The Green Lotus Peasant Girl

Chapter 124: Extra Two

"Did you know that the Yang family from the town is going to move to our village?"

"From whom did you hear it?" Someone questioned.

"I heard it from my nephew. Zhao Dashan sold his house to the Yang family." A woman said.

Zhou Chengkang passed by the entrance of the village in his carriage and happened to hear this conversation. He knew about the Yang family but didn't pay much attention to the news.

He went straight to his house, but he didn't take the nearest route. Instead, he intentionally took a detour and went home along a different route that led to the Xu's family house. The road was wider and no one would suspect him of any ulterior motives. When passing by Xu's family house, he slowed down his carriage. He found the person he was longing to look for. Watching the young woman clean the yard, he felt relieved and in pain at the same time.

When he saw that the person had heard the sound of his carriage and raised her head to look over, Zhou Chengkang flicked his horsewhip, and the horse sped up and galloped away.

When he passed by their house the next day, he saw that the Yang family was moving into their next house. He noticed that Xu Changjie, who doesn't come back often after getting married, was helping the Yang family repair their fence yard and was extremely busy helping them. Zhou Chengkang's eyes turned cold as he saw this scene.

Seeing Xu Changjie, he actually went crazy with jealousy. It wasn't for anything else but just because he married the person he wanted to hold in his hands.

Because the Yang family's yard was quite old and had a dilapidated fence, it would take a lot of time to repair it. So in the following days, whenever he would pass by Xu's family house, he would always find Xu Changjie helping repair the fence. Occasionally the girl from the Yang family would wipe his sweat and serve him tea and water. The moment when they two looked at each other was seen by an outsider, one could tell just by a glance they were not just ordinary neighbors. There was something more between them.

Zhou Chengkang was filled with anger. He knew that Xu Changjie came back often to the village and he would need to go to the town every morning for his work. So, he deliberately went to town for several days until he accidentally "met" him.

Xu Changjie often traveled to and fro from village to town and often took rides from people with ox carriages or horse carriages. So, he didn't sit inside the carriage and sat with Zhou Chengkang outside.

"Brother Zhou, your cart can support raising a whole family," Xu Changjie praised him.

He still had a smile on his face. After all, he was taking a favor from the other person. Zhou Chengkang looked at him with a stern face and said seriously, "Recently, I heard that you have gotten close with the girl from the Yang family. Is there something going on between you two? Are you going to take a concubine?"

Of course, he wouldn't be so stupid to directly say that he should treat Li Qinghe better. It would not help instead it would be like pouring dirt on her.

Xu Changjie was surprised to hear him ask this question, "Why did Brother Zhou say that?"

Zhou Chengkang didn't pay attention to his question. Seeing that they had reached the entrance of the town, Xu Changjie got out of the carriage. He sneered and said, "I would like to give a piece of advice to Brother Xu. You should live your married life happily and not provoke other girls."

Xu Changjie looked at him in surprise, "Do you like Lanrou?"

Like her, my fart!

In his eyes, that delicate woman who called everyone 'brother' was actually very similar to the woman who receives customers in a brothel. The only difference between them was that one was selling her body while the other liked to be admired by everyone. The latter was even more disgusting.

Lanrou?

He even called her so intimately. No one would believe it if he said there was nothing between them. Even ghosts would not believe it. Zhou Chengkang couldn't bear it anymore. He jumped from the carriage, stepped forward and punched him in the face, and kicked him a few times, "I'm warning you, if you flirt with other girls I'll beat you again!"

"Lanrou will never like you. The person she likes is me." Xu Changjie spat out the blood in his mouth, "If you want to marry her, it can only be in your next life."

His words really hurt Zhou Chengkang's heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidney and he couldn't hold back his hostility and anger any longer. So, he stepped forward and kicked him hard, "You are married. Can't you live a good life with your wife?"

For a moment, he thought in his mind that he might as well kill him and wait for Li Qinghe to become a widow and then later marry her.

However, for it to happen the premise should be that he wasn't caught killing him.

Even though it was early in the morning, as the fight between the two made noise, someone already noticed them.

Zhou Chengkang drove back home in his carriage. He was thinking about it. He felt that there was a loophole in his plan. He wasn't afraid of killing him, what he was afraid of was that he would not be able to get out of jail if caught. Then he would not be able to marry her and his wish would remain unfulfilled.

When he got home, his mother was muttering to him again, "Don't just run around outside every day. Marry a wife earlier and have a baby."

Zhou Chengkang got tired of hearing it. He turned around and went out with his bow and arrow in his hands.

He had to think about it!

He went to Uncle Hu's house and lived there for about half a month and thought about his plan.

When he went down the mountain to sell his prey, passing by the Xu family house, he saw that their house was covered with a white cloth.

He was startled for a second. The old couple from the Xu family were in good health and no one in the family was sick, so he had a bad premonition in his heart.

He jumped out of his carriage and went to inquire when he heard someone say that Li Qinghe had passed away.

Qinghe is gone.

She was fine half a month ago and was cleaning the yard. Although she has lost quite a lot of weight, how can she pass away?

Hearing this and at the same time as he looked at Li Fu who was crying sadly, he felt dazed as if a thunderbolt had struck him. He heard Xu Changjie's mother say: "Qinghe died of illness and she didn't look good in the end. It was not appropriate to keep her body for the rites…"

There wasn't even a coffin for her. Her body was just rolled into the straw mat and thrown into the mountains.

Zhou Chengkang wanted to run forward and fight, but suddenly he calmed down. He didn't want to ruin her reputation. He turned around, went to town, and sold his prey. He then bought a coffin and went to find her body.

He found that she wasn't really in a straw mat but a thin coffin, which he heard was bought by Li Fu. There were also some funeral offerings beside her.

After opening the coffin and looking at the person inside it, his eyes gradually blurred. For the first time in his life, he embraced her!

Finally… he hugged her.

She was very thin. His chest hurt when he hugged her tightly. It was as if a knife was pressed into his heart again and again.

It started to rain at some point. He wiped her face and hugged her tightly. He felt the person in his arms turn lighter and stagger toward the mountain. His voice turned hoarse and he choked in between his words, "Qinghe, I will be with you from now on. You should forget about him, okay? What's so good about him anyway? Isn't he just good-looking only?"

"If there is a next life, I will definitely protect my face. I'll definitely be no worse than him."

Suddenly a crow crowed in his ear and Zhou Chengkang opened his eyes. He hugged the person in his arms. The person was warm and not like the cold and thin skeleton in his arms.

He felt his face getting wet. He took his hand out from the quilt and reached out to touch his face. It was full of tears and only then did he realize that his pillow was wet too.

The corner of his mouth couldn't help but raise as he hugged the person in his arms even tighter. Outside the window, the sky was already bright and Zhou Chengkang didn't fall asleep again. He held the person in his arms and felt satisfied. Watching the sky brighten up gradually, he got up lightly and walked out of the door quietly.

After washing up, he went to the kitchen to cook food and when he brought the food into the bedroom he saw his wife sitting in front of the dressing table and combing her hair. She was over 30 years old but she still looked like a young and beautiful girl.

Seeing him enter the room. Li Qinghe asked him with a smile, "Why did you wake up early?"

"I woke up from the chicken clucking and couldn't fall asleep again. So, I got up and made noodles for you." He walked to the dressing table, took the comb, and helped her comb her hair, "I want to go to town later."

Li Qinghe looked at him in surprise, "Didn't you go there yesterday?"

Zhou Chengkang coughed, "I suddenly remembered that there are still some things I need to buy." He pulled her to sit on the bed and said, "Xiyu and Jun'er went to mother's place. Yesterday, mother told me that they will stay there for the night and today they will study with Bin'er."

Li Qinghe ate the noodles and asked casually, "What do you want to buy?"

Zhou Chengkang almost choked and took a sip of water, "I want to go there and have a look… to buy some makeup for you."

"No need." Li Qinghe pointed to the dressing table, "You just bought it for me last month."

"Well, I'll buy some more to use in the future." Zhou Chengkang said solemnly, "I heard a new product was released and after using it there will be no wrinkles on one's face."

How can it be possible?

Li Qinghe had a look of disbelief on her face and stretched out her hand to touch his face, "You think I'm too old? I never minded you for being so dark yet!"

Zhou Chengkang froze and asked tentatively, "Am I really dark-skinned?"

He stopped eating noodles, got up, and went to the dressing table to look in the mirror. But unfortunately, the mirror was blurred and the weather was not good at the moment. It was impossible to tell whether he was dark or not. He touched his face and frowned, "Am I too dark? Do I look old?"

Looking at the entangled person in front of the mirror, Li Qinghe was stunned and couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong with you today?"

"Even if I'm old you mustn't dislike me." Zhou Chengkang walked back to the bed and peeled her an egg and said in a low voice, "Little boy is not good…"

"That's not necessarily true. Isn't Min Rui very good?" Even though their child was more than ten years old, he will accept whatever Yu Yan says. If she points him to go east, then he wouldn't dare to go west.

Zhou Chengkang put an egg in her mouth and said, "Anyway, you are not allowed to think about others. I must be the best to you."

"Did I miss something?" Li Qinghe reached out her hand and touched his forehead, "Have you heard other people's nonsense? Did you dream about anything last night?"

His mind was in the right state. He coughed, "Hurry up and eat. We can go out after eating."

When they went to the town later, he really dragged Li Qinghe to the makeup shop and asked the shopkeeper to bring out the most expensive and latest creams. After looking at it, he asked the shopkeeper, "Let's discuss the price, shall we?"

He then pulled him aside and asked, "Are there any products for men?"

There were really products for men. Zhou Chengkang paid the bill and went home satisfied with several boxes of makeup products.

In the middle of the night, Li Qinghe was awakened by some rustling sounds as soon as she fell asleep. It seemed to her that someone was near the dressing table and moving things. She stretched out her hand to the side but unexpectedly she found the space next to her empty. When she opened her eyes she saw Zhou Chengkang was lighting a candle in front of the dressing table and was applying something on his face. She couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing instead of sleeping at night?"

She saw the person in front of the table freeze and slowly turn around awkwardly and ask, "Qinghe, why are you awake?"

Seeing his face covered in white, she couldn't help laughing and said, "If you go out like this, you will scare people."

Zhou Chengkang put his hands down, "Really? It doesn't look good?" Then he became angry, "The man lied to me! He clearly said that men will turn white after applying it!"

"Go back to sleep. It's the middle of the night!" Li Qinghe laid back on the bed and said, "What are you fussing about, I don't dislike your old age. Besides, I'm getting old too."

Hearing that she didn't dislike him, Zhou Chengkang was satisfied and stopped putting on the cream. He ran back to bed and hugged her, "Remember what you said, you will not dislike me when I get old!"

Li Qinghe hummed and said casually, "I will not dislike you. Will you dislike me when I'm old?"

"No matter what you are, I will always have the same heart(feelings) for you. Zhou Chengkang hugged her cautiously as if he was embracing a dream he had never dared to dream of in his two lifetimes. He only hoped that he would never wake up in his lifetime.