The Kindhearted Girl Gets a Wife 44

Chapter 44

The sky was just beginning to brighten, and the moon hadn’t even had time to clock out. Pei Yunle stood by the bed in a daze. Chen Qingtang had only prepared pajamas for her yesterday, but it seemed she hadn’t prepared any clothes for the next day.

She turned her head. The person next to her was still fast asleep, most of her face covered by the quilt, her long, dense eyelashes casting a dark shadow.

Pei Yunle tiptoed over and squatted by the edge of the bed, her chin resting on her knees, leaving only her eyes to watch Chen Qingtang. She reached out her index finger and gently brushed away the strand of hair on the tip of Chen Qingtang’s nose. Her long, even breaths turned into puffs of warm air.

She suddenly felt like she was a thief who had broken into a house, but she didn’t want to steal money, only the Chen Qingtang on the bed.

Her clothes were still half-damp. Pei Yunle tugged at the pants that were clinging to the base of her thighs, picked up her slippers, and walked out barefoot.

She held the A4 paper stained with water, put on her helmet, and rode her small electric bike out along the narrow path.

In the distance was a sea of orange clouds, and the red sun poked out half of its round head from between the green mountains. A few specks of brilliance were cast on the small town that was about to wake up.

Today was a beautiful day!

When she arrived at the community, there were still not many people at their desks. Pei Yunle put the soup dumplings she had bought to the side and then smoothed out the crumpled survey form. The slightly damp paper had softened, and some of the pages even wanted to stick together.

The division of labor here was not clear. No one had wanted to come in the first place, and one person sometimes had to do the work of two. Anyang had held another expert meeting before, and Pei Yunle had had the “honor” of being a volunteer. In addition to professional exchanges, a few industry bigwigs were going to start a research project. This included a physical fitness survey of the residents in the townships, and a continuous observation would be carried out later.

She didn’t know how the higher-ups had arranged it, but in the end, these miscellaneous tasks fell into the hands of Pei Yunle and her colleagues.

She held the soft paper and read through it all. By the end, she was almost dizzy. But she didn’t have to do the data analysis; that was for another group of people.

After recording and organizing the data, and then having a simple meeting, the morning was over.

Pei Yunle had lunch in the cafeteria, went to the supermarket in the community next door to buy some things, and then went back to the staff dormitory.

The dormitory was not big, but because there were few employees here, it was still one person per room. It was cold in the winter and hot in the summer here, and Pei Yunle had rarely had a good night’s sleep here.

But she didn’t feel that this was a hard life. A life without Chen Qingtang was a hard life.

She threw the package she had picked up on the floor and opened them one by one with a small knife. The things that fell to the floor were scattered. Looking around, they were all things like low-gluten flour, cake flour, heavy cream, cream cheese, and rum. The bags from the supermarket were filled with various kinds of ladyfingers. Pei Yunle didn’t know which one was delicious, so she just took a little of everything.

This year, in order to follow Lin Zilan’s words and find a stable and good job, and also to avoid Lin Zilan, she had secretly moved to Pingshun. She fought with her own mother every day, and a few white hairs had grown from the exhaustion.

Other than that, her way of passing the time was to make cakes and bread. She tried all sorts of things, as long as there were tutorials online. Of course, she still didn’t know how to cook.

Other than work, almost all of her remaining time was spent making cakes and bread, until all the things she had bought were used up. The oven had been used countless times, and the refrigerator was not filled with fruits and vegetables, but with cakes that needed to be frozen overnight.

It took almost two days for Pei Yunle to finally finish all the pastries. Then she packed them all into the small boxes she had bought a long time ago. The seaweed floss pork floss cakes, which were small in size and large in quantity, were all stuffed into one bag.

So much so that the first time the three-wheeler driver saw her, his eyes were as wide as saucers. “Dearie, are you going back home to visit your relatives? Why are you carrying so many things?”

Pei Yunle stuffed the full bags in and patted her hands. “Something like that, hahaha. You can have a few too, aunty.”

Listening to the rumbling of the engine, the three-wheeler still had the familiar smell of gasoline. Pei Yunle was already very used to this pungent smell and just tied the plastic bag tightly.

When they arrived at East Street, she knew almost all of the neighbors of the Liu family. Most of the people here were also enthusiastic, so there was no awkwardness or helplessness when she was distributing the cakes. Although Pei Yunle’s time in the workplace was very short, she had been forced to learn simple observation and social skills. The whole process was very easy.

Even the Fan family praised her for making good cakes, almost as good as Fan Ziyun, who owned a cake shop.

Pei Yunle gave the only two ice cream cakes to Fan Ziyun. The weather was not hot yet, and the ice in the ice pack had not melted much. It was almost the same as when it was taken out of the refrigerator.

“The first time I made an ice cream cake, I had to beg you for the cake base. So of course I have to give you one now that I’ve succeeded.”

Fan Ziyun smiled and took it. “What’s wrong today? Why are you making so many cakes to give to people?”

“Nothing, I was just bored. It’s a way to improve my relationship with the neighbors.”

Pei Yunle waved at them, carried the remaining cakes, and walked to the last house.

Chen Qingtang was already standing at the door. It was too lively around here, and it was almost impossible to ignore.

“This is for you.” Pei Yunle took out an ice cream cake from inside, which was a circle bigger than Fan Ziyun’s. “And this is for you too.”

She was like carrying a Doraemon’s pocket, continuously taking out sweet pastries from inside. “This is a scone. The one I bought for you last time didn’t have this.”

Looking at the last two large bags of bread, Pei Yunle handed all of them to Chen Qingtang, a calm smile on her face. Her cheeks were a little red from the sun, making her look very simple and honest.

“You can have all of these.”

“Because I was very bored, I made all the remaining ingredients into bread. I didn’t expect to make so much by accident, so I gave them to everyone.”

Pei Yunle was afraid that Chen Qingtang would refuse and would ask her with resistance, “Why are you still taking the initiative?”

So she made up an excuse with a heavy heart, so that Chen Qingtang could accept it with a clear conscience. Her hands were too clumsy. She couldn’t cook, only make bread. Fortunately, she could still make bread.

The clumsy person went around in circles and finished several jin of cakes. The weight almost made her fingers turn white, completely bloodless. She had said all the smiles to the neighbors she didn’t like, but in fact, she just wanted to give all the bread to Chen Qingtang openly.

Chen Qingtang carried the bread, which was almost falling. Pei Yunle’s warmth still lingered on the plastic handle. This warm and sweet thing was not like a soft bread, but like a dense love.

It was so heavy that Chen Qingtang had a hard time holding it, but she still held on to it tightly, not wanting that sentiment to just fall to the ground.

“Where’s Grandma?” Pei Yunle’s gaze moved to the back.

Chen Qingtang turned and glanced. The person was still sitting at the door just now. She was probably inside drinking water. She pointed to a dim room.

“Cakes don’t last as long as bread. You might as well just stuff them all into the refrigerator. I’ll go and see Grandma.”

With that, Pei Yunle lifted her foot and walked into the house.

Her fingers began to grow cold from the lack of blood supply. Chen Qingtang carried the heavy bread to the kitchen. As soon as it landed, the bag scattered, and the various things inside lay flat on the ground.

Chen Qingtang casually picked up a scone. Each pastry was sealed in a packaging bag with a fresh, small print. Almost none of them were the same. They could be sold at a high price in a store.

She had just finished dinner and really didn’t have much of an appetite to eat anything else. Even so, Chen Qingtang still tore open a matcha-flavored egg tart and put it in her mouth.

The faint, bitter taste had just melted on the tip of her tongue when she heard someone laughing next to her. She turned her head and saw Pei Yunle leaning against the doorframe.

“Is it good?”

Chen Qingtang didn’t want to lie. It was meaningless. Delicious was delicious, and bad was bad. So she nodded.

The curve of Pei Yunle’s lips hooked up a little more. “It seems that Grandma still doesn’t like to move much after the surgery.”

Chen Qingtang didn’t interrupt her, just quietly waited for her to continue.

“Take her out for a walk. Proper exercise is more helpful for her knees.”

Chen Qingtang swallowed the last bite. After the bitterness came a sweet fragrance. She took out her phone and typed, “Who will take Grandma?”

Pei Yunle was speechless. She carefully looked up at Chen Qingtang. The other person’s face showed no signs of anger, and there were still crumbs on the corners of her mouth.

“Me?”

Chen Qingtang poked her phone. “You?”

“Are you afraid I’ll lose Grandma? But I really haven’t taken care of an old person much…” Pei Yunle’s voice grew smaller and smaller. After a long moment, she leaned closer. “So, can I trouble you to go with me?”

Chen Qingtang suppressed the urge to smile. It was just taking an old person for a walk, nothing much.

Tonight, there was no moon, and the whole land was covered in a dark color. The breeze was gentle.

“We don’t have to walk too much today. We can just walk around a few streets. What do you think, Grandma?”

Grandma Liu fastened the button on her collar. “I feel like I haven’t been out for a walk in a long time. I’ve been a little scared since the surgery.”

Pei Yunle looked at her legs, which were tightly wrapped in long, thick pants. “What are you afraid of?”

“I just don’t feel used to it. I feel like that bone is not mine.” The old woman said honestly, and her solemn appearance was actually a little funny.

“Then you have to walk more and try to tame it into your own bone.”

“Your mother called me again yesterday.”

Chen Qingtang’s heart tightened, and her hand holding the old woman’s hand involuntarily used a little more force.

“What did she say to you?” Pei Yunle’s voice was low.

“She asked me how you were doing and said that you don’t like to call her, so she asked me to take care of you.”

Pei Yunle frowned. “But I don’t live at your house. I told her that I live in the staff dormitory, which is far from the town.”

Grandma Liu blinked her somewhat cloudy eyes. “I don’t know about that. Maybe she thinks you’ll come to our house to live.”

Pei Yunle didn’t answer this. She didn’t know how to say it, and she didn’t know what to say. She just felt like her heart had been pinched, and a little sour water welled up in her throat.

This was probably the first time in her life that her strong mother had softened for her, trying her best to compromise and make concessions.

When the time came, the streetlights began to light up, and the tears in Pei Yunle’s eyes were clearly visible. She turned her head away, hating the light for the first time.

Without the desolation and silence of winter, the surrounding residential buildings became noisy, giving the pedestrians on the road a sense of security.

“We’ll just go around the back mountain and then go home.” Grandma Liu pointed to a high mountain in front. It was no longer as gloomy and terrifying as before. There were a few more graves on the mountainside. Because people would go up, a proper mountain road had also been opened.

They would naturally not go up the mountain, but just walk around the foot of the mountain. Behind them was the noisy crowd, and in front of them was the quiet, deep mountain. A person was squatting at the junction of these two places.

Pei Yunle was almost scared to death until she heard Grandma Liu shout, “Fang Xiaoduo! Your mom will be worried if you don’t go home!”

Fang Xiaoduo turned around, and the thing in front of her was revealed. It was a long, thin wooden board stuck in the ground, and she was holding three wooden sticks in her hand.

“Hello, Grandma. Hello, Big Sis.” Fang Xiaoduo even greeted them politely.

“Okay, okay. You should go home quickly. It’s getting dark.”

“Oh, I’ll go after I put in the incense.” With that, she stabbed the wooden stick in her hand into the ground with a swish, then patted the mud off her hands. The clothes she was wearing were clean and new, but her fair face was stained with two patches of dirt.

Chen Qingtang probably couldn’t stand it. She reached out and scraped the dirt off her face.

“Thank you, Big Sis. I’ll treat you to a popsicle next time.”

With that, Fang Xiaoduo ran away quickly. When she reached the water’s edge, she carefully avoided it by a few meters, and then ran along the house, disappearing in a flash in the distant light.

“Qingtang, do you think she’s smart or stupid?” Grandma Liu patted the back of her hand.

Chen Qingtang looked at the small mound, the two ends measuring the distance between life and death. She shook her head, her expression fixed under the streetlight, absent-minded.

Pei Yunle didn’t know what this meant, whether she didn’t know, or she didn’t think so.

But in her own opinion, this was a fool. She still couldn’t forget the matter of being chased by the owner.

Grandma Liu turned her head and looked at Pei Yunle. “Did you know that Fang Xiaoduo wasn’t a fool before?”

“Uh, huh?”

Grandma Liu glanced around and then lowered her voice. “She was with someone from the Li family before, right?”

She seemed to be asking someone, and also confirming. “That Li family owns a flower shop. Their daughter is very well-behaved. Little Pei, you would never have guessed that the two of them were actually together.”

Pei Yunle glanced at Chen Qingtang and didn’t dare to make a sound.

“At that time, both families disagreed. Then they chose to elope in the middle of the night. But the road was slippery in the winter, and there were no streetlights in Pingshun at that time. The two of them fell into the river. It was right at our doorstep. I was the one who called people to pull them out.”

“And then?” Pei Yunle couldn’t help but ask.

“And then, the two of them were taken home. Fortunately, it was very late at that time, and not many people came to see.”

The three of them slowly walked to the door.

“I don’t know how many days passed. The family that sold flowers moved away overnight. They even bought water and snacks from Qingtang’s place. Don’t you think so?”

Suddenly, the two of them looked at her. Chen Qingtang could only nod blankly.

“So, how did she become a fool?”

“Aiya, don’t be in a hurry. We don’t know either. Anyway, when we saw Fang Xiaoduo again, we just felt that she was silly. Some people say she was beaten silly, and some people say she became silly after falling into the water and getting a fever. But who knows? We don’t know if she’s really silly or just pretending.”

“Don’t tell anyone else. I only remembered this when I saw her. If there’s nothing else, I’m going up to sleep. I’ve walked too much, and I’m a little tired.”

“Oh, oh, Grandma, you should go back to sleep first.”

“Are you coming back tomorrow? I’ll cook you some eight-treasure congee tomorrow.”

Pei Yunle didn’t dare to agree. “Forget it. I still have to work in the morning. I’m living over there.”

“Oh, right, right. I’m so forgetful. You two sisters should get along well.”

With that, the old woman put her hands behind her back and walked up the stairs with deep and shallow footprints.

The two of them watched her leave, and then turned their heads at almost the same time.

Standing in the courtyard, they were speechless.

After a few times, Pei Yunle felt that she should go back now. The time she had painstakingly dug out was also passing quickly.

“I looked at the weather forecast. There’s a 70% chance of rain tonight, so I should go back.”

Pei Yunle lowered her eyes and was about to turn and leave when the corner of her clothes was pulled. When she turned her head, Chen Qingtang’s phone was handed to her.

“Making those breads was very hard.”

This was not a question, nor a rhetorical question, but a very ordinary statement, or rather, an affirmation.

It was because it was so ordinary that Pei Yunle didn’t know what to say for a moment. She could only nod like a dazed goose, and then immediately shook her head. “No, it wasn’t hard at all. The key is that I really like it, so it was a pleasure.”

A purple lightning flashed in the distant valley, with the momentum of splitting the entire earth, making people shiver.

Pei Yunle’s throat bobbed. She was not afraid of thunder, but she didn’t know what the current atmosphere meant.

The sky was still flashing with a bluish-purple, and below was a dim yellow screen.

“The things you’ve done have also been very hard.”

Pei Yunle hooked two small wooden stools with her toes, one for each of them. It was very novel to chat calmly in this terrifying weather.

“I just said, it was a pleasure.” Her voice was a little hoarse, but the next sentence never came out. She was still struggling with her words. The word “love” was too heavy and would always bring a sense of burden. The word “like” was too light and didn’t sound so deep.

“Because, it’s a very shallow love, and a very deep like. So it’s not tiring at all, it’s very meaningful.”

She said this while looking at Chen Qingtang. The wind was blowing wildly outside, messing up both of their hair. The sound of the lightning was also very loud, so loud that she couldn’t even hear her own heartbeat when she covered her chest.

Chen Qingtang didn’t look at her, just blinked frequently.

—”This kind of life is not good at all. You will be hungry, cold, and tired. For example, at this moment, you should be comfortably sleeping in your quilt. If you live well, our separation will have meaning.”

Unlike her, Pei Yunle just blinked very slowly, as if she were thinking about something.

“Why? Don’t you think this situation is very interesting? Maybe you’ll never experience a second time in your life, in a thunderstorm, you and I, sitting in the courtyard and talking about all sorts of messy things in our hearts.”

“Do you think I’m living well now? Not at all. Since you’ve accepted a love that is outside the secular world, you shouldn’t use the secular definition to judge whether my life is happy and meaningful. Why!”

Pei Yunle looked at the mountains in the distance. The purple lightning and the high walls were occasionally reflected in her dark pupils. “I like this very much, very much. Compared to living a life of a walking dead, day after day, I prefer this kind of life now, as if the next second is the end of the world, but we are still in love here.”

She drew out the last two words for a long time, so long that she wanted to pour them into Chen Qingtang’s left ear.

“You’re too self-righteous, Chen Qingtang.” Pei Yunle didn’t want to lower her voice at all. She insisted on staring at her when she said this.

“Do you think I can live a good life if I go back? Is it a happy life to leave here? Those few life photos and a few videos can’t explain anything. They’re not my whole world, just the smallest part of my world.”

“I play extreme sports just because my excitement threshold is relatively high. Later I found out that you are my excitement threshold. Having you is having the whole world.”

“You’ve bullied me for a long, long time, and you won’t even let me fight back. You’re so bad.”

Chen Qingtang blinked frequently, and her eyelashes also trembled frequently. Her pupils were transmitting the frequency of her heartbeat that her heart dared not admit.

Her fingers, which were typing, were trembling uncontrollably. The delete key had been pressed dozens of times.

It began to rain in the sky. It was not the expected downpour, but just a drizzle, as usual.

The rain was blown by the wind and slanted towards the people in the courtyard. Pei Yunle gritted her teeth and endured the cold, not willing to move half a step into the house.

She saw the screen, which was stained with a few raindrops, handed to her. The words on it were stained with an old-fashioned atmosphere by the yellow screen.

“I’m sorry.”

Pei Yunle pouted slightly, and a little wrinkle was piled up on her chin.

“So insincere.”

Chen Qingtang propped her chin on her hand and tilted her head, thinking for a while.

Below it was a pile of words.

“Can you still be with me? Every day after that, we can talk about the green mountains and the wilderness, and the chickens, ducks, and fish in the countryside. If you’re hungry, I can get you some glucose from the store.”

Pei Yunle’s voice was trembling, but the words she spoke were still as clear as possible. “I don’t understand. What do you mean by ‘be with you’?”

Chen Qingtang saw her whole body trembling slightly. She took her into her arms. The only source of heat was each other, which made the other person cherish this bit of warmth in the rain even more.

She picked up a bamboo pole from the side, dipped it in the water on the ground, and wrote on a piece of ground that had not yet been wet: Rekindle our old love?

Just as she finished writing, Pei Yunle suddenly pulled out of her embrace. “What ‘rekindle our old love’? The ‘me’ in that love was not good, and you were not good either.”

At the end, she fell back into the crook of Chen Qingtang’s neck. “This is called a fresh start. Do you remember?”

Chen Qingtang smiled and nodded. Her thin chin poked Pei Yunle’s head, making her a little painful, but she still endured it.

“I’ll tell you, there’s another thing. When it rains heavily, you have to sleep in the same bed with me. When it rains moderately, you also have to sleep in the same bed. When it rains lightly, you also have to sleep in the same bed.”

Chen Qingtang understood and didn’t understand. No matter what kind of rain it was, they had to sleep in the same bed, but the depth of what they did was different.

She lifted her head and looked at the drizzling rain. It was even lighter than a light rain. She smiled and pointed at the sky.

What about this drizzle?

Pei Yunle closed her eyes. The dark circles under her eyes were a little covered. As if she were disappointed, she said, “Why can’t you be flexible?”

Her voice was gentle and softened the night. “At a time like this, you should kiss me.”

At this moment, Pei Yunle began to enjoy the rainy season because of Chen Qingtang’s appearance.

They shared a wet kiss in the noisy rainy night.

Tomorrow might be another thunderstorm, or it might be sunny.

But who cares? There are two people in love here.

【End of Main Story】