Volume 1: Green Years Chapter 47: Unmarried Cohabitation

  Yu Songyuan hastily closed the door, blocking out the pale flash of lightning. Then he repeatedly comforted: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I'm here, I'm here."

  He picked up the slender Lin Xue and put her on the bed, just as he was about to get up and dress. At this moment, a string of thunderbolts came continuously, and Lin Xue hugged Yu Songyuan again, burying her head in his arms. Yu Songyuan had no choice but to hold her tightly and lie down, with the sound of thunder rumbling outside, his mind went blank.

  Eighteen-year-old Yu Songyuan, wearing only a pair of oversized pajama pants, held the warm body of a fifteen-year-old beautiful girl, and his blood suddenly rushed to his head.

  The thunder of the landslide finally slowly faded away, but the lightning still flashed and rumbled, and the sky was a vast expanse of dark clouds. Yu Songyuan opened the lamp, and Lin Xue felt Yu Songyuan's body change, immediately quickly breaking free from his arms, standing up wanting to leave, but hesitated and didn't dare go out, turning around in circles again, and then blushing said, "Yu big brother, this rain is coming down too heavily, it's too scary, can I stay here with you for a little while?"

  Yu Songyuan put on his clothes, "What's wrong with that. You can just sleep here, you still have to go to work tomorrow. The sky is almost bright, I'll just sit and take a nap."

  Lin Xue said with a sob, "The earth is shaking, Yu Ge, I'm scared to death every night. I always sleep with my clothes on, covering my head and turning on the light. I never dare to get up at night. You go to sleep, we have class tomorrow. I won't be able to sleep anyway, just sit here in a daze."

  Yu Songyuan insisted on letting Lin Xue sleep on the bed, so Lin Xue slept in her outer clothes. Perhaps she had never slept well before, despite the occasional thunderclap outside, but lying beside Yu Songyuan made her feel very safe, and she soon fell fast asleep, still tightly clutching Yu Songyuan's clothes. Yu Songyuan could only sit at the head of the bed, seeing that General also lay on the floor in front of the bed, so he turned off the light, leaned against the headboard and dozed off, soon falling into a deep sleep accompanied by the thunder.

  The sky brightened, and Yu Songyuan was startled awake again by a thunderclap. He was surprised to find that he was lying in bed, while Lin Xue was resting her head on his arm, curled up in his embrace, sleeping soundly, making soft snoring sounds like a cat.

  The general sat on the floor by the bed, his head tilted to one side and his eyes staring at them in a very strange way. The implication was clear: hey, pay attention, you're both so young, aren't you overdoing it?

  Yu Songyuan felt a sense of embarrassment, as if he had been caught red-handed doing something wrong, under the gaze of the general. He wanted to explain himself to the general, but when he looked down, he was speechless again. Both of their outer garments were gone, what's going on? He couldn't stop wondering, how could this be when he clearly remembered wearing clothes and sitting down to sleep last night?

  He was extremely nervous, not daring to move, afraid of startling Lin Xue. Another loud thunderclap rang out, and Lin Xue woke up with a start in her sleep. She still closed her eyes, stretched lazily, then opened a pair of beautiful big eyes, looking at Yu Songyan with a questioning expression, and soon her face was filled with blushes.

  Yu Songyuan suddenly discovered that Lin Xue's five senses were delicate, with a pair of big eyes, although slender, but very pretty. Suddenly, she raised her head and playfully kissed Yu Songyuan's lips. Then, she quickly got up, dressed in a few movements, and hastily left with Da Jiang, not even daring to look back.

  She had gone to make breakfast. The rain was still pouring down, and Yu Songyuan followed her to help with the breakfast. Lin Xue didn't dare look into his eyes, "Brother Yu, go read a book, I'll call you when the food is ready!"

  Yu Songyuan didn't dare to look into her eyes, "With such a big thunderstorm, you can't study, I'll just help you!" The general squatted at the door, looking out at the rain-soaked ground and listening to the rumbling thunder. From time to time, he turned his head back to look at them with a heavy heart, seemingly puzzled, what's wrong with you two, why are you acting so strangely?

  It's time to go to work, Lin Xue looked at Lin Jianze with a worried face. She took off her water shoes and held them in her hand, thinking of going barefoot to work. Yu Songyuan teased her, "What do you want to do? Although the water is not deep in the riverbed, it's flowing very fast, and you're so small, you'll be swept away in an instant."

  "I'm almost 1.6 meters tall, stop saying I'm small all the time." She knew Yu Songyuan wanted to carry her over, so she put on her water shoes again and saw that the rain outside had let up a bit. "Brother Yu, take advantage of the fact that the rain has let up a bit, let's hurry!"

  Yu Songyuan held the plastic sandals in his hand, rolled up his pant legs, patted the big general's head and told it to take care of the house. The two put on their plastic raincoats, holding hands and started wading into the forest. The water was very deep on the small path, and soon it would overflow into Lin Xue's rain boots, she could hardly move forward.

  Yu Songyuan saw the situation and took off his raincoat, carrying her on his back. Lin Xue held his sandals with one hand and used the other to hold up the raincoat, helping him block the rain. When they reached the reed marsh, the terrain was low-lying, the water was deeper, and the current was faster. The water flooded above Yu Songyuan's knee caps. His legs and feet kept bumping into fish of all sizes.

  The small river had been completely submerged in water, and the wooden bridge was also flooded. The fields were a vast expanse of water. Lin Xue looked at the ground covered with water and felt a little frightened. "Yu Ge, be careful, if we both fall down, it's all over!"

  Yu Songyuan carefully probed the water with his feet, inching forward little by little until he finally reached the other side of the small river. Lin Xue was so tense that her palms were sweating. The path in the middle of the vegetable field wasn't deep but very muddy, and Yu Songyuan's feet kept sinking into it. By the time they arrived at the teacher's residence, he was already drenched in sweat.

  From here on, it's all cement roads or brick-paved roads. Putting her down, Lin Xue hastily put a raincoat over him and helped him wipe the sweat with a handkerchief. Then, the two of them ran to work and school separately.

  This scene was witnessed by the teachers and family members who were just about to go to work, which moved them deeply. In fact, Teacher Zhang also saw Yu Songyuan struggling to carry the girl through the muddy path in the vegetable field from the window behind her, and for some reason, her nose turned sour and tears flowed out.

  At noon and dinner time, Yu Songyuan went to the cafeteria to find their lunch boxes and then took them to Lin Xue's workshop for the two of them to eat. Lin Xue brought out frozen fish, pickled cabbage, and pickled radish from her dormitory, which they ate together with Huang Shifu. Yu Songyuan was so intimidating that even the factory director was obedient to him, and no female worker dared to bully Lin Xue anymore, nor did anyone dare to mock them.

  In the evening, Yu Songyuan arrived early at the small factory to wait for Lin Xue. The two of them walked in the rain towards their dormitory. When they reached the edge of the vegetable field, Yu Songyuan carried her on his back again. Lin Xue shone a flashlight and they walked through the vegetable field with one foot deep and one shallow. When they reached the small bridge, the water was much lower than it had been in the morning, but it was pitch black. Under the light of the flashlight, the rushing water looked very scary. Yu Songyuan carefully and slowly made his way across, and Lin Xue finally let out a long sigh of relief.

  After a thorough wash, Yu Songyuan began to study on his own, and Lin Xue sat beside him with a thick "Clothing Cutting Science" quietly reading. While studying high school courses on her own, she was also self-studying painting and fashion design, determined to become a cutting master in a clothing factory in the future.

  The thunder outside is still continuous, and it seems that this rain will continue for a few more days.

  Suddenly, Lin Xue got up and cleaned up Yu Songyuan's upper berth, then went back to her own room. After a while, she rolled over her bedding and moved it over, and also moved all her belongings over. She also re-laid the big general's nest, and the big general was sleeping soundly, being woken up by her, extremely dissatisfied with humming twice, then jumped into the nest and fell asleep again.

  Yu Songyuan was shocked, his mouth agape, silently watching her do all this. Listening to the thunder outside that occasionally exploded, he had words on the tip of his tongue several times, but swallowed them back. He was still shocked by Lin Xue's actions and even more frightened.

  In that era, premarital sex was absolutely unacceptable to society, let alone they were students, young men and women openly living in one room. Yu Songyuan clearly remembered that his distant cousin sister had a premarital relationship, and on the wedding night, there was no red fall, she could not hold her head up in her husband's family, was bullied every day, eventually forced to divorce, and later lived a miserable life.

  At this moment, the thunder rumbled outside, lightning flashed, rain poured down like a deluge, and the wind howled. His heart softened, and he really couldn't bear to turn her away from his door. He only reminded her in a low voice, "Girl, the law and school rules are merciless. If the school finds out that you and I live in the same dormitory, I'm dead for sure. You're only fifteen years old, at least I'll be sentenced to five years or more."

  Lin Xue's face turned red, but she smiled at him and comforted him instead: "Yu Ge, don't worry, who would come here? Besides, we didn't do anything else..." She couldn't finish her sentence, too embarrassed to continue.

  In the morning, Yu Songyuan woke up to find his arm numb and his nose itchy. When he opened his eyes, Lin Xue was curled up in his arms, sleeping soundly just like last night. Some of her hair had been sucked into his nostrils, making him want to sneeze. But hadn't they gone to bed separately the night before? How did they end up like this at dawn?

  At noon, Yu Songyuan specially bought a spittoon, wrapped it in newspaper, and brought it back to the dormitory, so that she could urinate in the dormitory at night. His thoughtfulness moved Lin Xue very much. Because sometimes at night, she needed to go to the toilet, although Yu Songyuan and Da Jiang were waiting outside, but the women's toilet was empty and dark, and she was still very afraid to go in alone.

  Every night they slept separately, but the next morning when Lin Xue woke up, she was always sleeping sweetly on his arm, which made Yu Song Yuan feel puzzled. One night, a thunderstorm outside startled Yu Song Yuan awake, and Lin Xue also woke up. She climbed down from the upper bunk, trembling with fear after using the bathroom, and just as she had crawled halfway back up, another clap of thunder came, scaring her into sliding back down, frantically lifting his thin blanket and slipping inside like a little loach.

  Yu Songyuan was a martial artist, and he was used to sleeping on his back all the time, thanks to the teachings of his father, Fourth Uncle, and Master Chen. Especially his father and Fourth Uncle, who were both skilled in martial arts and medicine, their words were trusted by the Yu brothers, so everyone developed the habit of sleeping on their backs.

  After Lin Xue got into bed, she quietly tucked her quilt in all around, then gently rested her arm on it and snuggled up close to her armpit, sleeping soundly. Outside, the thunder rumbled on, but she soon fell fast asleep. Yu Song saw that she was frightened by the thunder, but after getting into bed, she became like a considerate little wife, and soon fell deeply asleep. He couldn't help but want to smile.

  With such a slippery and tender girl's body, the two of them were only wearing undergarments stuck together, yet it still made his heart flutter with excitement, dizziness, and trembling. But after all, they were still young, and before long, sleepiness crept in, and they fell into a deep slumber.

  During the time of the great flood, although they had a hard time traveling, the general brought them some surprises. He almost went into the forest, and the reeds, and came back with a big fish in his mouth, all alive, knife fish, red fish, bass, hybrids, black fish, and so on.

  The radishes and cabbages under the ground, after a heavy rain, all turned into fertilizer. However, the newly planted vegetables grew vigorously in the rainy days. The abundance of fish from the fishing trip, combined with the vegetables from the garden, made their lives full of joy despite being surrounded by floodwaters. The excess fish were salted and dried by Lin Xue, hanging them under the iron beams indoors to make dried fish.

  Their relationship also brought them closer together due to the flood. Despite their intimacy, he never thought of violating her, and even when sleeping together, their affectionate movements were limited to a light touch on the lips.

  Yu Songyuan was always uneasy about this "cohabitation" in his heart. Lin Xue was still a minor after all, and once the truth came out, he didn't dare to think about the consequences.