"What could I say to him? He said he wanted to thank my blood for saving him."

Ling Huanwu had nowhere to retreat, and she was extremely flustered with her back against the stove.

Having spent time with Zhou Jiuzhen, she had gotten to know him better.

If she had glanced at Tiedan and Gangbeng a few more times or spoken a few more words to them, she wouldn't have been able to sleep all night.

Even after they've both eaten and drunk their fill, he'll still be trapped under him, forced to watch him do push-ups.

His bulging pectoral muscles, as he did push-ups, almost slapped against her face from top to bottom, making it breathtaking every second, impossible to even squint.

Ling Huanwu had no choice but to prop herself up on the stove with her wet hands, avoiding his forceful advances. "We're still outside, don't do anything rash just because you're jealous."

Seeing her hurt expression, Zhou Jiuzhen reached out and grabbed her armpits to lift her down.

"Get down quickly, the stove is hot, you'll burn your bottom, I won't be jealous."

Ling Huanwu pretended to lean back and fall into the large iron pot, gripping the edge of the pot tightly with a defiant look on her face. "I don't care, I've recovered. I have to draw blueprints tonight and go to the cooperative tomorrow morning. Otherwise, I won't come into the house with you!"

Zhou Jiuzhen glanced back at a group of aunties chatting around the well not far away.

They were looking at the two of them with big, proud smiles, all with expressions of delight.

"Honey, I'm really not jealous. Go back inside, your aunties are watching. I won't do push-ups tonight, okay?"

Zhou Jiuzhen solemnly assured her, and Ling Huanwu nodded and got off the stove as if her scheme had succeeded.

She went into the room and went to the closet to get her clothes. "I'll take a shower by myself tonight. You're taking such a thorough shower, it's such a waste of time. I still have to draw design drafts later..."

Ling Huanwu was rambling on and on, unaware that the door behind her was slowly closing and being bolted shut.

Zhou Jiuzhen silently sat back on the bed, listening to his wife's complaints with a hurt expression, and softly replied, "Okay."

Watching her light steps as she took her clothes to enjoy her shower, a feeling of abandonment and helplessness instantly overwhelmed him.

Ling Huanwu hummed a song as she poured water over herself with a ladle.

He looked as if he had wronged her when he helped her bathe.

Zhou Jiuzhen hummed, picked up the book "Dedicate Everything to the Country", fell into the quilt, curled up in the corner and began to chant the Heart-Cleansing Mantra.

He promised not to do push-ups tonight, and he absolutely cannot break his promise.

Ling Huanwu was still drawing her tedious blueprints at the table until midnight.

Zhou Jiuzhen stared at the scratch marks on the corner of the wall, his mind filled with the image of Ling Huanwu turning around and pleading with him in a low voice.

He felt like he was about to be completely ruined.

He didn't even dare to lie flat on his back, for fear that his wife would notice and laugh at him.

He finally managed to get to bed when Ling Huanwu went to sleep. The pleasant scent emanating from her body made him even more restless and unable to sleep, his heart itching with desire.

He'd been holding her while he slept all these days; he'd never slept like this before.

And so, he endured a miserable night listening to the long, drawn-out breathing of the heartless woman beside him...

*

West of the family compound.

When Zhou Shuyao returned from the Binhai Cemetery drunkenly carrying a bottle of baijiu, the three children in the house were already asleep.

He had just cried at the cemetery for several hours and encountered several villagers from Stone Village.

Some burned small clothes for children who died young, while others burned paper money for their deceased wives.

Having no other choice, Zhou Shuyao folded a small paper figure and burned it for his mother, hoping that the paper figure could massage her legs and shoulders.

He even saw Aunt Liu taking her triplets to pay respects to her son and daughter-in-law.

later.

They knelt in prayer on the sea that was stained red with fire, praying to be reunited with their families in the next life.

Although the villagers didn't like him, he still learned from the snippets of their conversations that there was such a legend about this island.

Upon learning this legend, Zhou Shuyao wept with joy and knelt before Wang Guihua's tombstone, kowtowing repeatedly.

In this life, he was the one who caused his mother's death.

He prayed to God to give him another chance, so that in the next life he could be his mother's son again, to atone for his debt in this life.

When he got home, he kissed his three sleeping children on the bed, and when he turned his head, he was met with Song Yaoyao's ambiguous smile.

Zhou Shuyao felt a little guilty, after all, he knew that he had used all his money to buy a necklace.

That necklace is now inedible and unsellable.

The family was so poor they couldn't even afford to eat. Last night, when he saw his three children sharing a single sweet potato, he felt a deep sense of guilt.

It was only then that he realized that without Ling Huanwu's support and encouragement in his previous life, he would have been unable to realize any of his countless business ideas.

He even struggled to support his three children.

He's actually just a good-for-nothing bastard!

"Why aren't you asleep yet?" Zhou Shuyao put down the wine bottle, took a chair and sat down opposite Song Yaoyao. For the first time, he seriously discussed it with her. "I want to go to work. Here's five yuan. Go to the aunt next door tomorrow and buy some rice. We can't let the child go hungry, right?"

"Then where will you find work? There's hardly any work left in the production teams on the island."

Song Yaoyao initially had a sullen face and didn't want to talk to this drunkard, but as soon as she heard that he was back at work, she immediately perked up and realized that he wasn't beyond redemption.

Until Zhou Shuyao rubbed his hands together, his face beaming with smiles, and said, "I want to go to the cooperative and help Tiedan and Gangpao move goods."

"Wh...what?"

Song Yaoyao could hardly believe her ears and roared angrily, "You still want to go see that bitch and see her every day? If you still think about her, believe me, I'll spread the word everywhere that you two are having an affair right now, and I'll make sure you two scoundrels..."

"Who the hell are you calling a dog?"

Hearing these offensive words, Zhou Shuyao's smile was instantly replaced by anger, and he could no longer hold back. He picked up a chair from the ground and smashed it at Song Yaoyao.

Zhou Shuyao discovered that if he married Song Yaoyao, he would become a domestic abuser that he himself loathed.

As before, Ling's parents made their own beds on the floor and went to sleep.

The two of them used to protect Song Yaoyao.

The two of them were now sleeping soundly, even as they listened to Song Yaoyao's screams.

Even the triplets are now used to their beatings and scoldings, and are not disturbed by the earth-shattering noise.

midnight.

The room was filled with the snoring of Zhou Shuyao and Ling's father.

Song Yaoyao was curled up behind the door, her whole body covered in bruises, and she had almost run out of tears.

She gritted her teeth, and only at this moment did she understand a truth.

You can't rely on your parents or your man.

A woman can only rely on herself.

Song Yaoyao took the mirror off the table, looked at her disheveled appearance, and then thought of Ling Huanwu's popularity wherever she went, her eyes became even more sinister.

If Ling Huanwu can open a cooperative, then she can open one too!

One day, she will trample Ling Huanwu into the mud.