Shao Qiyang, who was sulking, was baffled by Mu Jingzhe’s words. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I just wanted to ask what you think of her. Her face looks likable and lucky. I think she’s quite compatible with you…”

  Shao Qiyang couldn’t help but interrupt Mu Jingzhe. “I said I don’t want to get married.”

  “Why?” Mu Jingzhe was getting anxious. “That young lady seems nice… Or have you not forgotten Mu Xue?”

  Mu Jingzhe sighed and lowered her voice before she asked him, “Do you still like Mu Xue?”

  She had felt conflicted about this before. Now, it seemed like she had to think of a way to set them up.

  Shao Qiyang felt extremely helpless. “No, I don’t. I told you before that I don’t think of her anymore. Don’t let your thoughts run wild.”

  “Really? Then why aren’t you willing to consider other girls?”

  Shao Qiyang gazed at Mu Jingzhe and was about to say ‘because of you’ when Xiao Wu ran through the door with a persimmon in his hand.

  “Mommy, this persimmon is for you.”

  “Where did this persimmon come from?” Mu Jingzhe quickly caught Xiao Wu.

  “Sister Li Fang gave it to me. Mommy, you like persimmons. I’ll give it to you.”

  After persimmons were picked, they could be wrapped up and stored to be eaten in the winter. Although one didn’t look elegant eating persimmons, they were really sweet, icy, and refreshing. The ones Mu Jingzhe used to buy in the modern ages looked good, but the taste was a far cry from the persimmons of this era.

  Mu Jingzhe had been pleasantly surprised when she had tried one previously and had nearly eaten too much. Hence, the children knew that Mu Jingzhe loved persimmons.

  Before the New Year, Shao Dong had planted two persimmon trees in front of the house. Every time someone gave them persimmons, the children would be reluctant to eat them and would bring them back for Mu Jingzhe to eat.

  Although she was very touched, she was also very embarrassed. “Xiao Wu, you eat it. Mommy has been eating persimmons in the past few days. You can eat them yourself in the future.”

  “Really?” Xiao Wu asked, unconsciously swallowing his saliva.

  \r \r \r

  “Mm, I’m not eating it. Xiao Wu, go ahead and eat it. You know that one shouldn’t eat too much of this. Mommy won’t eat it today.” Persimmons were delicious. The children actually liked them, but they kept wanting her to eat them.

  Mu Jingzhe stroked Xiao Wu’s head. “Hurry up and eat it. Remember not to eat the skin.”

  “Okay.” Xiao Wu obediently went out. “I’ll eat with my sister.”

  The moment Xiao Wu had arrived, Shao Qiyang’s impulse had been halted. Mu Jingzhe looked at Shao Qiyang’s expression and tried to persuade him. Her general meaning was that if he really liked Mu Xue, he could try his best to win her over. If he did not, he could just let go of her and look for someone else.

  Shao Qiyang watched as Mu Jingzhe persuaded him in a clear and logical manner. Anyone who didn’t know might think that she was very impressive and knowledgeable when it came to relationships, but in reality, she knew nothing about relationships!

  Shao Qiyang couldn’t help but cuss in his heart. One could just imagine how furious he was. Previously, he would let his imagination run wild because of Mu Jingzhe, but after a year together, he could read her completely.

  Mu Jingzhe might sound like she knew a lot, but she had never been in a relationship and didn’t know anything about them. In fact, she could be considered completely clueless in this aspect.

  Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been oblivious to the fact that he had been carrying a torch for her. So many people could tell, and she was the only one who hadn’t sensed anything, as if that was something completely impossible.

  Shao Qiyang didn’t know what Mu Jingzhe had experienced before she’d transmigrated, but he had truly tasted the disastrous effect of those experiences.

  She even mocked the men in the village for being straight[1], but Shao Qiyang felt that she had no right to criticize the straight men in the village. After all, no matter how one looked at it, she was also a straight woman.

  She even had the nerve to say that a straight man was the scariest, unlike a straight woman like her.

  As Shao Qiyang listened to Mu Jingzhe muttering, he retorted in his heart to everything she said. Seeing that the food was about to be ready, he went to get some incense. While walking out of the kitchen, he passed by Mu Jingzhe’s door and saw the kids rolling around on her bed. He subconsciously saw the male celebrity poster pasted in Mu Jingzhe’s room.

  Upon seeing this, he felt depressed again.

  There were also posters in the rooms of other young ladies in the village, but none of them had stuck as many posters on their walls as Mu Jingzhe, who claimed that as long as one was handsome, he could be her husband.

  Shao Qiyang felt that sometimes Mu Jingzhe acted and spoke weirdly, but he could accept her weirdness and follow her train of thought.

  However, didn’t she say that as long as a man was handsome, he could be her husband? Then why couldn’t she think of him as her husband too? Shao Qiyang was not proud, but his face was really not bad. He would attract people wherever he went. Everyone said that he wasn’t inferior to male celebrities.

  Male celebrities were such distant existences. Given how close he was, she might as well consider him instead. However, this simply had never occurred to Mu Jingzhe. Could it be because he wasn’t handsome enough? Should he dress up a little?

  Shao Qiyang, who was supposed to go get some incense, turned around and returned to his room. He smoothed down his hair in front of the window, using it as a mirror. He then looked at his shoes, wanting to change into another pair. In the end, he saw the leather shoes Shao Qihai had given him.

  Shao Qiyang’s mood instantly worsened.

  He silently went to get some incense and paper money. Shao Qiyang prepared the items needed for ancestral worship and pulled the children to kowtow to Shao Qihai. He even brought delicious food as an offering for his older brother.

  “You kids didn’t kowtow this morning. Now, kowtow to your father and let him bless you from heaven.”

  The five kids: “…”

  After a moment of silence, the children didn’t retort and kowtowed before their mother’s memorial tablet, which was beside their father’s.

  After Shao Dong and the others left, Shao Qiyang looked at his older brother’s memorial tablet and finally made up his mind. “Brother, I will treat Sister-In-Law well. Don’t worry,” he said.

  Ji Buwang’s persistence and Tang Moling’s restlessness made Shao Qiyang feel a sense of crisis. He really couldn’t imagine what his life would be like after Mu Jingzhe left the Shao Family and married Ji Buwang or some other man.

  Rather than despairing over here and doing nothing, it would be better to risk it.

  Even if he failed, even if Mu Jingzhe was afraid of him in the future, he still had to gamble.

  Coincidentally, that was what Mu Jingzhe had advised him to do as well. He listened to her advice and tried his best to fight. If it didn’t work, he would talk about it later.

  Mu Jingzhe had never thought that her words would really work. However, the way they worked was completely different from what she had expected.

  Shao Qiyang stared at Shao Qihai’s name. “Brother, you’ll support me too, right?”

  After saying that, Shao Qiyang couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. “No, that’s not right. I know that you might be unhappy if you’re seeing this from heaven, but compared to outsiders, you should support me more, right? Please bless me from heaven and let me succeed.”

  In the neighboring city, on the way back from escorting the suspect, Shao Qihai, who was sitting in the car and going back with them to cooperate with the investigation, sneezed twice.

  Jiang Feng immediately said, “Brother Hai, someone must be missing you. Sister-In-Law and the others must be missing you.”

  Shao Qihai: “No…” It would be strange if Mu Jingzhe missed him. Shao Qihai didn’t even believe it himself. The children were more likely to miss him.

  Jiang Feng retorted, “You sneezed. This is proof. Sneezing once means someone is scolding you, and sneezing twice means someone is missing you. Don’t you know that?”

  “I didn’t,” Shao Qihai said. “According to the version I heard, when you sneeze once, it means that someone is thinking of you. When you sneeze twice, someone is scolding you.”

  “Eh, doesn’t one sneeze mean scolding and two mean missing?”

  “One sneeze means someone is missing you, and two means someone is scolding you.”

  Shao Qihai answered, frowning as he looked out of the window. For some reason, he had a bad premonition.

  [1] In this case, a straight man/woman refers to someone who is dense when it comes to relationships