Return of the Antagonistic Lady Boss-Chapter 597 - 571: Entanglement and Awakening

This was destined to be a sorrowful night.

Yu Minglang was outside in the breeze, while Qian sat on the warm kang bed, her body was warm but her heart felt cold.

The temperature difference in the mountains is large between day and night, even in summer, it gets quite chilly at night.

The owner of the rural inn was a simple aunt who knew they were coming and lit the kang early. By evening, the kang was still warm but not too hot, making it very comfortable to sit on.

If it weren’t for Yu Minglang causing such a scene, the two of them might be in long sleeves watching the stars right now. After watching the stars, they could’ve rolled around on the kang. The hostess was very hospitable; she had sliced a plate of watermelon early, chilled in well water, and eating it while sitting on the kang was a unique experience.

But now, seeing the watermelon, Qian’s feelings were complicated, even tinged with a bit of irony.

Qian took out her notebook and scribbled randomly on it, her mind a complete blank.

"I’m the lady of this place, have you slept yet, girl?"

"Not yet, please come in." Qian closed her notebook.

The aunt came in, carrying a plate of home-grown cucumbers and tomatoes.

"Am I disturbing your rest?" The aunt had the straightforward personality of mountain women, and spoke loudly.

"No, please sit down."

The aunt wasn’t shy at all and sat cross-legged on the edge of the kang.

"Girl, did you have a fight with your partner?"

Here, husbands are referred to as ’outsiders,’ but wives are not called ’insiders.’ They are just referred to as someone’s household. Mountain folks don’t have many elaborate routines, they ask whatever comes to mind. Although it might seem disrespectful to privacy, it’s without malice and even shows some concern.

"Yeah, he lied to me about some things."

"Eh, young people, isn’t it normal to have bumps and squabbles? Arguing is quite normal, but couples always argue at the bedside and make up in bed. They eat from the same pot, how much deep hatred can there be? Look at me and your uncle, we’ve been together for half our lives, he exasperates me every day, yet haven’t I endured it?"

Qian actually didn’t really want to communicate with others. However, the aunt’s nagging reminded her of her own mother. It seems like when old ladies of this age start talking, it doesn’t matter whether others listen or not, they just talk like a faucet without a valve—gushing nonstop.

This aunt truly didn’t treat herself as an outsider and chatted with Qian for quite a while. Initially, she tried persuading Qian not to argue with Yu Minglang, but Qian’s professionalism slipped in, and with a little guidance from Qian, the aunt spontaneously spilled the beans about her own family situation.

She started talking about how she met her husband when she was young. It turned out the innkeeper’s father had mental illness and killed someone during an outbreak, so when the uncle reached the age to marry, no girl dared to marry into the family. The aunt herself had asthma and no one dared to marry her. Later, a matchmaker introduced them and they got married, and stayed together for a lifetime.

Qian understood the basic situation of this family. They’re a family tormented by fate—the eldest son died of illness a few years ago, the youngest son, named Zhiming, who raised snakes, became somewhat odd in behavior after failing the college entrance exam, not saying a word all day, and the third is a girl studying in the town down the hill.

The old couple never gave up, working hard to earn money hoping for a better future. But the aunt’s health was poor, and the cost of medication and treatment was all money. The rural inn business was extremely poor, and the family struggled hard just to meet their basic needs.

Yet, the hardships of life did not diminish their love for life.

"Oh, by the way, girl, I’ve pickled some vegetables for you to take back when you leave. Give some to Mr Liu; she likes the pickles I make!" The aunt, spitting as she spoke, finally remembered the main matter.

"Mr... Liu?!" How can this homonym be so bizarre?

"When we first opened, the government supported us and brought us a batch of customers. Your school organized teachers to come over, Mr Liu talked to me, she’s a good person. Before leaving, she bought a lot of pickles from our house, saying she enjoyed them. This time, she sent a message saying you all would come, so I prepared in advance, all made from the mountain wild vegetables and such."

"Oh, okay." Qian thought to herself that her teacher, who was a pretentious literary youth, definitely wouldn’t eat pickles. She probably bought them out of sympathy for the family’s hardship and sent them to someone unknown after taking them back.

I wonder if the teacher would be very upset that the aunt didn’t call her "professor" but rather "授叫"... beast... or what not!

The aunt rubbed her hands together, seeing Qian had nothing else to say, then shyly said,

"About the money for pickles, you don’t have to give it to me..."

"No worries! I’ll settle the money for the pickles together when I pay the bill!"

After Qian said this, the aunt’s old face lit up, feeling like the world suddenly brightened, her smile wide and beaming.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Don’t be so polite, really no need—altogether it’s 3 jars, 20 yuan!"

"Sure, make more and I’ll take some for my mom, I’ll give you 50."

The aunt was deeply satisfied, smiling as if she had won the entire world.

Before leaving, she also persuaded Qian for quite a while, telling her to make up with Yu Minglang soon.

After seeing the aunt off, Qian sat on the kang deep in thought as if she were water.

She finally understood why Yu Minglang brought her to the mountain.

As long as Qian gets a hint, she can piece the whole story together.

Although his actions today seemed silly, Qian understood that all he did was to simulate a therapeutic experience for her marriage phobia.

The destination they chose was a rundown but loving couple’s rural inn, also serving as a hint, allowing her to experience the hardships along the way to see that Yu Minglang is a reliable man and to gain confidence in marriage by observing ordinary couples’ lives here.

Mr Liu believed Qian’s marriage phobia was related to her parents’ unhappy marriage, and after working and coming into contact with many clients troubled by marital issues, this left an impression on her subconscious that all marriages are unhappy.

So they brought her here to observe the lives of ordinary people.

Just like the innkeeper couple, despite all sorts of troubles in their lives, staying together is a lifetime, holding hands means a lifetime.

Many people’s marriages are like this, not full of sweet words every day, not experiencing endless luxury, but rather the slow trickle lasting through hardships together.

Treating marriage phobia isn’t really that complicated, some people only need to see a normal couple’s interaction model to be cured at once.

Mr Liu also analyzed this from a review of Qian’s growth, attributing her marriage phobia possibly to her parents’ failed marriage.

Actually, this method would definitely have worked for the past life of Qian.

But for the current life Qian, this method no longer works well.

The issue now troubling Qian is no longer the marriage phobia problem. If it weren’t for this matter, she just wanted to teach that rascal a hard lesson to get rid of her anger and forgive him.

But upon realizing everything was part of a therapeutic arrangement by her teacher, and when she knows the teacher’s treatment didn’t work, seeing that all the rascal’s bad deeds were for her, Qian’s heart started to twist into a knot. What should she do?