Chapter 50: Suddenly Wanting to Hug Him

Annette stared at Stuart with wide eyes. "Hurry up, or your hand will get swollen."

Stuart could only reach out and hold Annette's wrist, gently kneading her palm with his other hand. His brows lowered, expression focused.

Standing face to face like this, Annette could clearly see Stuart's thick eyelashes and the slight flush on his ears. When he smiled with those curved eyes, was every man this innocent? Or was it just Stuart? Maybe he hadn't even touched a woman's hand before.

Indeed, Stuart had never carefully touched a girl's hand like this—soft and delicate, as if it could melt in his palm. If his face weren't a bit darkened by the sun, it would probably be bright red now.

Annette felt that Stuart was pretty skilled. After a few rubs, her wrist didn't hurt so much anymore, and she no longer wanted to make things difficult for him.

"All done. It doesn't hurt now. Didn't expect you to be so good at this," she said.

Stuart let go, feeling the warmth lingering in his palm. He quietly placed his hands behind his back and walked home with Annette.

By the time they got home, Charles and Carl had already returned from farm work. They were squatting in the yard talking. Aunt Spring and Clara were there too, discussing Laura's suicide attempt.

Carl unusually said little, mainly because he was afraid—Laura had tried to kill herself, and now she was saved. Would she expose what the two of them had done?

He squatted on the ground, feeling like a cat scratching at his heart.

Seeing Stuart and Annette come in, Aunt Spring stepped forward first. "How is she? Is Laura feeling better? We didn't dare all go over."

Annette nodded. "Yes, she's okay now."

Aunt Spring sighed in relief. "Good, good. That girl, whenever she gets upset, she just takes poison."

Clara interjected, "Upset? Look at what she did herself. The whole village was fooled by her—we all thought she and Second Brother had been courting."

Carl scowled and cursed, "Shut up, as if you're better."

Clara took advantage of the crowd and Carl's unwillingness to fight back. "I'm not lying. Why are you so protective of her?"

Carl stood up quickly. "Say another word and I'll slap you."

Charles hurried to stand. "Third brother, what nonsense are you pulling?"

Aunt Spring quickly changed the subject seeing the tension rising. "Enough, enough. Dinner's ready. Hurry and wash up."

Annette saw Stuart calmly go wash his hands and quietly asked, "Are we eating together tonight?"

Stuart looked puzzled. "Why wouldn't we? The money I send home covers our meals too."

Annette thought that made perfect sense. This woodhead wasn't always taking a loss after all. Feeling reassured, she washed her hands and followed Stuart inside to eat.

It was the lean season; the family had no wheat flour.

Aunt Spring grated potatoes into strips, boiled them, then steamed them with cornmeal. She smashed garlic and drizzled vinegar to mix in, alongside some pickled vegetable strips.

Annette was trying this kind of meal for the first time. Although there was no oil, the taste was good.

Except for Nancy, the whole family sat around the big stove table in the kitchen, eating silently. Only the sound of chopsticks tapping bowls broke the quiet.

Annette sat beside Stuart, with Aunt Spring on the other side.

Aunt Spring noticed the quiet atmosphere and offered Annette some pickled vegetable strips. "There's no meat at home, so tomorrow I'll have Jimmy and the others go catch wild rabbits in the mountains. Now that it's warm, rabbits are out."

Annette felt a bit embarrassed. "No need, this is good enough."

Aunt Spring shook her head. "Good enough? I know city folks like you eat white flour every day. You probably can't get used to this."

Too bad she wasn't in charge, or she'd have gotten some white flour.

Grace scoffed coldly at Aunt Spring's words but didn't say anything.

Richard wasn't giving up. He glared at Grace and smiled ingratiatingly, "Yes, your sister-in-law is right. Tomorrow, let Jimmy and the others catch some wild rabbits. If they can't, buy some meat. And get some flour too. It's rare for Second Brother and his wife to come back; we have to make dumplings for them."

The two kids immediately shouted excitedly, "We want dumplings! We want dumplings!"

Grace gave them a sharp look but didn't dare forbid it and silently ate her food.

Annette was impressed that Stuart ate without changing expression—his psychological resilience was really strong.

After dinner, everyone went to their own rooms, leaving Aunt Spring alone in the kitchen washing dishes.

Annette thought about going back to her room to stare at Stuart but decided helping Aunt Spring wash dishes and listening to her gossip was more interesting.

Aunt Spring refused help. "No need. I can handle this. You sit down and rest."

Annette started clearing the table. "No problem, I'm just free anyway."

Aunt Spring stopped being polite and cheerfully chatted with Annette. Suddenly she changed the topic.

"The village used to say Laura was seeing Second Brother. I was puzzled. When I came here, Second Brother was just fourteen—quiet, liked reading, and never got close to Laura even before he left for the army."

She said this to ease Annette's mind.

Annette became curious about how Stuart's life had been back then. "You married early. When you came, what was Stuart like?"

Aunt Spring was straightforward. "When I married in, Second Brother was already quite tall but skinny like a stick. Those years were the hardest; the whole country was starving. Even our village lost many people. But our family was fine, thanks to Second Brother's cleverness. He always managed to catch food in the mountains."

"Back then, there was no tree bark left to eat, and everything in the mountains and water had been eaten by people. But Second Brother always found something."

Aunt Spring felt grateful to Stuart because when she was pregnant, he secretly brought her a roasted wild rabbit.

Annette had only read about this period in history books but now realized Stuart had really experienced it.

Thinking of those years, Aunt Spring sighed, "I remember once some young men in the village were jealous because Second Brother always brought food. They stopped him on the road and demanded he give up what was in his pockets. You wouldn't believe, he was just fourteen, skinny as a bean sprout, but he beat up five or six men in their twenties half to death."

"Since then, no one dared mess with Second Brother. Even Third Brother got beaten by him once."

Worried Annette might think Stuart was too violent, she added quickly, "But Second Brother also had the kindest heart. He shared what he had with village elders who couldn't get food."

Annette listened, heart burning with admiration, imagining that fourteen-year-old boy standing alone like a lone wolf among the crowd.

Suddenly, she wanted to hug him.