The number of people who could write letters to Qi Fang was limited, so he immediately recalled the one he had sent out a few days ago. Stepping outside to receive it, he confirmed it was indeed the reply—unexpectedly, the recipient was still using this address and had actually written back.
After all, back when he heard about his teacher’s misfortune, he had rushed back to Yanjing, hoping to find even the slightest possibility of help. Yet everyone he knew, including his own elder brother and father, had avoided him like the plague…
The memory left him with mixed emotions. After thanking the messenger, he stood in the courtyard for a while longer, folding the letter carefully before slipping it into his pocket and heading back inside.
By then, Liu Weiguo had already moved on to another topic with Yan Xue. "There’s an open-air movie screening tonight. Are you and Qi Fang going? If so, I’ll save you a spot."
The tree-planting campaign had just ended, and the sapling maintenance phase hadn’t yet begun, leaving the forestry workers with some free time. The bureau had started organizing movie screenings at each forest farm.
But Qi Fang had never been one to join such gatherings before, which was why Liu Weiguo had asked Yan Xue instead. Unexpectedly, Qi Fang, returning from outside, overheard and turned to Yan Xue. "Are we going?"
His tone suggested he’d defer to her decision. Without hesitation, Yan Xue replied, "Let’s go."
In this era, there weren’t many entertainment options at night anyway. A bit of excitement was better than staying cooped up at home, especially now that the weather was warming up.
Turns out, others had the same idea. By the time she and Qi Fang finished dinner and arrived at the small square where the movie was being shown, the place was already packed, with people even perched on rooftops and trees nearby.
"Does our forest farm really have this many people?" Yan Xue asked Qi Fang, puzzled.
"Probably not," he replied, scanning the crowd. "Must be folks from nearby villages too."
"Then will we even be able to see anything?"
She stood on tiptoe, catching a glimpse of the back of a young woman’s head in front of her. Straining further, she spotted the broad back of a man carrying a child on his shoulders.
As for the spot Liu Weiguo had promised to save for them—well, with this many people around, she couldn’t even spot Liu Weiguo himself.
Just as she thought of him, Liu Weiguo appeared, accompanied by Zhou Wenhui, who had changed into a floral-patterned dress. Taking in the scene, they were both stunned. "Did screenings used to draw this big a crowd?"
"Maybe you just came earlier back when you didn’t have a girlfriend," Qi Fang remarked dryly.
Liu Weiguo considered it and nodded. "Yeah, we used to grab front-row seats with our stools."
Zhou Wenhui blushed. "I took too long getting ready."
"Nonsense. To get the front row, you’d have to come early enough to eat dinner here," Liu Weiguo quickly reassured her.
But the opening credits were already rolling. They couldn’t just stand there and miss the whole thing, could they?
Liu Weiguo glanced around and asked Zhou Wenhui, "Are you afraid of heights? If not, I can get you up a tree."
"Better not," she said, eyeing the nearly full branches and shaking her head.
This was where Qi Fang’s height came in handy. He didn’t need to jostle for a spot—wherever he stood, he could easily see the screen just by lifting his gaze.
Yan Xue couldn’t help feeling a pang of envy and turned to look at him—only to find him already looking down at her.
"Don’t mind me, just watch the movie," she said, turning back around. But the next second, his hands gripped her waist.
Before she could react, she was hoisted into the air and settled onto his shoulders.
Her heart leapt into her throat. "Why are you carrying me like this?"
"You couldn’t see, could you?" His tone was matter-of-fact as he adjusted her position slightly.
"But you can’t just lift me up like this!" She flailed, unsure where to put her hands and feet. Trying to climb down was out of the question—the ground was too far, and her legs weren’t long enough.
Qi Fang reassured her, "Relax, it’s dark out."
The same line he’d used last time—immediately reminding Yan Xue of their run-in with Liu Weiguo back then.
And true to form, Liu Weiguo spotted them soon enough, letting out an impressed whistle. "Damn, Qi Fang, you’re smooth. Never would’ve thought of this."
His tone was tinged with envy as he turned to Zhou Wenhui. "Want me to carry you too?"
"Isn’t that a bit… with so many people around?"
"Who’s gonna notice? Everyone’s watching the movie. Come on, I’ll get you up—just focus on seeing the screen."
A rustling sound followed as Liu Weiguo fumbled. "Hold on, the angle’s not right. Let me try again."
More rustling. "No, I’m slipping!" This time, it was Zhou Wenhui’s voice.
After several failed attempts, Liu Weiguo finally gave up. "Alright, let’s just listen to the audio then."
Perched on Qi Fang’s shoulders, Yan Xue wasn’t sure whether the movie or the antics of the couple behind her was more entertaining.
Qi Fang, for his part, remained steady as a rock, not budging an inch the entire time despite Yan Xue’s occasional attempts to climb down. Only when the movie was nearly over did he finally lower her. Their spot was far enough back that hardly anyone noticed…
Or so they thought.
The moment they stepped out of the square, a young girl’s voice piped up behind them. "That big sister’s so old, and her dad still carries her on his shoulders. Dad, why don’t you carry me? I couldn’t see anything!"
The "big sister" Yan Xue: "…"
The "dad" Qi Fang: "…"
In the ensuing silence, Liu Weiguo couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter. When both Qi Fang and Yan Xue turned to glare at him, he hastily raised his hands. "Didn’t hear a thing."
Which only made it worse.
Thankfully, the darkness hid Yan Xue’s face, or even her well-practiced composure wouldn’t have spared her a blush.
Back home, the incident still lingered in her mind. "So, ‘Dad,’ how’s your shoulder holding up?" she teased Qi Fang.
To her surprise, he met her gaze with those peach-blossom eyes, his expression unreadable. "Dad says it’s fine."
The audacity. Yan Xue shot him a look before heading out to wash up.
That look inexplicably lifted Qi Fang’s mood, even the soreness in his shoulders fading as he massaged them absently. Sitting at the table, he finally unfolded the letter.
With everything going on, he hadn’t had a chance to read it earlier—nor did he particularly want Yan Xue knowing he’d been inquiring about her family.
He couldn’t fathom what had happened in the Yan household to drive Yan Xue, their well-bred eldest daughter, to transfer her household registration to the countryside.
If she and her younger brother were in a tough spot, she could bring him here. They’d built an extra room in their new house anyway. He might not be able to offer them luxury, but it’d surely be better than staying in the village…
Qi Fang’s eyes froze mid-sentence. He picked up the envelope again, double-checking the sender’s name.
It was indeed from his contact—but the contents…
He spread the letter out, rereading each line as if the once-familiar words had turned foreign.
According to the letter, the Yan family seemed to be doing just fine, at least outwardly.
The couple was harmonious, raising three sons and a daughter. Yan Xue’s father had emerged unscathed from the recent political turmoil and had even been promoted.
As for Yan Xue herself, the letter stated she was doing well too. After graduating high school, her family had arranged a medical exemption to keep her from being sent to the countryside.
Perhaps assuming Qi Fang’s inquiries stemmed from the broken engagement, the writer even shared an extra tidbit—
The Yan family’s eldest daughter, Yan Xue, was engaged to be married again.
"I heard the other party is also in the technical field. Though his family background is modest, he's quite handsome and has recently made breakthroughs in his field, earning high regard from the authorities. Some people just aren’t meant to be—don’t dwell on it too much. You’ll find someone better eventually, and the clouds will part to reveal the moon..."
Qi Fang stopped reading the rest, his mind fixated on one thought.
This couldn’t be!
Yan Xue had just gone to the movies with him, even shooting him a glare on their way out. How could she have stayed in Yanjing instead of going to the countryside? And now she was about to get engaged again?
If the real Yan family’s eldest daughter, Yan Xue, had been in Yanjing all along, then who was the woman he married—the one who slept beside him every night?
Before he could confirm the details again, the sound of washing outside abruptly stopped.
Without thinking, he folded the letter and envelope and stuffed them into his pocket.
When Yan Xue stepped inside, she found the man sitting quietly at the table. Hearing her enter, he turned to look at her, his gaze deeper than ever before—a scrutinizing, searching kind of depth, as if he were studying her from the shadows.
It made her pause. "What’s wrong?"
"Nothing." Qi Fang’s expression gave nothing away, and he didn’t glance at the pocket holding the letter. But his eyes remained locked on her.
Seeing that he wasn’t going to elaborate, Yan Xue moved toward the bed, but he reached out and caught her hand.
Her small, soft hand was still cool from the water, delicate yet bearing resilient calluses—just like her.
How presumptuous had he been, assuming that the Yan family’s eldest daughter had endured hardships like him to become so resilient?
How careless had he been, never asking or investigating anything...
Holding her grounded him, allowing him to finally piece together the situation.
First, Yan Xue’s name, age, and registered residence—along with having a grandmother and a younger brother—were likely true.
She had no reason to lie to him. What could a man like him, stuck in a remote mountain village with nothing to his name, possibly offer that was worth deceiving him over?
So, Yan Xue’s original fiancé at Jinchuan Forestry Farm—also named Qi Fang—was probably real too.
But Qi Fang had never heard of anyone by that name at Jinchuan. Was he simply uninformed, or had the man already left without Yan Xue knowing, leading her to mistake him for the real Qi Fang?
The thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. Noticing Yan Xue’s puzzled look, he pulled her closer. "That day you said you received the items—did you really get them?"
The sudden embrace caught her off guard. It took her a moment to realize he was referring to their first meeting. "Yes, Great-Aunt gave them to me directly."
She figured that once the betrothal gifts were given to the bride, they were hers to handle as she pleased. Since he’d never asked about them before, his sudden curiosity now must mean something was up. Combined with the letter he’d received that afternoon, she asked, "Do you need money?"
Money? He had assumed she meant the betrothal agreement.
Before he could respond, Yan Xue continued, "We’ve been spending a lot on bricks, tiles, and food lately, mostly from the wages you’ve given me these past few months. The money from selling the bear gallbladder hasn’t been touched much. If it’s still not enough, I have some saved up too."
Her temporary job paid 1.68 yuan a day, and with what she’d earned from selling pine nuts and gastrodia tubers, she could scrape together around eighty to a hundred yuan.
She’d already calculated the costs for cultivating wood ear mushrooms—just a bit of gypsum, nothing major—so she could spare the money for him. Besides, by the start of next month, they’d both get their wages again.
As she mentally mapped out how to allocate the funds, Qi Fang listened, his emotions tangled.
She hadn’t even questioned him before offering to help. How could someone so good-hearted not be his real fiancée?
Someone so resilient, brave, and kind—full of vitality like spring grass, warm and bright like the sun...
His arms tightened around her unconsciously. "I don’t need it. Keep it." Then he asked, "You mentioned Great-Aunt just now?"
The abrupt topic shift made her pause. "She’s the matchmaker. Her eldest daughter lives in town—we visited during New Year’s, remember?"
Qi Fang had indeed "forgotten." At the time, he’d assumed Aunt Qiufang was just a distant relative of the Yan family.
Looking back, he didn’t know whether to be grateful they hadn’t run into anyone that day—otherwise, the truth might have come out much sooner.
He brushed his fingers along her temple. "What did Great-Aunt tell you about me?"
He needed to gather information first, find the man she was originally supposed to marry, before figuring out his next move.
The touch was intimate, as was the embrace. Yan Xue tilted her head to look at him. "You’re asking a lot of questions today."
If only he’d been this inquisitive from the start, he might not have mistaken her identity.
Qi Fang was silent for a beat. "Just suddenly curious."
They had grown closer recently, no longer keeping strict boundaries like before. Yan Xue thought back. "She didn’t say much, really. Just that you were tall—over six feet—good-looking, had a steady job, and were hardworking. All compliments."
She left out the part about him being orphaned and raised by his aunt—no need to reopen old wounds.
So the man had been well-off in every way. The realization weighed on Qi Fang.
If Yan Xue’s real fiancé showed up—someone with such favorable circumstances—and given that they hadn’t consummated their marriage, would she...?
The simplest and safest solution would be to make their relationship irreversible. Then, even if the other man came, it’d be too late.
But Qi Fang had respected Yan Xue’s wishes from the beginning. He would never force intimacy for something like this.
He sighed, pulling her closer and resting his chin atop her head. "Am I really not good enough?"
His early achievements—being admitted to university at fourteen—meant nothing now.
The privileged upbringing others had once envied was gone, replaced by a family torn apart, his father and brothers labeled as outcasts.
All he had left was his looks, and even then, he didn’t know how to sweet-talk, only how to upset her...
Yan Xue couldn’t see his expression, but his voice carried a rare vulnerability. She patted his back. "You’re not so bad. Handsome, good at chores, skilled with your hands—just keep it up."
Sure, his bluntness was frustrating at times, but actions spoke louder than words.
Compared to smooth-talking men who offered empty comfort, she’d take someone who got things done any day.
She’d never be the type to fawn over a man’s sweet nothings while slaving away as both breadwinner and housemaid.
When he didn’t respond, she nudged him back slightly. "What’s wrong? Need a hug?" She opened her arms.
Yan Xue had a petite figure, and her embrace wasn't particularly wide, but her smile—eyes curving into crescents—could brighten anyone's mood.
Qi Fang glanced at her outstretched arms, then bent down slightly, wrapping his hands around her waist and lifting her to a position just slightly taller than himself. "Go ahead," he said.
This was the first time Yan Xue had looked down at a man from this angle. She noticed how his peach-blossom eyes seemed even more captivating when gazing up at her. The angle accentuated the sharp bridge of his nose, and as he moved, the collar of his shirt slipped to reveal a straight collarbone—with what looked like a tiny red mole.
Yan Xue stared for a moment, then another, itching to confirm whether she’d seen correctly. But she couldn’t just yank his collar open, so she simply tightened her arms around him in a brief hug.
"Hey, listen up! There’s another update on that mess between Liang Qimao and Cheng Yuzhen!"
The next morning, just after breakfast, while Yan Xue was washing dishes and Qi Fang was preparing tools for their new home, Liu Weiguo barged in, bursting with excitement.
The moment he stepped inside, he noticed Qi Fang’s drooping peach-blossom eyes and lack of energy. "Qi Fang, what’s wrong with you? Didn’t sleep well again?"
Before Qi Fang could respond, Yan Xue caught the key word in his question. "Again? Does he often have trouble sleeping?"
That morning, she’d also noticed how unusually tired he looked, the red veins faintly visible in the corners of his eyes. When she asked, he’d brushed it off, blaming a dog barking in the night—though she hadn’t heard a thing.
Now that Liu Weiguo mentioned it, she realized Qi Fang did sometimes seem sluggish in the mornings. She’d assumed it was just his nature.
Seeing Qi Fang slow his movements and shoot Liu Weiguo a look, Yan Xue stepped in. "Ignore him. Tell me what’s going on."
So Liu Weiguo obliged. "You haven’t noticed? Maybe it’s gotten better since you got married. He used to have terrible insomnia—why else would he get up at dawn to fetch water? Once, I got up in the middle of the night with stomach trouble and saw him sitting outside staring at the stars. Gave me a real scare."
Yan Xue had no idea. She wasn’t one to wake up at night, and the few times she had, he’d always been right beside her.
But whenever she jolted awake from a nightmare, his reactions were always lightning-fast...
While she was still lost in thought, Qi Fang redirected the conversation. "You were saying about that situation?"
"Right!" Liu Weiguo immediately shifted focus. "Yesterday, Yu Cuiyun made a huge scene, didn’t she? Director Yu rushed over after hearing the commotion and dragged her back home, but they clearly didn’t settle anything. Today, she’s at it again, insisting on hanging ‘broken shoes’ around their necks and parading them through the streets."
"Parading them?" Yan Xue found the term oddly archaic—something she’d only ever encountered in period dramas.
Qi Fang frowned at the mention.
"They did it a few years back in town," Liu Weiguo explained. "During the early days when they were cracking down on moral conduct. Some people caught in affairs were dragged out like that—shoes hung around their necks, even paraded on a Liberation truck through the streets for everyone to see."
"That’s social suicide," Yan Xue muttered. Harsher than being exposed online, where at least you didn’t have to face the crowd directly. This was like being put on display as a circus act.
Director Yu thought his daughter was being ridiculous. "Parade them? Are you trying to humiliate us even more?"
"If they weren’t ashamed of what they did, why should I care?" Yu Cuiyun spat, her fury undiminished even a day later. "That shameless bitch! After everything I did for her, she steals my man and takes gifts from Liang Qimao? Did Lin Shangming not give her enough money, or is she just too lazy to earn her own? If she’s that desperate, why not sell herself? And that ungrateful Liang Qimao—"
Director Yu had heard this tirade one too many times. His initial anger had long since turned to impatience. "Do you think people will remember Liang Qimao’s name in this scandal, or will they remember that it’s my son-in-law, Yu Dalong’s daughter’s husband, who’s been caught in an affair?"
Yu Cuiyun faltered. "But—we can’t just let it go."
The thought of those two walking away unscathed made her blood boil. "You don’t know how disgusting they were. They even went to the same spot where that bitch and I once took shelter from the rain and—"
If Yu Cuiyun could swallow her anger, she wouldn’t be herself. She wouldn’t have been the first suspect when Yan Xue got tangled up with the family brigade.
Director Yu rubbed his temples. "Then what do you want to do? I’ve told you a hundred times—stop nagging Liang Qimao about that tractor driver position. No man wants to hear his wife rubbing his failures in his face. You’re practically pushing him away!"
Even decades later, when a man cheated, people would still ask if his wife was too cold, too neglectful, or too dull in bed. Now, in this era, the bias was even worse.
Director Yu, a man who’d climbed the ranks with his brother-in-law’s help, couldn’t begin to empathize with his daughter.
Yu Cuiyun burst into tears. "So it’s my fault now? Did I force him to marry me? Did I force him to take his pants off for someone else?"
Yu Yongzhi, younger and more hot-headed, shot to his feet. "Sis, don’t listen to Dad. I’ll go tie them up myself and drag them through the streets!"
His mother yanked him back. "Will you stop making things worse? What good would parading them do?"
"Then what? Just let them off?" Yu Yongzhi fumed. "I thought he was a decent guy. Turns out he’s trash!"
After much effort, his mother managed to calm him down, sending him to check on Yu Cuiyun’s kids in the other room—or better yet, take them out for a walk so they wouldn’t be traumatized.
The scandal had already taken its toll. Yu Cuiyun hadn’t shielded her children from the drama, and her eldest hadn’t even gone to school that day.
Once her son was gone, Director Yu’s wife turned to her daughter. "I understand your anger, but think about the children. If you burn all bridges, how will you move forward? How will they?"
By afternoon, there was still no sign of Yu Cuiyun dragging anyone through the streets. When Aunt Guo heard the news, she echoed the same sentiment.
"No matter what, the children come first. If you turn this into a blood feud, how will they ever hold their heads up?"
"If the marriage is unbearable, why not just divorce?" Yan Xue said lightly, unaware of the figure pausing just outside the courtyard at her words.
Aunt Guo looked at her in surprise. "Divorce isn’t that simple. She’s not like that girl from the Lang family—no children, no ties. With two kids, who’s going to feed them?"
That was the tragedy of women in this era. Even with a director for a father, some injustices had to be endured.
Yan Xue couldn’t help adding, "She should’ve asked Director Yu to get her a job instead of pushing for Liang Qimao’s tractor position. If she had her own income, she wouldn’t be trapped in a bad marriage just to feed her kids."
It was a perspective Aunt Guo, born in the old society, could never have imagined. "You've only been married for such a short time—how can you talk about divorce so casually?"
The figure outside the courtyard heard this and paused even longer before abruptly turning and heading in the direction of the Liu family’s home.
Qi Fang: Guys, I'm kinda freaking out here [sad][sad][sad]
