Chapter 14: Love at First Sight

Knowing there was nothing to watch anymore, Su Yao turned around and bumped into a wall of flesh, instinctively falling backward. She thought her head would hit the ground, but a large, strong arm caught her waist before she fell.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect you to turn around so suddenly.” The gentle grip on her waist was as soft as a willow swaying in the breeze. Mu Xingjue’s ears flushed red, and he reluctantly withdrew his hand.

“It’s okay. How did you come over here?” Su Yao felt a bit embarrassed too. She hadn’t realized Mu Xingjue had such a good figure—one of those who look slim in clothes but have flesh in reality.

“Oh, I saw you come out and not go back, so I came to check if something was wrong.” Mu Xingjue lowered his head, lost in thought.

They stood in a corner where the moonlight couldn’t reach, and Su Yao couldn’t clearly see his face. She recalled the joke she had just heard and shared it with Mu Xingjue.

Mu Xingjue had lived there before but moved out because he didn’t want to stay with those people: “Those people are selfish. If you can ignore them, just don’t bother with them.”

The two of them chatted and laughed all the way home. After seeing Su Yao inside, Mu Xingjue also went indoors.

The next day, after breakfast and before the work bell rang, Su Yao put the wild pheasant she caught yesterday into the pot to boil, then simmered it gently. She planned to add some spring bamboo shoots after returning—it would be absolutely delicious.

Just as she finished preparing, the bell rang.

With the morning sun shining, a new day of farm work began. This time, Su Yao wasn’t assigned to work with Ye Simin but was pulling weeds in the field next to Mu Xingjue’s. Mu Xingjue had been tasked with tilling the field where the weeds had been pulled the day before.

That morning, Su Yao truly witnessed the charm of handsome men. Someone would bring her eggs or steamed buns, others would flirt by her side, or pretend to stumble, waiting for Mu Xingjue to help them up.

But Mu Xingjue was really cold. When a girl offered something, he coldly declined; when someone fell, he quickly dodged and ignored them, walking past without even a glance.

Back at noon, Su Yao couldn’t help but watch him from time to time, making Mu Xingjue a little embarrassed. “Is there something the matter, Su Zhīqīng? Or is there something on my face?”

“Oh, no, just curious.”

Mu Xingjue looked at Su Yao in confusion.

Su Yao smiled, “Do you get this many girls fawning over you every day? It seems like every unmarried girl in the village came by this morning.”

“Haha, I can speak on that. You don’t know, since he arrived, not a single day has been idle. People bring him things every day, and there are even girls batting their eyes at him, as if their eyes were twitching,” Xu Xingyu said excitedly.

“Hahaha,” Su Yao and Ye Simin laughed out loud.

Suddenly recalling something, Xu Xingyu glanced at Ye Simin, who showed no change in expression, and only then relaxed.

“Yao Yao, you don’t know, Brother Xingjue was very popular back in the compound. We girls all liked him, and I didn’t expect he’d still be so welcomed here,” Ye Simin chuckled.

“So you like him too?” Su Yao leaned in, curious.

Ye Simin nodded openly, “Yes, but he doesn’t like me. He always ignores me.”

Hearing this, a hint of disappointment flashed across Xu Xingyu’s face but quickly passed. “Let’s eat quickly. We can rest a bit after.”

In the afternoon, Su Yao returned home early with a full day’s work done.

After arriving, she boiled a pot of hot water to take a bath, then began kneading and resting dough. While waiting, she cleaned the shepherd’s purse she picked, boiled it briefly, chopped it finely, soaked some vermicelli until soft, then scrambled an egg and mashed it.

She mixed all three ingredients with seasoning.

Once the filling was ready, she rolled out dumpling wrappers and started wrapping them. By the time she finished, the others had returned.

The four ate over a hundred dumplings. Su Yao and Ye Simin barely ate any; most went into Mu Xingjue and Xu Xingyu’s stomachs.

Those two probably hadn’t eaten like this in a long time. The freshly made dumplings were devoured without fear of the heat, one after another, and not a single bite remained of the whole chicken and pot of soup.

However, just in these two days, they’d nearly used up all the flour at home. It seemed they needed to take a trip to town soon to buy some seasoning, rice, flour, and such.

The day before spring planting, the brigade leader gave everyone a day off to rest or go to town to resupply.

“Are you going to town tomorrow?” Su Yao asked.

“Yes, let’s go together. We can have a meal at the state-run restaurant. I’m craving meat,” Ye Simin was the first to agree.

Where Ye Simin agreed, Xu Xingyu never opposed and nodded along, “But there will definitely be a lot of people going to town tomorrow. The ox cart won’t have enough seats; we might have to walk.”

“Then we’ll walk. We walked here when we came,” Ye Simin waved her hand carelessly.

Su Yao wanted to say she had a bicycle, but since they’d agreed to go together, riding alone seemed inappropriate, so she agreed to walk, thinking of it as good exercise.

“Alright, then I’ll steam some buns tomorrow for us to eat on the way.”

After settling the plan, everyone went to rest.

After locking the door, Su Yao entered her space, ate a bowl of bird’s nest, then a bowl of red bean soup, and soaked in the spiritual spring bath.

Thanks to this period of nourishment and the spring bath, her once rough, dull, and yellowish skin had become tender and smooth. The previous lackluster, unhealthy look was gone. Now her skin was fair, soft, and moist to the touch.

Su Yao took out the clothes she had bought earlier, choosing a white floral blouse with a butterfly collar, black pants, and black leather shoes.

Early spring was still a bit chilly, so she picked a beige cardigan from her past life’s clothes and a matching headband, completing her outfit.

Early the next morning, Su Yao got up to knead dough and steam buns again. This time, she made brown sugar buns—not tasteless and filling enough.

When Mu Xingjue came over, Su Yao pointed to the steaming basket of buns. “You take these out to cool. I’ll change my clothes.”

“Okay,” Mu Xingjue nodded.

Su Yao returned dressed, and Ye Simin’s eyes widened. She bounced over, grabbed her, and spun her around. “Oh my God, Yao Yao, you’re absolutely stunning! Your figure is so enviable. No way—I have to buy clothes like this when we get to the supply and marketing cooperative!”

Su Yao twirled on the spot. “How is it? Not bad, right?”

Ye Simin nodded vigorously. “Great, really great! Yao Yao, next time you go shopping, you have to come with me. You have such good taste.”

“Sure.”

At the moment Su Yao appeared, Mu Xingjue felt everything around blur away, leaving only her radiant smile and lively figure in his eyes.

His heartbeat quickened involuntarily once again, a feeling he had never experienced before surged in his heart.

He knew—he had truly fallen in love with this girl at first sight.