"yes!"

Jiang Qiaoqiao met Huo Beixiao's gaze and asked without the slightest fear.

She was the one who married into the Huo family, so the dowry given by the Huo family should naturally be given to her. No matter who asked, she was perfectly justified.

She remembered Jiang Yiran saying in her past life that Huo Beixiao had nothing on his mind except work.

Given his personality, he wouldn't care about these things at all.

He had taken her to the Qin family to find Jiang Yiran before, but he hadn't mentioned the bride price.

Now, there's only one possibility: Jiang Yong'an went to him after being rejected by her.

Jiang Qiaoqiao was prepared for Huo Beixiao to make her hand over the betrothal gifts.

But Huo Beixiao did not.

He went straight to the wardrobe and took a tin box from the top.

"I'm going out for a bit, you don't need to wait for me to eat."

After saying that, he got on his bicycle.

Jiang Qiaoqiao watched his broad back as he left the family compound.

She could roughly guess what was in the box and where he was going to deliver it.

A sense of sadness and bitterness filled my heart.

Jiang Qiaoqiao composed herself and started boiling water to kill the duck.

In her past life, she must have killed at least 80,000, if not 100,000.

Killing ducks is something she can do with ease; she could do it even with her eyes closed.

He swiftly slit the throat, drained the blood, stuffed it into a bucket, and scalded the hair with boiling water.

"ah--"

But when she was pouring the boiling water, she was distracted for a moment, and somehow the scalding water ended up on her left hand.

A large area of ​​her fair hand immediately turned red.

She didn't pay much attention and continued to clean the duck, then chopped it into pieces and marinated it.

After completing all the preparations, she sat down and waited.

As darkness fell, her stomach began to rumble with hunger.

The cement plant's loudspeaker had already announced that it was 9 p.m., but Huo Beixiao still hadn't returned.

Jiang Qiaoqiao couldn't wait any longer.

The duck meat and young ginger that had been prepared were put into the pot, and soon an enticing aroma wafted out.

Jiang Qiaoqiao brought out the baby ginger duck and steamed rice to the table.

After she finished eating, Huo Beixiao still did not return.

She washed the rice bowl clean and then put the remaining ginger duck into a basin, pretending that she hadn't eaten it yet.

I continued to wait, leaning over the table.

Originally, she only wanted to pretend that she had been waiting for Huo Beixiao all along.

Unexpectedly, she felt sleepy after eating, and after a whole day of tossing and turning, she actually fell asleep on the table.

When Huo Beixiao returned, he saw that his usually deserted staff dormitory was lit with warm yellow lights.

A strange emotion flickered through his mind.

He pushed open the slightly ajar door and saw a petite figure asleep on the table under the dim light.

He went over and found that Jiang Qiaoqiao was not sleeping soundly.

Her little face was scrunched up in pain. "No, no... Go away, go away..."

Huo Beixiao frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, then placed his hand on Jiang Qiaoqiao's shoulder and gently pushed her, "Wake up, Jiang Qiaoqiao, wake up..."

Jiang Qiaoqiao opened her eyes, and the man's resolute face loomed large before her.

She quickly snapped out of the nightmare, smiled, and straightened up, saying, "You're back? I'll go heat up the food."

As she spoke, she picked up the dish to reheat it.

However, as soon as he stood up, he felt a numbness in his legs and his body uncontrollably fell to one side.

"careful!"

Huo Beixiao instinctively put one arm around her waist to help her steady herself, and took the bowl of vegetables from her hand with the other.

A woman's waist is slender and supple.

The moment he touched it, his heart skipped a beat.

He expressionlessly helped her sit down. "You sit down, I'll go heat it up."

Although Jiang Qiaoqiao had already experienced everything in her previous life, she still couldn't help but blush when she felt the warmth of that large hand on her sensitive waist.

The man has already gone to heat up the food.

Soon, the heated food was served.

Jiang Qiaoqiao had already eaten, but to keep up the act, she ate in small bites.

The two remained silent.

"You don't need to wait for me to eat anymore," Huo Beixiao said again after putting down his chopsticks.

After saying that, he noticed the hint of disappointment in Jiang Qiaoqiao's eyes and subconsciously explained, "My work hours are irregular, and I often need to work overtime."

Huo Beixiao is the factory's mechanical engineer. He leads the team to inspect and maintain all the machines in the cement plant.

To ensure the factory's production lines operate normally, any machine malfunction must be repaired immediately, regardless of the time of day.

So when he said he often had to work overtime, it wasn't just to appease Jiang Qiaoqiao.

Jiang Qiaoqiao nodded, "Okay, I understand."

The two were not familiar with each other and had little to say to each other.

Jiang Qiaoqiao was about to clear the dishes when Huo Beixiao finished doing so before she could.

Jiang Qiaoqiao watched the man busy in the kitchen, and he quickly tidied it up neatly.

It has to be said that, apart from not liking her, this man is a really good husband in every other way.

After tidying up, I went into the inner room.

Jiang Qiaoqiao then realized a serious problem: there was only one bed here!

Just then, Huo Beixiao finished tidying up and came in.

"We, tonight..."

Jiang Qiaoqiao looked at Huo Beixiao awkwardly.

After all, they had already agreed to live together temporarily, so it didn't seem appropriate for them to sleep in the same bed under these circumstances.