She also believed that only she deserved to be Jiang Chengbei’s wife.
In reality, however, Ning Xi was about to marry Jiang Chengbei.
And she herself could only marry a twice-divorced, old bachelor. The thought of having children with an old man made her chest tighten with anxiety.
“Ugh… my life is ruined.”
Jiang Yanyan, filled with righteous indignation, clenched her fists, refusing to let Cao Xinrou simply accept her fate.
“Xinrou, you have to fight for it! Love is something you have to take the initiative to seize!”
Cao Xinrou’s eyes flickered as she looked at Jiang Yanyan, tears streaming down her face as she shook her head.
“How could a girl like me do that? What if Chengbei doesn’t recognize it? Even if he were willing to give up Ning Xi and take the blame for being ungrateful to marry me, he would still have reservations and wouldn’t treat me well.”
“He wouldn’t dare!”
Half her brain turned to mush, and Jiang Yanyan instantly got angry upon hearing this.
“Xinrou, don’t worry about it. I’ll treat you as my sister-in-law. I’ll stand up for you; you just focus on being the bride!”
“Just don’t push your brother too hard.”
“I know. We have to start with Ning Xi make her withdraw on her own.”
Cao Xinrou smiled secretly. This Jiang Yanyan wasn’t completely foolish.
Feeling like the smartest person in the world, Jiang Yanyan took all the letters home and spent the night devising a meticulous plan. Within a couple of days, while Jiang Chengbei was away chopping wood in the mountains, she confronted Ning Xi directly.
“Go tell my second brother that this marriage is off.”
Ning Xi looked at Jiang Yanyan as if she were a fool.
“Are you completely brainless? Or is your head just full of pig dung?”
Scolded again, Jiang Yanyan’s face darkened, but thinking that Ning Xi would soon be out of her house cheered her up immediately. She threw the letters at her with a triumphant smile.
“Read these yourself.”
“These are love letters my second brother wrote to Xinrou. They are in love with each other. You should withdraw early and leave our house.”
Love letters?
Written by Jiang Chengbei to Cao Xinrou?
Honestly, Ning Xi didn’t believe it.
This part didn’t appear in the novel.
She picked up the letters and flipped through them casually. The content did have a hint of intimacy. In the modern era, it might be nothing, but in the 1970s, such letters were certainly not ordinary correspondence.
Seeing Ning Xi remain silent, Jiang Yanyan’s pride became impossible to hide.
“Now do you believe me? Since you accidentally played the role of a third party breaking them up, if you withdraw from my second brother, Xinrou will forgive you. If you don’t know your place, then you’re just shameless!”
“Are you done talking?”
Ning Xi coldly glared at Jiang Yanyan, pointing to the door. Expressionless, she said, “If you’re done, get out.”
“You—!”
Jiang Yanyan was furious. She stared at Ning Xi, trying to see a hint of jealousy or anger on her face, but Ning Xi wasn’t angry at all. Instead, she got scolded again.
Stomping her foot, she launched her final move.
“These are my second brother’s school exercise books. You can compare the handwriting yourself. I have no reason to lie to you. If you stubbornly try to marry him, you’ll regret it!”
Ning Xi’s face remained cold.
“The one who should cry is you, Jiang Yanyan. I’ll verify the letters with your brother. If I find out you meddled, you’ll get a good spanking.”
Hearing this, Jiang Yanyan shrank back.
But thinking of Cao Xinrou crying in pain, she wasn’t afraid anymore.
She was upholding justice, doing good deeds. That was correct.
After Jiang Yanyan left, Ning Xi closed the door and read through the stack of letters from start to finish. The more she read, the more uneasy she felt.
If these letters were really written by Jiang Chengbei to Cao Xinrou, then he was a man who toyed with women’s emotions.
But she still had reason.
The handwriting matched the exercise books, but that alone didn’t prove Jiang Chengbei wrote them handwriting could be imitated.
It was possible that Cao Xinrou staged the whole thing herself.
To marry Jiang Chengbei, she would stop at nothing.
Rationally, Ning Xi told herself to trust Jiang Chengbei, but in reality, whenever she saw him, she still acted out.
She refused to look at him, ignored him, pretending he didn’t exist.
Completely ignoring him.
Jiang Chengbei was baffled, panic rising in his chest.
She got mad just because he went out to chop wood?
He tried to recall carefully. She had smiled at him warmly and reminded him to be safe. In the past two days, he hadn’t done anything to upset her…
Then why?
Suddenly ignoring him?
Or was it her family that upset her?
The usually calm and composed Captain Jiang looked utterly confused. He put down the wood, washed his hands, and idly lingered in the yard. The more he did that, the angrier Ning Xi became.
Good.
She must feel guilty.
Look at her, only sneaking glances, not daring to meet his eyes.
Hah, men are all big pigs!
She decided that out of sight is out of mind, turned back into the house, and even took Xiaoyu with her obviously leaving Jiang Chengbei no chance to get close.
Jiang Chengbei felt bitter.
No wonder those who had been married in the army said a woman’s heart was like the bottom of the sea impossible to gauge.
Standing resignedly in the yard for a while, he couldn’t take it anymore. He bit the bullet and pushed the door open to get a clear answer.
A minute later…
“Knock knock knock.”
The door knocked, accompanied by the man softening his voice deliberately.
“Ning Xi, Xiaoyu, do you want some water?”
Jiang Xiaoyu leaned on the windowsill, looking outside, then back at Ning Xi.
“It’s my second uncle.”
Some things needed to be said clearly. Pouting wouldn’t solve anything.
By now, Ning Xi had thought it through.
She couldn’t blindly trust Jiang Chengbei just because she had read a novel. There could be hidden circumstances not written in the story. As for the letters, if he did write them, he would admit it. If not, then they would marry and live their lives properly.
If it really was him, worst case, they’d just break apart.
“Xiaoyu, go open the door and let him in.”
The door creaked open.
Xiaoyu tilted her head, scrutinizing Jiang Chengbei carefully.
“Uncle, why did you talk outside in such a weird voice, like the wolf grandmother in the story?”
Jiang Chengbei: “…”
He didn’t deny it, but patted Xiaoyu’s soft head and looked up at Ning Xi. Thinking that if he admitted his fault, she probably wouldn’t nitpick, he lowered his voice several tones gentle, deep, and coaxing.
Truly no different from the wolf grandmother.
“Xixi, I’m careless and blunt, and sometimes my thoughts aren’t as detailed as yours. If I do something that makes you unhappy, just tell me.”
He paused, then added,
“You can scold me or hit me, just don’t… ignore me.”
The last three words carried a hint of grievance that Ning Xi couldn’t ignore.
The tall man in front of her was looking at her carefully, and she began to doubt herself maybe she had acted unreasonably, gone too far.
“Y-you… speak properly.”
Goosebumps ran down her arms.
Xiaoyu reached up and lightly scraped her face. “Shy face? Uncle, are you being spoiled with Sister Ning?”
Spoiled? A little.
Jiang Chengbei paid more attention to the flaw in Xiaoyu’s words.
“Little one, you call me second uncle, but you call Ning Xi sister. Doesn’t that seem off?”
“Off? You’re old, and Ning sister is young. Of course she’s sister.”
Jiang Chengbei: “…”
Heartbroken.
Seeing Ning Xi remain silent, he assumed she really minded that he was six years older. Makes sense he had been running around the village while she was just born. His tone unconsciously carried some sourness.
“I am indeed older than you, Ning Xi.”
Why did that make him sound even more aggrieved?
Ning Xi didn’t know what came over her. She blurted out something shocking:
“Uncle, you’re even better at taking care of people. And… you’re not old at all. You’re strong.”
“Strong?”
“Full of strength, everywhere.”
After speaking, both fell silent.
They both unconsciously recalled the intimacy in the straw hut that day.
The atmosphere became inexplicably different.
Ning Xi cleared her throat awkwardly, sent Xiaoyu out to play, and then took out the letters, handing them to Jiang Chengbei.
“Look. Jiang Yanyan said these are love letters you wrote to Cao Xinrou.”