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Clenching his fists tightly, Lin Yongcheng suddenly remembered something.

On that day, his younger brother had gone to find trouble with Little Disaster Star alongside Wang Tianba.

Why, among so many who went together, did no one else encounter any trouble, yet it was Yong Le who suffered an accident?

Moreover, coincidentally, just like his second uncle, he too had broken his leg.

Could it be that someone had done this on purpose?

Whether he was blinded by rage or had truly seen through the hidden truths, Lin Yongcheng was now convinced that Lin Yuan was responsible for all the persecution his brother had endured!

Narrowing his cold and fierce eyes, Lin Yongcheng quietly left the room. Lady Ma was tenderly wiping down her younger son, entirely unaware of when her older son had left.

If she had noticed her older son’s unusual behavior in time, perhaps she wouldn’t have allowed him to commit the act that would bring shame upon their whole family.

The heavy rain continued until well after midnight before it gradually began to let up, stopping completely by the time the sky was faintly lightening at dawn.

Lin Yuan was worried about the house they had yet to finish building, and as soon as she woke up, she hurriedly dressed and went out to check on it.

There’s a saying, "After a single autumn rain, the cold sets in.

" True to the phrase, as soon as she opened the front door, a blast of cool and damp air hit her, causing her to sneeze involuntarily.

"Why didn’t you wear an extra layer of clothing?" Xia Zheng’s reproachful voice came from behind her. With an embarrassed smile and before Lin Yuan could turn around, a cloak had already been draped over her shoulders.

She recognized this cloak. Recently, Xia Zheng had always been returning home very late, and she, concerned he might catch a cold on the road, had asked him to take an extra article of clothing.

Since then, he obediently kept this cloak in the carriage.

It seemed that he had brought it in yesterday because of the rain.

Unexpectedly, it ended up warming her own shoulders today.

As she smelled the faint masculine scent on the cloak, Lin Yuan’s cheeks flushed red, and she reached to take it off.

But Xia Zheng would not allow it. Before she could move, he had already swiftly turned her around and skillfully tied the cloak’s straps with his slender fingers. "When will you break this habit? Is there any reason you should return something given to you by your husband?"

Lin Yuan bit her lip, wanting to argue, but her mind seemed to short-circuit, suddenly at a loss for words. Internally chastising herself, the easily embarrassed Lin Yuan blushed once again.

Noting her slightly reddened earlobes, Xia Zheng felt a blossoming joy in his heart.

He straightened the hanging hem of the cloak and took her tender little hand firmly in his.

Her hand was slightly cool, and on the fingertips were two small, hard calluses.

Xia Zheng gently caressed those calluses, clenching his teeth with a pang of heartache.

He hadn’t wanted her to work so hard, hadn’t wanted her to handle such menial tasks with her own hands, and had only wished for her to stay at home and comfortably enjoy the silver earned by a man.

But, in the end, he kept these thoughts to himself, because he knew Lin Yuan was inherently different from other women.

She would not sit idly at home, living off the support of a man, nor would she, like other women, devote all her energies to dressing up and pleasing men.

It was her unique resilience shining through her core that made her stand out from the rest, and without that distinct quality, he likely would not have become so infatuated with her.

Although the household was still asleep, being so openly held by Xia Zheng’s hand left Lin Yuan feeling somewhat uneasy. With a blushing face, she hurriedly withdrew from his warm grasp and stepped out of the main house first, avoiding the puddles on the ground as she headed towards the new house.

Feeling the sudden emptiness in his hand, Xia Zheng’s heart also felt a void, and he pursed his lips wistfully as he followed in her footsteps.

The rain had been quite torrential, raising the water level even in the well, let alone other places.

The new house, lacking a finished roof, had accumulated quite a bit of rainwater inside.

Fortunately, aside from some timber, there wasn’t much else within, and Chief Sun had made arrangements early on for the wood.

Even if the rain had been heavier, the timber wouldn’t have been washed away.