The entire family was stunned.

“Crunch—”

Holding a bowl and devouring potato starch jelly, Song Zhi was so shocked that he bit down and chipped off a piece of his porcelain bowl!

Everyone: …

Tang Liren said, “Oh no, Song Zhi, are you alright?”

Song Zhi held half a porcelain bowl in his mouth. He froze for a moment before snapping back to his senses and quickly spitting out the porcelain shard. “I-I’m alright. Sorry, Auntie, this bowl…”

“It’s fine! As long as you didn’t cut your mouth, it’s fine!” Tang Liren instructed Lili, “Xingzi, bring another bowl!”

Bai Xingxing ran to fetch an empty bowl, handed it to Song Zhi, who murmured, “Thank you.” He took the empty bowl, remained silent for a while, and then started eating noisily.

Everyone stared at Song Zhi.

—Did he know he was eating from an empty bowl?

After a while, Song Zhi realized he was holding an empty bowl. Flustered, he hurriedly transferred some potato starch jelly from an unchipped bowl. But then, he grabbed the sauce bowl by mistake and dumped it into his bowl—

Everyone: …

They looked at the snoring Bai Taotao and then at the absent-minded Song Zhi…

What’s going on? Everyone was silent.

The atmosphere felt strange.

Bai Zhengqian and Tang Liren exchanged a glance.

The family had just finished lunch, and Lili swiftly cleared away the dishes—

“Taozi! Is Taozi home?” someone called from outside.

Bai Taotao recognized the voice. It was Bai Zhenzhu, the cousin from her third uncle’s family.

Her third uncle had four daughters. The two older cousins were already married, and Taotao only vaguely remembered them. The other two were still unmarried—Zhenzhu, the third, was the same age as Taotao, and Feicui, the fourth, was the same age as Xingxing.

Taotao didn’t like the two of them. She hung her head, didn’t respond, and picked up a sewing basket to work on her needlework.

Tang Liren said, “Hongdou, go call your Aunt Zhenzhu inside.”

Hongdou ran out and soon brought Bai Zhenzhu in.

Bai Zhenzhu greeted everyone with a smile, “Hello, Uncle. Hello, Auntie…” After glancing around, she asked, “Brother Song Zhi is here too?”

Song Zhi was naturally introverted and didn’t like socializing. The moment he heard Bai Zhenzhu at the door, he went back to his own room.

The family understood his personality and didn’t think much of it.

Tang Liren explained, “He needs to study!”

Bai Zhenzhu responded with an “Oh” and didn’t mind since she hadn’t come to see Song Zhi anyway—she was there to see Bai Taotao.

Taotao liked looking pretty.

But the family was too poor to afford anything fancy for her.

Her hair was tied into a loose braid, with several thin braids at her temples woven into the larger braid at the back. At the ends of the braid, she tied a ribbon her second brother had given her. The ribbon had several delicate wooden beads attached.

Her clothes were plain and old. The frayed collar had been neatly mended with stitches. Since parts of the fabric were worn out, she cut up an old checkered shirt and sewed on the simplest ruffle trim. The frayed cuffs were also reinforced, with elastic sewn in…

The originally oversized and ill-fitting clothes now had refined details, making them look more tailored and elegant.

Bai Zhenzhu praised, “Taotao, you look really pretty today!”

—This was exactly why Taotao disliked Bai Zhenzhu and Bai Feicui. It wasn’t just that they were cunning, but they also had a habit of asking for things as if it were only natural.

Sure enough, Bai Zhenzhu’s next words were—

“Taotao, your outfit today is really nice too! I’m going to visit our uncle’s house tomorrow. Can I borrow this outfit? I’ll return it when I get back!”

Taotao didn’t even lift her head. “No!”

The sisters had “borrowed” countless things from their house and never returned them! Even when they were pestered to return something, it often came back damaged on purpose.

Bai Zhenzhu: …

Tang Liren smoothed things over. “Zhenzhu, borrow something from me! You can wear my clothes!”

Bai Zhenzhu glanced at her—a middle-aged woman’s clothes? Who would want that!

“Taotao, you’re being petty,” Bai Zhenzhu said in a tone she thought sounded gracious. “We’re family, after all. If we look good outside, doesn’t it make the rest of the family look good too?”

Taotao retorted, “We already split up the family!”

Bai Zhenzhu: …

Everyone struggled to hold back their laughter.

Embarrassed, Bai Zhenzhu quickly changed the subject and asked, “By the way, I heard a matchmaker came to your house today. Was it for you or your third sister?”

Taotao replied without looking up, “She came to propose to Grandma.”

Bai Zhenzhu’s eyes widened: !!!

Bai Dongsheng choked and coughed repeatedly, Tan Fenghui’s face turned red from holding in laughter, and Bai Zhengqian and Tang Liren avoided eye contact—one looking up at the sky and the other down at the ground—as they struggled not to laugh.

Bai Xingxing burst out laughing. “Hahaha…”

Tang Liren gave her youngest daughter a sharp look.

Frightened, Xingxing immediately stopped laughing, but she did it so abruptly that she started hiccuping.

Bai Zhenzhu realized Taotao was making fun of her. Then she glanced at the sewing in Taotao’s hands and asked, “Taotao, what are you working on?”

Taotao said, “I’m making clothes for my soon-to-be-born nephew!”

“If you have time for that… help me alter something to look like yours,” Bai Zhenzhu pouted. “Why are you rushing to make baby clothes? Wait until the baby is born. What if it’s a useless girl?!”

Everyone glared at her.

—Bai Zhengqian and his wife cherished their daughters, and no one in the family ever discussed whether Tan Fenghui’s baby would be a boy or a girl.

Having a daughter was great—weren’t their own daughters adorable and well-liked?

But calling a girl a “useless” was just cruel.

Taotao was furious. She raised her head and glared at Bai Zhenzhu. “Then when will you stop being a useless burden? When you do, I’ll make something for you, and you can pay me back for it!”

After saying that, Taotao turned to Tang Liren and asked, “Mom, when Cousin Zhenzhu stops becomes a useless burden, do I have to pay her too?”

Tang Liren became angry as well. “You don’t! You’re her senior; why would you need to pay? Besides, doesn’t she even call me ‘Aunt’? I’m not her real mother. Hmph, we won’t even give her a single needle in the future!”

Bai Zhenzhu realized she had overstayed her welcome and stood up awkwardly. “I… I have things to do at home. I’ll be going now…”

Before leaving, she glanced at Taotao’s clothes and the hair tie on her head. Still feeling disgruntled, she cursed under her breath, calling Taotao a “little brat,” stomped her foot, and left in a huff.

Meanwhile, Song Zhi retreated to his room.

When Bai Zhengqian arranged for him to stay in this room, he said, “This room was originally prepared for Nansheng, but you know his situation. What would he come back for? To be laughed at for being cuckolded? Sigh, I doubt he’ll ever return. So don’t let it weigh on your mind—just stay here comfortably.”

Despite this, Brother Song Zhinuinely liked the place.

Strictly speaking, this was his first real home and his first personal room.

As a child living with the Guan family, he always shared a room with Guan Qinghai. After his adoptive mother passed away, the Guan family’s home became chaotic, so he spent most of his time at school, where he lived in large dormitories with 40 to 50 people. Later, during graduate school, the dorms improved slightly, but it was still a four-person arrangement.

This room had been tidied up by Taotao.

In fact, the entire house was arranged by Taotao.

The little girl was mischievous and quirky, with a strong sense of aesthetics.

When the house was first built, time was tight and tasks were demanding. Although the house was completed in a single day, only the basic structure was done. That first night, the entire family slept in the main room because it was the only place with flooring. The other rooms still had dirt floors.

It was Bai Dongsheng who spent money hiring a few people to gradually finish the furniture and install the flooring.

Even now, the house still carried the fresh scent of wood.

Taotao took it upon herself to decorate the rooms.

Song Zhi’s room was simple, almost bare. It had only a bed, a cabinet, a desk, and a chair.

Yet Taotao filled his room with potted plants.

In two corners of the room stood three pots, two large and one small. Another pot sat by the bed, and a small sprout rested on the desk. When he asked her what it was, she smiled slyly and said, “Telling you would ruin the surprise! Just let it keep you company—it’ll bloom for you someday.”

Thus, all Song Zhi knew was that the plant on his desk would eventually flower.

What kind of flowers it would produce, he didn’t know.

But he was willing to wait, looking forward to it immensely.

Taotao also made wreaths from grass and wildflowers, hanging them in every corner of the house and replacing them every three or four days.

In Song Zhi’s room, two wreaths adorned the walls. They weren’t the usual circular shape but rather something more unique. The mix of leaves and tiny wildflowers gave the room a sense of vitality and beauty.

She had also collected peculiar stones from the village riverbank, calling them “candleholders” and insisting that their placement was critical. To Song Zhi, they were just stones, and it didn’t matter how they were arranged. In fact, he thought her arrangements looked a bit unstable.

It wasn’t until night, when he lit a candle on one of her “candleholders,” that he realized…

The half-polished stones could gather the faint candlelight, making the wide and empty room appear brighter. Lit by the candles, the stones themselves glowed faintly, revealing their unique charm.

Just as she had claimed, the candleholders she brought back were exquisite, one-of-a-kind treasures.

She placed seven or eight of these in his room. One night, he lit all the candles. The entire room became as bright as day. With the furnishings illuminated, Song Zhi found himself at a loss for words to describe his space.

Perhaps it was… a paradise?

According to Bai Dongsheng, Taotao’s own room resembled a celestial abode. But Song Zhi didn’t dare set foot in a girl’s room, not even to glance at it.

Now, this wonderful girl…

Someone had come to propose marriage to her???

Bai Zhengqian always said Taotao was still a child. So, despite her possessing the beauty of a seventeen-year-old girl in her prime, Song Zhi tried to regard her as a child.

But—

Would she really marry another man?

No! Absolutely not!!!

The intensity of this thought startled Song Zhi.

Did he truly reject the idea of Taotao marrying someone else?

Images flashed through his mind:

He remembered Taotao kneeling on the bed, holding a small pot of grapevine, coaxing him in her soft voice to “shake hands with it.” He had been at a loss, not knowing where the grapevine’s “hand” was. In the end, Bai Dongsheng took the lead, pinching one of the vine’s two small leaves. Song Zhi had reluctantly followed suit.

Her face lit up with a radiant, sweet smile.

He remembered her lying on the bed, playfully kicking his backside with her feet. He fled, and she chased after him. When he had nowhere left to run, he sat still. She eventually stopped, tapping his back with her foot in rhythm to a little tune she was singing.

What song had she been singing? Her voice was so sweet; it must have sounded beautiful. He wished he could have heard it clearly…

He remembered her clinging to his arm on a long-distance bus ride back from the city and biting him. Tears clung to her long lashes, half-hanging and half-falling. He didn’t know why she was so upset, but seeing her aggrieved expression had shattered his heart.

Later, she accused him of being stingy for not letting her bite him and not patting her head. And indeed, whenever he patted her head, she looked blissfully happy.

Was her happiness truly that simple?

But what he wanted to give her wasn’t just these small gestures. In the future…

The thought startled him, and his unbidden smile faded.

What… what did he want to give her?

What about the future?

A ridiculous notion suddenly surfaced in his mind—

Could it be that he liked Bai Taotao?

Song Zhi sat there, stunned.

At that moment, the village broadcast suddenly crackled to life.

“Hello! Hello, can you hear me? Attention, everyone! All male comrades, gather at the village committee square immediately! Female comrades, except for the women’s representatives, stay at home—do not come out! I repeat—elderly, women, and children must stay home. Do not come out! But all men must report immediately…”

Hearing the broadcast, Song Zhi set aside his thoughts and hurriedly left his room, heading to the main house.

Bai Dongsheng and Tang Liren were bending down, putting on their outdoor liberation shoes.

Bai Zhengqian, sitting on the kang, asked, “What’s going on?”

Bai Dongsheng replied, “I heard a couple of days ago that three bears—one big and two small—were spotted in Jixiang Village nearby. Yesterday, the second team also reported that the cornfield they’re in charge of might have been trampled by bears. Not sure if it’s about that.”

Song Zhi’s eyes landed on Bai Taotao, who was sitting on the kang doing needlework.

Without thinking, he walked over and reached out to pat her head.

Taotao instantly felt a rich, soothing warmth envelop her, and she instinctively took a deep breath—

She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again, smiling sweetly.

Song Zhi smiled, too.

The Bai family: …

Author’s Note:
Some readers have asked if they’ll get to see Taotao fall in love?
But Taotao isn’t the type to fall in love—Taotao is water (fourth tone, meaning ‘cool’ or ‘chill’).
Spoiler alert: The next chapter might have a little “torture” for the male lead. Please be prepared!