Chapter 28 Dangerous! "Why don't you just kill me?"...

As August arrives, the crops in the fields are lush and green, growing steadily and healthily. Since the beginning of spring, people have been busy sowing spring wheat, harvesting last year's winter wheat, planting summer corn, and delivering grain. After being busy for most of the year, people can finally take a breather. Before the next busy autumn harvest season, August is just a month for field management and flood prevention.

During the off-season for farming, people visit relatives and friends. Some go to see their mothers-in-law, while others are married daughters returning to their parents' home. Fan Dani from the Fan family next door also returned with her three-month pregnant belly.

Nie Ying excitedly stepped out of her house to greet her daughter and son-in-law. She looked at Fan Dani, who was holding her eldest granddaughter Liu Tongyue, and then at Liu Mancang, who was holding his second granddaughter Liu Tongxing. Overjoyed, she said, "You're back! Good! I'll cook you a nice meal. We just received our grain rations, so we're not short of food..."

Fan Wu stood at the door and happily pinched his son-in-law's arm, "You've gotten even stronger."

Liu Mancang had an honest appearance and simply replied, "From working."

Even though they lived in the same production team, Fan Dani, a married daughter, couldn't visit her parents' home often. This time, she came back specifically to see her parents and sisters, and she couldn't contain her joy. "Erni is becoming more and more like a young lady; she'll be getting married in another six months. Zhaodi and Jueyan, you two have grown taller too..."

Fan Erni couldn't help but blush, while Fan Zhaodi and Fan Jueyan looked at their eldest sister with bright eyes.

Hearing the commotion next door, Deng Xia came out of her house and leaned against the door. "Da Ni is back."

Deng Xia only had a problem with Nie Ying, not with the children. Oh, except for the third child, Fan Zhaodi was just as annoying as her mother.

Zhong Ying leaned on her mother's shoulder and peeked out. Wow, it was really lively at the door next door; there were so many people.

Brown Sugar squeezed out a large black head from beside the person's legs, and upon seeing so many people outside, immediately began to bark loudly.

Deng Xia clamped her legs together, and Hongtang, no longer able to cry out, let out a whimper, forcefully pulled her head back, and ran back to the yard, keeping a distance from everyone.

Fan Dani greeted the neighbor gently, "Aunt Zhong, Yingni'er."

In comparison, Nie Ying seemed much more arrogant, saying, "Zhong Lao Er's family, your own place isn't this lively, is it? You can only watch other people's houses."

After her mockery, Nie Ying didn't forget to show off, her movements affected, drawing everyone's attention to Fan Dani's belly, "I see Dani's belly is pointed, this baby might be a boy."

Liu Mancang couldn't help but smile.

Fan Dani tugged at Nie Ying's sleeve and said in a low voice, "Mom, why are you saying this? I'm not even showing much yet!"

Whether she's pregnant or not doesn't matter. Nie Ying is just pointing out the facts and showing off. In terms of results, she's not as good as Deng Xia next door, but she has a lot of "flowers" (pregnancy). Although the quality is not as good, the quantity is far superior.

Fan Zhaodi chimed in, "Big sister, I also think your baby is definitely a boy!"

"You're amazing," Deng Xia sneered, turning to Nie Ying. "Even the most skilled old doctor in Panpokou couldn't tell whether it was a male or female pulse after three months, and you know it now?"

Before Nie Ying could retaliate, another small head popped out from beside Deng Xia's thigh. This time it was Zhong Guoqiang. He was happily digging a hole in the yard when he turned his head and saw his grandmother and aunt standing at the door. He immediately threw down the wooden stick in his hand and came over to take a look.

Deng Xia smiled slightly, "Grandson, there's nothing to see here, let's go home."

She emphasized the first three words: "Isn't it just a boy? We have one at home, why should we be envious of other people's children?"

Nie Ying intended to provoke Deng Xia, but ended up making herself even angrier.

At first, Deng Xia didn't take the provocation seriously. After returning home, she continued the work she had been doing, using the stone mill in the yard to grind the allocated grain into powder.

As she pushed the millstone forward, Deng Xia couldn't stop her thoughts from wandering.

The Fan family next door, including the couple and their three unmarried daughters, plus Da Ni's wedding with her son-in-law and two daughters, and the baby she's carrying... Deng Xia silently counted, good heavens, there are a full ten people.

Deng Xia pushed the millstone around the whole circle, looking around her own small courtyard.

Her daughter, Zhong Ying, was adding wheat to the stone mill for her, while Guo Qiang was playing in the mud. Her daughter-in-law, Miao Suyun, was cooking in the kitchen. Old Zhong had taken his youngest son, Zhong Xin, to work in the fields, and his eldest son was far away.

Deng Xia suddenly felt that her home was indeed a bit deserted.

"Where is my son-in-law?" Deng Xia thought to herself, and then blurted it out.

Zhong Ying was startled. Why did that sentence suddenly come out of nowhere? It was terrifying!

Deng Xia suddenly perked up, "If you do the math, you're already twenty-one this year, twenty-two by the traditional Chinese age reckoning, and twenty-three after the New Year! You can't afford to delay any longer. If it weren't for that Li family kid's affair, you would have been engaged by now! No, this afternoon I'll go find Hu to inquire, bring the ground white flour, and ask her to help me find someone!"

"Don't worry, Mom knows what kind of person you like. I've definitely asked Hu about it in detail!" A few more candidates flashed through Deng Xia's mind. "Or do you want Cheng Zhiqing? Oh, the quality inspector at the grain station the other day was also very young. I think she's quite nice, it's just that marrying her there is a bit far away..."

Deng Xia's tone was as if she were talking about lollipops in a shopping mall, asking her daughter which flavor she wanted, as if she were saying "orange flavor" instead of "Cheng Zhiqing".

Zhong Ying was terrified. Forgetting about putting down the wheat, she grabbed her mother, crying, "Mother, my goodness! This can't be rushed!"

“How can you not be worried? Once the New Year is over, that scoundrel will definitely start blaming you again, saying you’re an old maid!” Deng Xia was anxious for her.

“Mother, I…” Zhong Ying swallowed the words “I don’t want to get married.” She remembered what era it was. Her mind raced and she quickly came up with another excuse. “It’s only been two months since Li Linshi’s incident. If you ask Hu to find me a partner now, the people in the production team will definitely gossip.”

This calmed Deng Xia's feverish mind a little. She hesitated and tried to argue, "But you and he aren't engaged. Even if you were engaged, if the man dies, there's no rule that the woman has to stay with him for a certain period before she can find someone else..."

“Isn’t the situation different? In other people’s eyes, he risked his life to save me,” Zhong Ying said.

Deng Xia asked reluctantly, "How long do I have to keep watch for him?"

Zhong Ying bit her finger anxiously, "Six months? A year?"

She thought, this isn't just for Li Linshi to guard; it's clearly the time limit for her to survive as an independent person.

"About six months," Deng Xia concluded. "By then, the new year will have passed, and everyone will have almost forgotten about him."

Deng Xia was worried. Zhong Ying would be twenty-two years old next year, and there weren't many young men her age who weren't engaged yet. She was afraid she would have to look for someone younger.

Zhong Ying was also worried. It was already August, and there were only four or five months left in the year. She was in grave danger!

Miao Suyun finished cooking, wiped her hands, and walked out of the kitchen. "Mom, I'm going to call Dad and Xinzi back for dinner—what's going on?"

She froze, looking at the mother and daughter, both of them with sullen faces.

Zhong Ying couldn't taste her food at all during lunch. A problem she had always been unwilling to think about was now forcing her to face it. This wasn't a modern society with open-minded views; she couldn't simply choose not to get married.

Even if Deng Xia doted on her, Zhong Ying thought that her mother would not accept her daughter not getting married.

But to make Zhong Ying bow her head and accept the fact that she had to get married, she thought of the other eligible young men in the village and felt a little suffocated.

It's said that only women with strong endurance or those who are out of their minds get married.

Tolerate? Zhong Ying said she couldn't tolerate it at all.

Her mind was also very clear.

So at this moment, Zhong Ying was clearly conscious of her headache.

However, Zhong Ying couldn't tell Deng Xia about this headache. Her mother's values ​​were limited by the rigid "box" of this era, and Zhong Ying's thoughts and ideas would only be labeled as "unorthodox." Deng Xia might even find someone to "exorcise evil spirits" for her.

The same principle applies to finding my sister-in-law, Miao Suyun.

Even though she now has far more family members than she did in modern times, Zhong Ying still feels a sense of loneliness at this moment.

"I'm going out to gather firewood." After finishing her meal, Zhong Ying quietly said goodbye to her family, picked up the basket from the corner of the yard, and headed outside. She had to get out quickly; she was already out of breath.

After leaving home, Zhong Ying stood on the road, her eyes blank, not knowing where to go.

Should I go find my aunt? But my aunt has her own children to take care of, so she can't be a confidante or a caring older sister, and she probably wouldn't understand me.

Zhong Ying stood there for a while before finally walking towards the river.

There was no one by the river at midday, and Zhong Ying didn't look into the water. She didn't care whether the ghost was there or not; she just wanted to find a secluded place to catch her breath. She wondered if every time traveler had to go through this: the clash between a modern soul and past ideas, and whether the east wind would prevail over the west wind, or the west wind would overpower the east wind.

You can either be assimilated by the times, try not to think about anything modern, conform to current ideas, close your eyes and cover your ears, and still survive; or you will suffer a crushing defeat and choose death over surrender.

Zhong Ying sighed deeply, "So, it turns out that Li Changgui and I are in the same situation after all..."

“Li Changgui is trapped under the control of his parents, while I,” Zhong Ying smiled bitterly, “am trapped under the constraints of this era.”

She gritted her teeth and said bitterly, "Why do women have to get married when they reach a certain age?"

"You don't want to get married?" A head popped out of the river, a drop of water dripping from his wet black hair and falling onto the water's surface from his high, straight nose.

As Zhong Ying looked at Li Lin in the river, she said, "I'm twenty-seven years old and I still don't have the slightest thought about getting married."

Anyway, this ghost already knows his background, and no one else can see him, so he's practically the best confessional. Zhong Ying continued, "I know, in this day and age it's simply 'horrifying'."

Li Linshi remained silent. "Shocking" wouldn't be the right word; "unheard of" would be more accurate. At twenty-seven, she was usually the mother of three or four children.

“But this will be very common in the future. Marriage will no longer be a mandatory question in life,” Zhong Ying said. “Women have the right to choose. Whether to get married or not is just a personal choice, and they will no longer be pushed forward by their parents or society.”

Zhong Ying missed the modern world and became disheartened. "Why don't you just kill me? If you want me to find a man to marry in this era, you might as well kill me now."

"Why don't you want to get married?" Li Linshi asked. She was sometimes similar to the original "Zhong Ying," and sometimes not. They were completely different when it came to marriage. The original "Zhong Ying" couldn't wait to marry him, but the current Zhong Ying wished she could die right now and never get married.

"I don't want to marry a man like my dad, I don't want to become a woman like my mom, and I don't want to have a child like me," Zhong Ying said calmly with a shrug, without any pause for thought, clearly revealing her true thoughts.

Li Linshi looked at her with deep, penetrating eyes, as if trying to see into the depths of her soul. His expression was serious as he stared intently at her and said, "You are very good."

With one sentence, she not only denied her parents' existence, but also her own.

But Li Linshi genuinely felt that she was a good person.

"Huh?" Zhong Ying was stunned for a moment. After a while, she suddenly felt a little awkward and unconsciously looked away, glancing left and right. Her gaze fell on a small plant at her feet. The tender green leaves had closed up because of her unconscious touch. Looking at it, Zhong Ying even wanted to curl up like it.

But Zhong Ying forced herself to return to normal. What was he doing, suddenly saying such things with such a serious expression?

After calming down, she attributed her earlier unease to the word "sudden."

Her father always felt she wasn't good enough, and her mother hoped she could be even better. Zhong Ying risked her life for just one word of affirmation. Although she had realized this before her sudden death and stopped chasing after others' affirmation, she suddenly received it again after giving up completely. Anyone would be at a loss in that situation; it was too sudden.

Zhong Ying scratched her cheek. "Um, thank you?"

She recalled the high-class feeling that Zhong Ying used to have, and her uncertain tone instantly became much more confident, "I also think I'm great."

Zhong Ying didn't want to dwell on this topic any longer, so she changed the subject and said, "Why don't you come over to my place sometime tonight when you're free?"

After the Great Heat, the weather became increasingly hot. Zhong Ying couldn't sleep at night because of the heat and missed the air conditioner very much.

Seeing that the listlessness and distress on her face had just vanished, Li Linshi was speechless for a moment before she said something like that again. "...Are you born in the Year of the Monkey?"

He had never seen a girl who was so greedy.

Zhong Ying didn't understand his implied meaning and replied strangely, "No, I was born in the Year of the Tiger." Even according to her current physical condition, she was born in the Year of the Pig, so why would he think she was born in the Year of the Monkey?

Li Linshi pursed his lips, glanced at her with his dark eyes, and then fell back into the river.

"If you don't want to agree, then you don't have to," Zhong Ying muttered. "You're running away so fast, as if you're afraid I'll do something to you."

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Author's Note: Li Linshi's Perspective: Comforting...Being Harassed

Zhong Ying's perspective: Tree hole... Air conditioner