After washing up, Qiao Qingyan slept with Duoduo, while Xiao Jinye returned to the inner room where he had always slept.
The night was utterly still, so quiet it almost seemed as though he could hear the steady, gentle breathing from the room next door.
Xiao Jinye couldn’t fall asleep.
With one arm tucked beneath his head, he stared at the pitch-black ceiling, his thoughts churning.
Everything that had happened today felt like a dream. His heart simply refused to settle.
A strange heat spread through his body.
He had always been a man of restraint, accustomed to suppressing his desires. He knew the woman he had secretly admired was like the moon and stars in the distant sky—someone forever beyond his reach, someone he didn’t even dare dream of possessing.
But now Qiao Qingyan had suddenly stepped into his life like a blazing fire, igniting feelings he had buried for years.
The moment he closed his eyes, images of her kept appearing before him—her fair, silky arms, her softly parted crimson lips, and the graceful curves of her figure.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t chase them away.
In the room on the other side of the wall, Qiao Qingyan was just as restless.
Having such a large man sleeping next door inevitably made her feel a little uneasy.
Then she reminded herself that Xiao Jinye was someone she could trust.
After all, he already had another girl in his heart. To him, she probably wasn’t attractive in the slightest.
Thinking back to how she’d impulsively called him a shameless hooligan earlier, guilt welled up inside her.
He hadn’t been trying to spy on her. He’d only happened to walk in by accident.
She really had overreacted.
Just as her thoughts wandered, the curtain separating the rooms was suddenly pulled aside.
Qiao Qingyan looked up from the kang and saw Xiao Jinye standing there.
Her heart skipped a beat.
“What are you doing?” she asked softly.
“Going to pee.”
Under the dim moonlight, Xiao Jinye glanced at her before walking straight through the room and heading outside.
His room had no separate exit, so he always had to pass through her room to get into the courtyard.
“Going to pee?”
How could he say something so crude?
Having grown up in the city, Qiao Qingyan blushed instantly at the man’s blunt, rough choice of words.
The night was so quiet that even the faint sound from outside the courtyard wall drifted clearly into her ears.
Embarrassed beyond words, she hurriedly pulled the thin blanket over her face, too mortified to listen any longer.
Only long after Xiao Jinye returned did she finally drift off to sleep.
As for Xiao Jinye, he didn’t manage to fall asleep until well past midnight.
Then he dreamed.
In the dream, everything was hazy and tender.
Qiao Qingyan lay softly against him, her skin smooth as jade. Her soft, delicate body pressed tightly against his broad chest as she rubbed against him like an enchantress, driving him nearly beyond his control.
Just as he instinctively wrapped an arm around her slender waist—
Cock-a-doodle-doo!
A rooster’s crow shattered the night and yanked him violently out of his dream.
Looking down…
His little brother was standing at full attention.
“…Damn.”
He cursed under his breath, threw off the blanket, and got out of bed.
Since he couldn’t sleep anyway, he might as well get moving.
He still had to head into town today to sell the game he’d hunted.
After getting up, he cooked a pot of corn porridge.
Since he couldn’t cook proper dishes, he simply reheated several steamed buns and put out a few salted duck eggs, figuring his wife, mother, and little sister could eat as soon as they woke up.
The morning sky was gloomy, with heavy clouds hanging low overhead.
A chilly gust of wind suddenly swept through the courtyard, sending the clothes Qiao Qingyan had hung out yesterday fluttering wildly.
After finishing breakfast preparations, Xiao Jinye stepped out of the kitchen just in time to see several garments blown onto the ground.
He hurried over, picking them up one by one and dusting off the dirt.
Then his eyes landed on a white undergarment embroidered with tiny flowers.
Silently, he bent down, picked it up, and brushed away the dust.
It carried a faint, pleasant fragrance.
What did she use to wash her clothes?
Lost in thought, he unconsciously lifted it, about to bring it closer to smell—
Just then, Qiao Qingyan walked out of the house, yawning.
“You’re up so ear—”
Her voice stopped abruptly.
Her eyes locked onto the garment clutched in his rough hand.
She froze.
Then her face instantly turned scarlet.
“Xiao Jinye! What are you doing?”
The man looked at her calmly and gave the item in his hand a little shake.
“Your bra fell down. I picked it up for you.”
Bra.
Qiao Qingyan felt as if she were cracking apart from embarrassment.
Mortified and flustered, she hurried over, snatched her bra from his hand, and muttered with a red face,
“I can do it myself. Thank you.”
She quickly gathered all the remaining clothes from the clothesline and rushed back inside.
While folding laundry on the kang, she silently complained.
“Going to pee.”
“Bra.”
How could he say words like that so openly, without the slightest embarrassment?
Did he have no sense of shame?
Not long afterward, Duoduo woke up.
Qiao Qingyan helped her get dressed, and the little girl happily hopped off to play.
Zeng Yumei was still asleep.
Xiao Jinye quietly checked on his mother. Seeing her breathing steadily in deep sleep, he finally relaxed, gently closed the door, and came back out.
He ladled three bowls of corn porridge onto the table.
After Qiao Qingyan tied Duoduo’s little bib, the three of them quietly began eating breakfast.
Qiao Qingyan was absentminded, stirring her porridge with her chopsticks.
After hesitating for a long time, she finally spoke.
“Xiao Jinye.”
The man across from her set down his bowl.
“What is it, Wife?”
“You… could you speak a little more politely from now on?”
He looked puzzled.
How was he being impolite?
She lowered her voice.
“For example… last night, instead of saying ‘going to pee,’ you could’ve said you were… relieving yourself. And… and don’t say things like… ‘bra’ so bluntly. It sounds so crude.”
Xiao Jinye paused, his thick brows knitting together.
Going to pee is going to pee.
Why call it relieving yourself? When I pee, I certainly can’t let go with my hands.
And a bra is a bra.
If it holds your breasts, what else would you call it?
His wife really was interesting.
Simple, straightforward words…
Yet city people insisted on making everything sound so roundabout.
Though he thought so privately, he didn’t argue.
Instead, he simply nodded.
“Got it, Wife.”
Qiao Qingyan wanted to tell him that when no one else was around, he didn’t have to keep calling her “Wife.”
But before she could say anything, Duoduo held up her empty bowl.
“Big Brother… more rice…”
Xiao Jinye immediately stood up and went to the kitchen to refill her bowl.
The interruption ended the conversation there.
After sitting back down, Xiao Jinye said,
“I’m heading into town later to sell the game and mountain goods.”
“Will you be back for lunch?” Qiao Qingyan asked.
She was thinking that since Zeng Yumei still hadn’t woken up, if Xiao Jinye didn’t return, she’d only need to cook for three people.
“Not sure.”
“Oh…”
“My mother doesn’t know when she’ll wake up. I’ll have to trouble you to watch Duoduo.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of her.”
“Do you need me to bring anything back from town?”
“No.”
After breakfast, Qiao Qingyan started gathering the dishes to wash them, but Xiao Jinye beat her to it.
He carried everything into the kitchen and quickly washed and put them away.
Then he filled two buckets with water and left them in the kitchen so neither Qingyan nor his mother would have to carry water themselves.
After that, he fed the chicks and ducklings in the yard.
When he finished, he went back into his room.
A moment later, he came out holding a fifty-yuan note and handed it to Qiao Qingyan.
She looked at him in confusion.
“If I can’t make it back by noon,” he explained, “take everyone to a restaurant for lunch. Don’t bother cooking.”
She gently pushed his hand away.
“There’s no need. I can cook.”
Besides, even if they ate out, it wouldn’t cost fifty yuan.
Why was he acting like such a rich man?
Xiao Jinye looked at her soft, delicate hands and remained skeptical about her claim that she could cook.
Seeing that she refused to accept the money, he simply placed it on the table.
“Listen to me. Don’t waste your time lighting the stove. Just eat out.”
Just then, the ringing of a bicycle bell came from outside the courtyard.
Fang Zhijie stopped his bicycle at the gate and called loudly,
“Jinye! Ready yet? When are we leaving?”
Xiao Jinye walked out of the house.
“Right now.”
Seeing that a guest had arrived, Qiao Qingyan followed him outside.
“Holy…!”
The moment Fang Zhijie saw her, his eyes nearly popped out.
“Who… who’s this?”
“My wife,” Xiao Jinye answered naturally.
Then he turned to Qiao Qingyan.
“This is my childhood friend, Fang Zhijie.”
At the same time, he shot Fang Zhijie a meaningful look, silently warning him not to say anything inappropriate.
Standing quietly by the doorway, Qiao Qingyan gave a gentle nod.
“Hello.”
Fang Zhijie remained utterly dumbfounded, staring at her with eyes as round as saucers.
Xiao Jinye packed all the game and mountain goods he’d collected into burlap sacks.
After everything was ready, he looked at Qiao Qingyan and said softly,
“I’m leaving.”
She nodded lightly.
“Mm.”
With practiced ease, Xiao Jinye hoisted the heavy sack onto his shoulder.
As he walked past Fang Zhijie, he grabbed his friend’s head with one large hand and physically turned it away from Qiao Qingyan.
“Let’s go.”