Chapter 20: She Might Even Fall for Him.

The more Li Sui thought about it, the angrier he became. In the end, he simply got out of bed.

“Son, what are you doing?”
Wang Yan had just come out of the kitchen with a tray of freshly steamed cornbread when she saw her son hurriedly putting on his shoes and looking for clothes.

“Mom, if I don’t make a move now, your daughter-in-law is going to run off with someone else.”

Wang Yan curled her lips. “Even if you do make a move, she’s still going to run off with someone else.”

Her son was decent in every way—except he never seemed to look in the mirror. With his conditions, how could he possibly win over such a sweet, soft girl?

Watching her son’s figure disappear in the distance, Wang Yan could only shake her head helplessly.
Let him be. After being rejected enough times, he’d finally learn his lesson.

Li Sui ran quickly to the Su house.
Thinking about being turned away the day before, he figured shouting from outside would be a safer bet.

“Xiaoxue, Xiaoxue, are you home?”

Inside, Lu Qinglin—already frustrated from not being able to find Su Tangxue—snapped the moment he heard someone calling her “Xiaoxue” from outside. He looked like a beast about to erupt.

“Xiaoxue, it’s me, your treasure brother! Xiaoxue!”
Afraid that Su Tangxue might not recognize his voice, Li Sui even shouted out his childhood nickname.

“Xiaoxue, do you remember me?”
“Xiaoxue…”

Before Li Sui could finish his sentence, the door suddenly swung open.

He expected to see the face of the girl he was pining for.
Instead, he was greeted by Lu Qinglin’s expressionless, ice-cold face.

Li Sui’s smile vanished instantly. “Why is it you? Where’s my Xiaoxue?”

“There’s no Xiaoxue here. If you want to shout, go shout somewhere else,” Lu Qinglin replied coldly.

Li Sui frowned in disbelief. “Impossible! I’m looking for Su Tangxue. Let me in and see for myself!”

He tried to push the door open, but Lu Qinglin braced his muscular arms against the frame and completely blocked him from entering.

Though Li Sui did some farm work, he was still thin and lanky. He had no chance of breaking through Lu Qinglin’s block.

After several failed attempts, he was fuming.

“Lu Qinglin! I’m here to see Su Tangxue, what do you mean by not letting me in?”
“Don’t think just because you’re a soldier I’m afraid of you. If you’ve got guts, come fight me!”

Li Sui rolled up his sleeves to show off his bicep, about the size of a steamed bun, and made his fiercest expression in an attempt to intimidate him.

Lu Qinglin gave him a disdainful glance, then silently closed the door in his face.

If he really fought the guy, winning wouldn’t even feel like an achievement.
Totally not worth the effort.

“Hey! Lu Qinglin, what’s the meaning of this? Are you scared or something? If you’re a real man, come out and fight me! Lu Qinglin!”

Li Sui shouted outside the door, and when he got no response, he smugly assumed Lu Qinglin was scared. That cocky look on his face couldn’t be hidden.

He decided to go home, eat something, and then come back to settle the score. Who knows—maybe he’d even catch a glimpse of Xiaoxue.

And if Xiaoxue saw how brave and manly he was, maybe—just maybe—she’d fall for him too.

Lost in his daydream, Li Sui happily headed home.
But because he wasn’t watching where he was going, he nearly collided with a group of rushing youths. Before he could even yell at them, a black object flew toward him. On instinct, he reached out and caught it.

The next second, a swarm of buzzing sounds descended upon him.

By the time he realized what was happening, he’d already been stung multiple times on his face and hands.

In order to protect his handsome face, Li Sui gritted his teeth and turned around to run with the others.

All of this was clearly seen by Su Tangxue and Lu Shan, who were hiding behind a tree.

Su Tangxue looked at Lu Shan with concern. “Fourth Brother, what should we do? It looks like we accidentally hurt some others too.”

Lu Shan curled his lip. “Little Sis, it’s not our fault. They were the ones with bad intentions to begin with. They deserved to get stung by the wasps.”

“But… I think we may have hit someone innocent too.”

“No worries. If anything happens, your fourth brother will cover for you,” Lu Shan said as he patted her on the head.

This whole thing had actually started three hours earlier.

Lu Shan had taken Su Tangxue to a wild grassy area.

“Little Sis, if you see a rabbit come out, shout for me. You block it, and I’ll use the fork to stab it. With us working together, that bunny won’t stand a chance.”

Su Tangxue didn’t think it sounded too dangerous.
She thought her fourth brother was going to take her to do something risky—turns out they were just catching rabbits. That actually sounded kind of fun.

She jogged behind him. “Fourth Brother, why did you suddenly decide to catch rabbits?”

“Don’t ask. It’s because that old man at home said I was useless. Once I catch a rabbit, we’ll see who’s useless—he’ll be so shocked his eyes will pop out!” Lu Shan angrily waved his arms.

Su Tangxue couldn’t help but laugh. Her fourth brother was such a paper tiger.
He reminded her of a kid who failed a test, got scolded by his parents, then quietly vowed in his room to study harder.

Soon, they arrived at the field.

Looking at the various holes in the ground, Lu Shan explained they were rabbit burrows.
Usually, when no one was around, the rabbits would come out to eat grass. A few days ago, some villagers came to clear them out and caught a lot.

“Fourth Brother, are you sure there are really rabbits here?”

“You don’t believe me?” Lu Shan, who was crouched down setting a trap, turned to look at her incredulously.

“Fourth Brother, it’s really hard to believe,” Su Tangxue said, chewing a stalk of grass under the tree.

She’d been there for half an hour and hadn’t even seen a tuft of rabbit fur. Humans seemed more likely to show up than rabbits.

Maybe when the village did the big sweep, they really had cleaned them all out.

Lu Shan got up, dusted off his clothes, and sighed deeply.
“If we can’t catch rabbits, let’s go to the creek and catch fish instead,” he said. That was the lowest standard he set for himself.

Otherwise, if he skipped a whole day of work and came back empty-handed, his old man might actually beat him to death.

“Fourth Brother, you still dare go catch fish in the river? Aren’t you afraid Second Uncle will kill you?”

“If I’m getting beaten anyway, what’s a few more hits? I can tell the difference.”

Well, as long as he knew what he was doing.

Su Tangxue, bored, told Lu Shan she’d take a walk and maybe she’d stumble across a rabbit.

Suddenly—

“Ahhh! Who’s the idiot who doesn’t look where they’re going? Don’t you know someone’s here?”

Zhang Yunlan came stumbling out of the bushes, hurriedly pulling up her pants in panic.

Su Tangxue quickly turned away and covered her eyes, completely flustered.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were… in there.”

Who would’ve thought something so absurd would happen?
Su Tangxue had heard rustling in the bushes and thought it was a rabbit. But when she parted the grass, she was met with that scene.
It really was her fault.