Lin Xiaoxiao’s face turned red. “Mom!”
Mother Lin laughed and pinched Lin Xiaoxiao’s adorable little cheek.
“All right, all right. I won’t tease you anymore! Your brothers carried the hot water to your room. Go wash up—you’re covered in dust from moving today!”
Lin Xiaoxiao, who hadn’t lifted a finger, fled back to her room to escape her family’s teasing looks.
She patted her cheeks to quell her embarrassment, then quickly washed up.
Once she was done, she lay down on the kang the man had made up for her himself and pulled out the large stack of hundred-yuan notes from under her pillow.
Thinking about the man’s every word and deed, Lin Xiaoxiao suddenly pulled the quilt over her head and wriggled around beneath it.
Damn it! She’d lived two lifetimes! How had twenty-five-year-old Lu Ye managed to get her so flustered?
It was all because Lu Ye hid his true nature so well! It wasn’t that he was her type!
She slipped into her space and took stock of the villa’s supplies, inside and out. Only then did she manage to shake off her flustered, mortified mood.
Besides the vegetable garden, orchard, and animal sheds, there were two fifty-jin sacks of rice and two fifty-jin sacks of white flour in the villa’s kitchen.
Thinking of the space’s incredible ability to replenish its own supplies, Lin Xiaoxiao decided she would never have to worry about making a living again.
She tested it once more: things brought in from outside the space stayed fresh, but once taken out, they couldn’t be replenished.
From now on, the space could not only produce things, but also serve as a storage warehouse.
After thanking Heaven again, Lin Xiaoxiao left the space and drifted off to sleep.
In her dream, she was rolling around with her family on mountains of gold and silver.
Suddenly, a gorgeous man with an incredible physique scooped her up and did this and that to her…
“Xiaoxiao, Xiaoxiao, wake up. Xiaoye says things are chaotic at the old Lin family’s place today, so he wants you to spend the day at his house.”
Lin Xiaoxiao waved drowsily. “I’m done playing, I’m done playing. I can’t keep this up!”
“What nonsense are you talking, child? Get up. Xiaoye’s been here for a while already!”
Mother Lin pulled Lin Xiaoxiao upright, and she snapped awake.
Remembering the shameful second half of that dream, her face turned as red as a boiled shrimp.
Mother Lin touched her forehead, worried. “Why is your face so red? Did you catch a fever from falling in the water yesterday?”
“That’s strange. Your forehead isn’t hot.”
Lin Xiaoxiao awkwardly took Mother Lin’s hand.
“I’m fine, Mom. I just got too warm under the covers, hehe!”
Mother Lin didn’t suspect a thing. She told Lin Xiaoxiao, “Good. Get dressed and wash up. Xiaoye’s been here for over an hour.”
“He told me not to wake you and to let you rest. He’s been out in the yard, working on your family’s private plot with your father and brothers.”
“I felt too bad to leave you sleeping, so I came to wake you in secret.”
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded. “I know, Mom. I’ll get up right away. You go on with what you were doing.”
Once Mother Lin had gone out, Lin Xiaoxiao flopped back down and hid under the quilt again, punching and kicking it.
A quiet mutter came from beneath the covers. “Lin Xiaoxiao, you shameless pervert!”
It was half an hour later before Lin Xiaoxiao came out, all ready.
Lu Ye was swinging his arms as he helped the Lin family dig their private plot. In the northern February weather, which was still below fifteen degrees, sweat ran down the man’s face.
For some reason, in her previous life, seeing Qiao Jianguo come back from training drenched in sweat had only made Lin Xiaoxiao think he stank.
But seeing Lu Ye sweat, she couldn’t help picturing him pressing down on her in last night’s dream, sweat running down his face.
She hurriedly looked away, then cursed herself several more times.
After steadying her breathing, she fetched some warm water and called to Lu Ye, “Lu Ye, take a break and come wash up. Breakfast is ready.”
The Lin family didn’t usually eat breakfast, but Lin Xiaoxiao’s father had died of stomach cancer in her previous life.
The reason she’d taken so long to come out was that she’d been persuading her mother to make sure they ate three meals a day from now on. She’d even cited things she’d read to explain the dangers of not eating properly.
Though Mother Lin knew the family was short on food, she cared even more about everyone’s health, and Lin Xiaoxiao had convinced her.
They could earn more food, but they only had one body.
At Lin Xiaoxiao’s call, Lu Ye immediately set down his hoe and came over. He looked deeply at her peach-colored cheeks before taking the new towel from her.
His fingers brushed her palm by accident. Lin Xiaoxiao jerked her hand back as though she’d been burned.
Lu Ye paused and looked into her eyes. She was avoiding his gaze, embarrassed—not disgusted by him.
Relieved, Lu Ye’s lips curved into a smile. He scrubbed his face vigorously with a few loud huffs.
Lin Xiaoxiao stared at him in bafflement. She’d never seen anyone wash their face so ferociously.
After drying his face and hands, Lu Ye naturally took the little girl’s hand. She had drifted off into another daze.
“Come on. Weren’t we going to have breakfast? I’ll take the towel with me and bring you a new one tonight.”
Lin Xiaoxiao came back to herself and shook her head.
“No need. Leave it at my house. You come here so often that you’ll need one anyway. I specially asked Mom for one just for you.”
She looked up at Lu Ye expectantly.
Take that! She’d lived two lifetimes—there was no way some clueless young man could keep flustering her like this!
Lu Ye really did pause. The habitual coldness in his eyes, there for years, seemed to melt like ice into warmth.
But before Lin Xiaoxiao could enjoy her little victory, the man’s deep, amused voice reached her.
“Sure. When you come to our house today, pick out some toiletries you like, too. We have new ones. The sooner you choose, the sooner you can use them. From now on, you can decide what to do with everything in our home.”
Lin Xiaoxiao: …
She’d lost. Again!
After breakfast, Lu Ye took Lin Xiaoxiao with him.
Lin Pandi was getting married today. It wasn’t a match she’d won by any respectable means, so there was bound to be more chaos at home.
As one of the people involved, Lin Xiaoxiao might well be dragged into trouble again. Better to go to Lu Ye’s house and enjoy some peace and quiet.
It turned out Lu Ye had been remarkably farsighted.
After spending the night cooling off, Qiao Jianguo’s waterlogged brain had cleared. He flat-out refused to marry Lin Pandi, the woman who had schemed against him, and insisted on going ahead with his engagement to Lin Xiaoxiao.
Lin Pandi waited and waited, but Qiao Jianguo never came to fetch her.
When she learned that Qiao Jianguo was making a scene at home, Lin Pandi—who knew what was going through her head—actually ran to Lin Xiaoxiao’s house and knelt, begging her not to ruin her marriage.
She drew a crowd of onlookers, and some of the less clear-headed ones even blamed Lin Xiaoxiao.
Of course, Father Lin, Mother Lin, and her two brothers chased her away with brooms.
Mother Lin spat at Lin Pandi.
“Bah! You can’t keep a man’s heart, so you come blaming my daughter!”
“I’m telling you, my daughter and Lu Ye are engaged. She’s already spending time with him and building a relationship!”
“Who wants that crooked, misshapen Qiao family? Lu Ye offered six hundred in bride price. That’s nothing like certain families, who act like landlords granting charity when they give even a hundred!”
When the onlookers heard about Lu Ye’s bride price, they all sucked in a sharp breath.
Some were envious, some jealous, and some regretted not having found a way to bring Lu Ye into their own families.
But no one doubted anymore that Lin Xiaoxiao still had feelings for Qiao Jianguo.
Never mind the difference in looks between the two men—would anyone choose one hundred over six hundred?
The youngest daughter of Second Son Lin had graduated from high school. She surely wasn’t stupid!
The old Lin family, of course, acted as if they’d lost a fortune. Grandpa Lin shamelessly tried to get Lin Xiaoxiao’s bride price money.
For once, Father Lin stood up to Grandpa Lin, saying Lu Ye had only increased the bride price after the family split. It had nothing to do with the old Lin family.
Grandpa Lin tried to wriggle out of it, but the Old Party Secretary, who had witnessed the family split, stepped in to support Father Lin. Grandpa Lin could only leave in a disgruntled, regretful huff.
Lin Pandi had wanted to humiliate Lin Xiaoxiao and use her to force the marriage. But Lu Ye’s exorbitant bride price left her reeling.
Only then did she suddenly remember that, in her previous life, Lu Ye had left behind a fortune when he died. She regretted pushing him toward Lin Xiaoxiao.
She should have thought up a way to keep both men for herself. She shouldn’t have let Lin Xiaoxiao get the better of her!