"Lili, I'm here for you. No matter how serious it gets, I'll always be with you, okay?"
Zhang Qinghua grasped Song Lili's hand tightly, looking at her with eyes full of seriousness and devotion.
Song Lili smiled and nodded, "I know." It was precisely because she knew that she was so worried, that she felt anxious and uncertain.
If Song Lili were alone, she certainly wouldn't be afraid of anything right now.
Because I care, I'm afraid.
"Don't worry, we'll get through this." Song Lili held Zhang Qinghua's hand tightly, as if she were talking to herself, or perhaps to Zhang Qinghua.
“I believe we will,” Zhang Qinghua added, though the heaviness in his eyes did not lessen.
Something seemed to be constantly arising in his mind.
Song Lili took a deep breath and composed herself. "Alright, let's not talk about that anymore. We'll deal with whatever comes our way. There's always a solution."
"Um"
"What have you been doing today?" Song Lili changed the subject to something lighter.
"I'm not going to the fields today. The Party Secretary asked me to organize the account books, saying that they might get messed up by the time of the autumn harvest."
"So you're done?" Song Lili asked, playing with Zhang Qinghua's fingers and muttering to herself.
“It’s over, so I came to find you. What about you? Are you over?” Zhang Qinghua turned his head and looked around, only to see a lush green expanse.
"I don't care if I finish this or not. I've been doing this for the past few days, so it doesn't matter how much I do." After I finish, I'll come and wander around the fields.
"Then let's not do it. Shall we talk for a bit?" Zhang Qinghua asked.
"Okay, we haven't seen each other in so long, I've missed you." Song Lili leaned on Zhang Qinghua's shoulder and said with a hint of complaint.
"Yes, it's been a long time. Lili, you're sixteen now." Suddenly, Zhang Qinghua said out of the blue.
"Yes, I'm sixteen," Song Lili answered without hesitation.
"You can get engaged at sixteen," Zhang Qinghua said again.
Song Lili suddenly sat up straight. "So you're saying that my being sixteen means I want to get engaged?"
Song Lili found it hard to accept. Hmm, sixteen years old, still a child, and already engaged? Isn't that too young?
"Yes, I'm already twenty. People my age are all married by now. I'm the only one who's still single."
"So you mean I've held you back?" Song Lili asked ambiguously.
"Of course not, I mean we should get engaged, otherwise people will gossip about me," Zhang Qinghua said, sounding somewhat aggrieved.
“But… I’m only sixteen, I… I’m not ready yet,” Song Lili said unhappily.
Suddenly, she felt like a married woman after getting engaged. Thinking about this, Song Lili shivered.
Good heavens, she's still a sixteen-year-old girl in the prime of her youth, how can she be a married woman? That's a long way off for her.
Song Lili refused to think about the connection between the two.
“Lili…” Zhang Qinghua turned Song Lili’s shoulders and said, “It’s just an engagement, and it’s better to get it settled sooner rather than later.”
"I want everyone to know that we're engaged, so no one will come to your house to propose anymore. I'll just wait for you to marry me."
"Of course, don't worry, we'll definitely have to wait another year or two before we get married. I'll wait until you agree before we get married."
Fearing that Song Lili would refuse, Zhang Qinghua blurted out all his thoughts and then looked at Song Lili nervously.
"Can you let me think about it? My mind is a bit muddled right now." Song Lili waved her hand to stop Zhang Qinghua from saying anything more.
"Okay," Zhang Qinghua agreed, even though he still had something to say.
"It's not that I don't want to get engaged to you, it's just that what you said was a bit sudden, I... I can't process it yet, let me think about it."
Zhang Qinghua's decisiveness made Song Lili feel a little uncomfortable, so she took the initiative to explain.
Zhang Qinghua's eyes lit up with a smile, and his earlier anxiety vanished. "Okay, take your time thinking about it. I won't rush you."
Song Lili rolled her eyes. "You're probably being sarcastic, aren't you? Not urging me? What are you doing now?"
"No, as long as Lili wants to get engaged to me, I won't rush her."
Song Lili looked at Zhang Qinghua curiously, "Are you afraid I'll run away?"
"Yes. I was afraid you'd run away." To everyone's surprise, Zhang Qinghua actually admitted it.
Song Lili looked at him incredulously. "How could you have such a thought? How could you have imagined that I ran away?"
"Do I really give you so little sense of security that you would even have such thoughts?" Song Lili asked in surprise.
She believed that since she got together with Zhang Qinghua, she hadn't done anything to make him feel insecure.
“Lili, I’m twenty, and you’re only sixteen, which is why I’m afraid that you won’t get engaged to me and will choose someone else, after all, we are four years apart.”
Song Lili couldn't help but twitch her lips. So just because there's a four-year age difference, she feels so insecure?
Song Lili secretly thought to herself, "That's because you haven't seen women with body sizes that differ by more than ten or twenty years, otherwise you wouldn't think that way."
However, she still reassured her, saying, "Four years old isn't much. Besides, I have no intention of changing the person. Just relax."
“Once I’ve thought it through, I’ll agree to get engaged to you, okay?” Song Lili tilted her head and looked at Zhang Qinghua.
"Okay," Zhang Qinghua said, stroking Song Lili's hair with gentle eyes, a far cry from his previous expressionless and wooden demeanor.
"I must say, you're really nice," Song Lili couldn't help but say.
Whether it's the boys I've met before or the men I've met since arriving here, there are very few who can compare to Zhang Qinghua.
People used to be more individualistic, so there weren't many who could treat their girlfriends this well, almost always granting their every wish.
Most of the men here are chauvinistic, poisoned by the ideas of their ancestors, and believe that women are appendages of men.
Therefore, there are very few people like Zhang Qinghua.
"You're so wonderful, I don't want to give you up and let someone else have you. Just wait to marry me." After hearing this, Song Lili suddenly felt that the engagement didn't seem so bad.
Just like Zhang Qinghua said, he's twenty now, so there must be girls who want to marry him and get engaged, so he's already "snatched" them up in advance.
Thinking about it, she felt a warm glow inside and couldn't help but kiss Zhang Qinghua, saying, "You're mine now, so you have to treat me well."
In front of Zhang Qinghua, Song Lili couldn't help but become a well-behaved little girl, always wanting him to coax her.
Zhang Qinghua was still in a daze from Song Lili's kiss; his face was flushed red, but his eyes were bright and sparkling as he looked at Song Lili with delight.
Song Lili was startled by the look in his eyes. "What's wrong with you? Why are you suddenly looking at me like that?"
"Lili...Lili, you...you just...kissed me?" Zhang Qinghua was so excited that he could barely speak.
"Yes, I kissed you, is that not allowed? Or do you not want to?" Song Lili asked matter-of-factly.
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