Chapter 52 — IAVD (QT) Chapter 52

Li Shiyue spent two full days before she finally soothed the wounds in her heart.

She kept brainwashing herself: Ji Xiu was her husband. Her mother-in-law favored her son, which meant she favored *her* as well. That was a good thing. There was no reason to be angry…

She repeated this to herself again and again, and at last managed to forget about it.

On the third day, she sent Ji Xiu to town. After thinking things over alone at home for a long while, she still went to work.

If she didn’t go to work, everyone would stare.

But their family was selling melon seeds. Doing this kind of “buying low and selling high” business was illegal, and they couldn’t afford to draw attention. So she had to show up for work, to smooth over these oddities as much as possible and divert people’s eyes elsewhere.

Once she made up her mind, Li Shiyue sent her daughter Yingzi to the Ji household and hurried off to the fields.

At this hour, everyone had already started working.

She greeted Captain Lin naturally, went down into the field, and buried her head in work.

Thanks to Huang Taohua and the educated youths spreading the word, everyone in the village knew that Li Shiyue had been sick these past few days, which was why she hadn’t been working.

During those days, they’d gathered together more than once to discuss what illness Li Shiyue might have had—some even darkly speculated that she’d been beaten by Ji Xiu at home and was too embarrassed to say so, claiming illness instead.

Now that Li Shiyue had shown up, they greeted her. It wasn’t appropriate to gossip in front of her, so they quickly changed the subject.

Li Shiyue felt a flicker of disgust, but she also couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief.

Good thing she came. Otherwise, who knew what kind of rumors these people would’ve cooked up.

Two female educated youths she was close to were delighted to see her. They called her name and chatted with her as they worked.

Li Shiyue pulled her attention back and laughed and talked with them.

Just then, Sun Yue snorted coldly from nearby.

Li Shiyue paused and glanced at her, puzzled as to why she was even in the fields.

Wasn’t Sun Yue always the laziest one, the least willing to work?

Li Shiyue didn’t feel like arguing with her like a shrew, so she pretended not to hear and continued talking with the two women.

A flash of irritation crossed Sun Yue’s eyes, and she pressed on. “Some people are just lucky. They married early. Otherwise, with conditions like that, they’d have been kicked out long ago.”

Mocking her was one thing. Dragging Ji Xiu into it was another.

“What do you mean by that?” Li Shiyue frowned slightly and turned to look at her.

Sun Yue spoke in a strange, sarcastic tone. “Nothing much. Just that some people laze around at home, yet still control their men so tightly they won’t even let them say a word to anyone else. Isn’t that a bit much?”

Li Shiyue: “???”

The two female educated youths beside her were stunned for a moment, then found Sun Yue’s provocation a bit ridiculous. Covering their mouths, they explained, “Shiyue was sick, that’s why she didn’t come to work for a few days.”

As for the part about “controlling her man,” they didn’t quite understand it and chose not to comment.

Sun Yue had never been on good terms with Li Shiyue and didn’t believe them. She retorted loudly, “Sick? You’re way too easy to fool! She was just slacking off. I even saw her go out the day before yesterday!”

Li Shiyue was startled, her heart tightening.

Sun Yue had been watching her house? Had she noticed their family’s secret?

In truth, “buying low and selling high” wasn’t as terrifying as people imagined. If no one reported it, the authorities wouldn’t investigate. Otherwise, the black market wouldn’t be so bustling—even men in their sixties were there.

But if you ran into one or two jealous types who secretly reported you, that would be the end of it.

Li Shiyue scrutinized Sun Yue from head to toe.

“What are you looking at me for?” Sun Yue snapped, noticing her gaze. “Stop playing dumb. You know exactly what you’ve done!” She gritted her teeth, then dragged the conversation back. “If it weren’t for you, why would Ji Xiu treat me like that?”

Li Shiyue froze, genuinely confused. “Wait—what are you even talking about? I don’t understand.”

Sun Yue’s expression stiffened, resentment surging inside her. Did Li Shiyue really need everything spelled out?

“Fine, then I’ll say it outright! Li Shiyue, that day I ran into Ji Xiu by the well and asked him for help. He didn’t even let me finish speaking—just turned around and left. Tell me, wasn’t it because you badmouthed me in front of him?”

Even now, thinking back on that day filled her with humiliation.

A few days earlier, Sun Yue had quarreled with her fellow educated youths. No one was willing to talk to her. Later, when she wanted to fetch water to bathe, she had no choice but to carry it herself.

That was when she happened to meet Ji Xiu at the well.

After what had happened in the fields that day—and then comparing him to Guan Jia’an—Ji Xiu’s image in her eyes had completely changed.

Compared to Guan Jia’an, *Ji Xiu* was what you called a real man.

And he was Li Shiyue’s man. If she could make him help her, wouldn’t that mean she was more attractive than Li Shiyue?

So Sun Yue decisively asked Ji Xiu for help. Before she could even finish, he turned and left without hesitation, leaving behind nothing but a cold, heartless back.

Seeing that dealt her a huge blow. She was nearly driven mad with anger.

How could this be?

He hadn’t even looked at her properly.

Sun Yue refused to believe that the problem lay in her own charm. After thinking it over for a long time, she concluded that Li Shiyue must have spoken ill of her at home, which was why Ji Xiu had been so indifferent.

Naturally, she’d completely forgotten how she herself had once mocked and looked down on Ji Xiu, offending him in the process.

She pinned everything on Li Shiyue, her disgust and jealousy growing by the day.

It was just that Li Shiyue had been “sick” and hadn’t shown up, leaving Sun Yue with no outlet for her anger—until today.

Perfect timing. Ji Xiu wasn’t around, and no one would stand up for Li Shiyue.

Having planned everything out, Sun Yue felt a touch of smug satisfaction and continued, “Shiyue, that’s not how you manage a man. If you badmouth others in front of him, he won’t agree with you—he’ll just think you’re mean and vicious. I’m only giving you some advice for your own good. Don’t control men so tightly. They’ll run away.”

Li Shiyue was speechless. “…”

She’d thought Sun Yue had discovered her family’s secret and had been on high alert.

Turns out Sun Yue’s eyes were glued to Ji Xiu the whole time and she hadn’t noticed anything about the house at all. Ridiculous.

Suppressing her temper, Li Shiyue said, “Why would I badmouth you to him? He doesn’t even remember you. If I were going to talk behind your back, I should do it in front of Guan Jia’an…”

Wait.

The memory of that day flashed through her mind—Sun Yue turning back to look at Ji Xiu. Li Shiyue stared at her in disbelief and blurted out, “You’ve taken a liking to Ji Xiu?”

Sun Yue froze. Her earlier arrogance vanished in an instant. Feeling guilty, she hurriedly shook her head. “Don’t talk nonsense.”

But Li Shiyue wasn’t fooled. Replaying Sun Yue’s words, she realized that beneath the mockery about slacking off, Sun Yue was really complaining about her controlling Ji Xiu too tightly. The suspicion solidified, and Li Shiyue immediately became wary.

Her expression darkened as she warned coldly, “It’d better not be true. If you dare do anything you shouldn’t, don’t blame me for spreading it everywhere and ruining your reputation completely.”

Sun Yue sulked. She hadn’t expected Li Shiyue to see through her so easily.

Still, seeing Li Shiyue’s warning expression made her deeply unhappy, and she couldn’t help retorting, “I was just talking to Ji Xiu.”

“That’s not allowed either!”

Li Shiyue raised her voice sharply. “From now on, you’re not allowed within ten meters of him!”

Her cheeks were flushed with anger as she thought furiously: Ji Xiu was *her* husband. What right did Sun Yue have to get close to him? No. Absolutely not.

Sun Yue was cowed by her forcefulness and didn’t dare say anything more.

Li Shiyue calmed down, shot her a resentful glance, and kept working. In her heart, though, she was already thinking about how to badmouth Sun Yue to Ji Xiu once she got home.

Since Sun Yue had already slandered her like this, wouldn’t it be a loss not to make it come true?

She also blamed herself a little. She’d sensed something was off long ago, yet it took Sun Yue saying it outright for her to realize it.

Luckily, the person she ran into was Sun Yue—a fool who couldn’t keep her mouth shut.

If it had been someone more scheming, who kept quiet and acted behind the scenes, Li Shiyue might not have realized anything until Ji Xiu had already run off with someone else.

Li Shiyue clenched her teeth. No. From now on, she had to keep a close eye on things.

…

When Ji Xiu got home in the afternoon, Li Shiyue wasn’t there.

He rested at home for a while. Just as he was about to go out to look for her and their daughter, Li Shiyue came back.

“Where did you go?” Ji Xiu asked. His gaze swept over her and landed on the mud stains on her clothes. He frowned. “You went to work?”

Still upset about Sun Yue, Li Shiyue glanced at him. She didn’t have the heart to take it out on him and said softly, “People keep coming to ask why I haven’t been going out.”

She’d never taken more than two days off before. She usually worked hard. Suddenly not showing up had drawn attention.

Ji Xiu understood and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That *is* a bit troublesome.”

After thinking for a moment, he suggested, “Then why don’t you pretend to be sick?”

“How can I be sick every day?” Li Shiyue felt a subtle sense of shared understanding from his words, which lifted her mood a little. “Illnesses get better. And when you’re sick, people come to visit.”

Ji Xiu frowned slightly, a hint of distaste on his face as he muttered like a child, “That’s the trouble with being too popular.”

Li Shiyue smiled. “Is that jealousy because you’re not as popular as I am?”

“Jealous of you?” Ji Xiu scoffed exaggeratedly, lifting his chin. “I’ve got hundreds of brothers. Why would I be jealous of you?”

Li Shiyue couldn’t help laughing and nodded, humoring him. “Right, right. You’re amazing. Not jealous at all.”

Ji Xiu shot her a glance. “I think you’re mocking me in your heart.”

Li Shiyue, of course, didn’t admit it.

But suddenly she realized that in just a few minutes of talking to Ji Xiu, the anger she’d bottled up all day had completely dissipated, leaving only ease and joy.

Was Ji Xiu deliberately trying to make her laugh?

She looked up at his expression and caught a hint of it. Warmth filled her chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest. “Thank you, husband.”

Ji Xiu was silent for a moment, then smiled helplessly and rubbed her head, tacitly admitting it.

He asked gently, “So—what unhappy thing happened today?”

Pouting, Li Shiyue told him everything that had happened. Grabbing his hand, she emphasized, “From now on, you’re not allowed to talk to Sun Yue!”

Ji Xiu readily agreed.

In fact, even if she hadn’t said anything, he wouldn’t have done so anyway.

Satisfied, Li Shiyue nestled back into his arms.

After a long while, when everything around them had gone quiet, she felt something was off. She blinked and murmured, “Wait… where’s Yingzi?”

Ji Xiu said, “I was just about to ask you.”

Li Shiyue: “…”

She snapped awake, her expression awkward and stiff as she slowly looked up. “I sent her to Mom’s place and forgot to bring her back.”

Ji Xiu: “…”

Suppressing a laugh, Ji Xiu pinched her nose. “You rest at home. I’ll go pick up our daughter.”

…

With Ji Xiu’s reassurance, Li Shiyue finally put her mind at ease. After that, she refused to give Sun Yue an inch in their verbal battles, striking back fiercely.

Sun Yue refused to give up and kept arguing.

During one altercation, outsiders overheard the exchange, and word spread.

Sun Yue became the village’s infamous “mistress.”

After that, prideful Sun Yue no longer dared appear near Li Shiyue.

Li Shiyue regained her peaceful life.

More than a month passed like this, and the spring planting came to an end.

During that month, Li Shiyue maintained a rhythm of working once every three to five days—the same frequency as when Ji Xiu had been slacking off earlier and she’d needed to take leave to care for the child and handle housework.

No one suspected a thing.

No one believed Ji Xiu would truly change. This situation fit their expectations perfectly.

After the spring planting, work for the production team dropped sharply, and getting work became something you had to compete for.

Li Shiyue not going to work was something others welcomed. No one cared.

So she stayed home, working together with Ji Xiu to make money.

They even developed new items: roasted peanuts and roasted chestnuts.

The chestnuts were introduced by the melon-seed old man. No one knew how he’d managed to keep them from last autumn until now, but when Ji Xiu checked them, most were intact and of good quality.

He bought them without hesitation.

The purchase price was similar to melon seeds, but chestnuts were heavier. After roasting, they lost a lot of moisture, so the selling price was higher than that of melon seeds and peanuts.

Fortunately, the regular moviegoers didn’t mind. Everything sold out every day.

That day, business was especially good. Ji Xiu took thirty jin of melon seeds, ten jin of peanuts, and twenty jin of chestnuts. Before two in the afternoon, it was all gone.

He packed up and headed home early.

When he arrived, Li Shiyue was still reading. She lay under the eaves, completely absorbed, occasionally lifting her head to glance at Yingzi playing in the yard before lowering it to read again.

She seemed to have hit a difficult problem; her brows were tightly knit.

Ji Xiu wiped the sweat off himself and leaned over to look at her textbook, gesturing with his finger. “Draw an auxiliary line here, then look at this…”

Following his guidance, Li Shiyue worked it out. More than ten minutes later, she solved it, her brows relaxing.

Then suddenly, she realized something.

“Wait!” Li Shiyue turned to him in surprise. “Why can you do high school problems?”

Ji Xiu replied calmly, “Didn’t I tell you last time? I wanted to see if I could get in too, so whenever I go out to sell things, I’ve been studying.”

He pulled a crumpled textbook from his chest, tossed it onto the table, and said with a hint of pride, “I’m already near the back.”

Li Shiyue couldn’t believe it. She flipped it open—dense notes filled the pages.

Still, it felt unscientific.

If she remembered correctly, Ji Xiu had only finished elementary school.

Ji Xiu said, “I’m a genius, you know?”

Li Shiyue felt a twinge of jealousy and said sourly, “Even geniuses can’t be self-taught!”

Ji Xiu pouted, looking unwilling. “The bookstore owner taught me.”

Only then did Li Shiyue understand.

With someone teaching him, his progress would naturally differ from hers.

Still—it was unbelievable. In such a short time, Ji Xiu had actually caught up to her.

She’d been out of school for six years and had forgotten most of the material, but at least she’d learned it once before.

Why was Ji Xiu faster than her?

Unconvinced, she glanced sideways at him, catching sight of the young man’s nonchalant profile.

There was something special about Ji Xiu. He looked carefree, yet always felt steady and reliable.

Once he made up his mind to do something, he never wavered. His drive and execution were astonishing.

“Thinking about it… maybe it’s not that hard to understand.”

Li Shiyue paused, murmuring softly.

She still had to work and didn’t have much time to study, nor anyone to teach her—everything depended on herself. Ji Xiu, on the other hand, had incredible drive. If he wanted to study, he’d read all day and even ask people in town for help.

Surpassing her wasn’t impossible.

Thinking of something, she picked up her textbook and leaned toward him with an ingratiating smile. “Since you’re already so far ahead, could you teach me?”

Ji Xiu narrowed his eyes and glanced at her.

Li Shiyue paused, then knowingly moved behind him, massaging and pounding his shoulders. Her voice carried a hint of coquettish flattery. “Husband, is this enough pressure?”

Ji Xiu curled his lips slightly. It hadn’t been long at all—and Li Shiyue had already learned to be bad from him.