Wan Tong ran to the doorstep of Yan Qinglu’s house panting, only to see a graceful yet weary figure leaning against the doorway.
That was Lin Cuining, Yan Qinglu’s mother, who hadn’t even reached forty yet. Since their family earn by renting out their land and she never did any farm work, she appeared much younger than others in the village.
Moreover, her features were delicate, especially when she smiled, her crescent-shaped eyes were particularly attractive.
However, Lin Cuining had a violent temper; when she got impatient, she not only used her hands but also her mouth. Even if she cursed at someone, no one dared to really confront her.
“Oh, another one?” Lin Cuining, from afar, caught sight of Wan Tong and said ambiguously before entering the house.
The house was quite remote, with few people living nearby. Wan Tong looked around but couldn’t tell if Yan Qinglu was at home.
After waiting for a while, footsteps suddenly came from the courtyard, and it was indeed Yan Qinglu who walked out.
Upon seeing Wan Tong, his eyes brightened, and a mischievous smile played at the corner of his mouth. “Are you looking for me?”
Yan Qinglu didn’t step out; he just leaned over the half-height fence.
He was already tall, and being so close to her brought about a certain pressure.
Wan Tong took a step back before looking up at him. “Yan Qinglu, thank you for saving me last night.”
She hadn’t told her family about what happened with Yan Qinglu because the timing wasn’t right. If Yan Wan’ying had accused her of having an affair with Yan Qinglu last night, she wouldn’t have been able to refute it.
After all, Yan Qinglu did have a bad reputation.
Yan Qinglu raised an eyebrow, then suddenly reached out, pinching her smooth left cheek with his index finger and thumb. “So, are you offering yourself to me?”
Caught off guard by the pinch on her cheek, Wan Tong quickly stepped back a few steps, staring at him as if guarding against a wolf.
Only then did Yan Qinglu walk around the fence and come out through the rather flimsy wooden door, stepping closer to her.
“Has my sister been here?” Wan Tong asked as she continued to step back.
Yan Qinglu seemed to enjoy playing this cat-and-mouse game with her. He kept pushing her until she was backed against a mud wall across the road before lowering his head slightly, tilting it to the side with a smirk in his black eyes. “Yes, she has.”
“She took my duck without permission. Did she give it to you?” Wan Tong lifted her head to meet his gaze.
In Yan Qinglu’s memory, she had always been timid and fragile, but now she was staring directly at him. Unable to hold her gaze for more than a couple of seconds, he looked away first, his voice slightly hoarse. “Yes, she gave it to me.”
“Can you give it back to me? That duck is still young…”
“Do you want to exchange it for a bigger one?”
“…” Wan Tong choked. “I don’t want to exchange, I want you to give me back my duck.”
“Heh…” Yan Qinglu suddenly laughed. “Do you think that’s possible?”
Just then, a scent of braised meat seemed to waft from the house…
Yan Qinglu suddenly spoke up, “Do you smell that?”
Wan Tong was stunned and had a bad feeling. Did he put the duck, that hatched just half a month ago, on the stove??
She felt her eyes heating up, and soon, bright teardrops filled her eyes.
Yan Qinglu’s expression stiffened for a moment, his hand suspended in mid-air, not knowing what to do. “You… why are you crying?”
“Yan Qinglu, it hasn’t grown up yet, it’s not enough to even get stuck in your teeth…” Wan Tong’s voice sounded muffled, not even its feathers have fully grown…
Yan Qinglu knew she cherished those ducks like treasures, but he didn’t expect her to cry. He felt a bit flustered for a moment. Glancing around, he placed his hand on the earthen wall behind her, and said in a rough voice, “I didn’t touch it!”
Seeing his expression, Wan Tong felt like laughing again. She bit her lip, blinked away the moisture in her eyes, and asked in a muffled voice, “Really?”
“Really!” Yan Qinglu ground his teeth slightly, his black eyes staring straight into her watery ones.
“Then will you give it back to me?”
Yan Qinglu furrowed his brows, before he could reply, Wan Tong added, “I’ll ask my younger sister to send you something else. The duck is mine, she gave it away without asking me…”
Her voice sounded a bit aggrieved, which made Yan Qinglu feel a twinge of bitterness too. Of course, his expression didn’t look good. He tugged at the corner of his mouth and said, “Do you know why she’s sending me things?”
“…”
“She said she likes me.”
Yan Qinglu uttered each word slowly, his eyes locked onto her face, not missing any of her expressions.
Wan Tong : D*mn.
—Isn’t Yan Wan’ying moving too fast?
“Yan Qinglu…” She hesitated, not knowing what to say.
Yan Wan’ying said she liked him, gave him a duck, and his favorability of her suddenly improved?
Was it because of the warmth Yan Wan’ying provided?
The wind blew, revealing the pink scar on the right side of Wan Tong’s face and the wound on her forehead. Yan Qinglu’s gaze paused, and there was a momentary stiffness in the curve of his lips.
Yan Qinglu lowered his gaze, his obsidian-like eyes losing their light in an instant. “The injury from last night?”
He suddenly changed the topic, leaving Wan Tong a bit lost. It took her a moment to nod, then she uncomfortably brushed her bangs aside.
Yan Qinglu wanted to ask something else but couldn’t bring himself to say it. He rudely pushed her hair aside.
Wan Tong quickly dodged away, slipping out from under his arm. “What are you doing?”
Yan Qinglu’s hands were already in his pockets, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. “You’ve read books, haven’t you? Don’t you know it’s not good to cover the wound like this?”
“Fourth Sister!” Yan Wan’ying’s voice suddenly came.
Wan Tong turned to look. “Youngest Sister, did you go fishing?”
Yan Wan’ying indeed had two fish in her hands, the grass rope passed through their gills and mouths. But judging by the way they were tied, it didn’t seem like something she would do.
“Yeah…” Yan Wan’ying nodded vaguely, then ran over and stood beside Yan Qinglu, staring at Wan Tong with a pensive gaze. “Fourth Sister, why are you here? Are you looking for me?”
Wan Tong knew she was probing and guarding against something.
She turned to her, speaking softly, “You stole my duck…”
“…” Yan Wan’ying’s mouth twitched. “They’re all from our home. I gave one to A’Yan. Sister, you didn’t come here because of this, did you?”
Wan Tong nodded, indeed, she came mainly because of that.
Yan Wan’ying saw her behaving absent-mindedly with her hair in a messy and shabby manner, and suddenly a sense of superiority emerged, “Fourth Sister, you go back first. I’ll explain to you later, okay?”
She only sent the duck to Yan Qinglu just to find an excuse to interact with him, but she didn’t expect him to make a request, asking her to catch fish for him.
However, only Yan Qinglu would make such an unreasonable request to her.
At that time, her head spun, and she really went to the riverside, but coincidentally met a boy who admired her fishing there, so she directly took the fish from him.
Wan Tong noticed the superiority in Yan Wan’ying’s expression and Yan Wan’ying’s disdain for her. She pursed her lips and turned away.
According to the residual sense of inferiority in her subconscious, she would indeed choose to avoid.
Moreover, she also wanted to see to what extent Yan Wan’ying would go to get close to Yan Qinglu.
After Wan Tong disappeared, Yan Wan’ying directly handed the fish to Yan Qinglu, “Here, letting a girl catch fish for you in the middle of winter, you are really heartless.”
Yan Qinglu didn’t take it. He leaned against the earthen wall where Wan Tong had been leaning against, and looked at her askance, “Your Fourth Sister is so grown up, did she still tripped over herself?”
Yan Wan’ying herself liked the handsome and rebellious type of boys, and Yan Qinglu was the one she fancied, so at this moment, looking at him, she had no reason left?
“No, my Fourth Sister eloped with a middle school classmate last night, fell down the hillside, and came back injured in the middle of the night.” She said this without any psychological burden.
Anyway, the family would never let the truth leak out, and her Fourth Sister would never talk to Yan Qinglu about it, so even if she lied, no one would know.
“Elope?” Yan Qinglu squeezed out these two words, his eyes dark and unclear.
Yan Wan’ying seemed to hear a cold laugh, a very light laugh. She thought he was mocking her Fourth Sister’s elopement, and remembering last night she felt a bit annoyed, so she continued, “Yeah, her middle school classmate Xu Jie, he also dropped out of school and worked outside. Fourth Sister probably yearns for city life, so she decided to go with him.”
Meeting Yan Qinglu’s dark gaze, Yan Wan’ying felt a little guilty for some reason, so she quickly changed the subject, “Do you still want the fish?”
Yan Qinglu swept her from top to bottom with a somewhat sarcastic tone, “What do you like about me? Want to elope with me?”
Yan Wan’ying shyly lowered her head, “I like you, but I can’t explain why. Why should we elope? It’s enough if my family agrees, right?”
Yan Qinglu inexplicably smirked, his eyes devoid of any amusement, “If I remember correctly, a few days ago, you threw stones at me and called me disgusting.”
Yan Wan’ying’s smile froze. That was what the original owner did.
She also knew from the plot that Yan Qinglu would kill the original owner and Xu Jie, but what was the reason for him to do so? Was it because of Yan Wantong?
But Yan Wantong was quite ugly and looked malnourished. While she, Yan Wan’ying, was one of the top beauties in the village, about to enter the third year of high school in the spring. What was better about Yan Wantong compared to her?
“…I was just annoyed at the moment, why do you always ignore me?”
Whether Yan Qinglu believed it or not, he just smirked and went into the courtyard.
Yan Wan’ying wanted to catch up, but she heard his slightly irritable voice, “Stay away from me!”
Yan Wan’ying felt depressed. Everything was fine just now. Why did he suddenly get angry?
In winter, it gets dark early. When Wan Tong returned home, it was already dark around. She originally wanted to help with cooking, but her Eldest Brother didn’t let her, and not long after, Yan Wan’ying came back with fish, saying she wanted to add some dishes to the meal.
The three brothers, who were still somewhat angry with her, saw that she seemed to have matured a bit, and they smiled.
Wan Tong looked at those two fish and knew for sure that she must have been rejected by Yan Qinglu.
After eating and drinking her fill, Wan Tong habitually took Da Huang out for a walk.
They walked around near the house. Although there were no lights, they could still see the road clearly.
Every household had lights and cooking smoke, but there were few people on the road.
Seeing the tall figure suddenly appearing in front of her, Wan Tong was startled, but Da Huang sniffed at the person and remained silent.
“Yan Qinglu…” Wan Tong called out, holding the rope firmly in her hand.
“…” Yan Qinglu’s tongue pressed against his slightly itchy palate, his gaze somewhat unsettling.
Before, she dared not make a sound when she saw him. She would just turn and walk away. If he stopped her, she would stare at him silently until he finished teasing her and let her go.
But now, every time, she would quietly utter his name.
How did he not notice before that his name sounded really damn nice?
Author’s note :
Well… obviously, it’s because her voice sounds nice.
Huhu 😭 please update more, I’ve been camping here for so long enough to forget what the story is all about.