“Son-in-law, what happened here?”
Cheng Baokuan pointed at Zhou Yinghuai’s hand and blurted out the question in his heart.
Actually, the position of the bite mark was quite tricky. Combined with Zhou Yinghuai’s large hand and his deliberate attempt to conceal it, it wasn’t easily noticeable. Even Zhou Yingchen had been kept in the dark.
But the problem was that the entire family’s attention was now focused on selecting items. Under the scrutiny of so many eyes, it ultimately couldn’t escape exposure.
Seeing everyone’s gaze shift toward Zhou Yinghuai’s hand, Cheng Fangqiu’s heart skipped a beat. Cold sweat broke out on her back, and she closed her eyes in regret. She was now filled with a thousand, no, ten thousand regrets. Why did she have to bite him there, of all places?
The others, being more straightforward, didn’t think too deeply about it. They simply assumed Zhou Yinghuai had gotten injured somewhere, especially since Cheng Baokuan had that kind of personality, and both Zhou Yingchen and Cheng Xuejun were unmarried young men.
Only the meticulous Ding Ximei sensed something was off. She took a closer look, and the more she looked, the more alarmed she became. Her gaze couldn’t help but drift toward Cheng Fangqiu.
She saw her daughter, who had been lazily lounging in the chair earlier, suddenly stand up. Cheng Fangqiu’s pretty face instantly flushed with a faint red, and her long, thick eyelashes fluttered repeatedly.
She looked completely guilty.
Ding Ximei’s inner suspicions were confirmed. The tips of her ears burned, and she pursed her lips, realizing that the two of them must have consummated their marriage after registering in the provincial city. Young people, full of vigor, alone together—it was only natural for them to have shared intimate moments.
As long as it was reasonable and legal, she wasn’t some old-fashioned prude. She was quite open-minded about such matters.
But now she couldn’t help but regret not having discussed these matters with her daughter beforehand. If they had talked earlier, Cheng Fangqiu wouldn’t have been so careless as to leave such obvious marks on her son-in-law.
If outsiders noticed, who knows what kind of gossip would spread.
It seemed she needed to find time to have a proper talk with Qiuqiu.
Zhou Yinghuai, on the other hand, remained exceptionally calm, not even changing his expression. He spoke in a composed tone, “I got scraped by a machine gear at work the day before yesterday. It’s nothing serious, and it’s almost healed now.”
How could someone be so clever?
Cheng Fangqiu’s pupils dilated as she shot Zhou Yinghuai an appreciative glance. The two of them exchanged a brief look across the room before subtly averting their gazes.
Seeing this, Ding Ximei saw through it but chose not to say anything. She spoke up before anyone else could, “You have to be more careful at work in the future. Those machines operate so fast; it’s no joke.”
“Exactly, a technician’s hands can’t afford to get injured casually,” Cheng Baokuan chimed in, echoing his wife’s concern.
“Alright, I’ll be more careful next time,” Zhou Yinghuai said with a slight smile. After speaking, he glanced meaningfully at Cheng Fangqiu. The latter had just felt the weight in her heart settle, but when she saw him looking at her and considered the context, her anxiety surged again.
What did he mean?
Was he saying he’d be more careful at work to avoid getting injured, or was he implying something else?
Her heartbeat involuntarily quickened, as if a little deer were running wild in her chest, stirring up ripples of emotion.
After selecting the items, Zhou Yinghuai followed them to see the village secretary. Cheng Fangqiu felt tired and didn’t join in the excitement. Instead, she went back to her room to sleep. By the time she woke up, it was already past eleven in the morning.
Slowly getting out of bed, Cheng Fangqiu noticed that her and Zhou Yinghuai’s luggage had been brought in and placed on the table. It seemed they had finished their errands and returned.
This thought had just crossed her mind when she heard cheerful voices coming from the kitchen.
Putting on her shoes and walking out, she happened to see Zhou Yinghuai and Zhou Yingchen slaughtering an old hen in the yard. Both brothers had changed into Cheng Baokuan’s old clothes, which didn’t fit well. The thin fabric outlined their well-built figures, even revealing the contours of their muscles.
Sunlight bathed the two of them, creating a picturesque scene of handsome men slaughtering a chicken.
Zhou Yinghuai, who had been holding down the flapping hen, looked up at the sound of the door opening. When he saw it was her, a hint of discomfort flashed across his face, and he called out softly, “Qiuqiu.”
“Brother, hold it tighter! Don’t let it move!” Zhou Yingchen, though skilled at cooking, clearly had no experience with slaughtering chickens. His face was full of panic.
Cheng Fangqiu watched with great interest from the side but didn’t dare stand too close. She was wearing new clothes she had recently bought, and she couldn’t afford to get chicken blood on them.
“Give me the knife.”
Zhou Yinghuai couldn’t stand Zhou Yingchen’s dawdling any longer. He snatched the knife and, with quick precision, made a cut on the chicken’s neck. Soon, bright red blood flowed from the wound and dripped into a bowl of glutinous rice. Later, it would be cooked together to make a fragrant, rich, and soft chicken blood glutinous rice dish.
The scene was a bit gruesome, and Cheng Fangqiu took two more steps back, almost bumping into Cheng Xuejun.
“Sis, be careful! I’m holding a kettle of hot water,” Cheng Xuejun exclaimed, startled by Cheng Fangqiu’s sudden movement. He quickly switched the kettle to his other hand.
Cheng Fangqiu was also startled and quickly stepped aside. “My bad, I wasn’t paying attention.”
After patting her chest to calm her racing heart, she instinctively asked, “Why are you boiling water?”
It wasn’t time to heat water for a bath yet, was it?
Cheng Xuejun carried the kettle over to where Zhou Yinghuai and the others were and gave Cheng Fangqiu a strange look. “To pluck the chicken’s feathers, of course. You even helped with it last New Year. Did you forget?”
Hearing this, Cheng Fangqiu’s heart skipped a beat. Seeing Zhou Yinghuai and the others glance over, she forced a calm smile. “I was just startled and my brain froze for a moment.”
As if afraid of being doubted, she added, “Of course I didn’t forget.”
Fortunately, the others didn’t pay much attention to this minor incident and focused on plucking the chicken. Cheng Fangqiu stood still, exhaling heavily, and the tension on her face gradually eased.
Zhou Yinghuai looked up, about to tell Cheng Fangqiu to go sit aside, but he stopped when he saw her expression. A flicker of something unreadable passed through his eyes. Before he could dwell on it, Zhou Yingchen’s loud exclamation pulled his attention away.
“Brother, brother! The blood splashed into my eyes!”
“Go rinse it with clean water. Stop yelling.”
He grabbed Zhou Yingchen’s arm and pulled him aside, using cold water to rinse his eyes. Just as he was about to wipe Zhou Yingchen’s face haphazardly, a towel was handed to him.
“Your hands are covered in blood. You’ll just make it worse. Use this,” Cheng Fangqiu said. She had fetched a clean towel as soon as she heard Zhou Yingchen’s cry, and now it came in handy.
Zhou Yingchen still couldn’t fully open his eyes. Hearing this, he quickly said, “Thank you, sister-in-law.”
Zhou Yinghuai casually wiped Zhou Yingchen’s face with the towel. Seeing that he was fine, he withdrew his hand and turned to Cheng Fangqiu, his voice softening. “Still sleepy? Why didn’t you sleep a bit longer?”
His tone showed none of the impatience he had with Zhou Yingchen.
“It’s too hot. I couldn’t sleep well.”
Cheng Fangqiu had already changed her braided hair into a bun, securing the loose strands with hairpins. She wished she could pin all her hair up.
Having gotten used to using a fan for the past two days in the city, she now felt uncomfortable without it. The sweat clinging to her skin made her feel sticky and irritable.
Zhou Yinghuai frowned. “My fault. I should have bought a fan to bring back.”
“I didn’t think of it either. Let’s buy one next time we come back. We can add it to the betrothal gifts,” Cheng Fangqiu said playfully, blinking at Zhou Yinghuai.
“Alright,” Zhou Yinghuai nodded, but then something suddenly occurred to him. “I think the commune’s supply and marketing cooperative sells fans. I’ll go check later.”
“It’s such a hot day. Wouldn’t it be troublesome to go back and forth?” Cheng Fangqiu didn’t expect Zhou Yinghuai to take this so seriously. She stammered slightly.
Zhou Yinghuai didn’t think it was a big deal. “I’ll borrow the village chief’s bicycle. It’ll be quick. Otherwise, it’ll be even harder to sleep without a fan tonight. Besides, Mom, Dad, and Xuejun can use it too.”
Thinking of this, he asked, “Did you bring the tickets Mom and Dad gave us? How many fan tickets do we have?”
That book of vouchers was extremely valuable. In these times, without surveillance, if it were left at home and lost, there would be no way to recover it. Naturally, Cheng Fangqiu had taken it with her when she left. Hearing his question, she quickly nodded, “I haven’t counted them yet. Let me check.”
“Alright.”
Zhou Yinghuai washed his hands and followed her into the room.
Cheng Fangqiu kept her valuables in a hidden inner pocket of her bag. She took out the booklet filled with vouchers and carefully counted them. There were two electric fan vouchers in total. Zhou Yinghuai took both of them, along with a bicycle voucher and some other vouchers.
“Darling, money,” Zhou Yinghuai said, holding out both hands, palms up. The sunlight streaming through the window made his eyes sparkle like they were sprinkled with stardust.
Cheng Fangqiu wasn’t sure of the exact amount needed, so she tentatively counted out a few large bills and placed them in his palm. However, he shook his head, “Darling, it’s not enough.”
His gaze grew brighter as he looked at her, his voice soft and sweet as he called her “darling,” as if coated in honey, making it impossible to refuse.
Cheng Fangqiu felt like a wealthy woman scattering money in a private room, placing bill after bill into his palm.
She didn’t even notice when he quietly moved closer to her. By the time she reached for more money, he stopped her hand, a smile spreading across his face. His long lashes lifted slightly as he said in a husky voice, “That’s enough, darling.”
As if he knew she couldn’t resist this term of endearment and found it utterly charming, he made sure to include it in every sentence. Cheng Fangqiu coughed lightly, putting away her wallet, her gaze drifting down to his hand.
In his palm, he held a stack of money, the sharp edges pressing into the webbing between his thumb and index finger, leaving a faint red mark. Beside it was a small, clearly visible bite mark.
She pursed her lips, unable to resist asking softly, “Does it hurt?”
Zhou Yinghuai was momentarily stunned before realizing what she was referring to. He instinctively shook his head, then nodded. Cheng Fangqiu was confused by his reaction and frowned slightly, “Huh?”
“It doesn’t hurt, but I want my darling to feel sorry for me.”
Faced with his sudden bluntness, Cheng Fangqiu felt flustered. She took a step back, her fingers gripping the edge of the table, her knuckles turning white. Her eyes darted around, her throat dry as she struggled to find the right words.
Should she tell him that even if he didn’t say it, she already felt sorry for him?
No, no, no. If she did, wouldn’t he become even more smug?
While she hesitated, she noticed Zhou Yinghuai’s expression darken. His lashes lowered, and the corners of his eyes took on a faint, pitiful redness, more striking than the bright bloodstains.
“Darling, I know last night was my fault. I shouldn’t have kept touching the same spot over and over, and I shouldn’t have…”
Before he could finish, his words were cut off by her hand covering his mouth.