Tian Jing refused to take the blame. "I never said that. If you heard anything from Zhang Fangcao, please ignore or delete it. I've never spoken to her, we've only ever clashed."
Fang Qiuhong seemed not to hear her, scanning the room. "Where are the others?"
"Who are you looking for? I'll call them for you."
"No need, I was just asking."
"Asking once is fine, but don't ask again. I'm very possessive, unlike some people who like all sorts of ambiguous excitement."
"Right, my other three family members all like my face shape. Mine is called classical beauty, understand?"
"Your round, chubby face, none of our family likes it. Don't come around often in the future, you'll scare them."
"Are you afraid?" Fang Qiuhong had an arrogant expression.
"Afraid of what? You're not single, and I'm not single. Are you trying to ruin your reputation even more? Or are you just giving up on yourself?"
"Didn't Zhang Fangcao tear your face apart? She dared to provoke me even though my martial arts are superior. Did she just let you off, an ordinary person?"
Fang Qiuhong sneered, "She's a coward. Besides, she still wants me to buy things for her."
"Fang Qiuhong, do you have a brain?" Tian Jing felt like she was looking at a second Li Min.
"What about me?" Fang Qiuhong raised her voice. "Tian Jing, don't think you can do whatever you want just because your martial arts are strong. No matter how strong your martial arts are, they're still bound by the law. Isn't it because of you that my reputation is ruined? And you dare to talk to me."
Tian Jing shook her head and sighed, as if looking at a foolish child. "The one who provokes first is the one who gets into trouble. Do you understand that? If you didn't provoke me, why would I bother with you? Haven't you noticed that it's always Zhang Fangcao who provokes me first?"
"I said you have no brain, and you don't believe me. Just wait and see. I'll give you a heads-up first, we are both her enemies now, she will definitely scheme for us to fight each other."
"I don't care, I can swat you to death with one hand, and Lin Guangde is secretly helping me. What about you? What do you have?"
"After leaving you, Zhang Fangcao can't buy anything? How many times has she bought since you came? How many times have you helped her buy? Did she say she wanted to buy whatever she wanted, but never actually bought anything?"
Seeing Fang Qiuhong's expression change, Tian Jing added fuel to the fire. "She's been flattering you, making you think you're so amazing. Heh, don't believe me, try it. Just ask her to pay for things herself, see if she buys them?"
"Of course, if you help her buy some very cheap, commonly used items, she'll definitely buy them. Li Min was fooled by her for three years, and it was I who woke her up. Can you wake up?"
"Perhaps, you are deliberately unwilling to wake up. After all, you dislike me, but why do you dislike me? Did I provoke you? If it's because of your looks, then there are many more beautiful people in this world than you and I. Can you be jealous of them all?"
"As soon as you came to Kushan, you fell into Zhang Fangcao's trap. Oh, no, you fell into her trap before you even came to Kushan."
"Because she asked Lin Er to approach you and capture your heart. Don't believe me? You can get Lin Er drunk, after all, people tend to speak their minds after drinking."
"You also understand that your appearance is a disadvantage, but your family background is exactly what Lin Er, who can't find a wife, likes most. Lin Er has a nickname in Kushan, 'Er Laizi' (Second Scoundrel), why? Because he's slovenly and lecherous."
"When he first met you, it wasn't like I described, was it? Because Zhang Fangcao helped him dress up, and they have always been close. You can ask others. If you still don't believe me, you can go back and ask your parents, after all, they have eaten more salt than you have eaten rice."
Fang Qiuhong came to show off, but was completely defeated by Tian Jing, inside and out.
Returning home, she glanced at her husband lying in bed, her mind full of Tian Jing's words.
She didn't want to believe it, but a sliver of understanding bloomed in her heart, as her appearance was indeed a hard fact.
Ever since she could distinguish beauty from ugliness, she had refused to admit defeat. She looked down on the men her parents introduced, knowing she would be inferior marrying them. She firmly believed she would find true love that didn't care about looks.
She had found it. Could it really be a staged deception?
"Er Lai."
"Hmm?" Lin Er, shivering from the cold, had his head tucked into the covers.
"Shall we go back to my place?"
"Didn't we just go back yesterday?"
"There's nothing to do at home, and it's so cold today."
"It's cold at your place too, and the roads are covered in ice and snow." Su Dan Novel Network
"Since you don't want to go, then don't go at any time of the year."
"Yes, yes, yes, we'll go, let me get up."
...
Having dismantled the enemy's psychology, Tian Jing happily returned to her room.
Li Zhengguo on the kang beckoned her. "Come into bed."
After knitting a sweater for the whole afternoon, her mother-in-law's sweater was finished.
Li Zhengguo massaged her fingers. "No more knitting."
"Mother-in-law doesn't have any woolen pants."
"No more knitting. Let Minmin knit, your fingers hurt."
"How did I not know?"
"I feel pained just looking at them."
Saying that, he brought her small hands to his lips and kissed them. "It says it really hurts."
Tian Jing tilted her head and pinched his face. "As if you can understand what it's saying. Okay, I'll listen to you, no more knitting. You take the sweater to mother."
"You'll take it later, you knitted it, you deliver it, my mother will be very happy."
Her mother-in-law was indeed very happy and excited to wear the new sweater. She was so moved that she wanted to express it with tears again. Tian Jing quickly ran back to the west room, her mother-in-law's tear ducts were too sensitive.
Li Zhengguo smiled and hugged her. His Tian Tian was too sincere, even unable to accept the elders' gratitude.
On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, it was the start of spring, and Tian Jing wanted to eat spring pancakes.
There were meat dishes. For vegetables, from the four-tiered wooden shelf box, two small cabbages, resembling baby cabbages, remained. Li Min was only willing to pull up one, saying the last one was for the fifteenth.
Li Min knew how to make spring pancakes; she didn't need her sister-in-law to teach her.
Tian Jing was about to help with the fire when her mother-in-law took over.
Li Zhengguo pulled Tian Jing out of the kitchen.
Tian Jing was bored. She had been able to pass the time with her knitting for the past few days.
Li Zhengguo continued to pull her, leading her into the west room, and then said, "After the fifth, we'll go into the mountains on the sixth."
"Okay. By the way, did you get any grain seeds?"
"Not yet. Before we go into the mountains on the sixth, I'll ask the captain for a few seeds. Isn't a few enough for you?"
"Yes, both rice and wheat, and also corn and sweet potatoes."
"Rice? There's no water in that field. You're not going to use hot spring water, are you?"
Tian Jing chuckled. "It's all the same using my ability, it doesn't require too much water. Bring a bucket, and we'll fetch water from the source of the Ku River."
"You're laughing at me?"
Looking at Li Zhengguo seeking comfort, Tian Jing burst into laughter. "I'm laughing at your foolishness, not at you."
"Mischievous." Li Zhengguo caught her and kissed her forcefully yet tenderly.
He liked his Tian Tian lively and playful like this.
Biting into a spring pancake rolled for her by Li Zhengguo, Tian Jing provocatively stuck out her tongue at the pouting Li Min.
Li Min lowered her head and ate her own pancake. Her sister-in-law just liked to tease her, and her elder brother doted on his wife more and more, so much that she was jealous. No, she had to train Suo Zhu ge to be like her elder brother.
In the afternoon, Fang Qiuhong came to see Tian Jing, looking dejected.
Her private time being interrupted, Li Zhengguo was very unhappy and black-faced, driving her away.