Chapter 2 Chapter two

I climbed deeper into the treehouse, which was a little more than a meter and a half by a meter and a half, where Gerald couldn't even stand upright, but I loved it.There is an entrance here, and there is a small window directly opposite the entrance, and I left an old step stool here as a small table for candles, and a worn blanket, sitting on it is as good as sitting on the wooden plank the difference.There's nothing here, but my safe haven, our safe haven. "Please don't call me beautiful. First my mother, then Xiaomei, and now even you are like this, I can't stand it anymore." Aspen looked at me, and he smiled.Looking at his eyes, I know it's useless to tell him "I'm not pretty".

"You can't change, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, and you can't stop me from saying it at the only time I can say it." He reached over and cupped my face, and I fell into his deep eyes . Just like that, his lips had fallen on mine, and I couldn't think anymore, Chofey, poor life, Ilya, all gone, leaving Espen with my arms around me, his Breath blows gently on my face.I stroked his wet black hair from the shower—he always liked to shower at night—twisting strands into perfect knots.He smells like his mother's homemade soap, which is a scent that haunts me.We parted a moment later, and the smile on my face was genuine.

He sat me between his slit legs and hugged me like a child. "I'm sorry, Aspen, I'm not in a good mood because... we got that stupid notice at home today." "Oh, yes, that letter." Aspen sighed. "My family got two." Of course, their twin sister had just turned sixteen. Aspen looked at every inch of my face carefully, every time we were together, he looked at me like this, as if he wanted to engrave my appearance deeply in his mind.It has been more than a week since the last time we met. We usually meet each other in a few days, but this time I was really anxious.

I also looked at him carefully.He is without a doubt the most handsome boy I have ever met, for any class.He is of medium height, lean and just right, with black hair, green eyes and a restrained smile, which makes people feel that he is hiding some secrets.In the dim candlelight, I noticed the dark circles under his eyes. It seemed that he had been working late again for the past week.His black T-shirt was frayed in several places, like the pair of jeans he wore every day. I really want to mend the holes in his clothes.This is my greatest wish, not to be Faye Wong of the Kingdom of Elijah, but to be the wife of Aspen.

It was tough not being able to spend time with him, and there were times when I couldn't stop myself from wondering what he was up to.When I can't restrain myself, I let myself practice the piano, so I can play the piano well now, it is really the credit of Aspen, who made me have to find things to distract him. This is not a good thing. Aspen is the sixth level, and the people in this level are all service personnel. What makes them better than the seventh level is that they have received some education and training for indoor work.Aspen is the smartest person I know, and he is very good-looking, but it is still rare for a woman to marry someone lower than herself.A man of a lower rank can propose to a woman of a higher rank, but is rarely successful.Moreover, anyone who wants to marry a person of a different level needs to complete the registration documents and wait for about 90 days before completing the legal procedures.I've heard more than one person say that the ninety days are a time for people to change their minds.So, the two of us being so close now, and well after curfew... would be a big problem if we were found out, not to mention what my mother would do to me.

However, I really love Aspen.I fell in love with him two years ago, and he loves me too.He sat there stroking my hair and I couldn't even imagine myself going to the contest. "What do you think? I mean Xuanfei." I asked him. "Well, the poor boy has to find a way to find a girl." I could hear the sarcasm in his words, but I really wanted to know what he thought. "Aspen." "Well, well! Well, on the one hand, I feel quite sad. Can't the prince fall in love freely? Is it true that he can't court any girls? If they all marry the princess to other princes, why should we My prince can't do this? There must be a royal princess who is worthy of our prince, I really don't understand."

"But on the other hand..." he sighed, "I think this is something to look forward to, it's very exciting. The prince is going to fall in love with a girl in front of everyone's eyes. Live a happy and happy life. Moreover, people of any level may become our next Faye Wong, so exciting, this makes me think that maybe I will also be able to live a happy and happy life in the future." "So, you're in favor of the twins going, right?" I asked. "Yes. We sometimes see the prince on TV, he seems like a nice boy, a little bit over the top, but he looks friendly. My sisters are also very active. They were in the house when I came home today. I was dancing with joy. To be honest, neither of us can deny that this event has helped the family, and my family has two chances of being drawn, which makes my mother feel very hopeful."

Here's the first good news about this horrific campaign.Only now did I realize that I was so absorbed in my wild thoughts that I hadn't thought of Aspen's sisters at all.If one of them is drawn and wins in the end... "Espen, do you know what it means for Campbell or Celia to win?" His arms hugged me tighter, his lips brushed against my forehead, and he stroked my back with one hand. "I've been thinking about it all day." His hoarse voice was a little disturbed, and I instinctively wanted Aspen to touch me and kiss me, and if his stomach didn't complain in time, we'd be through tonight. .But now my mind is broken.

"Oh, by the way, I brought some refreshments," I said as lightly as I could. "Oh, is it?" I could hear him trying not to look too excited, yet eager. "You'll love this chicken, I made it myself." I turned around and found the small bundle I brought, and handed it to Aspen.He ate it in small bites, not forgetting etiquette, but I just took a symbolic bite of the apple and put it down, letting him continue eating.This way he will feel that the food is shared with us. My family just worries about food a lot, and the Aspens sometimes just can't get over the pot.Although he always had a job, his income was much less than ours, so the family never had enough to eat.Aspen is the eldest of the seven brothers and sisters. I do my best in my family and help as much as I can. As the eldest son, he will always leave his own meager food to his younger siblings and tired mother.Aspen's father passed away three years ago, and now he can only support the whole family.

Watching him lick his fingers clean after grabbing the chicken fills me with satisfaction.He proceeded to tear the bread piece by piece and ate it, and it was hard to imagine what he could eat till the end at home. "Your cooking skills are awesome. In the future, you will definitely make everyone round, fat and happy." He took a bite of the apple and sighed. "I'll make you round and fat and happy. You know that." "Well, fat and fat in vain!" We all laughed, and then he told me what he had been up to since the last time we met.He went to a factory to do clerical work for a few days, and he would also work there the following week.His mother finally got a job doing regular cleaning for several second-class homes in the area.The twin sisters were unhappy when they were forced to give up their after-school theater activities, which they needed to use to work more to earn money.

"I want to find out if there is a place where I can work on Sundays and find a way to earn more money. I can't bear to see them give up something they like so much." His tone was full of hope, as if he could definitely do it. "Aspen Ledger, dare you! You're overloaded now." "Hey, Ami," he said softly into my ear, and my heart almost jumped out, "You know Jinbao and Celia, they like to be with people, you can't always hide them for cleaning Or clerical work, that's not in their nature." "But you can't take care of everything by yourself, Aspen. I know you love them very much, but you have to take care of yourself. If you really care about them, you should take care of their families even more. pillar." "Ami, don't worry. I think things will turn around soon. I won't work so hard forever." The truth is he will always be working so hard because his family needs money all the time. "Aspen, I know you can do it, but you're not superhuman, and you can't meet all the needs of the people you love. You can't...you can't carry everything by yourself." We were silent for a moment.I can only hope he's digesting my words, realizing that if he doesn't slow down, he's going to burn out.It's no news that people in the sixth, seventh, and eighth ranks died from overwork. I can't stand just thinking about it.I leaned into his arms, trying to drive away the terrible picture in my mind. "America?" "Huh?" I replied softly. "Will you participate in the election?" "No! Of course not! I don't want anyone to think that I want to marry a stranger. I love you!" I said eagerly. "Do you want to be reduced to the sixth level? Starve forever? Fear forever?" He asked me, and I could hear the pain in his voice, because he asked the most realistic question: If you had a choice, would you live in someone who served you? In the royal palace, or with Aspen's family in a three-room apartment?Which do I really want? "Aspen, we can do it, we are so smart, we will always find a way." How I wish this sentence would come true. "Yami, you know what our future is like. I must support my family. I can't let them go." I squirmed in his arms, "And, if we have children... " "When we have children, we just need to be careful, who asks us to have more than two?" "You know we have no control over this kind of thing!" I could hear the anger in his voice. The outrage is understandable because only rich people can do birth control.The government doesn't care about people at the fourth level or below.We've had more than one fight over this in the past six months, since we've started thinking hard about how we can truly be together.Children are the biggest unknown. If there are more children, there will be more labor force, but at the same time, there will be more hungry stomachs... We fell into silence again, not knowing what to say.Espen was an enthusiastic man, easily over-excited in arguments, but, with effort, he was able to control his emotions well now, as now, I can feel that he is trying to control himself. I didn't mean to make him feel bad or think too much, but I really thought we could handle it from the bottom of my heart.As long as we try our best to plan for all the foreseeable situations, then we can also deal with the unexpected.Maybe I'm too optimistic, or I love him too much, but I truly believe that as long as Aspen and I fight together, we can make it. "I think you should go," he said suddenly. "what?" "Enter the contest. I think you should go." I stared at him: "Are you crazy?" "Ami, listen to me." He whispered in my ear.This is too unfair, he knows that I can't concentrate and think like this.His voice was heavily snorted, whispering like a love story, but in essence it was the exact opposite, "If you have the chance to live a better life and give up for me, I will never forgive you Myself. I can't bear it." I couldn't help snorting angrily: "It's ridiculous! Think about it, there are thousands of girls who want to participate. There is no way I will be selected." "If you won't be drawn, what's the point of filling out the form?" He stroked my arms with both hands, and I couldn't argue with him every time he did, "I just want you to fill out the form, I just want you to try it. If you are drawn, then you go. If you are not drawn, then at least I will not blame myself for dragging you down." "But I don't love him, Aspen! I don't even like him! And don't know him." "Nobody knows him, that's why the process is needed; but maybe you'll like him." "Aspen, that's enough. I love you." "I love you too." He kissed me deeply to prove his sincerity, "If you love me, go to it, otherwise I will be entangled in this forever, and I will keep thinking about what will happen if you go what will happen." When he said it was for him, I couldn't stand my ground.Because I can't hurt him, I have always wanted to help him live a better life.What's more, my judgment is not wrong, and it is impossible to choose me.So, I can just go through the motions and make everyone happy.Then, when the day I was not selected, everyone gave up with peace of mind. "Please." He whispered into my ear, this feeling is like a cold air hitting the body. "Okay," I replied softly, "I'll go. But you have to remember, I don't want to be Faye Wong, I just want to be your wife." His hands brushed my hair. "you will." Maybe it was because of the light of the candle, or maybe it was too dark, when he said this, there were tears in his eyes.Aspen has been through a lot, but I've only seen him cry once, when his brother was whipped in the square.Little Jamie stole some fruit from a fruit stall in the market. If he was an adult, he would be interrogated briefly, and then decided whether to be imprisoned or executed according to the value of the stolen things.Jamie was only nine years old at the time, so he was sentenced to caning.Aspen's mother didn't have the money to take him to proper treatment, so Jamie's back was scarred forever. I had been sitting by the window waiting for Aspen Treehouse that night, and when he finally showed up, I slipped out to meet him.He cried in my arms for an hour, murmuring that if he had worked harder and done better, Jamie wouldn't have to steal.He thought it was unfair that Jamie suffered like this because of himself. It was excruciating to hear him say that, because it wasn't the case at all.But I couldn't say that at the time, he just wouldn't listen.Aspen quietly carried the burden of caring for all the people he loved, and miraculously, I was one of them, so I tried to lighten my own burden as much as possible. "Can you sing me a song? I want to fall asleep to a beautiful melody." I smiled slightly, I like singing for him the most.Then I sat closer to him and sang a soft lullaby. He listened to me for a few minutes, and then his fingers began to casually caress the skin under my earlobe, pulled my collar away, kissed me along my neck to the root of my ear, pulled up my short sleeve, and kissed all the way up my arm Going down, my breathing became short of breath.Every time I sing to him, he will kiss me like this. Maybe he likes my shortness of breath more than my singing. In the blink of an eye, we were rolling on the thin, dirty blanket on the floor.Aspen pulled me onto him, and I stroked his short messy hair with both hands, completely fascinated by the feeling of the moment.He kissed me hard, passionately, and I felt his fingers running between my waist, back, buttocks and thighs, hard as he was, but it always surprised me that there were no bruises left. We were careful to always stop before what we really wanted to do, breaking curfew was bad enough.Regardless of the boundaries between us, though, I can't imagine anyone else in the Kingdom of Elia with more enthusiasm than we do. "America Singer, I love you. I will love you as long as I live." There was a depth of emotion in his voice that I hadn't expected. "I love you, Aspen, you will always be my prince." He continued to kiss me until the candle burned out. It must have been hours and my eyelids were already heavy.Aspen never worried about his sleep time, but always cared about the quality of my sleep.I had to take my plate and the penny and wearily climbed down the ladder of the tree house. Aspen loves my singing very much, he feels it with his heart.Sometimes, as long as he doesn't have nothing on him, he will give me a penny as payment.In fact, if he can save even a penny, I want him to give it to the family, because their family needs every penny to maintain.But on the other hand, these pennies seem to hold Aspen's heart that is willing to give everything for me, which shows how important I am to him, and I am not willing to spend it at all. After returning to my room, I took out the vial of coins I had hidden and put the latest penny into it. What a delightful sound it was.I looked out the window and waited for ten minutes before I saw Aspen's figure climb down from the tree house and leave through the path behind. Then, instead of falling asleep right away, I thought about Aspen, how much I loved him, how he felt about loving me, all of which made me feel unique, irreplaceable, and priceless.I feel that not even a crowned queen is more valued than I. With this thought in mind, I fell into a deep sleep.