"No... it's not... you... you don't agree with me touching you, right?"

"Yes, you can't touch me, but you can hold me while we sleep," Liu Juyi said affectionately.

Wang Xiaoqiang, however, frowned, but still said, "Okay then."

Sharing a bed with a beautiful woman yet not being able to do that sort of thing is probably every man's fear.

Especially when there existed romantic feelings between these two. How agonizing must that be?

But Wang Xiaoqiang persevered.

In Wang Xiaoqiang's embrace, Liu Juyi slept sweetly and even had a dream. In the dream, she married Wang Xiaoqiang. She was wearing a bright red wedding dress, receiving blessings from everyone, paying respect to heaven and earth with Wang Xiaoqiang, and then they entered the bridal chamber...

When she woke up the next day, her pillow was soaked with tears of happiness.

Liu Juyi stayed at the Riverside Villa for a few days.

Chinese New Year's Eve soon arrived.

On New Year's Eve, Wang Xiaoqiang drove to pick up Liu Juyi from her place.

That day, men and women, young and old, all dressed in new clothes, and every household had the 'fu' character, spring couplets, and paper cuttings posted on their doors and windows. Some read, "Smooth sailing and good fortune every year," others, "A century of rejuvenation." It was very lively and festive. There was also a custom to hang the 'fu' character upside down, implying the arrival of fortune.

By dusk, there were fewer pedestrians and vehicles on the streets as almost everyone had gone home for the reunion dinner. Around six o'clock, nearly every household started serving their New Year's Eve dinner, dazzling with various dishes. The highlight was, of course, dumplings, which must include tofu filling, because 'tofu' sounds like 'all fortune,' symbolizing prosperity. Dumplings signify auspiciousness, and eating them on New Year's Eve is a long-standing tradition.

After dinner, the Spring Festival Gala began promptly at eight in the evening. People stayed up late that night.

Wang Xiaoqiang's phone continuously received New Year's greetings text messages. Members of the Wang family were cracking sunflower seeds, watching TV, while fireworks and firecrackers could be heard outside the window. The gala went on until midnight, and the sky outside, decorated with fireworks, remained brilliantly lit.

Wang Xiaoqiang, too, had bought fireworks, spending twenty thousand yuan on them. However, it wasn't Wang Xiaoqiang's turn to light them as Little Bao took over that task entirely.

The New Year was very lively, and the family was very happy. Seeing Liu Juyi again brought great relief to the Two Elders of the Wang Family; although she was no longer a bride of the Wang family, they still had feelings for her, having lived together before.

After the Spring Festival, Liu Juyi went to stay at her parent's house for a while, as Little Bao's school had not yet resumed. Xia Guifang and her son didn't go to Shenzhen, and the three of them stayed in the villa, enjoying family bliss.

The sixth day of Lunar New Year.

That night, it started to snow.

Little Bao went to bed.

Although Little Bao was young, he no longer slept with his parents but in another room by himself.

After Little Bao went to bed, the couple returned to the master bedroom and began engaging in that endlessly enjoyable activity again. Wang Xiaoqiang had Xia Guifang try several positions, and it wasn't cold because the air conditioner was on. Xia Guifang did not refuse.

After a satisfying session, Xia Guifang fell asleep contentedly, and Wang Xiaoqiang slept deeply. However, in the middle of the night, he heard someone calling him.

Three times in a row.

In a daze, Wang Xiaoqiang responded.

Wang Xiaoqiang got up, dressed, and when he stepped outside, he saw a person standing in the snow. It was none other than Wang Dacheng, the one who had asked him for help to conceive a child.

"Brother Dacheng, is something the matter?"

Wang Xiaoqiang asked in surprise.

"Little Qiang, brother, I'm going over now. Take care of the family. After all, the child that Ruifang bore was your seed..."

"Brother Dacheng, where are you going?" Wang Xiaoqiang asked.

Wang Dacheng didn't respond and just walked away.

Wang Xiaoqiang watched Wang Dacheng and realized he was not walking, but floating off the ground...

Wang Xiaoqiang was startled and woke up. It had just been a dream.

Wang Xiaoqiang felt there was something odd about the dream, and as he pondered it, he heard loud wailing coming from outside.

Upon hearing the crying, Wang Xiaoqiang felt a shiver in his heart. It was the middle of the night during the New Year celebrations, and so many people were crying; clearly, someone had died.

Wang Xiaoqiang associated it with the dream he just had and suddenly felt a jolt in his heart, thinking, "Could it be that Wang Dacheng is dead?"

Wang Xiaoqiang was upset and hurriedly put on his clothes to go out, but Xia Guifang, who had awakened, grabbed his hand. "Little Qiang, where are you going?"

"Someone may have died in the village, I need to go have a look..."

"It's the middle of the night; what's there to look at? Just go back to sleep."

"It's okay, you go back to sleep first. I'll go take a look and then come back," Wang Xiaoqiang said as he put on his clothes and walked out the door.

Outside, the heavy snow was still falling.

At that moment, Wang Xiaoqiang indeed heard the crying coming from the direction of Wang Dacheng's house, and in the stillness of the night, he could hear Li Ruifang crying out, "Dacheng, how will your mother and I survive now that you're dead?"

Hearing this voice, Wang Xiaoqiang felt his heart contract, then a dome-shaped Spiritual Energy Protective Shield appeared, shielding him from the snowflakes, and he flew straight up into the sky directly above Wang Dacheng's house.

From there, Wang Xiaoqiang could see that Wang Dacheng's house was brightly lit with relentless crying inside. People were bustling in and out, and two staff members from the village health station were also present. They were carrying medicine boxes but were exiting the house, shaking their heads repeatedly, "It's no use, he has stopped breathing. Alcohol overdose, he drank himself to death."

Indeed, it really was Wang Dacheng who had died. The dream I had just now was his doing.

If Wang Xiaoqiang wasn't a cultivator, he would certainly not have dared to enter the house of the Wang Family now.

Luckily, being a cultivator, Wang Xiaoqiang landed in an unobserved spot and then entered the Wang Family's house pretending to just watch the commotion.

Walking into the house, he saw the members of the Wang Family, including Li Ruifang, weeping beside the bed with Wang Dacheng lying motionless on the bed under the shaking of his family members.

Because of the surrogate situation, having had that kind of relationship with Li Ruifang, Wang Xiaoqiang was afraid of arousing suspicion, so he dared not come forward to check Wang Dacheng's breathing. He just conducted Spiritual Energy into Wang Dacheng's body, straight to the heart and lungs, to see if he could save him.

In the end, after expending a huge amount of Spiritual Energy, Wang Dacheng still remained motionless.

Clearly, there was no saving him.

Sighing deeply, Wang Xiaoqiang used his Divine Sense and saw his son, who was being held by a neighbor crying. Wang Xiaoqiang looked at his son's tender face, which could hardly handle such turmoil, so he directed a stream of Spiritual Energy towards him and infused him with it for half a minute.

The little boy gradually stopped crying and fell asleep.

Sighing again, Wang Xiaoqiang left the Wang family's house somberly.

He flew back to the villa, back into the warm quilt, where he touched Xia Guifang's warm body and woke her up. After Wang Xiaoqiang left, Xia Guifang hadn't gone back to sleep. Seeing Wang Xiaoqiang's body ice-cold, she immediately hugged him and asked curiously, "Who died?"

"It's Wang Dacheng from the east of the village."

"Ah, Wang Dacheng? So young, how did he die?"

"They say he drank himself to death..."

"Drank himself to death," Liu Juyi was even more astonished. "Can that really happen?"

"What's so strange about that? It's quite common. Nationwide, the number of people who drink themselves to death every year could populate a whole village," Wang Xiaoqiang said dismissively. "But Wang Dacheng didn't like drinking; how could he have drunk himself to death?"

"It's said that he and his wife hadn't had children for years; then they had a son this year. Also, Wang Dacheng won a 100,000 yuan lottery, which made him very happy. He showed off to everyone he met. When people saw his money, they invited him to drink and play cards, and he had to reciprocate. After a while, he became addicted..."

Listening to Xia Guifang's words, Wang Xiaoqiang had to laugh. Wang Dacheng's son, Wang Dacheng's 100,000 yuan; hadn't he, Wang Xiaoqiang, provided that?

However, with Wang Dacheng dead, Li Ruifang and her son were really in for a hard time. Wang Xiaoqiang felt a tinge of sadness and only managed to fall asleep deeply around midnight.

The next day, he woke up.

As the Wang Family conducted Wang Dacheng's funeral, Wang Xiaoqiang pretended to help out, checking on his own son. With his current status, it was true that in any household he'd ordinarily be a guest of honor, but a funeral was different from a celebration, so he did not receive any special treatment.

However, Li Ruifang sent a lingering glance his way when she saw Wang Xiaoqiang helping, her face showing a sorrowful expression.

Li Ruifang held her son. She dared not cry, for her son would start crying if she did, which made her heart wrench further. She had just been blessed with a child, but her husband had died.

In the countryside, a woman's miserable fate begins with the death of her husband. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to visit qidian.com to vote for it, buy a monthly ticket, and support the author. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)

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