The Fortunate Lady and Her Mountain Man

Chapter 165: Chapter 165: Eat

With the partnership with Yide Hall now established, there were inevitably many follow-up matters to discuss. As a result, Ji Huan had been making frequent trips to town lately.

Early in the morning, she took Dabao to the village entrance to wait for the ox-cart and noticed the vagrant was still lying in his usual spot.

She heard the mischievous children were incorrigible and still took pleasure in bullying the vagrant.

They might show some restraint when an adult passed by, but the moment the adult was gone, they became completely out of control.

As for the vagrant, he seemed dazed and slow-witted. Not only did he not dodge, but his limbs also appeared clumsy. When the bullying got severe, all he could do was crawl.

Ji Huan wondered where he slept at night. ’Surely he doesn’t just sleep under the tree, does he?’

An old auntie also waiting for the cart pointed. "Look, see that dry ditch over there? He probably hides in there at night. It can at least block some of the wind."

The ox-cart swayed over. Ji Huan glanced toward the vagrant one more time before leading Dabao onto the cart.

Most of the details had been finalized over the past two days. Today, her main task was to give the drafted project promotion and marketing plan to Xin Ziqi for his reference.

Seeing that it was still early, the two siblings held hands and ambled over to the hot and spicy soup stall.

Hu Ximei saw them from afar and jumped up and down excitedly, waving her hands. "Sister Wan! Dabao!"

Cao Yunyun had been in the middle of talking to her, so when Hu Ximei suddenly ran off mid-sentence, Cao Yunyun’s expression immediately turned awkward.

This was especially true because Hu Ximei had run off to greet Ji Huan.

’I’m her actual sister-in-law, but Ximei has never been very warm to me. I used to think she just had a reserved personality like mine, but the moment she sees Ji Huan, she becomes a completely different person.’

Ji Huan and Hu Ximei walked over, chatting and laughing. After greeting some of the regular customers, Ji Huan waved at Cao Yunyun. "Good morning, Sister-in-law."

Cao Yunyun’s lips twitched into a smile that looked worse than a grimace.

Ji Huan found Cao Yunyun’s reaction a bit strange, but since it was a busy time, she didn’t dwell on it.

She told Dabao to go help tend the stove, then rolled up her sleeves and walked over to relieve Widow Xie.

"Aunt Xie, you rest for a bit. I’ll take over serving."

Widow Xie didn’t stand on ceremony, immediately handing her the ladle and bustling off to wipe tables for customers.

Ji Huan skillfully ladled and served the soup while Hu Liang stood beside her, frying dough sticks. The two chatted occasionally.

Watching this scene, Cao Yunyun’s grip on the cleaning rag in her hand grew tighter and tighter.

She walked forward and said to Ji Huan, "Here, let me do the serving."

Ji Huan was about to say it wasn’t necessary, but Cao Yunyun had already snatched the ladle and, taking a step forward, squeezed her out of the way.

Ji Huan: "..."

Noticing Cao Yunyun’s gaze kept darting toward Hu Liang, who was focused on frying his dough sticks, Ji Huan figured the young couple simply wanted to work together. She said nothing and went to find something else to do.

However, what happened next made Ji Huan realize that Cao Yunyun was deliberately targeting her.

Ji Huan went to wipe a table, and Cao Yunyun followed to snatch the rag away.

She took a payment, and Cao Yunyun came over to handle the money.

When she chatted with customers, Cao Yunyun would just stand by her side...

’Fine. I’ll just go back to ladling soup. That should be okay, right?’

Cao Yunyun snatched the ladle away again.

"..."

’Didn’t I already clear up her doubts last time? What’s gotten into her now?’

Seeing Ji Huan studying her, Cao Yunyun unnaturally averted her gaze and mumbled, "You should just rest. We can’t have a guest like you busy with all this."

Hearing that, Ji Huan instantly understood.

’So all my previous efforts were for nothing. I’d gone to so much trouble to pull her out of her obsessive thinking, and now she’s dived right back in.’

Little did Ji Huan know that this time, Cao Yunyun hadn’t just started overthinking again—she had burrowed into the deepest, darkest corner of her obsession.

She was an indecisive person who would bottle up her troubles instead of talking about them. In the entire family, the only one who noticed her distress and helped ease her worries was her sister-in-law, Mrs. Wang.

If Cao Yunyun had been only half-convinced by Mrs. Wang’s words before, then after her attempt to test Hu Liang last time, a profound sense of unease and fear had taken root in her heart, causing her to become completely obedient to Mrs. Wang.

Mrs. Wang spared no effort, repeatedly fanning the flames and sowing discord. Since Cao Yunyun was already easily influenced, her perspective gradually began to shift.

For the past two days, she had been constantly making ambiguous remarks to Hu Liang—all of them about Ji Huan, and all of them negative rumors.

Her sister-in-law had told her that men were susceptible to pillow talk. If he heard these things enough, he would eventually see Ji Huan’s true colors and distance himself from her automatically.

But Hu Liang didn’t believe it at all. Not a single word.

He even said that she didn’t understand Ji Huan and told her not to listen to outside gossip. He insisted that if she just interacted with Ji Huan more, she would surely grow to like her.

Cao Yunyun couldn’t accept this and felt increasingly wronged. It reached the point where, facing Ji Huan today, she could no longer hide her feelings at all.

Cao Yunyun’s defensiveness was practically written on her face, and Ji Huan wasn’t blind.

’I refuse to believe the Cao Family isn’t egging her on.’

But she had already tried to be understanding and had already backed down. Yet, Cao Yunyun insisted on assuming the worst. Ji Huan felt a mix of helplessness and growing impatience.

’Fine, whatever. My principle is simple: if we can get along, great. If not, then forget it.’

’Cao Yunyun has made it clear she doesn’t like me, so there’s no point in me wasting any more effort trying to fix things.’

’At the end of the day, she isn’t my actual sister-in-law, and we don’t live under the same roof. It’s just not worth the trouble.’

Ji Huan took Dabao’s hand, made an excuse about having things to do, and left.

Things had been busy, so the turbulent undercurrents between the two women had gone unnoticed by Hu Liang and the others.

Widow Xie, especially, had no idea what was on Cao Yunyun’s mind.

Staring at Ji Huan’s retreating figure, she suddenly remarked, "Hey! Am I imagining things, or has Wuan shot up again?"

Hu Liang followed her gaze and nodded. "Yeah, she’s a little taller than before the new year."

"More than a little! I’d say she’s shot up quite a bit."

"It’s not that dramatic, is it?"

"It’s not as obvious with her padded winter clothes. Just you wait until she changes into spring attire, then you’ll see."

The rush at the stall was winding down, so Hu Ximei came over to join the conversation.

"You’re all just noticing now? I noticed ages ago! Sister Wan isn’t just taller, her skin’s gotten fairer, too. She’s getting more and more beautiful."

Widow Xie thought for a moment, then her face lit up with realization.

"You’re right! No wonder I’ve been thinking Wuan looks more and more radiant lately. She’s lucky she takes after her mother—her mother was so beautiful, how could Wuan be any less? A girl changes so much as she grows up. Once she blossoms a little more, she’ll be an absolute stunner!"

Hu Liang hadn’t really paid attention to that sort of thing.

He scratched his head, his gaze habitually drifting to Cao Yunyun. He noticed she looked unenthusiastic, her smile a bit forced.

Remembering how sensitive she’d been lately and her tendency to compare herself to Wan, he quickly added, "Anyway, I think Yunyun is the prettiest."

His cheesy comment made Widow Xie’s teeth ache, while Hu Ximei made a playfully bashful face at him.

Cao Yunyun blushed and turned away, lowering her head. Inside, however, she didn’t feel the joy she’d expected.

’I can tell the difference between a genuine compliment and empty platitudes.’

A sense of crisis sprouted in her heart once more.

On the way back to Cao Family Village, Cao Yunyun asked Hu Liang, "Brother Liangzi, were you serious when you said you’d teach me to make hot and spicy soup and fried dough sticks?"

"Of course, I was."

Hu Liang wasn’t guarded around his fiancée.

’She’ll be my wife soon enough. There’s no reason she can’t learn how to make it.’

’Besides, it’s rare for Yunyun to ask a favor of me, and this is to help share my workload...’

Still, Hu Liang added a word of caution. "I can teach you, but you can’t tell anyone else. This is the secret recipe Wan gave our family."

Cao Yunyun gave a sweet smile. "Don’t worry, Brother Liangzi. I won’t tell a soul."

「At the entrance of Dafeng Village.」

After getting off the ox-cart, Ji Huan glanced casually toward the old banyan tree, and her gaze froze.

Hesitating for a moment, she told Dabao to wait where he was. She then pulled two fried dough sticks from the bundle Widow Xie had packed for them and walked toward the vagrant under the tree.

The vagrant seemed just as oblivious to her approach.

His matted hair obscured his face, making it impossible to see whether his eyes were open or closed.

Ji Huan bent down. She had planned to simply leave the dough sticks on the ground, but after a pause, she pried open his filthy left hand and pressed them into his palm instead.

"Eat."

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