Chapter 23

Shen Wu’s mind instantly flashed back to that afternoon, when she was forced into a compromising position. Her face flushed red.

“You still say that, you asked me then, and my mind was only on you, I couldn’t think of anything else.”

Lu Xuan…

Looking at her small face, he couldn’t help but curve his lips into a slight smile, but it quickly disappeared.

His eyes fixed on her: “So now, do you remember?”

Shen Wu did remember. This Zhou Zhiqing also existed in the novel. He was an educated youth from a big city who had come down to the countryside. He was interested in “her” and was smitten with her. He had been pestering “her” for a long time.

When “she” reached the marriageable age, the Shen family wanted to sell her for a high price. Since Zhou Zhiqing was willing, the Shen family didn’t have any objections. They just demanded a dowry of forty yuan. Zhou Huai wrote a letter to his parents in the city, but the Zhou family didn’t want their son to marry a rural girl in the countryside. They wouldn’t give him four yuan, let alone forty yuan.

The Shen family wanted money, but the Zhou family didn’t look down on rural girls and wouldn’t give any money.

Zhou Huai took leave to visit his family again.

Coincidentally, during this time, a matchmaker introduced her to Lu Xuan. The Lu family was willing to pay, fifty yuan, and the Shen family agreed without hesitation.

As for Shen Wu’s thoughts, no one asked her, whether it was Zhou Huai, the Lu family, or the Shen family itself.

Knowing that this man was going to get to the bottom of things, Shen Wu picked and chose what to tell him: “That’s all, there’s nothing else.”

Lu Xuan was from the village.

Adults looked down on those educated youths who talked about knowledge and learning all the time. They couldn’t do any work, but many young people in the village liked those educated youths.

Some even broke off ties with their families to marry those intellectuals.

Although the man was thin and weak, he was good-looking, and he clearly came from a city.

Lu Xuan kicked a clod of dirt on the road: “He likes you, what about you? Have you ever liked him?”

Shen Wu looked at him.

She leaned closer to him: “Are you jealous?”

Lu Xuan’s face was tense: “Would I be jealous of him?”

“Whether you’re jealous or not, you know.”

Just then, a donkey cart came along. Seeing Shen Wu and Lu Xuan, the driver greeted them: “Lu Xuan!”

“Going back to the village?”

Lu Xuan: “Yes.”

The driver waited for them to get on: “It’s a bit hot, in the past, those educated youths who had just come down to the countryside also fainted.”

It seemed that the news of her fainting had spread throughout the village.

Shen Wu smiled awkwardly.

Lu Xuan chatted with the driver about the fields from time to time. Shen Wu didn’t know much about it, so she didn’t say anything. She sat on the donkey cart, holding Lu Xuan’s hand and drawing circles on his palm.

She whispered: “I don’t like him, Third brother, I still like you.”

The donkey cart hit a bump and jolted.

Something seemed to explode in Lu Xuan’s mind. He grabbed her restless fingers tightly.

When the donkey cart reached the Lu family.

Shen Wu asked the driver to wait a moment. The driver was confused and thought she had something to do.

Shen Wu grabbed a few Da Bai Tu milk candies: “Take this, give it to the children at home.”

Candy was a good thing, and Da Bai Tu milk candies were even better. Ordinary farmers wouldn’t buy them. The driver wanted to refuse.

“If you hadn’t happened to pass by, my husband and I would still be waiting. Don’t refuse.”

The driver laughed and said to Lu Xuan: “Your wife is so polite.”

But he was still happy to accept the candy. Lu Xuan’s wife couldn’t do farm work, but she knew how to be a good person.

She was worthy of being Lu Xuan’s wife.

As soon as the driver left, Shen Wu turned around, and a pair of eyes were staring at her from the courtyard.

Staring at her quietly.

Although it was calm, the person was about to burst into flames.

Shen Wu gave a smile: “Mother.”

Old Lady Lu was like a firecracker that had been lit: “You… you can’t do any work! You didn’t earn any work points, and you even made Old Three stop working.”

“And you went to the hospital!”

“And you spent money!”

“You’re not allowed to eat tonight!”

Shen Wu said: “Mother, if I don’t eat, I’ll get sick again, and I’ll have to go to the hospital, and that will cost money.”

Old Lady Lu almost fainted from anger.

Her stomach ached, her whole body ached.

“Oh, I didn’t marry a daughter-in-law, I married a troublemaker…” She sat down on the ground, acting like she was throwing a tantrum.

Lu Xuan frowned and looked at Shen Wu: “Go back to the room and rest.”

After heatstroke, her head was dizzy, and her stomach was uncomfortable. It felt like something was stuck in her throat, she wanted to vomit but couldn’t. Shen Wu didn’t have the energy to argue with Old Lady Lu.

She nodded and went into the house.

Old Lady Lu was even angrier when she saw this. She vented her anger on Lu Xuan: “You’re spoiling her!”

…

Lu Xuan silently helped her up.

Old Lady Lu’s daughter-in-law really left, and she didn’t sit on the ground anymore. She got up and started criticizing Lu Xuan again, saying how hard it was to raise him, and now that he had a wife, he had forgotten about his mother.

She knew her own mother well. Lu Xuan’s tone was calm: “Then what do you want me to do, Mother? You want me to be bad to her?”

“She said that if I’m not good to her, she won’t live with me.”

Old Lady Lu’s crying stopped abruptly: “She dares!”

Then she thought about Shen Wu’s appearance. She really seemed to dare!

She looked like a vixen, if she really left her son, she wouldn’t have trouble finding another husband…

Old Lady Lu’s heart was filled with anxiety.

Shen Wu went back to her room and lay on the bed to rest.

Not long after, Lu Xuan came back.

Shen Wu propped her chin and looked at Lu Xuan: “Third brother.”

Lu Xuan was cleaning the room, and he looked at her when he heard her: “What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable?”

Shen Wu nodded and shook her head.

Lu Xuan peeled a piece of candy for her and handed it to her mouth.

Shen Wu felt like he was treating her like a child.

But she enjoyed eating the candy: “I was thinking, we haven’t split up yet, and school will start in a while. If I just stay at home and cook, will the people in the family have complaints?”

Shen Wu hadn’t done any farm work before. This was her first time working in the fields, and her body couldn’t handle it, let alone her heart. Heatstroke wasn’t something she could control. Now it seemed like she had committed some major crime.

This big family was actually quite uncomfortable for Shen Wu, who was used to living alone in her past life. What might have been a personal matter for one person or a couple, now involved the whole family.

Lu Xuan said: “Don’t worry about that, I’ll take care of it.”

Shen Wu propped her chin and stared at him eagerly: “Third brother, I don’t want you to be unhappy with the family because of me.”

They weren’t her relatives, so she didn’t care, but these were Lu Xuan’s relatives. She didn’t want to hear him say bad things about his family, whether he liked it or not.

Lu Xuan felt a warm current in his heart.

He couldn’t help but pinch her face: “Family matters shouldn’t be nitpicked. If we really nitpicked, even if you didn’t work in the fields, it wouldn’t necessarily be an advantage for us.” It’s just that he had always been content with eating his fill and not worrying about the rest of the family.

Shen Wu didn’t understand what he meant. It wasn’t written in the book.

She ate a few candies and a piece of peach cake, and she gradually recovered.

It wasn’t time to cook yet.

Old Lady Lu called her to cook. Xu Yin was also called. Shen Wu was in urgent need of Xu Yin’s company. She exchanged a look with Xu Yin and quickly went to the kitchen—