Chapter 6: He Doesn’t Hate Her?

Just as she was about to walk back to the village on her own two feet, Mu Chenze pointed at the driver’s seat, looking a little helpless. “What I meant was, you can sit in the driver’s seat.”

Chu Xuan gestured in front of herself with both hands. “Are you sure? If this two-hundred-pound fatty like me squeezes into the driver’s seat, will there even be room for you? Besides, even if we both squeeze in, what would that look like?”

Is this guy addicted to taking advantage of her?

Mu Chenze shot Chu Xuan an angry glare. “What are you thinking? I’ll stand at the connection between the tractor and the trailer to guide you while you drive.”

His tone wasn’t great, but his intentions were good.

He knew that the money Chu Xuan got from selling the gold ingot was just enough to build a new house. If she wanted a better life, she’d have to earn more.

If Chu Xuan could learn to drive a tractor, she could help out in the village or at the factory in her spare time and make some extra money.

Learning a new skill meant another way to earn a living.

Chu Xuan looked Mu Chenze up and down. Did this guy really trust her that much? Wasn’t he afraid she’d drive the tractor into a ditch?

But she also realized he was helping her in his own way.

In her previous life, he only taught her to drive the tractor after they got married, and she picked it up right away—she was a fast learner.

Could it be that, because she refused to marry him in this life, some things were happening earlier?

Shouldn’t he be angry with her, keeping his distance?

She’d schemed to steal his first kiss—didn’t he hate her? Why was he still helping her?

Was he stupid?

Of course, she didn’t mind learning again in this life.

After all, once the main road was finished, if she got a good catch from the sea, she could borrow the village tractor to take it to the county and sell it for a good price.

“Mu Chenze, thank—”

Before she could finish, Mu Chenze handed her the hand crank. “I believe you can do it. The road to the county is long and flat, just drive steadily. It’s a hand crank start, you’ll pick it up in no time. Give it a try.”

He was willing to teach her—she’d be a fool not to learn.

She quickly took the crank and, under Mu Chenze’s guidance, successfully started the tractor. The diesel engine’s exhaust pipe began to smoke.

Chu Xuan got into the driver’s seat, and Mu Chenze jumped onto the connection between the tractor and the trailer.

He guided her through shifting gears, releasing the clutch, and getting the tractor moving smoothly, then told her how to brake gently.

He only had to teach her once before Chu Xuan said she’d got it.

She started driving again.

Mu Chenze didn’t praise her out loud, but he was genuinely impressed.

Back when he learned to drive a tractor, it took his teacher two tries to get him to understand.

As Chu Xuan drove, she thought, as long as she didn’t marry him, she wouldn’t bring trouble to him or his family. If they could be friends, at least she’d have one less enemy trying to trip her up.

They made it safely to the edge of the village. After stopping the tractor, Chu Xuan jumped down, but lost her balance and nearly twisted her ankle—Mu Chenze caught her just in time.

Once she was steady, she realized his hand was on her waist.

How embarrassing—her thick waist was practically sullying Mu Chenze’s good-looking hands.

Luckily, she’d changed into clean clothes and didn’t smell like fish anymore.

“You can let go of me now.”

Hearing this, Mu Chenze quickly withdrew his hand, thinking Chu Xuan was angry and teased her on purpose, “You didn’t mind the first kiss, so just a touch shouldn’t bother you either.”

Chu Xuan didn’t dare admit she minded, afraid he’d say something about taking responsibility and marrying her, so she immediately pretended not to care. “That’s right, not only do I not mind, I feel like I got a bargain touching your hand.”

As soon as she said it, Mu Chenze blushed and quickly started the tractor and drove away.

Chu Xuan patted her right pocket to make sure the money was still there, then headed home.

Ten minutes later, she walked through her front door.

Chu Feng bounced out of the house like a rabbit, face full of excitement, and shouted, “Sis—”

Chu Xuan quickly made a shushing gesture.

Chu Feng immediately understood and dashed to the courtyard gate to bolt it.

He linked arms with his sister and led her to the bedroom.

Trying hard to contain his excitement, he lowered his voice. “Sis, how did it go? Was it really gold?”

Chu Xuan didn’t answer directly, instead putting on a serious face. “How’s the house cleaning coming along?”

Chu Feng, eager to show off, said, “Let me give you a tour.”

The siblings checked out both bedrooms, the kitchen, and the outhouse.

Everything was spotless.

Even the water tank was full.

Chu Xuan doubted her little brother could have done such a thorough job on his own.

“You really did all this yourself?”

Chu Feng hung his head, not daring to look at her. “I was worried I wouldn’t finish before you got back. Aunt Hua came by with some people to see our big mackerel, so I quietly asked her if she could find two people to help me clean. I promised to give each of them two jin of fresh mackerel. So…”

She didn’t need to hear the rest to understand.

Seeing Chu Xuan silent, Chu Feng thought he’d done something wrong. “Sis, did I mess up? You can hit me if you want. Or I’ll go to the sea again tomorrow and earn back what I gave away today.”

After all, six or seven jin of mackerel could sell for about ten yuan.

Chu Xuan felt a pang of guilt. “Xiao Feng, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s my fault for not considering how tired you’d be after a day at sea, with your face still hurt, and still giving you so much to do. I was just reflecting on that. The fish you gave away is gone, don’t worry about it.”

Chu Feng let out a long sigh of relief and broke into a smile. “As long as you’re not mad. I took the mackerel tail to Grandpa Wang’s house, and he gave us half a jin of pork fat in return. I rendered it into lard. I was so hungry I didn’t wait for you to eat, but I saved you some pork cracklings in the pot, plus steamed mackerel, octopus, and dumpling soup. They’re all still warm.”

Chu Xuan felt gratified. Her little brother had learned to cook two years ago, and he was pretty good at it. He only cooked to cheer her up—usually he was too lazy, but she’d have to cure him of that.

She was hungry, too. She pulled a thick wad of fifty-yuan bills from her pocket and slapped them into Chu Feng’s hands. “Sit down and count it! I’m going to wash up and eat.”

Chu Feng held the wad of cash in both hands, stunned speechless.

It was the first time in his life he’d seen so much money.

He only snapped out of it when Chu Xuan reminded him, “What, you’re scared to count that little bit? We’ll make even more in the future!”

Only then did Chu Feng start counting, and as he did, tears began to fall.

His feelings were all over the place—excitement, joy, regret, remorse…

When they split from the family, he’d actually blamed his sister, and yet she was still letting him count the money.

So much money! He was completely convinced.

He counted it over and over—more than twenty times.

By the time Chu Xuan finished eating and washing the dishes, he was still counting.

Chu Xuan went over and gently ruffled his hair. “Alright, you can count again another day. For now, don’t let anyone know about this money. In a few days, we’ll say our mom sent us money and start fixing up the house and building a new one.”

At the mention of their mother, Chu Feng looked a little down. “Sis, do you really think Mom will send us money? Grandma says she’s not a good woman…”

Chu Xuan was certain. “She will. Grandma’s not necessarily right. Last time Mom came to see us, didn’t we refuse to see her? Before she left, she asked Grandpa Wang to tell me she’d send us money every June and December. Grandma, Grandpa, and Second Uncle don’t know about this.”

Chu Feng clenched his fists. “Just mentioning Second Uncle makes me mad. This afternoon he came by and tried to take a piece of fresh mackerel. Luckily Grandpa Wang chased him off. Sis, do you think he’ll come steal at night?”

Chu Xuan smiled mysteriously. “I’m just hoping they do!”

“They? You mean Grandma and Grandpa too?”

“You’ll see soon enough. I’ll keep the money on me for now. Be alert tonight—we’re going to catch some thieves.”

Chu Feng was confused, but didn’t ask any more.

After stashing the money, Chu Xuan’s gaze fell on the thirty-plus jin of salted mackerel hanging from the eaves.

The siblings chatted a while longer before Chu Xuan went back to her room.

A few minutes later, she came out again and stuffed something into the mackerel’s mouth…"