CHAPTER 24: CHAPTER 24: LOOKING AT YOUR CUTENESS

He Chen tapped his head, his expression somewhat subtle.

Ye Manman burst into laughter, her soft voice matched with a crafty smile, making her look full of energy, adorable and captivating.

She blinked her eyes, her rosy lips opening and closing.

"I intentionally used this kind of word trap, do you think I’m bad?"

She did do it on purpose. When writing the IOU, seeing Ye Xiaotong was emotionally agitated, she didn’t add a due date, so Ye Xiaotong had owed her money since the day she pressed her fingerprint, a small amount but forever unrepayable.

Unexpectedly, He Chen, usually silent, saw through the essence of things at a glance.

No wonder he will become a wealthy magnate in the future.

Facing her crafty eyes, He Chen blushed slightly.

"No, what you did is right. She was indecent enough to do such things, and treated you so poorly for so many years, I think what’s in this IOU is far from enough compensation."

They lived in the same village, naturally, He Chen paid more attention to her, even when Ye Manman couldn’t remember him after a high fever and avoided him out of fear, he still kept track of her through what others said.

Even though what others said about her was not much, he could still analyze how hard life became for Ye Manman after getting this stepsister and stepmother.

Ye Manman wasn’t very angry about what Ye Xiaotong did in the past, she also helped the original owner get back what was taken.

As for how the original owner’s life was in the past, she thought it couldn’t be separated from the original owner’s weak personality. Unable to define it, she naturally didn’t want to comment further.

"Alright, let’s not discuss this. What do you plan to sell in town?"

She pointed to those handmade crafts moved from the room to the utility room.

"These? Didn’t you secretly sell them before?"

He Chen nodded, "Yes, but they didn’t sell well; the price wasn’t high, so I stopped."

Ye Manman thought so too, these handmade things wouldn’t sell if priced too high, and if priced low, it wasn’t worth the time spent.

"So, what did you sell later?"

"Sometimes I hunted wild chickens, caught fish, snakes, pigeons, and the like, then went to town to sell them."

Hearing this, Ye Manman’s eyes widened in surprise, covering her mouth.

"There are still snakes in the mountains?! I’m most afraid of snakes! If you catch snakes in the future, don’t ever bring them home!"

She was bitten by a little snake when she was a child, not knowing where the snake came from, it suddenly sprang out and bit her, Ye Manman was in a coma for a whole week before waking up.

The villa administrator and gardeners were all dismissed and replaced at the time, but Ye Manman was left with a psychological shadow, even seeing a video of snakes on TV would make her uneasy.

He Chen hadn’t expected her reaction to be so big and quickly assured her.

"I won’t, I won’t catch snakes again, don’t worry."

Ye Manman rubbed her goosebumps covered arms and gradually calmed down.

Recalling the snake bite incident, she suddenly remembered some blurred pictures, like sealed memories, indistinct.

Looking at the nervous man in front of her, she felt for the first time that he seemed inexplicably familiar, like she had seen him somewhere before.

Ye Manman’s eyes were full of exploration and confusion; He Chen, being looked at, was bewildered and shyly scratched his head.

"Wh... what’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that..."

Like a little wife.

A huge version of it.

Ye Manman burst into laughter, "Just looking at how cute you are."

He Chen: "?"

...

After the sun was not so scorching, He Chen went to work as usual, and that night made Ye Manman a braised duck with mushrooms.

She didn’t know if it was because He Chen’s culinary skills were too good or because she had never had such duck before, Ye Manman found it incredibly delicious, lingering on her taste buds.

So He Chen went to the mountains with her that night, bringing back a lot of wild ducks, almost stacking a small mountain of wild ducks in the yard.

He Chen: "..."

Thinking carefully about how to explain the ducks’ origin tomorrow, where to sell them, and to whom, He Chen set about tidying the wild ducks into the utility room.

"How about buying some spices tomorrow? Like pickled peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, braising spices; ducks can be braised in many places, super tasty."

Ye Manman felt a bit guilty saying this.

Though they originally planned to think more about rabbits and chickens, she could only think of a certain kind of duck, causing He Chen to carry back a full load of ducks.

Now it was hard to sell.

"Okay, I’ll take a basket out to sell tomorrow, the remaining ones I’ll get some out to braise later."

He Chen almost always acceded to Ye Manman’s requests without any sign of annoyance.

So Ye Manman stopped worrying about what to do with so many ducks, quickly filled with anticipation of eating marinated duck the next day, and sweetly drifted into her dreams.

Early the next morning, before dawn, He Chen went to town, leaving a pot containing mixed cereal porridge with shredded duck for Ye Manman.

Ye Manman herself was completely unaware of this.

Because the temperature wasn’t as hot anymore these days, and He Chen had made the bed thick and soft, Ye Manman’s sleep quality had notably improved.

She woke up just as He Chen was cycling back home in the distance.

With him came a fully-loaded basket hitched behind the bike.

Ye Manman’s eyes lit up, she quickly moved forward to greet him.

But before she could speak, Li Hongmei, who had been running behind He Chen’s bike, finally caught up.

"Oh, He Chen, you’re really something, saying you gave all the money to us, come, everyone, come and see, this brat was just lying through his teeth before!"

"He never gave the money to our family at all, just shortly after driving us away, he bought a bicycle, tsk tsk tsk, everyone look, this bicycle is brand new, let me see, wow, it’s a Phoenix brand, not cheap at all."

"I’ve heard that a new bicycle costs at least over a hundred yuan, now everyone should believe us, right? This brat purely tricked everyone, making you pity him, look, a newly bought bike, if he gave all the money to us, where did he get so much?"

"Usually seems simple and honest, but has a really malicious heart, driving us away without caring about family ties, buying a bike for himself, not caring about how his relatives live, oh, I’m so miserable, raising an ungrateful wolf for so many years, so wicked..."

Li Hongmei stood at the gate of the He Family, crying and wailing with a loud voice as if she suffered a great grievance.

In the village, not many could afford a bicycle. With He Chen riding home, a crowd had gathered to watch the excitement and see something new. Listening to Li Hongmei lamenting by the door, a crowd quickly convened at the He Family’s gate.

Most people were still skeptical, having been thoroughly disgusted by Li Hongmei’s past deeds.

However, some were not present during the pig division, and naive onlookers thought Li Hongmei seemed pitiful, casting complicated glances at He Chen.

Happy thoughts of greeting the supplies filled with delight were now soured for Ye Manman.

Seeing Li Hongmei sitting crying and wailing on the muddy floor, she stepped back a few steps, indicating He Chen to quickly push the bike back into the yard.

"You’re really annoying, what business is it of yours if I use my dowry to buy my husband a bike?"