Chapter 99

In the yard separated by a wall, Aunt Zhao was sitting under the windowsill. She didn't hear any quarreling or other movements from inside, and she was feeling a little strange.

Xie Wu and Xie Qi went out and saw this scene, then quietly retracted their feet and closed the door.

Carpenter Zhao was standing under the eaves. He coughed twice to attract Aunt Zhao's attention, and then went into the house.

Aunt Zhao turned her head and glanced at the main house, which was still silent, and tiptoed back to her room. When she closed the door, she glared at Carpenter Zhao and said, "Do you think I went there to eavesdrop? I just saw that something was wrong with the young couple and I was afraid they would quarrel."

Carpenter Zhao didn't know what was going on with Fan Changyu and Xie Zheng. He only said, "Changyu was captured to repair the dam. When she found me, she told me that she and Yanzheng had divorced."

This news shocked Aunt Zhao. She thought subconsciously, "What nonsense!"

In the excitement, he forgot to lower his voice. He quickly looked outside again before sitting down on the bed and said, "When Yan Zheng was taken away by the army, Chang Yu was very unhappy for a few days. He also prepared so many things for him. It didn't look like they were divorced. Besides, when I went to persuade them, didn't they sleep in the same room?"

Carpenter Zhao then told Aunt Zhao what Fan Changyu had said to him earlier.

Mrs. Zhao was surprised at first that the marriage was just a fake one, but then she thought carefully and realized that since Yan was well-educated and handsome, and agreed to marry into the family, it seemed that it was indeed as Carpenter Zhao said.

She sat at the head of the bed for a while with a heavy heart, and then said, "Even if you didn't get married willingly, you did get married sincerely, so how can you not be husband and wife? A single man and a single woman live under the same roof every day, not to mention that they both look so good, how can they not have feelings for each other? Look, when Yan Zheng was injured and couldn't get out of bed, Chang Yu was afraid that he would have to take bitter medicine, and her own life was miserable, but she still bought him candy! This love of sharing weal and woe is real!"

Carpenter Zhao glanced at Chang Ning who was listening silently, and sighed, "Alright, alright, the two kids are probably reconciled, and Ning Niang is still here, so let's not talk about this anymore."

Changning blinked her big, dark eyes.

Aunt Zhao helped her take off the silk flowers on her hairpin, pinched her chubby face and said with a smile: "Our Ning Niang is also a lucky person. Your elder sister is now on duty in the army and is in charge of a large group of people. Ning Niang's future husband should not think of bullying Ning Niang."

Chang Ning smiled, revealing his small white teeth. After thinking for a moment, he added, twiddling his thumbs, "My brother-in-law is awesome, Uncle Xiaoqi is awesome, and Falcon is awesome too! No one bullies Ning Niang!"

Aunt Zhao was amused by her: "What a clever girl."

After coaxing Changning to sleep, Aunt Zhao lay on the bed, but she thought of another thing.

According to the old man, the young couple probably haven't performed the Zhougong etiquette yet?

Aunt Zhao hoped that the two of them would live a good life, but she couldn't help worrying about Fan Changyu who was now in the army. If she got pregnant, it would be very troublesome. She tossed and turned all night and couldn't sleep. Several times she wanted to get up and go to the next room to eavesdrop.

-

The next day, as soon as Fan Changyu got up in the morning, he was taken to a secluded place by Aunt Zhao.

She slept well that night. For some reason, Aunt Zhao's eyes, which already had bags under them, had dark circles under them, which looked scary.

Fan Changyu asked in confusion: "Auntie, you didn't sleep last night?"

Aunt Zhao looked around and lowered her voice and said, "Changyu, your mother passed away early, and you don't have any elders, so there are some things that no one can teach you. I treat you as my own child, so I will tell you directly. You are in the army now, and it may be inconvenient for you to have a child. Do you want me to ask the doctor to prescribe you a contraceptive soup?"

Fan Changyu didn't expect that Aunt Zhao was worried about this. Her face instantly turned red all the way to her neck. She shook her head and said, "No need."

After hearing this answer, Aunt Zhao didn't know whether she should feel relieved or continue to worry about the young couple.

While she was struggling, Fan Changyu had already gone to the yard to fetch water to wash his face.

Even in summer, the well water is still a little cool in the morning.

Seeing her washing her face with cold water, Aunt Zhao couldn't help but nag again, saying that she was worried that she would accumulate coldness in her body, and asked her to go to the kitchen to get some hot water.

Fan Changyu was in good health and did not take Aunt Zhao's words to heart. Changning also put her hand in the basin, as if she wanted to wash her face with cold water with her. Fan Changyu refused and asked Changning to take her hand out and go to the kitchen to get hot water.

After washing Changning's face, Fan Changyu yawned and helped Changning tie her hair according to her touch.

The child who used to accept whatever she wanted to be tattooed this time looked at her reflection in the basin and grumbled in grievance, "I want Uncle Xiaoqi to do it."

Fan Changyu took a look at his prickly hair and felt a little guilty.

The child has grown up and knows the difference between beauty and ugliness. He is not as easy to fool as before.

She said, "Okay, go find your uncle Xiaoqi to get it done."

Chang Ning took the comb and stepped over the threshold with her short legs to look for Xie Qi. She searched every room but couldn't find Xie Qi. She heard faint voices coming from the main room, so she ran over and opened the door, but was so scared that she burst into tears.

In the room, Xie Zheng was standing with his back to the door, shirtless. Blood-stained white cloth was scattered at his feet. A knife wound that went across most of his back was scarlet and hideous. Xie Qi was applying medicine on his back.

When Xie Qi heard Changning crying, he realized that the situation was not good. His master specially let him in to help apply medicine after his wife went out. Now he was afraid that he could not hide it anymore.

Sure enough, although Xie Zheng wrapped himself in thin clothes in time, Fan Changyu, who heard Changning's crying, still came to the door.

When Fan Changyu saw the bloody white cloth on the ground, his expression changed. He raised his eyes and looked directly at Xie Zheng: "Are you injured?"

Xie Zheng tied his shirt belt and replied, "It's just a minor injury."

Fan Changyu's brows were tightly furrowed. Looking at the circle of white cloth on the ground, he knew that the wounds on his body were probably serious. No wonder he had almost completely avoided heavy attacks and used clever tricks when fighting with him last night.

She squatted down, patted Chang Ning's shoulder and said a few words to him, then said to Xie Qi, "Brother Lao Xiaoqi, take my sister out first. She was scared last time and is a little afraid of blood."

Xie Qi coaxed Chang Ning out of the room first.

Fan Changyu closed the door and turned around, his face still expressionless. He just looked at Xie Zheng and said, "Let me see the injury on your back."

Xie Zheng's handsome eyebrows slightly frowned. He had not expected that Fan Changyu would find out about this, so he answered irrelevantly, "I have already applied the medicine."

Fan Changyu stared at him and said word by word: "I say, let me see."

The two men were in a stalemate for a moment. Xie Zheng still did not move, so Fan Changyu went straight forward and untied his belt.

When Xie Zheng grabbed her hand, she was afraid of breaking the wound on his back, so she didn't dare to struggle hard, but her face looked very bad.

Her almond-shaped eyes were cold and sharp, and her tone was unusually strong: "Either take off your clothes, or leave now and never show up in front of me again."

Xie Zheng held her wrist tightly, his narrow eyes half closed, his long eyelashes forming a beautiful arc, his jawline looked a little pale in the morning light coming through the window curtains. He asked her with a lazy smile, "Why do you sound like you're forcing a good woman into prostitution?"

Fan Changyu's lips tightened: "I'm just forcing you."

Xie Zheng looked at her. It was the first time he saw Fan Changyu so strong. Her almond-shaped eyes were no longer clear and harmless as usual, but sharp and aggressive.

It was like a lazy cat suddenly turned into a tiger or leopard that could easily tear its prey into pieces.

It was that look that seemed to have hooks that hooked Xie Zheng's heart.

His Adam's apple dropped and his eyelashes drooped. He resisted the urge to grab her jaw and kiss her deeply. He obediently unbuttoned his belt again and raised his eyes slightly. The dark color of his pupils faded a little in the morning light, making him look particularly beautiful. His profile was even coated with a layer of soft light.

The fingers that pulled open the laces were slender, with some tiny scars faintly visible. The body hidden under the robe was not as elegant and beautiful as his face gave people the feeling of being strong and sturdy, and even gave people a sense of oppression.

It was not the first time that Fan Changyu saw Xie Zheng shirtless, but in the past he was either lying injured or his image was blurry in the moonlight, and he could not see it as clearly as he did this time.

When she met Xie Zheng's aggressive eyes, her originally accumulated momentum suddenly dropped a lot. She couldn't help but pursed her lips, shifted her gaze away from his tight waist and abdomen, and walked around behind him to look at the wound on his back.

When he saw the long oblique wound between the intersecting old wounds, Fan Changyu was silent for a while before asking, "How did you get hurt?"

Xie Zheng did not answer, but only said: "It doesn't hurt."

Fan Changyu glared at him with red eyes: "I asked you how you got hurt?"

He still didn't say anything, so Fan Changyu stared at him and told his guess: "Was it that stupid monkey who was so easy-going that he hurt you?"

She said everything else was fine, but she mistakenly thought that he was injured by Sui Yuanqing, so Xie Zheng finally spoke up: "I cut it myself."

Seeing Fan Changyu looking at him like a madman, he couldn't tell what he was thinking at the moment. He just stared at her with his dark eyes and said, "Get some blood to sacrifice to the knife for you."

Fan Changyu really scolded him: "Mad man!"

But the redness in her eyes grew even stronger. She pushed him to sit down, picked up the unused medicine bottle on the table and applied the medicine to him. She tried to control her voice and said coldly, "If it happens again, I won't care if you die of pain! I don't want that broken knife anymore!"

The medicine for healing was very strong, and when it was applied to the wound, it caused a painful sensation like salt soaking in fire. Xie Zheng listened to Fan Changyu's scolding, resting his hands on the headrest of the chair, but he couldn't help but smiled.

His dark, stubborn and unusual thoughts did not frighten or disgust her, but only earned her sympathy.

He was as battered and moss-covered as the moss in the dark alley, damp, cold, and sticky, but his sun was still willing to shine on him.

The gloom and depression that lingered in my heart seemed to have dissipated a lot at once.

Fan Changyu applied medicine and rebandaged him. Seeing that he still had the heart to smile, he said unmercifully, "Are you stupid from the pain?"

Xie Zheng took advantage of the way her hand was wrapping around his back to hug her, resting his chin on her shoulder, and said lazily, "I'm happy to think of you wanting to give me a doll."

Fan Changyu tied the knot and glared at him.

-

Fan Changyu actually thought about it for a long time about what kind of doll to give Xie Zheng.

She had originally planned to make a pair of clay dolls, but when she thought of Xie Zheng's expectations and the fact that clay dolls were easily damaged, she decided to carve a pair of puppets for Carpenter Zhao while watching him working on the carpentry.

Carpenter Zhao is not only good at making all kinds of household utensils, but he can also carve lifelike patterns on boxes and cabinets.

However, Fan Changyu had no basic skills in carpentry and could not carve out any finished product in a short period of time. Fortunately, she had been using a knife for many years and her knife skills were very steady.

The army only has one day off. She came back yesterday afternoon and had to go back to the army this afternoon. She only had half a day to learn wood carving from Carpenter Zhao.

While Fan Changyu was practicing in the room with a bunch of leftover furniture scraps from Carpenter Zhao, Xie Zheng frowned and looked at the pile of white papers on the table. He tapped the table with his knuckles and asked uncertainly, "You want me to copy the book for you?"

Fan Changyu said without raising his head, "Last time my adoptive father tested me on Zhuangzi, and I got a sentence wrong, so he punished me by making me copy the passage ten times."

Xie Zheng twirled the brand-new white papers with his fingertips and found that only the top one had a few lines written on it. He slowly raised his eyes and looked at Fan Changyu: "So you haven't finished copying it yet?"

Even before she made eye contact with him, Fan Changyu felt guilty. She lowered her head to whittle wood, trying to make her voice sound stronger: "I can recite it, but my adoptive father said my handwriting is ugly, so he asked me to copy it ten times carefully, so I copied it so slowly."

Xie Zheng held the top page in one hand, examined it for a moment and said, "Your handwriting is a little ugly."

Fan Changyu asked angrily, "Will you help me copy it or not?"

Xie Zheng said: "My handwriting is different from yours. It is difficult to write in your handwriting."

Fan Changyu understood the hidden meaning in his words—he couldn't write such ugly characters.

She tightened her grip on the knife handle, took a deep breath, and said as if accepting reality: "Forget it, I'll copy it myself. It won't take a while for me to carve this wood carving well. I'll practice slowly when I have time."

She put down the wood and the boning knife, and stretched out her hand as if to take the pile of white papers in front of Xie Zheng, but a few bony fingers pressed on the edge of the papers.

Fan Changyu raised his eyes and saw Xie Zheng's dark and handsome face, not surprisingly.

He pressed his forehead and said, as if he had no choice but to give her a thumbs-up: "Forget it. You can't write well in a day or two. I'll copy it for you."

Fan Changyu's plan succeeded. He narrowed his eyes, curled up the corners of his mouth, and smiled like a cat that had stolen some fish. He picked up the boning knife and continued to practice carving on the wood.

Xie Zheng dipped his pen in thick ink and glanced at the person sitting cross-legged opposite him, concentrating on carving wood. The sunlight shone through the screen window, and her hair seemed to be smudged with a layer of light. On the paper in front of her, the words and the owner's appearance... were very different.

He pulled the corner of his lip helplessly, and continued to write on the paper, imitating her handwriting. There was a tenderness in his eyes that he himself had never known existed.

The author has something to say:

Changyu (breathing a sigh of relief): Someone has helped me write the homework

After a while,

Master Tao (frowning): Why is the word 'girlfriend' still so ugly?

Happy National Day~Give 100 red envelopes to the kids~