Xu Tingsheng had lied regarding their engagement.

  This was actually a major thing.

  Ninety-nine percent of women would let the consequence of such a matter extend and escalate.

  Half of them would become hysterical, turning it into a war before ultimately breaking up.

  The other half would fall into pain, sorrow, agony……various emotions. Finally, they would act out a long play of tangled emotions with you, unable to forgive, before still breaking up anyway.

  Xiang Ning simply put her phone in her pocket, crying as she asked Xu Tingsheng, “Aren’t you coming over to coax me now?”


  Men may meet many women in their lifetime. Most of the time, the woman will enter a painful entanglement with you, both of you hurting each other before it mostly ends up in nothing. A very small proportion of women, though, could become your sunlight and your ocean.

  Something which was sufficient to wreck most relationships in other circumstances became simple and pure with Xiang Ning.

  Xu Tingsheng lifted her up as he would a child, one arm beneath her legs with the other supporting her waist. Even taller than Xu Tingsheng now, Ms Xiang was afraid of falling.

  She grabbed his hair and said, “Put me down, put me down.”


  When Xu Tingsheng continued lifting her up, she covered his eyes.

  Covering his eyes, she asked, “Do you still like me, Xu Tingsheng?”


  He answered, “Yes.”


  “That’s good then. I’m a bit upset and a bit angry, but I still like you too. That’s good then,” Xiang Ning said, not even pressing Xu Tingsheng to tell her why he had done so.

  Xu Tingsheng carried Ms Xiang up the little hilly slope and back to his front door.

  Xiang Ning said again, “Put me down, put me down.”


  Xu Tingsheng did not put her down.

  Xiang Ning said, “Auntie.”


  Then, Xu Tingsheng turned and saw Mrs Xu who was just returning home.

  “Aren’t you injured?” Mrs Xu asked, “Oh……you little bastard. You’re done for,” She thought that Xu Tingsheng had lied because like the Xiang family, he was against the ceremony being too grand an affair.

  This was equivalent to going against the one who made the actual decisions in the Xu family.

  Mrs Xu helped Little Xiang Ning to vent her unhappiness. She only had one method for hitting children, which was pinching. The thumb and index finger gripped a piece of flesh……and then a sharp twist. Xu Tingsheng dared not avoid it, and having conspired with him, Mr Xu dared not help too……Miss Xiang was just laughing as she watched on from the side.

  Xiang Ning stayed at the Xu family home as it was decided that she would return to Yanzhou with Xu Tingsheng in a few days.

  Even the small ripples from this major incident died down very quickly, apart from the fact that there were indeed quite a lot of people who came to see the Xu family’s daughter-in-law.

  The Xu family’s relatives and friends basically all visited. The custom at Xu Tingsheng’s hometown was to give a meeting gift.

  Looking at her bag that was filled with red packets, Xiang Ning told Xu Tingsheng, “Oh, I’m so happy. I seem to have struck it rich.”


  Xiang Ning was probably the least experienced and discerning money-grubber in this world. Xu Tingsheng thought to himself: I really should have changed the documents authorising the transfer of thirty percent of Xingchen Technologies’ shares to thirty thousand worth of red packet money.

  The visiting relatives scrutinised Xiang Ning from head to toe and said in dialect, “Not bad, not bad.”


  Then, they pulled Xiang Ning and switched to standard Mandarin, saying, “Eat more, young lady.”


  Xiang Ning said sincerely, “I’m eating a lot.”


  She was really eating a lot. Mrs Xu made sure to provide with her an entire table’s worth of dishes for every meal, which was nothing if not replenishing.

  From time to time, Xu Tingsheng heard his mother chatting with his aunties in dialect. She said that everything was good about her, just that she was afraid that she was too thin and wasn’t conducive for bearing babies. These few days she was here, she had to make her at least five kilograms heavier.

  When saying this, Mrs Xu was looking at Xiang Ning who was sitting not far away.

  Miss Xiang did not understand what was being said. She even foolishly smiled and nodded.

  Xu Tingsheng dared not tell her what was really going on. Making use of this time, he did what he had wanted to but had never managed to do in his previous life, bringing Xiang Ning to a lot of places. He told her stuff like: This bend in the river is where my Dad and I swam and bathed together when I was young. That nice-looking rock a little higher up is mine. When I was seven, I declared ownership over it to the other kids in the village.”


  “There’s a wild cherry tree over on that hill that’s also mine,” Xu Tingsheng said.

  “Why is it yours if you declare it is? Would it work if other people declared it?” Xiang Ning asked.

  “It doesn’t work for others.”


  “Why?”


  ‘Because they can’t beat me in a fight,” Xu Tingsheng said.

  Looking at the distant hill, Xiang Ning laughed.

  Xu Tingsheng quietly said, “I declare that you’re mine too. No one can stop me. Because in this life, no one can ‘beat’ me.”
……

  One morning, Xiang Ning encountered Mrs Xu head-on while sneaking out of Xu Tingsheng’s room in her pyjamas.

  Being away from home and not daring to sleep alone, Xiang Ning had actually begun sneaking into Xu Tingsheng’s room on the first night, after everyone had returned to their rooms. Then, she had set an alarm on her phone to get up earlier and creep back over in the morning.

  Now, she and her future mother-in-law had run into each other.

  “Aun……” Xiang Ning was about to greet her.

  “Oh, Tingsheng’s Dad, Xu Jianliang……why is it that I suddenly can’t see well? Everything’s fuzzy,” Mrs Xu held onto the wall for support, acting very exaggeratedly as she went downstairs, all the while calling, “Everything’s fuzzy, I really can’t see anything clearly!”


  Xiang Ning was rendered dazed for a while.

  Xu Tingsheng heard the noise and came out.

  “Auntie’s definitely misunderstood something. I’ll go explain to her,” Xiang Ning said.

  A sleepy Xu Tingsheng said, “There’s no need to explain.”


  Xiang Ning said, “There is! Otherwise, Auntie will feel that I……”


  “If you explain, she will feel sad,” Xu Tingsheng brought Xiang Ning to the stairwell to look downstairs, “Look, my mother’s actually so happy right now……”


  Downstairs, Mrs Xu was over the moon as she tugged at Mr Xu who had hurried over frantically. She was gesticulating wildly as she described the scene she had just seen.

  Xiang Ning understood as she blushed, muttering aloud, “But nothing happened.”


  Xu Tingsheng painfully nodded, “Right, that’s true.”


  “Someone deserves it,” Xiang Ning glared at him, “Look who’s laughing now. Originally……I was already getting bullied by you originally. I even said that when we’re engaged, we can……”


  “Hmm……actually, we……”


  “Huh, dream on.”


  “You’ll have no way of growing too then,” Xu Tingsheng counterattacked, placing special emphasis on the word ‘growing’.

  A conflicted Miss Xiang hesitated for a while before she lowered her head and bit her lips, asking, “How about, touching is fine?”


  That night.

  The lights were turned off. Xiang Ning lay ready amidst the darkness, taking a deep breath before saying, “Come on. Don’t be naughty, Xu Tingsheng.”


  It was not that Xu Tingsheng had never touched that area before. He had, and more than once too. It was just that never had it been as thorough as this time.

  “Be serious!” After a while, Miss Xiang said this rather bashfully as she found that Xu Tingsheng’s actions were becoming less and less like massaging……

  But Xu Tingsheng’s aim wasn’t for them to ‘grow’ in the first place. While they were a little small……based on Xiang Ning’s figure that was on the thin side, it was actually more or less approaching the average national standard.

  “Wah……it feels so strange.”


  As she felt herself involuntarily emitting a strange noise, the temperature of her body rising unceasingly……Xiang Ning could only cover it up by speaking.

  Xu Tingsheng looked up at her face that was becoming increasingly red. Unable to stop himself, he leaned in and used his lips to replace one hand. He understood Miss Xiang’s body sensitivity even better than she herself did.

  “Ah,” Miss Xiang grew tense with nervousness.

  “Why are you……does it also work if you use your mouth?” She mumbled.

  “Oh, the effect’s even better that way,” Xu Tingsheng replied indistinctly.

  “I see. But I just feel so strange! Oh……”


  Soon after, Xiang Ning started to pant delicately.

  Anything more and they would be doing something bad. He had teased the seventeen-year-old Miss Xiang to the point where her face was flushed red and there were tears in her eyes……shy and desirous……very interesting too……but Xu Tingsheng himself was also in a very tragic state!

  Xu Tingsheng stopped.

  Xiang Ning plunged into Xu Tingsheng’s embrace, murmuring, “Still got……to grow.”


  Xu Tingsheng was stuck between heaven and hell.

  Finally, two days later, Miss Xiang temporarily stopped this glorious project that was codenamed ‘for the next generation’ on her own accord.

  As for the reason, she evaded Xu Tingsheng’s gaze and said with great difficulty, “My……I don’t have any more undies to change into everyday.”


  Xu Tingsheng was full of himself as he laughed, “Wash them then! It’s hot. Line them up in a row and they’ll be dry very soon. Aren’t they just robocat, Pikachu, white rabbit, little butterfly? What’s there to be afraid of?”


  Xiang Ning shook her head, “I don’t dare to at your house……can we quickly go back to Yanzhou?”