Lin Qingyan explained to Li's mother, "Auntie, the Wu Dalang that my mother-in-law mentioned is a character in a story. He sells a kind of food called 'chuibing'. In the local dialect of that place in ancient times, that kind of food was called 'chuibing,' which is the same as the steamed buns we eat now."

Li's mother smiled awkwardly, "Aunt Lin knows so much. I'm just a roughneck, I don't know any of this."

Lin Qingyan peeked into the room and asked Li's mother, "Is Comrade Lu inside?"

"Yes, yes. I'll go tell him you've arrived."

"No need, ma'am, I'll just go in and find him."

"Alright, then I'll continue making the shoe soles."

Grandma Lin kept pacing around in the yard, eating candy and muttering to herself:

Withered vines, old trees, and crows at dusk; I'm so hungry, I really want to eat.

An ancient road, a west wind, a lean horse; so hungry, so eager to eat…

Lin Qingyan didn't hear what she was muttering, and instructed her, "Grandma, I'm going inside to give Comrade Lu acupuncture. Are you coming in with me, or are you going to play in the yard?"

"I'm playing here."

"Okay, I'm going in then."

When Lu Zhengting heard that his beloved girl was coming, his heart started pounding wildly.

These past few days he has truly experienced what it means to "miss someone for a day as if it were three autumns".

She was finally back, and they could finally see each other again. Their wildly beating hearts couldn't calm down.

As soon as Lin Qingyan stepped inside, Grandma Lin followed her in.

"Grandma, didn't you say you wanted to play in the yard?"

Grandma Lin craned her neck to look inside: "I want to see that young man's three legs. Girl, out of so many people, he's the only one with three legs. Isn't that interesting? I really want to see."

Lin Qingyan couldn't help but start imagining Lu Zhengting's third leg, and blushed.

"Grandma, Comrade Lu has lost his third leg, so you can't see him anymore."

"Gone? Why is it gone? I finally encountered a three-legged monster, and before I even saw its leg, how could it be gone?"

Grandma Lin didn't deliberately control her volume; she always liked to raise her voice when she spoke. Lu Zhengting, who was in the inner room, couldn't help but turn red when he heard her conversation with Lin Qingyan.

"Grandma, there's nothing I can do. Since you can't watch anymore, let's just play quietly in the yard. Maybe we'll run into a three-legged toad someday."

"A three-legged toad?" Granny Lin thought for a moment. "That's fine too. They're all three-legged anyway. I'll wait to encounter a three-legged toad."

Lin Qingyan finally managed to coax Grandma Lin into playing in the yard, while she went inside by herself.

She arrived at Lu Zhengting's room, knocked on the door, and a deep, magnetic male voice immediately sounded from inside, "Come in," which sounded exceptionally pleasant.

Lin Qingyan pushed open the door and went inside; only Lu Zhengting was in the room.

Lin Qingyan didn't call him Comrade Lu, but addressed him by his given name: "Zhengting".

Lu Zhengting originally intended to address Lin Qingyan as "comrade," but upon hearing Lin Qingyan's form of address, he froze.

Lu Zhengting knew all too well what calling someone by their name meant.

His heart continued to race, and his ears turned even redder.

I was overjoyed, yet conflicted.

"Comrade Lin, you should just call me Comrade Lu."

He secretly clenched his fist, turned his face slightly away, and dared not look at Lin Qingyan.

His legs haven't recovered yet, so he has to endure it a little longer.

He will only establish a relationship with the girl when he is 100% able to protect her and give her happiness.

Now all I can do is try to keep a certain distance from her.

Lin Qingyan was somewhat disappointed to see that he still maintained the same distant attitude as before.

“You still won’t admit that you’re interested in me, that you like me, but you’ve always kept it a secret. But that day, you risked aggravating your leg injury by going to the county police station to see me, and then you couldn’t hide your feelings anymore.”

"No, no. Comrade Lin, you misunderstand. The reason I went to see you is because I am very grateful for the treatment you gave me for my leg. I will need you to continue to treat my leg in the future, so I felt it was necessary for me to visit you in the county town."

"Yeah?"

"Of course."

"But you held my hand at the police station that day. How do you explain that? If you didn't like a girl, would you hold her hand?"

"I, I..." Lu Zhengting didn't know how to explain. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Comrade Lin, men and women can shake hands to express friendship or a cooperative relationship. We just touched each other, it doesn't mean anything."

Lin Qingyan thought to herself, "Stubborn guy."

At that moment, she had already walked behind him, and unexpectedly, she reached out and hugged him from behind.

A sweet fragrance gradually wafted over and entered Lu Zhengting's nostrils. A pair of small hands reached out and wrapped around his chest, and his back pressed tightly against hers, making his breathing momentarily out of rhythm.

Lin Qingyan noticed that his breathing became heavier. She saw that his ears were so red that they were almost dripping blood, and she could even feel his heart pounding wildly in his chest.

She leaned on his shoulder and whispered, "Comrade Lu, you like me too, don't you?"

Lu Zhengting instinctively wanted to answer "yes." He really liked the feeling of being able to snuggle up intimately with the young girl.

But he still stubbornly said, "Comrade Lin, please don't do this. Men and women shouldn't touch each other. It's better if we keep our distance."

Lin Qingyan immediately thought of Tang Sanzang in "Journey to the West," who clearly had feelings for the Queen of the Women's Kingdom but stubbornly suppressed his emotions.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!