Xie Yushu was the first to realize what she’d done. She quickly let go. “Sorry.”
Her mind went blank. What was she doing? This was Su Chi!
Su Chi had frozen long ago. The warmth on his wrist had somehow traveled to his chest, making it feel tight and restless.
He quietly withdrew the hand she’d released, unconsciously wrapping his other hand around the spot she’d held. His face felt warm.
The evening wind was strong, pushing open the wooden gate of the Zhai yard with a creak. The sound of Su Chi’s hens clucking from across the way filled the air. The two of them stood in the main hall, silent and still.
Xie Yushu thought—since she was the woman and had taken advantage of him—she should say something. But before she could, Su Chi spoke first.
He turned to face her, his voice soft. “It’s alright. I know you didn’t mean to—just like last time. It was an accident.”
Xie Yushu was confused. “What do you mean? What ‘last time’?”
Realizing what he’d let slip, Su Chi felt a pang of regret. He hadn’t meant to bring it up.
But Xie Yushu was curious—especially when it came to Su Chi. She knew he wouldn’t say things without reason. Something had happened that she didn’t know about.
Finally, Su Chi reluctantly explained: the first time they’d met, when she’d paid for her buns and brushed against his palm.
Xie Yushu was stunned. She had no memory of that at all. Could it really have happened? But Su Chi would never joke about something like this—so it must be true.
She couldn’t believe she’d done such a thing. “I… really?”
She searched her memory, trying to recall the scene Su Chi described. After digging for a long time, she found nothing. “I honestly didn’t mean to. I don’t even remember it happening.”
Su Chi watched her reaction carefully and confirmed she genuinely had no memory of it. A weight lifted from his heart.
His voice was low, almost apologetic. “Mm, I know now. I misunderstood you back then. I thought you had bad intentions—I was wrong to blame you.”
The evening wind whipped the freshly washed clothes drying in the yard, making them snap and flutter. Suddenly, it all clicked for Xie Yushu—so that was why Su Chi had been so cold to her in the beginning. He’d thought she was being forward, deliberately taking advantage of him.
Now everything made sense.
So Su Chi’s feelings all had a reason behind them—he wasn’t naturally cold to strangers.
She couldn’t help but think: Su Chi was so gentle—even when he thought she’d wronged him, he’d only distanced himself and given her the cold shoulder. He hadn’t lashed out or insulted her.
Still too soft. Too easy to push around.
Su Chi quietly studied her expression. She didn’t seem upset about being misunderstood. He gathered his courage and asked, “So… what were you going to say to me just now?”
Caught off guard, Xie Yushu had already forgotten what she’d wanted to say. It probably wasn’t important anyway.
She looked at him. “I just wanted to say—your cooking smells wonderful. I’ll finish everything.”
“Good. Take your time. I’ll head back now.”
“Alright. I’ll wash the dishes and return them later.”
—
The two families that had asked Tian Fūlang to propose a marriage into their households had gradually fallen silent after being turned down.
The Huang family was honest and straightforward. When Tian Fūlang returned their money and told them the Zhai daughter wasn’t interested in Huang Xiaomi, they didn’t say much. Within a few days, they were already looking at other women in neighboring villages.
The Meng family had also been informed, with the gifts and money returned. The matchmaker said she simply wasn’t willing.
Meng Su sighed when she heard. She honestly hadn’t expected anyone to reject her youngest son. Her Dongxue was fair and delicate—what woman wouldn’t like him?
Cheng Fūlang, on the other hand, didn’t care. His Dongxue would never have trouble finding a match. He grumbled that Xie Yushu had no taste—couldn’t even see the worth of his son. Did she think her eyes were on the top of her head? He’d like to see what kind of young man she ended up marrying!
When Meng Dongxue heard his parents talking about it, he was so angry he stormed back to his room and sulked.
Inside, he picked up the handkerchief he’d been embroidering these past few days. That woman was so ungrateful! So many women in the village openly or secretly admired him, flattered him—why was she the only one so special, so different? Looking down on him, on his family!
He fumed all night. The next day, still unable to swallow his pride, he sneaked over to the Zhai house again.
He’d come by a few times over the past few days, but hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Xie Yushu.
He’d heard from Aunt Niu, who ran the ox-cart, that Xie Yushu had been going to town every day. Had she found work? He wondered.
Today, luck was on his side. He spotted Xie Yushu coming down from the back mountain, carrying a basket of firewood, and watched her enter her gate.
He followed her.
Xie Yushu had made several trips back and forth to gather enough firewood for both herself and Su Chi.
Su Chi was only home in the afternoon and evening, and he had so much to do—when would he have time to gather kindling from the back mountain? She figured she might as well collect some and drop it off at his yard while she was at it.
She finished her water and headed out to deliver the wood. Just as she stepped out, she nearly collided with someone. Luckily, she reacted quickly, stepping back just in time to avoid running into him.
She looked closer—this person looked familiar. It was that shameless Meng family young man who’d come to her house before.
The one whose family had sent Tian Fūlang to ask her to marry into their household. Meng Dongxue, was it?
Meng Dongxue had nearly bumped into her chest. Having never been so close to a woman before, his face flushed crimson. Though embarrassed, he remembered why he’d come and found his courage again. “You’re finally back. I’ve been waiting for you for days.”
“Waiting for me? What for?” Xie Yushu had a bad feeling about this.
“To give you this.” Meng Dongxue pulled out a handkerchief he’d been holding against his chest for a while and offered it to her.
He held it out with an air of confidence, as if bestowing a great honor, his chin tilted slightly upward with pride.
Meng Dongxue believed he had every right to be proud. He’d been so spoiled by his family that he’d never set foot in the fields, never been exposed to sun and wind, never dirtied his hands with mud. Naturally, he was fair and delicate. His mother, father, sister, and brother all doted on him—he didn’t even know what it felt like to be unloved.
Today, he’d put on a fine indigo outer robe, made of fabric far better than the coarse cloth most farming families wore. His mother had bought the material in town, and his father had sewn it into a garment he cherished and rarely wore—the last time had been when his brother married into a neighboring village.
After all this, how could Xie Yushu possibly refuse him?
If Meng Dongxue had a tail, it would be held high, like a little peacock showing off its finest feathers.
Xie Yushu gave it a cursory glance and remarked flatly, “Those two chickens are embroidered nicely.”
Meng Dongxue opened the handkerchief wide for her to see, exasperated. “Those are mandarin ducks! Do you even have eyes?!”
This woman had no taste at all! Not only did she look down on him, she couldn’t even recognize his finest embroidery. No wonder his father kept saying she had no eye for things.
Those were mandarin ducks? Xie Yushu was skeptical. She looked again, unconvinced, and still couldn’t see anything duck-like about them.
Seeing her staring intently at his handkerchief, Meng Dongxue calmed down a little. “Just take it!”
Xie Yushu still didn’t accept it. “Why should I? You can’t take things from strangers. Didn’t your family teach you that?”
“We’ve already met before—how are we strangers? I spent days embroidering this. It’s a lovely pattern—don’t you like it?” He said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
This young man was so noisy—he was giving her a headache.
How could he be so pushy, forcing a woman to accept something so personal?
Xie Yushu was baffled. “Why would I like a handkerchief you embroidered?”
She wasn’t a fabric shop—why would she care? Besides, with embroidery that couldn’t tell chickens from mandarin ducks, she doubted even a shopkeeper would be impressed.
This person was without a doubt the most baffling she’d met since arriving in this world. She felt a headache coming on.
Meng Dongxue pressed closer. “If you accept it, it proves you like me. The only reason you turned down Tian Fūlang’s proposal is because you don’t have a stable income right now.”
He gave her a knowing look. “I understand—I know you women have your pride. You don’t want to rely on your husband’s family for support, so you turned me down out of pride. I get it.”
This was the excuse he’d spent so long coming up with, and the more he thought about it, the more convinced he became.
She was better-looking than most women, so naturally, her pride was stronger. That’s why he’d come to give her the handkerchief—to put her at ease.
If she married into his family, why would she need her own livelihood? And what was this about pride and face? Xie Yushu couldn’t understand a word he was saying, nor did she want to. His logic was beyond her. All she wanted was to get rid of him.
One insisted on giving, the other wouldn’t take. They stood there at the Zhai gate in a standoff. Finally, Xie Yushu threatened to chase him away if he didn’t leave. Meng Dongxue stomped his foot in frustration and left.
As he walked away, he muttered that she didn’t know how to appreciate a man, which was why she was still unmarried at her age.
That remark rubbed Xie Yushu the wrong way—where did he get off attacking her age? She was in the prime of her youth! She wasn’t old at all!
While Xie Yushu had been talking to Meng Dongxue and fending off his handkerchief, she hadn’t noticed her surroundings. What she didn’t know was that, at some point during their exchange, the gate to Su Chi’s yard had quietly been closed again.
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