After becoming a widow, I became the apple of a rough man's eye.

"Get away from me!" Lin Qingqing was so frightened that her face turned pale, and she desperately tried to back away.

But Zhao Si was a rogue, and seeing that no one around dared to interfere, he became even bolder. He grabbed Lin Qingqing's wrist, the very spot where Qin Lie hadn't dared to grip it tightly.

His rough, large hands caressed her delicate skin, and Zhao Si said with a look of ecstasy, "So smooth...like tofu. Qingqing, let Uncle touch you..."

"Let go! Help!" Lin Qingqing screamed in terror, and the soy sauce bottle in her hand fell to the ground and shattered.

There were quite a few onlookers, but they just pointed and whispered; no one stepped forward. After all, Zhao Si was a rascal, and nobody wanted to get involved.

Seeing that no one was stopping him, Zhao Si became even more unrestrained, and with his other hand he directly wrapped his arm around Lin Qingqing's waist: "What are you yelling about? That's just for fun! Follow me, and I'll make you feel like you're in heaven..."

The word "death" hadn't even been uttered yet.

A gust of wind suddenly blew by.

Immediately following was a dull thud of flesh impact, accompanied by the crisp sound of bones breaking.

"Snap!"

"Awooo—!"

Zhao Si flew out like a tattered sack, tracing an arc in the air before crashing heavily onto a pile of firewood three meters away, kicking up a cloud of dust. He clutched his chest, writhing on the ground in pain, letting out pig-like screams.

Lin Qingqing was still in shock and hadn't even seen what was happening when she was pulled into a hard, hot embrace.

Qin Lie stood in front of her, his trouser legs speckled with mud. The bag of rice and several packets of medicine he had been carrying were now lying on the ground.

At this moment, Qin Lie's muscles were taut, the veins on his forehead were bulging, and his wolf-like eyes were churning with bloodthirsty ferocity.

He stared intently at Zhao Si, who was groaning on the ground. The villagers who had been making sarcastic remarks just moments before fell silent, not daring to utter a sound.

No one expected Qin Lie to return so suddenly, and to be so ruthless. That kick looked painful; Zhao Si probably broke at least two ribs.

Qin Lie slowly withdrew his leg and turned around.

Instead of comforting Lin Qingqing immediately, he coldly scanned the surrounding crowd with his sinister eyes.

Wherever his gaze fell, everyone instinctively lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes.

"Listen up, all of you."

Qin Lie's voice wasn't loud, but it exploded in everyone's ears like thunder.

"Lin Qingqing is mine."

He paused, then reached out and put his arm around Lin Qingqing's still trembling shoulder. "From now on, if anyone dares to lay a finger on her or speak ill of her..." Qin Lie pointed at Zhao Si, who was still spitting out blood, "this is their fate."

After saying that, he didn't care about the reactions of the people around him. He bent down, picked up the rice bag on the ground with one hand, and tightly gripped Lin Qingqing's wrist with the other.

"Let's go home."

The road home wasn't long, but Lin Qingqing felt like she had walked for a very long time.

Qin Lie walked very fast, taking long strides, and Lin Qingqing had to jog to keep up. His grip was very strong, holding her wrist like an iron hoop, which hurt painfully.

But the warmth of his palm flowed continuously through her skin, making Lin Qingqing feel flustered and confused.

The phrase "she's mine" kept echoing in her mind.

He was domineering and tyrannical, yet he miraculously brought her heart, which had been hanging in mid-air, to the ground.

Once inside the courtyard, Qin Lie finally released his grip.

Lin Qingqing glanced at her wrist, where a red mark was clearly visible.

Qin Lie saw it too. He frowned, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just scratched his head in frustration and threw the rice bag onto the table in the main room.

"Tell me if you need anything in the future. Don't wander off alone." The tone was harsh and commanding.

Lin Qingqing rubbed her wrist and whispered, "Okay."

"Give me your hand."

Lin Qingqing was taken aback, then obediently extended her hand.

Qin Lie pulled a box of Tiger Balm from his pocket, scooped out a dollop, and roughly smeared it on the red mark on her wrist. His rough fingertips, covered in calluses, sent a jolt of electricity through her delicate skin as they rubbed against her skin.

"Does it hurt?" he asked without looking up.

"No...it doesn't hurt," Lin Qingqing lied. Actually, it hurt a lot, but the way he kicked Zhao Si away was so cool that she forgot the pain.

Qin Lie paused for a moment, looked up at her, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

"Don't be such a coward in the future." He closed the lid. "You're my cousin. If anything happens, I'll take care of it. Even if the sky falls, there's always someone tall enough to hold it up."

……

As night fell, Qingshan Village fell into a deathly silence.

The Qin family ate dinner in silence. Li Dongye didn't return; he said he was delivering goods to the county town and would be spending the night away. The second and third sons, Gu Qiangying and Jiang He, were also not home.

Only Qin Lie and Lin Qingqing remained at home.

After finishing their meal, Qin Lie, a lone man and woman, pointed to the east room and said, "You can continue sleeping in that room; it's warm there."

Lin Qingqing nodded, took her pillow into the room, made the bed, blew out the kerosene lamp, and crawled into bed.

Although it was summer, the nights in the mountains were still a bit chilly. She curled up in her blankets, listening to the cicadas chirping outside the window and the occasional barking of dogs in the distance, but she couldn't fall asleep.

The wall is too thin.

The main room was next door, where Qin Lie slept on the floor.

She could clearly hear the sounds coming from the other side.

The rustling sound of the straw mat when turning over.

The click of a lighter lighting a cigarette.

There was also the sound of a man's heavy, suppressed breathing.

Every breath seemed to echo in her ear. Lin Qingqing could even picture Qin Lie's appearance at that moment—bare-chested, lying on his back on a straw mat, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, his wolf-like eyes staring at the roof beam, lost in thought.

Lin Qingqing tossed and turned until she finally drifted off to sleep in the middle of the night.

Her dream was filled with Li Ergou's hideous face and Zhao Si's big yellow teeth. They grinned and pounced on her, tearing at her clothes, trying to drag her into a bottomless abyss.

"No... Help..."

Lin Qingqing struggled in her nightmare, flailing her arms and legs, her clothes soaked with cold sweat.

"ah--!"

A short scream shattered the silence of the night.

The breathing in the next room stopped instantly.

The next second, there was a loud "bang" as the door to the east room was suddenly pushed open.

A tall, dark figure, accompanied by the night wind and the strong smell of tobacco, stormed in.

Lin Qingqing woke up with a start, hugging the blanket and huddled in the corner of the bed, trembling all over, tears streaming down her face.

By the moonlight streaming through the window, she saw Qin Lie standing by the bed.

He was indeed shirtless, his well-defined muscles undulating in the moonlight, wearing only a pair of loose shorts. The scar across his chest looked particularly gruesome.

He was still holding the hunting knife he hadn't parted from, clearly having rushed in the moment he heard the commotion.

Seeing the woman huddled in the corner of the bed, crying her eyes out, Qin Lie's tense body slowly relaxed, and he put the knife back into his lower back.