Chapter 43: Kneeling Again

Wen Lan didn’t even need to guess—she knew exactly why the hunter had called the Lin family into the house.

Today, not only had she pried into his affairs on the mountain, but Lin Hehua had also suddenly barged into his home. For someone like the hunter, who had no intention of getting involved with her in the first place, this was clearly overstepping boundaries—and it broke the rules they had agreed on.

He was probably going to lay everything out for the Lin family and tell them to take her back where she came from—and leave him in peace.

No! I can’t let him send me back now, Wen Lan thought. Being kicked out at this point was essentially the same as being divorced, and for someone like her with a questionable reputation, that would only make things worse.

“Father, Mother, wait. Don’t go in yet.” Wen Lan stopped the Lin couple just as they were about to enter the house.

Lin Furong’s mother was puzzled. “But our son-in-law said he had something to tell us.”

“Do you know what he’s going to say?”

Lin Furong’s mother shook her head. Her father did too.

“I do.” Wen Lan sighed. “Just now, that Song woman brought up my elopement in front of everyone. The hunter must’ve heard it. That’s what he wants to talk about. So I ask you—how are you planning to answer him?”

“That fat shrew can’t stand to see others doing well,” Lin Furong’s mother spat on the ground angrily.

“Big Sister, is Brother-in-law mad?” Lin Hehua asked anxiously.

Lin Furong’s father didn’t speak. He let out a long, heavy sigh.

Wen Lan sighed too. “Of course he’s angry. This whole mess is my fault. I shouldn’t have been blinded by lard and believed Meng Qiancheng’s lies. But what’s done is done—no amount of regret can change it now. Still, I can promise you this: aside from agreeing to elope with Meng Qiancheng, I’ve never done anything improper.”

This matter, Wen Lan had to explain clearly to the Lin family.

Because earlier, when they had tried to marry Lin Furong off to Old Crooked Wang from the west end of the village, it was because they believed Lin Furong wasn’t “intact.” That assumption came from the rumors Meng Qiancheng’s mother had subtly spread in the village.

If a woman is already so shameless, what more could she have done?

“But right now, it’s our son-in-law who’s mad,” Lin Furong’s mother emphasized.

“Let me explain things to him first,” Wen Lan suggested. “Father, Mother, don’t worry. I know what kind of person I am.”

With that, Wen Lan signaled the Lin family and turned to enter the house first.

Once inside, she quickly shut the door and walked straight to Xuan Yue. “Big Brother Hunter,” she whispered, “you want to come clean with my parents, don’t you?”

Xuan Yue did have that intention. He hated rule-breakers the most. When he first took her in, the terms were clear: one, she wasn’t to talk to him; two, she wasn’t to enter his house.

Yet within a single day, she had broken every rule—talking endlessly, snooping into his affairs…

And the most outrageous thing? Her younger sister had even come to his house.

“You’re the one who broke the rules.” He wasn’t about to be blamed.

Wen Lan quickly lowered her head and admitted fault. “Yes, yes, it’s my fault. I broke the rules. But it wasn’t entirely in my control.”

“How was it not?”

“I have compulsive talking syndrome! I get anxious if I don’t talk. But I wasn’t trying to dig for anything—I could talk to a guard dog for hours!”

Xuan Yue gave her a cold, scrutinizing look.

Did this village girl just compare me to a dog?

First a pig, now a dog!

Wen Lan sat down beside him, trying to reason gently. “I know why you don’t like talking to me. It’s because I’m just a backwoods village girl and you’re… not. We’re too different—our words can’t even match. You probably think it’s beneath you to talk to someone like me, which is why you made that rule. I get it.”

“But,” she went on, “we’re under the same roof—how can we not talk at all? Like, say you wake up and want to wash your face—you’d have to say, ‘Hey you, bring a basin of water.’ Or if you’re hungry, you’d say, ‘Hey you, go cook me some noodles.’” She looked at him earnestly as she said this.

She wanted him to understand—the no-talking rule was bound to break sooner or later. She had just been the first to break it.

Xuan Yue didn’t speak, but his gaze toward her turned slightly amused.

Wen Lan felt a glimmer of hope. She cleared her throat and bowed her head again, sincerely apologizing. “I know you’re not just mad because I talk too much. You’re also upset that my sister came to your house.”

Xuan Yue remained silent, staring at her.

Wen Lan blinked pitifully and looked up at him with teary eyes, her expression so pitiful it could soften anyone’s heart.

Xuan Yue quickly looked away.

“Big Brother Hunter!” Wen Lan stood and gave him a deep formal bow. “You saw it just now—my family’s always getting bullied in this village. And why? Because my father’s ill, my younger brother is small, and there’s no one in charge at home. My sister came up the mountain to find me because she had no other choice.”

Still, Xuan Yue didn’t reply.

Wen Lan was starting to crack. If it were her old self, she’d have rolled her eyes and left already—this kind of man who’s immune to both soft and hard approaches wasn’t worth her time.

But she was no longer a pampered heiress with the world at her feet. She was a village girl—Lin Furong.

Granted, Lin Furong was a pretty one.

What should I do now? Wen Lan’s head throbbed from thinking.

In the end, she decided: Fine, I’ll kneel to this rock again.

So she walked up to the hunter and knelt between his legs, then raised her tear-filled eyes to look up at him.

“Big Brother Hunter!” She reached out and grabbed the hand he had resting on the table, holding it tightly.

The hunter was startled and instinctively tried to pull away.

But Wen Lan wasn’t letting go that easily. She remembered from her college interpersonal relations course that when dealing with difficult people, the first step to breaking the ice was polite physical contact.

Closeness fosters connection.

“Big Brother Hunter!” she repeated.

The hunter was clearly flustered and tried again to shake her off.

Wen Lan only held tighter.

“Big Brother,” she said firmly, “please forgive me and my family. If you don’t forgive us, I’ll just stay kneeling right here.”

“Y-You… let go first,” Xuan Yue said, realizing his voice had gone strange.

He had faced life-and-death battles and could snap a man’s neck with one hand—but he had never been this physically close to a woman before.

That soft, boneless touch was making him panic.

This village girl is way too bold.

“Do you talk to all men like this?” he asked sharply, his gaze falling on her hand.

Wen Lan quickly let go. Inside, a voice told her: Operation Icebreaker—failed.

Wrong era.

Still, she wasn’t giving up just yet.

“I’ve never spoken to any man like this before. I’ve never begged anyone for anything. Not even when Meng Qiancheng framed me or when the villagers slandered me did I ever kneel like this to plead. I used to think this world was too cruel—dying might be better. But now that I’ve survived, I want to live. I want to change my fate and live like a real person. That’s why I’m begging you!”

After she finished speaking, the room fell into a full minute of silence.

Finally, the hunter stood up.

Wen Lan jumped in fright, her eyes nervously fixed on him.

“I’m hungry,” he said.

Wen Lan, ever the quick thinker, immediately stood and said, “Let’s go home. I’ll make you something delicious.”

“Mm.” Xuan Yue responded—then suddenly felt something was off.

That village girl hadn’t used an honorific in her last sentence.

And somehow… he’d answered with a tone that sounded downright indulgent.