"This hairpin is beautiful. As soon as I saw it, I thought of you. Don't refuse me."

Small gifts, sweet words, no respect.

Xie Fei's eyes widened and rippled. But it was not the shyness that Lu Qingtang expected, but... fear and disgust.

...dislike it?

"I don't want it!" Xie Fei put the lunch box on the sink.

Lu Qingtang's naturally smiling lips tightened and his eyes darkened.

"I don't want it." Xie Fei mustered up her courage and repeated. Her voice was soft and gentle, as if her throat was naturally restrained. Even when she was most angry, she would not shout loudly, but would just lower her head and avoid it.

But Lu Qingtang blocked her by the pool and she couldn't run away.

Xie Fei didn't know what Lu Qingtang was up to. There were so many girls around him, and he was very kind to every one of them, so why did he bully her?

The little girl in front of me had translucent white skin, light pink lips, and a pair of doe eyes filled with tears, like a little white rabbit that had fallen into a trap.

Xie Fei was wearing a pink dress with white dots, and her figure was thin, like the first peach blossoms blooming on branches in March. In this era when women hold up half the sky, this kind of Jiangnan water village style is now very rare.

Xie Fei's weakness and cowardice can easily arouse the evil in people's nature. This is not the case with everyone, but Lu Qingtang is a born bad guy. When he saw Xie Fei's timid appearance, he wanted to bully her.

Having been hidden for a whole day, Lu Qingtang was in a bad mood, and his vicious temper also surged up. He leaned closer to Xie Fei, and his tall figure gave people an invisible pressure: "I heard that your brother is reselling gold?"

"Ah!" Xie Fei gave a short scream and looked at him in horror.

Huang Jin, my brother... it was so scary. Huang Jin was the darkest shadow in her childhood. Those people often broke into the house and smashed and turned everything over just for Huang Jin. My brother was beaten and bloodied countless times to protect her and grandma.

Lu Qingtang said: "I won't tell anyone. I just want to be friends with you, I don't have any bad intentions."

Xie Fei looked at Lu Qingtang's smiling face and felt that there was murderous intent in his eyes and a knife hidden in his smile. She couldn't help trembling, like a tender peach blossom broken by the cold wind. But no matter how much she bullied him, it was hard to make her say a word.

The smile in Lu Qingtang's eyes disappeared, and he asked, "Are you so afraid of me?"

Xie Fei nodded desperately, and when she saw Lu Qingtang's face twitching, she shook her head hurriedly. Tears rolled down like beads from a broken string.

The veins on Lu Qingtang's forehead were throbbing. Even her good-tempered self made her burst into tears. She gritted her teeth and said, "Don't hide from me in the future. Do you hear me? Don't shake your head or nod. Speak with your mouth!"

Xie Fei nodded vigorously.

Lu Qingtang lost his temper and made way.

Xie Fei fled as if he had been pardoned, leaving a faint fragrance in the air, which disappeared in an instant. Lu Qingtang stared at the sink. He fled so quickly that he didn't even want his lunch box.

The dignified Mr. Lu rolled up his sleeves, washed the lunch box cleanly, and took it away with him.

It rains a lot during the Qingming Festival. There was a light rain at night, and the white walls and black tiles of Tianshui Village were as clear as water. The alleys paved with bluestone slabs were winding, and green moss was seen on the corners and steps, like a painting in ink and color.

Cheng Yaoyao stood in the middle of the yard, looking graceful and elegant. She was wearing a white jacket with blue edges and a black pleated skirt. She raised her face slightly, and the teardrop mole under her eyes was extremely bright.

This ink painting scroll suddenly came alive with just a touch of the magic brush.

The women got up early in the morning and were busy in the kitchen. Their arms were red from being soaked in water. White mist was rolling on the stove. They were kneading green dumplings and steaming glutinous rice. They were busy all the time.

The Xie family's yard was also lined with rice. Xie Zhao sent the soaked glutinous rice to the mill before dawn to make slurry. He put it in a cotton bag and hung it up, with a basin underneath to collect the water. It dripped and hung until the next day. The glutinous rice flour in the bag was the best raw material for making Qingtuan. The rice slurry made by mixing glutinous rice flour directly did not taste as good as the one made by grinding it, and it was tougher.

The brigade opened the mill three days before the Qingming Festival. This year, the village planted greenhouse vegetables, and every household in the village had a lot more money, with some households having three to five kilograms and some having seven to eight kilograms. They sent glutinous rice to the mill and ground it into pulp, and then picked some Qingming vegetables and ground them into pulp to make green Qingming fruits.

A big fish was kept in a basin, and pork belly was hung on the chopping board. Grandma Xie washed a pile of coarse porcelain cups and was busy making bowls of cakes in the kitchen.

Cheng Yaoyao wore the new clothes that Grandma Xie had made for her and counted the strawberries again. They were all red and juicy. She dripped some spiritual spring water on them before leaving.

Grandma Xie chased after him and said, "Be careful on the road. Get off work early and go home. Take Han Yin and Xiao Feng with you, okay?"

"I know!" Cheng Yaoyao replied sweetly, and was bumped into by Goudan and his gang just as she walked out of the alley.

The children held a bunch of willow branches and ran into the alley one after another. They stopped suddenly in front of Cheng Yaoyao and said obediently, "Hello, Sister Yaoyao."

Cheng Yaoyao laughed and asked, "Why are you picking so many willow branches?"

Little Tiedan said, "My mother said that tomorrow is Qingming Festival and we should plant willow branches. My brother has folded so many for you, Sister Yaoyao!"

Goudan blushed and said loudly, "I folded it for my family! By the way...by the way, I folded a little more!"

Cheng Yaoyao smiled slyly and said, "Really? Then you can send it to my house. Grandma Xie is steaming a bowl of cake today."

The little Tiedans ran away happily. Grandma Xie was kind and gentle. Every time they went to run errands for Sister Yaoyao, she would always give them delicious food. Goudaner ran a few steps and looked back at Cheng Yaoyao: "Sister Yaoyao, why didn't Sister Hanyin and Sister Xiaofeng come to pick you up?"

Cheng Yaoyao said: "They may be late."

Goudan came running back: "I'll take you there!"

Cheng Yaoyao was a little surprised: "Hey? You don't want to eat the cake?"

Goudan swallowed his saliva visibly and said angrily, "You're so long-winded!"

Goudan grabbed Cheng Yaoyao's basket and ran ahead. Cheng Yaoyao snorted and followed slowly behind him. The naughty boy was still so domineering.

Goudan helped Cheng Yaoyao walk for a while with the basket on his shoulder before they met Zhang Xiaofeng and Han Yin.

Han Yin said from a distance: "Yaoyao, your little bodyguard is here to see you off again?"

Han Yin loved teasing Goudan, and Goudan got really angry. Seeing Cheng Yaoyao laughing without conscience, he threw the basket to Cheng Yaoyao in anger and said, "You should go to work by yourself in the future! It's better to let the wild boars in the mountains catch you!"

Goudan left some harsh words and ran away.

In retrospect, that was the first sign.

But Cheng Yaoyao laughed heartlessly: "Okay, but don't cry when the time comes!"

Han Yin also laughed so hard that she fell backwards. Cheng Yaoyao patted her on the shoulder and said, "Why do you always tease him? Go to work quickly. Finish your work early and go home to cook!"

Tomorrow is Qingming Festival, so we have an early holiday this afternoon. The girls all speeded up their work. Their fingers were slender and the tea stems were flying. In a short while, a basket of coarse tea was sieved into first-grade tea and coarse tea.

In ancient times, Taoan Village was a place that produced tribute tea. This kind of tea made specifically for unmarried girls was called "girls' tea", and there was a rather erotic legend about it - the girls were required to pick the tea with their lips and stew it in their arms until cooked.

This kind of feudal and decadent style is no longer popular nowadays. The tea leaves are only picked and selected by unmarried girls, and the production process is not so strict. Otherwise, according to the past process, the tea leaves would have gone bad after passing through Cheng Nonuo's hands.

Cheng Yaoyao was thinking aimlessly, when she suddenly felt a gaze falling on her. She looked up and saw the girls all working quietly with their heads down. The only sound in the warehouse was the rustling of tea leaves.

She glanced at Cheng Nuonuo who was not far away. Cheng Nuonuo was wearing a loose blue shirt, with his head down, working seriously, and he looked very quiet. Cheng Nuonuo, Lin Dandan and Lin Pingping were still sitting together, but the three of them were in their own groups and no one talked to each other.

I heard that Cheng Nonuo had a big fight with Lin Ranran because of the room issue. Xiaoqiu was so scared that she fell ill, and Cheng Nonuo's reputation in the village became even worse. These things were told to Han Yin by other girls, and Han Yin then told them to Cheng Yaoyao.

Cheng Yaoyao didn't believe that Xiaoqiu would get sick from fright. Xiaoqiu drank a pot of her spiritual spring water, and according to Lin Ranran's personality, she would not let Xiaoqiu be bullied. Others didn't know Lin Ranran's true identity. They just saw that Lin Ranran hadn't come to work for a few days, and they felt very sympathetic for her, so no one paid any attention to Cheng Nuonuo.

Cheng Yaoyao also felt refreshed. Cheng Nonuo had not tried to get close to her these days, and Liu Minxia had not come around since that day.

But... Cheng Yaoyao recalled the sight that had been haunting him these days. Could it be an illusion?

No, it's not an illusion. Cheng Yaoyao's face fell, and she glared at Shen Yan who was staring at her in a daze. It was really annoying. Shen Yan didn't know what medicine he had taken these days, he was in a daze, and he stared at her in a daze at work.

The other girls all noticed it. They had originally liked Shen Yan, the educated youth from Shanghai, but after seeing him being so openly rude to Cheng Yaoyao and hearing about his affairs with Cheng Nonuo, the girls were heartbroken and began to despise Shen Yan.

During lunch, the girls gathered around Cheng Yaoyao and chattered to comfort her: "Next time he does this, let's scold him together."

"Let's sue the captain!"

The friendship among rural girls is very pure. Once they treat you as one of their own, their intimacy is really endearing.

Cheng Yaoyao rarely experienced this kind of friendship between girls before. She was so beautiful that the fake sisters in the circle envied her but had to please her. After coming here, she made two good friends, Zhang Xiaofeng and Han Yin, and now she has gained so many more friendships.

Cheng Yaoyao cherished it very much. After work, when the girls invited her to pick Qingming vegetables, Cheng Yaoyao's refusal was not decisive enough.

Cheng Yaoyao said: "I want to go home and help Grandma Xie cook."

"It's still in time! We all have to go home to cook. That piece of Qingming vegetable is so tender. It will be too late to pick it tomorrow!"

The girls reached out and grabbed Cheng Yaoyao, and cordially asked Cheng Yaoyao to join their activities. Cheng Yaoyao was now one of them. This young lady from the city didn't know how to pick Qingming vegetables!

Cheng Yaoyao looked at Zhang Xiaofeng and Han Yin for help. Zhang Xiaofeng smiled and said, "Then let's go pick them together. The three of us will have picked enough in a short while."

Han Yin also loves to have fun. When we went out today, we were afraid of rain, so we all wore rubber shoes, so we ran to the suburbs with baskets in hand.

Good intentions can sometimes bring danger, as poisonous snakes lurking in the dark smell an opportunity and follow.

It rained a little yesterday, and the Qingming vegetables on the slope were indeed clustered together, tender and green. The Qingming vegetables before Qingming are the most tender, and after Qingming they will quickly bloom and age, and the gelatinous water in the leaves will also be lost. The green balls made are not delicate and fragrant enough, and they scratch the throat.

The girls cheered and dispersed. Cheng Yaoyao also found a place to squat down and picked the Qingming vegetables with water droplets on the fluff and put them in the basket. Zhang Xiaofeng and Han Yin were much more agile than her and quickly picked up most of the basket.

Zhang Xiaofeng asked: "Is that enough?"

Cheng Yaoyao calculated and said, "Not enough, at least a full basket. I have ground five catties of glutinous rice at home."

Han Yin glanced at the slope, and saw everything. The girls around her didn't walk far either, so if she shouted anything, they would hear her. She said, "Xiaofeng and I will go home to pack clothes for the night and change shoes. You stay here and don't run around, okay?"

The slope was full of people. Cheng Yaoyao nodded: "Okay."

Zhang Xiaofeng also ordered: "Just stay here and don't run around!"

Cheng Yaoyao assured earnestly: "Don't worry!"

Cheng Yaoyao really didn't run around. She picked all the Qingming vegetables in the small area around her, and when she saw a girl picking some in front of her, she turned around and wanted to go to the other side.

The moment she stood up, she saw a figure cast by the sunlight from behind, falling in front of her.