Chapter 8 The First Signs of Good Fortune 01 On the matter of eating or not eating...
When Xu Xingyi got closer, he realized that it was just an ordinary trap, with several layers of branches with broad leaves buried on top, and rice and corn kernels mixed with soil scattered on it to attract small animals from the mountain.
Chen Han was calling his name and searching for him from a distance, so Xu Xingyi stopped paying attention to the trap and turned back.
"How did you end up in such a deep place? I almost thought you were lost," Chen Han asked.
Xu Xingyi couldn't help but laugh and say, "You saw some acquaintances, but it turned out they had set up a trap to fool you."
"Could it have been Xiao Lin and his friend who set this up? Where's the trap? I'll go check it out for them." Chen Han was a kind-hearted person, and besides, Lin Tingyue had sent over some wedding candy earlier, so setting up the trap again was just a matter of convenience.
Lin Tingyue was unaware that someone had helped her modify the trap. The two of them had already carried two baskets of firewood down the mountain and returned home, but one of the baskets still contained the box they had just dug out.
They're only a few years away from the reform and opening up, and the college entrance examination will resume at the end of next year. Lin Tingyue thought it best to take these things back first, and sell the ones without collectible value when the time is right. Regardless of whether Yu Xingzhou will take the college entrance examination or not, according to the plot, he will eventually leave Donghe Village, and it would be convenient to cash out and deposit the money into a bank account.
She turned the deep pit she had just dug into a trap. Having been here for so long, she still hadn't tested whether her lucky charm attribute was useful, so the two of them agreed to go to the back mountain again the next day.
The most important thing now is to hide things.
Lin Tingyue first found an unused cloth to wrap the jade items and put them in the large vat for pickling sauerkraut in the kitchen. The vat looked like it had been idle for a long time and was usually used to store dry food. With it covered, you couldn't see anything.
The remaining gold and silver were hidden in the brick holes of the earthen bed in the inner room. After that, the bricks were stuffed back in. Unless someone insisted on dismantling their kang, it would be difficult to pinpoint exactly which brick was hidden behind the object.
As Yu Xingzhou watched the woman who had been busy all day, a slight flutter stirred in his heart once again. This indescribable feeling lingered until the lights were turned off at night, and the two lay in bed together.
Listening to the gentle breathing beside him, he couldn't fall asleep. His mind kept replaying the scene of him putting a ring on Lin Tingyue's finger today, and then the day in the cowshed when he woke up from his coma and saw Lin Tingyue also waking up. The two of them stared at each other, but both were wary of each other.
Although they hadn't known each other for very long, their relationship and the distance between them had already undergone a complete transformation.
Yu Xingzhou turned his back to him, and the person next to him followed suit, not only naturally placing his arm around his waist but also pressing his body against his back.
"You've tossed and turned four times in this short while. Are you having trouble sleeping or something's wrong?" Lin Tingyue's voice was already tinged with drowsiness. Her eyes were still closed, but her head found the man's shoulder, and her chin rested on it.
"Hmm... I'm going to school tomorrow, I'm a little nervous." This was the first time the two had been so close, and Yu Xingzhou's body tensed up instinctively.
Lin Tingyue naturally sensed this as well. The more the man acted this way, the more she wanted to tease this person who couldn't sleep and was affecting her sleep. "How about we do something relaxing?"
Yu Xingzhou immediately thought of what they said when they put on their rings today. This was the first time in so many days that Lin Tingyue had mentioned that she was his wife, and they still hadn't fulfilled their marital obligations.
Was I saying this today to urge him on...?
Yu Xingzhou felt both ashamed and guilty. As a husband, he had not only failed to provide any assistance to his wife, but he had also refrained from engaging in even the most basic marital intimacy due to his various concerns.
He swallowed nervously, slowly turned around, and mimicked the other person's actions, pulling the woman into his arms.
"Um... I'm not very good at it... Just tell me if you're feeling unwell."
Before Lin Tingyue could react, Yu Xingzhou had already awkwardly kissed her lips, but he just rubbed against her lips without quite getting it right.
Although she had never kissed a man before, she had seen plenty of movies and such, so Yu Xingzhou knew more than she did. Thus, she guided him to open his mouth, and soon they were kissing passionately.
However, she did not expect that Yu Xingzhou intended to do the whole thing. While she was still focused on kissing him, her nightgown had already been lifted up by his large hands and piled up at her waist.
Lin Tingyue hesitated for only a moment when it came to whether or not to eat.
Soon the two were pressed close together again. Without the fabric separating their skin, the distance between them was now negative.
In the dark, you can't see clearly, so your attention is drawn to bodily sensations.
Yu Xingzhou usually looks frail, but now she's like a mountain, making her little boat rock and sway, unable to speak, only intermittent syllables lingering in the man's ears.
After an unknown amount of time, the ambiguous syllables were interspersed with the crisp sound of falling beads and the sticky sound of water, each wave faster than the last.
When the final song ended, all that remained was exhaustion and panting.
As usual, Yu Xingzhou got up early and started cooking in the kitchen. The aroma of the meat was so strong that it wafted to Zhang Daqing's house, which was the closest to them.
"Who's cooking meat this early in the morning? And it smells so good!" Zhang Daqing originally wanted to sleep a little longer, but the aroma of the meat made his mouth water.
"Mind your own business! Get up and chop wood and boil water. If you work hard, our family can have meat too." Zhang Daqing's wife, Liu Suxiang, had seen the Yu family couple return home laden with meat yesterday. Lin Tingyue was wealthy and would always buy meat whenever she went to the county town. It would be a lie to say she wasn't envious, but thinking of Yu Xingzhou's bad class background and his lack of work ability, that envy turned into pity.
"Alright, alright, stop nagging." Zhang Daqing was henpecked and only dared to argue verbally.
The person involved was unaware that they were being cricketed and was still busy in the kitchen, pouring the stir-fried meat sauce over the steaming noodles, adding some chopped green onions and blanched vegetables, creating a balanced meal.
After getting up, Lin Tingyue quickly washed up and went into the kitchen. She was surprised by what she saw and looked around with her bright almond-shaped eyes, saying, "Freshly rolled noodles? That's great!"
"Yeah, we made too much. Is it okay if we eat it again tonight? We'll make meat patties and stir-fry some vegetables for lunch." Yu Xingzhou didn't even look up as he spoke, tidying up the stove and making room to start preparing the meat filling for lunch.
“Why not? I could eat Chef Yu’s cooking for three days straight and still not get tired of it.” Lin Tingyue was all about emotional appeal, but then again, Yu Xingzhou did have a talent for cooking; he could make whatever she wanted, and it tasted pretty good. “Let’s eat first, then we can cook more later.”
Watching Lin Tingyue carry the two bowls of noodles out, Yu Xingzhou slowly stopped what he was doing and went to wash his hands. When he touched his face with his cold, wet hands, he realized that his face hadn't cooled down since Lin Tingyue came in...
Even though the two of them had already done the most intimate things last night, Yu Xingzhou became even more shy and avoided eye contact with anyone throughout breakfast.
The villagers start work earlier than the school, so Lin Tingyue didn't linger after eating and went to work first.
Yu Xingzhou, on the other hand, made sure to prepare the minced meat and clean up the pots and pans before heading to school.
When he arrived, almost everyone had already arrived, and they were even discussing who would be responsible for what. Yu Xingzhou always preferred to be invisible and would never try to take on any tasks.
"Don't just stand there, go and distribute the textbooks." Xu Xingyi appeared out of nowhere and bumped into him.
“No rush, the students haven’t been assigned yet.” A female educated youth said, waving to Yu Xingzhou, “Teacher Yu, you can help me.”
“Okay.” Yu Xingzhou walked straight over without even glancing at Xu Xingyi.
However, after Xu Xingyi sat down, she noticed a few red marks on his collarbone through his shirt collar, and immediately felt uncomfortable.
If only Yu Xingzhou and Lin Tingyue hadn't been locked up together back then, Lin Tingyue might still be following him around and listening to him. In that case, she wouldn't have taken up a spot and prevented Song Xue from becoming a teacher at the school.
Xu Xingyi glared at the person for a while, then sat down to arrange the class schedule.
The female educated youth who helped Yu Xingzhou out of the predicament was from the next village and didn't know much about what happened between them. But everyone knew that Xu Xingyi had made things difficult for Yu Xingzhou in front of everyone. In addition, Yu Xingzhou looked weak and frail, so people would subconsciously put him on the weaker side.
The brigade leader and a young educated youth were discussing assigning teachers to each other, thinking that they should be assigned to different grades, otherwise they would always fight.
Originally, based on their grades, both of them were supposed to teach first grade, but in the end, Yu Xingzhou was assigned to teach fourth grade.
When Lin Tingyue told him about it at noon, Lin Tingyue actually thought it was a good thing.
“The workload seems light for younger students, but six- or seven-year-olds are actually harder to manage than older children who are already more sensible.”
Yu Xingzhou nodded and continued, "I estimate I'll be back early this afternoon. Otherwise, I'll go up the mountain myself to check. If there's nothing in the trap, you won't need to make the trip again."
"No, no, I have to go myself." Lin Tingyue didn't know how to use her lucky charm attribute, or whether she needed to be present in person. Just to be on the safe side, she decided to go. "Besides, I don't trust you to go by yourself."
Yu Xingzhou wanted to say that he wasn't that weak, but he hesitated for a long time before finally saying nothing.
Fortunately, she had been finishing work early these past few days, and Lin Tingyue rushed home without stopping, only to find Yu Xingzhou already sitting in the yard waiting for her, having prepared everything for the trip up the mountain.
Lin Tingyue went back to the house and drank several mouthfuls of water before carrying her basket on her back and following Yu Xingzhou up the mountain.
As a result, the two of them heard a noise when they were halfway up the mountain, as if something was coming towards them.
There are wild animals on the mountain, so Lin Tingyue quickly took out a wood-chopping axe from her basket and stared warily in the direction from which the sound came.
Sure enough, a wild boar appeared in their field of vision and charged towards them at an extremely fast speed.
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