Chapter 59 You Haven't Returned
"Grandma's dear grandson, are you starving?" Mrs. Liu brought two sugar-coated eggs and looked at Tiedan with eyes full of pity. "Eat quickly. Grandma specially put two spoonfuls of sugar in them. They are so sweet."
Tiedan took the bowl and gobbled it up, finishing every drop of the sugar water.
Chen Guifang secretly curled her lips. Erya would be beaten if she ate candy, but Tiedan would have candied eggs to eat as soon as he came back. Her mother was too partial.
She raised her hand and touched Lin Jianshui's arm, and nodded towards the porcelain bowl, hoping that her man would be more careful.
Lin Jianshui didn't understand what she meant and said bluntly, "If you want to eat, go and cook it. Why do you expect your mother to cook for you?"
Chen Guifang: “…”
How could she marry such a fool?
"What are you eating?" Liu frowned. "You do nothing all day long but eat! Go wash the dishes!"
Isn't she the one who does all the housework?
Chen Guifang was so angry that she wanted to throw the porcelain bowl at her mother-in-law's face, but when she thought about the consequences, she swallowed her anger and went out with the porcelain bowl and chopsticks in her arms, feeling frustrated.
Lin Jianshan helped Village Chief Lin over and said to his brother, "It's late. You still have to work in the fields tomorrow. Go back to the house and rest."
Lin Jianshui agreed and went back to the house.
Zhou went over, closed the door, and stood by it with her head down.
Village Chief Lin sat down at the table and asked, "Tiedan, Grandpa wants to ask you, where did you go today?"
"In the mountains." Tiedan, a little afraid of his grandfather, answered obediently, "There are a lot of wolves."
"Wolves?" Village Chief Lin was stunned and looked Tiedan over. "Didn't those wolves bite you?"
Tiedan shook his head.
Village Chief Lin then asked, "Who brought you up the mountain?"
"Monkeys," Tiedan said, "They stole my silver and beat me up. It hurt so much."
Mrs. Liu said distressedly, "Let grandma see where the injury occurred."
Tiedan covered his butt and shook his head, "It doesn't hurt now."
"The monkey caught you and brought you up the mountain. How did you end up in the wolf's den?"
"A big monkey threw me over there." Tiedan pouted, his butt almost broke in two.
Lin Jianshan asked anxiously, "Where's the silver? Was it thrown into the wolf's den as well?"
Tiedan shook his head. He was in pain and scared at the time, so how could he remember the silver?
"Speak." Village Chief Lin's face darkened. "Didn't you see it or didn't throw it in?"
Tiedan shrank his neck and said, "No...I didn't see it."
"Don't scare the child." Liu hurriedly hugged Tiedan to comfort him, calling him her dear grandson.
Zhou came forward and said, "Dad, it's late. If you have anything to ask, ask me tomorrow. I'll take Tiedan back to the room to sleep."
Without waiting for Village Chief Lin to speak, Liu said, "Hurry up! Can't you see the child is rubbing his eyes because he is so sleepy?"
Zhou hugged Tiedan in her arms and looked at Lin Jianshan carefully. Seeing that he had no intention of stopping her, she carried the child back to the house.
Village Chief Lin looked tired and sighed deeply, "Boss, you should go back to the house too. Stay alert at night and take care of Tiedan. The child was frightened and might have a fever at night."
"Dad," Lin Jianshan stood still, "that jade pendant..."
Village Chief Lin gave him a sidelong glance and said, "Just pretend it never happened and don't mention it again!"
Lin Jianshan was unwilling to accept this. "We suffered such a huge loss at the hands of that Shang family. All our wealth was drained out. Are we just going to let it go like this?"
"Why are you in such a hurry?" Village Chief Lin said in a meaningful tone, "They'll eventually come to me for help."
On the other side, Shang Wan walked on the night dew back to the wooden shed. He thought everyone in the family was asleep, but he didn't expect to find someone sitting by the fire.
Lu Chengjing added two pieces of dry firewood to the fire, listened to the crackling sound of the burning firewood, and gradually became lost in thought.
In the orange light of the fire, the always pale and sickly face took on a touch of warmth, like a warm jade.
As the saying goes, beauty is best seen under the lamp, and gentleman is best seen under the moon. Shang Wan felt that Lu Chengjing's face was beautiful no matter how you looked at it, as long as there was light.
She took a clean handkerchief from the wooden pole, wiped her half-dry long hair, walked over, and sat down next to Lu Chengjing. "It's late at night, why are you still not sleeping?"
This sounded familiar. Lu Chengjing remembered Shang Wan saying something similar when she visited him in the cell. It had clearly only been a few days, yet it felt like a long time had passed.
"You haven't come back yet." Lu Chengjing turned his head to look at the person beside him. Noticing Shang Wan's rough action of wiping her long hair, his eyes paused slightly, "I'll help you."
Shang Wan glanced at his immobile right hand and refused, "No, just rest."
After a while, the fox's hands became sore, and she had to help rub them. It would be better for her to rub them by herself.
Lu Chengjing sighed softly, put his left hand on his right arm, lowered his head dejectedly, looking like a pitiful little guy who had been wronged.
Shang Wan: “…”
You still have it installed, right? You're spoiled!
"Here, here, here." She sat closer and put her long hair and handkerchief on Lu Chengjing's knees. "You can wipe it as long as you want, okay?"
A faint smile flashed across Lu Chengjing's eyes. He gently smoothed the hair on his knees with his left hand, wrapped it with a handkerchief, and slowly rubbed and wiped it dry.
"How long will it take?" Shang Wan tilted his head uncomfortably, so he simply leaned on the thin shoulder of the person next to him and yawned lazily.
"In a moment." Lu Chengjing lowered his eyes to look at her, his gaze sweeping across her delicate eyebrows and landing on Shang Wan's long dress, which was different from the one she wore when she left, his eyes slightly deep.
Shang Wan closed her eyes and didn't notice anything. She opened her eyes after Lu Chengjing said it was okay, washed the handkerchief and hung it on the wooden pole, then turned around, picked up Lu Chengjing and went back to the wooden shed to sleep.
Although the wooden shed is a simple version, there is enough space inside.
Shang Wan originally used wooden boards to separate the two halves, intending for men and women to sleep separately, and then further refine the division after returning from the county town.
But after Xiaohuan cleaned it up, it was divided into three parts. The left side was divided from the middle by a curtain, Xiaohuan and Yuanyuan slept on one side, and Shitou slept on the other side.
The large space on the right was naturally reserved for Shang Wan and Lu Chengjing. Soft bedding had already been laid out, so they could just sleep there.
Shang Wan: “…”
Xiaohuan, please don’t make your thoughts too obvious.
She placed Lu Chengjing under the quilt and turned around to close the door.
A few dim moonlight streamed through the gaps in the wooden planks above his head. Lu Chengjing could barely make out the figure approaching, and he couldn't help but hold his breath.
Shang Wan glanced at the robe on Lu Chengjing and deliberately teased his fox, "Wait for me to help you take off your clothes?"
"No." Lu Chengjing lowered his eyes, took off his boots first, then raised his left hand to slowly untie his belt. When he took off his coat, it was stuck on his shoulder, and his face turned red with embarrassment.
Shang Wan chuckled and moved closer to help.
Lu Chengjing only felt the faint fragrance of Shang Wan filling his nose, and suddenly his whole body became so stiff that he didn't know where to put his hands and feet, and he didn't even dare to look at Shang Wan.
"Okay, let's go to sleep." Shang Wan pulled the other quilt over to cover the two of them, and brushed away Lu Chengjing's long hair to prevent it from being pressed down.
Lu Chengjing closed his eyes and listened to the shallow breathing of the person beside him. He was clearly sleepy but couldn't fall asleep.
Just as he was about to force himself to fall asleep, a warm hand suddenly reached out and held his cold left hand.
(End of this chapter)
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