On the way back, Lin Qingping reached out her hand to Gu Junsheng. "What?" Gu Junsheng looked at the slender little hand in front of him, puzzled. "What about the red envelope?" Lin Qingping asked with a cold expression. Gu Junsheng had nothing to say, because he had already given the red envelope to his mother-in-law before leaving, which contained 80 yuan. "Hand it over!" Lin Qingping said sternly. Gu Junsheng couldn't give it to her. "I meant all the money you have on you, and your paycheck!" In fact, in his previous life, Gu Junsheng had agreed to this as well; right after this family visit ended and he returned to the army, he handed over all the family funds to her. Hearing that she meant all his money, Gu Junsheng immediately and neatly took everything out of his pockets and put it in her hand. "The paychecks are at home; I didn't bring them.""Alright, give them to me when we get home." Lin Qingping took the money. "Gu Junsheng, I want to make three rules with you."Gu Junsheng looked at her in surprise. "You're away in the army for most of the year, this family depends on me, and you have Zhiyuan to support, which costs a lot, so everything in this household must follow my decisions! You cannot act on your own! Every time you spend money, you have to get my approval!" Seeing that Gu Junsheng was still silent, Lin Qingping's delicate eyebrows lifted. "Do you agree or not?""Agreed." Whatever Gu Juncheng said, he was always so straightforward and decisive.
Lin Qingping was satisfied. "Alright, let's go home."
Gu Juncheng clearly breathed a sigh of relief—so he wouldn't ask about the red envelope?
But, that sense of relief came a little too soon.
Gu Juncheng had married a difficult wife; that was an undeniable fact.
Even if Lin Qingping had been reborn, this 'difficult' persona would never change. She only took a few steps before complicating things again.
She lagged far behind Gu Juncheng, glaring at him as he walked away.
By the time Gu Juncheng realized she was gone, he waited in place as he had before, but Lin Qingping didn't follow him this time; she remained standing still.
Gu Juncheng had no choice but to walk back.
Lin Qingping looked at the tall figure coming towards her, her heart warmed.
He was really good-looking!
With handsome, sharp, and defined features, how could she have been blind in her previous life, only liking those pale-faced scholars...
"What is it?" he asked, standing in front of her.Her eyes were moist, and she pouted, 'My arm hurts, I can't walk...,' then showed him the spot on her arm smeared with red medicine.
Gu Juncheng:
He didn't quite understand the causal relationship between an aching arm and not being able to walk, but he answered nonetheless!
'Then… I'll walk slower.' This was the only solution he could think of.
'I can't walk!' Lin Qingping stretched the word and stomped her foot, her eyes still wet as she looked at him.
'Then…' He didn't know what to do either.
'Carry me!'
Gu Juncheng was stunned.
'Otherwise, hugging me works too!'
Gu Juncheng hesitated for a moment, finally choosing to carry her on his back rather than in his arms.
Lin Qingping happily lay on his back, feeling his solid shoulders, and couldn't help leaning her head on him.
She could sense that Gu Juncheng was avoiding her, though she didn't know why.Perhaps it was because she had clearly disliked him when she first married him… but it doesn't matter. She was reborn, and she was here to make amends.
She rested on his shoulder, seeing more clearly the green stubble on his cheeks, the neatly trimmed sideburns, and his earlobes, which made her involuntarily blow on them.
Then, she saw the roots of his ears quickly turn red.
"Stop it!" came a stern and commanding scolding.
But it didn't scare Lin Qingping; instead, she laughed on his back.
He carried her all the way back to the village. When they reached the village entrance, they met neighbor Chunshen, who, seeing them from afar, shouted, "Chengzi, you should go check! Your Zhiyuan is fighting someone! No one can stop him!"
Looking at their posture, she froze instantly, appearing both curious and scared to watch.
Gu Juncheng didn't care about this at all; his whole attention was on the child. As soon as he heard the news, he set Lin Qingping down and ran off.
Lin Qingping hurriedly followed after him.
Fighting… in her previous life, Zhiyuan had fallen prey to these two words.
The child was very clever, but in this era when rural people didn't value education much, he never attended school. After Gu Juncheng's death, his parents-in-law were even older and had no energy to care for him. He made a large group of friends, was passionate and loyal, always standing up for his friends. Later, he eventually caused trouble, seriously injuring someone and ended up in prison… but that was all in the future. At this stage, Zhiyuan should have been very well-behaved. What could have happened for him to start fighting now?Lin Qingping was anxious and rushed to the river, and sure enough, she saw Zhiyuan wrestling with the village's chubby kid, with several adults unable to pull them apart.Zhiyuan was only five years old at this time, thin and wiry, only half the size of the chubby kid, yet the one yelling turned out to be the chubby kid.Getting closer, she realized that Zhiyuan was biting the chubby boy's shoulder fiercely. No matter how the adults tried to pull him away, he wouldn't let go. The chubby kid, on the other hand, cried even louder because of the tugging."Li Zhiyuan!" Gu Juncheng walked over and gave a stern shout.Zhiyuan immediately let go and, amidst the chubby boy's wailing and the villagers' murmurs, was carried back home by Gu Juncheng.Li Zhiyuan's temperament was inherently quite stubborn, or else he wouldn't later get into such serious trouble. At this moment, his face was covered in scratch marks, but he clenched his teeth and refused to say why he had been fighting.Gu Juncheng punished him by making him stand in the corner to reflect on his actions.Zhiyuan remained silent and obediently went to his room to stand, refusing to speak.After standing there for a while, the village head came to invite Gu Juncheng to discuss matters about building a dam for the village.As soon as Gu Juncheng left, Lin Qingping tried to talk to Zhiyuan. But their relationship had never been good, and they usually ignored each other. Breaking the ice now would require some effort; after all, everything has to start somewhere, right?Lin Qingping brought over a cup of freshly made hot milk and handed it to him.Zhiyuan glanced at it and then turned his head away, saying nothing."Milk is good for kids, it helps you grow tall. Don't you want to grow taller? Taller than Da Pang," Lin Qingping said, touching the rim of the cup to his lips.Zhiyuan hesitated for a while, then drank it all in one gulp.Lin Qingping smiled slightly. "That's right. From now on, you have to drink it every day, understand? When I'm not here, make it yourself."For some reason, Zhiyuan's eyes turned red. But being a proud child, he turned his face away to hide his tears."What's wrong?" Lin Qingping asked as gently as possible."I... I will leave, you don't have to do this." After all, he was still a child. Even though he was stubborn and tried to hold back, tears still streamed down his face uncontrollably.Lin Qingping didn't know why he said that. Why did he suddenly want to leave? She was about to ask further when a commotion sounded from outside.