He wanted to take this opportunity to please his parents so they would agree to let Cai Xing marry him.
"Big sister, why are you being so polite with me? I said I wouldn't take any money, I'm here to apologize." Xie Daguang took out a cigarette and offered one to Song Erzhuang, his mouth as sweet as honey, saying all sorts of flattering things.
He also brought Qiao Guilan a silk scarf.
Qiao Guilan reluctantly accepted the silk scarf.
While Xie Daguang was nagging Song Erzhuang and Qiao Guilan with sweet words to apologize and beg for forgiveness, Song Yinhua had already negotiated the price for building the house with Xie Daguang's older cousin.
She offered a price slightly higher than the market price so as not to owe Xie Daguang a favor.
Instead of driving them away and finding new bricklayers, it's better to hire them to build the house.
Even if we find someone else, we can't guarantee that Xie Daguang won't use any more underhanded tricks to drive people away.
Xie Daguang's cousins were very satisfied with the price and readily agreed.
Because it was a contracted project, the foundation was dug in half a day, and the roof construction began the following afternoon.
People below throw tiles up, and those above easily catch them, even chatting for a bit.
Song Yinhua was very satisfied with the progress of the house construction. As she turned to leave, she accidentally stepped on a half-brick, twisted her ankle and almost fell. A large, slender hand caught her in time.
"Thank you..." Song Yinhua turned her head to express her gratitude, only to be met with a cold, handsome face. "Thank you, young man."
Huo Jianguo's handsome, cold face instantly darkened.
Xie Daguang was so frightened that he rushed over, pulled Huo Jianguo away, and kept apologizing to Song Yinhua, "Big sister, please don't mind him, that's just how he is, he always has a stern face, that's just his cold demeanor."
After apologizing, he pulled Huo Jianguo aside, clasped his hands together, and whispered to Huo Jianguo, "Cousin Jianguo, I beg you, please don't mess with Caixing's older sister. If you mess with her, my marriage with Caixing will be difficult to go through. I beg you, once my marriage with Caixing is settled, I will invite you to my wedding banquet."
Xie Daguang's cousin, who was building the roof, jokingly teased him, "Daguang, your sister-in-law seems to have twisted her ankle, why don't you go and help her?"
Xie Daguang turned his head and saw Song Yinhua hopping away carefully, one foot on the ground.
"Big sister, let me help you!" Xie Daguang ran over like a dog, patting his own shoulder, "Help me on the shoulder."
Song Yinhua pressed her large hand down on Xie Daguang's shoulder, causing him to lose his balance in pain. He cried out and squatted down, rubbing his shoulder.
"Big sister, you're too strong, you're hurting me."
"Is that all you've got?" Song Yinhua asked, then ignored Xie Daguang and prepared to leave.
A large hand reached out to her. "Let me help you."
Song Yinhua looked up and saw Huo Jianguo with a cold expression. She put her hand on his forearm and used it to hop away.
Xie Daguang was so moved that he secretly clasped his hands together to thank Huo Jianguo for helping him out of the predicament.
The ground was covered with bricks and uneven dirt.
Song Yinhua had difficulty walking on one foot, which made it very inconvenient for her. She could easily trip over a brick and fall, and was also prone to twisting her remaining ankle.
Huo Jianguo bent down and picked Song Yinhua up in his arms.
"Ah!" Song Yinhua exclaimed, her face filled with shock.
This is the first time someone has hugged me like this.
Even though she had been married to Han Zhiyuan for forty years in her previous life, she had never been carried in a princess carry.
"Thank you, young man."
Huo Jianguo's cold, handsome face instantly darkened again.
He carried Song Yinhua to a safe place and gently placed her on the ground.
“My name is Huo Jianguo, not ‘young man’.”
"Big sister!" Song Caixing came over at this moment. Upon hearing that her eldest sister had injured her ankle, she immediately ran over.
Huo Jianguo got up and left.
Song Yinhua thanked her politely again, "Thank you, young man."
The man's face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
“It’s you!” Song Caixing recognized Huo Jianguo.
"Do you know each other?" Song Yinhua asked.
Huo Jianguo walked away silently.
Watching his departing figure, Song Caixing said, "Big sister, have you forgotten that he bought the old hen from Grandma Zhou's house that you had?"
Song Caixing's reminder made her realize that there seemed to be such a thing.
"He even delivered meat and grain coupons to our family. I never imagined he was Da Guang's cousin."
"How do you know he's Xie Daguang's cousin? Did you meet Xie Daguang again? Did you tell Xie Daguang about us hiring a bricklayer for our house?" Song Yinhua said as she took off her shoes and socks, looking at her slightly swollen ankle. "It takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone, how can I rest for a hundred days!"
"Big sister, is your foot alright?" Song Caixing changed the subject and rubbed Song Yinhua's ankle.
Song Yinhua twisted her ankle and had to stay home to rest, so the task of building the house had to be left entirely to her family.
Only then did Song Caixing get the chance to meet Xie Daguang without worry.
Without her older sister watching over her, she became bolder.
After work that evening, Xie Daguang's cousins all went home together, but he made an excuse to stay behind and had a secret rendezvous with Song Caixing in the bushes behind the mountain.
Ever since she first tasted the forbidden fruit, Song Caixing has been convinced from the bottom of her heart that she belongs to Xie Daguang and will become his wife in the future.
Even though they knew he had been caught having an affair with the woman who sold pork, and that he had been reported to the authorities and detained for several days.
As long as Xie Daguang whispers a few sweet words in her ear, she will obediently forgive him.
The two people who were being affectionate behind the bushes were unaware that their every move was being watched by a pair of cold, narrow eyes not far away.
Xie Daguang was elusive and always out there having fun. Huo Jianguo had been keeping an eye on him, wanting to see what kind of tricks he would play if he stayed behind.
"Brother Da Guang, when are you and your mother going to my house to propose marriage?" Song Caixing asked.
“I told my mom, and she said we need to make proper preparations to show respect for your family.” Xie Daguang repeatedly assured her that he would marry her.
"So you've broken up with all the other women? From now on, you'll only be good to me?"
“I don’t have anyone outside. They’re the ones who seduced me. I don’t even want that butcher’s wife. She’s always trying to seduce me behind her husband’s back, but I’ve ignored her. Last time, she and her husband set me up. They knew my family was rich and wanted to extort money from me!”
Song Caixing was even happier when she heard that Xie Daguang's family was wealthy.
She was very content to marry a man who loved and cherished her and whose family was wealthy.
It gradually got dark.
Late at night, someone poured kerosene on the newly built house and set it on fire.
The next morning, Xie Daguang and a group of cousins arrived at the scene and found that the house was charred black and the adjacent wall had several large holes hammered in by gravity.
The house was just finishing touches, and it was obvious that someone had deliberately sabotaged it.
When Qiao Guilan saw that her newly built house had been destroyed, she immediately burst into tears.
"It must have been your older brother's family who did it. They borrowed money from us before and then refused to pay. You took a kerosene can, lit a torch, and tried to burn down their house. Now they're retaliating against us!"
Qiao Guilan cried to her husband, also feeling a bit resentful that he had been so open and honest with his relatives, only to have those relatives betray his family behind his back.
“Building a house costs over a thousand yuan for materials and labor. With the house destroyed like this, all the money is wasted. What will happen to Baogen’s marriage?”
Song Erzhuang grabbed a large iron shovel and rushed to his elder brother's house to fight to the death.
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