25
I Don’t Want to Go to the Countryside
Song Caiwei happened to return home just in time to see a crowd of onlookers gathered at her doorstep. Squeezing through, she spotted Lu Xuanzhou in her house and joyfully approached him: “Brother Lu, did you come to my house looking for me?”
Lin Jianchun had barely moved when Mother Lu stopped her.
Mother Lu immediately slapped Song Caiwei across the face.
“Like mother, like daughter! Shameless creature! How dare a young woman drill holes to eavesdrop on a married couple’s private moments!”
Song Caiwei covered her cheek, her face pale: “Auntie Lu, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Mother Lu spat disdainfully, “If you’re so lustful, go find someone to marry! Our family must have committed some grave sin to be living next to yours.”
Though Song Caiwei insisted she knew nothing, the Lu family wouldn’t listen to her excuses and summoned the property manager.
Lu Xuanzhou stated firmly: “I want to build two walls on the Song family’s side.”
“Impossible! Building two walls would make that room uninhabitable.” Song’s Mother refused to comply. “If you want walls, build them on your own property.”
Mother Lu threatened: “If your family refuses, I’ll invite all the old neighbors to see how your daughter Song Caiwei eavesdropped on my son and daughter-in-law’s wedding night.”
“Brother Lu never slept with that country girl! He’d rather sleep on the floor than touch a woman abandoned by my brother!”
Only after shouting this did Song Caiwei realize what she had revealed, but it was too late.
Mother Lu slapped her again: “So you knew all the details! And you still deny eavesdropping!”
Song Caiwei stumbled and fell from the blow. To protect her daughter’s reputation, Song’s Mother reluctantly agreed to the wall construction, though she would only consent to one wall.
Lu Xuanzhou declared solemnly: “My wife and I just registered our marriage yesterday. The reason we haven’t consummated our marriage is out of my respect for her. Last night was supposed to be our wedding night, but I couldn’t return due to urgent factory business. My wife was understanding about my work, yet someone twisted this into me unwilling to touch my wife – such malicious intentions deserve death a hundred times over!”
All the neighbors in the Courtyard knew the couple had just registered their marriage. The property managers had also heard from their wives how Mother Lu had distributed Wedding Candy to every household after the registration.
“Wife, let’s go home.”
Lu Xuanzhou’s voice was tender as he took Lin Jianchun’s hand.
Lin Jianchun looked up at Lu Xuanzhou and saw heartache in his eyes.
She squeezed his large hand in return. “Yes, let’s go home.”
The old neighbors voluntarily made way. “A Zhou, I have some Soothing Tea at home. Take some for your wife. She’s had a shock – let her get proper rest.”
Back home, Mother Lu offered her own room: “Daughter-in-law, you and A Zhou sleep in my room tonight. Let’s see if anyone wants to watch an old woman sleep.”
Lu Xuanzhou sent Little Lu to fetch the Soothing Tea and personally brewed a bowl for Lin Jianchun.
“Be good, drink this Soothing Tea. After a night’s sleep, you’ll feel better.”
Lin Jianchun sat obediently on the bed as Lu Xuanzhou brought the bowl to her lips.
Drinking from his hands, she finished half the tea but refused the remainder: “Half each – you’ve had a shock too.”
Lu Xuanzhou gazed deeply at Lin Jianchun before finishing the rest in two large gulps. “Sleep now.”
“And where will you sleep? Mom’s room is small, we can’t lay out bedding on the floor.”
Lu Xuanzhou paused while taking off his clothes, “I’ll sleep with you.”
Lin Jianchun’s gaze swept over Lu Xuanzhou’s abdomen, “What about the one-month agreement?”
“I’ll keep it while sleeping beside you.”
Lu Xuanzhou slept properly, with his hands placed on his own abdomen, as proper as a saint.
Lin Jianchun poked Lu Xuanzhou’s arm, “Brother Zhou, I’m still scared~~~”
Lu Xuanzhou resignedly opened his eyes. He knew perfectly well that if Lin Jianchun could tease him, it meant she had mostly recovered. But remembering how she had looked earlier with red eyes and at a loss, he couldn’t bring himself to refuse.
“Come here.”
Lin Jianchun happily moved closer to Lu Xuanzhou. He stretched out his arm and pulled her tightly into his embrace.
“I’m here, don’t be afraid.”
Held in Lu Xuanzhou’s arms, listening to his drum-like heartbeat, Lin Jianchun thought to herself: This man is truly soft-hearted despite his tough talk. If he could actually maintain this one-month agreement while sharing a bed every night, she’d eat her words.
The two fell asleep in each other’s arms, and Lin Jianchun slept exceptionally well.
When she woke in the morning, the space beside her was already empty.
While washing up at her doorstep, Lin Jianchun saw that bricks had already been piled up outside.
Mother Lu said, “A Zhou went to the brick factory early this morning to order a batch of bricks. They’ve been delivered already. We’ll find someone to build the wall today.”
Lu Xuanzhou nodded toward Lin Jianchun, “After you finish eating, I’ll take you to work.”
“Okay.”
A soft cushion had been tied to the bicycle’s rear seat, and the entire bike had been polished until it shone.
Lin Jianchun was in high spirits, “Brother Zhou, you didn’t wash the bike just to take me to and from work, did you?”
Lu Xuanzhou pretended not to hear and pedaled the bicycle rapidly…
As the two left the Courtyard, the neighbors gathered around the central yard doing laundry couldn’t help but start gossiping.
“Looking at how doted A Zhou is on his wife, I’d never believe he dislikes her for having been Anzi’s wife before.”
“You didn’t see it yesterday – when A Zhou brought his wife home, he acted like she might break at any moment. I think his heart was about to break from worrying about her.”
After joking about the newlyweds, everyone started talking about Song Caiwei.
“Do you think that hole was already there? This morning, Caiwei’s mother said the hole had been there for a while. Their Caiwei is an educated person, she wouldn’t do something like eavesdropping.”
“I don’t believe it anyway. If they’d discovered it earlier, wouldn’t they have filled it to protect their daughter’s reputation? I saw clearly last night – Song Caiwei practically sticks herself to A Zhou whenever she sees him. How pure could her intentions be?”
Song Caiwei had locked herself in her room. Her face was swollen like a steamed bun. Listening to the workers coming and going outside, she buried her face in the quilt and cried again.
Song’s Mother said angrily, “Now everyone knows an unmarried girl like you was eavesdropping. Have you no shame? Don’t you want to get married?”
“I won’t marry! If I can’t marry Brother Lu, what’s the point of getting married? I’d rather go to the countryside.”
Song’s Mother couldn’t help but slap Song Caiwei’s arm several times, “I’ll sign you up for rural work right now. After a couple of years when you return, everyone will have forgotten about this. Then I’ll find you a good match.”
Song Caiwei panicked, “Mom, you promised you wouldn’t send me to the countryside. That’s no place for people to live!”
“What else can we do? Even if you want to get married now, with your current reputation, any potential match would run away as soon as they heard about it.”
Song’s Mother intended to teach her daughter a lesson, lest she remain fixated on Lu Xuanzhou and commit further mistakes. “Rather than ending up married to some old widower or a disabled man, it’d be better to hide away in the countryside for a few years.”
Song Caiwei knew she was the prettiest girl at their school, with many male classmates who admired her. She would never marry an old widower—if she were to marry at all, it would certainly be to someone better than Lu Xuanzhou.
“If I hide away, that country bumpkin Lin Jianchun will laugh herself to death! I either won’t look for anyone, or I’ll find someone better than Lu Xuanzhou and outshine them all.”
“You said it yourself—then I’ll be waiting.”