Living like a widow? My rough neighbor is coaxing me to have a baby every night.

Li Xiaotao paused slightly as she was serving rice.

She was usually the type to argue with men without batting an eye, but now, being praised so bluntly by her mother-in-law, and having her say things like "caring" or "being caring" in front of Li Weimin, her thick skin actually started to burn for the first time.

Especially when she thought about the man's clumsy and crazy "painful methods" last night, she felt a surge of heat rush to her face.

"Mother... what are you saying?"

Li Xiaotao lowered her head, her voice unusually shy and bashful, and she gripped the large bowl in her hand tightly. "I...I understand. I will definitely live a good life with Weimin and not bring shame to the Li family."

If those hooligans who were chased into jumping into the river by her were to see her looking like such a rare, demure wife, they'd probably gouge out their eyes, wash them, and put them back in.

Li Weimin had just dried his face when he looked up and saw this scene.

In the morning light, the woman with the infamous reputation lowered her eyes and her cheeks were flushed. Her gentleness was like a feather that scratched hard on his heart.

He felt his throat go dry and stared blankly at Li Xiaotao, unable to look away for a long time.

How could this be a shrew?

She's clearly a stunningly beautiful wife who could steal your soul!

"What are you looking at? Don't you want your eyes anymore?"

Li Xiaotao noticed the burning gaze, abruptly looked up and glared at it, her fierce expression revealing her true colors. However, she couldn't hide the smile in her eyes. "Hurry up and bring the food! Do you want your parents to starve to death?"

"Hey! Hey! I'll serve it right away!"

As if waking from a dream, Li Weimin quickly picked up his rice bowl and ran to the main room with light steps, as if he could fly.

The family sat around the kang table, the atmosphere more harmonious than ever before.

Li Jianshe also got up, walked in with his hands behind his back, looked at the table full of hot food, glanced at his submissive daughter-in-law, snorted with satisfaction, and sat down in the main seat.

"Let's eat." Li Jianshe tapped the rim of his bowl with his chopsticks, striking a pose befitting a patriarch.

Li Xiaotao served the two elders porridge, then handed Li Weimin the crispiest flatbread before picking up her own bowl.

After a mouthful of hot corn porridge, Li Weimin felt warm all over.

He stole a glance at his wife beside him, then looked at his smiling parents across the table, and the feeling of happiness in his heart was almost overflowing.

Before he got married, he felt like the sky was about to fall; but after he actually married this "she-devil," he found that life wasn't so terrible after all, and even... quite enjoyable.

The atmosphere at the breakfast table was strangely lively.

Like a diligent little eunuch, Li Weimin scooped the thickest layer of corn porridge from his bowl into Li Xiaotao's bowl, and carefully peeled the only salted duck egg and placed it in front of his wife.

"Wife, you're so juicy, you're practically dripping with oil," Li Weimin chuckled, his face full of flattery.

Li Xiaotao didn't stand on ceremony. She picked up a duck egg, took a bite, and a little bit of the oily yolk dripped down her chin.

Before she could even raise her hand, Li Weimin's fingers had already reached out and gently wiped it away for her, then he even put them in his mouth and sucked on them.

"Oh my God!"

Liu Xiaocui sat opposite her, exaggeratedly covering her cheek, "Are you two trying to kill me with jealousy this early in the morning? Weimin, do you think your mother is invisible?"

Despite her sarcastic remarks, Liu Xiaocui's eyes were full of smiles.

Is this son being afraid of his wife?

They're clearly enjoying themselves!

As long as the couple lives a happy and harmonious life, she, as their mother, can rest assured.

Li Jianshe neatly arranged the chopsticks on the edge of the table, coughed, and adopted the air of the head of the household: "Alright, you can't even shut up while eating. Hurry up and eat, you still have to get out of bed after you finish."

When the topic of working in the fields came up, Liu Xiaocui's smile faded slightly, her brows furrowed a little, and the half-eaten cornbread in her hand lost its appeal.

"Dad, we need to go check out that melon patch in Nanwa later."

Liu Xiaocui's voice dropped eight octaves, "Yesterday evening, I ran into Old Wang from Xiawan Village at the well. He said that the price of melons this year is probably going to be ruined."

"What do you mean?" Li Jianshe stopped what he was doing and stopped smoking his pipe.

"Old Wang said that there was a bumper harvest of watermelons in the city this year, and the supply and marketing cooperative couldn't keep up with the demand. Those middlemen who went to the countryside to buy watermelons are now sticking to their prices and being picky, refusing to accept any with even the slightest blemish."

Liu Xiaocui gritted her teeth, held up three fingers and shook them, "They said this is the most they'd give me."

Three points?!

Li Jianshe's eyes widened in disbelief, nearly snapping his pipe in his hand. "What utter bullshit! Wasn't it five cents last year? The cost of fertilizer and water has gone up, hasn't it? Three cents? Are they expecting us to starve?!"

The air in the room instantly became heavy.

For farmers, the harvest from the land is their lifeline.

In particular, the family's savings were emptied and they even incurred some debts in order to get Li Weimin a wife.

The whole family was counting on these few acres of watermelons to fetch a good price, fill the gap in the famine, and have a prosperous New Year.

If we really sell it for three cents, then this whole year's work will have been for nothing, and we might even have to pay out of pocket.

Seeing his parents' worried faces, Li Weimin couldn't swallow his food and muttered under his breath, "This is outrageous... three cents a minute, how much will we get for those thousands of pounds of melons?"

"Who can argue with that!"

Liu Xiaocui slammed her chopsticks on the table in anger. "Those damned middlemen, their hearts are blacker than the bottom of a pot! I hope their sons are born without an anus!"

Just as the family was sighing and looking gloomy, Li Xiaotao, who had been eating with her head down, suddenly put down her bowl.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, a glint of shrewdness flashing in her large, clear eyes. Her voice was crisp and loud: "Dad, Mom, since the dealers are offering such a low price, why do we have to sell to them? Can't we just take them to town and sell them ourselves?"

After these words were spoken, the room fell silent for a moment.

Li Jianshe paused, then shook his head, took out his pipe to light it: "Xiao Tao, you're new here, you don't know. Doing business isn't that easy! That's speculation! Although the policies are a bit looser now, the commune is still strict. Besides, we don't have the connections. If we go to town, we'll be completely clueless, where will we even set up shop?"

Liu Xiaocui chimed in, "Yes, if we get caught by the corrupt officials, they'll confiscate the cart and the melons, and we'll lose a fortune. We farmers should just be honest."

Li Xiaotao, however, didn't take it seriously. She leaned back, and her fearless spirit returned.

"Mother, what era are we living in? Your old almanac should be outdated!"

Li Xiaotao spoke with certainty, carrying a convincing power, "My sister Li Xiaoyue, her husband Xu Yuejin works at the county supply and marketing cooperative, right? Last time I went back to my parents' home, I heard from my brother-in-law that the winds from above have already changed."

When Liu Xiaocui's son-in-law, who works in the city, was mentioned, her ears immediately perked up.

In the eyes of the villagers, those who work for the government are knowledgeable and their words carry more weight than imperial edicts.

"What did your brother-in-law say?" Liu Xiaocui leaned forward and asked anxiously.

Li Xiaotao glanced at her mother-in-law's greedy look, suppressed a laugh, and said, "My brother-in-law said that the government is now encouraging economic recovery and isn't cracking down on street vendors anymore. There are tons of people selling vegetables and eggs at the morning market in the county town, and I haven't seen anyone get arrested. I even heard there are people who specialize in clothing reselling, earning more in a month than a factory worker earns in a year!"

"Really not going to arrest them?" Li Jianshe struck a match several times but couldn't light it, clearly tempted.

"They really won't arrest them!"

Li Xiaotao said decisively, "Besides, I've done the math. The dealers give three cents, that's the wholesale price. If we take it to the town or county seat and sell it directly to casual diners, even if we only get seven or eight cents, that's double the profit! If we're lucky and it's hot, we might even get a dime!"

A dime!

This number struck Liu Xiaocui's heart like a bolt of lightning.

Three cents and one mao—that's more than three times the price here!

Liu Xiaocui quickly fiddled with the abacus beads in her mind.

Our three acres of watermelons should yield at least five or six thousand catties.

If you sell it to a dealer, you'll get a little over a hundred yuan at most.

But if you sell it for one cent... that's five or six hundred!

Five or six hundred yuan! That's a huge sum of money!

Not only can it pay off the debts incurred for getting a wife, but it can also buy a big item for the family, and maybe even get a few feet of good cloth for the old man to make a set of clothes!

Liu Xiaocui's breathing became rapid, and the light in her triangular eyes was frighteningly bright.

"Xiaotao, are you telling the truth? Is it really possible to set up a stall in town?"

Liu Xiaocui grabbed her daughter-in-law's hand, her nails digging into her flesh with excitement.

"Mother, please don't worry. If it weren't for this, would I dare bring it up?"

Li Xiaotao grasped her mother-in-law's hand firmly, demonstrating her confidence, "Besides, even if someone tries to stop us, I'm no pushover. Anyone who dares to impound our car will regret it!"

Seeing her daughter-in-law's heroic and spirited appearance, Liu Xiaocui finally felt relieved.

Fortune favors the bold, and with a son-in-law working in the city backing him up, this business is definitely worth it!

"Let's do it!" Liu Xiaocui slapped her thigh. "The bold get rich, the timid starve! Weimin, hitch up the cart! The whole family is going to the field to pick melons!"

-

The sun had already begun to set, and its rays streamed through the window paper, illuminating the floating dust particles inside the room.

The room was filled with an indescribable smell—the mingled scents of men and women, the aroma of food, and the lingering heat that had persisted for the past three days.

Li Xianglian felt that her body was completely ruined.

Three whole days.

Ever since I returned from my parents' home that day, the door to this east room has hardly been opened.

Aside from going to the outhouse, she barely even touched the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).

Qin Rushan, that savage bull, acted as if he hadn't seen a woman in ages; he would seize any opportunity to torment her to death.

During the day, they would keep the curtains drawn and make a fuss, and at night, when the lights were off, they would do even more different things.

Now, whenever she moves, her waist feels like it's broken in two, and her legs are so weak that she can't even close them. If she rubs against the blanket even slightly, the tender flesh at the base of her thighs burns with pain.

"woke up?"

A deep, husky voice exploded in my ears, carrying a hint of languid satisfaction.

Li Xianglian instinctively shrank back, out of fear of being "bullied".

She opened her eyes groggily, only to meet Qin Rushan's dark, shining eyes.

This man was incredibly energetic. He had been working tirelessly on the kang (a heated brick bed) for three days straight, and now a ring of dark stubble had sprouted on his chin. Instead of looking颓废 (颓废 is a difficult word to translate directly, but it implies a sense of listlessness, decadence, or dejection), he exuded a wild and masculine charm.

Qin Rushan held a large, rough porcelain bowl in one hand, and with his other hand, he very naturally pulled her, along with the blanket, into his arms, letting her lean against his broad, firm chest.

Open your mouth.