Chapter 11: I May Have Done It

As she spoke, Tang Xin took a step forward and caught a whiff of the fresh, pleasant scent of grass on Li Sheng. He must have stopped to gather herbs on his way back.

At that moment, Tang Xin’s stomach rumbled audibly. She immediately knitted her delicate brows and looked at him with a pitiful expression. “Li Sheng, I’ve been waiting for you to come back, and I haven’t eaten anything since this morning…”

Well, to be precise, she hadn’t really eaten. All she’d had in the morning was a leftover fruit from the novice’s starter pack.

At midday, the coarse grains at the commune were so rough and dry that she forced herself to eat barely half a bowl. In truth, she did have some stored food in the warehouse of her space farm, but she couldn’t just bring it out openly; she couldn’t cook for herself alone.

Her future mother-in-law usually only brought her food at night, under the cover of darkness when no one could see. During the day, Tang Xin could only endure her hunger.

And all the nice things her family had sent from home had already been tricked away by Meng Jia—

Right, the book mentioned that Meng Jia hadn’t consumed or used up all those things. Instead, she used them to curry favor, handing out small gifts here and there. People at the commune and in the village all liked this generous girl.

In reality, she was simply passing off Tang Xin’s things as her own.

Since that was the case, Tang Xin decided she would reclaim what rightfully belonged to her.

Of course, for now, the most important thing was to cling to Li Sheng.

Li Sheng could hardly fail to see that this girl was playing up her helplessness. Yet, faced with her bright, watery eyes, his heart softened anyway.

Resigned, he handed over his satchel. “There’s food inside.”

Normally, such a small bag would hold a person’s most important belongings. Yet, he trusted her enough to let her rummage through it?

A wave of joy surged through Tang Xin’s heart, making her feel even more confident about the future.

But after searching for quite a while, she found only a small tin box containing the most basic, unadorned biscuits—just flour, nothing else, virtually tasteless. Eating those seemed even less appealing than going back to the commune and finding another way.

She was sure that if she suggested a trade, her informants would be more than happy to help her get some corn or potatoes to roast at home.

Besides, those biscuits were surely meant for Li Sheng’s younger siblings. He was a man with a strong sense of family.

Even the brigade leader had said that Li Sheng’s inability to find a wife was due to the burden of caring for his parents and siblings.

So Tang Xin decided not to eat the biscuits. She put the tin back, but found nothing else edible inside.

She turned her pleading gaze to her future husband once more. “Li Sheng, I’m hungry—I really am!”

“Eat the biscuits.”

Tang Xin pouted prettily. “Biscuits don’t taste good.”

Li Sheng wanted to say, Why don’t you just go eat at the commune, then? But seeing her expression, he knew she was doing it on purpose.

He ought to have set his face coldly and told her, I don’t like you, stop pestering me.

If he said that, she would give up and leave.

But for some reason, imagining that scene made his heart ache with every beat.

So although he knew it was the best way to refuse her, he never did.

And so things had reached a stalemate. Some passing villagers, though not daring to stop and stare, would surely gossip once they were out of earshot.

By now, everyone in the Harvest Brigade knew: the pretty city girl, Tang Xin, was determined to marry the infamous, ruthless eldest son of the Li family.

And that eldest Li boy truly had a poor reputation in the Harvest Brigade. He was tall and strong, had somehow learned all sorts of skills, and by his early teens could already take on a grown, able-bodied man in a fight.

The key was, no one could beat him.

Anyone who’d ever called his father a villain or his mother a landlord’s wretched daughter, whether adult or child, had been beaten by him.

And when he fought, it was never just a scuffle—he fought as if his life depended on it, with a ferocity that terrified everyone.

Over time, not just in the Harvest Brigade, but throughout all the neighboring villages, no one dared to provoke him anymore.

And now, somehow, he’d even learned to drive. With such skills, people’s feelings toward him were complicated.

Now, hearing that the pretty city girl wanted to marry him, the village was abuzz with every kind of rumor.

Li Sheng was used to gossip; no one dared confront him openly. But it was different for the girl—his mother had always said that idle talk was the most hurtful thing of all.

So, summoning the last of his patience, Li Sheng said, “It’s crowded here, not a good place to talk. We—”

He’d meant to say, We should part ways.

But Tang Xin cut him off and said, “Yes, it’s really not good with so many people watching. Let’s go to the commune. I still have a few eggs and some white flour. I’ll give you… you can cook for me.”

In fact, Tang Xin had wanted to say she would cook for him, to show her diligence and homemaking skills to her future husband.

But then she remembered she’d been so focused on her studies before that she’d never learned to cook.

“You don’t know how to cook?” Li Sheng’s sharp gaze swept over her, and at last he thought of a way to make her give up: “I don’t want a wife who can’t cook.”

That hit Tang Xin’s sore spot and made her bristle. “Who says I can’t cook? I… I just don’t know how to use a clay stove, that’s all.”

Li Sheng took a deep breath, looking up at the sky to avoid those eyes that so unsettled his thoughts.

“My parents both have bad reputations, and I’ve got a bunch of noisy younger siblings. Our family is poor. If you marry into my family, you’ll have to get up early and work in the fields. All the household chores will be your responsibility as the eldest sister-in-law, and—”

He glanced at the pretty young woman, then quickly looked away. “If you and my mother have a falling out, I won’t take your side.”

He knew it was normal for mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law to quarrel, and hardly any woman liked a man who always sided with his mother.

But Tang Xin wasn’t worried in the slightest. She parried every challenge: “You’re the eldest brother; it’s right to help your younger siblings. As for a mother-in-law’s quarrels, my future mother-in-law likes me very much. We won’t ever clash, you don’t have to worry about that.”

Li Sheng was at a loss for words. He hadn’t imagined that his own mother would become the biggest obstacle in all this.

It never occurred to him that now, at long last, there was a girl willing to marry him—a pretty city girl, no less.

The old lady of the Li family was overjoyed, eager to treat the young woman like a treasure.

Tang Xin, chest raised proudly, declared, “And as for farming and housework, there’s no problem at all. Don’t worry, I can handle it.”