Chapter 57: You Can’t Do This, Cheng Ye

Jiang Xue’s fingers turned white and blue from clenching, but her face betrayed nothing. She let out a slow, even breath.

“Go on, then. Remember to come back for dinner.”

Jiang Shi paused. “Okay.”

After speaking, he glanced at Jiang Xue. He felt a strange sense of unease, but Jiang Xue avoided his gaze.

He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he felt a deep weariness in Jiang Xue’s usually energetic eyes, as if something had broken this steadfast middle-aged woman.

But before he could think more about it, Jiang Xue walked past him.

Jiang Shi stood in place for two seconds before also leaving with his test papers.

After he left, Jiang Xue turned back to watch his figure disappear. She pressed her lips together tightly, turned, and went home.

The fire at home was still burning brightly. Jiang Xue sat by the fire, the flames casting a red glow on her face, a crimson light dancing in her eyes.

She sat for a while before pushing herself up on her legs. Acting as if nothing had happened, she added new charcoal to the fire, then went outside to bring a bundle of dry hay for the cattle pen.

After finishing these chores, she washed her hands and retrieved the sickle she used for work from a corner behind the door. Holding the sickle, she changed into a mud-yellow jacket and went out.

It had been raining every day, and the small path at the entrance was a muddy mess. Jiang Xue climbed the slope, her feet sinking into the mud.

This was a path leading up the mountain. In winter, few people walked it, and it was muddy everywhere. Jiang Xue’s steps were deep and shallow.

After crossing a small slope, she reached a bamboo forest. And below the bamboo forest was Cheng Ye’s house.

Perhaps because the wooden house had poor lighting, Cheng Ye had recently removed the wooden window and installed a transparent glass pane.

The window was very clean. Jiang Xue squatted in the bamboo forest, her gaze passing through the slender branches and leaves of the bamboo, clearly seeing the scene inside.

The firewood was burning brightly. A pot sat on the fire, its contents bubbling. A warm light shone through the glass.

And her son, with his jacket taken off, wearing only a sweater, was being held and sat on a table. A taller, stronger young man stood in front of him.

They were leaning against the glass window, foreheads touching foreheads, nose tips touching nose tips, kissing.

---

Jiang Shi shoved Cheng Ye away.

He leaned back, his head hitting the glass, and let out a soft “hiss.” “Are you a dog? So rough even when kissing?”

Cheng Ye pinched his tongue and examined it. He had been too emotional just now and had accidentally bitten it, breaking a little skin. His lips were also red from being sucked on.

He let go and licked his own upturned lip. “Can’t be helped. Who told the young master to always deny me? It’s natural to lose control when I finally get a taste.”

“Oh, please…” Jiang Shi gave him a kick. “You say that as if you would actually stop if I said no.”

Cheng Ye laughed at the kick. “I’ll try my best.”

“…”

After messing around, Jiang Shi finally remembered the test papers that had been crumpled under his butt.

He finished the papers at Cheng Ye’s place. Thinking about Jiang Xue’s expression when he ran into her earlier, he didn’t stay for dinner and went home as soon as it got dark.

When he arrived home, Jiang Xue was stir-frying vegetables.

Her clothes were somehow covered in mud, and a sickle lay on the floor next to her.

Jiang Shi picked up the sickle and placed it in a corner. He asked her, “What were you doing this afternoon? How did you get like this?”

Jiang Xue placed the stir-fried potato shreds on the table and bent down to get a bowl from the cupboard to ladle out yesterday’s stewed chicken.

“I went to the fields and accidentally fell.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Jiang Xue said. “Just got my clothes dirty. I’ll change and wash them later.”

After speaking, she glanced at Jiang Shi.

Under the light, the young man’s face was rosy-lipped and fair-skinned, looking refreshed and well-nourished.

Jiang Xue turned her face away and closed her eyes.

During dinner, she put meat in Jiang Shi’s bowl and said to him, “I’ve put your living expenses for next month in your room. From now on, if you want or need anything, just tell me. Mom hasn’t spent much money these years, and with so many pigs and cows at home, we have more than enough to raise you.”

Jiang Shi thought it was because of the clothes incident this morning that she was acting this way. He didn’t think much of it and casually agreed, until he saw the money in his room.

A full thousand yuan.

She had directly doubled his living expenses.

Jiang Shi came out with the money to find Jiang Xue. “Mom, why did you suddenly give me so much money?”

Jiang Xue was washing the clothes she had changed out of. Her hands were red from the icy water. Hearing his words, her movements paused, then she continued rubbing the yellow mud. “You’re grown up now. There are always things you want to buy. Take the money and buy whatever you want. Don’t save it for me.”

“But I don’t need this much…”

“Take it even if you don’t need it.” Jiang Xue let out a puff of cold air. “If you want to wear nice clothes, Mom will buy them for you. If you want a new phone, Mom can buy it for you too. Whatever you want, Mom will try her best to give you…”

She looked at Jiang Shi, tears glistening in her eyes. “I don’t ask for anything else from you, only that you are healthy and happy. I’m saving up a betrothal gift for you. When you meet a girl you like, you can marry her in grand style.”

Jiang Shi stood there, holding the money, his heart suddenly skipping a beat. He looked up at Jiang Xue.

Their gazes met in the dim light. Jiang Shi thought she would say something, but in the end, Jiang Xue just bent down and picked up the clothes in the basin.

Her fingertips were numb from the cold. As the water flowed through her fingers, a piercing pain shot through them.

“You’re in your third year of high school now. You don’t need to think about anything else, just study hard.”

Finally, she said, “Go to bed now. I’ll take you to the station tomorrow.”

The light rain stopped, but the wind grew stronger. Jiang Xue stood in the yard, the wind chapping her face.

She heard the sound of Jiang Shi closing the door. As if drained of all strength, she sat down on a chair.

The clothes in her hands dripped with water. Unable to bear it any longer, she bent over and finally cried.

---

After that conversation, life returned to a state of calm. Jiang Shi used the excuse of being busy with his studies to not go home, and Jiang Xue never urged him again.

And so it went until winter break.

It still hadn’t snowed in Lincheng in January, but they encountered freezing weather. A thin layer of ice formed on the ground, the dewdrops on the grass froze into crystal-clear pearls, and the withered branches were bent over.

The weather was incredibly cold. Every household stayed indoors to get through the winter, the smoke from their chimneys melting the white frost on the roofs.

Jiang Shi’s hands were tucked into his sleeves, with only two slender fingers pinching a few test papers. He stood by the door and said to Jiang Xue, who was sewing a shoe sole, “Mom, I’m going out to study with Gao Xinhe.”

Hearing this, Jiang Xue’s movements paused. The needle tip poked into the sole. Her tone was very light. “Okay, go ahead. Will you be back for lunch?”

“It depends. You don’t have to wait for me.”

Jiang Shi knew he had been going out too frequently recently, but he couldn’t help it. Lincheng’s winters were just too torturous.

And Cheng Ye’s house had an air conditioner.

Yes, that dilapidated house of Cheng Ye’s, which looked like it could collapse at any moment, had an air conditioner installed this winter. As long as the doors and windows were closed tightly, it was incredibly warm inside.

He had gone to Cheng Ye’s house several times under the pretext of looking for Gao Xinhe. In fact, Gao Xinhe was also there when Jiang Shi went, because Gao Xinhe also liked the air conditioner at Cheng Ye’s house. But Cheng Ye would only turn it on when Jiang Shi came, so Gao Xinhe would ask Jiang Shi every day what time he was going over.

To make it look more convincing, Jiang Shi even had Gao Xinhe come pick him up.

The two of them said goodbye to Jiang Xue. Jiang Xue kept her head down, pulling a long thread in her hands, saying nothing, her expression unreadable.

With Gao Xinhe’s participation, studying really was just studying. The two of them could only sneak a kiss in Cheng Ye’s room when he wasn’t paying attention.

Jiang Shi always felt that something was off with Jiang Xue. He didn’t dare to stay at Cheng Ye’s house for too long and went home just around noon.

Cheng Ye couldn’t make him stay. After watching Jiang Shi leave, he went back inside to organize his problem sets. Less than two minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

He thought Jiang Shi had forgotten something. He went to open the door and found Jiang Xue standing at the entrance.

Jiang Xue stood in the cold rain, carrying a piece of cured pork leg. On a rainy day, the light was dim, which made the color of her eyes look particularly deep.

Cheng Ye was taken aback. “Auntie Jiang, what are you doing here?”

Jiang Xue said, “I came to see you.”

Cheng Ye was momentarily stunned, then stepped aside to let her in. “It’s a bit messy inside. I hope you don’t mind.”

Jiang Xue stepped inside. “We’re country folk. It’s pretty much the same for everyone.”

She placed the pork leg by the wall and glanced inside. The air conditioner was still on, and it was as warm as spring inside. The furnishings were old. Two desks were placed side by side against the wall. One had a computer, and the other was covered with messy test papers and drafts.

Cheng Ye first got a chair for Jiang Xue, poured her a cup of hot water, and then began to tidy up the things on the desk. “I’ve been busy catching up on winter break homework these past two days, so the desk is a bit messy.”

Jiang Xue forced a smile, her fingers rubbing the rough fabric on the side of her pants. “Your house is so high-class. It looks so dilapidated from the outside, but inside you have an air conditioner and a computer. I’ve lived for so long and have never seen such high-class things.”

Cheng Ye, holding a draft paper full of Jiang Shi’s notes, paused. He lowered his eyes. “The house is too old, it leaks air everywhere. It’s not easy to repair, so I gritted my teeth and bought an air conditioner. If you ever feel cold, you can come over and sit for a while.”

Jiang Xue didn’t respond to his offer. Instead, she asked him, “I hear your grades are pretty good? Xinhe’s dad said you might even be Tsinghua or Peking University material. To think that our broken-down Xiliu Village could produce a top scholar. What kind of blessing is that, accumulated over how many lifetimes?”

“I can see you’re a capable person. Auntie knows your family situation isn’t great, but with your grades, you might have a brilliant future. You’ll go work at a big company, then come back and build a small Western-style house, marry a beautiful wife. How many people will envy you?”

Cheng Ye’s expression slowly changed.

Jiang Xue looked at him. “My Jiang Shi is different. He’s not as smart as you, and his grades aren’t as good as yours. He’s handsome, and it’s easy for people to like him, but you also know that he’s hard to please.”

“When I was pregnant with him, his father and I had already planned it out. We didn’t need him to be very capable or accomplished, as long as he could grow up normally like an ordinary person.”

“I’ve even saved up a betrothal gift for him, just waiting for him to study peacefully, then graduate, get married, and have children…”

The air conditioner hummed. In the ten-plus degree temperature, Cheng Ye felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head. An icy chill sealed his throat, his chest tightened, and he couldn’t even draw a breath.

Jiang Xue turned her face away, her voice trembling.

“Cheng Ye, Auntie knows you’re a good kid too. You’re still young. you haven’t seen the big world, the big cities, so you find it novel. Your grades are so good. You can go to Beijing, to Shanghai. The people there are all glamorous and dazzling. What is Jiang Shi in comparison?”

“As for Jiang Shi, I know him. He looked like he had money before, but no one liked him, no one cared about him. So a little bit of kindness was enough to trick him.”

“He hasn’t suffered, he hasn’t experienced the harsh realities of the world. He’s still naive. He doesn’t know anything…”

“You can’t do this, Cheng Ye.”

Jiang Xue gritted her teeth, her whole body trembling.

“I…”

“Old He and I only have this one son.”