Chapter 41

Xie Tingyu clearly saw the man standing next to Ye Qingshui.

His hand clenched tightly—so much so that he didn’t even realize how much force he was using.

Ye Qingshui struggled to pull her wrist free, but couldn’t. Frowning, she said, “Why are you here?”

Qian Xiangdong noticed that his business partner was being gripped by a man, and the look on her face wasn’t pleasant. He couldn’t help but say, “Hey, brother, you’ve made the girl’s wrist red.”

Xie Tingyu’s expression darkened even more, and his thin lips pressed together tightly.

Ye Qingshui became angry and forcefully shook off Xie Tingyu’s hand. “What is wrong with you?”

His tightly clenched hand was now empty. A wave of emptiness rushed into his chest, but right after, it was overwhelmed by even more anger.

His face was cold, and he sneered, “I stood under the sun waiting for you for so long, and you’re here—”

Only then did Ye Qingshui turn to look at him. The tall man stood with the light behind him. His fair face was flushed red from the sun, and beads of sweat streamed down his temples and cheeks. She imagined how he must have stood under the scorching sun, how he must have dragged his inconvenient legs all the way to the black market…

He was still carrying a backpack.

Ye Qingshui’s tone softened a bit. She said, “Didn’t I tell you to wait for me?”

Ye Qingshui reached into Xie Tingyu’s backpack and pulled out some paper and a pen. She quickly wrote on a blank sheet and handed it to Qian Xiangdong.

“What I just told you is all written here. Please help me look into it carefully later…”

Qian Xiangdong accepted the paper from her, and Xie Tingyu looked like he was about to throw a punch.

Ye Qingshui hurriedly shoved the furious Xie Tingyu onto the bike’s backseat, then jumped on the bicycle herself and started pedaling.

Xie Tingyu was still clearly upset.

Ye Qingshui finally explained, “Why are you so angry? I didn’t do anything with him. He’s just a reseller. He usually helps me sell food—”

So… he helps her sell food.

That means she’s been in contact with this man every day.

Xie Tingyu curled his lips, the corners of his mouth lifting into a cold sneer.

Ye Qingshui was confused. She didn’t quite understand what had made this young master behind her so unhappy. But thinking of what he did today—lending her Xie Dongmei’s clothes and shoes so she could appear decently at the award ceremony—

She said gratefully, “Thank you for lending me the clothes, and the shoes too.”

She added a little cautiously, “I’ll wash them and send them back to Dongmei—”

At the mention of the clothes and shoes, Xie Tingyu’s irritation only grew worse.

At a time like this, she was still bringing up Xie Dongmei. How could she be so clueless? Did she really think there were that many women in the world with the exact same shoe size?

Xie Tingyu forced himself to calm down and deliberately changed the subject. He said coldly, “Aren’t girls around here usually pretty conservative?”

“I heard that if an unmarried woman lets a man see her feet, she’s supposed to marry him. So why were you holding hands with a man just now so casually… Shuiya, do you know what you were doing?”

When Xie Tingyu and the other educated youth had just arrived, the older ones had warned them about the local customs—bizarre ones like how unmarried girls’ feet couldn’t be seen, or if someone touched their hair, they had to marry them.

Although most of it was said half-jokingly, in these hard times when people barely had enough to eat or wear, there weren’t many rules people could actually follow. Still, it served as a reminder for the male educated youth to keep their distance and not flirt with the local girls casually.

Ye Qingshui didn’t quite know how to respond to what Xie Tingyu said.

She had left the deep mountains many years ago. Only after venturing out into the world did she learn many new things and unlearn some old outdated customs. Yes, in this era, male-female relationships were more conservative. What had just happened might indeed have seemed inappropriate in the eyes of others.

Xie Tingyu always said he wanted to be her “older brother,” yet right now, he truly did look like one—an older brother afraid his little sister was being taken advantage of.

She explained, “I didn’t hold his hand. I originally just wanted to ask him to buy a few things today, so I brought paper and pen, but couldn’t find them for a moment, so I wrote on his hand… Brother Yu, don’t worry, he’s very proper and a decent man. He takes good care of me.”

It would’ve been better if she hadn’t explained — the explanation only made Xie Tingyu more irritated.

He said coldly, “Oh, I’m proper too, but just because I hugged you, I have to marry you. What about him?”

Xie Tingyu recalled that moment frozen in his memory — in that narrow alley, she was holding that man’s hand, whispering intimately, as if no one else existed.

Hearing that, Ye Qingshui couldn’t help but sigh in her heart.

So in the end, he was still upset about their marriage?

Her pedaling slowed, the force in her legs gone. Her posture slumped, and even her two lively braids drooped with her.

It was a long time before Xie Tingyu finally heard her voice, so soft it seemed as if it would be carried away by the mountain breeze.

“I’m sorry. I’ve burdened you for too long, I’m really sorry. Let’s find a time and get a divorce…”

Upon hearing that, Xie Tingyu was instantly furious, as if the blood in his veins had frozen. He said coldly, “Say that again?”

“We’ll ask Second Master Ye from the village to witness the divorce. Once the household is split, you can move out of the Ye family’s house and live wherever you want—”

Before Ye Qingshui could finish, she suddenly felt the bicycle jolt sharply. Her foot slipped from the pedal, and the entire bike tipped violently, sending her crashing to the ground.

She shut her eyes tightly, bracing herself for the pain of her head hitting the earth.

But it was Xie Tingyu who had suddenly jumped off the bike and yanked it hard.

Just as she was about to hit the ground, he caught her in time. He pulled her down into his arms and kicked the bicycle away.

Ye Qingshui gasped in fright, breathing heavily, then looked up angrily—

And she met Xie Tingyu’s face, twisted in fury, his whole body radiating low pressure. Veins pulsed faintly at his temples.

He asked coldly, “What did you just say?”

Her watery eyes were filled with confusion and shock — she had never seen him this angry before, not even in their past life when his temper was much worse.

She opened her mouth, instinctively thinking it’d be better to stay quiet, but she was also angry now.

Why should she be afraid of him?

Ye Qingshui’s chest rose and fell with emotion. After catching her breath, she hesitated and said, “I said divorce. It’s better for both of us—”

Before she could finish, she was suddenly pinned against a large old tree on the roadside. The tree trembled from the force of the impact.

Pain shot up her back, but before she could even cry out, her lips were sealed.

A sharp pain spread from her lips.

In that moment, Ye Qingshui’s mind went completely blank. A thunderclap seemed to explode in her head, scattering all her thoughts.

His kiss came violently, aggressively, like blades and thorns. He bit and tugged at her lips, invaded her mouth, and punished her harshly. It was suffocating, overwhelming.

Domineering, irrational.

Ye Qingshui struggled, beating against his hands, but her arms were tightly pinned behind her back. At this moment, Xie Tingyu’s aura had completely changed — scorching, obsessive. Being trapped like this, unable to move, was like drowning.

Ye Qingshui had never imagined Xie Tingyu would kiss her, nor did she want to accept this inexplicable rage from him. This kiss felt like a punishment.

Soon, tears streamed down her face from the pain.

Xie Tingyu felt like his whole body was a furnace filled with magma. He was burning with fury, and only silencing her babbling mouth, punishing her, gave him any relief. The faint scent of her on his lips only fanned the flames.

After a long while, once he had kissed his fill, he finally patted her cheek, wiping away the tears hanging from her lashes, and said coldly, “Shuiya, do you think you can just divorce me because you want to?”

Pressing against her, he could feel the soft rise and fall of her body.

Ye Qingshui stared at him, stunned, her heart a whirlwind of shock, confusion, hurt, and anger.

“What do you mean? How can you treat me like this?”

Xie Tingyu kissed her again.

Day and night he slept beside her under the same roof, watching her slowly grow up, always proper and respectful like a monk. Even if she was slow and oblivious, he never blamed her.

He thought, over time, she’d come around.

He never expected that while claiming to like him, she’d also be thinking of divorce — and being close to another man.

Ye Qingshui’s face turned red then pale. Her head spun from the kiss, and in her dazed state, she felt her buttons being undone and someone groping her hard.

The open wilderness and the cool morning breeze made her shiver.

Blushing with shame and fury, she raised her hand and slapped Xie Tingyu hard across the face.

His head turned from the blow, but he didn’t mind at all. Breathing heavily, he leaned down and whispered by her ear, “What, angry now?”

“When I pulled you out of the water, I already touched everything I shouldn’t have. Didn’t see you getting this mad back then.”

…

When he finally let her go, Ye Qingshui jumped up like an enraged rabbit. She grabbed the fallen bicycle, jumped on, and pedaled furiously as if on fire. The bike shot forward like an arrow, and in the blink of an eye, she was gone.

Xie Tingyu leaned against the old tree, breathing heavily. His dark eyes still held the fire, though it was slowly fading in the wind. The doubt in his heart, however, did not go away.

He thought to himself blandly — what’s the use of marrying a wife like this? So close and yet he couldn’t even hold her hand. Kissing her made her cry. One moment bold and passionate, the next acting like some chaste maiden.

She was the one who always came to the educated youth station looking for him, using every excuse to talk to him. She was the one who learned a few awkward foreign phrases just to confess to him. She was the one who risked her life to save him from the cement pipes.

One moment she wanted to be his sister, the next she was lighting a fire all over him.

In the past, Xie Tingyu might’ve had the patience to slowly untangle her twisted thoughts, but now that he was angry, he didn’t care anymore.

Ye Qingshui rode her bike like a whirlwind back to Ye Family Village and dashed into her own room.

She locked herself in, only to find it full of Xie Tingyu’s things. As soon as she sat down, she wanted nothing more than to throw it all out.

What did Xie Tingyu really want?

Was it because she held the title of his wife, so he expected her to take care of his physical needs too — just like that chaotic night in their past life?

Author’s Note:

Ping Shengjun : Hahaha, today’s title just makes me laugh.

Brother Yu : One moment she wants to be his sister, the next she’s lighting a fire all over me. Women are so fickle.

Shuiya : ???

When did I ever flirt with you?

Brother Yu : Always wearing that shabby little outfit, swaying around in front of me.

Sansukini: It’s a slow-burn romance. Hehe! 😅

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