Chapter 23

Curled up on the kang with her back to Qin Yuanzheng, Bai Xinmei could feel her face burning. She was mortified and shy; she’d never dealt with anything like this in her life.
The tiny mud-brick house was so quiet at night it was almost frightening.
Qin Yuanzheng’s gaze lingered on the pale strip of waist exposed by the way she’d curled in on herself. His eyes darkened. He pressed his lips together and finally sighed.
Forget it. He wouldn’t force her.
Just as Jiang Wei, now Bai Xinmei, heard him shift, clearly about to get up and leave, the system chimed in.
[Your popularity has been trailing behind Long Huasheng from the Male Lead Division this whole time. It only spiked a bit just now, when things were almost at the mosaic line. Are you sure you want to let this cannon-fodder walk out?]
…These viewers really had heavy tastes, huh. Only interested once the content needed pixelation. Bai Xinmei felt black lines dripping down her forehead.
“Come back,” she blurted.
The tall, broad-shouldered figure at the door stopped, but didn’t turn around.
His voice was low and warm, tinged with that steady soldier’s calm. “You don’t have to force yourself. A few years from now, when things aren’t so tense, if you want to leave, I’ll make arrangements for you.”
He paused, then added quietly, “We haven’t consummated the marriage. We’re not truly husband and wife. It won’t delay you… marrying and having children in the future.”
“I want to,” she said, cheeks blazing. “Mother said… you’re going back to the army tomorrow. She wants the two of us t-to…”
She trailed off, unable to say the word.
She was agreeing?
A sudden, boyish elation shot through Qin Yuanzheng, more intense than the thrill of winning a battle. The corners of his mouth tugged up on their own.
But hesitation still lingered. He was afraid Meimei was only doing this because she felt she had to.
Four years ago, when he’d rushed back from the army to fetch her, that was the second time he’d seen the little miss.
She’d been fourteen, maybe, in a white dress, already slender and graceful. Her face was wet with tears, eyes full of panic and dread for the future.
He’d brought her back to Lotus Village while she sobbed all the way, muttering all kinds of resentful, unpatriotic things, words that were hardly conducive to unity or social stability.
By rights, he should have given her a harsh lecture.
But he couldn’t bring himself to.
He was grateful to the bright, lively eight-year-old Meimei who’d paid his way into military school. He pitied the fourteen-year-old Meimei whose home had been destroyed, whose face was clouded with grief.
As Meimei slowly grew up, day by day, into the most beautiful girl for ten li in any direction, each time those limpid eyes turned back to look at him, it became harder and harder for him to keep his composure.
He’d told himself again and again that they were only husband and wife on paper, that this was a debt he owed her and nothing more, and that he should never wish for anything else.
But desire wasn’t something he could simply order away, so he’d planted himself in the army year-round, coming home as little as he could.
After all those thoughts churned once around his gut, what finally came out of his mouth was: “Did Mother push you into this?”
“No,” she mumbled, face burning. “No, I… I agreed.”
In the darkness, the soft rustle of clothing filled the tiny room.
Since that was the case, he decided not to dither. He was a grown man who’d marched and fought his way across battlefields, being wishy-washy wasn’t his style. He swore silently that from this night on, he would stake his life on treating his wife well.
He’d already sworn to Madam Bai before: if he ever wronged Meimei, may he die under enemy bullets and shells, blown to pieces so not even an arm or a leg could be found.
Bai Xinmei’s heart was hammering in her throat when a few pale boxes suddenly popped up in front of her eyes.
[Hehehe, really looking forward to what happens next. from user: “Pre-Game Enema”]
[This is exactly the content I deserve after a lifetime of good deeds. from user: “Banana Peel Enthusiast”]
…
[Congratulations, intern from the Female Supporting Role Division, Jiang Wei, you’ve received your first live barrage. Your popularity is rising. Current score: 12.6. Keep it up.]
Strangely, her nerves eased a little.
There aren’t going to be that many people watching this, right? she thought.
[Please rest assured, intern. This isn’t a “banana-colored” livestream room. We will reserve ample private space.]
A man’s heavy breath warmed her face. In the moonlight, she could make out Qin Yuanzheng’s handsome, resolute features, eyes lit with a nameless fire, hair at his temples slightly damp.
Her cheeks flamed scarlet, right up until she saw him loosen his belt and…
In a flash, Bai Xinmei went pale again. All interest vanished.
She shoved at Qin Yuanzheng’s shoulder, gaze suddenly clear. “Qin Yuanzheng, go sleep in the outer room. I’ve changed my mind.”
“Meimei, I…”
He had no idea why she’d flipped again, and there was a faint wounded note in his voice.
“Qin Yuanzheng, I order you to sleep outside,” she said, little-miss temper flaring.
But with the arrow already nocked, he decided to fight for himself just once.
“Meimei, it’ll be quick. You count a few numbers, and I’ll be done.”
“Really?”
“Really. I swear.”
Unwilling but resigned, Bai Xinmei thought: Well, sticking out my neck is one chop, shrinking back is also one chop. And this time when he went back to the army, there was no guarantee he’d return at all. She might as well treat it as repaying him for all these years.
[Why is the screen black? Is there content here that even I, a VIP user, can’t watch? I’ll pay, damn it!, from user: “Marry a Rich White Beauty”]
[Tsk tsk tsk, “You count a few numbers and I’ll be done.” A man’s mouth is the biggest liar of all., from user: “Director of Gauze Fork Mental Hospital”]
…
After a stretch of thoroughly child-unfriendly content,
In the hazy darkness of night, inside the tiny mud-brick house, a conversation drifted out.
“Qin Yuanzheng, are you done yet? I’ve already counted to thirty.”
“Almost, almost. Just a bit more.”
“Qin Yuanzheng, you mud-legged peasant! You’re ungrateful, shameless, you might as well torment me to death. You just don’t want to take care of this burden anymore. Should’ve let me die in that fire at the Bai house in the first place!”
Later, when Bai Xinmei was so sleepy her head was nodding, she mumbled, “Qin Yuanzheng… Qin Yuanzheng…”
The man leaned in close to listen.
“Qin Yuanzheng, the… the rooster’s crowing already. How are you still not done…”
Qin Yuanzheng pressed a hand to his forehead, both exasperated and amused.
His Meimei was truly adorable.
As for the “burden” she’d mentioned, that was something he’d never once thought. Even if she really was a burden, he’d happily carry her for a lifetime.
The next morning, the sun was already high before Bai Xinmei finally dragged herself awake. When Mother Qin came in with a bowl of steamed egg and told her that Qin Yuanzheng had gone back to the army, her face was all lit up with joy.
It was as if she’d eaten some miraculous elixir; even her half-blind eyes seemed three degrees brighter.
In front of Bai Xinmei, though, she stayed cautious and deferential. She’d worked as a servant in the Bai household more than ten years; respect for the Bai family was etched in her bones. That bit of servility never quite washed out.
Qin Yuanzheng had tried to correct her thinking before, only to realize it did more harm than good, he was turning his mother into some neither-fish-nor-fowl creature. So, in the end, he’d let her be.
Back to the army already? Bai Xinmei thought, staring blankly up at the rafters.
Did he get up right after… finishing? That early?
[666. This cannon-fodder’s tall, long-legged, got a war dog’s waist, and on top of that his skills aren’t bad. What a pity he’s about to get chopped.]
[Our streamer looks like she’s had her soul sucked out. You okay there?]
Soon, someone in the audience rewarded her with a bottle of “Jade Dew Rejuvenation Ointment.”
So this was the kind of “surprise item” viewers could tip her with.
…It’s sort of useful, she admitted, mouth twitching.
[This is a workplace injury. Absolutely a workplace injury. I want to apply for leave.]
Jiang Wei, now Bai Xinmei, lodged a formal complaint with the system.
[Interns can only be fired.]
The cool, mechanical voice gave only one answer.
“Fired,” in the system’s mouth, meant “erased”, wiped out of existence, soul included. The word alone made her blood run cold.
She stayed in bed until the afternoon before she managed to get up. Thankfully, Grandma Qin had gone to the brigade captain yesterday to ask for leave on her behalf, and even slipped the captain’s wife a tin of Snowflake Cream.
Otherwise Bai Xinmei would probably have been the talk of Lotus Village again: the capitalist miss lazing in bed, refusing to work, her thinking so backward that even the influence of a PLA comrade husband couldn’t scrub away her “capitalist vices.”
“Yo, little sister-in-law, up bright and early, aren’t you?”
She’d just finished dressing and stepped outside when she ran smack into her eldest brother-in-law’s wife, Li Zhaodi, the daughter of an old widower from the neighboring village.
Old Man Li had driven himself mad wanting a son. He’d sired five daughters and kept going until he ran his wife into the grave, same as Eldest Brother Qin’s first wife, dead in childbirth.
They said that last one had been a stillborn boy. Old Man Li had cried his eyes out at home, then gone properly unhinged.
He claimed his daughters’ “heavy yin energy” had cursed his son to death. These “ill-omened money-losers,” he said, were so worthless that if anyone gave him five ten-yuan notes, they could just take one away, didn’t matter if the man was a bachelor, a thug, or a known bad element. He’d use the cash to buy another wife and try for a boy again.
When Bai Xinmei had been in the village long enough to hear that bit of gossip, she could only stare and say: “6-6-6, what ruthless logic.”
Now Li Zhaodi trudged by with a basket of pig grass on her back, sourness dripping from every word.
Bai Xinmei didn’t want to pick a fight. For all her mouthiness, this sister-in-law wasn’t truly bad, her life had been miserable enough. She was just simple-minded and blunt to a fault.
But Li Zhaodi had sharp eyes. She spotted the bowl Bai Xinmei was trying to hide behind her, licked her pale, chapped lips, and raised her voice in a sharp, carrying screech that the entire Qin household could hear.
“Mother steamed an egg for you, didn’t she?”
“No. I was thirsty. There’s just water in here,” Bai Xinmei said smoothly.
She wasn’t stupid. If she admitted Mother Qin had steamed her an egg, the whole yard would explode.
“Ah-yo-yo, just look at people and people,” Li Zhaodi crowed. “You lie in bed with your man till noon and Mother rewards you with a steamed egg. She’s even going to town to buy cloth for you, make you new clothes.”
She might as well have said outright that Mother Qin was blatantly playing favorites.
The part about the cloth, though, that was news to Bai Xinmei.
Just then, Mother Qin came back and saw her eldest daughter-in-law blocking the doorway.
“Hey now, eldest one, what are you up to?” she called.
Li Zhaodi clamped her mouth shut, but grievance was written all over her face.
“It’s just a bowl of steamed egg. What’s there to squawk about?” Mother Qin snorted. “Yuanzheng had it made for his wife. If you want some, tell Yuangang to make you one. As for the cloth, that’s even less up for debate. Yuanzheng told me to buy it for his wife.”
She turned to Bai Xinmei. “When you married in, your father asked for fifty yuan in big unity notes. You didn’t bring back so much as a stool for your old mother.”
Scolded so thoroughly, Li Zhaodi flung down her basket and ran back into her room in tears.
Watching the whole scene left Bai Xinmei a bit embarrassed. “Mother, I don’t need that much cloth. Give half to Sister-in-law.”
Mother Qin pursed her lips, thought it over. Since the younger one was willing to share, that would settle things nicely. She did want a peaceful house, after all.
She’d nearly emptied half their savings marrying off her eldest son, so she’d never had much warmth for the eldest daughter-in-law.
When Li Zhaodi received the two feet of cloth, she wiped at her face and dug out two bright red wild fruits from her blouse to give back in thanks.
Just like that, the sisters-in-law inched a little closer together.
Life went on in its noisy, quarrelsome way, and Jiang Wei, living as Bai Xinmei, gradually grew used to it.
Until, more than a month later, the day she was cutting rice in the paddy field and suddenly collapsed.
The women working nearby immediately started clucking and gossiping. “There she goes fainting again, must be faking it to skip work.”
It wasn’t until someone realized she wasn’t moving at all that panic set in. The water in the field came up to their calves; if she fell face-down unconscious, she could drown.
They dragged Bai Xinmei out of the water and ran to call the Qin family.
“Shuzhen, your Yuanzheng’s wife just keeled over in the field. Looks like it’s serious.”
At those words, Mother Qin dropped her sickle on the spot and rushed over, calling for Eldest Brother Qin and Old Man Qin as she went.