The night was as dark as ink, and stars spread across the sky like countless diamonds, forming a brilliant radiance. A firefly wobbled as it flew through the air, drifting past in front of her eyes, leaving behind a faint yellowish trail of light.
Cheng Fangqiu stood in the courtyard, subconsciously glancing behind her. However, with only a courtyard gate separating them, she couldn’t see the person beyond it at all.
She raised her hand, her fingertip slowly touching her lips. Even now, she still hadn’t fully come back to her senses. She and Zhou Yinghuai had actually confirmed their relationship just like that, and even…
Just thinking about the madness in the small grove not long ago made Cheng Fangqiu’s cheeks flush with heat.
At that moment, Ding Ximei’s surprised voice suddenly came from ahead. “Qiuqiu, you’re back? You didn’t run into Xuejun?”
“Huh? No, I didn’t.” A trace of panic and guilt surged up in Cheng Fangqiu’s heart, and she hurriedly lowered the hand that was still resting on her lips.
“I saw that you hadn’t returned for so long, so I asked Xuejun to go out and look for you.”
Ding Ximei had just finished settling the drunken and muddle-headed Cheng Baokuan. Seeing him sleep like a dead pig, she couldn’t help but curse him a couple of times. Then, noticing that neither of her children had returned, she became uneasy and came out to check.
Now that she saw Cheng Fangqiu standing safe and sound in the courtyard, the heavy stone in her heart finally settled.
“It was too dark, I didn’t pay much attention to the people on the road. Maybe we just happened to miss each other.”
Cheng Fangqiu let out a light cough and lied somewhat awkwardly. She and Zhou Yinghuai had taken a detour back, so there was no way they could have run into Cheng Xuejun. But she absolutely couldn’t tell Ding Ximei that.
At the same time, she secretly cursed Zhou Yinghuai in her heart. It was all his fault! If not for him, they wouldn’t have messed around in the grove for so long!
“Hmm.” Cheng Xuejun was already a grown young man, and in the village, there wasn’t much that could happen to him.
Ding Ximei wasn’t overly worried. She was just about to urge Cheng Fangqiu to go wash up and rest when she suddenly noticed the unusual flush on her face. “Qiuqiu, why is your face so red? Is the alcohol kicking in?”
Hearing this, Cheng Fangqiu instinctively raised a hand to touch her face. It was indeed a little hot. She wasn’t even sure if it was from embarrassment or the alcohol, but the only acceptable answer was the latter.
So, she smiled slightly and nodded in agreement. “It seems so.”
“The water is already heated. I’ll help you carry it to the bathhouse.” Ding Ximei didn’t dwell on it after hearing this. As they walked toward the kitchen together, she casually asked, “Didn’t you say you’d just walk to the entrance of the road? Why did you take so long to get back?”
Cheng Fangqiu had already guessed that Ding Ximei would ask this and had prepared her response in advance. She deliberately hesitated for a long time, yet didn’t say a single word.
Seeing this, it was obvious something was wrong. Ding Ximei immediately filled in the blanks with countless shocking scenarios in her mind. She became so anxious that sweat beaded on her forehead, grabbing Cheng Fangqiu’s hand as she pressed, “What happened? Did someone bully you? Tell me, and I’ll go deal with them right now!”
Realizing that Ding Ximei had misunderstood, Cheng Fangqiu became flustered and quickly patted her mother’s hand in reassurance. “No, no one bullied me, it’s just…”
She paused for a second before lowering her voice in a deliberately shy manner. “Comrade Zhou just confessed to me, and I agreed.”
“No one bullied you? That’s good, that’s good.” Ding Ximei had just let out a breath of relief when, upon hearing the rest of Cheng Fangqiu’s sentence, her heart immediately leaped up again. Her eyes widened as she raised her head in shock. “What?”
What did she just hear?!
Comrade Zhou confessed to her daughter? And her daughter actually agreed?!
Seeing Cheng Fangqiu lower her head shyly, the tense string in Ding Ximei’s mind suddenly snapped. At the same time, subtle details from the past started connecting in her head.
She had long noticed that Qiuqiu had changed at some point. She was no longer as reckless and impetuous as before, becoming much more tactful and polite in her dealings with people. She even spoke in standard Mandarin more often rather than in the local dialect…
She had always thought it was just part of growing up and becoming more sensible.
But now, it seemed that wasn’t the whole story!
All these changes had started happening right around the time that group of technicians came to the village.
Could it be that the person Qiuqiu mentioned before—the one she liked—was actually Comrade Zhou?
Comrade Zhou’s appearance was impeccable, his abilities were undeniable, and in every aspect, he was someone young girls would naturally be drawn to. It was no surprise that Qiuqiu liked him.
How had she never considered those technicians before?
It was because she had thought it was impossible between them, so she had only considered the young men in the village.
The difference in family status, the disparity in identity…
These were all real issues laid out in front of them. Qiuqiu was still young and believed that as long as both parties had feelings for each other, that was enough. But in the face of reality, emotions were often the least significant thing.
She herself had suffered because of this in the past.
As old memories surfaced, a hint of bitterness flashed through Ding Ximei’s heart, but she quickly composed herself, took a deep breath, and swallowed down the words she had been struggling to say.
Instead, she chose to probe indirectly. “The person you said you liked before… was it Comrade Zhou?”
“Mm, it’s him.” Cheng Fangqiu nodded, admitting it.
It was one thing to suspect it in her mind, but another to have it confirmed. Ding Ximei’s body trembled for a moment, and she forced a smile as she tentatively asked, “You’ve only known each other for a few days. Why not take some more time to get to know him before talking about a relationship?”
“If we wait any longer, he’ll be returning to the provincial capital.”
Cheng Fangqiu’s blunt words nearly made Ding Ximei choke on her own saliva. She coughed a few times before responding, “That’s true, but have you thought about what happens after he returns? You two will be so far apart, and he has his job. He won’t be able to just come visit you whenever he wants.”
“He said he’ll submit a request to his superiors. Once it’s approved, we’ll get married.”
Cheng Fangqiu anticipated Ding Ximei’s concerns with pinpoint accuracy, so she didn’t waste words and simply dropped this reassurance with a bright smile.
As expected, after hearing this, Ding Ximei was silent for a long time, clearly shocked that Zhou Yinghuai would make such a decision.
But she wasn’t Cheng Fangqiu. She didn’t know the plot of the book, nor did she understand just how strong Zhou Yinghuai’s sense of responsibility was. She couldn’t help but worry, “Aren’t you afraid he’s lying to you? If men’s words could be trusted, then pigs could climb trees.”
It was rare for Cheng Fangqiu to hear such a “rough” phrase from Ding Ximei, and she couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Looping her arm around her mother’s, she said, “Mother, you have a point, but I trust his character.”
Ding Ximei still wanted to say more, but Cheng Fangqiu quickly cut her off, “Besides, if he dares to deceive my feelings, I’ll go straight to his superiors and make them hold him accountable. In this day and age, it’s not so easy to be a heartless scumbag.”
In the modern era, there were plenty of men who played with women’s hearts and bodies, but at most, they faced moral condemnation with no real consequences.
But the current times were different. If a man was ruthless toward a woman, a woman could be just as ruthless in return. A simple report could ruin his reputation at best, and at worst, cost him his job or even land him in jail.
This was one of the reasons relationships were more conservative nowadays—no one wanted to risk making such a mistake.
“That’s true.”
Most young women were easily swayed by sweet words, and while they could report men, few actually followed through. At the end of the day, they were too soft-hearted. Ding Ximei had never thought about it from this perspective, but now that she heard Cheng Fangqiu say it, she felt much more at ease.
Cheng Fangqiu always wore a gentle smile, but for some reason, Ding Ximei had a strong feeling that if she ever needed to be ruthless, she would have no problem doing so.
And she wasn’t wrong. Cheng Fangqiu was never someone who could be easily manipulated.
“I’m really glad you’re willing to talk to me about you and Comrade Zhou. Since you’ve thought it through, I won’t say much more.” Ding Ximei smiled lightly and urged Cheng Fangqiu to go take her bath again.
Of course, more than anything, she wanted some time alone to think. This was such a huge piece of news—her heart was still in chaos!
“Alright.” Cheng Fangqiu agreed, then suddenly remembered something. “Oh, Mother, earlier he told me he bought something for me in town. I want to see what it is.”
This piqued Ding Ximei’s curiosity as well. The two of them walked toward the main hall, one after the other, and on the way, they ran into Cheng Xuejun, who had just returned.
“Sis! You’re back? How come I didn’t see you on the way?”
“I’ve been back for a while.” Cheng Fangqiu had no time to entertain Cheng Xuejun right now. She took three steps in two and rushed straight into the main hall.
Seeing how hurried they were, Cheng Xuejun followed along.
The dim glow of the kerosene lamp illuminated a corner of the hall as Cheng Fangqiu opened the bag that Zhou Yinghuai had brought. The first thing that came into view was a bottle of baijiu. Cheng Fangqiu wasn’t familiar with the liquor brands of this era and thought it was just an ordinary bottle of alcohol. She was about to casually toss it aside when Ding Ximei quickly stopped her.
“Be careful! You can’t just throw this around.” Ding Ximei spoke as she carefully took the bottle from Cheng Fangqiu, cradling it in her arms like a treasure.
This was a top-tier baijiu brand in the country. It wasn’t cheap, and purchasing it required specific ration tickets. Without some connections, it would be impossible to get. She had no idea how Zhou Yinghuai, being in the countryside, had managed to buy it.
“Then what about these cigarettes…” Cheng Fangqiu, startled by Ding Ximei’s reaction, quickly snapped out of her carelessness and carefully placed the pack of cigarettes on the table.
“These are things our family could never afford.” Ding Ximei carefully set the cigarettes and baijiu aside on another table before finally turning her attention to the rest of the items.
Cheng Fangqiu twitched the corners of her mouth and couldn’t help but complain, “Didn’t he say he just picked them up randomly?”
This was random?
“This is anything but random.” Ding Ximei followed up on her words, feeling a bit conflicted. On one hand, she was happy that Zhou Yinghuai valued her daughter so much and held their family in such regard. But on the other hand, she also felt immense pressure. These gifts were a kind of social obligation, and they would have to reciprocate in the future. But given their family’s current situation, they had no means to return the favor.
Thinking of this, Ding Ximei let out a deep sigh.
Unlike Ding Ximei, who was overthinking everything, Cheng Xuejun had only one thought in his head—food. He leaned over the table, his peach blossom eyes staring intently at the items, unable to hold back his anticipation.
“Sis, hurry up and check if there’s anything good to eat in there!”
He had no interest in cigarettes or alcohol. His only concern was whatever could fill his stomach!
Whenever guests visited their house in the past, any food they brought almost always ended up in his and his sister’s stomachs. This time would definitely be no exception.
Seeing him acting like a greedy little cat, both Cheng Fangqiu and Ding Ximei couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
As the bag was fully emptied, its contents were finally revealed—two cans of malted milk, two jars of fruit preserves, a pack of malt candy, and a bag of peach crisps. In addition to these, there was also an exquisitely crafted box.