Even though he was angry, Zhao Luochuan couldn't bear to keep a cold face for too long. Being carefully flattered by his husband, his heart had already softened.
Seeing that his expression had eased, Yang Donghu continued to lean closer to the man: "Don't be angry, Brother Chuan."
Zhao Luochuan was afraid that his foot injury would get worse if he moved around, so he held him down with his hands: "I'm not angry, but there can't be a next time."
"Yeah, I know. There definitely won't be a next time. I want to drink some water, Brother Chuan."
Zhao Luochuan was much easier to coax than expected. All he had to do was soften his tone when calling him "Brother Chuan". Yang Donghu always had a smile on his face, and he was more willing to do so than when they were in bed.
"Please sit down and I'll pour it for you." Zhao Luochuan suppressed the upward curve of his lips, stood up and left the room.
The two of them have been having cold faces for a long time. Even if Yang Donghu didn't take the initiative to speak, Zhao Luochuan couldn't help but break up.
At night, the two of them lay in bed, no longer separated by eight feet like last night. Their two bodies were pressed tightly together, and they were sweating even though they were unwilling to let go.
Both of them slept contentedly until the next day before getting up.
Yang Donghu was so sleepy the night before that he wanted to stay in bed the next day. Zhao Luochuan knew his temper so he didn't wake him up in the morning. He secretly kissed him on the face before going to the kitchen.
He forgot that there were two more people in the house and was startled by Yang Chunxiao as soon as he entered the kitchen.
"You...you're up?" Yang Chunxiao stood there awkwardly, holding the eggs he had just picked up from the chicken coop. When he bumped into someone, he hurriedly explained, "I wasn't, I wasn't trying to steal them. I..."
Yang Chunxiao was used to sleeping in the woodshed, so he felt a little uncomfortable when he suddenly slept on the soft bed. He tossed and turned in bed for half the night before he could fall into a light sleep. Before dawn, he was already awake looking out the window.
Here she didn't have to worry about someone suddenly coming and pulling her out of bed, nor did she have to worry about being beaten, but even so she still found it difficult to sleep.
When she lived in someone else's house, she always felt uneasy if she didn't do something. She finally waited until dawn and tiptoed out. The yard was quiet and no one was around. Yang Chunxiao thought about cooking the meal so that they could eat when they woke up.
Unexpectedly, just after she picked up two eggs from the chicken coop, the person she was most afraid of in the whole house walked into the kitchen behind her.
Zhao Luochuan put on his usual cold expression, hummed lightly, and then ignored her and went back to the work in his hands.
Yang Chunxiao watched him skillfully fill the pot with water, rinse the rice and pour it in, and then the fire in the stove began to burn very brightly.
"Where do I put this?"
Zhao Luochuan glanced at the eggs in her hand: "Don't save them, wash them and put them in the pot."
There was still some food in the basket next to the chopping board, but suddenly there were a few more people eating, so it was definitely not enough for Yunqiao.
Zhao Luochuan thought about it and took out a few more to make steamed egg custard for Yang Donghu and the old lady. He glanced at the basket and thought that if it was not enough, he would buy some more.
Yang Chunxiao washed the eggs nervously. Zhao Luochuan didn't say anything in the kitchen and didn't need her help. She knew that Zhao Luochuan had some opinions about her, so she didn't stay in the kitchen. She turned around and went out to sweep the floor in the yard.
Yang Donghu had done his best to let her stay temporarily, but it was not a solution to keep going like this. Yang Chunxiao thought to herself that she had to find a place to go.
An injured foot caused many inconveniences in life, and going to town was even more difficult. Yang Donghu didn't want to walk any further despite his foot pain, so Zhao Luochuan asked him to rest at home and left Zhao Fangchu at home to accompany him.
He was worried about the man being alone at home after the incident, so Zhao Fangyu also stayed at home to watch over the family. Therefore, only Zhao Luochuan and Yang Anchen, who had agreed to go to the town yesterday, went to the town.
Zhao Luochuan first took the peach blossom cakes to the restaurant as usual and calculated the price. After settling the bill, Yang Anchen brought those classmates to a reunion.
He ordered a table of delicious food from the shopkeeper in the private room upstairs. He wanted to go find someone to do something for him, but he couldn't let Yang Anchen bear the burden in vain. He had to be polite.
As the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together." People who are on good terms with Yang Anchen are all of good character. When they heard that he was here to inquire about the matter they had accidentally talked about last time, they did not hide anything.
Among them, a scholar named Liu Ji seemed to know more about the inside story than anyone else and spoke the most.
"This matter was originally kept strictly secret and was not easily known to outsiders. Coincidentally, the young man that Li Shangcai brought back with such force turned out to be a confidant of an old friend of mine. My old friend's name was Guiyuan. The young man didn't have a name. When he was at home, the villagers called him Cao'er. Later, when he went to town, he changed his nickname to Hansu."
As Liu Ji spoke, he became so angry that he couldn't help but stand up for his old friend.
"It's strange to say, Guiyuan was originally an honest farmer, and..."
Liu Ji was a little unsure what to call the boy. Han Su sounded nice, but it was a name for a prostitute. He didn't want to taint his friend's sweetheart with such a name. After thinking about it, he decided to call him Cao'er, as the villagers called him.
"Guiyuan and Cao'er grew up together, but Cao'er's family was ruthless. They had no money to marry their son, so they sold Cao'er into a brothel. Guiyuan couldn't bear to see his beloved suffer so much, so he offered to buy Cao'er's freedom, but was rejected by the ruthless family. It was said that they couldn't agree on the money. Farmers only earned so much in a year. The family immediately asked for thirty taels of silver. Guiyuan borrowed all he could, but still couldn't get the thirty taels. In the end, Cao'er was taken in by the people in the town."
"I don't know much about how Li Shangcai snatched Cao'er away, but Cao'er has Guiyuan in her heart, and Guiyuan feels the same way."
"Suddenly, Tian Guiyuan came running to me and told me someone was trying to kill him, and he had no choice but to flee south. It was so short and he spoke so quickly that I didn't have time to ask any more questions. I could only help him make arrangements for his elderly parents. The day after he left, someone fished a drowned person out of a ditch three miles from town. I had a bad feeling in my heart, and I felt a little uneasy. I was terrified when I thought of his words before he left."
It sounded as if Li Shangcai was so cruel as to want to kill his beloved just to get that boy. Zhao Luochuan pondered for a moment: "Is it your old friend?"
Liu Ji's face was filled with grief and indignation, his eyes reddening as he spoke of the desperate situation. "The man's face was slashed with a sharp weapon, so I couldn't tell his features apart. But I went to check, and the clothes on the body were exactly the same as the ones Gui Yuan wore when he left. I'm afraid it's my poor old friend."
Liu Ji was also unwilling to believe that such a healthy and living person died like this, but Cao'er secretly ran out to find him and asked him to help find the whereabouts of her sweetheart.
Liu Ji also asked around but there was no news. Even though he didn't want to believe it, he had to believe it.
Liu Guiyuan's family members didn't know about this yet, so Liu Ji hid it from Liu Guiyuan and said that he had some work to do in town and would be back in a few days.
Every time he went back and saw the wrinkled faces and white hair of the two old men, Liu Ji could not tell them the fact that Liu Guiyuan had been killed.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com