“No…” Lin Yingxue was crying so hard she could barely catch her breath. With red, swollen eyes, she looked at Gu Lichuan. “You and her are getting married soon, right? Then we won’t be able to be together anymore. Being with you before marriage is my absolute bottom line. I don’t want to become a third party who destroys someone else’s marriage…”
Gu Lichuan’s heart ached. He cupped her face and wiped away her tears. “Xiaoxue, you should know—I only like you. But your background… If we got married, I wouldn’t be able to move forward at all…”
“But…”
“I want to give you a better life, Xiaoxue.”
“But I can’t stay a hidden mistress for my whole life…”
“I promise you won’t. Shen Qinghe is just our stepping stone. Once I become a chief, you will definitely be the chief’s wife!”
“Think about it—my current rank still doesn’t meet the requirements for family accompaniment. Even if we got married now, you still couldn’t come with me to the army. You’d have to stay in Shenjiawan, serve my grandpa and my mother, and work in the fields. Can you really handle that? It’s better to leave all of that to Shen Qinghe. She’s used to doing those things anyway.”
“Once I establish myself in the army, I’ll find you a job in the cultural troupe. Then we can see each other all the time. How does that sound?”
Just imagining herself serving Gu Lichuan’s grandfather and that fierce old mother of his made Lin Yingxue break out in goosebumps all over. Thinking it through, what Gu Lichuan said did seem quite reasonable.
“Alright, Lichuan. I’ll listen to you in everything.”
“Xiaoxue, you’ve really been wronged.”
“It’s not a hardship. As long as it’s for you, for our future, I’m willing to do anything.”
……
A bright moon hung in the pitch-black sky, surrounded by twinkling stars.
“Honestly, Shen Qinghe’s cooking is really something else. That braised pork was incredible! And that… what was it called, crayfish? Fresh, fragrant, spicy—gets better the more you eat!”
After eating too much at dinner, Huo Yanxiu and Xu Chenfeng were walking around the village to help digest.
Xu Chenfeng was still savoring it. “Shen Qinghe is pretty, cooks well, and has such a gentle personality. What do you think Gu Lichuan is even thinking?”
“Old Huo, why don’t you just marry Shen Qinghe? How does that saying go—repaying a life-saving favor with marriage, right? I think she’s great. She’d be a perfect match for you!”
Huo Yanxiu shot him a cool glance. “So you’d be able to eat her cooking more often in the future, huh?”
“Uh… hahaha!” Xu Chenfeng laughed awkwardly. “You really see right through me.”
He was just joking anyway. He knew very well how many people were watching Huo Yanxiu’s marriage prospects—and with his temperament, he’d never let his wife cook for others all the time.
“Ah…” Xu Chenfeng sighed again. “But I once heard a story. A girl fell into the water and was saved by a passerby. The man left after saving her, but the girl’s reputation was ruined.”
“The villagers all said a man had seen her naked, that she’d lost her purity. No one dared marry her.”
“In the end, she couldn’t bear the gossip and jumped into the river again to kill herself.”
“I wonder what will happen to Shen Qinghe after this…”
Seen naked…
Huo Yanxiu’s expression froze. In his mind flashed the fair, rounded curves and the soft touch beneath the river water. In an instant, the roots of his ears burned hot.
“But the Shen family dotes on her so much, she probably won’t end up like that, right? She seemed emotionally normal when I saw her today… Hey, Old Huo, why is your face red?”
“It’s… it’s nothing…” Huo Yanxiu coughed lightly.
“Hey…” Xu Chenfeng was about to tease him some more when Huo Yanxiu’s eyes sharpened. He reached out and pulled him into the nearby woods. “Shh!”
……
Shen Qinghe had slept with Zhou Chunfeng the night before, curled up in her arms and sleeping straight through to morning, not even noticing when she got up.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept this soundly.
“Auntie! You’re up?” Shen Sanbao was squatting in the courtyard playing with sand. When he saw her, he pointed toward the kitchen. “Grandma saved you some food. It’s warming in the small pot.”
“Got it. Thanks, Sanbao.”
Zhou Chunfeng had left her a bowl of thick white rice porridge and a golden, fragrant egg pancake. After brushing her teeth and washing up, she squatted on the doorstep and started eating.
“Sanbao, where are Sibao and Wubao?”
Shen Dabao was almost ten, and Erbao was eight or nine. Those two were sensible kids who usually went out to cut pig fodder to earn work points for the family. Sanbao was much younger—only five and a half. Sibao was four, and Wubao was three. The three of them were too young to cut fodder, so they usually played at home or with other village kids.
“They went to Erniu’s house to play.”
“Then why didn’t you go?” Shen Qinghe asked as she took a bite of the egg pancake.
“They’re all girls. I’m a boy. We can’t play together!” Sanbao said seriously, making her laugh.
“Who told you that? Boys can also—”
“Qinghe.”
Before Shen Qinghe could finish speaking, she saw Gu Lichuan standing outside her courtyard, looking in. A surge of hatred rose instantly in her heart—this damned bastard!
Her hands clenched tightly. She wished she could rush over and kill Gu Lichuan on the spot to vent the hatred in her heart. But she couldn’t. After finally being reborn, she wanted to live well with her family. She couldn’t ruin her future over a piece of trash like him.
She took a deep breath and slowly calmed herself. Debts could be settled later, bit by bit.
Startled by the look in Shen Qinghe’s eyes, Gu Lichuan glanced again and found her gaze perfectly normal. Thinking he must have imagined it, he curled his lips into a smile.
“Qinghe, I came to apologize to you.”