Yang Haiyan didn’t care whether others noticed her gender; she said, “Then give me one of each flavor.”

The woman became even more enthusiastic: “Sure!”

She quickly took out some oil paper and wrapped four steamed buns for Yang Haiyan. “That’ll be six wen in total.”

Yang Haiyan received the buns and looked at Qin Fang: “Brother, pay the money quickly.”

Qin Fang was taken aback.

He truly hadn’t thought of paying, because all their money was managed by Yang Haiyan.

How could he have remembered to pay?

Hearing her say this, he quickly pulled out six wen from his pocket.

Yang Haiyan then said, “Give the auntie one more wen; Auntie, please give me another piece of oil paper.”

The woman replied, “No, no, how much is one piece of oil paper worth? You don’t need to pay for it.”

Yang Haiyan smiled and said, “You do need to take it; even if it’s not worth one wen, you still incurred a cost, so don’t be polite with me, Auntie.”

Qin Fang firmly tossed seven wen into the woman’s money box, saying, “Take it.”

After being a general for a few months, his aura had already developed.

When he didn’t speak before, the woman could say it was the young master’s brother and that it wasn’t a big deal.

But now that he had spoken, his presence was so strong that the woman didn’t dare say more and only replied, “Thank you both, thank you! Next time you come to patronize us, I’ll give you an extra piece of oil paper.”

Yang Haiyan said, “That’s fine; as long as the buns are delicious, I will definitely come back again.”

While saying this, she took out a tofu bun, tore it in half, and wrapped one half in the oil paper. “Brother, eat a bun.”

Qin Fang looked at the bun, which was barely the size of half his palm, estimating it would only take one bite.

He wasn’t interested in eating. “You eat it; if it’s not enough, go buy more.”

Yang Haiyan replied, “Food should be shared with people you like to truly savor its flavor. If I eat alone, it won’t be meaningful.” Saying this, she brought the half bun to his mouth.

Qin Fang was taken aback; her words echoed in his mind: sharing food with people you like allows you to enjoy its flavor.

So, he was someone she liked?

Thinking of this made him smile widely.

Not knowing what he was thinking, Yang Haiyan saw him dazed and couldn’t help but ask, “What are you laughing at? Eat!”

Qin Fang lowered his head and bit into the half bun she was holding.

The bun was indeed small, but it wasn’t expensive.

As the woman had said, the bun’s skin was very thin, and the filling was quite ample.

While Qin Fang ate the bun, he kept his eyes fixed on her.

His brows were filled with laughter, looking like a silly dog.

Yang Haiyan pouted, “Are you looking at the bun? Why are you looking at me? You bit my hand!”

Qin Fang snapped back to reality and calmly said, “Your hand smells as good as the bun.”

Yang Haiyan felt her heart blossom with happiness.

It had to be said that this usually serious man, who didn’t know how to speak sweetly, suddenly saying such sweet things was indeed charming.

Of course, “country bumpkin” wasn’t a derogatory term; it simply meant someone genuine and straightforward.

Yang Haiyan withdrew her hand, saying, “Eating can’t stop your mouth.”

She was eating the other half of the tofu bun, but her fingers felt sticky, as if they were still coated with his saliva.

If it were in the past, back in the modern world, Yang Haiyan would definitely find it disgusting.

But now, she only felt sweet.

Qin Fang swallowed the other half of the bun and cheekily said, “Didn’t you block me last night?”

Yang Haiyan’s face suddenly turned red. This man was too much. “You…”

Qin Fang chuckled, “What about me?”

Yang Haiyan shot him a glare, tore open another bun, and stuffed the half directly into his mouth, clearly dissatisfied. “You are too dishonest!”

Qin Fang felt wronged, thinking, “How am I dishonest?”

She had blocked his mouth when she kissed him yesterday!

Yang Haiyan didn’t say anything and took a big bite of her bun.

Was she being shameless, talking about this in public?

Qin Fang bent down, “Are you angry?”

Yang Haiyan: “No.”

Qin Fang stared at her closely: “Really? Nothing at all?”

Yang Haiyan tore open a third bun and continued to stuff it into his mouth: “Just eat your buns.”

Qin Fang thought for a moment: “Wait for me a second.”

Yang Haiyan watched as he ran over to a stall selling candied chestnuts.

The price of candied chestnuts was higher than usual snacks because sugar was expensive.

Yang Haiyan pouted; did he think she could be easily won over with candied chestnuts?

Qin Fang paid and returned with the candied chestnuts, but he didn’t give any to her; instead, he shelled them himself.

Yang Haiyan thought, “Is this man going to eat without thinking of me?”

“Here, this one is sweet. Eat it, and you won’t be angry anymore.” Qin Fang fed her the shelled candied chestnut, saying, “Come on, open your mouth, ah…”

Yang Haiyan pursed her lips and refused to open up.

Qin Fang wasn’t in a hurry.

He continued, “Before I joined the army, every year around late August, I would go chestnut picking with my younger siblings. The chestnuts on the mountains of Baili Village ripened the earliest; usually, chestnuts wouldn’t mature until September or October, but those on the mountains of Baili would be ready by late August.”

Yang Haiyan was puzzled by his sudden mention of this.

Seeing her listening attentively, Qin Fang suddenly popped a chestnut into her mouth.

Yang Haiyan widened her eyes: “You…”

Qin Fang laughed and asked, “Do you know what we did with the chestnuts we picked every year?”

Yang Haiyan replied, “To eat ourselves, or to sell?”

Qin Fang explained, “At that time, our family was poor, and everyone couldn’t get enough to eat.

Even if we had some savings, it was reserved for emergencies, so we were reluctant to spend it. We knew candied chestnuts were delicious, but our family couldn’t afford sugar, so we had to sell the chestnuts instead and use the money to buy sugar and grain.

Poor families treat chestnuts differently from rich families.

For poor families, chestnuts are food that can fill their stomachs, while for the rich, they are just snacks. So, the merchants would candy the chestnuts and sell them to the wealthy at high prices.

That’s why we could also sell our raw chestnuts for a good price.

With the money from selling chestnuts, we bought sugar, and when we got home, our grandmother would cook the chestnuts in sugar water.

The chestnuts were sweet, but… they didn’t taste as fragrant as candied chestnuts. Come on, open your mouth; this is the candied chestnut I yearned for as a child…”

Just as Qin Fang was about to feed her, he noticed Yang Haiyan’s eyes were already red.

He instantly became anxious, “You… don’t cry, why are you crying all of a sudden?”

He hurriedly took out a handkerchief and gently wiped her eyes, “Don’t cry, don’t cry; it’s all in the past.”

Yang Haiyan didn’t know why, but as she listened to him talk about the past, she felt a pang in her heart.

Compared to him, she considered herself fortunate.

Although she was an orphan from birth, she had been taken in by her grandmother.

Her grandmother was once a young lady from a landlord’s family, but before the great turmoil, her family had perished, and by the time her grandmother was alive, their family’s wealth had already been squandered.

Moreover, her grandmother’s place was particularly peaceful, so she hadn’t experienced the events of the ten years of chaos.

Although her grandmother had some valuable possessions, she kept them hidden.

She preferred to farm herself and had some skills.

Later on, her grandmother passed away, leaving her with enough savings to complete her education.

Thinking of this, tears streamed down Yang Haiyan’s face.

When she was alone, every time she thought of her grandmother, she would cry, but at home, no one could see her, so she would just cry silently.

At this moment, perhaps because there was someone beside her, and this person could tolerate her capriciousness and bad temper, she cried with particular intensity, as if she were trying to cry out all the loneliness and solitude of the past ten years in one go.

Her crying startled Qin Fang.

He dropped the candied chestnuts he was holding onto the ground and awkwardly wiped her tears while gently comforting her, “Don’t cry; haven’t we come to a better life now? And I’ve married such a good wife. Don’t you think?”

Qin Fang always believed that Yang Haiyan was crying because of him, so he felt very guilty.

At this time, many people at the academy gate were staring at them, including stall vendors and students coming out.

For example… Qin Shoucheng.

Qin Shoucheng was stunned.

He had come out with his classmates to buy buns.

Young men get hungry easily; having eaten breakfast early, he was already hungry again.

He could have brought food from home, but Qin Shoucheng thought that it was inconvenient for his family to cook for just him, so it would be better for him to buy buns, saving his sister-in-law the trouble.

After he mentioned it to her, his sister-in-law respected his wishes.

However, Qin Shoucheng never imagined he would see his elder brother tenderly wiping away the tears of a young boy today.

There was some distance between Qin Shoucheng and Qin Fang, and since Qin Fang and Yang Haiyan were turned slightly sideways to him, Qin Shoucheng could recognize his elder brother at a glance but couldn’t immediately recognize his sister-in-law in disguise as a boy.

Or perhaps, because Yang Haiyan was dressed as a boy, Qin Shoucheng was visually deceived and didn’t associate the boy’s clothing with his sister-in-law.

Qin Shoucheng felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

Watching how his elder brother interacted with the young boy, it looked very unusual.

Qin Shoucheng began to entertain the thought of improper relationships.

His elder brother and sister-in-law had been married for two years, yet his sister-in-law was not pregnant.

Could it be because of his elder brother?

Did his elder brother prefer men?

Qin Shoucheng had never actually seen any instances of improper relationships, but he had heard of them.

They were not ignorant country bumpkins and knew that some people were involved in such relationships.

However… at thirteen, no matter how mature Qin Shoucheng was, his mind was now buzzing.

He turned to his classmates and said, “My stomach hurts a bit; I suddenly need to go to the restroom.”

He felt he couldn’t go over; otherwise, what would he explain if he bumped into his elder brother?

He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to hold back.

But he also felt that his elder brother wasn’t that kind of person.

What to do?

With no ideas in his head, Qin Shoucheng decided to ask his second brother about it when he got home later.