After eating and drinking their fill, the roofers waited until the sun wasn’t so scorching before heading to the new house to finish the roof!
Meanwhile, Li Yi drove his bright red mule cart to the county seat to pick up his third older sister and bring her home.
Knowing Tang Xue had nothing to do that afternoon, Li Yi decided to take her along as well.
First, to spend some quality time together on the road, and second, to give her a chance to see the world!
Under the blazing sun, the cart swayed along the rural gravel road.
Li Yi guided the mule while chatting with Tang Xue.
“Honey, the house will be mostly finished by tomorrow. After that, we’ll just need to grout the exterior walls and build the courtyard wall, and then it’s time for the interior work. Do you have any ideas?”
Tang Xue looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, how do you want the house to look?” Li Yi asked.
“Well… is there a choice?”
“Of course! It’s mainly for us to live in, so we should do it exactly how we want!”
“I haven’t really thought about it. Back when I was living at home, I shared a room with my younger sister, so my biggest wish back then was just to have my own room. As for how the house looks, I really don’t have any specific requests!”
Tang Xue continued, “When we got engaged, you didn’t mention building a house. I never expected our house to be finished so quickly—I’m really satisfied with it already!”
Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “In that case, I’ll just watch the renovation!”
“Okay!”
“By the way, honey, once the house is finished, it’ll probably need to air out for a while before we can move in. So after we get married, we’ll have to stay at the old house for a few more months!” Li Yi said.
“That’s fine, but I don’t want to live with my parents. Just clear out the room you’re living in now, and we’ll stay there!” Tang Xue said.
“Alright! I figure the renovations will take a week at most. We’ll have our hands full by then!”
“Busy with what?”
“Hehe, we’ll have to decorate our wedding suite and start preparing for the wedding!” Li Yi said.
Tang Xue blushed and said, “Didn’t you say we wouldn’t be living in the new house? Why are we decorating it now?”
“We won’t be living there permanently, but on our wedding day, I’ll bring you to the new house—I want to give you a perfect wedding!”
Li Yi continued, “Only a new home is worthy of my bride, Li Yi. I want to make you the envy of every woman!”
Tang Xue said, somewhat moved, “There’s no need for that…”
Before she could finish, Li Yi cut her off, saying, “It is necessary. I have to make sure that when the villagers talk about you, Tang Xue, and me, Li Yi, they think of a perfect wedding—not that time we got cornered on the kang!”
Hearing Li Yi bring up that day’s events, Tang Xue blushed even deeper.
After a long silence, she finally mustered the courage to say, “Actually… actually, I didn’t blame you for what happened that day…”
“You don’t need to comfort me. A mistake is a mistake. A real man has to admit when he’s wrong—I’ve got the courage for that!” Li Yi said with a smile.
However, the expression on Tang Xue’s face was a bit strange. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end, she didn’t speak. Instead, a hint of apology flickered in her eyes as she looked at Li Yi.
What Tang Xue really wanted to tell Li Yi was that he wasn’t entirely to blame for what happened that day; she bore some responsibility as well.
In fact, she bore even more of the blame.
Why do I say that?
In fact, Li Yi had indeed been very drunk that day, but Tang Xue had only been slightly tipsy—nowhere near the point of passing out.
When Li Yi came back in the middle of the night, Tang Xue knew it.
She even knew when he took off his clothes right in front of her and crawled into bed.
If she had just shouted for help back then, none of that would have happened.
After all, Li Shankui and his wife, as well as Li Na, were right next door; they could have easily arrived before Li Yi did “that” to her.
But Tang Xue didn’t call out. In fact, when Li Yi was fumbling around, unable to find the right spot, she even gave him a hand!
Tang Xue knew exactly what she wanted: even if she had to marry a good-for-nothing like Li Yi, she’d rather not marry that old widower surnamed Liu.
Even if she ultimately couldn’t escape that terrible fate, she refused to let that Liu guy have her first time.
So, rather than saying Li Yi “did that” to her that day, it would be more accurate to say she actively seduced him.
However, although Tang Xue had made all the necessary preparations, she never imagined that Li Yi’s stamina would exceed her expectations.
She’d thought it would be over quickly, but that guy kept at it for over two hours. In the end, completely exhausted, she fainted just before Li Yi climaxed.
When she woke up again, she found herself pinned down on the kang.
That’s exactly why Tang Xue didn’t actually hate Li Yi. Even if she felt a bit resentful, it was only because she was annoyed that he’d taken so long.
Just now, seeing the look of guilt on Li Yi’s face, a twinge of guilt stirred within her, so she wanted to tell him the truth about what had happened.
But just as the words were on the tip of her tongue, Li Yi cut her off, and she lost the courage to speak again.
More importantly, Tang Xue also wondered: if Li Yi knew the truth, would he still marry her?
After all, a major reason he agreed to marry her was because he felt he had taken advantage of her and was deeply remorseful.
If that guilt were gone, wouldn’t the outcome be different?
Secondly, if Li Yi found out that she had seduced him that day, would he look down on her and see her as a loose woman?
These were all things Tang Xue had to consider.
“What are you thinking about?”
Li Yi saw his wife suddenly fall silent and hurriedly asked.
“Well…”
Seeing Tang Xue hesitating to speak, Li Yi smiled and said, “We’re about to become a family. There’s nothing to be shy about!”
Tang Xue nodded and said, “What I want to ask is, if one day you find out I’ve lied to you, what would you do?”
Li Yi smiled and asked, “Would you ever hurt me?”
Tang Xue quickly shook her head and said, “No, how could I ever harm you!”
“Then would you lie to me out of kindness or malice?” Li Yi asked again.
“I suppose it’s out of good intentions. I never meant to harm you!” Tang Xue replied.
“Well, that settles it. Since you have no intention of harming me, it’s understandable if there are some secrets you don’t want me to know!”
In fact, this was exactly what Li Yi was thinking. Just like Tang Xue, Li Yi had his own secrets—ones he absolutely couldn’t share with anyone, such as the fact that he was a reincarnated soul.
But as Li Yi had just said, his decision to keep things from Tang Xue was entirely out of goodwill; he had absolutely no intention of harming her.
In fact, if one of them had to be hurt, Li Yi would rather it be him.
Tang Xue, of course, had no idea that this was what Li Yi was truly thinking. When she heard what he had just said, she was completely overwhelmed with emotion.
After a long while, having calmed her emotional turmoil, Tang Xue finally said to Li Yi, “Thank you!”
“Saying ‘thank you’ between us feels too formal. I don’t want to hear those words from you again in the future, okay?” Li Yi said.
“You’re so bossy!”
“Do you like it?” Li Yi asked with a smile.
“I do!”
“Hahaha, I like it too!”
…….