The Guide to Faking Innocence to Win His Wife - Chapter 12

Although Xie Zhiyi had agreed to go out, her physical condition forced them to push the plan back by a few days.

Downstairs, Jiang Zhongmu carried the empty thermos back to the kitchen. Instead of boiling water right away, she opened the front gate and lingered there. She had scalded her hand a few days ago while handling the hot water; at the time, she hadn’t cared, thinking it would heal on its own. Instead, it had taken a turn for the worse.

Since there was no medicine at home, she had asked Jiang Nanxun to bring some over. She glanced at the clear sky, estimating he should be arriving soon, and stepped out a few paces.

As it turned out, Jiang Nanxun arrived, but not on foot as she had expected.

“Jiang Zhongmu!” that rowdy male voice rang out again.

Before he even came into view, his shout reached her. Jiang Zhongmu instinctively looked toward the end of the alley. It was empty. She froze, puzzled, as the shouting continued. Following the sound, she turned toward the river directly across from the house.

She stepped up to the stone embankment and looked down. Sure enough, she saw the familiar trio standing on a small bamboo raft, looking up at her with mischievous grins.

This was no rare sight in Jiang Town. The river was wide but shallow—at its deepest, it barely reached over a grown man’s head. The water was clear and teeming with fat fish and shrimp. Because it was safe and bountiful, nearly every household kept a bamboo raft for fishing.

Nanxun and the others had practically grown up in the water; rowing and swimming were second nature to them. However, in the sweltering heat of summer with the sun beating down, standing on a flat raft made of lashed bamboo was usually seen as a form of self-inflicted torture.

The raft drifted closer with the ripples. Jiang Zhongmu’s eyes shifted to the bamboo baskets hanging at their waists, and she instantly decided on tonight’s dinner.

While her mind was on the food, Jiang Nanxun’s mind was on trouble. His eyes darted around as he hatched a prank. He lifted the tube of ointment and held it out. “Here’s the stuff you wanted.”

The embankment wasn’t high, but it was obscured by greenery. Now that Nanxun was directly in front of her, he stood only half a body length below her level. As Jiang Zhongmu leaned down to reach for the medicine, her fingers just grazed the tube when Nanxun suddenly yanked it back with a hard pull.

Caught off guard, Jiang Zhongmu pitched forward, her body tilting toward the river.

Nanxun had intended to pull her into the water, but he had forgotten that the raft was narrow and already holding three people. The force of his pull tipped the balance.

A series of panicked yelps followed. Like dumplings dropping into a pot, all four of them splashed into the river at once.

—Splash!

A massive spray erupted. The innocent willow tree nearby was drenched as the group struggled to the surface. Fortunately, they were all strong swimmers. They popped their heads up almost immediately, scrambling to grab the bamboo raft before it drifted away.

“Cough! Cough!”

“Jiang Nanxun, what the hell is wrong with you! Cough!”

Jiang Zhongmu held the raft with one hand and swept her wet hair back with the other. The corners of her eyes were red from the water, and droplets slid down her sharp jawline, pooling in the hollow of her collarbone.

Nanlei and Nanzheng were still coughing and swearing. Knowing he was in the wrong, Nanxun didn’t dare talk back; he just gave a sheepish grin toward Jiang Zhongmu. “Zhong—”

Jiang Zhongmu didn’t say much. She simply lifted her wet eyelashes and fixed him with a steady stare.

Nanxun’s grin widened nervously. “Listen, I can explain—”

The next second, Jiang Zhongmu raised her leg and delivered a swift kick directly to his stomach.

“Ouch!”

Nanxun doubled over in pain and plunged back under the surface. Before he could come up, Nanlei and Nanzheng pounced on him, their fists raining down in a flurry of splashes.

“Hey! Big brother! Sister! I’m sor— glub glub.”

“I was wrong, okay? Glub glub.”

“Ow, ow, ow! Who kicked my butt!”

Jiang Zhongmu, having just retracted her foot, stayed silent. She squinted and wiped the water from her face. Luckily, she was wearing a black T-shirt over a sports top today, or those wouldn’t have been “just” a few light kicks.

“Brother! Brother! Spare me!” Nanxun continued to take a beating, dunked into the river again and again. They were close friends and knew how to control their strength, so it didn’t hurt much—they were just too annoyed to stop. Nanxun knew this too, so he played along, screaming as loudly and piteously as possible.

“Okay, okay! Stop! I’m gonna die!” Nanxun hollered at the top of his lungs.

Jiang Zhongmu promptly added one last kick, sending him back under.

Crystal water splashed everywhere, reflecting rainbows in the sun. The silt at the bottom was stirred up, turning the clear water cloudy.

At some point, the one-sided beating turned into a four-way water fight. Arms swung, sending waves crashing. Some turned to dodge, while others charged through the spray to counter-attack.

The sounds of youthful laughter drifted through the air, carried by the wind through the half-closed curtains and into the dim room on the third floor.

The phone screen glowed with a faint light. The woman on the bed looked away and turned toward the window. The bombardment of messages from a few days ago had ceased—not because the sender had given up, but because Xie Zhiyi had uninstalled the app and pulled her SIM card, seeking a moment of peace.

She stared blankly at the swaying curtains, sorrow once again touching her brow. Her thin shoulders and straight collarbone were visible as she rested her left leg outside the covers, the gloom of the room seemingly clinging to her ankles and creeping up her graceful curves.

The laughter outside continued, and the bronze bells under the eaves chimed incessantly.

Xie Zhiyi sighed softly. For some reason, she threw back the covers and walked to the window. She pulled the curtain aside and pushed the window open. Sunlight and wind rushed in, ruffling her long hair and reflecting in her shimmering eyes.

In the river, the teenagers were still playing, unaware they had become a scene in someone else’s eyes.

Jiang Zhongmu might seem quiet and steady, but she had a mischievous streak. Facing a three-on-one situation, she didn’t panic. She dove underwater like a fish, surfaced behind Nanxun, and yanked his ankle downward!

Once he was dealt with, she burst from the water and immediately slapped the surface, sending a massive wave toward Nanlei. The white spray hit him full in the face, knocking him over. Nanzheng, the skinniest of the bunch, was no threat and was easily handled.

Xie Zhiyi leaned against the window frame, tucking a silver-like strand of hair behind her ear. Her gaze never left the girl.

Because the hair tie had been lost in the scuffle, Jiang Zhongmu’s usual half-braid was gone. Her soaked hair was pushed back, revealing her sharp, handsome features. Her narrow phoenix eyes, high bridge of her nose, and prominent cheekbones gave her a deep, three-dimensional look. Her neck was long, and her soaked shirt clung to her lean, defined frame.

It was a sight hard to look away from, especially when she laughed—a rowdy, triumphant laugh, like a little leopard stepping on its prey and proudly wagging its tail.

Xie Zhiyi thought idly: If Jiang Zhongmu had been born in a big city, would she have been scouted as a model?

She would likely find out soon; after all, the girl was leaving for university in September. She would probably be very popular. While many kids were good-looking nowadays, that kind of “aggressive” beauty was rare, especially when paired with such a meticulous and thoughtful personality. She would likely attract a lot of admirers; Xie Zhiyi wondered if the girl would be able to handle them.

“Jiang Zhongmu! If you pull me under one more time, I’m actually gonna get mad!” Nanxun shouted, his warning made raspy by the water he’d swallowed. He emerged again, furious but helpless. Who would have thought the one who looked the most like a “bad boy” was the one being bullied the most?

Nanzheng, the weakest, simply sat on the bank, wiping his black-rimmed glasses with a wet hem before perching them crookedly back on his nose.

“I wasn’t the one who started it. This is called ‘reaping what you sow,'” the winner laughed, uncharacteristically talkative.

“Oh, ‘reaping what you sow’? Look at us, getting all educated,” Nanxun snarked back.

“At least I have homework for you to copy,” Jiang Zhongmu countered quickly.

That shut Nanxun up completely. His father was an outlier in Jiang Town—most parents let their kids stay home if they didn’t want to study, but his father would use a belt to keep him in school. If he failed a grade, he stayed back. Nanxun had spent many nights staring at the front door, contemplating running away. Without Jiang Zhongmu’s tutoring, he would have been in high school forever. Even though he got in, he barely attended class, sleeping until school ended and then copying Jiang Zhongmu’s homework by lamplight.

In this regard, Jiang Zhongmu was his savior, his benefactor, and the one ancestor he could not afford to offend. He stood there with a slumped face, mouth opening and closing, before finally swallowing his pride.

The other two burst out laughing, but before they could tease him, Jiang Zhongmu spoke again: “What are you two standing there for? Help me catch some fish.”

They all froze.

“Catch fish? Why? Is your house out of meat? I can go cut two pounds from my place and bring it over,” Nanlei said, confused. In Jiang Town, fish was almost worthless—you could pull two out of the river anytime. They had eaten it so much growing up that they were sick of it; sometimes they preferred eating plain vegetables over a single bite of fish.

“If you aren’t here to fish, why did you bring the raft?” Jiang Zhongmu frowned.

“For fun,” Nanxun said matter-of-factly.

“And the baskets?”

“To pick wild greens later.”

Jiang Zhongmu: “…”

Upstairs, the woman couldn’t hear their conversation. She only saw the boy with the buzz cut suddenly grimace and lean close to Jiang Zhongmu’s face, as if asking her something repeatedly.

Faced with such closeness, Jiang Zhongmu didn’t pull away; she actually smiled.

Xie Zhiyi’s eyes darkened, and she reached out to pull the window shut.

As the sun set, cooking smoke rose from the clustered houses. Birds flapped their wings on the way home, and the white champaca tree swayed its branches.

Though Xie Zhiyi’s condition had improved, Jiang Zhongmu still brought her meals up on a wooden tray. Since there were only two of them, she hadn’t made many dishes—just a bowl of milky-white sliced fish soup and a plate of stir-fried wild greens.

The fish soup was sweet and fresh, the slices boneless and flavorful, and the greens offered a refreshing aftertaste. It suited Xie Zhiyi’s palate perfectly. As her pain faded, her appetite returned, and the soup bowl was empty in no time.

Seeing this, Jiang Zhongmu’s lips curved into a satisfied smile.

Xie Zhiyi caught this look. Her expression turned unreadable as she suddenly said, “You’re leaving to study in another city in September.”

Jiang Zhongmu was puzzled by the change in tone but nodded.

“The world outside is very big. You will meet many outstanding people, and you will have more choices then. There’s no need to make any decisions right now.”

Xie Zhiyi put down her chopsticks. The scene from the afternoon flashed in her mind, the rowdy, unreliable-looking boy. Her brow furrowed tight.

Jiang Zhongmu misunderstood her meaning entirely. Her expression turned cold and stony. She didn’t respond, instead beginning to clear the dishes in an attempt to avoid the conversation.

Seeing her reaction, Xie Zhiyi said no more. She didn’t really have the right to lecture the girl, anyway.

But as the girl stood up to take the tray, a scent drifted off her, a sharp medicinal smell that didn’t belong to the household. It made Xie Zhiyi’s frown deepen even more.

Is that the scent of that person?

She pursed her lips in silence.

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