Chapter 15: Wishful Thinking

Zhou Chenglei frowned at Jiang Xia, completely ignoring Wen Wan's words. Seeing that Jiang Xia didn't react, he walked straight to her side.

Jiang Xia was looking down at the roof tiles, calculating how many her frail body could carry at once. She had heard Zhou Chenglei speak, but she assumed he was talking to Wen Wan.

She reached out, deciding that ten tiles at a time would be a safe bet.

Just as her hand extended, it was grabbed.

Zhou Chenglei gripped Jiang Xia's wrist and pulled her away from the cart with slight force.

Jiang Xia froze for a moment, then looked up at him in confusion.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Zhou Chenglei frowned.

Jiang Xia: "..."

She had heard him; she just didn't know he was talking to her.

Zhou Chenglei pulled her under the eaves of the doorway. "Sit down. Does your hand hurt? Did you apply the medicine I gave you? It's Yunnan Baiyao; it works very well. Apply a little, and the pain will be gone by tomorrow."

Watching Zhou Chenglei lead Jiang Xia away, Wen Wan's face flushed red. So, those words weren't meant for her?

She had been delusional!

Jiang Xia: "I'll apply it before I sleep tonight. I have work to do now; if I apply it now, it'll just rub off. It's a waste."

Yunnan Baiyao was indeed effective, but using it on the injury on her hand felt like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut; that medicine shouldn't be cheap.

Taking the opportunity, Jiang Xia sat on the threshold and picked up a green military canteen sitting nearby, intending to unscrew it.

Zhou Chenglei reached out his long arm, took it from her, unscrewed it, and handed it back. "There isn't much work for you to do. Apply the medicine early so it heals faster."

With that, he walked back to help move the tiles.

Jiang Xia took the canteen but didn't drink immediately. Instead, she called out to Great-Grandmother, "Great-Grandmother, the sun is strong. Come sit and have some water."

Great-Grandmother walked over with a smile. Jiang Xia handed her the canteen, but she waved it off. "I'm not thirsty. This is water that Ah-Lei unscrewed for you; I'm afraid it's too sweet. It's not good for old people to eat too much sugar!"

Jiang Xia: "..."

Great-Grandmother sat down beside Jiang Xia. "Is my Ah-Lei very good at doting on people?"

Jiang Xia couldn't deny this. She remembered that his hands had washed all her clothes last night.

"I think Great-Grandmother is even better at doting. You're being considerate of me, not wanting to drink so I can have more. You can just say so directly." After saying this, she tilted her head back and began to drink.

Great-Grandmother chuckled.

This child was so eloquent; she was a perfect match for the taciturn Ah-Lei.

After spending half a day together, Great-Grandmother liked Jiang Xia more and more.

The girl worked fast. Her body was delicate, but her spirit was not; she had a certain tenacity.

The villagers said she would run away sooner or later, but Great-Grandmother didn't believe it!

"Ah-Lei will be blessed to marry you."

Jiang Xia choked immediately. "Cough, cough, cough!"

She wasn't Zhou Chenglei's official match!

And he was in a hurry to divorce her!

Hearing Jiang Xia's coughing, Zhou Chenglei turned his head to look.

Noticing Zhou Chenglei looking over, Great-Grandmother shouted loudly, "Ah-Lei, Xiao Xia said it's a blessing to marry you!"

Jiang Xia's eyes widened. She never said such a thing!

"Haha..." Great-Grandmother laughed heartily.

Knowing Great-Grandmother was teasing Jiang Xia, Zhou Chenglei didn't pay it any mind and turned back to continue moving the tiles.

Wen Wan: "..."

She watched the man across from her, who seemed to be deliberately keeping his distance while moving tiles, and felt extreme shock. What was going on?

Weren't the two of them getting a divorce?

This atmosphere didn't look like it at all.

And why would Jiang Xia say such a thing?

At that moment, Wen's father happened to ask Zhou's father, "This house seems like it hasn't been lived in for a long time. Why are you repairing it again?"

Zhou's father replied, "The children are married now, and the old house isn't big enough. My younger son and his wife are moving in."

Wen Wan blurted out in surprise, "The two of them are moving in together?"

Zhou's father gave her a puzzled look, not understanding why Old Wen's daughter was so agitated, but replied, "Yes, the two of us old folks are moving in as well."

Wen Wan fell into thought.

It wasn't like this in her previous life. She clearly heard that after Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei divorced, Jiang Xia went straight to the city to find her lover.

She had even heard that Jiang Xia followed Wu Qizhi without even getting a marriage certificate.

Later, when she took the train to university, she even saw Jiang Xia and Wu Qizhi on a train going to visit her parents, with Wu Qizhi instructing Jiang Xia to make sure her parents helped him arrange a job.

It wasn't like this now!

Zhou Chenglei should be divorcing Jiang Xia, and Jiang Xia should be with Wu Qizhi.

Where did it go wrong?

Jiang Xia and Great-Grandmother, one young and one old, sat under the eaves watching them move tiles, chatting idly.

Primarily, Jiang Xia was the one asking questions. Because she was afraid of being interrogated, she took the initiative to ask indirect questions to learn about the Zhou family and Xiaoyu Village.

The tiles were soon unloaded. Throughout the entire process, Zhou Chenglei didn't give Wen Wan a single glance; he even went out of his way to bypass her while moving the tiles.

Once the tiles were unloaded, Wen Wan had to leave with her father.

She couldn't help but look back at Zhou Chenglei, unable to understand where things had gone wrong.

If Zhou Chenglei didn't divorce, what would happen to her?

She then looked at Jiang Xia, who was sitting in the corner with smooth, glowing skin.

No, they would divorce.

Jiang Xia couldn't stand rural life. She wanted to be a high-society lady; living in this dilapidated house would surely be unbearable for her.

Once that big typhoon came and the roof was blown off, she would probably be scared away.

A flower grown in a greenhouse cannot withstand the storms.

She remembered that in her previous life, a major typhoon had made landfall in this area. After the typhoon, many shrimp were left on the beach. At that time, the villagers could sell even the shrimp picked up by children for over ten yuan.

She was waiting for that typhoon to arrive. Once it did, she would make a fortune picking up shrimp, which would cover her tuition and living expenses for her senior year of high school.

Great-Grandmother said she was going back to cook, so Jiang Xia also stood up and said to Zhou Chenglei, "I'll go back and help with the cooking."

Zhou Chenglei was about to climb onto the roof to clear away some broken tiles. Hearing her, he glanced at her, his first thought being: *Does she even know how to cook?*

Then his gaze fell on her hands. "No need, my mother and sister-in-law will do it."

Just then, Mother Zhou walked in, holding Zhou Zhou in one hand and a colorful plastic woven vegetable basket in the other. "Time to eat! Finish eating before you work more."

A military canteen hung around Zhou Zhou's neck. He said obediently, "Grandpa, Uncle, Auntie, it's time to eat."

Zhou's father was currently mixing sand and cement; he would add some water later and stir it to make cement sand. Hearing Mother Zhou, he put down his shovel to wash his hands and eat.

Mother Zhou took two silver aluminum lunch boxes from the basket and handed them to Jiang Xia. "This one is yours, and this one is for Chenglei."

Zhou Chenglei's hands and clothes were covered in cement dust, so he went to wash up.

Jiang Xia took the box and smiled. "Thank you, Mom."

Zhou Zhou, clutching a green military canteen, timidly approached Jiang Xia. "Auntie, do you want some water?"

Jiang Xia's smile grew even more tender. "Thank you, Zhou Zhou. Auntie has some here too. I'm not thirsty; give the water to Grandpa."

"Okay." Feeling relieved, Zhou Zhou ran to give the canteen to Zhou's father.

After washing his hands and face, Zhou Chenglei approached Jiang Xia, his face dripping with water. He took the lunch box she handed him. "Go sit on the threshold at the doorway to eat."

With that, he turned away, picked up a hoe, laid it down, and sat directly on the handle under the hot sun.

Jiang Xia glanced at him. "Why are you sitting there in the sun? Come sit by the doorway! You've worked for half a day; don't you want to drink some water and eat?"

There were no stools here, and it was stuffy inside. Only the area under the eaves at the main hall entrance was shaded and cool.

But there was no more room under the eaves.

Zhou's father sat directly on a bag of cement with his lunch box, and Mother Zhou led Zhou Zhou to sit on another unopened bag of cement.

The cement was placed under the eaves, so sitting on it kept them out of the sun, making it more comfortable than sitting on the stone threshold.

Zhou Chenglei glanced at her. Under the sunlight, her skin was dazzlingly white, and her eyes were deep and clear, showing neither disgust nor disdain.

He had just finished working and was covered in sweat and dust, and especially after coming back from the sea, he smelled of fish. Usually, the way she looked at him was as if he were a fly.

Sitting together—she didn't find him dirty?