0190 After the clouds disperse, the moon shines bright.
Jiang Mingting said he wanted to eat dumplings as soon as he woke up in the morning. Yao Man thought that her family hadn't made dumplings for a long time, and seeing that Jiang Jifan and the others were there, she went out and bought a few pounds of dumpling wrappers and pork and other meat filling ingredients.
Tantai Qing didn't know how to make dumplings, so he sat next to Yao Man and watched her make them for a while before volunteering to try.
Men's skills are not as meticulous as women's. Yao Man patiently taught him several ways to wrap dumplings, but in the end, he still wrapped the simplest, plain shape the best.
Jiang Jifan sat to the side, not joining in the fun. Her dumpling-making skills were also quite average. This was mainly because Yao Man had spoiled her too much when she was young, always saying that she was a scholar and that her hands were for reading and writing. She rarely let her learn such kitchen work. On the contrary, Jiang Jiping, who didn't seem like she knew how to make dumplings at all, was surprisingly good at it.
Thinking of her brother who was still in prison, she suddenly felt depressed.
"Auntie, look at the dumplings I made!" Jiang Mingting excitedly ran up to her, holding a dumpling he had just made.
Tantai Qing and Yao Man, who were focused on making dumplings, stopped what they were doing and looked at each other, both seeing worry in each other's eyes.
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Mingting seemed to remember something and quickly corrected himself, saying, "I misspoke, Auntie, touch the dumplings I made."
Jiang Jifan didn't take her unintentional words to heart and let her lead him to touch the freshly made dumplings.
The dumplings in her palm were small, probably made in the most ordinary way. She smiled and praised, "They're very pretty. Mingting's dumpling-making skills are better than yours."
Jiang Mingting was delighted to hear this and said he wanted to make a few more.
Seeing that Jiang Jifan was alright, Tantai Qing and Yao Man breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to continue making dumplings.
In the end, they made two large trays of dumplings, probably around a hundred. Yao Man gave some to the neighbors, put the rest in the freezer, and used the rest to boil and steam.
When Yao Man was putting the dumplings in to cook, she suddenly realized that the vinegar in the kitchen was gone. She was about to ask Jiang Mingting to get money to buy some, but then she changed her mind and asked Tantai Qing to accompany Jiang Jifan to buy some.
"Mom, if there's nothing, then we won't eat," Jiang Jifan said, frowning.
She didn't want to be alone with him.
"Yes, Mingting loves them too. Go ahead, let Taiqing go with you. You can go for a walk outside while you're at it. It's not good to stay cooped up at home all day, and besides, dumplings take a while to cook..."
Knowing that Yao Man had deliberately given them a chance to be alone, Jiang Jifan couldn't go too far in front of her and could only reluctantly agree.
Jiang Jifan still harbored resentment over what happened that night. After leaving home, she kept ignoring Tantai Qing with a cold face and refused to walk alongside her, so he could only follow behind her.
The store wasn't far from her home, only a few hundred meters away, but she was blind and stubbornly refused to let him lead her, so she could only rely on her intuition to get there.
As he walked, he suddenly realized that it was very quiet around him, and it seemed that he was the only one on the road. Jiang Jifan felt inexplicably afraid.
She stopped and whispered his name.
"Tantai Qing?"
There was no response.
Jiang Jifan suddenly turned around, took a few steps back, and looked visibly panicked.
"Tantai Qing!"
A moment later, hurried footsteps could be heard.
“I’m here, Ji Fan.” Tantai Qing stepped forward and hugged her, comforting her gently.
He arrived so quickly; perhaps he had been deliberately hiding to watch her make a fool of herself. Jiang Jifan felt angry, thinking he was playing a trick on her.
She pushed him away forcefully and snapped, "Do you think it's really fun to fool a blind person?"
Tantai Qing was slightly taken aback after being pushed away, and immediately said, "Jifan, I didn't mean that."
He had just been bitten on the trouser leg by a small mongrel that wouldn't let go, and he had fallen a few steps behind her in order to coax the dog away.
Tantai Qing tried to explain to her, but she wouldn't listen and turned to leave quickly.
During the chase, a tricycle suddenly sped out from around the corner. The incident happened suddenly, the road was narrow, and neither party had time to dodge.
"Watch out!" Seeing the tricycle about to crash head-on into Jiang Jifan, Tantai Qing's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately leaped forward to protect her.
The two of them tumbled into the roadside bushes and rolled around twice.
The woman driving was also startled. She screamed and quickly slammed on the brakes. She jumped out of the car, glanced at the two people who had fallen in the bushes, patted her chest in lingering fear, frowned, and said in her thick dialect, "Oh dear, girl, you should watch where you're going!"
Ignoring his own pain, Tantai Qing immediately helped the person in his arms up.
"Ji Fan, are you alright?"
Jiang Jifan's hair was disheveled and his expression was blank; he was clearly still not recovered from the accident.
This startled Tantai Qing. He gently patted her face, his voice anxious: "Jifan, Jifan?"
After a moment, she seemed to come to her senses and gently shook her head.
The woman driving was still rambling on and on, and Tantai Qing could vaguely understand some of what she was saying. She was probably complaining that they weren't walking properly.
He brushed the dry grass off Jiang Jifan, apologized to the aunt, and then carried her back the way they came.
When Yao Man got home and saw that they were covered in dirt, she was shocked.
"What happened? How did you get so dirty after going out?" She pulled Jiang Jifan to sit on the sofa and helped her brush off the dust.
Tantai Qing naturally wouldn't say that the two of them had a fight and didn't watch the road properly; he only said that they accidentally fell while trying to avoid a tricycle on the road.
Yao Man couldn't help but curse a couple of times, saying that people in town love to drive recklessly.
Seeing that her daughter was unharmed, she breathed a sigh of relief, but when she turned around, she saw several scratches on her body.
"Look, my clothes and pants are all torn..."
Tantai Qing smiled sheepishly and explained, "It's just a minor scratch, nothing serious."
Seeing his nonchalant expression, Yao Man shook her head and pressed him down to sit next to Jiang Jifan. "Come on, sit here. I'll go find some medicine to rub on it for you."
At first, Jiang Jifan thought Yao Man was making a mountain out of a molehill, but it wasn't until the air was filled with the smell of Tiger Balm that she realized he was really injured.
The thought that he was injured while protecting her moved her deeply, even though she was usually cold-hearted.
"Grandma, can we eat dumplings now?" The dumplings had been ready for a while, and Jiang Mingting was starving. But because Tantai Qing was applying medicine, she could only run to Yao Man's side and ask quietly.
Yao Man seemed to realize something and told her and Jiang Jifan to go eat first, while she stayed behind to apply the medicine to Tantai Qing.
Tantai Qing took the medicated oil from her hand and said, "Auntie, you should go and have some too. I can do it myself."
Guessing that he was probably embarrassed, Yao Man wisely stopped and got up to serve them all the dumplings.
Jiang Jifan had little appetite and was in a state of confusion, so he ate three or four steamed dumplings before putting down his chopsticks.
That night, Yao Man used the excuse that Tantai Qing was injured to send her back to sleep.
Meanwhile, Tantai Qing was taking a bath and was completely unaware of the situation.
The wounds on his elbows and knees hurt when they touched water, especially hot water. He endured the pain and took a shower. As he dried his hair, he pushed open the door and was surprised to see the figure he had been longing for lying on the bed.
A hint of surprise flashed in Tantai Qing's eyes.
“Ji Fan…”
The side of the bed collapsed, and Jiang Jifan opened his eyes. As if sensing something, he moved away a second before Jiang Jifan got close.
His embrace fell silent.
Tantai Qing paused slightly, then withdrew his hand with some disappointment. He stared at her thin back for a long time before finally speaking: "Jifan, I'm so happy that you can come back to sleep."
Jiang Jifan was filled with complex emotions; his heart was as chaotic as a tangled mess of yarn.
"Did you fund the construction of the road connecting the town to the county seat?" she suddenly asked.
As clever as she is, how could she not guess that the "big boss" Jiang Mingting was talking about was him?
How could a businessman from out of town possibly spend money to pave roads in Nanzhen for no reason, especially since it wasn't a small amount of money? Jiang Jifan couldn't think of anyone else besides him.
As for the reason...
She clenched her fists.
The answer is obvious.
The man behind them suddenly fell silent.
“Answer me.” Her voice brooked no refusal.
"Yes," Tantai Qingsong replied.
From the first time he visited her home, he had the idea of paving a road. The road from the county town to her home was too bumpy, and Tantai Qing wanted to do his best to reduce her fatigue on her way home by half. At the same time, he hoped that every journey she took would be smooth.
To avoid any negative reactions from her after she found out, he deliberately concealed his real name when he donated the money, but she still managed to guess it.
"Jifan, please forgive me for not telling you about this."
He showed no sign of seeking credit; in fact, he apologized for not informing the other party.
The man's slightly damp hair clung to his neck, and Jiang Jifan felt inexplicably irritated. She didn't know what was bothering her; perhaps it was his constant "acting on his own initiative," or perhaps it was her own inappropriate wavering.
She wanted to push him away forcefully and add fiercely, "I won't be moved or grateful to you for this!"
However, before she could utter a word, he cried out in pain in her ear.
The blow to her elbow caused Tantai Qing's face to change drastically in pain.
Jiang Jifan realized something and his body stiffened.
She quickly sat up in bed.
Seeing this, Tantai Qing endured the pain and sat up with her.
"Ji Fan?"
With his back to him, Jiang Jifan suddenly shed two lines of clear tears, his voice, choked with sobs, devoid of any fierceness: "Fool, I'll make you suffer!"
Instead of being angry, Tantai Qing smiled, hugged her from behind, gently kissed away the tears on her face, and said softly, "Mmm, it hurts so much."
A sharp pain shot through his palm. He looked down, chuckled softly, then placed her hand on his elbow and said earnestly, "Pinch here, the wound is here."
Seeing that she was not moving, Tantai Qing felt uncomfortable and pressed her hand down hard on the wound.
Caught off guard, Jiang Jifan was caught off guard and his wound was indeed pinched.
She immediately withdrew her hand, turned around and shoved him, crying and scolding, "Aren't you annoying?!"
Tantai Qing then gently lifted her onto his lap, wiped away her tears with his fingertips, and planted a deep kiss on her forehead.
"I'm afraid you won't even want to tell me you're annoyed with me."
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