Chapter 45.1 – Fragile bed board

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“It is already evening and Zhao Liu still came out to wash clothes . . .”

“Before, Zhao Fugui and Zhao Jinge were afraid that the river water was too cold and didn’t let Zhao Liu wash clothes by the river. They even cut firewood to boil water to let her wash the clothes and dishes. And today . . .”

“Zhao Liu’s eyes were red from crying. She was probably driven out by Eldest Jiang.”

“That Zhao Jinge looks dazed and is probably frightened. No matter how much he looks like a man, in fact, he is still a ger.”

“That Eldest Jiang . . . ah!”

. . .

At that time, all the people in the village had already gotten off work and had nothing to do, so they chatted with other people from the village, and there was no doubt that the main topic of their conversations was Zhao Fugui’s family.

That Eldest Jiang took a fancy to Zhao Jinge. They didn’t know how the Zhao family would live in the future.

The people in the village avoided Zhao Liu and Zhao Jinge while they were chatting. Therefore, Zhao Liu and Zhao Jinge didn’t know what they thought so far.

Despite the fact that Zhao Liu’s eyes were very red and swollen, she was very happy and satisfied at this moment. Since the death of her eldest son, she had become a subject of sympathy for the village, making her more and more reluctant to go out. But now . . . she felt that she was ready to lift her head up.

When Zhao Liu came out to wash clothes, she had the intention to show off in front of the other villagers. As a result, she was there washing clothes and waiting for the others to ask her about her family, but no one came to ask. Even those who were washing dishes by the river gave her sympathetic looks before leaving without a word.

Zhao Liu became so gloomy that she wanted to hold back these people and tell them that her family’s Jinge was going to get married and it was a marriage into their house. But with her character, she wouldn’t do that kind of thing, so she could only get more ensnared. Her heart was both happy and confused. Zhao Liu put a lot of effort into washing the clothes, but Zhao Jinge was the complete opposite.

After Jiang Zhen said something like that, he was a bit dazed and didn’t know what to do. Especially . . . Jiang Zhen even went so far as to say that he had wanted to live in his house for a long time. Did Jiang Zhen fall in love with him a long time ago? Even though he was not confident at this time, Zhao Jinge still believed that Jiang Zhen liked him. After thinking of this, he felt so happy that his heart could almost jump out of his chest. Zhao Jinge suddenly felt that rescuing Jiang Zhen from the river and then bringing him porridge to keep him alive were the best things he had ever done in his life.

“How agile Zhao Jinge used to be. He is not moving now.”

“The way Zhao Liu washed these clothes seemed like she wanted to tear them up.”

“I guess they feel unwell. How pitiful . . .”

. . .

The villagers felt more sympathetic towards the Zhao family’s plight. Although they liked to watch how others lived and gossiped about them sometimes, no one would dare go out and rub salt into the wound of the Zhao family when they felt really sorry for them. So . . . Zhao Liu finished washing her clothes with no one coming up to her to inquire about Jiang Zhen’s and Zhao Jinge’s situation. Zhao Liu’s heart became depressed, but in the end, she could only go back home in frustration. However, when she saw what Jiang Zhen had given her, she felt happy again.

In the past, when they got married, Zhao Fugui had also given her a bracelet. But later, when the family was short of money, the bracelet was naturally sold, so that she did not have any jewelry anymore. But now, she had another bracelet.

“Fugui, this bracelet is much prettier than the one you bought for me.” Zhao Liu put the bracelet on her wrist and showed it to Zhao Fugui.

“My bracelet was bigger!” Zhao Fugui said discontentedly. He had bought the biggest bracelet he could afford!

“It was big, but not beautiful!” Zhao Liu said. That bracelet was so clumsily made and so thick that it was inconvenient for her to wear it to work, so she didn’t wear it very often in the end. Although the bracelet given by Jiang Zhen was a bit small, it was small and beautiful, and just right. Zhao Liu looked at the bracelet, and the more she looked, the more she liked it.

Seeing the scene before him, Zhao Fugui’s face turned black. His wife was going to show off the things given by others?

However, Zhao Liu didn’t notice and kept praising Jiang Zhen. She took out the rouge that Jiang Zhen had given and with her fingers applied some on her lips. Then she asked Zhao Fugui if it looked good.

It was already a dark night. What was there to see! Zhao Fugui snorted twice. In fact, Jiang Zhen had neither taste, nor money, so when he was choosing rouge for Zhao Liu, he chose not only the most common but also the cheapest one. If it were the modern times and he were to give the future mother-in-law the cheapest lipstick, he wouldn’t be able to marry their daughter. But in ancient times, Zhao Liu didn’t even have a box of rouge. So even with such a box of rouge, she still liked it.

Zhao Fugui’s face got even darker. If he had known that Zhao Liu liked these things that could not be eaten or used at all, he would have spent money to buy a box for her! But . . . if he had given this thing to Zhao Liu before, Zhao Liu would have been angry with him for spending money recklessly.

After Zhao Liu reluctantly wiped off the rouge from her lips and went to bed, she kept talking about Jiang Zhen. On the other side, Zhao Jinge was also thinking about Jiang Zhen.

Will Jiang Zhen come over tonight?

Zhao Jinge was restless, fearing that Jiang Zhen would not come over because he thought he was already asleep. In the end he opened the window and waited. In fact, he had opened the window last night too and waited, hoping that Jiang Zhen would come over. In the end, he waited all night, but Jiang Zhen didn’t come. Later, he fell asleep while in a daze. Because of that, when he woke up in the morning, he was really nervous. He was afraid that Jiang Zhen had just said it casually, but in fact, he didn’t plan to come to his family to propose marriage that day. The worry he was bearing was not relieved until he learned from Wang Yuer that Jiang Zhen had gone to the county town. At that time, his heart had dropped to the ground, but it was still beating very fast.

If Jiang Zhen didn’t come to ask for a reward and take advantage of it this evening, he would not be Jiang Zhen. Thinking that he had dropped a bomb at the Zhaos’ house today, he thought that Zhao Fugui and Zhao Liu would be too excited and would go to sleep late, so he didn’t dare to come early and finally showed up much later than usual.

When he came over, he was worried that Zhao Jinge had already fallen asleep, and so, he didn’t immediately see the open window.