Chapter 22

Jealousy

When the evening bell for work rang, Xia Wanyang grabbed Aunt Qiao, who was about to run back, “Aunt, Accountant Zhang helped me with something, and I don’t know how to thank him. Here’s some cloth, you can take it and make him some clothes.”

Aunt Qiao was shocked, “How could I accept this? His father is the team leader, and he’s the accountant. It’s only natural for him to help you young people. How can I shamelessly accept a gift on his behalf?”

Xia Wanyang pushed the cloth into Aunt Qiao’s hands, “Aunt, you don’t have any objections to me, do you? You helped me speak up this morning. Your whole family has been so kind to me, and now when I send you some cloth, why are you being so polite?”

After a few days, Xia Wanyang’s rough-and-tumble village style was coming out. In her past life, she had stayed in this village for quite a while, and it didn’t even take a month for her to be completely assimilated.

Aunt Qiao looked at the cloth in her hands, then at Xia Wanyang, “Child, cloth tickets are scarce now. How can I make him clothes with this?”

“Oh, Aunt, just accept it. I have enough cloth tickets. I just want to thank Accountant Zhang, and it’s awkward to give it to him directly. Let’s not argue about it, okay?”

In the end, Aunt Qiao accepted the cloth, because if she didn’t, she suspected that this little summer youth might just start crying.

The two of them arrived at the scorekeeping station, where Zhang Shiye stood with his hands in his pockets, looking out at the fields in the distance. Three girls were standing in front of him, one of them saying something, but clearly, Zhang Shiye wasn’t responding.

“Shiye-ge, just accept it. I made it myself, and it’s really comfortable to wear!” Xia Wanyang got closer and heard these words.

She glanced at Zhang Shiye without making it obvious, raising an eyebrow.

The woman speaking was Li Yu, the younger sister of his third sister-in-law. In her past life, she had liked him, liked him so much that she had shamelessly offered herself to him in front of a crowd, without caring about her reputation.

Seeing Zhang Shiye’s gaze shift to look behind her, Li Yu followed his gaze and sweetly said, “Aunt Qiao, can I go visit my sister at your place? I haven’t seen her in a long time!”

Li Yu was dark and thin, with baggy clothes that looked like they didn’t fit, as though an adult had stolen a child’s clothes to wear. Her greasy hair was combed slickly against her scalp, making her hair look particularly sparse. She was also wearing a pair of red socks, which Xia Wanyang hated.

Her facial features weren’t particularly attractive, and she wasn’t even considered delicate-looking. She resembled Li Ling somewhat, both having sharp, shrewd little eyes.

Xia Wanyang rubbed her arms, the voice was so sweet it made her lose her appetite for dinner.

Aunt Qiao didn’t pay attention to Li Yu and instead turned to the scorekeeper, saying, “Xia Youth, full work points, 8 points. The others, except for Liu Cui, are 6 points, all full work points. Today, we harvested 50 pounds of seeds.”

Aunt Qiao, with the strength she had in her youth, managed to get the position of team leader. Everything she handled, the work points were under her control.

After Xia Wanyang finished recording her work points, she left. As she passed by Zhang Shiye, she gave him a meaningful look, which startled Zhang Shiye so much that he barely ate dinner.

It wasn’t until his mother mentioned that the two pieces of cloth were from Xia Youth that his expression improved a little.

When Xia Wanyang returned to the youth station, she heard Xu Jiaojiao from a distance saying, “Hey, I didn’t pay much attention to Accountant Zhang when we were eating the other day, but today, up close, he actually looks pretty good. He’s one of the best in our compound. He’s tall, looks strong, and honestly, there’s nothing wrong with his face!”

No one else spoke. Who would talk about a man like that in broad daylight? Isn’t it embarrassing?

Xia Wanyang handed Li Xiang a can of fish, “I’m a bit tired today, I’m not eating dinner. You can take my share.”

“Brother Yang is mighty!”

Ignoring Li Xiang’s exaggerated shout, Xia Wanyang went back to her room, pulled the curtains closed, and disappeared inside.

She ran all the way up the mountain, immediately hugging Dazhuang. Dazhuang was startled by her sudden hug and almost fainted.

He didn’t dare to hide or shout, only shrinking his big head back as much as he could.

“If you keep struggling, I’ll go hug Cuihua. Your wife is pregnant, think carefully before hiding.” Xia Wanyang threatened Dazhuang in a muffled voice.

Dazhuang didn’t dare to shrink back anymore, opening his big mouth and sticking out his prickly tongue, breathing heavily.

After hugging for a while, Xia Wanyang let him go, and Dazhuang and Cuihua obediently sat beside her.

Looking at the view below the mountain, Xia Wanyang grabbed a handful of fur from Dazhuang’s thigh, “Ah, I really envy you two. You’re so loving every day, even having a baby.

But look at me, I’ve liked a man for two lifetimes, and still can’t get a confession from him. I want to say something, but if he rejects me because of my family, what should I do next? At least I can maintain this now, but if I really confess, what if he avoids me afterward and ignores me?”

Dazhuang, who was in pain, had tears welling up in his eyes. He could only nudge her hand with his cold nose, then pointed at his back legs. Xia Wanyang turned around and saw a bald patch with a small pile of yellow fur next to it.

Xia Wanyang forced a smile that was even uglier than crying, “Heh, sorry, I’m just in a bad mood. Although I know he doesn’t like anyone, it still hurts. I can’t even let others stay away from him as his partner…”

Dazhuang: Why are you pulling my fur when you’re in a bad mood?

Cuihua ran behind and licked the bald spot on Dazhuang’s back, making Xia Wanyang feel worse. “Okay, okay, you two go on being lovey-dovey. I’ll leave, sorry for the disturbance!”

Dragging her tired body, Xia Wanyang walked back down the mountain. After walking a few steps, she saw a few snakes coiled up on the trees. Although she knew she was their master, seeing these soft, crawling creatures still frightened her, and her face turned pale. “Ah~~”

007’s voice rang out: “Don’t be afraid. All the creatures in the space are afraid of you. These are venomous snakes, and when you need them, you can order them to do anything!”

Xia Wanyang smirked. She had been trying to think of a way to deal with Li Wenzhuo and Fang Zhaodi, but aside from venting, there was no real progress. They still danced around right under her nose. It was as if she had been given a pillow when she was sleepy. If the snakes bit them, it wouldn’t be her fault, right?

Now, seeing the snakes, she wasn’t afraid anymore and even thought they were a bit cute!

Her mood lifted, and her appetite returned. She went to the villa’s dining room, took out the food her mother made for her: a plate of fried small fish, a plate of fried meatballs, a plate of garlic shoots scrambled with eggs, and a big bowl of pork rib and corn soup, along with a bowl of fine rice. She ate to her heart’s content.

Unfortunately, she only ate a third of the meal. Oh well, she was full and didn’t feel like moving. It wasn’t cold, so she’d continue eating next time.

After dinner, she took off her clothes and went to the creek, looking at the three purple marks on her thigh. Xia Wanyang almost wanted to cry.

She had to drink it out to pretend to be delicate!

Xia Wanyang jumped into the creek and leaned against a stone by the shore, enjoying the sensation. Looking at the fertile land in the distance, she felt a sense of happiness. Although she hadn’t asked her mother what they were planting, the feeling was still quite nice.

After her bath, the marks on her legs faded a lot. She dried her hair and went to bed, exhausted. She had woken up too early in the morning and was incredibly sleepy.

Unlike Xia Wanyang, Zhang Shiye couldn’t sleep. He kept thinking about her—about when she hid behind him to complain, about her grinning at him, about her acting like a little mushroom gossiping with a group of women, and about the look she gave him when she thought he was a heartless man.

No matter what version of her he thought about, Zhang Shiye found her so cute, and his heart raced uncontrollably.