The next day, Li Lanfang heard about the incident from Auntie Zhao, who couldn’t help but embellish the story. Although she had only come out to watch after Xing Wu had already beaten Wu Er down, in her telling, she claimed to have witnessed Wu Er ramming the door, even saying his pants were half off, describing it all with vivid detail.
Li Lanfang couldn’t contain herself upon hearing this. Early in the morning, she stormed over to the Wu family. The elderly Wu couple were pitiful, apologizing profusely on behalf of their son and even giving Li Lanfang a basket of eggs.
Li Lanfang returned home triumphantly with the eggs and mentioned this to Xing Wu, who became increasingly irritated as he listened. When he asked who told her this, Li Lanfang said it was Auntie Zhao.
So before leaving in the morning, Xing Wu went to warn Auntie Zhao, telling her to watch her mouth. If he heard any more stories about pants coming off, he’d make sure her son ended up with broken bones.
Auntie Zhao was terrified and repeatedly promised not to spread rumors. Her son, Zhao Bei, only managed to avoid trouble at school because Xing Wu protected him. Otherwise, given Zhao Bei’s weak nature and tendency to tattle, he would have been beaten to death long ago.
When Qing Ye got up in the morning and put on the underwear Xing Wu had bought for her, her cheeks began to burn. She discovered the size was perfect and wondered how Xing Wu knew her size. Had he… observed her? The thought made her face burn even hotter.
That morning before leaving, Xing Wu had specifically instructed Li Lanfang, so when Qing Ye came downstairs, no one mentioned the previous night’s events. Qing Ye had been dreading Li Lanfang asking her about it, but fortunately, Li Lanfang didn’t bring it up at all.
However, the girl at the shop with the perm, Du Qiyan, was sitting at the entrance crying continuously for some unknown reason.
Li Lanfang’s Xuan Dao salon served the local community in Zhazha Pavilion. The customer flow wasn’t particularly large, mostly regulars, so besides occasionally cutting hair herself, she only employed two people: Liu Nian and Du Qiyan, the girl with the perm whose face was barely visible.
In all the time Qing Ye had been there, she’d barely exchanged a few words with Du Qiyan, but she could tell that Du Qiyan often watched her secretly. Whenever Qing Ye met her gaze, though, Du Qiyan would dodge and blush.
Du Qiyan had the typical characteristics of a Zhazha Pavilion girl – inexperienced, shy around strangers, afraid to speak, yet desperate to appear worldly. She tried hard to make herself look fashionable without really understanding what fashion was.
So during Qing Ye’s first few days there, Du Qiyan had worn every bizarre item she owned, her outfits becoming more eye-searing by the day. Yet when she saw how Qing Ye could outshine everyone in just a simple solid-colored dress without any accessories, she felt genuinely ashamed. Her sense of inferiority around Qing Ye meant she never dared initiate conversation.
Qing Ye asked Liu Nian what was wrong with her today, and Liu Nian explained that Du Qiyan had been dumped. She’d arrived early in the morning with swollen eyes, telling Liu Nian that her heart was a grave housing the living dead.
Though breakups were sad, Qing Ye could barely contain her laughter. She strongly suspected Li Lanfang must be a senior member of the “Love Burial Family,” as everyone she hired seemed like high-ranking members. What was this – some kind of family motto?
The shop wasn’t busy today, and Du Qiyan just sat at the entrance. Qing Ye finished an entire set of exercises at the cashier’s desk while Du Qiyan continued crying, looking ready to bring down the Great Wall with her tears like Meng Jiangnu.
In the afternoon, a van suddenly stopped at Xuan Dao’s front door, making even Qing Ye crane her neck to look. She saw Xing Wu getting out, followed by Fatty and Yellow Hair jumping down.
The three unloaded some boards from the van before it drove away.
Xing Wu led Fatty and Yellow Hair in carrying the boards inside. Li Lanfang asked puzzled: “What are these for?”
“They’ll be useful,” Xing Wu answered briefly, then turned his gaze to Qing Ye. She wore a matcha green outfit, her hair tied up in a high bun, revealing her long, fair neck as she sat at the cashier’s desk, looking fresh and bright on the scorching summer day.
Xing Wu finally relaxed – he’d worried she might not come down today, or that she’d wake up demanding to go home again. This young lady’s resilience had earned his respect.
Yellow Hair threw Qing Ye a flirtatious look, saying eagerly: “Cousin, I’m here.”
Qing Ye completely ignored him and looked at Xing Wu instead. When their eyes met for those two seconds, they both seemed to recall the previous night’s events, creating a subtle awkwardness.
As Xing Wu passed by her, he placed a plastic bag that had been hanging on his arm onto the cashier’s desk, then led Fatty and Yellow Hair to the back courtyard.
Qing Ye opened the plastic bag to find fresh cherries and several avocados, looking much better than what Yellow Hair had bought last time.
She took the bag to the side to wash the cherries, then put one in her mouth. Sweet.
She took some over to Du Qiyan, who was still crying at the entrance. Du Qiyan looked up at Qing Ye in shock, momentarily unsure what to do. Qing Ye said nothing, just placed the cherries on her lap, and turned away.
She carried the cherries to the back courtyard, where she saw Xing Wu crouching on the ground, measuring and marking the boards while Fatty handed him tools. When Yellow Hair saw Qing Ye, he bounced over excitedly: “Cousin, are they good? We brothers made a special trip to the county town to buy them.”
Qing Ye held out the washed cherries to him, but Yellow Hair waved them away: “You eat them. It’d be a waste to give them to me.”
He glanced toward the shop and asked Qing Ye: “Is that girl inside possessed? She’s crying like someone died.”
“…” Qing Ye wanted to tell him that actually, there was indeed a grave in her heart housing the living dead!
“You mean Du Qiyan? She got dumped.”
Yellow Hair laughed when he heard this: “Looking like that, she had someone to date? What normal person would date ‘Belly Button’? Might as well play with yourself!”
The term “Belly Button” nearly made Qing Ye choke on a cherry – this guy was truly something else.
Xing Wu glanced up in their direction. Qing Ye’s eyebrows were slightly curved, radiating a young girl’s pure charm and her characteristic refined pride, like the only vibrant splash of green in the grey monotony of Zhazha Pavilion.
His gaze shifted to the gesticulating Yellow Hair as he said: “Come help me hold this.”
“Coming,” Yellow Hair responded and went over.
Qing Ye asked: “What are you guys doing?”
Xing Wu replied flatly: “Use your eyes and see.”
Huh, just one night and he was back to being difficult. Qing Ye realized that after so many days, she’d become immune to Xing Wu’s communication style. During her first few days, his attitude had often infuriated her, but now she barely reacted to his cold words.
The afternoon sun was at its fiercest, and with no shade in the back courtyard, the three were drenched in sweat. Yellow Hair said he couldn’t take it anymore and went to get something cold to eat.
His idea of something cold turned out to be ice pops. Yellow Hair specially broke one in half and offered it to Qing Ye, who glanced sideways and turned away saying: “I don’t eat artificial coloring.”
Beside them, Fatty was already munching away, eating the red ice pop in such a bizarre way it looked like he was eating a sausage. Seeing Qing Ye refuse, Yellow Hair offered it to Xing Wu: “Brother Wu, then this half is for you.”
Without looking up, Xing Wu said: “Put it on the windowsill. You guys take a break.”
Yellow Hair placed the half-ice pop on the windowsill and went inside with Fatty to cool off.
Qing Ye leaned against the doorframe watching Xing Wu cut boards with the electric saw. His sleeves were rolled up to his shoulders, revealing smoothly flowing muscle lines. His bronze skin glistened with sweat drops in the fierce sun, perfectly combining youthful wildness with captivating focus – truly a pleasing sight.
Xing Wu had very defined features, inherited from Li Lanfang. Qing Ye had seen Li Lanfang without makeup and she was quite pretty. It was just that her daily makeup was so garish – she was one of those rare cases who made herself look worse with makeup.
Plus, Xing Wu always dressed simply and cleanly, and with his tall build, although Qing Ye didn’t want to admit it, in this backwater place, he was indeed much easier on the eyes than those scene kids behind him.
She glanced at the ice pop and reminded Xing Wu: “It’s melting.”
Xing Wu finally looked up, put down the electric saw, and strode over the boards toward her. As he got closer, the hormone-laden scent of his sweat made Qing Ye avert her gaze. Recalling his words from last night about “daring to mess with my family’s women,” Qing Ye suddenly had an indescribable feeling. Although it should technically be understood as “women living in my house,” the protective fierceness in Xing Wu’s spontaneous words now made Qing Ye want to laugh.
And so… she did laugh, tilting her head and smiling at Xing Wu for no apparent reason.