The Farm Girl and the Executioner (Rebirth) 72

Chapter 72: Only You

When Lin Shuang woke up, she found herself in Jiang Huaizhen’s arms.

Jiang Huaizhen had always been a proper sleeper and would not have taken the initiative to hug her. But for someone like her, who had a beloved in her heart, with her beloved right beside her, how could she restrain herself?

She was so embarrassed that she carefully moved out of the other’s embrace before she woke up.

When she had changed her clothes, Jiang Huaizhen also “woke up” at the right time and asked, “Are you still going today?”

“I am. You don’t have to go today. I’ll be home before the city gates close at night,” Lin Shuang said, then went out to wash up.

Ping’er, who was in the room, heard the movement and also got up, running out to wash up with her.

“Auntie, did you sleep well last night?”

“I slept well. What about Ping’er?”

“I also slept well.”

“Then Ping’er, you stay at home and keep Grandma company. Auntie will be back after she’s done with her work at night.”

Ping’er quickly and obediently nodded.

Lin Shuang hadn’t expected that although she had told Jiang Huaizhen not to come today, the other had still come after noon.

If she had come to see her off and welcome her home because she liked her, Lin Shuang would have been overjoyed. But now, knowing what she was thinking, Lin Shuang was not happy.

So when she met her, her tone was a little heavy. “Didn’t I tell you not to come this morning? Why are you here again?”

Jiang Huaizhen’s eyelashes lowered slightly, and she replied, “I wanted to wait for you to go back together.”

Lin Shuang said grumpily, “I already said that I’ll be back at night. I’m not going to run off anywhere.”

Jiang Huaizhen lowered her head and looked at the tips of her toes.

Seeing this, Lin Shuang’s heart softened again, and she lowered her voice. “Your wound hasn’t healed yet. I’m not at ease with you traveling back and forth like this.”

“It’s alright,” Jiang Huaizhen said.

Lin Shuang looked at her pitiful appearance, as if she were a truly abandoned little chick. A sense of guilt instantly filled her heart. Thinking of her dazed and lost eyes in that small room yesterday, she softened her tone. “Then I’ll get a stool and put it at the door. You can just sit at the door and wait for me, okay?”

Jiang Huaizhen replied softly, “Alright.”

Lin Shuang had no resistance to this kind of Jiang Huaizhen. Her gaze swept over her cool and beautiful face. She gritted her teeth, turned, and moved a chair with a backrest to the shade of the large tree by the door.

“Sit here. If you need anything, just call me.”

Jiang Huaizhen nodded, like a large and gentle dog.

Lin Shuang wished she could take a deep breath of her, but she couldn’t. After a deep look at her, she turned and went back into the honey-roasting room to continue her work.

Jiang Huaizhen sat under the large tree by the door, watching the light and shadow of the sun change along the houses and treetops. The fragrance of honey and herbs mixed from the roasting room wafted to her nose, and she once again fell into her past thoughts.

In her ears were the endless arguments between her mother and father.

They would blame each other, and in the end, they would even fight without any regard for their dignity.

After an unknown amount of time, a scream sounded, and a sharp knife pierced through flesh with a “hiss”…

She stared at the scene before her in a daze, letting the blood flow over the bottom of her shoes, until someone called her name.

“Huaizhen—Huaizhen—”

She looked up, and the sunlight shot into her eyes. Someone was standing in the light and shadow. Seeing that she didn’t respond, they then bent down, their face enlarged.

“The sun has moved to this side. Why don’t you know how to move? Are you sun-struck?”

She blinked hard and asked, “Lin Shuang, will you fall in love with someone else?”

Lin Shuang hadn’t expected Jiang Huaizhen to ask this and didn’t know how to answer for a moment. If she told the truth, she didn’t know if this person would feel that being liked by her was a bother.

But she couldn’t bring herself to say something against her heart.

Now, her heart and eyes were all filled with Jiang Huaizhen. How could she say that she would fall in love with someone else?

She could only shake her head. “I don’t know. I don’t want to think about anything right now.”

Hearing this, Jiang Huaizhen silently stood up. Perhaps she had been in the sun for too long, and she felt a wave of dizziness.

Lin Shuang quickly supported her. When she was steady, she bent down, moved the chair to the shade on the other side of the large tree, and led her over to sit down.

She could see that something was wrong with Jiang Huaizhen. She squatted down and looked her in the eye. “Are you not feeling well anywhere? We’re right at the clinic. Let’s go and see a doctor, okay?”

“I’m not unwell anywhere,” Jiang Huaizhen shook her head. “You go and get busy. I was just a little dazed from sleeping.”

“Did you not sleep well again last night?”

“It was alright. It’s just spring fatigue and autumn drowsiness. It’s autumn now, so I’m a little tired.”

Lin Shuang was helpless. She reached out and tidied her long hair. “Wait for another half an hour, and we’ll go home, okay?”

“Alright. You take your time. I’m not in a hurry.”

After Jiang Huaizhen finished speaking, she leaned back in her chair.

Lin Shuang thought that Jiang Huaizhen’s strange behavior these past few days was because she had rashly confessed her feelings to her before.

It wasn’t until that night, when Old Madam Jiang had pulled her aside while she was taking a bath, and had said in a low voice:

“That stubborn girl probably has a sweetheart.”

The wall in her heart collapsed with a crash.

The snow lotus on the high mountain that she had been guarding so hard had now developed feelings for someone else. How could she bear this?

No wonder her emotions had been so abnormal these few days, and she had even been a little anxious. Imagine having someone in your heart, but being confessed to by someone else, and also worrying that if you rejected one of them, the other would leave because of unrequited love. How could she not be confused and uneasy, being torn between the two?

Lin Shuang only felt that her heart was as if it had been stabbed, twisted, broken, and torn by something sharp, and it was in pieces.

Jiang Huaizhen didn’t love her. She could barely convince herself to endure it and wait. But she had actually fallen in love with someone else. How could she endure this? How could she wait?

She clenched her jaw, and her tongue tasted a metallic taste.

It was already dark, and Old Madam Jiang was short, so she couldn’t see the sadness in her eyes. She continued to chatter, “See if you can get anything out of her. At least we can know which family’s young master it is. We can ask someone to help us take a look and see what his character is like.”

“Sigh, I’ve never seen her like this. She even cried for that person…”

Lin Shuang only felt that all the blood in her body had frozen.

At least for now, she still couldn’t accept that Jiang Huaizhen had fallen in love with someone else.

She didn’t know who Jiang Huaizhen loved, and that she had even shed tears for that person.

She was extremely jealous.

The woman she had been thinking of, how could she love someone else so much, and so deeply?

“You’re about the same age. She might be more willing to talk to you. You should talk to her. Not everyone in the world is like her dead father, who falls in love with everyone he sees.”

Lin Shuang didn’t know how she had agreed to the old woman.

When she returned to her room, she lay on the bed, staring at Jiang Huaizhen’s back. The person was sitting by the bed, combing her hair. Her long, black hair fell like a waterfall, and the ends of her hair swayed gently with the movement of the comb.

“Grandma said…” Lin Shuang’s voice was tight, “you have someone you like?”

Jiang Huaizhen’s back stiffened, and the comb in her hand stopped halfway.

Seeing this, Lin Shuang’s whole heart was as if it had been cut open by a blunt knife.

She bit her lower lip, her eyes hot. “Don’t worry… in this world, it’s not like there are no… couples who grow old together.”

As she spoke, her voice grew softer and softer, and she felt as if she were about to break.

The comb finally moved again, once, twice.

Seeing that she didn’t answer, Lin Shuang wiped her eyes and said, “Can you… can you tell me who that person is? Grandma wants to find someone to help you take a look. You’re not young anymore. She doesn’t want you to delay any longer…”

“Do you also want to know?” Jiang Huaizhen suddenly spoke.

Lin Shuang’s tears finally rolled down. “I guess so. At least if I know who you like, I can give up.”

Jiang Huaizhen turned, her eyes filled with an emotion she couldn’t read. “If you know, you still have to… give up?”

Hearing her words, and being seen by her with her red eyes and tears, Lin Shuang also became angry, and her tone became aggressive. “Jiang Huaizhen, how can you be so selfish? It’s not enough that you have a sweetheart…”

“Or are you thinking of enjoying the blessings of both?”

Jiang Huaizhen’s originally serious expression slowly relaxed when she heard this, and her furrowed brow also relaxed.

“I’m not thinking of enjoying the blessings of both. My heart is very small. It can only fit one person.”

Hearing this, Lin Shuang was slightly stunned, then her eyes turned red, and she grabbed the pillow next to her and threw it at her.

“Get out—I don’t want to know now. Don’t mention that person in front of me—”

The sea of vinegar was raging. She didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want to hear it.

Jiang Huaizhen caught the pillow she had thrown, placed it on the table, stood up, and walked toward her.

When she reached the bed, she went to grab her hand.

Lin Shuang retreated into the bed and struggled free.

“Don’t touch me—”

Jiang Huaizhen did not let go. She held Lin Shuang’s two hands tightly in her palm and looked at her. “There is no one else. There has never been anyone else.”

Lin Shuang’s eyes widened.

Her lips trembled slightly, wanting to say something, but she couldn’t say a word.

“From beginning to end, there has only been one person, and that person is you…”

Lin Shuang thought she had misheard, but in the eyes that were so close, all she could see was herself.

Her heart pounded wildly, and a great joy rushed toward her. She could hardly contain the emotions that had welled up in an instant.

“Then… why did you reject me…”

Jiang Huaizhen didn’t dare to look her in the eye and said in a low voice, “My personality is dull and boring. I can’t earn money, and my reputation is terrible… And… what happened to my biological parents, I’m afraid that one day… I’ll be as crazy as my mother… and I’m even more afraid… that you’ll leave like my father…”

Hearing this, Lin Shuang’s tears instantly burst out. She was extremely wronged and cried at her, “Jiang Huaizhen! Not everyone is as heartless as your biological father!”

“It’s so unfair of you to me. We’re not even together, and you don’t even dare to try… you’ve already sentenced me to death…”

Seeing her tears roll down, Jiang Huaizhen’s heart ached. She no longer cared about anything else, climbed onto the bed, and hugged her tightly.

Her heart was also trembling violently.

She knew she was wrong, terribly wrong.

In the end, she was too in love with herself, too afraid of getting hurt, so she had retreated in advance.

She thought that if they didn’t start, there would be no end.

But sadly, the simple and long-term relationship that she had thought of was suppressing a love that was always thinking of gushing out.

She had endured it with difficulty, and Lin Shuang had been pushed away because of it, and had also been hurt.

She had hurt the person she loved the most.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault. You can punish me…” she whispered in Lin Shuang’s ear, “anything is fine…”

Lin Shuang hugged her tightly and bit her on the shoulder.

Jiang Huaizhen’s arm trembled in pain, but she hugged her even tighter.

In her ear was the sound of low sobs. The soft body was curled up in her arms, with a hint of grievance, a hint of submission, and attachment… she finally couldn’t hold it in any longer, lowered her head, lifted the other’s sharp chin, and kissed the slightly open lips.