Chapter 32
Su Jin froze, holding a towel in her hand.
“What did I do wrong?”
Jiang Heng shot to his feet. “Do you have any idea how dangerous it is in those deep mountains? Did you actually go in there?”
Su Jin blinked in confusion. What danger? She’d come back down safely, hadn’t she?
Besides, she had trained in the mountains plenty of times back in the modern world.
“Of course I had to go into the mountains to find firewood. Everyone already chopped up everything near the village.”
Su Jin still didn’t understand why Jiang Heng was getting angry at her.
She only felt wronged.
She’d gone to the mountains to collect firewood so she could help out the household. She’d even carried back a whole bundle on her shoulders.
The more she thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt.
Her nose stung, her eyes turned red.
“Waa—waaah!”
She couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst into tears, sobbing loudly.
Tears streamed from her eyes like a fountain, unstoppable.
Jiang Heng’s temper vanished the moment he heard her cry.
“No, I didn’t mean to scold you,” he said quickly.
But Su Jin didn’t hear a word.
She was too busy crying, gasping and hiccupping, her shoulders shaking with every sob.
Her eyes were red and swollen from crying. All she could think about was how unfair it was. She had gone to help the family by chopping wood, and yet Jiang Heng got mad at her for it.
How could she not feel wronged?
Jiang Heng froze awkwardly, unsure what to do.
The girl trembled in his arms, her whole body shaking from the sobs, her face blotchy and tear-streaked.
A pang of guilt struck his chest.
Without another word, Jiang Heng scooped her up and carried her inside.
He kicked open the door and set her gently down on the bed.
Then, resting her head against his chest, his rough, calloused hand began to pat her back softly.
His lips brushed close to her ear as he murmured, “Hey, don’t cry. I was just worried you might run into something dangerous up there. That’s why I got angry. It’s my fault—I didn’t say it properly.”
His voice was low and gentle, almost tender, his tone humble and soothing in a way she had never heard before.
But being comforted only made Su Jin cry harder.
Feeling her body shake in his arms made Jiang Heng’s heart ache. He tightened his embrace, holding her closer.
Only now did he realize how small her waist was—his hand could almost wrap all the way around it.
Su Jin cried for a long time. She wasn’t the type to cry easily, but once she started, she couldn’t stop, as if releasing all the tears she’d been holding back for years.
Eventually, exhausted, she drifted off to sleep in his arms.
When she woke up in the middle of the night, her usually bright eyes were swollen like walnuts. She squinted one open and realized she was still tightly wrapped in Jiang Heng’s arms.
Her whole body was pressed against his, his arm locked around her like a chain.
Next to his tall, broad frame, Su Jin looked tiny—like a little white rabbit trapped in the wolf’s paw.
His arm was twice the width of hers, his shoulders nearly twice as broad.
He had fallen asleep sitting against the wall, his side profile faintly visible in the dim light.
Su Jin sniffled. So… he’d been holding her the whole time, soothing her to sleep.
She poked his chest with her finger. It was firm—too firm, really. Big, but hard and not very comfortable to touch.
Still, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to rest her head against that big, solid chest.
So she lifted her head slightly, checked that he was still asleep, and then snuggled closer, pressing her face against his chest and giving a little nuzzle.
When Jiang Heng woke up in the morning, he found Su Jin’s face pressed to his chest, her fingers clutching the fabric of his shirt, one arm draped around his strong waist.
It was as if holding onto him like that made her feel safe.
He looked down. Her eyelids were still puffy and red—proof of how hard she had cried last night.
Seeing her pitiful little face, he couldn’t bring himself to wake her.
Instead, he wrapped his arms more tightly around her, drawing her closer against his chest.
“Mmm…”
After a while, Su Jin stirred. She felt unbearably hot—sweat beading on her neck and forehead. She opened her eyes a slit and saw Jiang Heng still holding her tightly.
“It’s so hot…”
Her voice came out hoarse and scratchy from all the crying, barely above a whisper, soft and weak.
She pushed at his chest with her small hands, trying to get some space, but her strength was nothing to him—it was like a kitten pawing at a brick wall.
When she realized it was useless, she grabbed her own neck and muttered under her breath like a little puffed-up cat.
“It’s too hot! Move over a bit!”
The heat between them made her skin burn—it almost felt like the warmth was coming from deep inside her thighs.
She tried to push the “wall” away again, but Jiang Heng caught her small hand instead.
He stroked her hair gently to calm her down, then lifted her slightly by the waist so he could fix the messy bedding beneath them.
Feeling herself lifted off the bed made Su Jin a little nervous. She instinctively clung to his shoulder with one hand and his arm with the other.
Jiang Heng spread out the mat evenly so the bed wouldn’t be so hot or uncomfortable, then carefully laid her back down.
He brushed her hair back and said patiently, “It’s getting late. I have to head to the production team.”
After that, he quickly left the room. As usual, he went to the well for a cold-water wash—but this time, he poured several buckets over himself in a row, as if trying to douse some inner fire.
He grabbed a towel, gave himself a quick wipe, then threw on his clothes.
Meanwhile, Su Jin was still lying on the bed, closing her eyes with a sigh.
“Maybe I should just sleep a bit more…” she murmured.
She had barely dozed off again when a knock sounded on the door about half an hour later.
“Hmm?”
Still half-asleep, Su Jin lifted her head lazily.
Who could it be? If it were Jiang Heng, he had a key.
Just as she was wondering, a middle-aged woman’s voice called from outside.
“Su Jin, are you in there? Come open the door!”
So it was someone looking for her. She couldn’t ignore it.
She hurriedly slipped on her shoes, quickly ran a hand through her hair, and patted her cheeks to make herself look a little more awake.
“Coming, coming!”
When she opened the door, the first thing she saw was a basin full of white steamed buns.
The woman outside had her hair neatly combed without a single strand out of place.
Her face was fair and kind-looking—rare in the village—and she seemed to be in her forties. Her rounded features made her look approachable.
“I’m Xu Chunju from the production team. I’m in charge of the team’s meals,” the woman said cheerfully.
“Jiang Heng came by this morning with a bag of flour and some money. He asked me to make some white steamed buns and bring them over to you. Take them quick—I still need to go back and prepare lunch for everyone at the team!”
Only then did Su Jin understand why she had come.
“Thank you, Sister Xu,” she said, bowing her head gratefully.
After closing the door, she stood there for a long moment, not sure what she was feeling inside.
