Chapter 8. The poor little thing was moved to tears…

It turned out that the coarse flour flatbread she left for him to eat every day, he only secretly ate half of it, and actually left the rest to eat the next day.

A dry, hard coarse flour flatbread that scratched his throat, washed down with ice-cold water, this was all he ate in a day.

No wonder, since she had come to this world, apart from the first night when she ate with him, she had never seen him eat again.

No wonder every time at breakfast, when she asked if he had eaten, Cheng Qingzhi always had an evasive expression.

He lied to her that he had already eaten, when in fact he hadn’t at all.

The flour in the kitchen had barely been touched, he relied on half a piece of coarse flatbread for a whole day, no wonder he was so painfully thin.

She thought that by following her, if not eating meat and fish, at least he would be able to eat his fill. She didn’t expect him to torment himself like this.

The shadow left by the original owner was too great. She didn’t know how to make him understand that she was no longer the original Cheng Songer.

She leaned against the door and let out a light sigh.

Cheng Qingzhi, who was lowering his head and taking small bites of the dry, hard flatbread, trembled like a frightened little beast. He timidly raised his head, as if even his pupils were trembling.

Even though after a few days of interaction, Cheng Qingzhi’s view of her had changed slightly, but the most primal fear still couldn’t be eliminated.

He was still so afraid of her.

The fear was like a brand engraved in his genes, impossible to eradicate completely.

Indeed, the original owner had tormented him day after day for ten years, and his original family had also made him feel insecure. Her mere words of kindness wouldn’t necessarily make him feel safe.

Since words couldn’t convince him, then she would use actions.

The ancient kitchen had almost no light except for a wooden door and a vent, and now the room was pitch black.

She bent down slightly, squatting in front of Cheng Qingzhi.

Light shone in from behind her, she smiled, and the expression that Cheng Qingzhi once feared so much now seemed somewhat bright to him.

“Is this all you eat?” she asked softly, afraid of startling him.

Cheng Qingzhi’s pale eyebrows furrowed nervously, and he nodded carefully.

Then his eyes quickly swept over Cheng Songer’s face, as if gauging her emotional response. If there was even a hint of gloom on Cheng Songer’s face, he would immediately kneel down.

Sure enough, he saw Cheng Songer’s brows furrow, as if very dissatisfied. He instinctively tensed up, reflexively wanting to kneel.

But Cheng Songer didn’t give him the chance.

She took his hand and walked out of the kitchen.

Her hand was very warm, as if there was an endless source of heat emanating from within her.

Cheng Qingzhi instinctively followed her. He stared at his wrist held by her, warm as if wrapped by the sun, and for a moment even forgot his fear.

“Look, these are the things I bought from the market this morning,” she pointed at the mountain of items piled on the small table in the courtyard.

Cheng Qingzhi looked at the things in front of him – rice, flour, pork, lard, cabbage, radish, scallions, ginger, garlic, all sorts of things piled before him. Having been accustomed to living in this desolate and hopeless home, suddenly seeing these things, Cheng Qingzhi was dumbfounded for a moment.

Then he looked at Cheng Songer and asked softly, “Where did you get the money?”

Actually, he wanted to ask more, whether she had borrowed money from somewhere again, or sold him as collateral for money.

Cheng Songer smiled and said, “Don’t you remember, didn’t we catch some wild geese last night? This is bought with the money from selling the geese.”

So that’s how it was.

Cheng Qingzhi’s heart relaxed a bit.

“Don’t just eat flatbread anymore, your body can’t take it. You’re so thin, you need to eat more, gain some weight while it’s winter,” Cheng Songer continued, her tone carrying a warm calmness.

Cheng Qingzhi mustered up the courage to look at her.

In the past, when Cheng Songer went out to work, Cheng Qingzhi would fall into painful memories, his body instinctively rejecting everything related to Cheng Songer.

But at some point, he found that Cheng Songer seemed to suddenly have a kind of magic about her. Her words, her sentences, even her every move, attracted him.

Just like now, even though it was the same person, she always made him feel inexplicably at ease.

“By the way, did you catch any fish in the fish trap I left in the river yesterday?” she asked.

“Yes,” Cheng Qingzhi said softly. “Two small crucian carp.”

“How small?”

Cheng Qingzhi brought out a wooden basin with two palm-sized crucian carp inside.

“Looks like braised fish is out of the question, but we could make a crucian carp and radish soup. What do you think?” She smiled at Cheng Qingzhi, her eyes seeming to see the fragrant fish soup.

Cheng Qingzhi, seeing the smile in her eyes, nodded and said okay.

“I also bought ten jin of pork fat from the market. After we render it into lard, we won’t have to worry about not having oil for cooking this winter. Oh, and I bought two liang of pork. We’ll have braised pork for lunch today.” Cheng Songer said happily, and the next moment her stomach growled.

She instantly felt a bit embarrassed and laughed awkwardly.

Cheng Qingzhi’s lips curved slightly in a faint smile. At this moment, Cheng Songer showed no trace of aggression. She was like the warm sun on a winter day, warming people like spring.

He prepared to take the pork from Cheng Songer’s hands and said softly, “Then I’ll go make you some food now. You must be tired after a busy morning. Go rest in the room for a bit, the meal will be ready soon.”

“Don’t rush,” Cheng Songer held his wrist. “I still have something to show you.”

She pulled Cheng Qingzhi into the room.

“This… this is?” Cheng Qingzhi’s gaze was somewhat bewildered.

“These are clothes I bought for you. Try them on quickly and see if they fit.” Cheng Songer excitedly draped the winter clothes over him. The snow-white satin made his face appear as white as snow, with strands of black hair falling at his temples, like ink splattered on pristine snow.

Cheng Qingzhi touched the thick fabric. The satin felt cool for an instant when it first touched his skin, but quickly felt like being wrapped in a snow-filled brazier.

“How is it?” Cheng Songer sat on a small stool, her left hand propped on the edge of the kang bed, her bright eyes staring straight at him.

“Very… very good… very… very fitting…” Cheng Qingzhi said somewhat haltingly.

Just looking at the satin surface, this garment was extremely fine, as white as snow, and embroidered with a magnolia flower in silver thread by a male artisan. A half-blooming flower on a branch, with petals scattering from the lapel all the way to the waist, all embroidered.

Even when his birth mother was still alive, Cheng Qingzhi had never worn such fine clothes.

She must have spent a lot of money, Cheng Qingzhi thought silently, feeling indescribable emotions.

“It’s good that it fits. I was afraid I’d buy it too big and you wouldn’t be able to wear it,” Cheng Songer said with a smile. “Your clothes are too thin. Change into this one now, it’s warmer.”

Cheng Qingzhi bit his lip and nodded. He went back to the room to take off his summer clothes and change into this garment.

But the sight before him made his eyes widen slightly. The original thin quilt had been neatly folded and placed to one side, while in its original place was a set of thick quilts.

A flash of confusion passed through Cheng Qingzhi’s eyes, but he quickly realized that besides Cheng Songer, no one else would have provided him with thick, warm bedding.

He carefully placed his hand on the quilt. The soft, gentle touch felt as if he could feel the layers of cotton inside even through the fabric.

How long had it been since he had touched something so nice? Cheng Qingzhi couldn’t remember.

“Brother, have you changed your clothes?” Cheng Songer stood outside the door.

“Almost… almost done,” Cheng Qingzhi stammered in reply, a glimmer of moisture flashing in his eyes. He blinked hurriedly, forcing the tears back.

He quickly changed his clothes, then opened the door, standing somewhat awkwardly and embarrassedly in front of Cheng Songer.

Cheng Qingzhi in his winter clothes made Cheng Songer’s eyes light up. If the usually plainly dressed Cheng Qingzhi was already unforgettable, now dressed in moon-white clothes, he was even more stunningly beautiful, impossible to look away from.

His fair skin, set off by the moon-white clothes, was like fresh snow. The magnolia flowers embroidered on the clothes seemed to pale in comparison to such exquisite beauty.

“Brother… you look so handsome,” Cheng Songer praised sincerely. Even more handsome than seeing a celebrity in person at the mall.

Thinking of how such a beautiful person had suffered inhuman treatment before, she felt both angry and confused.

Such a beauty, how could the original owner’s family and the people of Cheng family village bear to mistreat him?

If it were her, she would want to build a greenhouse, carefully nurturing this delicate flower, protected from wind and rain, letting him bloom quietly.

The sudden praise made Cheng Qingzhi’s eyes flicker, a faint blush spreading from his neck to his ears.

Cheng Qingzhi knew his appearance was somewhat better than others, otherwise Liu Su wouldn’t have been so jealous, hating him to the point of wanting to kill him.

But whether it was the villagers of Cheng family village or his own birth father, they would only glare fiercely at his face, cursing him as a vixen, a seducer, guarding against him as if he might destroy their families at any moment… No one had ever sincerely praised him like this, without any impurity.

“Oh, I almost forgot about this,” Cheng Songer suddenly slapped her forehead.

She hurried back to the main room, then rushed back.

“Look what else I bought for you,” Cheng Songer said, as if presenting a treasure, placing a pair of thousand-layer sole shoes in front of him.

Cheng Qingzhi looked at the shoes, his lips suddenly trembling slightly, his voice almost hoarse: “You still remember?”

“Of course I remember, I promised you long ago, I won’t go back on my word,” Cheng Songer said with a smile. “Try them on quickly.”

Cheng Qingzhi’s nails dug deeply into his flesh, as if something was painfully stuck in his throat, making him feel choked up.

He forced himself to breathe through the almost suffocating feeling and changed into the shoes.

“How is it, are they comfortable?” Cheng Songer asked, looking down at the shoes on his feet.

“…They’re comfortable,” Cheng Qingzhi almost bit out the words through his back teeth.

The thick fabric, sturdy stitching, even the size of the shoes was extremely suitable.

“That’s good. I could only estimate the size of your feet from memory, I was afraid they’d be too big,” she said with a smile.

The tied-up hair inadvertently brushed across his shoulder, bringing a faint fragrance. The scent was very light, unlike any flower fragrance he had smelled before, and also not the smell of the Cheng Songer who used to beat him.

But this fragrance seemed to have a strange magic, making him feel that everything happening before his eyes was as unreal as an illusion.

He dug his nails hard into the flesh of his palms. The familiar pain made him finally able to distinguish somewhat between reality and illusion, but the dream-like scene before his eyes didn’t disappear with the pain.

All of this was real.

The clothes embroidered with magnolia flowers, the soft bedding, the shoes on his feet… Cheng Songer’s kindness to him, it was all real.