“Yinyin, Brother Meng and I only happened to run into each other, so we walked together for a while. He’s really amazing. I just arrived and there are so many things I don’t understand, but whenever I ask him, he knows the answer…”
Zhu Wanqin stepped forward with a smile. She even reached out as if she wanted to hold Lin Miaoyin’s hand to show her friendliness.
Lin Miaoyin immediately pulled her hand behind her back and raised an eyebrow. Without caring about Zhu Wanqin’s awkward expression, she said, “I just grabbed some chicken manure. You’d better not touch me.”
Zhu Wanqin: “…”
Awkwardly, she withdrew her hand and turned her attention to the man driving the cart, smiling as she greeted him.
The cart driver had never spoken to such a young and beautiful city girl before. When he saw her fair, delicate hand reaching toward him, he became so nervous that he did not know what to do with himself. He hurriedly rubbed his hand hard against his clothes before blushing and shaking Zhu Wanqin’s hand.
“Hello, Comrade. Thank you for helping us carry our luggage yesterday. I still remember your name. You’re Wang Jiefang, right?” Zhu Wanqin said with a smile as she pulled her hand back.
Wang Jiefang became even more excited. His face turned bright red, and he had no idea what to say. He could only scratch his head and smile foolishly, completely missing the faint look of disgust Zhu Wanqin tried to hide.
Meanwhile, Lin Miaoyin was examining the things Meng Yuanzheng was carrying. Everything was wrapped in cloth, so she could not see what was inside. Her expression darkened.
“What are you carrying?”
“I’ll tell you when we get home,” Meng Yuanzheng replied.
Lin Miaoyin looked at him, then at the packages.
“You’re not planning to give them to someone else, are you?”
Meng Yuanzheng looked confused.
“No.”
If he was not buying these things for someone else and was bringing them home, then at least she could enjoy some of them too.
Lin Miaoyin felt a little better, but she still said unhappily, “Get on the cart. We’re going home! Look at you. You got beaten up yesterday, and today you’re already out showing off again. Didn’t you go to the clinic this morning?”
“The doctor said it wasn’t serious. He gave me some ointment for the bruises, so I came back,” Meng Yuanzheng answered obediently.
“Came back? Came back from where? Did you go back to the commune? Have you forgotten the way home?”
Lin Miaoyin held back her anger.
This man had obviously gone to the black market, and now he had even walked back with Zhu Wanqin. Anyone who saw them would probably think they were dating.
First, he was a married man. Keeping his distance from other women was the most basic thing he should do.
Second, the more time he spent with the female lead, the greater the chance that he would fall for her. Wouldn’t that just lead them back to the original ending?
She wanted to divorce him, but judging from the current situation, divorce was impossible for now. She could only make do with their marriage.
If he went around flirting with other women, outsiders would only laugh at her.
Since she could not divorce him and he had conveniently forgotten what happened before, the right thing to do was to keep him away from the female lead and change the original ending.
But this man was something else. She had warned him just yesterday to stay away from Zhu Wanqin, yet within a few hours, he had gone right back to her.
“Yinyin, don’t blame him. If you want to scold someone, scold me instead.”
Zhu Wanqin walked over and stood in front of Meng Yuanzheng.
Lin Miaoyin decided that she absolutely could not be nice to Zhu Wanqin. Cutting ties with her and avoiding contact was the best choice.
“Why should an outsider care if I scold my own husband?”
She shot Zhu Wanqin a sideways glance. She ignored Zhu Wanqin’s surprised and hurt expression and patted the side of the ox cart.
Her tone was full of warning.
“Meng Yuanzheng? Hmm?”
Zhu Wanqin had expected Meng Yuanzheng to argue with Lin Miaoyin in front of everyone.
Instead, Meng Yuanzheng obediently placed the things onto the cart, then pushed himself up and sat down.
Zhu Wanqin was stunned.
Those things… weren’t they supposed to be for her?
She had always thought Meng Yuanzheng would walk her home and give the things to her. Yet the moment Lin Miaoyin appeared, everything had been taken away.
She looked at Meng Yuanzheng, but he did not even look at her.
Instead, she heard Lin Miaoyin’s deliberately sweet voice.
“Oh, look at this. The cart already has the brigade’s things and the two of us, so there’s no room left. Sorry, Comrade Zhu, but I guess you’ll have to walk home.”
Zhu Wanqin’s smile froze on her face as she watched the ox cart creak farther and farther away.
She clenched her fists, unable to understand what had happened.
Lin Miaoyin was still the same rude and uncivilized woman.
But Meng Yuanzheng was no longer the man who had eyes only for her and would rush over to please her whenever he saw her.
What exactly had gone wrong?
The ox cart stopped by the roadside.
The two of them got off, and Meng Yuanzheng automatically carried the packages and followed Lin Miaoyin into the house.
Lin Miaoyin tossed the key onto the table and sat down.
When she saw Meng Yuanzheng standing by the door like a little wife waiting to be scolded, she almost laughed. She quickly held it back and put on a fierce expression.
“Why are you standing there? Come in.”
Meng Yuanzheng carried the packages over and placed them on the table before standing in front of her.
She glanced at the stool across from her.
“Sit down.”
He obediently went over and sat down.
“Now tell me. Where did you buy these things?”
“At the supply cooperative.”
“Stop lying. I went to the supply cooperative this morning. There was barely anything left, and I didn’t see you there. Besides, you don’t have ration coupons. How did you buy all this?”
“…”
Seeing him remain silent, Lin Miaoyin gave a cold laugh. She stood up and impatiently untied the cloth wrapping.
“Fine. Let me see what you bought.”
There was a large piece of pork belly, a packet of seasonings, a package of eggs carefully wrapped in several layers of soft cloth, and a large bag of flour.
Even though Lin Miaoyin was from the modern era, she was shocked by the sight.
If they had bought all these things with ration coupons, they would probably have spent several months’ worth of a family’s income.
She hurried over to close the courtyard gate before returning and pointing at the things.
“Tell me the truth. I know you went to the black market, but where did you get so much money?”
Pork at the supply cooperative cost fifty cents a pound, while it cost more than one yuan a pound on the black market.
This piece of meat alone weighed at least three or four pounds, not to mention the eggs and flour.
Meng Yuanzheng answered a completely different question.
“Didn’t you want to eat meat?”
“I’m asking where you got the money!”
She slapped the table.
“I traded something for it.”
“What did you sell?”
“My clothes.”
“…”
He had sold his clothes to buy meat.
Why did that sound so miserable?
Lin Miaoyin sat back down and asked seriously, “Why did you tell me not to go to the black market last night, but then you went there yourself today? And how did you find the black market?”
Meng Yuanzheng gave a faint smile and held out his wrist, revealing the watch Lin Miaoyin had noticed yesterday.
She looked at his watch, then at the way he was dressed.
She understood immediately.
He had deliberately dressed himself up as a wealthy man, so naturally, people from the black market had approached him.
Those meat sellers knew that anyone who could afford expensive meat probably had money and connections. When they saw someone like that, they would naturally approach him first.
“You don’t know how things work there. It’s dangerous for you to go.”
He lowered his hand.
“So you did all this for my sake?”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Yes.”
“Don’t look down on me. I know a lot more than you do.”
After all, she was from the twenty-first century.
Meng Yuanzheng said nothing. His eyes seemed to say, Go ahead and talk. I won’t expose you.
Forget it. There was no point arguing with him.
Since he was willing to share the meat with her, she decided to be a little nicer to him.
“It’s hot these days, and we still have that snake to eat. Should I put the meat in the well to keep it cool?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want to eat? I’ll cook.”
“You decide. I’ll eat whatever you make.”
Aww.
Lin Miaoyin’s heart softened.
Was this really the same villain from the original story?
Why was he being so obedient?
She reached out to take the meat, but Meng Yuanzheng suddenly said, “Wait.”
She stopped and looked at him in confusion.
“You just said your hand touched chicken manure?”