QTIMP -Chapter 44 Character Persona – Greedy (Part 44)

He stared fixedly at the girl. Being watched like that made Li Qingxue uncomfortable; she twisted the strap of her shoulder bag with both hands and kept her head lowered, not daring to look up.

Si Qiu stood between them like a giant light bulb, glancing left and right. When she saw other people getting off work and coming out, she quickly broke the awkward atmosphere.

“It’s too cold. Why don’t we go talk at the state-run restaurant up ahead? I haven’t seen Sister Shengnan in a long time either.”

“Okay… okay.”

After Si Qiu finished speaking, Li Qingxue quickly lifted her head to glance at Qin Nan. That single look made the man—who had just managed to compose himself—start stammering again.

That was how things stood. Even before Si Qiu’s wedding, the dates for these two had already been set. Si Qiu didn’t want to say their marriage was hasty—but she truly felt it was.

“Where did you buy the house?” Qiao Shengnan asked, setting two cups of water down on the table.

Li Qingxue blushed. “Brother Nan agreed to live at my place. After all, both my older brothers hold fairly high positions. When they get married in the future, their wives will definitely follow the army. If we stay with my mom, we can look after each other. You know my family’s house is big, with lots of rooms. When I have a baby, my mom can help take care of it.”

Her words surprised Qiao Shengnan. After all, wasn’t that basically marrying into the wife’s family? If word got out, it wouldn’t look very honorable.

Even Si Qiu hadn’t expected Qin Nan to be so open-minded.

“Didn’t your dad say anything?”

Li Qingxue sighed. “Of course he did. He disagreed. He wanted to introduce me to someone in the compound. But my mom said I should make my own decision. I thought it over carefully—that kind of life isn’t what I want. Qin Nan is very good. Maybe he didn’t start as high as those people in the compound, but he also doesn’t have their constraints and responsibilities. Given the current environment, I feel happy and at ease being with him. If I really married into the compound, I might not necessarily live a good life.”

Si Qiu knew she had thought it through carefully, so she felt relieved. After all, it was already 1968—everyone still had lingering fear from the madness of that year.

A few days later, Li Qingxue’s two older brothers returned—and unexpectedly, Xing Huai’en came back with them. According to Qin Bei, his third brother had been properly “taught a lesson” by his two future brothers-in-law.

Still, they had acknowledged him. So before the wedding, they decided to treat everyone to a meal together. Snow had already fallen and the weather was bitterly cold, so they chose to have hot pot at Li Qingxue’s home.

The men got busy, while the three girls sat eating sunflower seeds, peanuts, walnut kernels, and sipping tea.

“I was the first one to start dating,” one of them sighed, “and yet when it came to setting the wedding date, you two both ended up ahead of me.”

“Well, we couldn’t just not get married and let you go first. People would laugh at us,” Qiao Shengnan said.

After she finished speaking, the three of them burst into laughter. It was true—one was Si Qiu’s real brother, and the other was Qin Bei’s real brother.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, no one was idle. Qin Bei naturally took charge of preparing the hot pot base, Qin Nan mixed the dipping sauces, and the others washed and cut vegetables.

Xing Huai’en deliberately went over to chat with Qin Bei for a few moments. Qin Bei kept calling him “Brother Xing,” acting sunny and open-hearted, as if he had no scheming thoughts at all.

But every few sentences, he would subtly jab at him.

“Qiuqiu only likes the hot pot base I make. The broth has to be rich—otherwise it won’t have any flavor.”

“We need to prepare more frozen tofu later. Qiuqiu loves that.”

“Here, I’ll slice the potatoes. Make them a bit thicker—Qiuqiu says thin slices break apart when you pick them up. I practiced my knife skills and cooking just for this.”

Xing Huai’en rarely smiled to begin with. Now he couldn’t even maintain a polite expression.

Just then, Si Qiu came out from inside. Qin Bei immediately put down what he was doing and went over to her.

“Qiuqiu, where are you going? The kitchen’s smoky—go back inside.”

“I’m going to the bathroom. Drank too much tea.”

“Then why didn’t you put on your cotton coat?” He immediately went inside, grabbed his own padded coat, and put it on her.

Si Qiu didn’t object. She slipped it on, pulled it closed, and headed outside. Qin Bei hurried back to slicing potatoes.

Xing Huai’en paused in the middle of breaking apart a cabbage leaf, then shook the water off his hands. “I’m going out for a smoke.” He lifted the cotton door curtain and stepped out.

Qin Bei’s hand paused briefly, then he continued as if nothing had happened.

Wang Li and Wang Kai exchanged a look, then glanced at Feng Fan, who seemed to want to say something but held back. Quickly, they raised their voices to change the topic.

“Do we need to soak the vermicelli in water?”

“No need, no need—just rinse it under water before putting it in.”

After using the bathroom, Si Qiu shivered. That was the downside of living in a courtyard house—you had to go outside to use the toilet, and it froze your backside. But the yard was spacious, and when you ate something, no one watched you. Life didn’t feel stifling.

Turning the corner by the wall, she saw Xing Huai’en leaning against it, smoking.

Si Qiu believed she had made things clear before, so she didn’t feel embarrassed or awkward.

“Why are you smoking out here? Aren’t you cold?”

Seeing her, he took a hard drag, threw the cigarette away, exhaled, and fanned the smoke from his mouth.

After all, he had just heard Qin Bei bragging inside that Qiuqiu didn’t like the smell of smoke. If he wasn’t driving out of town, he usually didn’t smoke at all.

“It’s nothing. I’ll go back in soon.”

“Oh. As long as you’ve thought it through. Don’t catch a cold.” Si Qiu lifted her foot to head back inside.

Xing Huai’en reached out to stop her. She halted and looked at him in confusion.

He ran a hand roughly through his hair in frustration. “Why did you choose him? Where am I lacking?”

Si Qiu organized her thoughts before answering.

“You’re not lacking. I’ve never thought you were worse than anyone. Whether it’s your own qualities, your family background, or your abilities—you’re outstanding. Even though I didn’t choose you, I have to admit you’re a very good person.”

“Then why didn’t you choose me?”

His eyes fixed stubbornly on her.