Jiang Zhiqing: She’s Going to Pester You Again Later…
Xie Mingtu pushed open the door with a creak, lowered his head, and entered without a word. Su Xiaoman, who was sitting on the bed waiting for him, was curious and asked, “Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
Sun Mei vented all her grievances on him, so why didn’t he say anything to her?
Xie Mingtu shook his head.
He silently tidied up the room, while Su Xiaoman went to make herself a cup of sugar water. She used the brown sugar sent by the third brother of the Su family and added some ginger. Her stomach wasn’t feeling well, probably because her period was coming.
The food at the Xie household was terrible, especially at night when it was Xie’s eldest sister-in-law who cooked. She didn’t eat much.
Su Xiaoman took a sip of the warm sugar water and thought she must find a way to improve the meals, perhaps by secretly cooking something herself.
You couldn’t abuse anything, especially not her stomach.
“Xie Mingtu, has your mother always favoured your second brother’s family?”
“I don’t know.”
Xie Mingtu shook his head and piled up the straw in the corner.
“Has your mother always treated you badly?”
Xie Mingtu: “…”
Even though he didn’t say a word, Su Xiaoman could guess what kind of days he had lived since childhood. How could someone be so cruel?
“Hey, Xie Mingtu, let me ask you a question. If one day you found out that she’s not your biological mother?”
Su Xiaoman was stunned because Xie Mingtu suddenly looked up at her, and it was at this moment that she saw his eyes clearly for the first time. They were exceptionally beautiful, shining like stars in the night.
His previously dishevelled appearance seemed to burst with a captivating charm.
It made Su Xiaoman have the impulse to find a knife and clean up the hair and beard of the person in front of her.
She swallowed the sugar water and resisted the urge.
It didn’t matter if he was good-looking or not. What did it have to do with her?
Su Xiaoman felt a bit uninspired and soon fell asleep on the bed. Xie Mingtu, curled up at the foot of the bed, was halfway suspended, although they were on the same bed, they were far apart from each other.
Xie Mingtu closed his eyes, feeling unusually awake. He couldn’t sleep no matter what, and his hearing became more sensitive as the night went on, able to clearly hear the sound of the person breathing while sleeping.
There was a faint fragrance lingering in the air.
He opened his eyes and stared blankly at the beams on the ceiling.
…What if one day you found out that she’s not your biological mother?
After a sleepless night, Xie Mingtu appeared at the door on time early in the morning to go to work with old man Xie, Xie 3rd, and Xie second who came to watch the show. They all went to work together.
As the autumn wind rose, Xie Mingtu, tall and thin, stood in the wind, his clothes loose on him, like a skeleton in the breeze.
September was busy, and the production team leader had to lead everyone to cultivate new land. The tasks assigned to the members were all heavy.
Xie Mingtu worked quietly among the crowd. His pace was average, not particularly fast, and he was inconspicuous among the adult labour force.
Some short men liked to mock him as a “good-looking but useless” flower frame, saying he was wasted being so tall.
“Hey, Xie Mingtu, about that…”
Xie Mingtu focused on his work, and a sly-looking man named Mo Laosan from the village approached him. He wore a smirk on his face and rubbed his hands in front of Xie Mingtu, saying ambiguously, “How’s it going? Enjoying it?”
Xie Mingtu kept his eyes down, ignoring him.
Mo Laosan had to make his intentions more obvious. “How’s the taste of the women there?”
“You’re lucky. How does Su Xiaoman’s chest feel? Soft enough?”
Xie Mingtu suddenly raised his head, his eyes looking deep and dark.
Mo Laosan took a step back, startled by the look Xie Mingtu gave him. It was as fierce as a wolf cub’s, catching Mo Laosan off guard.
His whole body’s hair stood on end.
When he looked again, Xie Mingtu appeared as usual, with his usual appearance of weakness and silence.
Mo Laosan spat on the ground with a “pah.”
“Married to a flirtatious woman like her, Su Xiaoman will sooner or later run off with another man.”
“Such a beautiful woman, spending a day with her is definitely worth it.”
….
At the production team’s commune, three male and two female educated youth went out with their tools.
“So Su Xiaoman got married? Didn’t expect her to actually marry into the Xie family.”
“These past few days have been peaceful. Now she can’t come and bother us anymore.”
“That Su Xiaoman, sure, she’s good-looking, but what’s the point? She has no education at all, and she actually wants to climb up to Educated Youth Jiang.”
“The love letters she writes are ridiculous. Half of it is full of typos, all crooked and twisted. She even misspelled Educated Youth Jiang’s name, haha. How dare she still pursue Educated Youth Jiang.”
Two of the female educated youth spoke with a sharper tongue, criticizing Su Xiaoman harshly, while the male educated youth nearby chimed in.
Su Xiaoman was indeed beautiful, and although Educated Youth Jiang didn’t fancy her, a few of the other male educated youth had some interest in her to varying degrees.
But Su Xiaoman openly pursued Educated Youth Jiang, so she didn’t even look at the other men, causing them to keep their feelings hidden.
They met Educated Youth Jiang and his roommate Lin Baijun on the way, and they called them to join them for work.
One of the educated youth named Jiang joked with Educated Youth Jiang, “Educated Youth Jiang, Su Xiaoman got married, do you think it’s a pity?”
“Although Su Xiaoman has a low level of education and is a rural girl, she’s beautiful and has good cooking skills. The pastries she makes are delicious.”
When Su Xiaoman used to pursue Educated Youth Jiang, she would often bring food over, showcasing her excellent culinary skills to please her crush.
The educated youth living in the commune took turns cooking, and their food supplies were limited, so their cooking skills were only average, and they didn’t have many good things to eat on ordinary days.
Even though some of the female educated youth didn’t like Su Xiaoman, they sometimes looked forward to her visits because Su Xiaoman’s offerings to Educated Youth Jiang, which he didn’t eat much of, would be shared with them.
Some people had gotten used to mooching off of them.
“She won’t be coming to bring things anymore, what a shame.”
“What a shame you didn’t marry her?”
“No need. She’s always thinking about Educated Youth Jiang. Even though she’s married now, she’s still thinking about Educated Youth Jiang. I don’t want to wear a green hat.”
Educated Youth Jiang had a fair and handsome appearance, of medium build. Among the educated youth, he stood out the most and was the favourite of the young girls for his intellectual appearance. His speech was clear and gentle, making him very popular among the educated youth.
Others often said he had the air of a teacher, very refined and charming.
The educated youth, both male and female, went to work together. They had only been at Qingshui Brigade for a few months, and they hadn’t mastered the farming skills yet. Even the male educated youth could only handle five or six points of work a day.
After working for a while, sweating profusely, they took off their hats and sought shade under the trees to cool off.
“Do you want some water? I brought some for you.” A young woman wearing a straw hat approached with a bucket of water, smiling brightly.
— It was Zhang Lili, who had been reborn.
The educated youth gathered around to drink water.
“Zhang Lili, you’ve gotten a lot fairer.”
“Lili, you’re so hardworking.”
“Thank you for the water, Lili.”
Zhang Lili had dark skin, and her looks could only be described as delicate. After being reborn, she paid attention to sun protection and covered herself up well, so she had gotten a lot fairer recently.
“Lili…” One of the male educated youth, He Liang, looked at Zhang Lili, hesitating.
He Liang had been ambiguous with Zhang Lili before; they were almost privately discussing their romantic interests. He Liang was the scumbag educated youth who abandoned Zhang Lili in his previous life.
After being reborn, Zhang Lili had made it clear to cut ties with He Liang and no longer be ambiguous with him.
But He Liang still wanted to be with her and tried to entangle her. Zhang Lili was annoyed by him.
Zhang Lili’s gaze fell on Educated Youth Jiang.
“Hey, isn’t that Su Xiaoman over there?”
One of the male educated youth pointed in a direction and called out. His words attracted the attention of many people, and many of them looked in the direction he pointed, only to see Educated Youth Jiang drinking water with his head down.
The view in the field is extremely broad, with the sound of birds chirping in the woods. A young girl is walking along the path in the field, carrying a bamboo basket and heading towards the foot of the mountain. She is wearing light green clothes, with her black braids hanging over her left shoulder.
As the wind blows, her clothes cling tightly to her body, outlining her exquisite figure, with her slender waist delicate to the touch.
Along the way, many people stopped their movements.
“Is that Su Xiaoman?”
“Just a few days ago, wasn’t she on the verge of death? How come she’s suddenly become so beautiful?”
“It’s like she’s become a different person.”
Xie Mingtu, who was weeding, heard the commotion around him. When he turned his head, he happened to see Su Xiaoman approaching, and the sickle in his hand almost slipped.
Unconsciously, he recalled the clear breathing and faint fragrance from last night…
He steadied his mind, lowered his head, and a hint of tension appeared in his tightened grip on the sickle.
Su Yuemin, the eldest brother of the Su family, was also here. He put down his hoe and exclaimed happily, “Our Xiaoman is getting more and more beautiful.”
He couldn’t help but nod, proudly saying, “That’s my sister!!”
Su’s eldest sister-in-law, Yang Yingzi, snorted beside him. She had never gotten along with this pretty little sister-in-law. The girl had already married off, yet her parents still sent the youngest son to deliver fish and sweets.
Someone whistled.
“Xie Gouzi is really lucky. He’s married such a beautiful girl.”
“If only I had known, I should have jumped into the water to save her.”
“Why does such good fortune never come to me?”
“Keep dreaming. Who do you think you are, Educated Youth Jiang?”
…
Several educated youth standing on the hill snapped out of it. Lin Baijun pushed Educated Youth Jiang’s arm and exclaimed mischievously, “Uh-oh, Su Xiaoman is coming over again to pester you.”
Everyone knew what was on Educated Youth Jiang’s mind.
Only then did Educated Youth Jiang finally lift his head and, seeing Su Xiaoman walking over, couldn’t help but be momentarily stunned.
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