Chapter 67: Mutual Dependence

  In the summer, some tension wanted to move forward, but the dog in his arms suddenly burst into loud wails.

  Yuan Longqiao held the jade pendant in his hand, turned back to comfort her with a glance, and calmly said to Zhang Tianba: "Bring the letter!"

  "What evidence? What kind of evidence?" Zhang Tianba was stunned.

  "Since you said that Ma borrowed your grain and didn't return it in full, where is the written agreement you made at the time? Bring it out for me to see."

  Zhang Tianba blinked his eyes and suddenly burst out laughing, "The people here don't even recognize a single character, what's the point of setting up this ghostly evidence!"

  "Right, right! What evidence! It's really a joke!" Someone followed with a snicker and echoed in agreement.

  "In that case, what makes you say that Ma still owes you grain and hasn't paid back? In my opinion, he not only paid back but also gave more than enough." Yuan Longqiao was still speaking in a slow and calm tone that could kill people with its coldness, each word sharper than a knife.

  "Grandma's, I think you're fed up with living!" Zhang Tianba glared with his cow-like eyes, his gaze was unapologetically fierce. "I said he owed it and that's that, dare to haggle with me? Believe it or not, one stick from me will send you packing back to your grandma's house!"

  The corners of his mouth curled up, and Yuan Long raised an eyebrow disdainfully without even giving him a straight look. "You try it!"

  "Damn it! I'll kill you today, and then take this little girl back with me." Zhang Tianba's words were directed at Yuan Longqiao, but his eyes were fixed on Xia Tian with ill intentions. With a sudden swing of his arm, he used all his strength to strike Yuan Longqiao with his club.

  "Little three!"

  "Square Brothers!"

  When he heard Xia Tian's voice, Yuan Long's frosty gaze instantly melted away like snow and ice, revealing a hint of a smile. He raised his right arm... and all of a sudden, Xia Tian covered the dog's eyes with one hand, while also closing her own eyes in fright.

  Stillness, suddenly appeared eerie silence.

  In the summer, her heart skipped a beat, she opened her eyes to see Yuan Longqiao still standing there, not even a hint of pain on his face. She couldn't help but let out a huge sigh of relief. Her gaze fell downwards, and in surprise, she found that the stick on the ground had been broken into two pieces. Her gaze swept around again, and with a mixture of amusement and shock, she discovered that Zhang Tianba and the people he brought with him were already pale-faced, their mouths agape, as still as zombies.

  Hey! She suddenly felt very proud and admiringly looked at Yuan Longqiao, laughing so hard that her eyes curved. Her husband, ah! Super handsome!

  Zhang Tianba finally pressed his handprint on the perfect ending letter left by Yuan Longqiao and ran away with a gloomy face. Ma Achai and Ma Sao were overjoyed and thanked Yuan Longqiao repeatedly, while Xia Tian felt a great sense of accomplishment.

  At night, the two of them didn't want to sleep yet and sat on the edge of the kang. The room was quiet, with a subtle and ambiguous atmosphere lingering in the air.

  Yuan Longqiao had never been a person who liked to talk, and such silence did not bring him any discomfort, while Xia Tian obviously couldn't sit still.

  "Your arm... is it alright?" She propped her hands on the edge of the bed, her eyes fixed on the cloth shoes on her feet, trying to break this annoying silence.

  "Hmm." He was stingy with his words and gave her only one word before falling silent again.

  He puffed out his cheeks and glared at him. Can this guy even have a conversation?!

  Feeling her gaze, Yuan Longqiao also turned his head. Looking at her puffed-up appearance, his mood suddenly improved, and a shallow smile bloomed on his usually calm and waveless face.

  He smiled! …… Xia Tian looked up at him with her face tilted upwards, the smile lines accumulating on his lips, her big eyes blinking non-stop.

  Yuan Longqiao's smile deepened as he leaned over and gently kissed her forehead.

  A spark, and Xia Tian's heart skipped a beat, her cheeks burning all the way to her ears. She looked at his eyes in dismay, but the dark pupils were no longer coldly distant and slightly disdainful, instead filled with a few threads of tenderness, a hint of softness, and a dash of joy.

  She gently hummed with her nose, although she didn't expect him to be such a sulky person. Although it was the first time someone had kissed her apart from family members, she wasn't one of those ancient ladies who would feel offended. Propping herself up on her knees on the bed, she roughly began to unbutton his clothes.

  Yuan Longqiao was completely stunned.

  With a snort of laughter, Xia Tian looked at his obviously shocked expression with satisfaction and raised his chin slightly, feeling a sense of revenge. He took off his outer garment and rolled up the sleeve of his right arm, revealing a dark red long mark on his forearm that was clearly visible.

  She took a deep breath, her mischievousness replaced by concern, and gently stroked it with her fingers, sighing to ask: "Does it hurt?"

  She closed her eyes, and as her fingers slid across his skin, it was as if a layer of ointment had been applied to his heart, emitting a faint warmth that seemed to ease the pain. "It doesn't hurt."

  Something flashed through her mind, and her eyes dimmed. She let go of his arm, moved a distance away, buried her head in her knees and sat down. "But it hurt when you had someone beat me up back then." Her heart still held resentment towards that past experience.

  One moment he was surrounded by warmth, the next he had plummeted to freezing point. He licked his dry lips, for the first time in his life unsure of how to react.

  "Why are you different with me now... and before?" She asked slowly, in a low voice, each word lightly but forcefully knocking on his heart.

  He didn't know how he and she ended up lying on the kang, and later she said something else. He had amnesia and couldn't remember anything. The only thing he remembered was that when they were lying on either side, he put his five fingers on her fingers, with the fingertips touching each other, neither holding nor leaving.

  "It won't happen again," he said.

  She fell silent for a moment, then slid her fingers onto his and intertwined their ten fingers together.

  That night, the only contact they had while awake was holding hands, but that night he slept very soundly, and after falling asleep, they leaned against each other.

  After resolving Zhang Tianba's entanglement, Ma Achai and his family had a much more pleasant life. During the day, Yuan Longqiao followed Ma Achai to harvest crops, Ma Sao cooked and delivered meals, while Xia Tian played with Dog Er together.

  It's time to deliver food again, and Xia Tian also rushed over with his dog. There wasn't enough food, so Ma Sao hurriedly wanted to go back and fetch some more, but Yuan Longqiao waved his hand and only took one bowl of food to share with Xia Tian.

  Two people faced each other, their heads touching, a bowl of coarse rice with green vegetables, they ate until both were sweating profusely. If they weren't careful, they would pick up the same piece of vegetable leaf, and if he wasn't careful, he would eat the half-chewed cucumber she had bitten into. Their breath mingled, their cheeks touched, at first a bit uncomfortable in the summer heat, but when she turned her head, she discovered that Yuan Longqiao's face also had a suspicious flush, and her shyness immediately dissipated.

  "Ah ha!"

  As she bent down, the nine-linked ring at her waist fell to the ground. Xia Tian lowered her head to pick it up but was beaten to it by Yuan Longqiao.

  Emerald green with a hint of red, the size of a palm, nine delicate rings. His eyebrows slightly furrowed, and his dark eyes changed several times as he gazed intently, "Where did this come from?" he asked calmly.