Country Love: Xie Dajiao, 37, is pregnant!

"My neighbors talk about me behind my back, saying that I haven't been able to conceive for so many years because there's something wrong with my body. My in-laws also gossip about me. I have to bear all the nasty things myself. Who can I tell? They don't know that it's because Pi Changshan is impotent! His body is almost ruined!"

She became more and more agitated as she spoke, tears streaming down her face. Her eyes were fixed on Lin Chen, and she grew bolder and bolder, inching closer and closer to him.

"Lin Chen, I've always treated you differently since we were little. I protected you when you were a child, but you left before you even grew up. Now that you're back, I'm truly moved."

Xie Lan's eyes were bold, making no attempt to conceal her inner desires, and her words were blatant:

"I've been wanting you for a long time, Lin Chen. I'm a woman, and I need a man to care for me and hold me."

"The moment you hugged me just now, I've never felt so safe and secure in my life. I don't want to hold back anymore, I don't want to wrong myself anymore. Lin Chen, can you spend some time with me today?"

She moved an inch closer, her face almost touching Lin Chen's, her hot breath on his face. Her eyes were wet and tearful, filled with longing, revealing her feelings without reservation or restraint.

Lin Chen looked at Xie Lan, her eyes brimming with tears, and saw the undisguised desire in them. After a moment of silence, his mind became perfectly clear; he knew he had to speak his mind:

"Sister Lan, let me make this clear: I can help you temporarily, but taking responsibility for it is impossible. I will not interfere in your marriage, nor will I help you get a divorce. There will be no future for us. Think it through. Are you still willing?"

Hearing this, Xie Lan not only didn't back down, but instead smiled gently, reached out and lightly grasped Lin Chen's wrist, her tone relaxed, showing no intention of forcing him to take responsibility:

"I understand, I never intended for you to take responsibility."

"I never thought about divorcing Pi Changshan. I live in Xiangyashan and I care about my reputation. I can't get a divorce. If I do, I won't be able to hold my head up in the village, and my parents will be disgraced too."

"I'm not being so bold as to come to you today because I want to remarry. Don't worry, I'm not trying to ruin your life. I'm just holding back my anger. I want to get revenge on Pi Changshan. He neglects me, ignores me, and doesn't treat me like a woman. So I'm going to do something to make myself feel better."

"I don't ask you to make any promises to me in the future. We won't bother each other anymore. We'll live our lives as usual. I'll still be Pi Changshan's wife, and you'll still be you. We won't bother each other. You can rest assured."

After saying this, Xie Lan completely abandoned all her reserve, took the initiative to raise her hand, gently wrapped her arms around Lin Chen's neck, and leaned close to him, her eyes filled with a desperate courage.

The door was locked, the curtains were not drawn, and the room was quiet. In this atmosphere, the two of them completely broke down and could no longer restrain themselves.

All of Xie Lan's previous grievances, loneliness, longing, and the palpitations that had arisen from the embrace just now, erupted completely at this moment!

The landscape of Ivory Mountain has changed!

The dark clouds on the horizon looked like tattered cotton soaked in ink. The thunder wasn't a muffled rumble, but a deafening clatter that shook the wooden windows of the house.

The rain wasn't lines at all; it was a horizontal whip that lashed the tiles with a loud "crackling" sound. The leaves of the old poplar tree at the village entrance cried out in pain as it was struck, and thousands of willow branches were stretched straight by the wind, leaning backward as if they were about to be uprooted.

Just as the wind was at its strongest, two large gourds hanging under the eaves of someone's house were blown off their ropes.

Those were two gourds that had been drying in the sun all summer. They were round and plump, like two golden basketballs, and so light that they could be lifted up by the wind.

As soon as the ropes broke, they hit the courtyard wall with a "thud," bounced back, and just as they landed, they were caught by a gust of wind carrying mud and water.

In an instant, the gourd seemed to be pressed onto a high-speed spring, and it flew up and down wildly.

There was no slow, gentle rise and fall at all; it was being violently bounced by the strong wind!

It had just hit the muddy ground, splashing up a spray of water, when it was lifted half a meter off the ground by the wind before it could even get a firm foothold. It tumbled and soared upwards, only to be slammed down by the wind at its peak, crashing to the ground with a "thud," before bouncing up again, like a bouncing ball that never stops.

They scurried about in the yard, bumping into each other up and down, their shadows stretching into two blurry streaks of light in the gray rain.

The complete shape was not visible at all; all that could be heard was a dense "pat-pat-pat-pat" sound, like the beat of a drum.

The wind blew them left and right, and sometimes the two gourds collided in mid-air and bounced apart with a "smack". Sometimes they chased each other.

The one in front had just landed and bounced up when the one behind flew past it, almost crashing into it.

The rain washed them until they were shiny, and with each sway, they flung out countless glistening water droplets that shimmered in the lightning.

The wind only subsided slightly after the jumping continued for a full half hour.

The frequency of the gourd gradually decreased, from three or four times per second to once every one or two seconds, and finally fell into the mud at the doorway with a "thud".

Xie Lan was terrified by the raging wind and rain outside, and screamed:

"Oh my god! This is huge!"

The rain was still falling, but it had turned into a light drizzle.

Water droplets dripped from the eaves in a continuous stream, and water continued to trickle from the leaves of the old poplar tree.

The two gourds lay in the water, like two young soldiers who had just finished a tough battle.

The air was filled with the fresh scent of earth and the clean fragrance of fresh air. The entire Ivory Mountain was washed clean by the sudden rain, and even the distant mountain peaks looked exceptionally verdant.

It was almost noon when Lin Chen finally comforted Xie Lan and got up to call Pi Changshan, but Xie Lan stopped him.

"Brother, you go home first. I need to pack up and relax. I'll call him later, don't worry."

Lin Chen looked at her and said uncertainly:

"Are you really going to hit him? Don't wait until he comes back before you scratch him."

"Don't worry, I'm done hitting him, I'm not going to fight him anymore..."

When Xie Lan said this, she was weak and listless.

Lin Chen nodded in satisfaction, thinking to himself that he really was a master at mediating disputes.

"Okay, I'll be going then, Sister Lan. Call me if you need anything."

"Okay, you should go now. I'll be troubling you a lot in the future..."

Lin Chen unlocked the door, went out, stretched, and rubbed his back. It had been a little tight, but moving around made it feel much better.

Seeing that he had left, Xie Lan forced herself to open the curtains and windows, letting in a draft of air, which was quite a detail.

She washed a towel and kept wiping her sweat, muttering to herself:

"Sigh... Lin Chen's future wife is really lucky. I wonder whose daughter she is."

Lin Chen walked home slowly with his hands in his pockets.

Having just left Xie Lan's house, he still carried a faint scent of soap mixed with the fragrance of women's cosmetics, and the image of Xie Lan's wide-open mouth and soft body flashed through his mind.

He shook his head, banishing those chaotic thoughts, and looked up to see Li Daguo's beat-up white half-truck parked in front of the grocery store.