Ideally, right in front of everyone, slap that vixen Su Wanwan’s face to a pulp.
That hateful Su Wanwan. So what if she has a pretty face? I’m already married to Zhou Mingyuan, yet he still can’t forget her. He even calls her name in his sleep!
Lin Zhixia clenched her fingers and looked at Gu Shiyan expectantly.
Hit her. Hurry up and do it!
But Gu Shiyan didn’t even glance at Lin Zhixia. He set down the steamed bun, rose, and walked over. His tall frame shielded Su Wanwan like a mountain, silent but impossible to ignore.
He spoke calmly. “How has she gone too far?”
Lin Zhixia raised her voice. “She’s smearing people!”
“The ones smearing people are you two. She’s only giving you a taste of your own medicine.”
The moment those words left Gu Shiyan’s mouth, Lin Zhixia and Xu Yueru both froze.
What’s wrong with this Gu Shiyan? Su Wanwan treats him like a slave, and he still defends her. Abuse breeds loyalty now?!
Watching the two stiff faces of Lin Zhixia and Xu Yueru, like they’d just eaten dog shit, Su Wanwan was blooming with joy.
She stepped out from behind Gu Shiyan, looped her arm through his, and lifted her chin triumphantly. “The one who starts it is the one who’s trash. That’s you two.”
Lin Zhixia was left speechless.
Xu Yueru had no comeback either.
Ahhh, so frustrating.
The onlookers couldn’t help laughing.
Anyone with eyes could see Xu Yueru had deliberately picked the fight first. Su Wanwan had only been fighting back.
Still, Gu Shiyan was unexpected. When village women bickered and quarreled, men usually didn’t get involved, thinking it was beneath them.
But he wasn’t afraid of losing face.
From that alone, you could tell he doted on his wife.
“A man like Gu Shiyan is a real man.”
“Zhixia, your Zhou Mingyuan doesn’t measure up. Gu Shiyan knows how to protect his wife. How come yours just left you there?”
Lin Zhixia was already full of pent-up anger. Hearing this, she looked toward where Zhou Mingyuan had been, and he was long gone.
She was so furious her neck seemed to swell two sizes.
Comparing yourself to others really is maddening.
Su Wanwan was delicate and unreasonable, yet she had someone protecting her.
Lin Zhixia put Zhou Mingyuan first in everything, yet at the crucial moment he didn’t protect her. And she still brought him meals every day under the blazing sun.
Seeing the villagers’ mocking looks, Lin Zhixia felt her face burn. She stamped her foot and ran after Zhou Mingyuan.
Su Wanwan pointed at her retreating back and smiled at Xu Yueru. “Your master’s already left. Aren’t you going to chase after her?”
Xu Yueru screamed in fury, “You… Su Wanwan, just you wait!”
After throwing out that threat, she turned and ran off.
With no more spectacle to watch, everyone dispersed. Su Wanwan’s hand was still looped through Gu Shiyan’s arm. She lifted her face and smiled at him.
“Thanks for speaking up for me.”
She was beautiful, and her smile was even more dazzling. The two dimples at her cheeks seemed filled with honey, sweet enough to reach right into a person’s heart.
Gu Shiyan looked away. “We’re family.”
“Right. Family.”
So the male lead was the type you had to coax. He responded to softness, not force.
Su Wanwan felt she might have found a way to handle Gu Shiyan. After he finished eating, she prepared to head back. Before leaving, she took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his face.
“I’ll be waiting for you at home.”
“Mm.”
Gu Shiyan answered and went back to work. Only after Su Wanwan was far away did he look up and stare at her back for a long time.
Evening.
The whistle signaling the end of work finally sounded.
Gu Shiyan returned home in the gathering dusk. The moment he stepped inside, he saw Su Wanwan busy in the kitchen.
Gu Shiwei was sitting on a little stool by the door. Seeing her brother, she immediately got up and ran over.
“Brother, you’re back!”
Her voice brimmed with barely contained joy. She hurried to repeat what Su Wanwan had said that morning. “Sister-in-law said you’re her man, and from now on she’s going to treat you well. Really, really well. Brother, I think Sister-in-law really is different from before. All day today she only let me rest. She wouldn’t let me do any work. She even made me brown sugar water!”
If Sister-in-law could always be this good, she’d be the happiest person in the world.
Gu Shiyan couldn’t help looking at Su Wanwan, his brow slowly furrowing.
Could Su Wanwan really have changed?
He quickly pushed the thought down. It had only been a day. Maybe it was just a whim.
She’d been virtuous before too. She just couldn’t keep up the act for more than a few days before showing her true colors.
Let’s see how long she can keep it up this time.
“A bowl of brown sugar water was enough to buy you off?” A helpless smile tugged at Gu Shiyan’s lips. “Have you forgotten how she treated you before?”
Gu Shiwei’s smile faltered, and her voice dropped. “Sister-in-law, she… she just has a bad temper.”
By the end, her voice was barely audible. After all, Su Wanwan really hadn’t treated her well before. Sulking, cold words, those had been everyday fare. But her life had been saved by Su Wanwan.
“If Sister-in-law hadn’t given the money, I might have died long ago.”
When she was taken to the hospital, the doctor said a little later and her appendix would have ruptured.
It was precisely because of that timely kindness that Gu Shiyan tolerated and indulged Su Wanwan in everything. He sighed silently, patted his sister’s shoulder, and told her to go rest in her room.
“I’ll call you when it’s time to eat.”
“Okay.”
In the kitchen, Su Wanwan had caught the gist of their conversation. Her heart lurched.
How could she have forgotten about that?
That money had been sent by Gu Shiyan’s friend in the first place. Yet the original host had the nerve to pocket it and give herself the title of savior.
If Gu Shiyan found out, the consequences would be severe.
A life-saving debt would become a calculated fraud.
And she, the fraud, wouldn’t come to a good end either.
Su Wanwan felt inexplicably as if a blade hung over her head, ready to fall at any moment.
Original host, oh original host. You really did a number on people.
The moment Gu Shiyan entered the kitchen, he saw Su Wanwan biting her lip with a worried frown, her face drooping like a bitter melon.
As expected. She couldn’t even keep up the act for a full day. I shouldn’t have believed in Su Wanwan.
He added some firewood to the stove and took the spatula from her hand. “I’ll cook. Go rest.”
Su Wanwan murmured an “oh,” let go absentmindedly, and stepped aside. Her gaze drifted to Gu Shiyan. She stared blankly at his cool profile. This man really was cold, and his methods were ruthless too.
If he turned those methods on me…
Scary. So scary.
Seeing she hadn’t left, Gu Shiyan asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t throw me into the deep mountains.”
Su Wanwan blurted it out without thinking.
At the thought of the original host’s fate in the book, stung to death by hornets, she felt uncomfortable all over, a throbbing ache, and her complexion turned poor.
Gu Shiyan frowned. “Who’s going to throw you into the deep mountains?”
Su Wanwan snapped back to her senses and quickly shook her head. “Nothing. I’ll go set the table.”
She hurriedly turned away and nearly dropped a bowl when she picked it up.
Gu Shiyan glanced at her. “Leave it. I’ll do it.”
After dinner, Gu Shiyan volunteered to wash the dishes. After tidying the kitchen, he boiled a big pot of hot water.
Both girls in the house liked to keep clean. They used a lot of water in summer, especially Su Wanwan, who took a bath every few days.
Su Wanwan was sitting in the yard cooling off. Seeing Gu Shiyan come out, she hesitated, then beckoned to him.
“Gu Shiyan, come here.”