A delicate beauty takes a place in a marriage, while a cold, rough man seduces her every night.

Qiao Qingyan choked on her own saliva and coughed lightly twice, her cheeks slightly flushed.

"Did you hear that?" She pouted and explained softly, "I was just saying that on purpose for Jiang Runsheng to hear, don't take it to heart."

Xiao Jingye remained silent, just gazing at her quietly.

After a long while, he slowly uttered three words: "I understand."

Qiao Qingyan held the candy wrapper in her hand. Seeing his indifferent expression, she took the initiative to start a conversation to ease the atmosphere.

"I left the money you gave me this morning on your bedside table. We cooked noodles at home for lunch, and Mom also steamed some cured meat. We didn't go out to eat."

"Um."

"How did your sales go today? Was it smooth sailing?"

"smoothly."

Where in the city do you sell your mountain products?

"Erlijing".

"Erlijing?" Qiao Qingyan's eyes lit up suddenly. "My high school was near Erlijing."

"Yes, I often pass by there," Xiao Jingye said.

"Then why haven't I seen you before?"

Even if I've seen you before, you wouldn't recognize me.

Qiao Qingyan nodded and muttered, "That makes sense..."

After washing up that evening, Zeng Yumei pulled Duoduo into her room and said to her son and daughter-in-law, "You two should get some rest too."

After saying that, she secretly gave Xiao Jingye a wink.

Qiao Qingyan pretended not to see it and lightly touched the tip of her nose: "Mom, you should get some rest too."

When Xiao Jingye closed the courtyard gate and bolted the main room door before coming in, Qiao Qingyan was already lying down.

A coarse cloth curtain blocked Xiao Jingye's view.

He was taken aback, and suddenly raised an eyebrow.

Who are we guarding against?

Night fell, enveloping the courtyard. Xiao Jingye lay in bed, another sleepless night.

He used to work and hunt, and when he got tired, he would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the bed.

Now that he's married, he's tossing and turning every night, unable to sleep.

He took out the white headband and looked at it. After thinking it over, he felt he had no right to give it to her, and he was even more afraid that his excessive enthusiasm would arouse the other party's vigilance and resentment.

In the end, he temporarily stuffed the hairband under the quilts on his kang (a heated brick bed).

Memories drift back to a summer many years ago.

At that time, Qiao Qingyan was only seven or eight years old, while Xiao Jingye was already a tall thirteen-year-old boy.

That day, he got into a fight with several teenage boys near the school. His nose was bleeding, and his clothes were torn and disheveled.

Unfortunately, the weather turned against them, and a torrential downpour suddenly began.

The children who had fought with him all scattered and ran home. His home was at the foot of the mountain at the end of the village, a long way away. He dared not go back to the classroom, so he could only cover his bleeding nose and lean against the wall alone, waiting for the rain to stop.

The wall was bare and offered no shelter, and the cold rain poured down on him.

People were leaving the school gate in groups when suddenly a small figure appeared out of nowhere, holding a large lotus leaf and gently supporting it on his head to shield him from the wind and rain.

The little girl wore a floral dress and had two thin braids. She was too short, so she had to stand on tiptoe and look up at him.

"Brother... why are you bleeding?"

Her mouth was small, and her voice was soft and sweet, like a piece of candy, gently falling into my ear.

Xiao Jingye remained silent, only raising his eyes to look at her indifferently.

The girl had clear, bright almond-shaped eyes. She blinked, took a clean handkerchief from her pocket, and tiptoed to gently wipe away his nosebleed.

"Brother, here, take this, so you don't bleed again later."

She stuffed the handkerchief into his palm and then handed him the lotus leaf, saying, "Here, take the lotus leaf too. Use it to support yourself on your way home so you won't get wet in the rain."

Xiao Jinye blankly accepted the lotus leaf.

Then he heard someone call out, "Qingyan, I brought an umbrella, let's go home together."

"Okay, Runsheng, I'm coming right now."

The girl responded, then turned to Xiao Jingye and said, "Brother, you should go home quickly too. You'll get sick and have a fever if you stay in the rain for too long."

After saying that, he turned and jogged into the vast rain, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

From then on, the girl's name was unknowingly etched into Xiao Jingye's heart.

The moonlight shone softly, and the man on the bed turned over, forcefully suppressing the restlessness surging within him.

He dared not reveal his secret to Qiao Qingyan, for fear of frightening her.

At the same time, he knew that Qiao Qingyan had just broken up with her boyfriend and needed some time to recover.

He had enough patience to wait for her, to wait until she completely forgot about Jiang Runsheng, and to wait until she was willing to be his wife and sleep with him.

-

Chen Xiaomeng has been having a rough few days and is feeling very frustrated.

For a whole week, she got up before dawn every day and took care of all the family's meals. All the work in the kitchen fell on her shoulders, but from beginning to end, no one was willing to show her any consideration.

Her in-laws treated her coldly all day long, and her sister-in-law ignored her when she came home.

Lying in bed at night, Jiang Runsheng became even colder and more distant towards her, always leaving her with only a stiff and cold back view.

She schemed against Jiang Runsheng to marry into the Jiang family, hoping for a peaceful and happy life, not to be treated like a slave and suffer grievances here!

Unable to bear it any longer, Chen Xiaomeng simply quit and went on strike early that morning.

At six o'clock in the morning, Jiang Decheng got up on time and took a walk around the yard. He saw that the kitchen door was closed and there was no sign of cooking.

He went back inside and called for his wife, Wei Yongqiu, but to his surprise, she replied sarcastically, "What? Can't you keep up the act of being a good daughter-in-law anymore?"

Jiang Decheng, enraged, slammed his pipe against the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) twice and said in a deep voice, "Get up and cook! Runsheng has to go to work later; he can't go out on an empty stomach!"

Wei Yongqiu refused to budge.

She thought that if she got up to cook, wouldn't that be indirectly serving Chen Xiaomeng? She wasn't going to do something that would put her at a disadvantage.

"Runsheng is tired of eating simple meals at home every day. There are so many breakfast stalls on the street, let him go out and buy his own food."

Jiang Decheng frowned: "Then what am I going to eat?"

"Eat whatever you want! You won't starve if you skip a meal!" Wei Yongqiu turned over, pulled the blanket over her face, and simply ignored her.

"You lazy woman..." Jiang Decheng muttered under his breath.

On the other hand, Jiang Runsheng went to the countryside to do propaganda yesterday, and he still has to go to the radio station early today for a meeting.

He got up on time, and as he got dressed, Chen Xiaomeng sat up as well: "I'm going out with you today."

Jiang Runsheng paused, turned to look at her, and asked, "Where are you going?"

Chen Xiaomeng quickly got out of bed and went straight to the wardrobe to choose clothes.

"I'm going to the countryside to buy some things. We're going the same way, so let's go out for breakfast together. You go to work, and I'll go shopping. We'll come back together after you get off work."

Jiang Runsheng looked embarrassed; he didn't want to go out with Chen Xiaomeng at all, and made up an excuse to avoid it:

"The fields are waiting to be watered right now. Mom was saying yesterday that the soybean and corn fields are very dry. You should stay home and help with some farm work."

Chen Xiaomeng immediately pouted, muttering with a wronged expression:

"These past few days I've been cooking for your family every day, cleaning the pigsty, tidying the cowshed, and feeding the livestock. I've been busy inside and out, and my arms are so tired I can barely lift them..."

She stepped forward, gently wrapped her arms around Jiang Runsheng's waist, pressed her cheek against his back, and deliberately softened her voice:

"Runsheng, I feel sorry for you, I love you, so I'm willing to do these things. Please feel sorry for me too, okay?"

Jiang Runsheng sighed helplessly and moved her hand away: "Then hurry up, my company has a meeting today."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiaomeng was overjoyed and specially dug out the red dress she wore on her wedding day to change into.

She examined herself closely in the bronze mirror, then tied a bright purple silk scarf around her neck, making her stand out.

After getting ready, she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled with satisfaction.

Jiang Runsheng turned his head and glanced at her outfit. His lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing.

The two walked out of the house side by side and bumped into Jiang Runsheng's eldest sister, Jiang Lanhua, brushing her teeth by the wall in the yard.

Jiang Lanhua is ten years older than Runsheng and has been married for a long time. Her husband's family is from the town. She came back to visit her parents last night and stayed overnight at her parents' house.

Last night, she chatted with her mother until one o'clock in the morning, and heard Wei Yongqiu complaining about Chen Xiaomeng.

Although Jiang Lanhua hadn't had much contact with Chen Xiaomeng, she had already figured out her personality pretty well.

In her eyes, Chen Xiaomeng looked young, but she was cunning and rigid, and had a rustic air about her.

If it weren't for her meddling and ruining Qingyan and Runsheng's marriage, she wouldn't have had the chance to marry into their family.

Jiang Lanhua rinsed the foam from her mouth and asked the two people:

"Where are we going?"

Runsheng replied, "I'm going to work at the radio station. Xiaomeng is coming with me to the countryside to buy some things."

Jiang Lanhua's eyes swept over her sister-in-law from head to toe, a half-smile playing on her lips.

"Oh... I thought we were going to perform on stage somewhere."