Yu Yao quickly soothed the man.
“We haven’t even held the wedding ceremony yet!”
“I want to save the most precious thing for our wedding night.”
“Wait… don’t tell me you weren’t planning to hold a wedding at all?”
In the darkness, the man narrowed his eyes and let out a cold laugh.
“If I hadn’t brought you back, tonight you’d already be consummating the marriage with that old bachelor in the alley ahead.”
“You think he’d patiently wait to hold a wedding ceremony with you?”
“Yu Yao, don’t treat me like an idiot.”
“I already said it—if you play tricks on me, I’ll make sure you regret it.”
Yu Yao bit her lip and turned her head aside.
She stopped arguing with him. Whatever.
Liang Hui didn’t force her. Instead, he lay down angrily with his back facing her.
Yu Yao muttered softly,
“It’s not that I’m unwilling to… do that with you… It’s just… look at where we’re living right now. If I get pregnant, the baby would be born right in the dead of winter. This room leaks wind from every side. A child could freeze to death…”
Her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness.
The man’s muscular, solid back was right in front of her, radiating an intense masculine presence.
Unable to resist the temptation, she gently reached out and touched him.
The next second, Liang Hui turned over and grabbed her wrist.
Yu Yao was pinned beneath him, surrounded completely by his aggressive male scent.
“You think I’m poor?” he asked.
Yu Yao hurriedly denied it.
“I’m not afraid of being poor. As long as we work together and build a good life, it’s fine. It’s just that now really isn’t the right time to have children…”
“What do you want, then?” Liang Hui asked flatly, his emotions unreadable.
Yu Yao steeled herself and voiced her thoughts.
“Tomorrow, go to the women’s director and ask for some family-planning supplies. They’re free.”
“We can’t have children yet. We need to earn money first.”
“Birds build nests before laying eggs, right?”
“Do you want our child to be born and grow up drinking northwest wind?”
Liang Hui was silent for a moment before asking only one question.
“How do you know the women’s director has family-planning supplies?”
“I… heard about it!” Yu Yao turned her head slightly to avoid his burning gaze.
Liang Hui stared at her as his lips slowly brushed against her ear.
“Once we get the supplies… tomorrow night… can we?”
Yu Yao answered without hesitation,
“Yes.”
After transmigrating into this world, Liang Hui had saved her and spared her from the miserable fate of being sold to an old bachelor.
No matter how she looked at it, she owed him.
Besides, he was so handsome that she genuinely felt attracted to him.
But no matter how attracted she was, one bottom line had to be maintained—
Before creating stable living conditions, they absolutely could not have children.
Seeing her agree so readily, Liang Hui finally believed she wasn’t refusing to let him touch her.
She was simply afraid of an accidental pregnancy and the suffering that would come afterward.
“Mm. We’ll work hard and save money. Once we have enough, we’ll ask the village chief for a plot of land and build a new house.”
According to village rules, once a man married and had children, he could apply for a homestead and establish a separate household.
But building a house required a huge amount of money, something ordinary farming families could rarely afford.
Besides, setting up a separate household cost too much. Most families preferred several generations living together to save money.
Only families with substantial savings could afford to split off after marriage.
Liang Hui had no parents or relatives to support him, yet he still planned to build a new house and move out. To outsiders, it sounded overly ambitious.
Yu Yao, however, showed not the slightest doubt.
Instead, she supported him enthusiastically.
“Great! As husband and wife united in heart, we’ll turn yellow earth into gold!”
She knew the great villain’s abilities all too well.
He excelled at everything, especially making money.
If he hadn’t darkened and fallen into villainy, spending all his energy opposing the male lead Liang Haifeng, his achievements would have far surpassed Liang Haifeng’s.
Men liked being affirmed, encouraged, and admired.
Liang Hui was no exception.
Seeing Yu Yao trust him so completely, he couldn’t help curling his lips into a smile.
The gloom in his heart faded away.
With a beauty in his arms, desire naturally rose again.
Yu Yao was kissed until her mind turned hazy.
“Didn’t we agree… to wait until… tomorrow night…”
“Help me,” he breathed heavily as he pulled her slender hand over.
The broken bed creaked noisily. The man’s rough breathing and the woman’s soft moans continued for a very, very long time…
When Yu Yao woke the next morning, the sky was already bright.
The man beside her was nowhere to be seen. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she sat up.
The blanket slid down, revealing large stretches of creamy smooth skin and the red marks scattered across her body.
Although she and Liang Hui hadn’t truly consummated the marriage last night, they had done nearly every intimate thing between husband and wife.
Thinking about those heart-racing moments made her bury her face shyly in her arms.
Bang!
Crash!
Sounds of smashing came from outside the window, along with Zhao Chunhua’s voice loudly insulting her indirectly.
“The sun’s already up your butt and you’re still sleeping? Lazy woman!”
“The men are already out working in the fields, and you’re still lying there instead of cooking or sweeping the yard!”
“When Laoxi comes back later, he ought to beat you into obedience!”
Yawning, Yu Yao got dressed and climbed out of bed. The moment she opened the west room door—
Zhao Chunhua stormed in like a whirlwind and immediately yanked back the blanket on the bed.
“Hey! What are you doing?!”
Standing at the doorway, Yu Yao instinctively reached for the carrying pole nearby—ready to attack or retreat at any moment.
Seeing there were no bloodstains on the messy bedsheets, Zhao Chunhua instantly became excited.
As though she had seized undeniable evidence, she shouted loudly,
“Everyone come look! Laoxi’s wife didn’t bleed!”
Now she had finally caught Yu Yao red-handed!
No wonder Liang Hui had silently left the house so early in the morning—Yu Yao must’ve cuckolded him and driven him away in anger.
Hearing Zhao Chunhua’s shouting, neighbors who hadn’t gone to the fields yet all gathered around again.
The Liang family’s drama truly never ended. Every day brought fresh gossip.
But before Zhao Chunhua could properly spread the story about the fourth daughter-in-law not bleeding, Liang Hui returned.
He was pushing Yu Yao’s bicycle, with baskets loaded full of household goods strapped to the back.
Seeing the neighbors crowding around the courtyard again, he immediately knew Zhao Chunhua must be causing trouble once more.
Sure enough, hearing the gossip about Yu Yao not bleeding, he said irritably,
“Last night your third daughter-in-law sneaked into my room and frightened Yu Yao so badly she developed a fever all night. We never consummated the marriage.”
“We haven’t even settled accounts yet over your third daughter-in-law ruining our wedding night, and you still have the nerve to shout nonsense here?”
Reminded by Liang Hui’s words, the neighbors immediately recalled how Feng Xueqing had secretly sneaked into her future younger brother-in-law’s room last night and gotten beaten after being mistaken for a thief.
The karma boomeranged perfectly back onto Zhao Chunhua.
Her face turned red with fury, but she had no comeback.
Pretending to be magnanimous, Yu Yao asked with concern,
“By the way, after Feng Xueqing ran off alone last night, did Eldest Brother and Second Brother find her? It was more than ten miles of road at night. She’s still an unmarried young woman—what if someone dragged her into a cornfield and violated her?”
“Bullshit!” Zhao Chunhua immediately snapped.
“Dajun and Dazhu personally escorted Xueqing back to her parents’ house last night. Nothing happened! Don’t smear her reputation here!”
“Really nothing happened?” Yu Yao looked doubtful.
“Then when she gets married, you’d better carefully inspect the bedsheets during the wedding night. Otherwise you might end up making the same embarrassing mistake you made today.”
The neighbors burst into laughter and gradually dispersed.
It was getting late. Those who needed to work went to work, and those who needed to head to the fields left for the fields.
Zhao Chunhua had tried to trap the fox only to end up covered in stink herself, leaving her teeth itching with rage.
Then she noticed the things Liang Hui was unloading from the baskets and immediately became wary.
“Laoxi, where did you get a donkey?”
“No, wait—what’s the meaning of this?”
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to split off and live separately already?”
Liang Hui unloaded the goods from the baskets and carried a heavy package from the bicycle basket into the west room.
“We already agreed last night to divide the household. From now on, Yu Yao and I will cook separately.”