Chapter 34: Like an Old Married Couple

Chapter 34: Like an Old Married Couple

"Every time I come down the mountain, I send some game to Grandma Qi's house or give her some copper coins as payment."

Lu Mingchao poured a cup of warm water, sipped twice, and lazily leaned back in the chair, resting her elbow on the armrest and her chin on her hand, casually saying, "Grandma Qi?"

She knew very little about the people in Changxi Village.

Except for the Feng family, who kept causing trouble.

The dim candlelight flickered, casting a hazy and faint glow, gently falling on her half-closed eyes, like the soft moonlight lightly shrouded in mist, or the glimmering silver on a rippling lake.

Xie Yan found it incredibly moving.

If he had been lucky enough to grow up in Shangjing City, perhaps he would have taken notice of Mingchao too.

Xie Yan, with a warm smile on his lips, said, "Before I came, Grandma Qi was already here."

"Why does she live at the foot of the mountain too?" Lu Mingchao was somewhat puzzled.

Her father had said that, except for Xie Yan, no one in Changxi Village would choose to build a house at the foot of the mountain.

For one, it was desolate and remote; for another, it was unsafe, requiring constant vigilance against wild beasts coming down the mountain.

Xie Yan added some warm water to the cup in front of Lu Mingchao before slowly saying, "It is said that Grandma Qi and Qi Laosan were born and raised in Changxi Village. They depended on each other. Their only son was killed by bandits during a robbery. Their daughter-in-law was taken back to her family home to remarry after leaving behind a toddler daughter."

"After that, the old couple raised their granddaughter alone."

"When Qi Laosan died, his relatives seized the old house, forcing Grandma Qi and her young granddaughter to leave."

"Grandma Qi was old and had nowhere to go."

"Coincidentally, there was a dilapidated old house near the foot of the mountain, so Grandma Qi moved there."

"Mingchao, I've only been living in Changxi Village for less than three years."

"Because of my past experiences, I didn’t want to interact with people. So, I bought a piece of land at the foot of the mountain from the village head and built this courtyard."

"Grandma Qi is lonely, and since I often go into the mountains, we’ve become close. I sometimes ask her to help out."

Xie Yan’s low, gentle voice made these ordinary details sound comforting on the cold, windy winter night.

Lu Mingchao nodded, "Then we should get her something to say thanks."

"What about Grandma Qi's granddaughter?"

Xie Yan seemed to deliberately downplay her presence in his conversation.

Lu Mingchao slightly raised her eyes, a faint smile at the corner of her mouth, her demeanor gentle and composed.

Her inquiry seemed like casual chitchat, or like a listener in a teahouse quietly waiting for the storyteller to continue, with much left unsaid.

Xie Yan lowered his eyelashes, "She signed an indenture and is now working as a servant in a wealthy merchant's house in Hehe County."

"Hesitation means there's something fishy," Lu Mingchao glanced at Xie Yan lightly, cutting to the chase.

She wasn’t good at self-deception; she preferred to meet challenges head-on.

"Did you fall for her?"

Lu Mingchao's eyes were filled with suspicion, and a layer of imperceptible frost silently spread deep in his gaze.

Xie Yan shot up from his seat. "No."

"Then why are you hiding something?" Lu Mingchao asked in return.

Xie Yan didn't hesitate. "Grandma Qi once joked about marrying off her granddaughter to me, to be a stepmother for Huaiqian."

"But I refused at the time."

"After that, I rarely went to Grandma Qi's house."

"However, Grandma Qi's health has been failing, and before she dies, she wants to find a good home and a reliable future for her granddaughter, so she has these thoughts again."

Lu Mingchao smiled. "Grandma Qi must hate me a lot."

Xie Yan corrected him seriously. "She hasn't been won over."

"She was never successfully courted."

Xie Yan's heart was hanging high. He hadn't missed the frost in Lu Mingchao's eyes.

Lu Mingchao, like a proud pine or bamboo standing in the wind and snow, was calm, confident, warm, and bright, but because of this, he was exceptionally clear-headed at his core.

If betrayed, there would never be even the slightest chance of lingering affection or a comeback.

Lu Mingchao had the ability to walk independently through the world, through wind and rain.

"Sit down and let's talk. You're blocking the candlelight."

"Your situation, I had already heard a little on my way back to Changxi Village."

"So, it didn't come as a surprise."

"But it's the same as when we first met,"

"Now that you're mine, you can't get involved with anyone else."

"Xie Yan."

Lu Mingchao's smile was gentle, his eyes were shimmering, yet there was an undeniable seriousness about him.

Xie Yan: "This lifetime, no betrayal."

A radiant smile quickly spread across his lips like ripples, his brows relaxed, an elegance that could not be captured by thousands of brushstrokes.

Lu Mingchao cleared her throat. Her beauty strategy was unbearable; she couldn't handle it at all.

She didn’t know what other people’s wedding nights were like, but surely it wasn’t supposed to be like this—chatting like an old married couple.

She then glanced at Xie Jingyi, who was sleeping soundly on the bed, and silently sighed, unable to tell if she was more relieved or more regretful.

"Xie Yan." Lu Mingchao pushed aside the chaotic and somewhat colorful thoughts in her mind and initiated a new topic. "Can you tell me about Ru'an's past?"

Ru'an seemed to strongly resist her closeness.

It wasn't dislike, but more like a deep-seated fear.

The smile on Xie Yan's face was tinged with melancholy. "Even if you didn't ask, I was going to tell you."

"My second brother and his wife were betrothed by their parents from a young age. When they came of age, they followed the arrangement and married without issue. However, not long after the marriage, my second brother discovered that she had been planning to run away with another man. Only then did he realize that her heart already belonged to someone else, and that their marriage might have been one of necessity.

Faced with this situation, my second brother considered divorcing her. But when she became pregnant, she swore on her honor that she would not stray again and begged him to forgive her, just this once.

After all, they were childhood sweethearts, and their families had been close for generations. My second brother's heart softened.

I only found out after our family's downfall that Ru'an had been used as an emotional punching bag by my second sister-in-law since birth, suffering endless abuse.

Mingchao, Ru'an doesn't hate you, and it's not that she refuses to call you 'mother.' It's just that in all her young memories, the word 'mother' means a face twisted in rage, the sound of angry scolding and harsh reprimands, and the repeated injuries that left her battered and scarred.

Lu Mingchao frowned in disgust.

There are always some wolves and tigers in this world who are unfit to be parents.

'What happened to your second sister-in-law?'

'She's dead.'

'She died on the very day she was eagerly awaiting to be taken as a concubine by her lover.'

Xie Yan's expression turned icy, and a fleeting look of murderous intent crossed his face like a sudden blizzard, covering all the beauty in a shroud of biting cold.

Lu Mingchao looked shocked, hardly able to believe it. 'She actually survived the disaster of the family's annihilation and even almost had the chance to reunite with her beloved?'

It’s true what they say—good people die young, while the wicked seem to live forever.

'She was an inside agent,' Xie Yan said solemnly.

Lu Mingchao: ……

'Would it be too much to ask for a little rest?'"