It was the first time Xie Tingyu held Ye Qingshui’s hand—and he held it the entire way. She was a little nervous and didn’t even notice that he hadn’t let go the whole time.
Her hand was soft and cool. Even after letting go, the sensation of her gentle touch still lingered in his palm.
Zhou Cunren was sitting in the audience at the time, not on stage. When Ye Qingshui passed by the first row, his usually stern face—habitually taut with seriousness—rarely showed a faint smile. He said, “Go on up. Everyone’s waiting for you.”
Ye Qingshui hesitated for a moment and then took off her mask. The moment the mask came off, it was as if the entire scene lit up.
Bright incandescent lights traced every detail, illuminating her down to the smallest feature. The light reflected off her crisp white shirt—newly made—dazzling as snow. A few inches up from the collar were her pale pink lips and clear eyes like fresh mountain water, inky black pupils creating a stark contrast.
She wore a black skirt and a white blouse, slowly walking up the stage, looking like someone who had stumbled into the wrong place.
Her slender neck was delicate and fair, with jet-black hair and eyes. Clean and radiant.
The young intellectuals and commune members from Ye Family Village who had come for the event all showed varied and vivid expressions on their faces—surprise, shock, even disbelief as they rubbed their eyes.
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His little girl—she had been like an unremarkable seed, dropped into the soil, slowly sprouting, growing tall, budding and blooming.
The village representative, Ye Dazhi, stood beside her with a flower pinned to his chest. He handed her a large red envelope and a certificate.
Standing next to her, he declared, “This is Comrade Ye Qingshui from Ye Family Village, the one who developed the ‘Electric Pulse Natural Electric Field Method’!”
“She bravely innovated and persevered in her research, ultimately solving the villagers’ water access problem. She embodies the spirit of Dazhai-style agricultural learning…”
Ye Dazhi seemed to be reciting from memory, his wide eyes and booming voice rising and falling with dramatic cadence. When he finished, the audience erupted into enthusiastic applause.
A local folk band struck up their horns again, playing a lively tune.
Ye Qingshui gave a brief account of how she had come up with the idea for the water-finding device. She said: “When I realized the resistivity method wasn’t working, I remembered Chairman Mao’s essays On Contradiction and On Practice.”
“Chairman Mao said, ‘Things do not exist in isolation.’ Groundwater is constantly seeping, evaporating, and flowing. Under external forces, it undergoes physical and chemical changes, and those changes manifest at the surface…”
Her calm and gentle voice echoed under the high eaves, clear and articulate. Even the researchers from the agricultural institute became very interested.
Her detailed explanation was, without doubt, a resounding slap in the face to those who had once questioned her.
Finally, Ye Qingshui said gently, “I provided the theoretical foundation, but the one who turned it into a real, functioning water-finding device was—Teacher Zhou.”
She gave a bow and quickly ran off the stage.
Her two glossy black braids swung behind her, her eyes bright and expressive, cheeks blooming red. The applause was thunderous. In that moment, she was like a pond of clear water—drawing him in, leading him astray.
…
The short, one-hour commendation ceremony came to an end. Officials and staff members began to leave. Two comrades from the Armed Forces Department walked side by side, taking off their hats with serious expressions—but their voices were full of warmth once the hats were off.
“You really pulled in a crowd today. We thought it’d just be us holding down the fort. Good thing we dragged a few friends from the agricultural institute.”
Xie Tingyu turned his head. His usual indifferent expression became serious. He said calmly, “This is her achievement. It has nothing to do with me.”
His tone implied he didn’t like being seen as some infatuated, brainless second-generation brat acting on impulse.
Even if Ye Qingshui’s invention didn’t stand out, it made a significant contribution. Everyone came because of its significance. All he had spent was the rental fee for the hall and the cost of the band.
Seeing Xie Tingyu’s solemn expression, the two soldiers couldn’t help but laugh.
“She your wife?”
Xie Tingyu replied, “Yes.”
They glanced back toward the crowd. “Your girl’s a real beauty—suits you.”
“We’ve got work to do. Let’s keep in touch.” They saluted sharply, tall and straight, their steps crisp and disciplined.
Xie Tingyu saw that Ye Qingshui was now completely surrounded. Not just by people from Ye Family Village, but also by townsfolk from the county. Everyone was marveling at the fresh-faced young girl. She was still young and a girl, after all, so she naturally attracted more attention than the older Zhou Cunren.
But most of those gathered around her were middle-aged women, and Xie Tingyu’s brow lifted slightly.
“Thought it’d be an old scholar. Didn’t expect such a pretty young girl,” a chubby auntie said, squinting with a big grin.
“Comrade Ye, are you seeing anyone?”
“My son works at the steel plant as a department head—grade thirty salary, twenty-two years old, very motivated…”
“Oh, please! He’s twenty-two and still hoping for her? My younger brother is only eighteen and already in university. Guaranteed job placement after graduation—he’ll be working at the fertilizer plant…”
Xie Tingyu had been patiently waiting nearby, but upon hearing this, his face darkened.
He stepped closer to Ye Qingshui, placed both hands firmly on her shoulders, and bent down slightly. His tone was calm as he said:
“I’m her partner. We’ve got something to do—sorry, comrades, no more chatting.”
He took Ye Qingshui’s hand and led her out of the hall. He hooked her mask out of his pocket with his thumb. Under the gently warming sunlight, he squinted and said lazily:
“The sun’s harsh—put this on.”
Ye Qingshui put on the mask and mumbled, “You kept all this from me.”
“I didn’t expect…”
Xie Tingyu rang the bicycle bell and smirked. “If I’d waited for you to expect it, you wouldn’t have come at all.”
Ye Qingshui suddenly remembered the day Xie Tingyu had carried her on his back to meet the deputy team leader—and then lied about raising two more pigs.
Anger bubbled up in her face, her cheeks flushing red. She punched him.
“You’re just—”
Her fist landed lightly on Xie Tingyu’s back, but he didn’t feel pain. It felt like a gentle tap landing straight on his heart.
Raising a brow, Xie Tingyu asked, “I’m just what?”
“You’re such a bad person,” Ye Qingshui said through gritted teeth. And to think, on the way here, he had been leisurely admiring flowers and picking them, without the slightest hint of being on his way to a commendation ceremony in the county. He really was a big-tailed wolf.
When Xie Tingyu heard the word bad, he couldn’t help but be intrigued. He tugged gently on one of her braids, bent down, and leaned close to her ear, blowing a soft breath.
“Where… am I bad?”
He noticed the tips of her ears slowly turning red, the skin on her exposed arm breaking out in goosebumps. Her whole body was stiff with tension.
Xie Tingyu straightened up quickly, putting on a serious face. “Didn’t I just give you a boost, Shuiya? You can’t just accept the favor and not repay it. Let me count… how much is the prize money this time?”
He opened the thick kraft envelope. The last reward had been a national innovation prize; this one was an additional county-level subsidy.
He counted—there was quite a stack. Thirty Great Unity bills. Enough to let this poor and stingy girl live a little lavishly for a while.
Ye Qingshui quickly snatched the prize money back. “I’m going to check out some foreign bikes. You stay right here and don’t move until I get back.”
She hopped on the bike with practiced ease, her legs eagerly pedaling. The wind blew through her two thick, glossy braids, making them flutter like elegant fish tails emerging from water.
Xie Tingyu stood where he was, looking up at the clear blue sky and the bright sun, a gentle breeze brushing past. He couldn’t help but smile.
Ye Qingshui quickly arrived at the black market. In a narrow alley, Qian Xiangdong wiped the sweat from his forehead and said coolly, “You’re late.”
“Two bikes were already bought last night. And you didn’t come early this morning either…”
He put on his felt hat and bamboo rain hat, sitting against the wall just like every other day, guarding a basket of eggs waiting for buyers.
His basket of sticky rice chicken had already been sold out—there wasn’t even a lotus leaf left.
The contrast was so stark that Ye Qingshui couldn’t help but chuckle. “I was just thinking—eggs can also be made into breakfast. If I buy them all, I’ll split it 80–20. You in?”
Qian Xiangdong had long wanted to bring up the egg issue. He used to sell her eggs at one cent apiece, but now that it was hot and she was reluctant to move or do much work, she’d stopped buying them.
He hesitated. A 70–30 split was fair, but if he scared Ye Qingshui off, where would he find someone else with her skill?
Qian Xiangdong said, “Alright, alright.”
Ye Qingshui smiled. “Then you’ll have to help me find a few other things too. I’ll write them down for you. Help me run a few errands.”
She reached into her pocket for a pen but realized she’d changed clothes. So she used her thumb to write a few characters on Qian Xiangdong’s palm.
“Butter. Know the word?”
Qian Xiangdong nodded quickly.
“Beef tallow, do you recognize that?”
He frowned but nodded again.
“Honey, gelatin.”
He didn’t recognize the last one, but he tried to memorize it.
Ye Qingshui wrote a few more. She lowered her head, her thumb carefully forming each stroke on his palm. Occasionally, a few stray strands of hair would fall, brushing over his hand.
Xie Tingyu had a strong suspicion that Ye Qingshui had gone to the black market. After asking around, he finally found the hidden alley.
He spotted the familiar bicycle parked by the road and walked deeper into the alley. Then he saw this scene:
Ye Qingshui, sweet and affectionate, holding a strange man’s hand, her head lowered as she touched his palm, her expression focused as if dealing with the most important matter in the world. A gentle breeze blew a few stray hairs over her forehead, and the man even helped brush her hair aside.
The smile on Xie Tingyu’s lips vanished. His deep eyes darkened like a storm gathering.
He had given her clothes, skirts, shoes, and had gone to the trouble of gathering a crowd to host a commendation ceremony just to help restore her reputation. And now she was wearing the clothes he had personally ironed… being sweet and cozy with another man?
Meanwhile, Qian Xiangdong, a bit impatient, said, “Sis, your hair’s getting in my eyes.”
He brushed it aside and casually moved her braid to the other side. Then he said in surprise, “Hey, you look pretty good today.”
Xie Tingyu strode forward in a few big steps and grabbed Ye Qingshui.
“What are you doing?”
His voice was like ice, as if frozen solid—cold and piercing, like the wind blowing through the capital in December, or like solid ice cracking.
Ye Qingshui had just been about to write the word “milk,” but her shoulders were suddenly gripped tightly. She turned her head and saw Xie Tingyu’s frosty face.
That face looked no different from usual, and yet, it felt very different. There was a simmering anger hidden in his eyes. The outer corners of his eyes lifted slightly, exuding a dangerous aura.
Author’s Note:
Ping Sheng-jun: Brother Yu is about to explode!
Drums and gongs, come quick and watch!
Yu-ge, suppressing his anger: If you dare to write nonsense in the next chapter, I’ll…
Ping Sheng-jun: “…”
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