No sooner had the matchmaker left than Zhang Shengli said, “Looks like Su Ying’s stepmother scared her off.”
Lu Dongsheng fell into thought something felt off.
Zhang Shengli went on, “Why don’t you go yourself and talk to Su Ying directly?”
That made sense. What if they were mistreating her? Lu Dongsheng stayed until afternoon, then set out taking the road toward Su Ying’s home.
Zhang Shengli grinned. “The commune is the other way, Old Lu. That’s a detour.”
“Mind your own business,” Lu Dongsheng tossed back.
Zhang Shengli shook his head, amused. He’d never seen a man so smitten though he’d have to be brave indeed to take on a drunken, prejudiced father and a she‑bear of a stepmother.
Lu Dongsheng pushed his sturdy bicycle toward the village. Near the threshing ground, he spotted a familiar slight figure in a tattered coat that ended inches too short. Guilt pricked him he should have bought her proper clothes. What was she doing lurking there?
He decided to tease her a little. Leaving his bike, he crept up behind her.
Behind a haystack, Su Xiuxiu and Wang Liang were tangled together Su Xiuxiu pressed onto the straw, holding her belly, their trousers fallen around their ankles. Su Ying clapped her hands over her eyes, spun around and bumped straight into a solid chest.
She looked up to find Lu Dongsheng gazing down at her. Her face burned bright red. He lowered his voice. “What are you looking at?”
He glanced past her. Panicked, she reached up and covered his eyes too late. He had seen, and recognized the girl’s face. Gently he pulled her hand away. She pressed a finger to her lips and tugged him toward the road.
He’d never been led away by a girl before. His eyes fell to her hand cracked, chapped, oozing where the sores had reopened. How could such a small, fragile girl endure so much work? His heart ached to carry her away. Yet he knew she deserved every proper step, so no one could ever speak ill of her afterward.
Safely out of sight, she stopped, cheeks flushed. They spoke at once:
“Just now…”
“Just now…”
“You first…”
“You first…”
“Ladies first,” he said softly.
“Did you… see anything?”
“Nothing at all,” he lied gently.
She exhaled. “Good. What are you doing here?”
“Business. And your hand?”
She tucked it behind her back. “It’s nothing everyone’s chapped in winter.”
Her bravery only troubled him more. Should he simply file the marriage application from the post and be done with it?
“You’re heading the wrong way for the clinic,” she said. “It’s that way.”
She knew his fate in the book how three years from now he would return from a mission crippled, and Song Min would stand by him then. But Song Min was entangled with Jiang Xiaofei now; perhaps the story was shifting. She hoped he would stay safe.
“I didn’t come for Zhang Shengli,” he said. “I came for you.”
“Me?” She pointed at herself. “Why?”
Hesitant, he scratched his head. “Hasn’t your family said anything?”
“Said what?”
She remembered Tian Cuifen gloating over gifts something was amiss. He drew breath to speak when a shriek rang out.
“Su Ying! What are you doing with that man? Shameless! I’ll tell everyone what you are!”
Su Ying’s jaw tightened same twisted logic as her mother. She glanced behind the accuser; Wang Liang was gone.
Su Xiuxiu quailed under her cold, steady gaze. “What are you staring at? Don’t try shifting blame!” She stepped back as Su Ying advanced. “Stay back!”
Su Ying smiled. “Your trousers are on backward.”
Su Xiuxiu checked hurriedly, then relaxed they were fine. But her waist felt tight lately… perhaps she’d simply been eating too well. Realizing she’d been tricked, she flushed and lunged to strike.
Before Lu Dongsheng could move, Su Ying caught her wrist. “Trousers are fine,” she said evenly, “but your buttons are all fastened wrong.”
Lu Dongsheng found himself smiling.