"Oh my, it makes your face so white, you look much younger." Widow Zhang looked at Bai Xue with envy, wishing to have a box of that fragrant powder for herself.
Though she had lost her husband, living as a widow for many years, her heart was very much alive.
"Then you should buy some from the town. My daughter got it from there," Bai Xue said.
"Must be expensive, right? Is it good?" Widow Zhang eyed it eagerly, wanting to give it a try.
"It’s good. I don’t know about the price, though. If you want to buy some, I can go back and ask my daughter how much it costs," Bai Xue offered.
"Alright, alright, alright," Widow Zhang agreed quickly.
"I’ll head back and ask her now." Since there was nowhere to play mahjong, Bai Xue might as well head home.
Leaving Widow Zhang’s house, Bai Xue set off towards her own home.
The spring evening breeze was pleasantly warm, making her feel extremely comfortable. Every now and then, a wild cat would dart out, occasionally giving Bai Xue a good scare.
Walking home alone, flashlight in hand, she always felt like there were footsteps behind her. She stopped and turned to shine the light back, but saw no one.
"Strange," Bai Xue muttered to herself as she continued walking. Suddenly, someone sprang out from behind and hugged her tightly around the waist.
She was startled, her mouth open ready to shout for help, but a rough hand quickly covered her mouth and nose.
"It’s me, Xue Mei, don’t speak!" Li Wangfu’s voice came from beside her ear, his breath tickling her neck and making her whole body go limp.
"You scoundrel! You’re going to scare me to death, you know that?" Bai Xue turned and snapped at him.
"Xue Mei, I’ve been missing you like crazy," Li Wangfu said with a cheeky grin, "I haven’t seen you working in the fields these past days. My eyes are sore from looking for you."
"Really?" Bai Xue looked at him with a scoff, "I didn’t notice. Weren’t you having a blast flirting with that young widow? Winking and teasing each other..."
Hearing the sour tone in Bai Xue’s words, Li Wangfu chuckled, "She’s nowhere as tempting as you are, besides, it’s just to ease the pain of not seeing you. It’s simply pretending to have a bit of fun."
"Pah! If you really cared about me in your heart, would you even flirt with another woman?" Bai Xue turned to twist his ear.
"Who said you’re not in my heart?" Li Wangfu replied, nudging Bai Xue from behind, "Look, my ’brother’ is saluting you."
"Pah, you shameless thing. Put away your ’broken stick’!" Bai Xue cursed with a laugh.
"Broken stick? I’ll let you test my ’stick’ later to see if it’s really broken or not! I’ll make you cling to me with moans and whimpers!" Li Wangfu’s words grew more shameless, "Guaranteed to be better than your old An! Afterward, you’ll be thinking of me every day!"
"Shameless! You sure get ahead of yourself!" Bai Xue retorted with a curl of her lip, "I wouldn’t dare mess with you. Your wife is like a roaring lioness at home!"
"Just ignore her. Pretend it’s a donkey braying! Without any evidence, she can only bark a few times," Li Wangfu had long since lost any interest in his domineering and prickly wife.
"Oh? I heard people say that your wife chases you around the yard with a knife, even threatening to castrate you?"
"Pah! She just knows how to shout, who is she scaring? If she did castrate me, she wouldn’t have her fun either!" Li Wangfu cursed.
"Come on, Xue Mei! Let’s go, stop wasting time. I know a nice spot. There’s no moon tonight, it’s the perfect night," Li Wangfu couldn’t wait any longer, and, pulling Bai Xue by the hand, they headed toward the riverbank on the east side of the village.