Chapter 8: Don’t You Like It?

Seeing her eyes filled with tears, his heart immediately softened, and the displeasure of being played like a fool dissipated by half.

He wiped the tears from her face with a helpless tone, “Alright.”

“Then why aren’t you coming?” Shen Yingying gave him a sharp look and acted annoyed. “How could you be like this?”

She patted her waist and urged, “Hurry up!”

Xie Fangzhu: “…”

He frowned, thinking to himself that while she had changed in some ways, she still hadn’t completely changed. She was still the same old person who would push limits, knowing that if given an inch, she’d take a mile.

But… he still gave in. He simply couldn’t refuse that little angry but expectant expression. With a big hand, he pulled her into his arms.

He cradled the back of her head, his face slightly flushed, and in a hoarse voice, softly said:

“Wife, I was wrong… It’s my fault. How could I ever dislike you? You’re my… my precious heart, cough… I love you too much.”

Shen Yingying almost burst out laughing. She didn’t expect him to be so obedient.

For a moment, she actually felt lucky to meet the current Xie Fangzhu. Though he was annoying, he was easy to manipulate.

If it were a few years later when he had completely grown up, it probably wouldn’t be so easy.

“Seeing how sincere you are, I’ll forgive you.”

She smiled, her eyes narrowing in delight, then quickly kissed his chin and looked up at him expectantly, “Xie Fangzhu, I’m a bit hungry. I didn’t eat anything for lunch today.”

Xie Fangzhu was taken aback. He wasn’t used to her sudden attacks.

Although it was just her chin, it still made his heart race uncontrollably.

“Cough.” He cleared his throat to hide his feelings. “I’ll go to the cafeteria and buy some food. What do you want to eat?”

Shen Yingying thought for a moment. Although the original owner stayed at home every day, she never cooked and ate at the cafeteria in the mining area, just like Xie Fangzhu, using ration tickets.

She mentioned a couple of dishes that the cafeteria often had and that she liked.

Xie Fangzhu agreed, lifted the mosquito net, and stood up to head toward the door. But after taking just a few steps, he suddenly stopped.

“Shen Yingying, don’t surprise me like that again.”

Shen Yingying poked her head out from behind the mosquito net, tilted her head, and looked at him. “You don’t like it?”

Xie Fangzhu frowned, seemingly considering the matter seriously.

After a long while, he relented. “Do whatever you want.”

“Then I won’t hold back next time.” Shen Yingying giggled, lifted the mosquito net, and sat on the bed to put on her shoes.

Xie Fangzhu’s gaze fell on her fair feet. After hesitating, he still spoke.

“I’m going to the cafeteria. Shen Yingying, you’re not allowed to run. If you…”

Before he could finish his sentence, a slender figure hurriedly ran toward him. In the next moment, a soft hand covered his mouth.

Xie Fangzhu glanced down and saw Shen Yingying looking at him unhappily. Then he looked further down to see that she had only managed to get one shoe on, and the other foot was bare. It was quite a messy sight.

“I, Shen Yingying, always keep my word. How could I run? You’re my man, why would I run away?! Don’t ever say such things again!”

Her words were so strange, it almost made him hurt just to hear it.

After Xie Fangzhu left, Shen Yingying began to walk around the house.

The small cabin had two rooms, one large and one small, both built by Xie Fangzhu himself.

Since the original owner didn’t have a mining area household registration, he couldn’t apply for a family housing unit in the mining area. Like other couples without dual employment, they could only choose a piece of land on the slope behind the family area and build this wooden house.

Actually, at first, he only built one room. But when the original owner came and saw the cabin, she exploded with anger.

She had thought they would live in a single-story house, but this little house made her throw a huge tantrum for several days.

In the end, Xie Fangzhu had no choice but to build another small room.

After the small house was built, the original owner directly kicked Xie Fangzhu to live in the small house, while she took the larger room.

The room Shen Yingying was currently in was the small room where Xie Fangzhu had lived.

The room wasn’t large, and there weren’t many things—just a bed and a wardrobe—but it was tidily organized and clean.

When she opened the wardrobe, she saw that the large space was filled with only a few pieces of clothing, yet they were neatly folded.

This made her involuntarily think back to when she had woken up earlier, seeing her neatly folded clothes, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Xie Fangzhu might have some obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

After browsing through his small room, Shen Yingying left the room and walked toward the larger one next door, where the original owner used to live.

The door was locked, but fortunately, when the original owner ran away, she had taken the key with her.

Shen Yingying fumbled through her pocket and quickly found the key.

In stark contrast to Xie Fangzhu’s clean and orderly small room, the original owner’s room was much larger and filled to the brim with stuff.

Shen Yingying didn’t like to clean, and the original owner was the same.

However, Shen Yingying’s time period had sweeping robots, and she had the money to hire a housekeeper, so her home was always spotless.

The original owner had none of that, so the room’s condition was very bad.

Not only was it crammed full, but the entire room was a mess.

As Shen Yingying entered, she could hardly find a spot to step.

Seeing the state of the room, her first instinct was to turn around and leave, but then her gaze landed on a mirror hanging on the left wall. She stopped and carefully crossed over the obstacles on the floor to take the mirror down.

When she saw the reflection in the mirror, her eyes involuntarily widened.

The person in the mirror had a delicate, heart-shaped face with snow-white skin, thick lashes framing dark eyes, and lips that were naturally red—an absolute beauty.

But this wasn’t what surprised her, because she already knew the original owner was beautiful from reading the book. She had been the village flower before marrying Xie Fangzhu, and after arriving at the mine, she became the mine’s flower.

What shocked her was that the person in the mirror looked nearly identical to her. If she made her hair the same and lost a bit more weight, they would be almost indistinguishable.

Suddenly, she began to question Xie Fangzhu’s judgment.

Earlier in the morning, she had cried and coaxed him, and yet he had still wanted to break her legs. How could he bring himself to hurt such a beautiful face?!

After admiring herself in the mirror for a while, she placed it down, preparing to leave the room with the mirror. However, just as she was about to leave, she heard a woman’s voice from outside the door: “Yingying, are you there?”

Shen Yingying turned toward the door and saw a woman about twenty years old peeking inside.

Upon seeing her, memories of the original owner immediately flooded Shen Yingying’s mind.

This woman was called Wu Xiaoxia, the original owner’s only friend in the mine. While everyone else praised Xie Fangzhu, only Wu Xiaoxia would help her curse him, making her the perfect best friend.

But Shen Yingying knew, from reading the novel, that Wu Xiaoxia had always harbored feelings for Xie Fangzhu. Although she pretended to be a good friend, she wasn’t really. Her greatest wish was for the original owner and Xie Fangzhu to divorce.

The original owner’s acquaintance with the man who claimed to be the “factory manager” also had something to do with Wu Xiaoxia.

Wu Xiaoxia knew that the original owner longed to marry someone with wealth and status, and she wanted to make room for herself to take the position of Xie Fangzhu’s wife.

So, even though she knew the man who called himself the “factory manager” might be a scammer, she still found a way for the original owner to meet him. She would even drop hints now and then.

The original owner wasn’t very clever, and with her best friend constantly whispering in her ear, she was soon fully convinced.

Had it not been for the incident where the original owner ran off with the “factory manager,” Shen Yingying wouldn’t have any issue with her. In fact, she might have even helped her out by sabotaging Xie Fangzhu.

After all, she couldn’t wait for that crazy person, Xie Fangzhu, to be taken away by someone else.

But Wu Xiaoxia intentionally encouraged the original owner to meet the outsider, leading to her almost losing her legs. This made Shen Yingying unable to offer any kindness towards her!

With that thought, she walked toward the door