantly threatened to leave, chased after the Xia family’s eldest son, and talked about divorce—really changed? Was she ready to settle down and live properly?
Chu Jiangchuan carried the wheat on his back, slowly making his way toward the roadside.
His leg still ached faintly, and though his steps were slow, they were steady.
Suddenly, the weight on his back lightened. As Chu Jiangchuan turned to look, he heard Tang Ximian’s voice behind him: “Let’s go, I’ll come with you!”
I’ll come with you!
Chu Jiangchuan couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth curl upward.
After bundling the wheat onto the cart, Chu Jiangchuan poured a bowl of water for Tang Ximian: “Have some water.”
Tang Ximian gave him a grimy but radiant smile: “We must have about three hundred jin from this one mu, right? Not a great harvest!”
“Yeah, we only have one well here, and there’s more land than wells!”
As they pushed the cart back, Tang Ximian said, “Actually, that’s not entirely it. We just don’t use much fertilizer throughout the year!”
Chu Jiangchuan wondered if she had learned all this from high school and nodded: “True, a bag of fertilizer costs over thirty yuan—it’s really hard to justify!”
“We plant about five mu of crops in total. We harvest over a thousand jin of wheat and about two thousand jin of corn, and that’s considered a good year! But grain sells for so little. If we didn’t also grow sweet potatoes and have vegetables in the yard, we’d starve, wouldn’t we?”
Tang Ximian couldn’t help but sigh.
If this were decades later, one mu alone could yield a thousand jin!
Ah…
“Don’t worry, we won’t starve.” Seeing her fall silent, Chu Jiangchuan comforted her.
Tang Ximian nodded: “I know!”
But I’m still thinking about how we can eat better while having enough to fill our stomachs!
Chu Jiangchuan knew she wouldn’t run away now, but he still couldn’t help glancing at her frequently.
She was the prettiest girl in the village. When she was just seventeen, some had wanted to arrange a marriage, but in the blink of an eye, she was already his.
When they returned home, they quickly unloaded the harvest.
At this time, most households kept their yards clean specifically for storing wheat.
The weather had been relatively good these past couple of days, so they needed to hurry and dry the wheat.
After drinking a few sips of water inside, Tang Ximian carried the dipper out to bring water to Chu Jiangchuan but ended up bumping right into him.
“Ouch!”
Water splashed all over Tang Ximian as she exclaimed.
Her light yellow floral-print blouse became slightly transparent, faintly revealing the clothes underneath.
Chu Jiangchuan spun around abruptly: “Um…”
“No need to rush! I was just bringing water out for you! Let me wipe this off—you go outside!” Tang Ximian’s voice didn’t sound angry at all.
In fact… Chu Jiangchuan detected a hint of coquettishness in her tone.
His face burned uncontrollably, and he turned and hurried away, followed by Tang Ximian’s teasing laughter.
After that little episode, the distance between them seemed to have narrowed somewhat.
By the time lanterns were lit in the evening, the two acres of land were completely finished.
While working had felt natural, when it came to sleeping at night, both Chu Jiangchuan and Tang Ximian grew tense.
Were they… going to sleep together?