The cold atmosphere at the dinner table warmed up a little because of Song Xingzhi's sweet words.
Zhang Chunxue's eyes were still red, but the pent-up anger in her heart seemed to have been mostly extinguished by the spring rain.
During this meal, except for Zhong Chengren who was on pins and needles, everyone else ate relatively peacefully.
When the table was in a mess and the night was late, Song Xingzhi finally stood up and said goodbye.
"Sister Haruyuki, the meal is ready, I should go back now."
Zhang Chunxue quickly stood up and said, "I'll see you off, Secretary Song."
She walked him all the way to the gate of the yard, and the dim light made their shadows very long.
The night breeze brought a hint of coolness, blowing away some of the smell of alcohol.
Song Xingzhi stopped and smiled sincerely, "Sister Chunxue, tonight's meal is really delicious."
Zhang Chunxue felt sweet at his compliment, and a sincere smile appeared on her face: "If Secretary Song likes it, please tell me if you want to eat it in the future. I will make it for you anytime. Please come to our house for a meal."
Song Xingzhi looked at her, his eyes filled with inquiry and subtle tenderness. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly, with a hint of joking: "What if I want to eat it for the rest of my life?"
Zhang Chunxue's heart suddenly jumped, beating against his chest "boom, boom, boom" as if there was a rabbit in his chest.
Her cheeks suddenly turned red, as if dyed by the sunset, and spread all the way to her ears.
I felt a little panicked, but also had an inexplicable expectation.
She lowered her head, her fingers twisting the corner of her clothes unconsciously. After a long while, she finally mustered up the courage. Her voice was as thin as a mosquito, but with a hint of determination: "Then... If you really want to eat it for the rest of your life... then it's no big deal... I'll just cook it for you for the rest of your life!"
As soon as Zhang Chunxue said this, she felt her face burning and she wished she could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
When Song Xingzhi heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up, as if two flames were lit in the dark night, and the joy almost overflowed from his eyes.
He laughed heartily, his voice filled with suppressed excitement. "I'll remember this, Haruyuki-nee! You won't cheat!"
Zhang Chunxue felt even more embarrassed when he looked at her. She just nodded randomly, but her heart felt as sweet as if it were filled with honey.
Because the three sons were still in the main room, Zhang Chunxue and Song Xingzhi didn't want to say anything private at the door.
The two chatted briefly about village affairs, and then Song Xingzhi bowed and said goodbye.
"Sister Haruyuki, please stay. I'm leaving now."
"Take care, Secretary Song."
Song Xingzhi's figure quickly disappeared into the night.
He had just walked out of the alley and not far away when he saw a few women sitting in the shadows under the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village. They were enjoying the cool air in the moonlight and chattering something among themselves.
He didn't want to pay attention to it and wanted to take a detour.
But there happened to be someone with sharp eyes who spotted him at a glance.
One of the gossipers, who usually loved to gossip, raised her voice with a hint of sarcasm, "Hey, isn't that Secretary Song? It's so late, where did you come from?"
Another person immediately chimed in, his tone filled with suspicion and disdain: "Secretary Song, that old woman Zhang Chunxue was bragging at the village entrance today about you going to her house for dinner tonight!"
"She must be bragging and not paying taxes, right? How could you possibly go to eat at the home of someone like her?"
Song Xingzhi paused.
Under the hazy moonlight, his face gradually darkened and his eyes became sharp.
He turned around and looked coldly at the women whispering among themselves. His voice was as cold as ice. "I just came from Sister Chunxue's house. I did have dinner there. What's the matter? Is there something wrong?"
The smug smile on the face of the gossip woman who had spoken earlier suddenly froze, as if she had been slapped in the face in public, and her expression was full of excitement.
The other women fell silent for a moment and looked at each other.
Song Xingzhi glanced at them coldly: "If you guys are really bored and have nothing to do all day, why don't you go to the village and help turn over that piece of wasteland."
"It also saves me from gossiping about other people behind their backs all day long, making up stories about them!"
"Can gossip bring you food or money?"
After saying that, Song Xingzhi didn't wait for their reaction, and he was even more disdainful of looking at their embarrassed faces. He snorted coldly, then strode away and left.
Only the gossipy women were left under the banyan tree, looking at each other, their faces turning pale and blue, unable to utter a word for a long time. Their previous interest in gossiping had long been extinguished by Song Xingzhi's words.
Song Xingzhi's figure disappeared at the end of the night. Under the big banyan tree, those gossipy women seemed to have just been pulled out of ice water and came back to their senses tremblingly.
You look at me, I look at you, and the colors on our faces are more exciting than a kaleidoscope.
The previous enthusiasm for gossiping had been shattered to pieces by Song Xingzhi's sarcastic remarks, leaving not even a trace.
After a long while, a woman with a usually shrill voice lowered her voice, as if she was afraid that the wall had ears, and whispered:
"My God, did you see the look on Secretary Song's face?"
"It's as black as the bottom of a pot. It's scary!"
Another one also smacked his lips and said, "He... is he really protecting that old bitch Zhang Chunxue?"
"That's exactly what happened!"
"And she said she was going to her house for dinner! Tsk tsk!"
Among the crowd, a middle-aged woman named Zhong Jingui had the ugliest expression, as if she had swallowed a dead fly.
Her lips trembled, her eyes flashed with jealousy and resentment, and her voice changed a little: "Could it be...could it be that Secretary Song really...really has a crush on Zhang Chunxue?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the women around looked at each other, and saw some disbelief in each other's eyes.
Zhong Jingui felt as if someone had stabbed her heart with a needle, and the pain made her gasp.
Her thoughts suddenly drifted back to more than ten years ago, when Song Xingzhi had just been sent to their village as an educated youth.
At that time, Song Xingzhi was young, handsome, fair-skinned and gentle. He was completely different from the peasant men in the village. He seemed like a man who walked out of a painting.
Zhong Jingui was once a beauty in the village and she thought she was pretty.
She also mustered up her courage and, during a collective labor session, blushed and hinted to Song Xingzhi in front of many people that she wanted to date him.
Unexpectedly, Song Xingzhi didn't even raise his eyelids, and rejected her in a cold voice in front of everyone.
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