Chapter 14: The Female Lead Again?

Zhou Chenglei's gaze had originally been on Jiang Xia's hands, but hearing her words, he turned to glance at the ground she had weeded. He was surprised by how quickly she had learned, but his temperament was cold and aloof; he couldn't bring himself to offer praise, so he simply said, "You two sit down. I'm going to take this trash out."

Then, he picked up two large woven bags full of weeds and headed out.

Humans are social animals, so villagers' houses are generally clustered together in one area.

The old Zhou family house had many neighbors. In the span of half a morning, many villagers had been passing back and forth, and soon, most of the village knew that the Zhou family had split their household.

Zhou Chenglei and Jiang Xia had moved into the old house.

A group of women were gathered together mending fishing nets, all discussing the matter.

"Why did the Zhou family suddenly split up?"

"Do you even need to ask? You can guess with your toes that it must be that educated daughter-in-law causing trouble. She clearly isn't the type to settle down; she's tearing the family apart. Any man who marries a woman like that is out of luck!"

"What's the use of being pretty? Look at her—she doesn't even know how to hold a hoe. She clearly can't do any housework! Why marry her? Just to have her as a decoration?"

"Being too pretty is useless; she'll just run off with someone else! Zhou Chenglei's head is as empty as the weeds in that yard, haha!"

Zhou Chenglei, carrying a bag of weeds in each hand, suddenly came to a halt right in front of them.

The women looked up and fell silent instantly.

"She didn't run off with someone else that day. That person was her high school classmate, whom I also know; he was looking for her regarding the college entrance exams. Don't misunderstand again. I don't want to hear these words in the future—it would be even worse if she heard them."

Having said that, Zhou Chenglei passed by them with an expressionless face, carrying the two large bags of weeds.

He didn't even know why he had stopped to say that; he had never cared about such gossip before.

Rumors tend to fade away as they spread.

Perhaps it was because of the blisters on her palms.

Zhou Chenglei had joined the army right after graduating middle school and served for over a decade. He had been to the battlefield and killed enemies. When he was angry, his overwhelming aura was more than a few village women could handle.

The women watched him walk away, not even daring to breathe heavily. They didn't dare speak until he had finished disposing of the trash and returned. Even as he walked past, they kept their heads down, pretending to be very focused on weaving their nets.

Only after Zhou Chenglei's figure had completely disappeared did they breathe a sigh of relief. It took a long while of silence before someone spoke, and even then, they tacitly agreed not to discuss the Zhou family anymore.

*

When Zhou Chenglei returned from taking out the trash, Great-Grandmother was teaching Jiang Xia how to draw water with a bucket.

The old house's well was not equipped with a hand pump; to draw water, one had to drop a bucket tied to a rope directly into the well and pull it up.

Jiang Xia hadn't tried it before. She dropped the bucket into the well, but it floated on the surface and wouldn't sink no matter how much she shook it. After a long struggle, she had only managed to get half a bucket of water.

Great-Grandmother pulled it up and demonstrated again. After two attempts, Jiang Xia finally succeeded in submerging the bucket and filled it completely.

She said happily, "I did it!"

Great-Grandmother smiled and continued to guide her, "That's great, you learned it in one go! Be careful when pulling it up. It's easier to use your strength if you wrap the rope around your arm..."

Jiang Xia happily pulled the bucket up, but she had overestimated her physical strength. Halfway through, her foot slipped. She lunged toward the well opening; she quickly let go, the bucket fell back into the well, and she stumbled forward, crashing into a solid chest.

Great-Grandmother also reached out to grab her, looking shaken. "Thank goodness Chenglei is back. Xia, you're too weak, don't draw water."

Zhou Chenglei pulled her a few steps away from the well before letting her go. His heart hadn't even settled yet, and he said with a dark face, "Didn't I tell you to sit down? Don't you know how dangerous the well is? Do you have no common sense?"

Jiang Xia wasn't afraid. "It's fine, it was just a lack of experience. Besides, my shoe soles were muddy and it's slippery here. I'll just draw it up half a bucket at a time next time."

Great-Grandmother nodded repeatedly. "Right, right, right, half a bucket at a time."

"Don't draw water in the future," Zhou Chenglei said directly.

Great-Grandmother nodded. "Right, right, right, no more drawing water. A-Li is here! He's strong, let him do it. Falling into the well is no joke."

Jiang Xia: "..."

*Great-Grandmother, do you only know how to say 'right, right, right'?*

*You agree with everything anyone says—do you realize how much of a fence-sitter that makes you?*

Zhou Chenglei didn't say anything more. He went to pick up the rope lying on the ground, easily drew a bucket of water, and pulled it up.

Jiang Xia felt she could do it too; what happened just now was truly an accident.

But Zhou Chenglei was indeed a bit intimidating when he was stern; she decided it was better to skip it.

Just then, Father Zhou returned, bringing a cart full of tiles, followed by a cart of sand and cement.

"Is Great-Grandmother here? A-Li, come help unload these tiles. This is Uncle Wen."

Zhou Chenglei took a small bottle from his pocket and gave it to Jiang Xia. "Put some medicine on those wounds on your hand."

Then he went over to help, greeting the delivery man along the way, "Uncle Wen."

Great-Grandmother also walked over. "You bought so many tiles!"

"A lot of tiles have broken," Father Zhou said while working.

Jiang Xia glanced at the small bottle, wondering what kind of medicine it was. She tucked it into her pocket and walked over as well.

The tiles on the cart were of different shapes—some flat, some semi-cylindrical—and behind them was a cart of sand and two bags of cement, all delivered by others.

Jiang Xia also noticed that the person helping push the cart was a young girl.

*Another female lead?*

She found it strange. Weren't the male and female leads supposed to meet only after the male lead saved her from being swept away by a wave?

They had already met twice!

As expected, people destined to meet always do.

Jiang Xia thought: *She had better find a way to make money and move out as soon as possible.*

Wen Wan froze for a moment when she saw Jiang Xia was still there. *Why is she still here?*

Shouldn't she and Zhou Chenglei have gone to get a divorce immediately, and then she would never return to Little Fishing Village?

The tile kiln happened to be in Wen Wan's village. Her father worked at the kiln, and Wen Wan would help with kneading clay and shaping tiles when she had time. She knew Father Zhou, and seeing him buying tiles to repair leaks, she figured Zhou Chenglei would be the one doing the repairs, so she used the excuse of helping her father push the cart to follow him.

She wanted to make contact with Zhou Chenglei as soon as possible, and also get more exposure to the Zhou family so she could marry into it quickly.

She could get married first, and then take the university entrance exams.

But why was Jiang Xia still here?

She glanced at Jiang Xia: covered in dust, her clothes stained with mud—was she helping with the house repairs too?

What was going on?

She wanted to ask, but didn't know how to bring it up.

Jiang Xia glanced at her and then looked away. She walked up to Father Zhou and asked, "Dad, is there enough tile?"

Father Zhou looked at the roof. "It should be about enough; there should definitely be enough for the main house. If there's not enough for the kitchen area, we can buy more to repair it slowly."

Zhou Chenglei glanced at Jiang Xia, then signaled the delivery man to unload the items under the eaves for easy access later.

He carried the two bags of cement under the eaves himself.

Father Zhou helped move the tiles.

Jiang Xia also went to help move the tiles.

Seeing Wen Wan standing still, Father Zhou barked, "Why aren't you helping? What are you standing there for? Not a bit of quickness in you!"

Being scolded in front of Zhou Chenglei made Wen Wan blush, but she still stepped toward him, lowering her head to move tiles with a somewhat pitiful air.

The two were standing quite close.

Zhou Chenglei stepped back a few feet. "You don't need to help. Go sit on the threshold and rest for a bit."

Wen Wan replied in a soft, gentle voice, "It's fine, I'm used to it."