Chapter 18: Better to Accompany

“No, it’s fine. He can eat by himself.”

“Alright, then you should go eat too.”

Lin Bingwei tidied up the dishes, moved the luohan table away, arranged for him to lie down, and even tucked him in.

Zhang Tingyuan’s gaze was fixed on her, growing more satisfied the longer he looked.

Initially, he had little hope for the objects introduced by his family, but since his parents kept praising her, he thought that since he rarely came home, marrying her meant living with his parents, and as long as they liked her, that was enough.

But now it seemed that it wasn’t just his parents who liked her; he liked her a lot too.

“Weiwei, come back early after you finish your work.”

Lin Bingwei was taken aback, “What for?”

“I… I’m scared alone.”

Huh?

Lin Bingwei chuckled, “You’re scared alone?”

Zhang Tingyuan nodded.

“Why?” Lin Bingwei genuinely didn’t expect this. Even if his personality was different from what she imagined, it shouldn’t make a big man afraid, right?

Zhang Tingyuan glanced around the room before saying, “Do you know why my dad passed down the ancestral items to my elder brother and not to me?”

Lin Bingwei replied, “You’re afraid of ghosts?”

“Cough, cough.” He awkwardly cleared his throat and said, “Not exactly, but it feels like this house is haunted. I always feel it’s creepy.”

Uh…

That was actually true.

Lin Bingwei also found it eerie and a bit frightening.

The ancient wooden bed, the heavy beams, the perforated window designs.

The windows were small, and with the perforated designs, even during the day, the room was dark, let alone at night.

Their home had installed electric lights, but the bulb’s wattage was low, and the room was high and spacious.

The dim orange light didn’t provide much of a sense of security; instead, it felt a bit strange.

Moreover, their room was a suite, connected to a study.

In short, this old house felt like it was filled with various horror elements, reminiscent of a ghost movie.

But… it was one thing for a young girl to be scared; he had lived here for over twenty years, and he was a soldier. How could he say he was afraid?

Lin Bingwei was speechless and rolled her eyes at him before leaving.

Children eat slowly, and when she went outside, Zhang Jianguo was still eating.

Lin Bingwei added some hot dishes and ate with him.

“Jianguo, if you want to eat something, tell your aunt, okay?”

He nodded.

“Here, eat some fish, with the bones removed.”

Since she hadn’t been there earlier, she hadn’t dared to give him fish; it had just been cooked.

She served as much as he could eat, while the rest remained in the pot to keep warm for when his grandmother returned.

It had to be said that Li Yurong’s cooking skills were indeed lacking; she only ensured the food was cooked, not caring about the taste. Good fish was wasted under her hands.

It seemed she would have to take charge of the cooking herself in the future.

After the meal, Lin Bingwei fetched hot water from the pot for Zhang Jianguo to wash up. After he was done, she carried him to bed and arranged for him to sleep before heading to the kitchen to clean up.

Once everything was in order, she returned to her room.

Zhang Tingyuan had finally waited for her to come back.

“Is Jianguo asleep?”

“Mm.”

Lin Bingwei casually replied and then opened the cabinet to take out a quilt.

There was a luohan bed in the room, which had previously been in a storage room piled high with clutter. Mainly various farming tools were haphazardly stacked there, so much so that one wouldn’t notice unless they looked closely.

After discovering it, she had tidied up the storage room, cleaned the luohan bed, and placed it in the bedroom.

Tonight, this would be her bed.

“Why are you spreading the quilt on that luohan bed?”

“Ah, I’ll sleep here tonight.”

“What? Where are you sleeping? Aren’t you going to sleep with me?”

Lin Bingwei continued her tasks, casually saying, “You have an injury, right? I tend to kick around in my sleep, and if I kick you, that wouldn’t be good. So I figured it’s better for us to sleep separately until your injury heals.”

“You like to kick around? I remember you were very quiet when you slept, not even turning over.”

Well… can she say she was busy processing information that night?

“That’s different; I was more tired that night, so I didn’t move.”

Zhang Tingyuan narrowed his eyes, “Oh, are you blaming me for getting injured?”

Lin Bingwei: “……” Why are you still such a tease?

You’re quite different from the image I had in my mind.

Lin Bingwei ignored him, made her bed, and sat down to read.

She had already decided to register for the college entrance examination next year. The content of the exam would surely be different from decades later, so she planned to go over Zhang Tingyuan’s textbooks; it couldn’t hurt.

Feeling a bit bored, Zhang Tingyuan tried to strike up a conversation, “My parents praised you for being diligent. You’re still reading at this late hour; it seems you really are hardworking.”

Lin Bingwei: “When?”

“Before we got married, they called me and praised you every time. They said you were diligent, quick at work, could cook, and were filial, urging me to come back and get married.”

The original text didn’t elaborate on this cannon fodder character, so Lin Bingwei didn’t know about it.

“What else did they say?”

“They said you’re kind-hearted and wouldn’t dislike Jianguo.”

Who doesn’t like to hear nice things? Lin Bingwei smiled and asked, “Anything else?”

“They said you’re honest and easy to get along with.”

“Anything else?”

Zhang Tingyuan shook his head, “That’s all.”

After a while, he added, “Every time I saw you before, you were busy working.”

The two villages were only a few miles apart, so it was normal for them to have seen each other.

Lin Bingwei smiled, “What did you think of me back then?”

Zhang Tingyuan thought for a moment and replied, “There was one time I saw you carrying a big basket filled with pigweed. You were so small and thin that I thought you couldn’t carry it, but you were moving really fast. I didn’t expect you to be so strong despite looking small.”

Lin Bingwei laughed, thinking that given the original character’s situation, it wouldn’t make sense to be weak. It wasn’t that she was born strong; it was from doing endless work and gradually building up strength.

“You asked me something, now it’s my turn to ask you.”

Huh?

“What do you want to ask?”

“Before we got married, what did the matchmaker say about me?”

How would she know what the matchmaker said?

The matchmaker didn’t talk to her; they directly discussed things with Lin Wangsheng and his wife.

They didn’t care about the person; they only discussed the bride price and benefits.

Aside from that, Lin Wangsheng and his wife wouldn’t oppose anything.

“They didn’t tell me; they only talked to Lin Wangsheng and his wife.”

Zhang Tingyuan was slightly surprised. Is that how he refers to his parents?

“Lin Wangsheng and his wife?”

“Yeah, you probably didn’t know when you just came back, but I’m actually not the biological child of Lin Wangsheng and his wife.”

“What?”

“You remember I have an older sister, right?”

Zhang Tingyuan nodded, “I have some impression. She left over ten years ago, said to be the daughter of a wealthy family and went abroad.”

“Yeah, actually she is the biological daughter of Lin Wangsheng and his wife. They wanted their biological daughter to be a child of a wealthy family, so they swapped us.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. I overheard them whispering.”

Zhang Tingyuan was stunned and took a long time to react. After a while, he said, “If this is true, then they are committing a crime.”