Xu Suyu lightly tapped the feather duster against her palm. “Should I use the feather duster to assist you while you read? If that still doesn’t work, I’ll go downstairs and tell Grandpa.”
Jiang Sun looked utterly speechless. “Xu Suyu, you’re not some primary school kid—what’s the point of tattling all the time? I’m telling you, at most Grandpa will just beat me up. I’ve got thick skin anyway—”
“Not necessarily.” Xu Suyu raised a hand and gently touched her slightly swollen lips where he had kissed her, smiling faintly. “What do you think would happen if I went downstairs crying and told Grandpa you bullied me, that I can’t go on living, and begged him to lock you up? Do you think Grandpa would listen to me—or to you? How many days should he lock you up? Half a month? A month?”
Jiang Sun stared at her, dumbfounded. How did this woman have so many dirty tricks?
“Or maybe two months.”
“Fine, fine! Xu Suyu, you’re really scheming. You win! I’ll read. I’ll read, alright?”
Xu Suyu smiled brightly. “Little brother is truly a considerate and reasonable fiancé. I’m sure if I asked you to go back and change to another book right now, you’d indulge me and agree, wouldn’t you?”
Jiang Sun clicked his tongue. Though he turned around with exaggerated arrogance, he still went back to his room and swapped the book for a genuine volume of Selected Works, then began reading through clenched teeth.
After the punishment ended, Jiang Sun returned to his room in a foul mood.
After some thought, he pulled out the letter paper Xu Suyu had written earlier from inside his copied book and unfolded it.
To be honest, what Xu Suyu had written was far bolder and hotter than anything in those books. There was no unnecessary fluff—just straight to the point. Her writing was excellent, not vulgar at all, yet it still made one’s blood heat up.
But after only two paragraphs, his fire died down.
Because everything that followed was repeated content.
Xu Suyu really knew how to disgust people.
Xu Suyu stayed in her room for a while. Hearing Aunt Li return from buying groceries downstairs, she went down to help cook. But Aunt Li refused repeatedly.
“Comrade Xu, no need to help. I’m used to cooking alone. You should go rest.”
“Auntie, just let me help pick the vegetables,” Xu Suyu said. She knew that although others could be polite, she herself couldn’t overstep her place while living under someone else’s roof.
She carried the vegetables out to the courtyard. Aunt Li couldn’t out-argue her and let her be.
Just as Xu Suyu sat down, there was a knock at the gate.
Guard Xiao Liu wasn’t home—he had accompanied the old master to the activity center to play chess.
Xu Suyu went to the gate and opened it to find Han Shumo standing outside.
Her gaze fell on the medicinal herbs in his hand. “Comrade Han, you’ve come at an unfortunate time. Grandpa is at the activity center.”
Han Shumo looked at her, hesitating before speaking. Finally he said, “Then I’ll give the medicine to Aunt Li and tell her how to decoct it.”
“Aunt Li is in the kitchen cooking.”
“Alright.”
Han Shumo went in to find Aunt Li himself. In fact, the prescription hadn’t changed; it was the same as before, and Aunt Li already knew how to prepare it.
He soon came back out. Seeing Xu Suyu sitting at the stone table in the courtyard picking vegetables, he walked over without hesitation and stood across from her.
Xu Suyu lifted her eyes. Her tone was neither warm nor cold. “Comrade Han, do you need something?”
“My mother said you refused to become their goddaughter. Why?”
Xu Suyu lowered her gaze again, her hands never stopping. “I’ve already found a good place to belong. There’s no need to trouble another family.”
“Do you know the difference in this compound between having no one to rely on and having a natal family to back you? Even a godmother’s family counts. If Jiang Sun ever tries to hurt you, at least he would consider my father’s and my positions and wouldn’t go too far.”
“A-Sun is a good person. He won’t bully me.”
A-Sun?
She had lived with him for two or three years before changing from “Comrade Han” to “Shumo.”
But she had known Jiang Sun for only one day!
“Do you even understand men? Men all have their base instincts. Right now he’s interested in you because of your beauty, so of course he’ll dote on you. But what about when he gets tired of you? I don’t want to gossip, but Jiang Sun is indeed wild and hard to tame. Didn’t you see him shove my mother today? He treats elders in the same compound like that—what makes you think he’d treat you differently?”
Han Shumo didn’t like speaking ill of others behind their backs. Even what he’d just said made him feel somewhat improper.
But there was no denying it—Jiang Sun’s character was poor. Immaturity was the least of his issues. He was also lustful…
On the way home from the supply cooperative earlier, Han Shumo had kept thinking about it. Xu Suyu had a naturally captivating face. If she married Jiang Sun and refused him, Jiang Sun would surely force her.
Xu Suyu was so gentle and soft-spoken. She couldn’t shoulder much. She might not even be able to resist. What would she do then?
Yet Xu Suyu’s face remained calm as she listened. Even her voice was steady, as if the matter had nothing to do with her.
“Comrade Han, the A-Sun at your house at noon and the A-Sun now are the same person. At that time, you couldn’t wait to send me away. Now you’ve come to slander his character for no reason. Don’t you find yourself strange?”
“I…” He only wanted her to understand that in this compound, one needed a natal family to rely on. But she seemed unwilling to appreciate it.
“Are you still upset that I didn’t agree to marry you? So you rejected my mother and implied to her that I’m ungrateful?”
“Is that what Auntie said? That I called you ungrateful?” Xu Suyu smiled faintly. “I don’t believe it. Auntie is such a good person—how could she twist words? Not once did I blame you. Quite a few people outside heard what I said. Why not ask around?”
“I’m not doubting you. I’m saying you should have agreed to become sworn kin with my family. It would protect you and also repay the favor.”
“I already said—I refused because I don’t want unnecessary entanglements with irrelevant people. Your life may be precious to your family, but to my grandfather it was merely a casual act of kindness. It wasn’t a big deal. There’s no need to keep talking about repaying it. Comrade Han, please go back.”
Throughout the conversation, Xu Suyu’s attention never left the vegetables in her hands.
A strange heaviness pressed on Han Shumo’s chest. Xu Suyu had never spoken to him like this before.
In the past, if he was in a bad mood and didn’t feel like talking, she would quietly stay by his side, silent, yet glance at him from time to time, watching his emotions.
When he ran into trouble at work, she would hand him a cup of hot tea and speak to him softly…
He tried to comfort her: “Every problem has a solution. Take it slowly—you’ll definitely be able to handle it well. I believe in you.”
But now, though he was wholeheartedly thinking of her, she wouldn’t even spare him a glance. Could marriage really be that important to her?
Since she wouldn’t appreciate it, then he simply wouldn’t interfere anymore.
He turned and walked toward the door. After a few steps, he stopped.
Back at home, he had thought it over carefully. Xu Suyu’s situation was indeed difficult right now. Marrying Jiang Sun wouldn’t make her life any better than being sent down to the countryside.
If he didn’t help her…
Forget it. Hardening his heart, he turned around and came back.
“Comrade Xu, I can marry you—but you must promise me first that after this storm passes, you’ll divorce me. During the marriage, I won’t touch you, because in my heart… there’s already someone else.”