Chapter 391: Low Spirits

Chapter 391: Gloom

Recently, the entire Shangyao Village has been in low spirits. After all, someone died—someone everyone was so familiar with—so it’s inevitable that people would feel heavy-hearted.

A person died so inexplicably that the village head decided to report it to the police.

The police arrived in less than an hour and determined that the deceased had committed suicide.

Word spread throughout Shangyao Village in less than an afternoon.

Even neighboring villages heard about it.

Since Liu Yi had killed himself and was such a young man, according to local customs, he couldn’t even have a funeral or a tombstone.

His mother, Old Lady Liu, passed out crying several times that day, kept muttering that she shouldn’t have pressured him.

Su He and the others only returned to the city the morning after Liu Yi’s death. Since Fu Tinghua had a surgery scheduled for Monday afternoon, he had to go back and had no time to stay.

Besides, the Liu family wasn’t holding a funeral for Liu Yi, so staying in the village was pointless.

Truthfully, the Fu and Liu families weren’t particularly close—they were just from the same village and helped each other out when needed.

Fu Yanju, sitting in the car, also seemed lost in thought.

The night before, Wu Yanhua had spoken with Fu Yanju, telling her not to dwell on it—that this matter had nothing to do with her.

If she wanted to be with Yu Xu, then go ahead, but she should wait a while before bringing him home.

Wu Yanhua was afraid that if the Liu family saw Fu Yanju moving on so quickly, they might blame her.

Ah, what a situation.

Thankfully, she had never agreed to this marriage proposal. If she had, people might even start saying Fu Yanju was a husband-killer.

"Fourth Sister, don’t overthink it," Su He said, concerned, as she watched Fu Yanju remain silent the entire car ride.

Fu Yanju shook her head. "I’m fine."

Su He felt that Fu Yanju had suffered an unfair blow this time.

The man her family had wanted her to meet had suddenly killed himself—anyone would feel terrible about that.

Even though nothing had ever come of it.

The night before, Wu Yanhua had took Su He aside and dropped a bombshell: the reason Liu Yi had never married all these years was that he liked men.

His suicide might have been because he didn’t want to marry a woman, so he drowned himself.

But Fu Yanju also said that while many villagers were spreading this rumor, no one knew for sure.

After all, no one had ever seen Liu Yi getting close to any man in the village.

But it was possible that he might have met someone else while working in the city.

Su He thought there was a good chance the rumor might be true.

Even in modern society, the word "homosexual" still gets so much hate—let alone back then.

For Liu Yi, living was worse than dying, which was why he chose to end his life.

Though Su He felt regretful, she couldn't help but reflect with emotion.

When she first crossed over into this world, she had nothing—penniless and stuck in an overweight body. It was a rocky start.

But fortunately, she was blessed with two children.

Without Zai Zai and Niu Niu, Su He thought she might have ended up depressed.

Having to raise two kids gave her a stronger sense of duty and drive.

But if she had been alone in this world—without family, love, or friends, in an era with so little entertainment and, most importantly, no phones—she might have been so bored she'd get depressed.

This morning, they switched off driving back to the city. Fu Tinghua had another surgery to perform in the afternoon, so they couldn't let him overwork himself.

By the time they reached their home in the city, it was already past eleven.

Wen Qing was just cooking when they arrived. Seeing them return, she smiled and said, "Luckily, I guessed you'd be back this morning, so I cooked some extra rice."

Zai Zai and Niu Niu had stayed at their home in the village the entire day before, and Su He hadn't allowed them to go out.

Though they didn't know what had happened, both children behaved well and didn't throw a fit about playing with the Fu family kids.

Zai Zai had some idea what was going on, but Niu Niu was totally in the dark.

In the afternoon, Yu Xu came again.

Since Fu Yanju had gone back to the village to talk about their relationship, he was too restless to wait.

He had already visited the previous Sunday afternoon and waited until evening, but Fu Yanju hadn't returned.

Wen Qing had told him to come back at noon the next day, as they likely wouldn't return so early.

Sure enough, shortly after Su He and the others arrived in the city, Yu Xu showed up.

Watching the nervous man fidgeting in front of her, Fu Yanju felt a mix of emotions.

She truly hadn't expected that a trip back to the village would coincide with the sudden death of the young man her mother had been pushing her to meet—someone who could have been her arranged match.

Because of this, she and Yu Xu couldn't rush things anymore and would have to take things slow and get to know each other better.

In this era, most people tied the knot as soon as they clicked.

It was rare for couples to date for ages before tying the knot.

"Let's take it slow. There's no hurry," Fu Yanju said, avoiding Yu Xu's gaze.

Hearing her words, Yu Xu froze for a moment before his face fell.

But he quickly pulled himself together and even comforted her, saying, "It's okay. I understand. Tomorrow—I finally got an appointment with your brother. I'll go check my leg then. If there's still hope, I'll spend whatever it takes to get it treated. I won't let you down, Yan Ju."

Seeing how considerate he was, Fu Yanju's heart warmed, but she still replied, "Mm, I'll wait for you. We—we'll take it slow. For now, there's no way we can go back to our village."

Not returning to their village meant they also couldn't visit Fu Yanju's parents and siblings.

Yu Xu felt disappointed, but considering his leg, he understood it made sense.

"Alright, I get it. It's fine. But Yan Ju, you—you still want to, you still want to be with me, right?" he asked nervously.

Fu Yanju gave him a look and said, "I already told you—we'll take it slow and take our time figuring things out."

What a blockhead—even dumber than she is!

At this thought, Fu Yanju couldn't decide whether to laugh or be annoyed.

"Oh, oh, I get it, I understand. Then—then when I'm free, no, I mean tomorrow, I'll come see you again tomorrow?" Yu Xu asked nervously.

Fu Yanju thought for a moment before replying, "Yeah, wait until after my shift. Noon or evening, either is fine. I'm usually busy running the shop, so don’t come by otherwise."

Every time he came around, Fu Yanju found it hard to focus on running the shop.

She really wanted to help her sister-in-law keep the business going strong and didn’t want her personal matters to interfere with work.

"Okay, I-I'll... I'll come by after work when I can," Yu Xu said, his face turning red as he spoke.

With this, the two officially started going out.