Lin Yan had been knocking on the door for a long time; the rain soaked her clothes until those two men left.
Lin Yan collapsed onto the ground by the door.
"Who are you?" A low and chilly voice came from behind her.
Lin Yan shivered, slowly getting to her feet.
The rain blurred her vision, her feeble mind dizzy, she spoke with a trembling, choky voice, "I'm so cold, may I come inside?"
The worn, rusty gate of the courtyard was wide open, and the dim incandescent light inside made the girl's delicate face look ghastly pale.
Lin Qiang, in a sorry state, leaned against the corner wall, dragging a tattered suitcase, completely drenched; his clothes, wet and heavy, clung to his body, and rainwater dripped down from his hair.
"I know it's quite sudden for you."
The man spoke in a deep tone, "It is very sudden. Running to a stranger's home in the dead of night, what do you want to do?"
Lin Yan fell silent, not answering.
She looked at the man standing opposite her, nervously rubbing the hem of her clothes, and sneaked glances at him.
The light cast partial shadows, outlining his profile loosely.
The man in front of her had a cold appearance, his posture rigid
, his features deep-set and stern, looking very imposing.
Lin Yan began to wonder if it was too late and she had knocked on the wrong door; he didn't seem to be like what the villagers had described.
But at the east end of the village, there was only his family with a bachelor. Nobody else in the whole village couldn't find a wife, except for him.
There was also a man confined to a wheelchair.
Her doubts were not unfounded.
Before coming here, there had always been rumors in the village about this man at the east end; that he was disfigured, lame, blind in one eye.
He had done quite a few burglaries outside before and had just been released, unable to find a wife.
No respectable family would agree to marry their daughter to such a man.
If it hadn't been for sheer desperation, she would never dare to enter this door, sending herself into his home.
She stealthily looked around, her heartbeat speeding up, almost jumping out of her throat.
The walls, in need of repair for many years, were covered with yellowing old newspapers, a dingy white cloth light hung from the ceiling, and the house had only one kang bed, the wardrobe looking older than her.
This home was too poor; even a mouse, after wandering around here, would have to go back with tears in its eyes.
The man lit a cigarette, his posture casual and refined while lighting it, his voice hoarse and deep, "Why don't you speak; are you mute?"
A mist filled the bottom of Lin Yan's eyes, "Do you lack a wife? I want to marry you."
Upon hearing this, the man smirked with a hint of self-derision, "I don't lack one. Go back to wherever you came from. Look at me; do I seem like I can afford a woman?"
After speaking, he opened the door and the cold wind howled in, the already cold and drafty house now filled with a biting chill.
Lin Yan edged along the wall to the door, tears welling up, but she bit her lip and held them back.
Thinking of her father still locked in a dark room and resolved to risk everything, she suddenly turned around.
She could not leave.
"It doesn't matter if you can't afford it; I can work with my hands and feet, I don't need you to provide for me, I can be self-reliant," she said.
The man frowned and silently gestured for her to continue.
"You know your condition; with your situation, no woman in the village will be with you. If the conditions are even slightly worse, people will disdain you. You can't just give up on yourself, can you?"
After finishing her speech, Lin Yan's delicate face was tinged with uneasiness as she added weakly, "Do you want to be a bachelor for life?"
The man listened, his eyes narrowing to slits as a wave of irritation surged from the depths of his heart. His cold gaze pierced through her, "Are you done talking? If you are, get out."
Lin Yan bit her lip, her eyes filled with reluctance and a pitiful helplessness. Tears pelted down like rain.
She began to doubt herself. Was she really that bad?
At home, she'd loudly declared that she'd rather die than marry, yet it never occurred to her to consider whether anyone desired to marry her.
She had thought that for a man perennially single, having a woman throw herself at him would mean being treasured to death, pressing her onto the bed at first sight.
"I won't leave, there's nowhere else for me to go but here," Lin Yan said as she sat down along the wall.
She tried to console herself that the situation was much better than she had anticipated. The man wasn't ugly or old; instead, he was quite handsome, especially those deep and profound eyes.
She still harbored some doubts in her heart, however. With such a face, how could he not find a woman?
Could it be because he was too poor to afford a bride price? Considering his circumstances, if he were to marry, he'd probably be unable to scrape together even the basic necessaries for a wedding.
Nowadays, getting married could drain a man's family completely.
This man was all alone; except for a wall of dust, he likely had nothing else to offer.
Or could it be that he was inept in certain areas, unable to satisfy marital life, resulting in failure?
Tears blurred Lin Yan's vision, and her mind was a tumultuous mess as her gaze inadvertently drifted towards the man's waist.
Wiping away her tears, she couldn't help but let her thoughts stray off course. Well, this might be for the best, she'd heard that that act was quite painful and involved bleeding.
A young girl, with tear-stained eyes, stared directly at that area on the man's body.
Noticing her steady gaze, the man made no move, his eyes simply glancing over her face.
He leaned forward with a cold tone, his hot breath enveloping her from above, "Have you looked enough? Want me to take it off so you can get a clearer view?"
Lin Yan, like a startled little rabbit, immediately closed her eyes, "Brother, there's no need, really no need, I can see clearly."
Hearing no response, she stiffened her neck and, after a long moment, stealthily opened her eyes, lifting her gaze to the dark-faced man.
"I don't have time to mess around with you. Go back to wherever you came from," the man completely lost his patience.
"I can cook, do laundry, take care of the house! And I don't eat much," Lin Yan's eyes brimmed with tears, her face falling into despondency, "I don't have a home anymore. If I leave, I have nowhere to go, I was driven out."
All she wanted now was for Xiang Tianwen to stop making things difficult for her, to release her father, she would do anything.
As for the future, that would be dealt with later, to live one day at a time.
"What does it matter to me where you go?" His unfazed and coldly knitted brows showed his indifference.
Thinking of Xiang Tianwen's threats, a rush of heat went to her head, and she boldly tugged at her collar in front of the man.
Her sudden brazen move caused the man's dark eyes to fixate.
Her tender shoulders, white as snow, imprinted within the man's pitch-black pupils.
Lin Yan's delicate and fair cheeks flushed red as she shamelessly pleaded, "Now it concerns you, because you've seen me. You should take responsibility for me."
She sneered inwardly at herself. How could she stoop to such a shameless level, to do such a thing?
The man gave her a detached once-over.
Lin Yan, thinking he was ogling her, quickly pulled her collar back up and, not feeling assured, tightened her coat as well, fearing to expose any more skin.
A shadow enveloped her from above.
She trembled, looking up at the man's towering figure approaching step by step.
Lin Yan was about to speak when the man clenched her chin, the pressure of his fingers painfully sharp.
Facing his dangerous, menacing black eyes, Lin Yan whimpered out, "What... what do you want to do?"
A trace of mockery flickered across his thin, cool lips, "I thought one needed to take responsibility only after sleeping together."