It was five or six in the morning when the couple returned to Heyu Village. People were already up and cooking; thin ribbons of kitchen smoke could be seen rising into the air.
There were diligent folk already out drawing water, but Lu Heng was sharp-eyed and quick-witted, carefully steering them around the villagers. The two slipped into their home unnoticed, and Qiao Qingqing, exhausted and sleepy, collapsed onto the bed the moment she arrived.
Lu Heng, however, went straight to the kitchen to whip up a bowl of egg porridge. But by the time he brought it over, he found his beloved wife lying on the bed with her eyes open, looking radiant and full of energy, with not a trace of fatigue left. It was as if the person who had been dying of exhaustion just a short while ago had never been her at all.
Chapter 243