Hong Jiaxin's luggage was at Luo Yang's house, where he only ate, and as for sleeping at night, Luo Yang decided to take her to stay at Qin Piao's house.
During this period, Luo Yang had made quite a bit of money. After expenses such as renting land for the clinic, digging fishponds, building vegetable greenhouses, and so on, he still had over 300,000 in cash. He had the means to add another floor to his family's single-story house. Considering he would eventually tear it down to build a villa, he wasn't in a hurry to add another floor to the old house.
After seeing Luo Yang home, Tang Guihua immediately sent a message to An Yuying that read, "Cowboy has brought a wife home. Aren't you going to check it out?"
In truth, Tang Guihua was very eager to figure out the real relationship between Luo Yang and Hong Jiaxin, but it wasn't convenient to ask directly, so she had no choice but to let An Yuying take the lead.
In Hongyun Brigade, many people knew that An Yuying's relationship with Luo Yang was out of the ordinary. Although not officially declared as lovers, they were practically considered a pair of golden boy and jade girl.
When An Yuying received the message from Tang Guihua, she thought she was joking. After exchanging a few texts, when she learned that Luo Yang had indeed brought a pretty girl home, she couldn't sit still anymore and hurried over to the Luo Family's house.
Even before she entered the Luo Family's home, she could hear a girl's crisp voice from inside, which made An Yuying even more anxious.
"Cowboy."
Outside the door, An Yuying softly called out to Luo Yang.
"Sister An, come in and have a seat," Luo Yang said hurriedly as he moved a chair for her, "Squad leader, this is Sister An. She's a teacher at the village elementary school. Sister An, this is my classmate, Hong Jiaxin."
Hong and An nodded slightly to each other, acknowledging the greeting.
Upon hearing the title "squad leader," An Yuying knew it referred to the girl who usually tutored Luo Yang in his studies.
As An Yuying entered the room, her gaze fell on Hong Jiaxin and, seeing that she was indeed as pretty as Tang Guihua had said, her heart sank with a mix of melancholy. She had been thinking of Luo Yang as her other half, and now here he was, bringing another girl home—her sense of loss was immeasurable.
On her way over, she couldn't understand why Luo Yang would bring Hong Jiaxin home to stay, and no other reason seemed plausible except what Tang Guihua had mentioned, "Maybe he got her pregnant."
So, An Yuying observed Hong Jiaxin's abdomen closely to see if there was any swelling. Finding it flat and not looking pregnant at all, she thought to herself, "Is it possible she's just recently pregnant and doesn't show any signs yet?"
Feeling uneasy with all these thoughts swirling in her head, she wanted to ask Luo Yang for clarification.
"Cowboy, I need to talk to you about something. Do you have a moment?" An Yuying asked softly.
"Yes."
Seeing her walking towards the door, he knew she did not want others to overhear and followed her outside.
They walked about ten meters away and stood under a pomegranate tree before An Yuying softly asked, "Cowboy, I didn't expect you to get married so quickly, did I?"
Hearing this, Luo Yang had a good idea of what An Yuying wanted to talk about—she was jealous.
Thus, he succinctly explained what had happened to Hong Jiaxin, omitting the episode with Mu Tan, and concluded, "She's just staying at my house temporarily."
An Yuying listened with a mix of belief and skepticism, then shyly asked, "Didn't you tell Sister Guihua that you got your squad leader pregnant?"
Woman's heart, sea's needle. Once a woman starts to suspect, even God can't explain clearly.
The moonlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting spotty patterns on the ground. A gentle evening breeze fluttered, and thousands of fragmented moonbeams danced with the wind, accompanied by the rustling of the leaves.
Luo Yang walked up to An Yuying, took her hands in his, and smiled, "Sister An, Sister Guihua was just making wild guesses. Don't believe her."
Being close to her, smelling her faint body fragrance, Luo Yang felt somewhat moved.
"If she's staying at your house, doesn't that mean she sleeps with you at night?" An Yuying asked with a hint of sourness in her tone.
"I can't accommodate her at my place. I'm going to take her to Sister Piao's house to stay overnight," Luo yang said.
An Yuying felt a little relieved thinking that Hong Jiaxin would sleep over at Qin Piao's house alone, but she didn't know that Luo Yang was also going to stay the night at Qin Piao's house. He had promised Hong Zhong that he would protect Hong Jiaxin well, and in such a critical period, he couldn't stay far from her.
After chatting for a few minutes and thinking about how Hong Jiaxin was sitting at home alone and neglected, Luo Yang went back inside the house to talk.
In the afternoon, Luo Zhihai had the excavator come to dig fish ponds, soon there would be four fish ponds dug up, but there was no way to lead fresh water into them.
In spring and summer, the fish ponds would not lack water, but come autumn and winter, without diverting water into the ponds, they would surely dry up.
Bringing water in from a small river a mile away would require building an aqueduct through the fields of the neighboring Xingang Brigade. The Xingang Brigade and Hongyun Brigade had an old grudge.
It was a feud that dated back two or three hundred years.
Luo Yang heard from the older generation that back then a wealthy family from Xingang Brigade arranged for their daughter to marry into Hongyun Brigade. However, the couple didn't get along and the woman ran back home, refusing to return to her husband. From then on, the two villages became enemies and ceased all interactions and marriages between them.
Even to this day, the villagers of Xingang Brigade generally wouldn't greet those from Hongyun Brigade if they encountered them. Over a decade ago, there was even a massive brawl over the boundary dispute of the mountain land that led to a fatality.
The dry land Luo Yang had rented had no major water sources nearby; if they couldn't bring water from the small river a mile away, the dug fish ponds wouldn't have water to sustain fish.
Luo Zhihai was impressed by his son's capability shown recently, so he discussed the problem of water shortage with Luo Yang.
"Dad, I'll find a way to solve it. Keep digging. It's okay," Luo Yang said.
Just then, Tang Guihua called again to hurry Luo Yang to her house. Luo Yang then left the house with Hong Jiaxin, and An Yuying joined them as well.
Arriving at Hongyun Brigade was a completely new and strange environment for Hong Jiaxin. The person she was most familiar with was Luo Yang, and she was definitely going to follow him wherever he went.
An Yuying and Hong Jiaxin got along well with laughter and chatter; the two quickly became familiar with each other. Although An Yuying was gentle, she was easily jealous, which Luo Yang was aware of. Considering that Hong Jiaxin was also competitive, Luo Yang worried that she might quarrel with An Yuying. Yet, to his mild relief, the two women hit it off right after meeting, at least they appeared to get along on the surface.
On the way, when passing by the village head's grocery store, Luo Yang gave the elder's wife two small bottles of beauty stream water and explained how to use it.
In a while, when they arrived at the doorstep of Tang Guihua's house, they saw a silver BMW 5 series parked there.
Hearing the chatting voices from the second floor, they knew Lin Yuqing was upstairs.
"Sister Guihua," Luo Yang called out to the second floor.
"Coming!"
Then they heard the sound of Tang Guihua descending the stairs. In just a moment, the iron door on the first floor clicked open.
Seeing An Yuying and Hong Jiaxin standing behind Luo Yang, Tang Guihua hesitated for a moment.
"Niu Zai, Jiaxin, go upstairs and take a seat. I'll grab something and be right up. Lin Yuqing is waiting for you up there," Tang Guihua said while signaling to An Yuying with her eyes.
Ans slowing down her pace, An Yuying waited for Luo Yang and Hong Jiaxin to go upstairs. Then, Tang Guihua quietly inquired about the real relationship between Luo Hong and the two women.
Consequently, An Yuying relayed to Tang Guihua the important parts of what Luo Yang had told her.
"What if he's lying to you?" Tang Guihua said with a sly smile, whispering in her ear.
With that suggestion, An Yuying also began to feel uncertain.