The Runaway Bride's Road to Wealth in the 1980s

[Annual pick + military marriage + devoted, fatherly pampering + mutual devotion]

People always say Li Ting is a cold-faced demon, a man without a tender bone in his body.

Su Mengmeng used to believe it, too. But now she sits on the edge of the bed, watching the man kneeling on the floor to wash her feet, and can’t make that “cold face” fit him at all.

The factory had just opened, and she’d spent the whole week working, barely coming home. Today a machine in the workshop broke down, nearly ruining an entire batch of goods. She rushed to protect the paper patterns, and a sharp piece of metal sliced the skin beside her cheekbone. It wasn’t deep, but it drew blood.

When she got home that evening, Li Ting served dinner. She said she wasn’t hungry. He didn’t press her. Instead, he went to fetch some hot water, knelt down, and gently lowered her feet into the basin.

He didn’t say a word the whole time.

Su Mengmeng felt uneasy. She watched him for a long while before finally asking in a muffled voice, “Why haven’t you looked at me all day? Do you think I’ve gotten ugly? Do you not like me anymore?”

Li Ting’s hands paused.

He looked up, his eyes red. Two silent tears slipped down the bridge of his nose and fell into the water.

His voice caught as he spoke. “When I first met you, you were afraid of thunder. You wouldn’t even sleep alone if you heard a stray dog barking. Now you can build a factory yourself, rush in to protect those things, and not even notice when your face gets cut. You came home and didn’t even put medicine on it.”

He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. His voice was low and hoarse. “It just hurts to see you like this. How did you end up carrying so much without ever saying you were tired?”

Su Mengmeng sat there, watching him kneel with red eyes and wash her feet. She couldn’t say a word.