Chapter 030

In the heat of midday, Zhen Zhen did not immediately hit the hay after she went out, but instead found a place with dense shade and a cool breeze to sit down and read a book. The book in her hand she was reading, being tickled by the plot, wanting to finish it in one go.

After the sun dipped to the western half of the sky, she closed the book and got up to fetch a basket of hogweed, then sat down on the ground to continue reading.

After reading three or four pages, she suddenly heard Xue Fan’s voice again, calling her, “Third sister-in-law.”

Zhen Zhen raised her head and saw Xue Fan coming towards her.

She stood up with her book in hand and greeted Xue Fan with a voice, “Mr. Xue.”

Xue Fan smiled and said, “Third sister-in-law, just call me by my name, it’s embarrassing to call me teacher.”

Zhen Zhen also smiled and said, “You are also my teacher now, helping me answer questions and solve problems, calling me Mr. Xue is right.”

Xue Fan was still very embarrassed, his level was really not worth mentioning compared to Shui Huaoming.

He and Zhen Zhen made a few more modest and polite remarks, and complimented Shui Huai Ming a few times in the meantime.

After the pleasantries were over, he explained to Zhen Zhen the reason for his visit, “Is third brother not here?”

Zhen Zhen shook her head, “No, I didn’t see him come here.”

Xue Fan let out an oh, “I just went to the house to look for him, Auntie said that he came out to look for you, so I followed him out to look for him. There were too many people talking to him at noon, so I didn’t get to say a few words to him, so I wanted to look for him to have a chat.”

Zhen Zhen didn’t know where Shi Huai Ming was, so she said, “Then you go look for him.”

After saying this, she sat down again on the root of the big tree next to her, and continued to open her book.

Xue Fan didn’t leave, thinking that if Servant Huai Ming had come out to look for Zhen Zhen, he would probably come over later.

So he squatted down next to him and said to Zhen Zhen, “I think I’d better wait for him here for a while, he should come over.”

Seeing that he wasn’t going to leave, Zhen Zhen counted herself as having caught him.

She decisively flips through a few pages of the book and sends it to Xue Fan and says, “Then what you didn’t finish in the morning, you can tell me more?”

“Sure.” Xue Fan took the book and silently read the content that Zhen Zhen pointed out to him once, then carefully explained it to Zhen Zhen. Sometimes it was a detailed explanation of a few terms that Zhen Zhen did not understand, and sometimes it was a detailed account of the special background.

After helping Zhen Zhen answer her questions, he didn’t see Shui Huai Ming come over.

Xue Fan was really interested in Shi Huai Ming’s facts, so he couldn’t hold back, so he pulled Zhen Zhen to ask her some questions first.

Zhen Zhen had also heard of some of Shi Huai Ming’s heroic deeds on the battlefield, so she told Xue Fan what she knew.

She told Xue Fan all she knew, and then she told Xue Fan what kind of life Servant Huai Ming had at the military school.

Xue Fan listened to her with envy and longing, and his look and eyes showed that he regarded Shui Huaiming as his most admired idol.

He looked at Zhen Zhen and said, “I wasn’t even an adult at the time, or I would have gone to the battlefield with Third Brother.”

This matter has always been a regret in his heart.

Zhen Zhen smiled and said, “You are all people with great ambitions, unlike us, who only understand these trivial matters at home.”

This sounds like there is something in the words, Xue Fan looks at the expression on Zhen Zhen’s face for a moment, speculating and hesitatingly asks, “Third Sister-in-law, you had a fight with Third Brother, right?”

I did not expect Xue Fan to ask this.

Zhen Zhen shook her head, “There was no quarrel.”

She and Servant Huai Ming could not even be considered a normal couple, so where was the quarrel between a normal couple.

She was nothing to him, how could she be qualified to quarrel with him, she didn’t dare to quarrel with him at all.

She just figured it out and didn’t want to continue to aggravate herself.

No matter how hard she tries or how much she aggravates herself, she can’t change into the appearance that Servant Huai Ming likes.

Instead of continuing to torture each other and delay each other, it would be better to be quick and separate and live their own lives.

Originally they are not the same people, should not be together.

If you want to blame her, you should only blame her for being feudal and stupid, her mind is only filled with those feudal rules of the old society, she did not take the initiative to withdraw from the marriage, and she also blamed her for not dying within the past five years to look for someone else, remarrying into someone else’s family.

Xue Fan looked at Zhen Zhen and didn’t say anything.

He had heard the rumors in the village in the past few days.

The matter between Zhen Zhen and Shi Huai Ming was almost chewed up by the women in the village.

He didn’t know exactly what had happened between Zhen Zhen and Shui Huai Ming, but he felt that what those people in the village said was probably partially true, otherwise Zhen Zhen’s character wouldn’t have come back like this.

She must have been aggrieved in the city, and the aggrievement had accumulated quite a lot in her heart.

After a good few moments, he spoke again, “Now that third brother is also back, you guys have a good chat.”

Zhen Zhen lowered her eyebrows and read a book with little emotion and said, “There’s nothing to talk about.”

Xue Fan himself wasn’t married yet, and didn’t know how to advise on these things.

He simply said this and left it at that.

Seeing that Shi Huai Ming had not found this place yet, Xue Fan bent his legs and squatted for a while until his legs became numb, so he hissed and slowly stood up, sat down on the roots of the big tree next to him and continued to wait.

At this moment, Mr. Huai Ming was standing not far away, looking at Xue Fan and Zhen Zhen.

When Servant Huai Ming found Zhen Zhen, he happened to see Xue Fan squatting in front of Zhen Zhen, holding a book and chatting with her.

Later on, he watched the two people stop talking about the contents of the book and wondered what they were talking about together.

Zhen Zhen watched him talk, one moment looking serious, the other relaxing and smiling, every expression on her face was vivid.

Servant Huai Ming did not go any further, nor did he call Zhen Zhen.

Watching Xue Fan sit down on the roots of the big tree next to Zhen Zhen, he held his breath and turned around to go home.

When he arrived home there was no one at home, he went into the house and sat down, leaned back and rested his arms against the bed and fumed.

The heart is chaotic, and stuffy, like a thousand tons of cotton stuffed solid, it is not a good taste.

The more he lay down, the more irritable, so he got up and went out, to the production team to help work.

To the production team to work, the clamor to talk to him more people, for the time being, there is no time to be upset.

After finishing his work, he went home with the others in the evening.

When I arrived home, I saw smoke rising from the chimney, and when I went to the door of the cookhouse and looked inside, I saw that Zhen Zhen had already returned, and she was chatting with Zhong Minfen in the cookhouse and making dinner.

Dinner was ready in a while, and the family sat down to eat.

It had been half a day since Servant Huai Ming had returned, and the excitement in the family had almost passed.

The topic of conversation at the dinner table was a little more homely, and after eating and chatting for a while, Chen Qingmei suddenly thought of something and looked at Shi Danling and said, “Lingling, tonight you won’t go to your third aunt’s house to sleep, you’ll go and sleep with grandma.”

Servant Danling also knew that the room she was sleeping in was her third aunt and third uncle’s room.

She was just about to open her mouth to respond, but before her voice could come out, she heard Zhen Zhen say, “No need to be so troublesome.”

Hearing this, Chen Qingmei Serving Huai Zhong Zhong Minfen and Serving Huai Ming, all looked at Zhen Zhen.

Zhen Zhen did not look at any of them and continued with her head lowered, “Just sleep directly with Xing Guo.”

The atmosphere at the table suddenly became awkward.

For a moment, Squire Huai Ming looked at Zhen Zhen and said, “This …… is inappropriate, right?”

Zhen Zhen still didn’t look at him and said back to him, “What’s inappropriate?”

They weren’t sleeping together in the first place, and she had admitted it to Zhong Minfen and Chen Qingmei, so there was no need to pretend now.

Before Servant Huai Ming could say anything else, Zhong Minfen said again, “I think it’s quite suitable.”

Chen Qingmei and Shi Huaizhong synchronized their expressions, glancing at each other, neither of them uttering a word to intervene.

Shui Huai Ming: “……”

He suddenly had the illusion that Zhong Minfen was not his own mother but his mother-in-law.

Zhong Minfen had spoken, so this was naturally settled.

In order to ease the atmosphere, Chen Qingmei found something else to talk about and didn’t talk about Zhen Zhen and Shui Huai Ming.

After dinner, Zhen Zhen still ignored Shui Huai Ming.

The family always had people coming in one after another, all looking for Shih Huaoming to talk to, and Shih Huaoming was too busy to separate himself from them.

Chen Qingmei spoke privately with Zhong Minfen and asked her, “This is a rare opportunity for Huai Ming and Zhen Zhen to share a room, Mother, why don’t you take advantage of this opportunity to set them up and let them sleep separately?”

Zhong Minfen grunted, “He can sleep in the same room if he wants to? Then, didn’t Zhen Zhen suffer all those grievances for nothing? Zhen Zhen is the wife I found for him, if he treats Zhen Zhen badly and makes Zhen Zhen suffer, he is slapping me in the face.”

Chen Qingmei thought about it and thought it was true.

So for a moment added: “Is have to let him really know anxious.”

***

Servant Huai Ming spent the night dealing with these people who came to the door.

Among these people, especially Xue Fan pulled him to talk the most, simply wanting to rely on his home not to leave.

When Servant Huai Ming talked to him, he always remembered the way Zhen Zhen looked when she was talking to him, so his gaze stayed cold and hard. Xue Fan didn’t see the difference in his eyes at all, and pulled him into a desperate conversation.

After telling Xue Fan about himself, Mr. Huai Ming suddenly asked him, “Have you ever been married?”

Hearing this, Xue Fan smiled shyly, “Third Brother, I haven’t gotten married yet.”

Servant Huai Ming said, “You’re not too young, are you?”

Xue Fan: “Yes, I’m not young, but I haven’t met the right one.”

After looking at him for a while, Mr. Huai Ming asked him again, “What kind of woman do you want?”

Xue Fan scratched his head in embarrassment, then smiled and said, “If I could really choose, then of course I would want someone who is decent and pretty, with a gentle personality, and preferably someone who can read a little, and can read books and talk to me about articles.”

The conditions that Xue Fan said, Servant Huai Ming was right about Zhen Zhen.

He looked at Xue Fan with a smile on his face, “Your requirements are not low.”

Xue Fan exclaimed, “I don’t have to be so picky, if I can meet someone who looks good to each other and speaks well, that’s all I need to do.”

He had heard his family talk about marriage, but he didn’t come to see Shui Huai Ming to talk about this.

So he brought the topic back to the big events, still letting Servant Huai Ming tell him about the things he was interested in.

After Shi Huai Ming finished dealing with Xue Fan and sent him out of the courtyard, it was already dark.

By the time he finished washing up and planned to find Zhen Zhen, Zhen Zhen and Shidan Ling had already blown out their lamps and were asleep.

Shi Huaiming didn’t disturb Zhen Zhen and Shi Danling’s sleep.

He went to Shi Xingguo’s room and blew out the light to lie down next to him.

Lying down did not make him sleepy, he looked at the dark night color and blinked his eyes.

When he was blinking his eyes, he suddenly heard Shui Xingguo say, “Third uncle, you can’t sleep?”

Servant Xingguo spoke coldly, and Servant Huai Ming was startled.

He turned his head to look at Servant Xingguo and said out loud, “You’re still awake?”

Servant Xingguo gave a soft hmmm and asked, “What are you thinking about, Third Uncle?”

Servant Huai Ming said, “I don’t think about anything, you go to sleep.”

Servant Xingguo preferred not to sleep, and continued to bla bla bla, “I know, you must be thinking about Third Aunt. Third aunt is angry with you, so she doesn’t sleep with you. I heard Grandma say that Third Aunt was angry at you for coming back.”

Servant Huai Ming let out a hmm, “You know quite a lot.”

Servant Xingguo was not the least bit modest, “That’s for sure, I also know that you don’t like Third Aunt, and Third Aunt didn’t give you any children, so you wanted to repudiate her. But we all like Third Aunt, Grandma won’t let you repudiate her.”

Servant Huai Ming turned his head to look at Servant Xing Guo again, “Who said that?”

Servant Xingguo said, “A lot of people in the village said that, when you wrote back and the family knew that you had become an official, a lot of people said that. Two days ago Third Auntie herself came back from the city, and they said so again.”

After hearing this, Shui Huaiming’s heart involuntarily sank again.

He said to Shui Xingguo, “Don’t listen to those people’s nonsense, third uncle has never thought of retiring your third aunt.”

Servant Xingguo said the words of the adults seem not smooth, said very slowly, “That’s good, Grandma said, the third aunt is so good, if you repudiate the third aunt, she will not recognize you as a son, even as a government official.”

Serving Xingguo said a few more words and then sleepy, yawning in less than two minutes to fall asleep.

Listening to the service Xingguo breathing sound, service Huai Ming lying next to him still did not close his eyes to sleep, he blinked slowly in the night to think of many things, especially think of Zhen Zhen these years how much aggression.

He has been gone for five years, and Zhen Zhen has been waiting for him at home for five years.

He came back alive, as a cadre, but because there is no child, Zhen Zhen began to bear some rumors, and in his heart think he does not see her, will divorce her.

After Zhen Zhen went to the city, although he said he would not divorce, but he has been putting pressure on Zhen Zhen.

He did not treat Zhen Zhen as a wife, has always treated her as a sister in the treatment, and in the study of this matter, it is to treat her as a student as a soldier egg, with the set of the army in the requirements of her.

She couldn’t stand it anymore and came back, facing a new wave of gossip.

Because she really can not stay before coming back, is crying back, and go to the city for so long still did not conceive a child.

Thinking of Zhen Zhen’s eyes that had been full of anticipation for him before, and those intimate approaches, as well as her face that reddened into a cloud from time to time, and then remembering how she was treating him now, Servant Huai Ming could only feel a tightness in his chest.

She was definitely disappointed in him now.

She didn’t even want to listen to him anymore.

***

This night, Servant Huai Ming still didn’t sleep for a few hours.

In the morning, he woke up early listening to the rooster’s crowing, washed up and ate breakfast, he saw Zhen Zhen pulling up the crate to go out, he was busy going out with Zhen Zhen, and took the crate from her hand.

Without letting Zhen Zhen speak, he first said, “You treat me as a worker is good, I do not speak.”

Zhen Zhen looked at him silently, did not open her mouth to say anything more, and let him pull the crate along.

On the way to the market, Zhen Zhen still didn’t say a word, and naturally, Servant Huai Ming didn’t make another sound.

The two walked one behind the other, and Zhen Zhen didn’t look back at him along the way.

When they arrived at the market and set up their stalls, Zhen Zhen just sold bean sprouts.

Serving Huai Ming in the side to greet the customers to sell together, talk to the word did not find Zhen Zhen gossip, but in the bean sprouts sold almost, he told Zhen Zhen greetings, left for a while.

Zhen Zhen didn’t pay much attention to him.

Mr. Huai Ming came back a while later, with a pair of hair ropes in his hand.

Without speaking to Zhen Zhen, he directly took Zhen Zhen’s braid and tied the two strands of hair rope to the tips of Zhen Zhen’s hair.

When he was done, he looked at Zhen Zhen and said, “It’s very pretty.”

Did he just go buy hair ropes?

Jen looked at him and then at the hair ropes in her own tresses.

A moment later, she untied the hair rope from her tresses and stuffed it back into Servant Huai Ming’s hand.

She whispered, “I don’t want it, lest you say I’m pandering again.”

“……”

Servant Huai Ming looked at the hair rope in his hand and held his breath.

He lifted his gaze to look at Zhen Zhen, who had already greeted people weighing bean sprouts and selling them.

Inhaling and adjusting for a moment, he silently put the hair rope into his pocket.

***

After selling bean sprouts and returning from the market, Zhen Zhen’s attitude still hasn’t half softened.

Of course she only spoke and smiled at Squire Huai Ming without saying a word, and when she spoke to others it was the same as usual.

This feeling of being treated differently was not pleasant.

Leaning over the bed after lunch, Shui Huai Ming put aside the hair ropes he had bought at the market in the morning and stared at the pair of hair ropes. His mind was filled with Zhen Zhen’s attitude towards him over the past two days, and the more he thought about it, the harder his heart felt.

I don’t know how long he was lost in thought, but when he came back to his senses, he realized that there was no one else in the house.

He got up from the bed, went to the yard to look around, and swept through the window to see that Zhen Zhen was at home.

Zhen Zhen had taken a nap after eating lunch and getting sleepy from reading, and when she woke up there was no one at home.

She had wanted to go out to hunt hogweed, but when she realized that the hogweed basket and scythe were gone, she didn’t go out.

With her mind hanging on the plot, she went back inside and continued reading.

While she was absorbed in her reading, she suddenly heard two “thuds” on the doorframe.

She looked up and saw Servant Huai Ming standing by the door of her room with the door curtain up.

Zhen Zhen ignored him and dropped her gaze to continue reading, treating him like air.

Servant Huai Ming stood by the door and watched her for a moment, not turning around to go out, but going to sit down next to her.

Zhen Zhen still treated him as air and continued to look down and read her book.

After a moment of silence, Servant Huai Ming tried to talk to her, “I can tell you if you don’t understand.”

Zhen Zhen lowered her head and uttered, “No need, I have a teacher.”

As if there were pins and needles in his heart, Squire Huai Ming looked at Zhen Zhen’s side face for a moment and spoke out again, “Xue Fan?”

Zhen Zhen was still looking at her books and answered in a low voice, “Uh-huh.”

Servant Huai Ming: “He speaks better than me?”

Zhen Zhen: “Uh, he’s a teacher.”

Servant Huai Ming was still staring at the side of Zhen Zhen’s face, his gaze was heavy, and he really couldn’t help it.

Then he looked at Zhen Zhen and said, “Let’s have a good chat, okay?”

Zhen Zhen still said, “What do we have to talk about?”

Servant Huai Ming tensed his face and voice and said, “Tell me what you think in your heart.”

Zhen Zhen’s gaze still fell on the book, but she was no longer reading the contents.

She was silent for a while, then looked at the words on the page and said in a faint voice, “I know I don’t deserve you, we’re not suitable, I shouldn’t have married you in the first place, much less waited for you to come back, and much less run off to the city to look for you. I should not have waited for you to come back, and I should not have gone to the city to look for you. If you meet someone you like, you can stay with her. If I meet the right one, I’ll marry again, too. I believe Mother will understand me, and as for what others say, I don’t care.”

Servant Huai Ming stared at her, his eyes cold his voice even colder, “Who do you want to marry again?”

Zhen Zhen’s voice was not as soft as usual, “It has nothing to do with you, no matter who I marry it is my freedom.”

Can. Can even talk to him about freedom.

Servant Huai Ming gritted his teeth, “I don’t agree, you must return to the city with me.”

Hearing this, Zhen Zhen turned her head to look at him, her eyes were filled with exasperation, “Why should I go back with you? I don’t like to spend my life with you, you make me feel tired, I live every day carefully in the city, I don’t want to live with you anymore.”

She was never going to live that life of being careful to please him again.

With that said she turned her gaze away to the other side.

Then adjusting her emotions, she calmed her tone and continued, “Don’t pretend in front of me either, aren’t you just pretending like this because you’re afraid of Mother’s anger, afraid that she’ll make trouble with you and sever the mother-son relationship with you? You can not worry about Mother’s side, Mother loves me, I will convince her, and will not make things difficult for you.”

After the words were said, Zhen Zhen didn’t want to sit any longer, took the book and stood up.

However, she had just reached the door of her room, and before she reached out to open the curtain, she was suddenly pinched by Shui Huaiming’s wrist and pulled back two steps.

After Shi Huai Ming pulled her back, he used his tall body to block in front of her.

When Zhen Zhen wanted to go out, he reached out and swept Zhen Zhen back.

Zhen Zhen was unable to get out of the room because he was blocking her, so she became even more angry and reached out to push him and tried to walk out again.

Servant Huai Ming easily swept her back again, blocked her against the wall, looked at her with a grave and serious expression and said, “I took time off to come back to apologize to you, not because of Mother, it was my own ……”

Zhen Zhen didn’t want to listen to him and reached out to push him again wanting to walk out.

Servant Huai Ming grabbed her wrist and looked at her and said, “Can you hear me out?”

Zhen Zhen couldn’t push him and couldn’t pull her hand out when she wanted to.

So she struggled with both hands in an anxious and annoyed manner, wrinkling her whole face and saying, “Can’t, won’t listen.”

Servant Huai Ming grabbed her wrist and did not let go.

Zhen Zhen struggled twice and said in annoyance, “You let me out, I said I hate you now, I hate you. Why do you want to come back, I don’t want to see you now, and I don’t want to hear you talk.”

Listening to Zhen Zhen’s words, his mind involuntarily recalled some scenes.

Servant Huai Ming couldn’t suppress the annoyance in his heart and looked at her and asked, “Then who do you like now? Who do you want to listen to? Xue Fan?”

Zhen Zhen frowned and looked at him, then struggled more, saving her strength and said, “Anyway, it’s not you, you quickly let go of me, thank you for spending so much time to teach me to read and teach me to read, so that I can understand a lot of new truths, I’m no longer that marrying a chicken to follow the chicken and marrying a dog to follow the dog Lin Zhen Zhen, I have the freedom and the right to pursue my own life, none of it has anything to do with you! ……”

The following words did not come out, the service Huai Ming suddenly reached out and pinched the back of Zhen Zhen’s neck, lowered his head and blocked her mouth.

Zhen Zhen was stunned for a moment, and after reacting to what Shui Huai Ming was doing to her, she pushed him even harder.

But Zhen Zhen’s little strength was useless in front of Shi Huai Ming.

Servant Huai Ming gagged her and forced her against the wall, one hand easily grabbed the wrists of both her hands and pressed them directly to the top of her head.

Without letting her speak again, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pried open her teeth, deeply entangling his lips and tongue above hers.

Jen couldn’t move with him pressed against the wall.

Her mind went blank, only instinctive resistance remained, but it was completely useless with Squire Huai Ming.

Shi Huai Ming was in a state of slight loss of control.

He kissed Zhen Zhen for a while before slowly coming back to his senses.

Gaining back a bit of his senses, he let go of Zhen Zhen’s mouth, only to see Zhen Zhen’s eyes brimming with tears and panic all over her face.

He realized what he had done and subconsciously loosened the force on his hands.

When Zhen Zhen got free, she quickly reached out and pushed him away, turned around and ran out of the room with her head down.

Servant Huai Ming stood in place for a long time without moving.

With his sanity restored a little more, he raised his hand to brace himself against the wall and closed his eyes in chagrin.

Crazy.

How could he have done such a thing.