Chapter 41: Confessed To (Not Really Wanted Version)

Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Confessed To (Not Really Wanted Version)

Aunt Liu looked at her son, who was holding his head in grievance, and finally realized that he had reached the age to settle down and get married.

As a widow, she had refused to remarry in her early years due to traditional notions of chastity. However, after suffering the resulting hardships, she became much quicker than others to embrace new ideas.

"What do you think of Deng Yuyuan? Why don’t you try courting her?" Aunt Liu asked her son.

She didn’t mind her son marrying a divorced woman with a child for his first marriage. After all, a girl would eventually be married off and wouldn’t get a share of the family inheritance.

"Mom, Deng Zhiqing is a full four years older than me!" her son emphasized.

"A woman three years your senior brings a fortune, and four years is even better. Besides, if you stand next to Deng Yuyuan, it’s hard to tell who looks younger." With that, Aunt Liu let out a sigh. "Fine, you’re not good enough for her. You wouldn’t even be in the running for her second marriage."

Don’t be fooled by how leisurely Deng Yuyuan seemed these past two months. It was all because she was elusive and neglected proper work. She only took care of her baby for half the day at most, which severely dragged down her impression score among the older generation. As a result, the young men who were interested in her were still trying to wear down their parents for approval.

Her son was a bit dissatisfied, but thinking about the life Deng Yuyuan was living now, he couldn’t find any fault in his mother’s words.

It was strange. Just a few months ago, Deng Yuyuan had seemed like nothing more than an ordinary peasant woman.

"Don’t listen to the neighbors calling her lazy. She’s living comfortably, and the others at the Knowledge Youth Institute don’t have a single complaint. She even frequently brings wild game back. That’s not laziness; she just has enough to eat and use, and she’s enjoying her blessings," Aunt Liu observed astutely.

A hint of worry flickered in her eyes. Deng Yuyuan liked to wander off to remote places, and the village wasn’t filled entirely with good people. What if something happened to her? After all, the first condition for holding someone accountable before the village head was actually seeing the bad guy’s face.

Deng Yuyuan, who appeared to be enjoying life but was actually hustling relentlessly behind the scenes, returned to the Knowledge Youth Institute. The person on duty today was the bespectacled male youth. He sat in the room, absentmindedly pushing the cradle beside him with his foot.

Deng Yuyuan had built the cradle with her own hands. Unable to find suitable paint, the natural wood had long been polished to a smooth, warm finish. The cradle’s body resembled a small silver ingot, suspended by two thick hemp ropes beneath a tic-tac-toe-shaped wooden frame. CREAK, CREAK. It emitted a slow, rhythmic sound like an ancient lullaby. This sound steadily overpowered the howling wind outside and brushed away the exhaustion in her heart.

Inside the cradle, the baby was sleeping soundly, her long eyelashes casting two adorable, curved shadows on her chubby cheeks.

Looking at her, Deng Yuyuan’s heart melted. She walked over, intending to take over the bespectacled male youth’s task, but he suddenly grabbed her hand.

His large hand formed a fist, placed it against Deng Yuyuan’s palm, and slowly unfurled to reveal a tin of vanishing cream.

"Winter is almost here. Put some on." He avoided Deng Yuyuan’s gaze, his thin lips pressed into a tight line, betraying his rare awkwardness.

"Oh ho," the AI customer service chimed in.

She realized she was doomed.

Deng Yuyuan’s heart skipped a beat. "Thank you, but I can go to the supply cooperative to buy it. I still have money, so you should keep it for yourself. Thank you for taking care of the two of us these past few days. Now that my child and I have our lives on track..."

"What if I said I want to take care of you and the child for the rest of my life?" Afraid of waking the baby, the bespectacled youth’s voice was very soft, yet his tone held unquestionable certainty.

"My family has agreed. They heard about what you’ve been through and pity you." He handed over several letters. They were his previous correspondence with his family. His family had been concerned about her from the start, and although they couldn’t accept his feelings at first, they eventually supported him in pursuing the one he loved.

Deng Yuyuan could also see from the letters the gradual process of him falling for her.

"When I gave birth to Tuantuan, my body was injured. I can never have children again," Deng Yuyuan offered as a tactful rejection.

"I can take you everywhere to seek medical help, as long as it cures you."

"No, I can never have children again," Deng Yuyuan repeated her last sentence. She stuffed the vanishing cream back into his hand. "Thank you for your care these past days, but I cannot have children, nor will I."

The bespectacled youth’s eyes trembled. He failed to catch the tin of vanishing cream, and it fell to the floor. Deng Yuyuan bent down to pick it up, but he beat her to it, dropping to his knees to retrieve it.

"What if... I can treat Tuantuan as my own?" he asked, looking up at Deng Yuyuan.

From Deng Yuyuan’s angle, for the first time without the obstruction of his glasses, she could clearly see his eyes. Desire roiled within those long, narrow eyes—a mixture of forbearance and indulgence.

"No." Deng Yuyuan slowly shook her head. Dating an educated youth here—how was that any different from an office romance?

Tears fell abruptly from his eyes. His voice choked with emotion, though it remained very soft. "Is there something about me that you hate so much?"

Deng Yuyuan was startled. She wanted to wipe his tears but feared he would misunderstand, so she decided to use her old trick and kneel down together with him.

However, her knees were firmly held up by his knobby hands. He pleaded humbly, "Don’t kneel to me. Just give me a reason, please?"

She felt that pestering her relentlessly would just be pointless.

Deng Yuyuan’s expression instantly turned cold. She had rejected him tactfully out of politeness, but if the other party didn’t know when to back off... She had rejected many suitors in the past. Often, an unsparing rejection was much better than leaving room for hope.

"Actually, you should be able to guess it. You just look too plain."

The bespectacled male youth looked up in bewilderment.

She reached out to take off his glasses, then slowly straightened up. "Even if you take off your glasses, you’re still not good-looking enough. I want my significant other’s looks to be at least somewhat comparable to mine, or at the very least, not completely outclassed."

"But... but..." He was trembling all over. "My family is very wealthy. I can spend it all on you, and I will take great care of you."

"But I don’t want to wake up every morning and see a face that isn’t all that handsome," Deng Yuyuan said. "Get up. I know you’re a good person." She retreated in order to advance. "I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have been lazy and left Tuantuan to you all to take care of, giving you false hope."

Wait, speaking of which, the AI customer service—which acted like an overprotective mother hen and obsessive protector for Tuantuan—had hardly ever criticized her for such unqualified maternal behavior.

"Because Tuantuan has always been well taken care of. She is healthy and happy, and you are comfortable and free," the AI responded.

She wondered if the system had come back from the dead.

"..."

Deng Yuyuan slowly bowed to the bespectacled male youth. "From now on, I will do my best not to trouble you."

"Don’t! I think... I can gradually control these unwanted feelings of mine. Will you let me continue to take care of her?" Deng Yuyuan’s sudden distance frightened him far more than her previous rejection. He didn’t want them to lose even the chance to be friends who helped each other out.

He stealthily observed Deng Yuyuan’s expression. Unwillingness and despair filled his heart, along with a burning anger born of male intuition. "If I can’t take care of her, then Zhang Ci Hao can’t either!"

She wondered what this had to do with Zhang Ci Hao.

Deng Yuyuan subconsciously widened her eyes. The bespectacled young man’s first reaction was to think she looked adorably naive.

He realized he was truly hopeless.

"Don’t you suspect that Zhang Ci Hao likes you?" he blurted out.

Of course she did. Those ambiguous little gestures, his gaze lingering intentionally or unintentionally—Deng Yuyuan was four years older than Zhang Ci Hao. How could she not see through his little schemes?

It was just that Zhang Ci Hao hadn’t completely realized it himself yet, and she was happy to play dumb. After all, it was rare to find someone these days who could help take care of a baby and was highly capable at it. Whether it was a man or a woman didn’t matter, and romantic feelings didn’t matter either. The only thing that mattered was that Tuantuan grew up chubby and fair.

In the subtle silence, the bespectacled male youth finally grasped that unspoken difference in treatment.

Deng Yuyuan spoke with difficulty. "He is truly naturally gifted at taking care of a baby. Plus, in my eyes, he is just a younger brother."

The bespectacled male youth completely lost his composure. All his strength and all his facades crumbled away because of this absurd yet realistic reason. In that moment, he hated the meddlesome Zhang Ci Hao with a burning passion. The baby wasn’t even his, so why was he so eager to take care of her?

"I can learn," he said, making one final struggle.

"I can learn too. So, unless the village head’s wife comes, I won’t let him take care of the baby anymore. I’ll take care of her myself," Deng Yuyuan answered rapidly.

Actually, that wasn’t true. If she didn’t have Zhao Erdong and Tian Tian to help her, she would die of exhaustion.