Chapter 89 : Jealousy

Was Yanxing unhappy? What could he be unhappy about?

Before Liang Qingqing could figure it out, the man had already put on his shirt and quickly walked over to them. He greeted Ma Xiuzhi first, then turned to Liang Qingqing. The displeasure from earlier had vanished from his expression, and his voice was gentle. “What brings you here?”

As he spoke, he subtly adjusted his position, whether by coincidence or intentionally, so that he stood directly in front of her, blocking her view of the progress at the new house.

“I just came to have a look,” Liang Qingqing said, sensing something was up. She deliberately took a step to the side and stretched her neck to see. “Why are there so many people…”

As soon as she made a move, Yanxing moved in front of her again. “To meet the deadline, we had to call in extra hands.”

At this point, Liang Qingqing was sure why Yanxing was unhappy. This little jealous man was getting jealous even at the sight of her looking at other men. Really, it was just bare shoulders!

Their physiques weren’t even as good as his, and even if they were, their faces couldn’t compare to his good looks. She couldn’t understand what he was worried about.

Liang Qingqing stared at Yanxing with a knowing look. He cleared his throat, realizing she had figured out his subtle feelings. He decided to be straightforward. “There are a lot of men here. Qingqing, you should avoid coming over here.”

“That’s true. The other unmarried girls in the village keep their distance from this area,” Ma Xiuzhi added. “Yanxing only hired young, strong men who can lift a cow with their bare hands. They’re doing heavy labor, and in this heat, they end up taking off their shirts. Their muscles can be quite intimidating and make people blush.”

Girls, with their delicate sensibilities, would naturally avoid coming over here.

“I’m just curious,” Liang Qingqing pouted. “Is it not allowed for me to take a look at the house I’ll be living in?”

“It’s not that it’s not allowed. You’re the mistress of the house, of course, you’re welcome to come and see,” Yanxing was pleased by her words. His lips curled up in a smile as he gently reassured her. “Don’t worry. I’m keeping an eye on things and making sure it meets your expectations.”

Liang Qingqing huffed but decided to let it go. “We’re going back now. Make sure to come back early for dinner.”

“Sure.”

The educated youth camp was already repaired, and Yanxing had moved back there. Normally, he would be eating at the camp, but with the new house still under construction, the custom was for the homeowner to provide meals for the workers. Since the new house wasn’t finished yet and Yanxing wasn’t involved in the daily management, Ma Xiuzhi and Wang Xiaomei had taken on the responsibility.

So, for the past few days, Yanxing had been bringing the workers to Liang’s house for meals. The kitchen couldn’t accommodate everyone, so they set up a round table in the yard to serve as the dining table.

Yanxing took care of purchasing the ingredients. He wasn’t stingy, buying high-quality vegetables and meat, ensuring that every meal included some meat. It was a huge improvement compared to the usual sparse meals, and the workers were grateful and worked even harder.

After bidding farewell to Yanxing, Liang Qingqing and Ma Xiuzhi headed home and happened to run into Liang Shuqiang and Liang Junqiang, who were about to go out. The siblings chatted for a while.

“Go help out quickly,” Ma Xiuzhi said, waving them off without much fuss.

“Didn’t we already hire so many people? Why do my brothers need to help too?” Liang Qingqing felt a pang of sympathy. Her two brothers worked during the day and then went to help Yanxing with the house in the afternoon. They had no time to rest, and just thinking about it made her feel tired.

Ma Xiuzhi smiled. “Yanxing can only keep an eye on so much with just one pair of eyes. I asked the two brothers to help supervise.”

Yanxing was generous with his money, paying top wages for the workers. Although they were doing their best, there was always a chance someone might slack off. Ma Xiuzhi didn’t want their money to go to waste.

“Besides, we’re not just helping Yanxin, we’re helping you. After all, you’re the mistress of the house.” Ma Xiuzhi recalled Yanxing’s comment earlier and couldn’t resist teasing Liang Qingqing.

Naturally, Liang Qingqing remembered this as well. Her face flushed red in embarrassment. She widened her eyes, stomped her foot in a fit of anger, and charged ahead. “Mom! I’m not talking to you anymore. I’m going to help in the kitchen.”

“Oh, you get all huffy after a few words. I’ve never seen you so thin-skinned before,” Ma Xiuzhi said, holding her belly and laughing heartily. Her words sped up Liang Qingqing’s pace, and soon she disappeared into the kitchen.

Yanxing had been truly busy, he was nowhere to be seen for several days. Liang Qingqing took the opportunity to handle the necessary paperwork and errands, making several trips to complete everything. After that, she only needed to pack for the trip to the provincial capital, leaving her with no other tasks.

In the afternoon, as she was chatting with Zhou Lilan, Ma Xiuzhi rushed over.

“Lilan, I’ll come visit you again next time.”

“Sure,” Zhou Lilan said, seeing Liang Qingqing and Ma Xiuzhi off.

“What’s wrong?” Liang Qingqing, pulled by Ma Xiuzhi toward their home, saw her urgent demeanor and was puzzled, trying to figure out what could have happened.

Ma Xiuzhi, panting and clearly having run over, said, “Yanxing got into a fight with someone!”

“What?”

Liang Qingqing’s mouth dropped open in shock. After thinking for a while, she couldn’t imagine anyone in the village who would dare to fight with Yanxing. She quickened her pace toward the new house.

When she arrived, she saw a crowd gathered, tightly packed in layers. Clearly, the situation had escalated.

“Make way.”

Seeing Liang Qingqing and Ma Xiuzhi, the crowd parted to let them through, but then pressed forward eagerly, not wanting to miss a single moment of the excitement.

When Liang Qingqing saw the two tall figures wrestling in the open space, her eyes nearly popped out. How could these two, who were supposed to be good friends, end up fighting? And how did he end up here?

“Yanxing, stop it!”

Hearing the reprimand, Yanxing instinctively pulled back his fist, but the next moment, his opponent took the chance to land a punch on his chest. The pain made him grunt, and he frowned, about to retaliate when someone grabbed him from behind, while the opponent was also subdued.

It was Liang Shuqiang and Liang Junqiang, the two brothers!

“It’s all a misunderstanding, everyone, please leave.”

Liang Qingqing forced a smile, drove everyone away before she could finally turn her attention to Yanxing. She didn’t know how long they had been fighting, both men were covered in dirt, but their faces showed no visible injuries.

Liang Qingqing smacked Yanxing’s arm, but as soon as her light slap landed, he cried out in pain, his face showing rare signs of discomfort.

Seeing this, Liang Qingqing panicked. He couldn’t have been seriously injured, could he?

“Are you alright? Should we go to the hospital?” She lifted Yanxing’s sleeve to check his injury. Before he could respond, a sarcastic voice came from nearby.

“Yanxing, you really are shameless. I haven’t even hit you, and you’re acting like it hurts? How good are you at pretending?”

Upon hearing this, Liang Qingqing was displeased. She turned and glared at the speaker, “Chu Qi, what are you saying? It’s been so long since we last saw each other, and you come here just to cause trouble?”

“I certainly didn’t come here to…” Chu Qi started but struggled to explain the real reason. He could only stare daggers at Yanxing, wishing he could take a chunk out of him. How had he not realized what kind of black-hearted person Yanxing was after all these years?

After the separation at the hospital, Chu Qi had eagerly awaited the holiday to reconnect with Liang Qingqing, only to be met with a transfer order instead.

Had it been earlier, he would have been thrilled to return to Beijing City, where he had grown up and had countless friends and family. But now, with the sudden appearance of a girl he liked, he found it hard to be happy about leaving. Moreover, the transfer order had come as quite a shock.

But military orders are like mountains, he had no way to refuse and had to comply. He began preparing for his return to Beijing and called home to inform his family of the news. To his surprise, they had already known about it and told him to thank Yanxing for his efforts in securing the transfer.

With this, Chu Qi could hardly miss the connection.

Yanxing, that bastard, had gone to great lengths to have him transferred back to Beijing just to keep him away from Liang Qingqing!

He couldn’t swallow this anger, so he took the opportunity of his last day off to confront Yanxing, and also to talk to Liang Qingqing about whether she would be willing to be with him. If she agreed, he would immediately propose marriage, apply for family accompaniment, and live happily ever after, driving Yanxing to despair!

Just thinking about Yanxing’s frustrated face when his plans failed made Chu Qi laugh out loud.

But to his dismay, as soon as he arrived in the village and made inquiries, he found out that Yanxing had already beaten him to it, he was building a house and preparing to marry a beautiful bride!

After being pent up for so long, Chu Qi couldn’t help but lash out when he saw Yanxing, cursing him for his lack of brotherly loyalty and underhanded tactics.

However, Yanxing wasn’t one to be easily subdued. Though he hadn’t been stationed in the military camp all the time, he had been practicing martial arts since childhood, and the two fought fiercely. No one dared to intervene until Liang Qingqing arrived and stopped the brawl.

“Who knows what got into Chu Qi? I was working here just fine, and he came up and hit me. I couldn’t just stand there and let him beat me, could I? I had to fight back,” Yanxing said, standing behind Liang Qingqing with a seemingly aggrieved tone, but his eyes held a hint of provocation.

Chu Qi, feeling wronged and almost spitting blood, pointed at Yanxing and shouted, “You know very well why you’re being beaten.”

“I really don’t,” Yanxing said, ignoring Chu Qi and explaining to Liang Qingqing as if he had suffered a great injustice.

Liang Qingqing glanced at Yanxing and then at Chu Qi, whose face was red with anger. Although she was a bit confused, her loyalty was clearly leaning towards Yanxing.

“I know.”

At those words, Chu Qi’s vision darkened, and he nearly fainted.

Yanxing, almost imperceptibly curled the corners of his lips.