Chapter 44: Thinner

Shao Erdan pointed backward. "They're just behind us. Brother-in-law walks slowly and was worried something might happen to you, so he had me bring Wang Laizi over first."

Wei Ting's injuries had not fully healed, and he still required strict bed rest. When he occasionally got up to move around, he could only take a few slow steps with the aid of crutches.

He had walked somewhat too hurriedly on the way to Wang Laizi's house, causing his leg to swell up suddenly.

On the way back home, the snow grew heavier and heavier.

When Shao Diandian found him, he was sitting on a large boulder beneath an old locust tree, with his crutch leaning diagonally against the side.

Ordinarily, this boulder was a gathering place for many villagers to chat and gossip. Shao Diandian had never considered it anything special, yet tonight, with him seated upon it, it vaguely seemed to exude a certain ethereal ambiance.

With his broad shoulders, narrow waist, tall and upright posture, and long legs, his ink-black hair was slightly tousled by the wind and snow, sweeping across his jade-like, handsome face. The sight was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Honestly, how can someone look so bewitching?"

Shao Diandian muttered to herself as she walked up to him.

"What are you doing sitting here?"

Wei Ting replied calmly, "Enjoying the scenery."

Shao Diandian: "..."

Shao Diandian sat down beside him.

Wei Ting gave her a peculiar sidelong glance. "What are you doing?"

Shao Diandian looked out into the ink-black night. "Enjoying the scenery."

"Aren't you cold?" Wei Ting asked.

Shao Diandian spread her hands. "I'm chubby, you see. Thick layer of fat, not afraid of the cold. Asking me that—are you cold yourself?"

Wei Ting let out a huff and gave no reply.

Shao Diandian reached out and touched his hand.

Wei Ting frowned. "What are you doing?"

Shao Diandian said, "Your hands are frozen like this, and you're still not going back? Let's go! Sit here any longer and you'll turn into an ice pop!"

As she stood up, she reached for Wei Ting's crutch, only to discover with surprise that it had snapped in half.

"You..." She froze for a fraction of a second, then looked down at his leg. "Did you take a tumble?"

"No," Wei Ting said expressionlessly.

Shao Diandian squatted down, rolled up his left trouser leg, and gazed at his bloodied knee. "And you say you didn't fall!"

The wound on his left calf was exceptionally deep. Although the surface stitches were in place, it would still take quite a while to recover completely.

Now look at this—not only had his calf not fully healed, but he had scraped the skin raw on his knee as well.

"Stop sitting there, let's go back and apply some medicine." Shao Diandian stood up, tucked the broken crutch under one arm, and extended her other hand toward him.

Seeing that Wei Ting didn't move, she shook her plump little hand. "It's just a bad leg; surely you aren't expecting me to carry you on my back? I'm just a delicate young maiden! How could I possibly carry a full-grown man like you?"

Wei Ting gave her a complex look.

In the end, Wei Ting still took hold of her hand, and the two of them braved the swirling wind and snow, walking step by step toward home.

After a few paces, Shao Diandian said, "Alright, I take back what I said earlier. I'm a two-hundred-pound chubby girl, I won't get crushed, so don't hold back your weight."

Putting excessive strain on his injured leg would only worsen the condition.

Wei Ting hesitated for a moment, then leaned his weight a little more against her.

Thinking of the events of tonight, Shao Diandian gave a light cough and said with a haughty air, "Actually, even if you hadn't helped me tonight, I could have gotten myself out of it. I had already found an alibi for myself."

Wei Ting sneered. "Who said I was helping you? I was helping Erdan, don't flatter yourself."

Shao Diandian retorted, "Heh, who's flattering themselves? Erdan is my younger brother, like he needs your help?"

Wei Ting said calmly, "He called me brother-in-law."

Shao Diandian said, "Just because he calls you brother-in-law makes you his brother-in-law? If I call you husband, does that make you my husband?"

Wei Ting replied, "Well, that depends on how you say it."

Shao Diandian stopped in her tracks, looked deeply into his eyes, and smiled with a gentle charm. "Husband~"

Wei Ting: "...That sounds awful."

A basin of cold water poured straight down, and Shao Diandian's face darkened instantly.

The two continued on their way. As they passed the old Shao family residence, they ran into Shao Jiniang, who had come out to pour away some water.

Shao Jiniang looked at the two figures supporting each other through the wind and snow, and suddenly called out to stop Shao Diandian.

"Shao Daya!"

She put down her wooden basin and hurried over to them.

Shao Diandian looked at her in bewilderment. "Something the matter?"

In her memory, she had no particular friendship with this village belle. The village belle looked down upon her, and all the friends Shao Diandian fancied invariably went to suck up to the village belle instead.

Shao Jiniang's expression was somewhat tense. Deliberately avoiding looking at Wei Ting, she stared straight at Shao Diandian and said, "Why did you slander me just now? There is clearly nothing going on between Wang Laizi and me! Are you intentionally ruining my reputation? How have I ever offended you?"

The village belle was rather riled up, it seemed.

Shao Diandian smiled faintly. "If I hadn't said that, would you have been willing to step forward and provide an alibi for me?"

Shao Jiniang's breath hitched for a moment, and her peripheral vision flickered toward Wei Ting. "I... of course I would have."

Shao Diandian sneered. "Shao Jiniang, do you take me for blind? The village head had just asked who could vouch for my innocence, and you immediately dragged your mother away. How do you explain that?"

Shao Jiniang flatly denied it. "I did not drag my mother away!"

Shao Diandian looked up speechlessly at the sky. "You have a mouth of your own, say whatever you please."

Shao Jiniang's face was full of disappointment. "Shao Daya, ever since we were children you've always been jealous of me and gone against me at every turn. I chose not to argue with you, but I never imagined you would resort to such methods to exact revenge on me!"

Shao Diandian looked at her in utter perplexity. "Hang on, Shao Jiniang, what's gotten into you today?"

Shao Jiniang lowered her gaze. "Forget it. Right and wrong are judged by people's hearts. You know very well what you've done. I've said all I have to say, and I hope you won't continue doing such foolish things in the future!"

With that, she turned around and walked away without the slightest bit of hesitation.

A gust of cold wind blew past, carrying the faint scent of rouge from her body.

After taking about three steps, she turned back around and looked Shao Diandian up and down.

"And another thing, don't copy my style of dress anymore."

Having said her piece, this time she truly left.

Was Shao Jiniang out of her mind?

Airing her shortcomings right in front of Wei Ting?

"Inconceivable!"

Shao Diandian brushed the snow off her clothes, and when she raised her eyes, she found Wei Ting staring at her unblinkingly.

She said defensively, "What are you looking at? So what if we have a few similar outfits? She's allowed to wear them, but I'm not?"

"You seem to have lost weight," Wei Ting remarked.

Shao Diandian was startled. "Huh?"

Wei Ting pointed at her cuff. "This used to be tight on you. When you were changing my medicine earlier, it even left red impressions on your skin."

Shao Diandian blinked. "You observe me that closely?"

Wei Ting said with sarcastic detachment, "I was remaining vigilant in case you were concealing hidden weapons!"

A woman's spirits can undoubtedly soar when she is told she has lost weight, and Wei Ting's little barbs no longer mattered to her at all.

Shao Diandian lowered her head and patted her stomach. "Now that you mention it, I do feel like my clothes aren't stretching quite as much. Wei Ting, I really have lost weight!"

She raised her eyes to look at him, her pupils sparkling, with a genuine and joyous smile dancing in the depths of her gaze.

Wei Ting averted his gaze and said indifferently, "You've only lost a little bit compared to before, you're still—"

Shao Diandian said with fierce intensity, "Swallow those last two words right back down!"