A charming widow in her 70s married a factory manager and raised his children.

Zhuang Qingxiang gasped in fright, and when she looked up, she met a pair of angry eyes.

"Isn't there an umbrella by the door? Why aren't you using it?" Lu Congyue asked sternly.

Zhuang Qingxiang paused for a moment before coming to her senses, and stammered, "It's just a couple of steps, no need to go to all that trouble..."

"Is it too much trouble to use an umbrella in this heavy rain?" Lu Congyue questioned.

His tone was harsh, which made Zhuang Qingxiang somewhat unhappy. She was brought back for no reason and then subjected to a barrage of questions, which she found unacceptable.

"Director Lu, it seems you're not using an umbrella either..." she reminded him softly.

Lu Congyue paused.

Zhuang Qingxiang took the opportunity to twist her wrist and free it from his grasp.

Then Lu Congyue retorted unhappily, "How can that be the same? I'm a man, and you're a woman!"

Zhuang Qingxiang sighed inwardly: Even such a short distance requires a distinction between men and women?

But then she suddenly realized what the problem was.

Lu Congyue was already soaked when she was at her house, and now she was even more so, with her clothes clinging to her body half-wet.

The light, white clothing accentuated the difference between women and men.

Zhuang Qingxiang gasped, raised her hand to cover her chest, and turned her back to Lu Congyue.

Lu Congyue felt his breathing was a little heavy.

Just as Zhuang Qingxiang was about to leave the kitchen, he grabbed her shoulder and held her in place.

The cooler the rain, the higher his temperature.

Zhuang Qingxiang trembled slightly from the heat of his palm, as if struck by lightning, leaving her mind blank.

The atmosphere was off, and Lu Congyue was acting strangely, as if something was about to happen. Zhuang Qingxiang inexplicably found it difficult to breathe and her legs felt weak.

The next second, she was pulled into Lu Congyue's arms.

She had never been held like this by a man before; the strong, powerful arms and the passionate embrace were all familiar.

Zhuang Qingxiang had never been so sensitive, to her own body and to a man's body.

This has nothing to do with love, but it does involve affection.

Zhuang Qingxiang was afraid of herself. She wasn't a promiscuous woman, so why did she have this inexplicable desire?!

"Let go!" Zhuang Qingxiang found her voice and pleaded in a low voice, "Director Lu, you're a good person, please don't do this."

Lu Congyue suddenly let go, his face looking rather grim.

Just now, for some inexplicable reason...

But even more inexplicably, seeing Zhuang Qingxiang about to run away, he hurriedly said, "I can marry you."

Zhuang Qingxiang paused, turned around, and saw a blank face.

She couldn't even tell if he regretted saying what he had just said.

If he really wanted to marry her, he would at least smile, right?

Zhuang Qingxiang frowned slightly, wondering what was wrong with Lu Congyue today.

"Director Lu, you..." Did you get too wet in the rain and your brain got waterlogged? Why are you talking nonsense?

After saying those words, Lu Congyue seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and said in a deep voice, "I'm serious. I can marry you, take care of the children with you, and ensure you have a comfortable life."

Lu Congyue was telling the truth.

From the moment this woman appeared before him, he knew he was in trouble.

Having lived for over thirty years, this is the first time I've wanted to sleep with a woman. I think about it every day and every night, but I can't sleep with her without getting married.

It's just marriage; he thinks it's feasible.

He was unmarried, she was a widow, they were about the same age, and she was beautiful from head to toe, even her hair could entice him. Marrying her would be great.

Lu Congyue felt reassured and said earnestly again, "Comrade Zhuang Qingxiang, let's get married."

"Why?" Zhuang Qingxiang asked, puzzled.

She knew she wasn't smart enough; if she were, she would have agreed immediately.

She was just a widow from the countryside, penniless, unemployed, and with two children to raise. Most widowers in the countryside wouldn't marry her.

Lu Congyue is the factory director, rich and powerful. Marrying him would ensure a life of comfort and security.

But conversely, why did Factory Director Lu want to marry her? She had nothing but two children; what kind of woman couldn't he have?

Lu Congyue looked at her half-wet body, his eyes deep: "Don't play dumb..."

"If you don't know, why have you been avoiding me?"

The attraction between men and women is mutual. If he can feel it, she must feel it too, otherwise she wouldn't be avoiding him, and besides, she wouldn't be secretly watching him.

Zhuang Qingxiang's cheeks suddenly flushed, thinking that Lu Congyue was saying that she liked him.

Zhuang Qingxiang has never liked anyone. She is too busy every day to have time to like any man.

After she got married, the man treated her very well, and she was grateful, but she couldn't say she liked him.

So she didn't know whether she was grateful to Lu Congyue or liked him. She was even afraid that Lu Congyue would find out that she was actually just, maybe, probably, perhaps... lusting after his body.

Zhuang Qingxiang quickly turned around, afraid that Lu Congyue would see her burning face.

She felt incredibly frustrated: Do women become so shameless once they turn thirty?

She had never thought any man had a good physique before, nor had she ever dreamed of one...

But if Lu Congyue likes her and wants to marry her, then she...

"Director Lu, why...why do you want to marry me?" Zhuang Qingxiang asked, mustering her courage.

The sound of rain made her voice weak and uncertain, but Zhuang Qingxiang knew he could hear her.

The kitchen was very quiet, and Zhuang Qingxiang waited patiently.

After a long while, we finally heard Lu Congyue's reply.

"If you want to marry me, then marry me. You're someone who can take care of children."

Zhuang Qingxiang's flushed face gradually subsided: "Just because of this?"

Lu Congyue looked slightly embarrassed, relieved that Zhuang Qingxiang had her back to him: "Mm."

He can't exactly say it's because he wants to touch her, that would be indecent, wouldn't it?

Zhuang Qingxiang straightened her back slightly and said in a low voice, "Director Lu, I can take good care of the child now, as long as you pay my salary on time..."

"That's different," Lu Congyue retorted immediately.

"Nothing's different," Zhuang Qingxiang said calmly. "You hire me to work, and I do the work. It's fair! If you marry me, things will get complicated."

Zhuang Qingxiang felt that her mind was incredibly clear at this moment.

Getting paid to work is much better than marrying him.

After marrying him, she did the same thing, but she didn't get a salary. She could only wait for him to give her living expenses every month. If he felt that the living expenses were too much, or stopped giving them because of some dissatisfaction, then she and the children would go hungry, and she would be forced to pitifully ask for money.

Zhuang Qingxiang shuddered.

She had seen such terrible days before; her mother had lived that kind of life.

When my mother left the farm, she had some money. Some of it she had saved while working as a maid and concubine in the farm, and some was compensation given to her by the farm when she left.

The money was eventually taken by the stepfather.

Once it was cleared that no more money could be coaxed from her mother, her mother's life took a sharp turn for the worse. She no longer saw her stepfather's kindness, and even when she fell seriously ill after giving birth to her younger brother, her stepfather was unable to find a doctor to treat her.

Every day at her stepfather's house, Zhuang Qingxiang thought that if her mother had taken that money and never remarried, she might have lived a life of comfort and wealth and wouldn't have left this world so early.

She has a salary now and can also exchange her skills for some money on the black market. She can support herself, so why would she want to get married?