“You can divorce then. I’m doing a small business now, and I’ll save money to return the dowry to you.”
Li Feng: ??????
Why would he want a divorce?
He had already married him, slept with him, and now it was either a swap or a divorce—what kind of nonsense was this?
Lu Yang saw that he didn’t want to swap or divorce and took the initiative to ask, “Then what do you want?”
Li Feng was shocked by his audacity.
“You’re asking me?”
Lu Yang replied calmly, “Yeah, since you’ve figured it out, I’m sure you’re angry. I understand. This is something my brother and I owe you. Whether you want to swap or divorce, it’s up to you.”
Li Feng didn’t choose either.
“Why can’t I live with him?”
Lu Yang feigned surprise, “You still want to live with him?”
Li Feng retorted, “If I’m not living with him, should I live with you?”
Lu Yang disgusted him, “Yeah, I really regret it. Your family conditions are so good—money, skills, everything. I should’ve listened to my father and married you. I could’ve eaten and drunk without worry, lived without any problems, lying at home enjoying a blissful life. It would’ve been so comfortable!”
Li Feng was truly irritated by this.
He didn’t like Lu Yang’s personality, but it had nothing to do with what Lu Yang had done wrong.
He had been hunting since he was 15, and by 17, he had started partnerships with others. But when others wanted to team up with him, they looked down on his age, trying to use old experience to out-talk him, making him impatient. He had suffered many losses in the mountains, startled plenty of prey, and even encountered dangers.
This continued for two or three years, and his temper grew increasingly irritable. Hunting itself was exhausting enough, and he didn’t want to come home to someone who was constantly nagging and complaining. It was too annoying.
Lu Liu, however, was perfect. He was always considerate, his eyes full of affection for him.
Even though he was so obedient, he still knew how to comfort him when he was troubled about the situation with the two fields. He was soft-tempered, but when there were family arguments, he still stood by him and protected him.
Li Feng couldn’t help but feel moved by his affection.
He didn’t want to swap, nor did he want a divorce, but he had his own temper. The Chen family had tricked him into this marriage, and now they had swapped him out like this—what was going on? Was this how people in the county treated others now?
He needed an explanation from the Chen family.
Lu Yang was surprised.
Even after the marriage swap, Li Feng still wanted to ask the Chen family for an explanation instead of getting angry at his brother?
His thoughts quickly turned, and he softened his attitude and words.
“Brother Li, this matter is something my brother and I owe you. We had no choice. You saw the situation at the Chen family. I was forced into it. When we first met, I told you several times I didn’t want to marry. My brother’s marriage was also troublesome. You can go to Xi Village to ask around. On the day of my wedding, there was a disturbance. A room full of men squeezed inside, trying to take advantage of me. Think about it—if we swapped my brother, and he faced such a situation, how could he live?”
Li Feng could barely contain his anger just thinking about it. Seeing Lu Yang’s face, so similar to his brother Lu Liu’s, contort into a pitiful expression made him uncomfortable.
“Stop pretending. Let’s just talk.”
Lu Yang’s expression changed quickly. “Fine, I’ll follow your lead. The Chen family didn’t know about the marriage swap. I only ran into my brother at the market.”
Li Feng thought back to the market encounter. No wonder—Lu Yang had gone and come back with a completely different attitude.
Lu Yang continued, “The only person you can ask for an explanation from is me. My brother is too honest to give you one.”
So what explanation did Li Feng need? What could he possibly say to Lu Yang?
The road was silent and cold, the wind cutting through the air.
Both of them remained silent for a long time, standing in the cold.
Lu Yang didn’t want to give him too much time to think. Some things, once agreed upon, should be settled then and there. If you hesitate or keep digging into the details, it would never work.
He spoke directly to Li Feng: “It’s cold. Let’s not drag this out. If you still want to live with him, then let’s leave it at that for now. I’ll promise you three conditions. Think it over, and then come find me. I’ll make sure it gets done.”
His offer, his sincerity, was just three simple promises.
Li Feng laughed in anger.
But he didn’t know what he actually wanted either.
Lu Yang saw that he didn’t say anything, assumed he had silently agreed, and then asked for a favor. “Things are still a bit messy on my end. Can you not spread this around? Give me some more time. Once things settle at home, I’ll bring my husband over, and we’ll all talk things through.”
Li Feng looked at him, the words about the marriage disturbance still echoing in his mind.
He couldn’t bring himself to think about what Lu Liu would have faced in such a situation, but when he saw Lu Yang’s face, he reluctantly agreed to help.
Having gone through all this trouble for the marriage, it was too much of a loss.
Li Feng was still unhappy in his heart.
Lu Yang continued to comfort him, “Hey, don’t think too much. If you want to live a good life with Liu, that means this marriage, though it was a mistake, still worked out for you. Help me keep this secret for a while. It’s good for you too. Your mother definitely won’t swallow this, but if you let Liu spend some time with her, Liu is obedient. He won’t be as annoying as me. Your good days will come, won’t they?”
Li Feng grunted and didn’t want to engage with him.
At this point, he didn’t even want to deliver the firewood to the Chen family anymore.
Their encounter was purely by chance.
Lu Yang casually mentioned, “I’ve been advising my father to get the workshop up and running as soon as possible. He wants to do everything in one go, and he also wants to arrange a marriage for the eldest son. The gap is too big. I told him to look for a shop first, and then gradually add things later, save up for the wedding gradually. He has his eyes on you. I told him your family’s finances are tight, so you should avoid showing any wealth in front of him.”
Li Feng nodded but didn’t take it seriously.
Who could take what he didn’t want?
Lu Yang didn’t say much more and urged his donkey cart to continue toward Lujiatun.
Li Feng lingered on the road for a while. He wasn’t going to take the firewood to the Chen family anymore. He had decided to help them out, but this was too much.
Once the firewood was delivered, the Chen family, of course, wasn’t satisfied. They asked him to chop it up before leaving. Old Chen also spoke sarcastically, saying that the couple had probably timed it right, one of them coming over after the other.
“You even lied to me saying the donkey was sick. It seems fine now, doesn’t it?”
Li Feng, burning with anger, replied, “So what if I lied? Didn’t you lie to me?”
Old Chen, who feared the tough ones and liked to bully the weak, didn’t say much more and invited Li Feng in for tea to warm up. Li Feng declined.
He drove the cart back home. At this moment, he was eager to see Lu Liu.
At that time, Lu Liu was taking an afternoon nap. In the morning, he had gone to play at Yao Fulang’s house. After coming back, he cooked, fed Er Huang, and also took care of the rabbits. After eating, he felt lazy.
When he was younger, in winter, he would curl up in the kang to save energy. This way, he could eat less, stay warm, and make up for the lack of thick clothing.
But as he got older, he realized it wasn’t good for a young man to be this lazy, especially since it would affect his chances of marriage. So in winter, he would find something to do. Yet, despite this, he still found himself becoming sluggish and sleepy every afternoon, a habit built over many years.
With Li Feng gone, there was no work to do at home, and no visitors either. So, he took a short nap.
This nap, however, wasn’t restful. He felt a deep sense of unease.
In the morning, Yao Fulang had told him many things about the creatures that lived in the homes at the foot of the mountain.
He spoke about snakes as thick as arms coiling on beams, spiders as big as fists weaving webs above their heads, centipedes as thick as fingers crawling along the walls… These were things common in farmhouses, but to Yao Fulang, they seemed exaggerated. Occasionally, wild boars would come down from the mountain, and they had even broken a house before.
As Lu Liu slept, these thoughts grew larger in his mind. He felt as though he was trapped in a spider’s web, and a huge snake was staring at him, flicking its tongue. He tried to run, but the centipede’s many legs moved faster than he could. He was about to be eaten!
He clutched his blanket tightly, struggling to move, his body resisting the weight. It was so difficult. He was terrified, and in his panic, he kept calling out, “Da Feng!”
Perhaps it was the psychological suggestion from earlier. He knew Li Feng wasn’t home, and as he kept shouting, he started crying. In his dream, he felt trapped in an inescapable situation.
When Li Feng returned home, he didn’t see Lu Liu. After he put the donkey in the stable, Er Huang called out twice, but no one came from inside the house.
