Chapter 27

“I want to kiss you.”
Xiao Zhou murmured, his eyes fixated on her lips, clearly only thinking about finishing what had just been interrupted.

Bai Jiaojiao’s cheeks turned red. She took a step to the side, putting some distance between them to feel a bit safer.

“I was asking how you felt about your Aunt-in-law being beaten by her husband.”

Xiao Zhou frowned: “That’s their family business. What’s there to see? Unless… you want to go save her?”

His wife was too kind-hearted. He really had to talk her out of it.

“Sounds quieter up front now. They must’ve broken up the fight. Don’t get involved—she’s not a good person.”

Bai Jiaojiao got sidetracked: “Of course I’m not getting involved.”

“Good.” Xiao Zhou let out a sigh of relief. “Otherwise, I’d want to tie you to my belt.”

“What?”

“My wife’s too kind. Looks like she’d be easy to fool.”

Bai Jiaojiao glared at him: “I’m not easy to fool. I’m very smart.”

Xiao Zhou stepped closer and pinched her cheek: “You’re right. You’re not easy to fool—otherwise, I would’ve already tricked you into being mine.”

Bai Jiaojiao slapped his hand away, her face stern: “Then don’t bother trying. You won’t succeed.”

Xiao Zhou’s lips curled into a sly smile. Suddenly, he lowered his head and pecked her on the cheek.

“Well, maybe not impossible.”

Bai Jiaojiao’s face turned crimson. She chased after him, hitting him: “Xiao Zhou! You rascal!”

The man’s legs were long; with two strides, she had to jog to catch up. When she nearly caught up, he’d pause deliberately, then take a few more steps so she had to chase again. They bickered all the way home.

In the courtyard:

The neighbors had already left.

Xiao Zhou’s aunt-in-law, clutching her injuries, scrambled to her feet. She picked up the clothes that had been knocked over and went back to washing them—she still needed to hang them up to dry.

She and her son only had two presentable outfits. The rest belonged to Chen Erzhuang.

Chen Erzhuang sat in the courtyard, wiping sweat off his brow as he shelled peanuts and cursed:

“I don’t care how you do it—go find Xiao Zhenguo. That guy’s soft. If you talk to him nicely, he’ll give you back all the clothes. Don’t think I don’t know what’s between you two!”

Xiao Zhou’s aunt-in-law gripped the laundry tighter, tears streaming down her face: “We’re just relatives! We fell out long ago—what do you want me to do?”

“Relatives? Hah! You chased after him like a dog back in the day. If he hadn’t married that Mei Ping, would you really have settled for marrying me?” Chen Erzhuang sneered. “If there’s nothing between you two, why would he still send you clothes every year?”

She shut her eyes, exhausted: **”Because he’s a good man. When Tie Dan was just born, all we had was a single piece of cloth for a diaper. You wouldn’t even buy extra fabric for us—you sent your mom over to ‘help’ me, and she gave me just one pumpkin to eat and still asked me to pay her back.

If it weren’t for Zhenguo, Tie Dan and I would’ve been dead long ago.”**

Chen Erzhuang’s expression turned sinister. He picked up a stick and walked toward her: “So what, huh? Are you saying Tie Dan is his kid?”

“Of course not!”

She had answered that question countless times, but her face was still full of fear. Dropping the laundry, she turned and ran for the house.

Chen Erzhuang was about to chase after her when a knock sounded at the door. He dropped the stick and went to answer it.

Outside stood the seemingly good-natured Chen Dawei.

“Erzhuang, I heard you’re fighting over Zhenguo again?”

Mentioning that man made Erzhuang boil with rage: “That damn Xiao Zhenguo—always messing with my wife. If he likes her so much, he can have her! I’ll take Mei Ping instead!”

Back in the day, he had liked Mei Ping. His family was poor and couldn’t afford a dowry. Mei Ping didn’t require one, and she was pretty—not drooling or babbling like some women. She looked normal when she wasn’t talking.

Who’d have guessed she’d fall for that bastard Xiao Zhenguo instead of him? What did he have that was so great?

Chen Dawei said, “I have an idea—one that’ll teach Xiao Zhenguo and his whole family a lesson.”

“What kind of lesson? You thinking of sleeping with his wife?” Chen Erzhuang swallowed hard.

His own wife had always liked Zhenguo. That made him uncomfortable—he was sure there was something going on between them.

Even his son, he couldn’t stand the sight of. But he had to keep living—just not comfortably.

Now, Mei Ping might be a little old, but she was still attractive—prettier than the young girls in the village.

Most importantly, she was stupid. Even if he did sleep with her, she wouldn’t know what had happened.

If his wife could have something with Xiao Zhenguo, then he’d have something with Xiao Zhenguo’s wife.

Chen Dawei’s eyes flashed darkly.

When Bai Jiaojiao finally caught up with Xiao Zhou, they were at their doorstep. She was out of breath.

Her body had always been pampered like a city princess—just a short run and she was exhausted.

Xiao Zhou, on the other hand, looked like he had just taken a stroll.

How could a fragile little cannon-fodder like her compete with a big villain like him?

“Jiaojiao, are you tired? Let me support you.” Xiao Zhou only made her walk so much because her body was weak—now that they were home, he had to reward her properly.

“Hmph!”

Little Yueyue was crouched at the gate, rolling snow into balls and stacking them up. She was almost done building a little snow fortress.

Bai Jiaojiao ignored Xiao Zhou, crouched next to Yueyue, and started building a snowman.

“Jiaojiao.”

Xiao Zhou came up next to her.

Bai Jiaojiao acted like he didn’t exist and focused on shaping her snowball, determined to build a big snowman.

Xiao Zhou ran into the house and returned with a pair of leather gloves.

“Be careful not to catch a chill.”

Bai Jiaojiao knew the gloves were expensive and hesitated: “You should save them. What if they get ruined?”

“Then I’ll buy another pair.” Xiao Zhou was casually extravagant.

“Fine.” Bai Jiaojiao put on the gloves. Seeing the half-sized snowball, she said, “You make the rest. It has to look good.”

“Got it.” Xiao Zhou didn’t hesitate, rolling a bigger ball, then a smaller one. He even added some decorations to make a proper snowman—as tall as him.

“Jiaojiao, does it look nice?” he asked.

Bai Jiaojiao sniffed: “No. The snowman looks just like you.”

Xiao Zhou grinned: “My wife’s so clever—she saw right away I modeled it after myself. I must be pretty good at this.”

Bai Jiaojiao didn’t want to talk to this shameless man. She picked up Yueyue and went inside.

The little girl was well-behaved, her dark eyes filled with confusion—she seemed unaware of what had just happened.

Bai Jiaojiao couldn’t help but ruffle her hair and set her in a chair: “It’s getting dark. Stay inside the house, okay?”

Xiao Zhou, trailing behind, responded: “Okay.”

Bai Jiaojiao gave him a speechless side-eye—she wasn’t even talking to him!

Forget it. No point arguing—he’d only get smug.

In the kitchen, Father and Mother Xiao were preparing dinner. Though Xiao’s mother had the mental capacity of a child, she could still tend the fire, and the couple worked in harmony. Bai Jiaojiao didn’t want to disturb them.

Outside, it had started drizzling.

She wasn’t scared—everyone was home, and the mudslide she dreamt about had happened outside, not in the house.

This place was safe.

To avoid danger, she had once brought up how dangerous mudslides could be during dinner—said she’d heard this year could be especially bad, and advised staying indoors on rainy days.

Father Xiao and Xiao Zhou had both taken her seriously.

Bai Jiaojiao felt like she had done her duty perfectly in warning them.

This life, she just hoped the Xiao family could live safely and happily—not like in her dream.

But sometimes, Bai Jiaojiao felt it wasn’t just a dream.
Maybe it was a parallel universe.

In that world, Xiao Zhou had already lost his parents and sister. She couldn’t help him there—but she hoped that, at least, he wouldn’t go completely insane afterward.