Chapter 25 : She is my wife!

After work, the villagers of Xiangyang Village gathered under the big locust tree at the entrance of the village, discussing two major events.  

One was that Ye Suiwan and Sun Qianqian, who used to be close friends, had both gotten engaged.  

In just one day, Sun Qianqian had moved into the home of the village thug, Wang Erniu, while Ye Suiwan officially got engaged to the most promising military officer of the Xiao family, with the wedding date approaching.  

The stark contrast left the villagers stunned.  

But no one knew exactly what had happened in between.  

Some villagers tried to ask around at the educated youth site, but despite their occasional internal conflicts, the educated youths were tighter than screws when it came to matters of reputation.  

Regarding Sun Qianqian, only Zhou Jingjing and Ye Suiwan could understand the meaning behind the marks on her body, so nothing was ever reported.  

As for Ye Suiwan, she had been delivering meat to the educated youth center for two consecutive days, skillfully saying kind words and keeping any gossip about herself under wraps.  

Of the two people at the center of the village’s discussions, one was suffering in the Wang household, while the other was sleeping peacefully in the dormitory!  

Meanwhile, Xiao Yuyan took advantage of the lunch break and quietly slipped into the mountains.  

Unexpectedly, he ran into a man named Jiang Sui.  

“You… what are you doing here?”  

Jiang Sui was caught off guard by the encounter.  

“It looks like we have the same goal. Let’s go!”  

Xiao Yuyan said, raising his foot to continue forward.  

Jiang Sui frowned but still followed him.  

He had been thinking about hunting a wild boar to bring back to the village as a token of gratitude. After all, the villagers had helped him find someone, and since Ye Suiwan was now marrying into the local community, he wanted them to take better care of her in the future.  

Although he didn’t have much interaction with Sun Qianqian, he knew she was not someone who would stay quiet for long.  

Right now, she was subdued only because she hadn’t fully recovered. Once she regained her strength, who knew what trouble she would cause?  

He wouldn’t feel at ease until she was gone for good.  

From now on, he and Ye Suiwan would no longer live together at the educated youth camp, so there would inevitably be times when he couldn’t watch over her.  

He also understood the Xiao family’s situation usually, only the mother and daughter were at home. The two younger brothers were still studying in the county, and the youngest daughter might leave for school as well.  

Ye Suiwan was gentle, simple, and kind. If Sun Qianqian tried to stir up trouble again, how would she handle it?  

There was only one way to prevent future problems, he needed to make people favor Ye Suiwan.  

If she could completely defeat Sun Qianqian, the villagers would see her as a victim and protect her.  

Moreover, he needed to befriend the village’s righteous and strong-willed women so that if anything happened, they would be the first to stand up for Suiwan.  

Jiang Sui felt that all his worries in this life had been spent on Ye Suiwan, and he would definitely make Ye Heng compensate him for it.  

The reason he hadn’t called Ye Heng yet was because he knew Ye Heng was on a mission, and he had also promised Ye Suiwan that he would wait until after their wedding to contact him.  

As for Ye Suiwan’s wedding, neither Uncle Ye, Ye Xian, nor Ye Heng would be able to attend in time. Their identities made it impossible for them to take sudden leave. In that case, they could simply hold another ceremony in Beijing later, it wasn’t a big deal.  

Jiang Sui was deep in thought when he suddenly realized he had already ventured deep into the mountains.  

“Focus! I don’t want you getting hurt and making Wanwan worry!”  

Xiao Yuyan’s voice snapped Jiang Sui back to reality.  

“Stop talking nonsense! Let’s see who catches more prey!”  

With that, he pulled out a dagger and headed toward the woods.  

Xiao Yuyan wasn’t surprised at all.  

He moved in a different direction, knowing that if all went as expected, they would eventually meet up again.  

Xiao Yuyan had a successful hunt, managing to catch three pheasants, two rabbits, and even a roe deer in a short amount of time.  

Just then, he heard rustling sounds from Jiang Sui’s direction.  

He gathered his prey, pulled out his sickle, and ran over.  

He found Jiang Sui in the middle of a fight with a wild boar.  

The boar looked to be around two or three hundred kilograms.  

“Let’s take it down together!”  

Xiao Yuyan called out as he charged forward.  

Of course, he believed Jiang Sui was capable of handling it on his own, but just in case.  

After all, he couldn’t let his wife worry about another man.  

Jiang Sui had no choice but to accept his help.  

The wild boar was facing two deadly opponents, and before long, it collapsed to the ground, blood pouring from its throat.  

“This wild boar—”  

“You handle it.”  

Xiao Yuyan cut Jiang Sui off.  

“First, let’s get it down the mountain.”  

“Alright!”  

Jiang Sui agreed without hesitation. He wasn’t greedy, if it weren’t for wanting to return a favor, he wouldn’t have bothered hunting at all. He had money and ration tickets, yet he still ate with the other educated youths to avoid standing out.  

“Take those back and cook them for Suiwan. Got it?”  

Jiang Sui glanced at Xiao Yuyan’s backpack as he carried two pig legs.  

Xiao Yuyan burst into rare laughter.  

“She’s my wife!”  

Jiang Sui understood what he meant but refused to back down.  

“She’s my sister!”  

“I hope you remember she has two older brothers, both of whom are very difficult to deal with!”  

“Oh, and her father, Uncle Ye, is the most difficult of them all!”  

Jiang Sui added meaningfully, making it clear that he would make sure Xiao Yuyan treated her well.  

“I’ll take good care of her.”  

Xiao Yuyan promised.  

Jiang Sui snorted softly.  

On their way down the mountain, Xiao Yuyan took a detour and led Jiang Sui to a hidden cave.  

“I’m the only one who knows about this place. You can use it if you ever need to.”  

“I’ll leave my backpack here and come back for it tonight.”  

“Let’s carry the wild boar straight to the village, it’s almost time to start work again.”  

Jiang Sui hadn’t expected there to be a cave here. If Xiao Yuyan hadn’t pointed it out, no one would have discovered it.  

“Are you taking her with you to the army?”  

Jiang Sui asked.  

“Yes, but it’ll take two or three months. In the meantime, I’ll have to ask you to look after her.”  

“You don’t need to explain.”  

Jiang Sui didn’t ask why it would take that long, he understood that Xiao Yuyan’s identity meant there were things he couldn’t talk about.  

By the time they reached the village, the afternoon work bell had just rung.  

A few villagers who were quick to notice gasped at the sight of the massive wild boar they were dragging.  

“Xiao family boy, Jiang Sui, this… this is…”  

“Uncle Dazhu, the team leader will distribute the pork to everyone after work today.”  

“I went up the mountain to gather herbs for my mother and ran into Jiang Sui. He was cutting firewood when he spotted the wild boar.”  

“We worked together to take it down so that everyone can have a better meal tonight.”  

“I’m not just doing this to show gratitude, I also want to thank everyone for taking care of Ye Suiwan these past few days.”  

Hearing this, not only Uncle Dazhu but several village women immediately understood.  

One was engaged to Ye Suiwan, and the other treated her like a sister.  

Who else could take down a wild boar this big?  

As a result, the entire village worked extra efficiently that afternoon, everyone was eager to finish quickly so they could receive their share of the meat.  

And Xiao Yuyan and Jiang Sui’s efforts to win favor for Ye Suiwan had clearly paid off.