"Sister-in-law—"
Wang Xiaoming's footsteps had already reached the door of the kitchen. Chuntao's heart clenched instantly, feeling as if it would squeeze through her teeth in the next second.
Zhou Zhijun's body also stiffened suddenly, and the force of his grip on Chuntao's small hand increased a bit.
Chuntao looked at him in panic, her eyes full of fear, signaling him to hide quickly.
Fortunately, Wang Xiaoming didn't push the door right away. "Pour some tea for my brother!"
Seeing the door panel move, Zhou Zhijun's expression froze. With a shift of his feet, he stepped behind the door, standing stiffly against the mud wall.
Chuntao hurriedly kicked on her shoes, grabbed the thermos on the stove with one hand, and picked up a coarse porcelain bowl with the other, taking three steps in two to reach the door.
The kitchen door had been pushed halfway open. Seeing her standing at the door with a bowl and thermos, Wang Xiaoming didn't go in. He took them and poured half a bowl of hot water.
"Sister-in-law, it's cold, go to bed early!" He turned to leave with the water, but just as he took a step, he suddenly looked back.
His gaze swept over Chuntao's head, scanning the kitchen with a hint of doubt in his eyes.
Chuntao's heart clenched even tighter, like a string pulled to the extreme, ready to snap with just a little more force.
"Xiaoming—" she called out in a panic, her voice trembling.
Only then did Wang Xiaoming withdraw his gaze and casually said, "Sister-in-law, there seem to be mice in the room, cover all the food well!"
Hearing him say this, the tight string in Chuntao's heart relaxed a bit. She watched him walk towards the main room.
Chuntao let out a long breath in her heart, but her suspended heart hadn't completely fallen. She turned to put the thermos back on the stove and looked at Zhou Zhijun standing straight behind the door.
"Go quickly..." Just as two words were squeezed out of her throat, she was pulled over by him. Her small body crashed hard against his firm chest.
He tightly hugged her thin shoulders, pulled open his cotton-padded jacket, wrapped her whole body in his arms, and warmed her with his body heat.
Chuntao was frightened by his sudden action, but her nose couldn't help but feel sour. She pushed his arm, "Don't... go quickly! It's cold, I want to sleep!"
"Let me hold you for a while longer!" Zhou Zhijun's lips gently rubbed the top of her hair. "When can I hold you every day and warm your bed..."
"Impossible, give up this idea!" Chuntao immediately interrupted his thoughts, but her heart was also trembling as she spoke.
How could she not want to? To have a man to dote on her, to love her, to lean solidly in his arms for warmth, but this thought could never be realized.
"It can, it definitely can!" Zhou Zhijun tightened his arms, his tone resolute. "There's nothing Zhou Zhijun wants to do that he can't accomplish!"
That night, Chuntao lay in bed, her mind tossing and turning with Zhou Zhijun's words.
She didn't dare to think deeply about how Zhou Zhijun could accomplish this.
In her dream, Wang Jieshi came at her with a stick.
Liu Cuilan pulled her hair, tore her clothes, and dragged her to the street. "Everyone, come and look! This is a woman who steals men!"
Even the Wang Xiaohong siblings, who usually protected her, stood in the crowd spitting on her, cursing her for being no good.
Her grandmother knelt on the ground crying to the heavens, "Oh God! How did I raise such a disgraceful granddaughter!"
Wang Lanhua, carrying a big belly, stood with her hands on her hips and cursed, "Shameless! You were exchanged for me, I won't live with your brother either!"
Chuntao woke up with a start from the nightmare. Her coarse cloth shirt was soaked in cold sweat, her back was chilly, and she felt a lingering fear in her heart!
If the nightmare came true! It would be too terrible!
The sky was already slightly bright. Chuntao climbed out of bed, tightened her old cotton-padded jacket, and walked towards the kitchen wrapped in a chill.
A new day began in this bone-piercing cold.
After breakfast, Zhou Zhijun went to the street to attend the New Year's market. Before leaving, he deliberately came to tell Chuntao not to go again.
Chuntao wanted to say she would go herself, but he had already walked away with his long legs.
At noon, Zhou Zhijun returned. He didn't go back to his own house but carried half a sack of New Year's goods straight to Chuntao's kitchen.
Chuntao was boiling the pot, and Wang Xiaohong was washing dried vegetables by the stove.
"Uncle Zhijun, what's this?" Wang Xiaohong looked up, her eyes full of curiosity, though she had already guessed eight or nine tenths in her heart.
"New Year's goods." Zhou Zhijun said, opening the mouth of the sack and first taking out a piece of pork.
It weighed a full four or five catties. In that era when people couldn't eat meat all year round, this much meat was enough for a rich New Year.
Zhou Zhijun thought to himself that the bastard Wang Jieshi didn't deserve to eat meat, but for Chuntao's sake, he had to buy more, otherwise she wouldn't even get a bite.
Besides pork, the sack also contained a bundle of vermicelli, two packets of coarse salt, large red paper for writing couplets, several strings of firecrackers, and even fruit boxes for visiting relatives, everything was complete.
"Uncle Zhijun, with so many things, it must have cost a lot of money, right?" Wang Xiaohong felt very sorry looking at these New Year's goods.
Her family had spent a lot of Zhou Zhijun's money over the past four years and only recently used a cow to pay off the debt, and now they owed him a favor again.
"Uncle Zhijun, tell me how much it is, I'll write it down, and when I have money in the future, I'll pay you back!"
Zhou Zhijun waved his hand and didn't speak.
If it weren't for Chuntao, just based on Liu Cuilan and Wang Jieshi's behavior, he wouldn't even bother to touch the edge of the Wang family.
When coming back from the street, Huang Meili and Zhou Xiaoying followed behind him.
The mother and daughter had also gone to the New Year's market. When they reached the village entrance and saw Zhou Zhijun carrying half a sack of things straight into the Wang family's house, the sourness in their hearts suddenly surged up.
"Last time I asked your father to borrow money, he said he didn't have a penny, and then he turns around and has money to buy things for outsiders!" Huang Meili's face collapsed, muttering in a low voice.
Zhou Xiaoying curled her lips, "Mother, my second uncle isn't without money, he just doesn't want to lend it to us! We are his real family, how can he be like this!"
The mother and daughter returned home indignantly. Huang Meili couldn't help but scold Zhou Zhimin, but there was no other way.
In the following days, Zhou Zhijun wasn't idle and made a new bed for Chuntao.
This bed was one point five meters wide and one point eight meters long. Although he wasn't a professional carpenter, it was made sturdy and durable, and no matter how much tossing and turning there was, it wouldn't creak.
Wang Xiaoming and Zhou Zhijun carried the big bed together into the empty room in the north house.
This way, the family would have three beds. When he went to school, everyone in the family could sleep on a separate bed.
"Uncle Zhijun, this bed is really solid! You can tell it's made of good wood at a glance!" Wang Xiaoming patted the bed board, making a "thump, thump" sound.
The corners of Zhou Zhijun's mouth curled up, and he replied "Hmm". These woods were all hard miscellaneous woods he had pulled back bit by bit when collecting firewood on the mountain over the past few years, they were indeed good materials.
Last year when Zhou Zhimin saw them, he wanted them to make a bed for Zhou Xiaoying and Zhou Xiaomei, but Zhou Zhijun couldn't bear to give them. Now they were finally used in the right place.
He thought in his heart, the broken little bed in Chuntao's house before was narrow and not sturdy, couldn't spread out at all, and he was afraid it would fall apart with a little force. This big bed, no matter how much tossing and turning, would be fine.
"Sister-in-law, Uncle Zhijun has finished making the bed! It's big and solid, go take a look quickly!" Wang Xiaohong ran to the kitchen and pulled Chuntao towards the north house.
Looking at the brand-new, spacious wooden bed, Chuntao could not help but recall those embarrassing, intimate scenes. Her small face instantly flushed crimson, and even the tips of her ears grew hot.
Zhou Zhijun's gaze fell upon her face. Staring at her deeply flushed ears, a storm of desire surged within his own heart.
It was just a pity that the bed was in the wrong place.
Zhou Zhijun had gone to the tofu workshop in Nangang to press a large block of tofu. After dinner, he brought half of it over to Chuntao, along with a large bowl of leftover tofu dregs for her to stir-fry with their meals.
Chuntao was in the kitchen kneading dough for steamed buns. They did not have much white flour left at home, so she planned to steam a batch of white buns to treat their guests, while the family would make do with steamed scallion twists and dark coarse-grain buns.
Zhou Zhijun watched the plump, round little dough balls taking shape in her hands and asked with a perfectly straight face, Why are they so small?
The dough hasn't risen yet. They will get bigger once they are steamed! Chuntao answered casually.
But when she lifted her head to look at him and caught the dark, heated look in his eyes, she suddenly realized the double meaning behind his words. In an instant, her cheeks burned even hotter.
