Gu Wan’s cheeks flushed beet red at her teasing, and she hurriedly covered Qin Xiaomei’s mouth, saying, “Stop talking nonsense! If someone passing by outside hears you, I won’t be able to show my face in public anymore. I really don’t dare take this—take it back.”
Qin Xiaomei turned serious and said, “How is this talking nonsense? Both our families have this unspoken understanding—in another half year, you’re going to be my sister-in-law!”
Gu Wan recalled the words that villagers said Zhao Juan had left behind a few days ago, thinking that this matter was truly far from certain. Having kept it bottled up inside her for days with no one to confide in, she couldn’t resist whispering to Qin Xiaomei, “The news about Sanjiawan’s Zhao Juan coming over that day has been spreading all over the village. She said she still considers the marriage valid, so what was agreed between my parents and yours might not actually count.”
Qin Xiaomei curled her lip and said, “Just because she says it doesn’t count, it doesn’t count? You definitely didn’t hear the whole story when people were spreading rumors! My mom said right in front of Auntie Hehua and Auntie Chahua that day that the two families weren’t engaged, so there was no need for her to acknowledge or disavow anything, and our family would never become in-laws with hers.”
Hearing this, Gu Wan’s eyes lit up, and she asked Qin Xiaomei, “Then… is your brother willing?”
“My brother?” Thinking of her older brother’s actions that day, Qin Xiaomei shook her shoulders and laughed. “Let me tell you, I was so furious at that Zhao Juan that day! She kept misleading Auntie Hehua and the others, acting as if the breaking of the engagement never happened at all. It was my brother who brought the truth out into the open. You should have seen it—as soon as my mom spoke up, my brother immediately had me return the pastries and canned goods Zhao Juan brought. Don’t go wondering whether my brother has any feelings for that Zhao Juan; I didn’t see a single trace of it! What I did see is that my brother fancies you.”
Gu Wan hadn’t known there was such a detail to the story, which put her mind much more at ease regarding her prospective marriage. However, as for Qin Xiaomei saying Qin Zhijun liked her, she hadn’t seen any sign of that. He was unwilling to marry Zhao Juan, but he hadn’t been willing to marry her either.
The two young girls whispered and chatted for a long time. It was only when the moon climbed high into the sky that Qin Xiaomei finally went home, though that bag of White Rabbit Cream Candies was ultimately left behind with Gu Wan after all.
Gu Wan closed her bedroom door and changed into loose clothes, preparing to sleep. Only when she lay down on her bed did she remember that before Qin Xiaomei arrived, she had originally intended to collect the clothes hung out on the bamboo pole in the courtyard during the day. Having been chatting away, she had completely forgotten. Remembering it now, she got up and walked outside.
As she passed through the main hall and turned past the front entrance, her heart suddenly pounded wildly. She hurriedly checked her footing—and just as well, for as she stepped past the threshold at the corner, a figure approached right from the opposite direction. Had her reaction not alerted her, she would have slammed straight into him! Even so, being so close caused her cheeks to warm slightly, and that familiar, body-melting soft sensation instantly welled up within her. Oh no, Gu Wan thought to herself.
Currently, she only had this strange reaction to two people: one was Qin Zhijun, and the other was Zhou Jing. Looking up, she saw that the person was indeed Zhou Jing. She quickly gritted her teeth, summoned her strength to take a step back, and leaned against the main doorframe to stabilize herself. Knowing her voice would sound very strange at a moment like this, she merely gave a slight nod as a greeting.
Seeing her head slightly bowed, a flush rising on her cheeks, and her slender neck tinged with a faint pink, Zhou Jing dazed for a moment, finding her exceptionally beautiful in this instant. He nodded, walked inside, and as they brushed past each other, he caught a whiff of a familiar, subtle fragrance—resembling orchid, yet not quite orchid—the very scent he hadn’t been able to trace on his bed last night.
Only after Zhou Jing returned to his room did Gu Wan stand there for a good while before regaining her strength. She quickly gathered the few items of clothing hanging on the bamboo pole, cradled them in her arms, and ran back to her room. It seemed she would have to be more careful in the future. This chapter was copied from novelping dot com without permission.
Returning to his room, Zhou Jing saw two brand-new enamel washbasins added to his quarters. He picked up a basin, a towel, and other items, went to the hand-pump well in the courtyard, pumped water, and washed up. Spotting the warm yellow light spilling from Gu Wan’s window, he stood still and watched for a moment before pouring out the water, picking up his things, and returning to his own room.
On the bed, the faint fragrance was clear and delicate, so faint that it was hard to catch. Lying flat on the bed with his hands resting behind his head, he looked up at the white bed canopy and suddenly curled his lips into a smile—only today had he realized that this young girl was remarkably pretty.
Early the next morning, as dawn was just breaking, Zhou Jing got up to wash his clothes. In the small rural courtyard stood a clothesline supported by bamboo poles; as he finished hanging his wet clothes, a rooster in the coop at a corner of the courtyard stretched its neck and crowed loudly, followed by answering crows from near and far.
Zhu Fengxian got up to prepare breakfast and was quite surprised to see that this distinguished guest of theirs was up even earlier than her.
“Xiao Zhou, you’re up so early—are you not used to staying here?”
Zhou Jing performed a few warm-up exercises before answering, “Not at all, Auntie. I’m just used to getting up early to exercise.”
This was no lie. Since childhood, he had been thrown into the military either by his grandfather or his father, so his routine was identical to that of a soldier.
Zhu Fengxian had assumed city kids were delicate, so this young Zhou made her view him in a whole new light. Seeing the clothes hanging on the bamboo pole still dripping water, she smiled and said, “Xiao Zhou, in the future, whenever you have clothes to change out of, just leave them be. I’ll wash them for you along with ours.”
How could Zhou Jing let someone else do this for him? He smiled and politely declined.
For breakfast that day, he was invited by Zhu Fengxian to eat with the Gu family. Unable to refuse their hospitality, he enjoyed a meal of sweet potato porridge cooked over a traditional rural stove. The sweet potatoes were fragrant and sweet, and the aroma of the porridge filled the air.
Zhu Fengxian had been much more generous with the rice than usual today, cooking the porridge thick and delicious. In private, Gu Chao joked with his wife Wang Shuiying that they were benefiting from Zhou Jing’s presence.
Only Gu Wan held her bowl and ate standing in the kitchen, refusing to sit at the table. The Gu family didn’t think anything was wrong with this; in the countryside, it was completely normal for women not to sit at the table when guests were over.
By the third day of rice harvesting, the work in the fields was entering its final stages, making turning and drying the grain a more urgent task. Today, Qin Xiaomei was kept home by Lin Chunhua to watch the grain-drying ground.
Qin Xiaomei still had a playful nature, declaring that she wanted to show off her skills at catching sparrows today too. Dragging Gu Wan along, she went to her house to dig out a sieve and hemp rope, planning to add a meat dish to her family’s dinner tonight as well. Read the latest chapters at novelping.com.
When Gu Wan arrived at the Qin house, Qin Zhijun wasn’t inside his room sitting in a wheelchair or on the bed as before. Today, he was sitting in the courtyard, a pair of crutches placed beside him.
Seeing him in the courtyard, Gu Wan froze in her tracks, stopping two meters away. Remembering that he had asked Qin Xiaomei to deliver candy last night, she felt her face grow warm again and awkwardly turned her face slightly to the side.
“Big Brother, I’ve prepared some good stuff today! You just watch—tonight we can have another bowl of braised sparrows.”
Qin Zhijun answered her verbally, but from time to time, he stole glances at Gu Wan from the corner of his eye, wondering how a delicate young girl like her had managed to catch sparrows yesterday.
Because of her older brother asking her to deliver candy last night, Qin Xiaomei was especially sensitive to the interactions between Qin Zhijun and Gu Wan. Seeing her big brother discreetly looking at Xiao Wan—yet holding back for ages without saying a single word to her—she found it hilarious inside, having never realized her big brother could be so shy.
Paying no further mind to her big brother’s little thoughts, she grabbed the sieve and a bundle of hemp rope, pulled Gu Wan, and ran outside.
Once the two girls left, Zhou Jing said casually, “Big Brother Qin, I’ve never seen sparrows caught while drying grain before. I’ll head over to join the fun too.”
Qin Zhijun smiled and nodded, only to see Zhou Jing turn around and stride outside briskly. At first glance, his steps looked steady, yet his pace was extremely fast, and in a moment, he vanished from the courtyard.
Qin Dayou and Gu Jinsheng had already pushed the rice to the drying ground early this morning. When Zhou Jing arrived at the drying ground, he caught sight of Gu Wan and Qin Xiaomei lifting a heavy basket containing a hundred catties of grain, preparing to dump it onto the drying mat. He quickly stepped forward and took the large basket, saying, “This is heavy work, let me do it. Should I dump it all in one pile?”
As he approached, Gu Wan quickly took several hasty steps back.
Seeing her face flush slightly, Zhou Jing didn’t know this was her normal physical reaction to a male with a spiritual root due to her fox bloodline; he merely thought she was shy, and a smile gleamed in his eyes.
He dumped the grain out basket by basket in separate piles, while Gu Wan and Qin Xiaomei worked separately on their family’s drying mat.
Zhou Jing leaned against a tree trunk, watching Gu Wan hold a wooden rake he had never seen before to push open the grain, walking back and forth again and again to spread the piled grain flat and rake it evenly.
Today she wore a black-and-white plaid short-sleeved shirt that was loose and oversized, yet as Zhou Jing looked at her now, no matter what she wore, she looked irresistibly delicate and pretty.