Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Lu Yu said gravely, "I am willing..."

Yun Wan’s eyes widened. She quickly clutched his sleeve, stammering nervously, "Are you... are you willing to be my husband?"

Lu Yu shook his head. "No, but I am willing to help you. Have you considered how you will live after your father passes?"

He looked at the young girl before him and asked seriously.

Yun Wan had a fair complexion and soft, delicate hands, clearly not accustomed to farm work. It seemed the family’s livelihood had largely depended on her ailing father.

Seeing her frozen in place, Lu Yu continued, "Though I don’t recall my past, I can still survive. Since you saved my life, I will help you in return. After your father passes, I will take you away from here."

"Leave here... But where... where can I go?"

Lu Yu lowered his gaze, lost in thought, his fingers unconsciously tapping lightly on the kang table. "I believe I have the means to settle you properly. I’ll help you find a suitable husband and a good place to earn a living."

Yun Wan looked up abruptly, her eyes trembling. "But what about this house? My uncle will seize it."

Lu Yu calmly replied, "Nothing is more important than staying alive."

Yun Wan looked away, remaining silent for a long time.

Under Lu Yu’s steady gaze, her eyes reddened as she said hoarsely, "But it was someone else who pulled you from the river. I only gave you basic aid... I didn’t do much... You don’t have to be so kind to me."

Looking at Lu Yu, who appeared as frail as a scholar, she didn’t want to become a burden to him, nor did she feel she deserved such a great kindness.

"Perhaps the villagers are right... I might bring bad luck to everyone, and one day, I might bring bad luck to you too..."

Yun Wan trembled slightly as she spoke. "My father was very healthy—it happened so suddenly..."

Lu Yu said, "People get sick. It happens."

After a long pause, he added, "And I don’t help just anyone."

Yun Wan’s heart was instantly enveloped in warmth. She had been lonely for so long, avoided by her peers because of village gossip.

When one walks alone in the snow for too long, the cold becomes familiar. But when someone suddenly appears with a torch, offering to walk alongside, she heard her heart pounding loudly.

Tears welling up in Yun Wan’s eyes, she instinctively grasped Lu Yu’s left hand resting on the kang table. Choking back sobs, she said, "Thank you. You are a good person."

Lu Yu’s brow twitched slightly, and he instinctively pulled his hand back. His expression remained indifferent as he said quietly, "I am not."

---

With an extra pair of hands around, Yun Wan’s life became much easier.

Lu Yu was like a shadow, always nearby.

When she cooked, he helped stoke the fire; when she prepared medicine, he chopped wood in the yard. No matter the task, big or small, there was now someone to consult with.

Lu Yu was like an eagle soaring through the skies—mature, steady, and worldly.

Yun Wan often found herself instinctively seeking him out. Just turning around to see his broad, reassuring back would calm her heart. She thought that if she could one day find a husband like him, life might indeed be good.

--

One day, Yun Wan went to the root cellar in the back mountain but did not return for a long time.

Lu Yu frowned slightly. Seeing that Yun Cunyi was still asleep, he stood in the yard for a moment before grabbing a hatchet and heading toward the back mountain.

On the way, Erhei seemed to understand where he was going and ran ahead to lead the way.

Lu Yu’s expression grew darker as he quickened his pace. Suddenly, around a bend, he heard a startled cry.

He tightened his grip on the hatchet.

When he stepped forward and followed the sound, he froze in place.

Yun Wan was stuck up in a wild hawthorn tree, balancing on a branch on her tiptoes. The ladder she had used to climb up lay fallen on the ground.

Her face flushed red as she saw him approach. She quickly averted her gaze, her fingers gripping the tree trunk tightly, trying to hide her face.

In a small voice, she said, "I didn’t mean to."

But an indescribable emotion surged in Lu Yu’s heart. Yun Wan’s gratitude was so clumsy, yet so sincere.

Just because he had eaten the entire bowl of hawthorn berries on the first day, Yun Wan made sure to prepare a small bowl for him every day.

These were the ripest berries, which she fearlessly picked from the highest branches.

Without a word, Lu Yu silently set up the ladder and firmly held Yun Wan’s arm as he helped her down.

Yun Wan’s hair was tangled with twigs, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. The red mole between her brows seemed to glow more vividly.

She avoided looking at Lu Yu, feeling that she had caused him trouble.

But the next moment, Lu Yu stepped onto the wooden ladder and climbed up to the treetop.

"Yun Wan, gather the berries."

As soon as he spoke, berries showered down from the branches.

Yun Wan looked up at Lu Yu standing atop the tree. The wind rustled his clothes, and his large hands shook the sturdy branches—stirring something in her heart as well.

Like every young girl’s first crush, Yun Wan smiled through her tears, burying that faint hope deep within her heart.

He was only repaying her kindness, after all.

---

After Yun Qingtian strutted off from the small yard, the entire village learned about Yun Cunyi’s grave condition.

Kind-hearted villagers, intimidated by Yun Qingtian’s threats, dared not visit openly. Instead, they left valuable food at the door of the Yun family’s yard under cover of night.

Yun Wan looked at the small basket filled with food, tears of gratitude falling down her cheeks. But her father did not have much time left.

His periods of unconsciousness grew longer, and when he awoke, he could no longer eat, only able to swallow spoonfuls of medicinal broth.

Then, one night, Yun Cunyi suddenly woke up.

He looked around the room. His beloved daughter was asleep by the kang, and a young man was sleeping on a chair nearby.

Yun Cunyi didn’t stop to ask questions. Instead, he turned his gaze back to his daughter, gently stroking her hair as he had often done when she was a child. Struggling to support his weak body, his cloudy eyes filled with reluctance and longing.

"Father? You’re awake?"

Yun Wan slowly opened her eyes and was surprised to see Yun Cunyi conscious. She quickly rose from the kang.

Lu Yu opened his eyes as well. Seeing the clarity in Yun Cunyi’s gaze, he quietly stepped out of the room.

When a person experiences a last moment of clarity before passing, it’s best to leave the father and daughter some space to talk.

"My dear daughter, let me look at you one last time."

Yun Cunyi said weakly, tears streaming down his face.

Yun Wan seemed to understand what this night meant. She leaned over Yun Cunyi, sobbing, "No, I don’t want this to be the last time I see you."

Yun Cunyi mustered all his strength to push Yun Wan away. "Father... is fading fast. You... know where the family’s money is kept. Go quickly... don't delay..."

"I can't leave you alone. The man outside... I found him..."

Yun Wan lied, "He’s... my husband."

Yun Cunyi thought of the man he had seen earlier. Weak and tearful, he stroked Yun Wan's face and said hoarsely, "Good... good... Live well, Wanwan..."

"Just like..."

Yun Wan felt the hand caressing her cheek suddenly fall.

Yun Wan whispered hoarsely, "Just like the poplar."

Overwhelming grief instantly seized Yun Wan's heart. Tears streamed endlessly from her eyes as she trembled and leaned over Yun Cunyi, weeping hoarsely.

Hearing distressed sounds from inside the room, Lu Yu quickly pushed the door open. Yun Wan had already laid out Yun Cunyi’s body and taken out several sets of mourning clothes and white cloths from a chest.

She put on a hemp mourning gown, keeping her head down and busying herself, not letting Lu Yu get a word in.

Just as she was about to rush out of the house, Lu Yu quickly stopped her and took her by the shoulders.

"You... where are you going?"

The moment he saw Yun Wan's face, Lu Yu froze.

The young girl's eyes were red from crying, tears flowing like water, and her lips were bitten until they bled.

Yun Wan felt as if her heart were pierced by thousands of needles. Looking up at Lu Yu's worried face, her strained nerves finally gave way, and she cried, "I'm going to spread the news of the passing. Wait for me to return."

With that, Yun Wan turned and stepped into the wind and rain.

The howling wind of the night swept through, sleet mixed with airborne grit falling from the sky.

Lu Yu stood at the courtyard gate, watching the frail Yun Wan, clad in mourning robes, stumble along the muddy village path against the storm.

She knocked heavily on the neighbor's gate. Soon, a light turned on inside, and the gate opened.

Yun Wan's thin frame knelt upright and resolute in the muddy water outside the door, telling them what had happened at home.

Before the neighbor could speak, Yun Wan struggled to her feet and weakly walked toward the dark, deep village path.

At that moment, Auntie Cuihua hurried into the courtyard and said to Lu Yu, "You're both young and don't understand these things. This pile is for the daughter and the son-in-law to wear mourning clothes, and the other is for helpers to wear white headbands."

"...Young man, you should..."

Lu Yu paused for a moment, then picked up the hemp mourning clothes and hurried into the storm.

Meanwhile, Yun Wan didn’t dare stop. If she stopped, grief would storm her fragile heart. She had to hurry to announce the death and could not pause.

But the cold drizzle and muddy mountain path gradually sapped her strength.

"Bang—bang—bang—"

As she knocked on the village chief's gate, her legs gave way, and she fell to the ground. A pair of warm, large hands firmly grasped her shoulders, helping her up with strength.

Just then, the gate opened, and the village chief's wife said pityingly, "Now, now, don’t cry, child. Your aunt and uncle will get ready and come to help."

Seeing the man beside Yun Wan, she asked, "And this is..."

Before Yun Wan could think of what to say, Lu Yu spoke firmly.

"I am her husband."

The cold rain poured down on both of them. Yun Wan shivered violently and looked up at Lu Yu.

Her vision was too blurry to make out his face, but the broad chest of the man standing behind her provided warmth, driving away the chill around her.

She looked up at Lu Yu and said hoarsely, "...Thank you..."

The village chief's wife paused in surprise, then patted Yun Wan's shoulder and said kindly, "Good, good. You’ll have someone to depend on now."

After leaving the village chief's gate, Yun Wan felt the wind and rain lessen. Looking up, she saw that Lu Yu was using his body to shield her from part of the storm.

He said, "Let's go. I'm here with you."

Yun Wan's nose stung with tears, and her throat felt choked. She opened her mouth but couldn’t get a word out.

---

Seven days later,

In the misty early morning, funeral paper money fluttered like snow in the air, funeral banners rustled and snapped in the wind, and the sharp sound of suonas pierced everyone’s hearts.

Yun Wan watched as her father's coffin was gradually covered with yellow soil. Beside it, her mother's gravestone had been standing for ten years.

Now they were reunited in the afterlife, leaving her alone in this world.

Tears she’d long since cried out now streamed again from the corners of Yun Wan's eyes as her slight frame trembled.

Lu Yu gently slipped an arm around her shoulders without speaking.

As the saying goes, you don’t go to a wedding uninvited, but one always comes to a funeral without being asked.

The villagers who had come to help over the past few days already knew that this man was Old Man Yun's son-in-law. Everyone looked at this scholarly man, feeling both happy for the girl yet worried for the young man.

Yun Qingtian's intentions were well-known to all, yet Yun Cunyi had quietly found her a husband.

The bully did not even show up at his own brother's funeral, clearly plotting some new trouble.

Not until the funeral rites ended did everyone breathe easier, as Yun Qingtian never appeared.

But when Yun Wan, exhausted, pushed the courtyard gate open, the scene before her made her tremble and recoil a step.