"call--"

“Huff—Huff—”

Turning out of the alley in the village, she had never heard the whistling sound of the wind passing by her ears before. The cold wind was biting and blew into her skin through her thin clothes.

When Hua Shi turned out of the small path, he saw from afar a figure standing under the banyan tree where he was that day.

She didn't expect He Jiang to be waiting there so soon, and she couldn't help but quicken her pace, "He Jiang...!"

Hua Shi's voice had just come out of her mouth when the rest of the words suddenly got stuck in her throat and stopped abruptly.

The figure standing under the banyan tree heard the sound and turned around to look over.

Hua Shi walked closer and saw the man's face clearly. He paused what he was saying and slowed down his pace with a hesitant look.

It's Xie Mingchi...

"Xie Mingchi...?"

Hua Shi looked at him. They hadn't seen each other for nearly a month. It was freezing cold, but he was wearing less clothes than her, just a thin layer of cloth. He was tall and straight, standing like a pine tree, with long eyebrows and slender eyes, but for some reason, he had a large beard on his chin. The look in his eyes that looked at her quietly seemed to be tired.

Xie Mingchi seemed to be accustomed to silence, and his expression did not change when he saw her coming.

He handed the sack in his hand to Hua Shi and said in a hoarse voice, "He Jiang was delayed by something and can't come back today. He asked me to bring the things to you."

Without waiting for Hua Shi to ask, he took the initiative to explain.

Hua Shi took the thing, opened it curiously, took a few glances at what was inside, and then reached in to touch it.

"Huh?" She asked doubtfully, tilting her head slightly and looking at Xie Mingchi, "This doesn't seem to be the candy I want...right?"

Inside this sack were two bulging cloth bags, which seemed to contain... rice and flour?

As soon as I touched it, I knew something was wrong, and this was too much...

Xie Mingchi's face was tense, and his dark eyes stared at her without blinking. When he saw her looking up, he looked away and whispered, "...It's at the very bottom."

Hua Shi carried the heavy load and asked, "Have I sold all the winter jujubes in my basket?"

Xie Mingchi shifted his gaze back and responded softly, "Uh."

Under Hua Shi's questioning gaze, he patiently explained, "He Jiang said that a young lady from a family in town happened to see them and liked the new things from the mountains, so she bought them all for a total of five hundred coins."

"Five hundred?" Hua Shi was surprised by the number.

She lowered her head and rummaged through the contents of the bag again. At the bottom of the two cloth bags, she found gray-red candy wrapped in greasy yellow paper. She lifted the greasy yellow paper and found five small, palm-sized candies inside.

"How much is this candy?"

Hua Shi held the heavy butter wrapper in her hand and asked Xie Mingchi.

"One hundred coins a piece."

Hua Shi: “!”

So expensive!

A candy this small, and it costs a hundred coins?! That's almost the same as a wild rabbit.

She had imagined that in ancient times when supplies were scarce, something as rare and precious as sugar would be very expensive, but she hadn't expected it to be so expensive. Furthermore, the sugar itself was made very crudely, probably from boiled sugarcane...

If she could figure out the process of making candy and sell it, wouldn't she be able to make a fortune from it... ?

Hua Shi calmed down and looked at the somewhat silent Xie Mingchi, "What about the remaining two bags...?"

Xie Mingchi met her gaze, his eyelids drooped a little, as if he was deliberately avoiding looking at her. He pursed his lips and remained silent for a while.

Hua Shi looked at Xie Mingchi, who didn't want to say much, and then looked at the thing in his hand.

She pondered for a moment, pursed her lips, took out all the butter-wrapped candies, grabbed the sack again with her hands, and handed it to him.

"Okay, thank you very much."

Xie Mingchi lowered his eyelids and looked at the bag that was handed back to him. His brows frowned slightly, but he did not reach out to take it.

Hua Shi handed the thing back, but was stunned when she saw that he was reluctant to take it.

ah?

Did she misunderstand? This isn't Xie Mingchi's...?

Xie Mingchi's eyebrows moved slightly, and his gaze fell on Hua Shi's face. She looked confused and didn't seem to feel that anything was wrong at all.

He took a deep breath in his heart and said in a somewhat stiff voice, "For you."

Did she not want it? Or was it too sudden for him to give it to her?

Hua Shi blinked and was stunned for half a second.

ah?

Even though she was slow-witted, she could vaguely sense that something was wrong with Xie Mingchi.

For her? Why for her?

All five hundred coins were used to buy these candies. I felt sad when I spent them, and my thoughts were a little complicated.

When I suddenly heard what Xie Mingchi said, I was confused.

"What are you doing for me?" she asked blankly.

Xie Mingchi stood still, feeling that today's wind and snow seemed particularly dry, making his throat a little dry.

He pinched the cold sweat that had appeared in his palms and looked at Hua Shi seriously, "Here you go."

He had been working as a helper in town recently and hadn't been home for a while. He happened to run into He Jiang in town a few days ago, and He Jiang told him about her...

When he learned that she was selling winter dates in the village on a snowy day, he guessed that she was in a difficult situation... Before that, he believed the rumors in the village and ignored her. After meeting her several times and observing her, he knew that she was not as the rumors said, and he felt a little ashamed.

Now he and her are engaged again, and they will get married after spring comes... Isn't it his duty to love his wife?

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!