TFRLTOP Chapter 40 Part 1

Chapter 40 – The Educated Youth’s Humble Wife

◎This Isn’t Just Any Candy Bean◎

Ming Ming scrubbed her face for a full five minutes before she finally felt somewhat clean. She flicked the water off her hands and let them air-dry, planning to sweep up the pile of sunflower seed shells she’d just scattered all over the floor.

Just then, the big white goose waddled over, showing great interest in the shells. It pecked at them noisily, and Ming Ming pretended to kick at it. Startled, the goose flapped its wings wildly, scattering the shells everywhere.

What had been a tidy little heap of shells now spread out like they were running free.

Ming Ming gave the goose a whack with the broom and threatened viciously, “One of these days I’m putting you in a pot and stewing you for dinner.”

She swept the shells into a pile against the wall, glanced left and right, saw that Yan Junsheng wasn’t around, then quickly shoveled them into a dustpan. She dashed into the backyard, dumped them in a hidden corner by the firewood pile, covered them with some loose sticks, and walked away whistling innocently.

Under the woodpile, a little mound of shells was already forming.

Ming Ming smacked her lips, still feeling a little empty inside, and thought of eating the candy beans Wang Hu had given her.

But when she went inside to look, they were nowhere to be found. Yan Junsheng was tidying up, so she asked, “Where are my candy beans?”

He pointed to a corner of the table. Ming Ming walked over and saw a neatly packaged, full bag of candy beans—clearly not the half-eaten bag Wang Hu had given her.

“You bought these? What about the bag I didn’t finish?”

Expressionless, Yan Junsheng said, “What half-finished bag? You must be remembering wrong. Didn’t you eat them all that day?”

Ming Ming frowned deeply. “Wouldn’t I know if I finished them or not? Besides, that day you were the one drunk, not me.”

Yan Junsheng, obviously covering up, started fussing with things on the table—picking up the teacup and setting it down again, moving the kettle, shifting the junk tray from left to right…

Ming Ming: “…”

“You stole them, didn’t you? And now you’re making up for it by buying a new bag?” She stared at him suspiciously.

Yan Junsheng almost laughed out of exasperation. “Me, steal? Why would I…” —steal something she had bought?

“Comrade Yan Junsheng,” Ming Ming cut him off righteously, “if you ate them, then you ate them. I wouldn’t blame you. It’s just a bag of candy beans. I’m not that stingy.”

“Just a bag of candy beans?” Yan Junsheng stepped closer, grabbed the new bag from the table, and held it in front of her. “Do you even know what this is?”

“…Candy beans?”

What else would they be?

His intensity made her doubt herself for a second.

She backed up until she hit the tall cabinet, leaning as far away as she could. When there was nowhere left to retreat, Yan Junsheng braced his arm behind her. She leaned back—and landed against his arm.

The cabinet didn’t dig into her back, but the two of them were much closer now.

“Are these ordinary candy beans?”

“These are the candy beans your man bought for you!” Yan Junsheng declared with conviction.

“How is that any different from the ones he bought me?”

Ming Ming pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh.

“Funny to you?” he asked gruffly, lowering his head to look at her.

—These weren’t just candy beans. They were like the red beans in Wang Wei’s poetry.

Ming Ming couldn’t hold it in. She leaned on his arm and burst out laughing. “Hahahahaha—”

Yan Junsheng straightened, still holding her in his arms, his feelings a tangled mess. He was drained, frustrated, and helpless. But then he looked down at her, laughing so hard her whole body shook, her smile blooming brighter than a flower—and suddenly he thought… maybe he was amazing after all. Just one line, and he could make her laugh like this.

So what if it came from the heart?

Could Wang Hu manage that?

Yan Junsheng pulled her closer under the guise of nonchalance. Ming Ming was still laughing, pressed to his chest, the vibration of her laughter running through him like it was his own. When she laughed, she couldn’t help but smack and claw at him like a playful kitten—that was why he held her tight in the first place.

Her joy came from him. Her little intimacies were for him alone.

Let her laugh.

How could he hold that against her?

Still… where had things gone off track?

Yan Junsheng couldn’t figure it out.

When Ming Ming finally calmed down, she leaned against him, catching her breath. He felt her settle and, just as she was about to move away, he held her there and distracted her with a new topic:

“In the future, don’t accept things from Wang Hu. If you want something, I’ll buy it for you. Why owe him a favor for no reason? At worst, you’re the one holding our money. What can’t you buy if you want it?”

His voice was gentle, not commanding, not lecturing—just calmly sharing his thoughts, hoping she’d take them to heart.

And yes, his words carried his own selfishness too.

See, we’re in the same unit. Why get close to an outsider? With him, you’ll end up in a cycle of give-and-take. I owe you too much; you resent it. You owe me a little; I feel guilty. But with us? There’s no “yours and mine.” What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is still yours. All you need is me.

He didn’t know if Chen Chanjüan understood what he was really saying.

But that was fine. If not, he’d show her in time—subtly, quietly, in ways that would seep into her heart.

And first of all, he thought grimly, he’d better make sure she stayed far away from that bastard Wang Hu.

So he added, with obvious bias, “I’ve heard folks say that guy only behaves himself during the busy farming season. The rest of the time, he’s either loafing around or gambling on cockfights. Why do you think he keeps coming around to bother you? He’s clearly up to no good.”

Ming Ming thought to herself, He’s only nice to me because I bribed him. We’ve got a revolutionary kind of friendship. If he betrays me, I’ll spread rumors about him.

She lifted her chin. “What if the one with bad intentions is me?”

Yan Junsheng bent down, paused, and then replied firmly, “Impossible. Someone shady must have tricked you!”

“You trust me that much? Even I don’t trust myself,” Ming Ming teased with a grin.

Yan Junsheng lowered his eyes, lashes trembling. For a moment, he looked strangely dejected and murmured, “What else would I do…”

You’re already mine. How could I not trust you?

“Even if you really did have bad intentions, I’d just assume you had your reasons,” he said, brushing his fingers across her cheek, his gaze steady, his tone unwavering.

For Mingming, this was a brand-new experience. The way Yan Junsheng spoke made her feel like she was being firmly, deliberately chosen.

Was this what her classmates had once described as those so-called “dating games”? Was this what it felt like?

Mingming wondered: with Junsheng looking so tender and devoted now, what would his state of mind be when he reunited with his childhood sweetheart someday?

After all, they’d grown up together. Surely they wouldn’t turn into strangers like the male and female leads in that last world.

Oh no—did that make her the pitiful little “country green tea girl” in the story? The kind who waits three years while her husband’s away at war, only to have him come back with another woman at his side? God, I’m so small, so helpless, so pitiful… Maybe I should get a head start on studying how to play that role?

Her thoughts ran wild, spiraling further and further out. Before long, she was almost tempted to actually try it.

Junsheng, seeing her spacing out yet again, sighed silently. How could just a two-year age gap feel like such an enormous generational divide?

Wasn’t it supposed to be three years that made a generation gap?

He lowered his head, fingers tracing the curve of her cheek. His gaze deepened as he leaned closer, just as Mingming suddenly snapped back to herself and blurted out, “Did you wash your hands after you came in?”

“…!” Junsheng flushed with anger and embarrassment. “I did!”