Ye Qingshui frowned deeply at his flippant words, her delicate brows knitting tightly and nearly standing upright.
Xie Tingyu let out a soft chuckle. He hadn’t spoken for a while. After a moment of silence, he unwillingly asked,
“Hey.”
“Shuiya, the song I sang for you today—did you hear it?”
His gaze was deep as he looked at her, eyes fixed on her.
As he spoke, his spine unconsciously straightened. He tried hard to suppress the flush rising on his face from the alcohol. In those jet-black eyes, like polished black jade, there was a reflection of the bright moon—and within it, the gentle, slender silhouette of her.
That tender look in his eyes was something Ye Qingshui had never seen before.
Her heart was a little restless. In such an ambiguous atmosphere, under the heat of his intense gaze, she instinctively turned her face away.
Ye Qingshui truly didn’t know how to respond to his question.
After thinking for a moment, she asked him,
“You… like me?”
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G bkdv sq ale nalrv wr Dkl Mkdtuw’p bydepsxl qynl. Tl nzlyale bkp vbasyv zktbvzu.
Myzjp sq zshl yde yqqlnvksd zkjl vbkp—olal yzoyup ps byae vs hsknl. Mbl osaep alynble bkp zkrp cwv fwpv nswzed’v nsxl swv.
Fllkdt vbl nsdqwpksd sd Zl Ckdtpbwk’p qynl, bl nswzed’v blzr cwv osdela—oyp vbkp tkaz eskdt kv sd rwarspl, sa oyp pbl alyzzu fwpv vbyv pzso?
Dkl Mkdtuw iwknjzu xwvvlale:
“aлю6люvl6a
Jalyjkdt kv esod:
- “лю” kp Uuakzzkn yde alplxczlp vbl pvyav sq vbl Swppkyd osae “люблю” obknb xlydp “zshl.”
- Mbl alpv (“a”, “6”, “vl6a”) xkmlp Nyvkd zlvvlap yde dwxclap dsdpldpknyzzu.
Fs obkzl kv’p dsv y alyz osae kd ydu zydtwytl, kd nsdvlmv, kv xspv zkjlzu nsdhlup psxlvbkdt zkjl:
“[xwxczle]… R zshl usw…”
A playful, embarrassed mutter where the actual words are obscured by nerves—fitting for a romantic scene where the speaker is too shy to say it properly.[/mfn]
.”
His voice was as faint as a mosquito’s hum.
Ye Qingshui said, “Speak louder, I didn’t hear you.”
Xie Tingyu’s face darkened. He stiffly said,
“If I didn’t like you, would I act like such a scoundrel toward you?”
Right on cue, a noise came from the next room.
After the sounds died down, both of them fell into silence.
Ye Qingshui thought: Thank goodness the new house will be finished soon. It’s big and spacious, with good soundproofing. Then people can toss around however they want.
Xie Tingyu’s handsome face flushed red, then darkened, then reddened again. He couldn’t help but cough forcefully.
Ye Qingshui quickly reached out to pull Xie Tingyu and covered his mouth, glaring at him.
“What are you making noise for? Go drink your porridge.”
It was the couple’s wedding night, after all. Causing such a disturbance, her little uncle might end up traumatized for life.
When Xie Tingyu walked out of the room, he also breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he hadn’t done anything reckless earlier, otherwise—
How embarrassing would that be?
He tugged on Ye Qingshui’s loose hair and said,
“You come too. I… I want to drink some different porridge.”
Ye Qingshui couldn’t stay in the room anymore either. She followed Xie Tingyu to the woodshed.
In the pot was Laba porridge that Ye Qingshui had deliberately set aside.
She scooped it into a bowl and placed it to the side. Then she grabbed two handfuls of rice to rinse, scooped a ladle of rich pork bone broth, and added it to the pot to cook new porridge.
Xie Tingyu was about to stop her but paused. He didn’t say anything in the end.
Actually, when he said he “wanted to drink different porridge,” it was just an excuse to get her to come out and keep him company.
Xie Tingyu grabbed a small stool and sat beside her, watching her make porridge.
The gurgling of boiling water in the pot, the “whoosh whoosh” of the fire licking the bottom of the pot—those sounds were especially clear in the stillness of the night. Xie Tingyu felt his heart was full. This kind of plain warmth was something he hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
After finishing the porridge, Ye Qingshui stopped. She clasped her hands together and rubbed them, just about to breathe warm air on them.
Xie Tingyu’s large hands came down, gripping hers tightly.
His palms were warm and dry, with a thin layer of calluses.
At this moment, Xie Tingyu no longer cared about any “one-year agreement.” The wonderful feelings surging in his chest made him want to get closer to Ye Qingshui—closer still.
He pulled Ye Qingshui into his arms, lowered his head against her forehead, and asked hoarsely:
“Didn’t Shui’er always want to hear me sing?”
“How did I do today?”
When she didn’t respond, he tentatively and carefully leaned in and brushed her lips with his.
Just a light touch—and yet in that moment, even his heart seemed to tremble.
He really adored Ye Qingshui’s clueless and pure expression to death.
“I’ll sing it again for you. Want to hear it?”
Ye Qingshui still said nothing. She kept her lips tightly pressed together, a small flame from the stove softly reflected in her eyes.
Xie Tingyu, not receiving a reply… his handsome face stiffened slightly, but he still sang.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His eyelashes cast long shadows on either side of his nose. His magnetic voice seemed to be telling a story:
“In the late-night garden, all is silent,
Even the leaves no longer rustle.The night is so lovely, it stirs the soul,
What a peaceful evening it is.”
…
Ye Xiaoshu and Du Xiaohe’s first morning as newlyweds—they woke up very late.
But Ye Xiaoshu, being a thick-skinned and slow-witted man, greeted everyone he saw with animated enthusiasm, practically wanting to write the word “bliss” all over his face.
Du Xiaohe tugged at him awkwardly.
Yet not only did Ye Xiaoshu fail to realize his mistake, he even quietly asked his nephew-in-law, “What tune were you singing last night instead of sleeping? It sounded pretty good.”
Du Xiaohe’s face turned completely red.
Ye Qingshui didn’t say anything either—she simply shot Xie Tingyu a fierce glare.
Xie Tingyu replied, “Just something I sang randomly, a foreign song.”
Ye Xiaoshu didn’t pursue the topic further.
Instead, he changed the subject and asked his nephew-in-law, “When are you heading back to the capital? Have you bought your tickets already?”
Xie Tingyu nodded. “It’s all arranged, Uncle, no need to worry.”
A few days before the Lunar New Year, Xie Tingyu brought Ye Qingshui back to the capital.
This was Ye Qingshui’s first time going to the capital. Even an “ugly daughter-in-law” has to meet the in-laws eventually. Ye Ma was a bit uneasy about it and almost insisted on going along.
But Ye Qingshui, thinking of Xie Tingyu’s family, firmly didn’t want her mother to go.
If she had the choice, she’d rather stay home and celebrate the new year warmly with her loved ones—she had no desire at all to go to the cold and unfeeling capital. No matter how golden or silver the nest, nothing compared to her own doghouse.
But staying home probably wouldn’t bring a peaceful New Year either.
Since she couldn’t refuse, Ye Qingshui had no choice but to accept it. She asked Xie Tingyu with curiosity, “Will the stores in the capital still be open during New Year?”
“They open again after the New Year’s holiday ends,” he said.
Ye Qingshui was a little disappointed, but she figured the black market in the capital would definitely be more interesting. She’d been waiting in vain here for a bicycle ticket that never came—she was sure she could find one there.
Besides that, Ye Qingshui also wanted to buy some supplements for Grandma and a nice piece of clothing for her mother.
She wrote a list of everything she planned to buy and tucked it into her luggage.
A few days later, Ye Qingshui, Xie Tingyu, and several other educated youths took a bus to the train station.
At the train station, it was packed with educated youths from all over the country. During the Spring Festival travel season, the station was so crowded it was hard to move. It was hard to even imagine what the train itself would be like.
Ye Qingshui was used to the convenience of modern transportation. Facing this chaotic 1970s Spring Festival rush gave her a real headache. Xie Tingyu took all her luggage from her hands and said gently, “Shui’er, let’s get on the train.”
“Why is Comrade Xie boarding so early? Isn’t he on the same train as us?” one of the male educated youths asked in confusion.
They had all booked tickets for an afternoon train, so they still had to wait a few more hours. And they still had to exchange their reservation slips for actual tickets at the window before boarding. To avoid missing the train, they had no choice but to arrive at the station early. If they missed this train, they could forget about going home for the New Year this year.
“He’s taking a special train—it’s not the same as ours.”
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