Chapter 1: No Longer Harassing Him

Chapter 1: No Longer Ruining Him

"Mu Chenze, I'm sorry! You don't have to take responsibility for what happened yesterday. It was because I coveted your family's wealth that I schemed to kiss you. Now that I know I was wrong, please leave. I will not marry you."

Under the large locust tree, Chu Xuan kept her head bowed low.

She truly had no face to look at the man before her.

In her past life, she had been possessed by a demon. Encouraged by her grandmother, Feng Chunhua, she had orchestrated a public kiss with Mu Chenze and then clung to him.

At the time, she had made a ruthless threat: if he didn't marry her, she would die.

The Mu family, being conscientious people, agreed.

Feng Chunhua had opened her mouth wide to demand a bride price of 2,000 yuan, and the Mu family agreed to it as well.

They didn't even demand a single cent in dowry, and the Mu family never looked down on her.

It was she who had lost her mind. After marrying into the family, she became lazy and shiftless. At the slightest dissatisfaction, she would curse her in-laws, and she was content to be a "brother-supporting demon," constantly subsidizing the Chu family.

As a result, Feng Chunhua raised Chu Feng crookedly; he became a man of every vice—drinking, gambling, and womanizing. When Chu Feng committed a crime at the age of twenty, he spent the rest of his life in prison.

To secure a shorter sentence for her brother, Chu Xuan begged her in-laws to run errands everywhere on his behalf.

The in-laws, setting aside past grievances, agreed to help, spending money and exerting effort to find connections. Unfortunately, during their efforts, a car accident occurred. Her father-in-law and Mu Chenze died on the spot; her eldest brother-in-law, Mu Chenfu, was paralyzed for life; her sister-in-law lost both her legs; Chu Xuan's eyes were injured, leaving her blind; and her mother-in-law, Qin Mahua, could not withstand the blow and died of a heart attack. Her nephew was only five years old...

It was only then that Chu Xuan felt true guilt toward her in-laws. Unable to see, she groped her way back to her natal home, hoping her family would help her and her in-laws. After all, she had previously given tens of thousands of yuan to her natal family. To her horror, Feng Chunhua and her second uncle, Chu Zhi, tricked her into taking a boat to the county bank to withdraw money, only to push her into the sea halfway through.

Ultimately, she perished in the ocean. When she woke up again, she had returned to 1983, at the age of twenty.

Before she could go and ruin anyone's life.

Seeing that Mu Chenze remained silent, Chu Xuan grew anxious. She glared at him with tearful eyes full of guilt. "Just leave quickly. I don't like you, and it's not like I'm dying to marry you. I'll tell people that I accidentally tripped yesterday and happened to hit your mouth. It was a misunderstanding."

She had self-awareness. She was fat and ugly; the expression on her face right now would certainly not look pitiable to Mu Chenze, but rather something to be loathed upon sight.

That was exactly the effect she wanted.

A clean and decisive rejection of the marriage was the only way to make amends to Mu Chenze and his family for their past life.

However, after the words left her mouth, she didn't see loathing on his face; instead, she saw him suppressing his anger.

Yesterday was Mu Chenze's first kiss, lost to a scheme. He was furious, the veins on the back of his hands bulging as if he were about to strike her.

But Chu Xuan was certain he would never hit her. In her previous life, even when she was as difficult as she was, he had never laid a hand on her.

As expected, he quickly adjusted his emotions. "There are plenty of girls who covet my family's money. Yesterday, your grandmother ran to my house saying that since a kiss happened, you would die if I didn't marry you. I came today to propose; I sincerely want to marry you. Do you really not intend to marry me?"

Chu Xuan's heart trembled. A man this good—she absolutely could not ruin him again in this lifetime.

She feigned determination. "That's right. I don't intend to marry you."

She didn't say the words, *You deserve a better wife.*

Instead, she added, "I can swear to heaven that I, Chu Xuan, will definitely not die."

Hearing this, Mu Chenze couldn't help but place his hand on his face. With a face as eye-catching as his, he had actually been schemed against by a girl, only to be rejected afterward?

Fortunately, Mu Chenze was broad-minded by nature and soon let it go.

But it further confirmed the maxim that women are nothing but trouble.

Whatever. It didn't matter to him whether he married or not.

"Then we'll do as you say."

He couldn't be bothered to argue with this woman.

He silently comforted himself: the first kiss was gone, but he was a man, so he wasn't the loser. He couldn't blame anyone for being schemed against this time; if he had to blame someone, he would blame his own lack of vigilance. He would learn his lesson and never let a woman trick him again.

With a wave of his hand, he carried his gifts and returned the way he came.

At that moment, a gust of wind blew, and the locust flowers danced from the trees.

Chu Xuan stood serenely amidst the rain of locust flowers.

This scene happened to fall into the eyes of Mu Chenze as he looked back.

However, Mu Chenze quickly averted his gaze and walked toward his home...

After seeing Mu Chenze off, Chu Xuan did not go home.

She went straight to Auntie Hua's house next door, intentionally claiming that what happened with Mu Chenze yesterday was a misunderstanding and that she didn't like him at all.

As for the reason she didn't like him, she said Mu Chenze was too handsome; even though he went out to sea often, his skin was still so fair—a "pretty boy" couldn't be relied upon.

Who was Auntie Hua? She was the village loudspeaker. Less than half an hour after Chu Xuan took her leave, the news had spread throughout the village.

Chu Xuan didn't like Mu Chenze?

When this news reached the ears of Mu Chenze's mother, Qin Mahua, she couldn't help but mutter to herself: How did that big fat girl have the courage to say such a thing? Our family didn't even complain about her being ugly, yet she complains that my second son is too handsome?

Muttering aside, Qin Mahua was not one to cause trouble, so she didn't say much to others.

The Chu family was the last to know.

After leaving Auntie Hua's house, Chu Xuan ran straight to the old, dilapidated Chu family ancestral home, which was a twenty-minute walk from the beach. It consisted of four main rooms; two could still be lived in if repaired, while the other two had already collapsed.

It was time to split the family.

Only after splitting the family could she personally raise her younger brother. Even if he was starting to go astray now, it was not too late to correct him.

Her father had long since passed away, and her mother had remarried elsewhere and had no contact with them.

Her grandfather, Chu Dashan, her uncle, Chu Zhi, and her younger brother, Chu Feng, went out to sea every day.

The thought of her twelve-year-old brother doing adult work on a boat, with all his earnings going to her grandmother Feng Chunhua, made Chu Xuan's heart ache.

Chu Xuan didn't plan to repair the roof herself. After all, with her weight being at least two hundred pounds, she would either break the ladder or collapse the roof.

As for choosing to live in the old house, it was because it was close to the beach, making it convenient to forage for seafood.

Living by the sea means eating from the sea.

Once the old house was officially hers, she would repair two rooms for temporary residence, demolish the other two, and build a new house on the original site.

It didn't matter that she had no money right now; she would have some very soon.

The tide would recede around five this afternoon, and a King Mackerel would be stranded. Inside the fish's belly would be a gold ingot. Selling it would not only allow her to repair the old house but also build a new one.

In her previous life, she had found that King Mackerel in this small northern fishing village. However, being foolish, she had unhesitatingly given both the fish and the gold ingot to Feng Chunhua. At the time, the gold ingot sold for over 2,000 yuan, and she didn't get a single cent.

If nothing went wrong in this life, she would find it again.

She would not be that foolish again.

(End of Chapter)