"It's alright, they're gone." Zhou Zhijun tossed the dry branch in his hand aside and reached out to help her up.
But Chuntao shrank back, looking at him with a complicated gaze. Her lips moved as if to say something, but in the end, no sound came out.
The sun in the west was still a pole's height above the horizon when rain suddenly began to fall from the sky. Chuntao's slight frame shivered violently from the cold.
Zhou Zhijun's eyes were full of heartache. He called softly, "Tao!" As he spoke, he pulled her into his embrace. "Let me help you get your clothes on, don't catch cold!"
Zhou Zhijun stuffed it into his pocket, then fished out from his inner pocket a small undergarment he had kept hidden for a long time.
He carefully draped the undergarment over her.
"I don't want it!" Chuntao suddenly reached to pull the undergarment away. She had already learned the bitter lesson that "small gains lead to great losses" and didn't want to owe him any more favors.
"Consider this my compensation!" His words seemed reasonable enough, but Chuntao understood his intentions better than anyone.
Zhou Zhijun helped her fasten the undergarment and noticed a patch of crimson on the dry grass beneath her. An overwhelming sense of happiness surged within him.
He saw that her small underclothes were torn. He wanted to throw them away, but if he did, she'd have nothing to wear. He could only help her put them on for now, mentally planning to go to the supply and marketing cooperative another day to buy some cloth and make her two new pairs.
All these years, she had been oppressed and bullied by Liu Cuilan, not even having a single decent piece of clothing. Now that the households had separated, he had to support this girl properly, help her life gradually prosper.
Chuntao had been thoroughly taken advantage of by him... Feelings of grievance and humiliation intertwined in her heart, and her tears flowed uncontrollably.
A button had fallen off her coarse outer jacket, revealing the undergarment beneath. The cold wind blew in through the open front, making her shiver all over.
Her lips were also turning purple from the cold. Zhou Zhijun took off his own jacket and draped it over her shoulders, carefully buttoning it up.
"I won't wear it!" Chuntao stubbornly went to undo the buttons. Zhou Zhijun hurriedly grabbed her hand.
"Your jacket doesn't have a single button, it's showing your undergarment inside. If someone sees, they'll start gossiping again!"
"But if I wear your clothes, people will gossip even more.
We managed to fool Zhou Ergan today, but if I go back wearing your clothes, isn't that admitting guilt without being accused?"
Chuntao kept her head down, not daring to look at him, but her voice was unusually firm.
"It's almost dark, no one will see. Let's go!"
Chuntao could barely stand. Zhou Zhijun looked around and, seeing no one, bent down, hoisted her over his shoulder, and carried her all the way to where she had been cutting grass.
The grass basket and hoe were still there. Chuntao sniffled. "You go first. I'll leave in a bit."
Zhou Zhijun didn't say a word. He reached out and picked the bits of grass from her hair, then undid her messy braid. Gently combing it smooth with his fingers, he tied it into a simple ponytail for her.
His movements were incredibly tender, a world apart from his frenzied state earlier. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, Chuntao would never have believed it was the same person.
"It's getting dark, you go back first. I'll follow in a while," he said.
Chuntao carried the grass basket. Her legs were weak and sore, every step taking all her strength.
When she returned home, Xiaohong was washing the newly bought pots, bowls, and ladles. "Sis-in-law, it's already raining, why are you only back now? I was just about to go look for you!"
Chuntao gave a vague reply, dumped the grass into the pigpen, and headed towards the main room, wanting to change her clothes quickly.
But just as she reached the doorway, someone walked out from the inner room—it was actually Wang Haichao!
He had a few pieces of clothing draped over one arm and a flashlight in his other hand.
The two nearly collided in the doorway, and Chuntao took a frightened step back.
"Jieshi's wife, I didn't finish getting all my clothes, came to fetch them," Wang Haichao said politely, but his eyes were fixed slyly on Chuntao's face. "Even though we're living separately now, we're still family. Feel free to come over to the front courtyard to visit anytime!"
The beam of the flashlight moved from her face down to her chest. When Wang Haichao saw the oversized man's jacket she was wearing, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Jieshi's wife, whose clothes are these? They look an awful lot like Zhou Zhijun's to me."
