Chapter 28: You Can Sleep, But I Can’t

In the afternoon, when Song Jingzhi was chopping wood, she moved a stool and sat beside him, watching.

“Song Jingzhi, are you hot?”

In this era, people wore undershirts under their shirts. If he took off his shirt, and there were abs under the undershirt, she should be able to see them, right?

He knew this wasn’t over yet, from the moment she went to get the stool when he started chopping wood.

“Not hot.”

“You seem to be sweating.”

“I’ll take a cold shower later.”

“It’s already autumn, it’s not good to take a cold shower.” She winked at him. Come on, take it off!

Song Jingzhi wanted to facepalm. She was looking at him with that look again.

He simply stopped chopping wood, washed his hands, glanced at her, and went into the room.

Tang Xiaoxiao thought he was going to take off his shirt, so she followed him into the room, eager to see.

As soon as she entered the room, Song Jingzhi closed the door and pressed her against it.

“You, you, you.” Her face flushed red, and she started to stammer. She lowered her head, not daring to look at him. Was this a door slam?

Song Jingzhi, on the other hand, looked at her with amusement. “Didn’t you want to know if I had abs? Feel for yourself.”

He said this, then took her small hand, placed it on his chest, and let go.

She seemed to feel something hard. Was it chest muscles? She looked up at him. He raised his eyebrows and looked at her, as if he was sure she wouldn’t dare to touch him.

She withdrew her hand from his chest and poked him lightly with her finger. She looked up at him again and found that he still had the same expression.

She bit her lip and poked him twice more. Although her face was red, her curiosity was stronger than her shyness. She reached out and poked his abdomen.

Then came the second poke. After confirming her thoughts, a smile appeared on her lips, and she poked him several more times.

“Ouch!” Song Jingzhi grabbed her hand, his eyes darkening. He narrowed his eyes and stared at her. His usually magnetic voice was slightly low and hoarse.

“Tang Xiaoxiao, you’re really bold.”

She felt a little embarrassed by his gaze, lowered her head to look at her shoes, and mumbled softly, “You wouldn’t tell me, so I couldn’t sleep without figuring it out.”

Hearing her words, Song Jingzhi closed his eyes helplessly, leaned down, and whispered in her ear, “You can sleep, but I can’t.”

He immediately released the hand that was pressing against the door. As she looked at him in astonishment, he moved her to the bed and made her sit down. He went to the well to wash his face with cold water.

Tang Xiaoxiao realized belatedly that although she had never been married in her previous life, she had seen pigs run even if she hadn’t eaten pork. She naturally knew what he meant just now. What was going on now?

She looked at him apologetically. During the time they had been dating, they had only held hands at most. This kind of bold move was the first time.

She saw him continuously splashing water on his face. She picked up a teacup of water and stood quietly beside him.

When he got up to wipe his face with a towel, she immediately handed him the teacup.

“Jingzhi gege, drink some water.” Her voice was sweet, and her smile was even sweeter.

Song Jingzhi took the teacup and looked at her. Her smile became even sweeter.

After taking a sip of water, he said softly, “You can only say those things to me from now on. Not even your brother.”

“Okay.” She nodded obediently.

“When Mom gets off work, I’ll ask her to go find Auntie to pick a date.” He put down the teacup and continued to chop wood with the axe.

“Pick what date?” She didn’t understand immediately.

“Our wedding date.”

“…”

A week later, the army sent word that the marriage report had been approved. Song’s mother had also picked a date, the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month, so they could go back to the fire department after the New Year.

For the past week, Song Jingzhi had been following Tang Xiaoxiao to collect pigweed and buy meat in the city, so she hadn’t gone to the black market to sell things for a week.

That day, they went to the city to buy some meat and also sent a letter to Tang’s father and mother, telling them the wedding date.

Song Jingzhi could now ride a bicycle. When he brought Tang Xiaoxiao back, he was going to deliver the bicycle to the educated youth point first, but he found a crowd of people gathered there.

They looked at each other and got off the bicycle, pushing it towards the crowd.

Wang Erxi was in the middle, and Chen Fengya was pointing at her and saying something loudly.

The other educated youths stood behind Wang Erxi, their expressions grim.

“Should I go over?” Tang Xiaoxiao was also an educated youth. It didn’t seem right not to go over at this time.

“I’ll go with you.” Liu Fugui’s family, including his five daughters and five sons-in-law, were all there. Song Jingzhi was afraid she would be hurt.

He took her hand and walked around the educated youths to the back. Liu Fengjuan was protected by Liu Dong, He Xiaoxian was protected by Xu Zeming, Cao Hui stood aside, and Wang Erxi stood at the front.

Across from them, not only was Liu Fugui’s family, but also many villagers who came to watch the show.

The relationships within the educated youth point were clear. He Xiaoxian saw the two of them and walked over to Tang Xiaoxiao, telling them what had happened.

Last time, Chen Fengya asked Wang Erxi for food expenses, and Wang Erxi used Liu Xiaobao to block her.

Chen Fengya then asked Liu Xiaobao to propose marriage to Wang Erxi. Wang Erxi naturally refused. She was only using Liu Xiaobao to make her life a little better.

So, she used the same excuse to put off Liu Xiaobao. Chen Fengya already guessed that Wang Erxi’s family conditions were definitely not good.

She asked Liu Xiaobao to say that he didn’t want to work in the city anymore, that his family would give 200 yuan as a betrothal gift, and that they should get married quickly.

Actually, 200 yuan as a betrothal gift was already very high in Yuhucun. In general, families with average conditions would give 66 or 88 yuan.

Liu Xiaobao also promised Wang Erxi a watch. Wang Erxi asked Liu Xiaobao to buy her a watch first.

Liu Xiaobao thought she had agreed to marry him, so he went to the black market and got a watch ticket. He took her to buy a watch, spending 160 yuan on a Swiss watch.

The watch was on Wang Erxi’s wrist that day, but Liu Xiaobao didn’t have any money. The watch ticket and the money for the watch were stolen from Chen Fengya.

Chen Fengya discovered it a few days later and naturally knew about it. The Liu family meant that since she had taken the watch, they should get married quickly.

Wang Erxi then said that her parents didn’t agree and cried and said that she could only break up with Liu Xiaobao.

How could Chen Fengya agree? She asked Wang Erxi to return the watch.

She had to pay back the food expenses for the two years they had lived together, and also pay them the equivalent in cash for the work points Liu Xiaobao had done for her in the past two years.

Wang Erxi was unwilling, so she brought people to the educated youth point.

The few people at the educated youth point were in a difficult position. They were all educated youths. Could they just watch Wang Erxi be surrounded by a group of people without doing anything?

After Liu Dong asked about the situation, all the educated youths stood there without saying anything.

They all knew that Wang Erxi had taken advantage of the Liu family, but they didn’t expect that she would still want the other person’s watch after knowing that Liu Xiaobao wanted to marry her.

This kind of behavior was a scam. They were only standing there because they were all educated youths.