Chapter 20 Farewell

Shen Hongmei scoffed and said sarcastically, "Didn't my little sister take a fancy to that soldier from yesterday? She even got up early this morning to make pancakes for him! I think you should stay out of it."

Before she could finish speaking, Zhang Xiuying shot her a glare: "Shut up! How dare you spout such nonsense in public? You're ruining your own sister-in-law's reputation, what are you up to? If you're angry, take it out on me, don't use an innocent girl as an excuse!"

Liu Xiangyang's face darkened, and he warned in a low voice, "Shen Hongmei, don't go too far!"

Seeing that her husband was truly angry, Shen Hongmei reluctantly shut her mouth.

Liu Xuejun didn't care about any of that. He finished his rice in a few bites, wiped his mouth, and said, "Sis, I'll go with you to see them off."

"good."

Zhang Xiuying instructed, "Then we won't go. There's still a lot of work to do in the fields. Come back soon."

Liu Zhixia ignored Shen Hongmei, packed the baked pancakes and a few boiled eggs into a basket, and hurried to the village entrance with Liu Xuejun.

At the village entrance, Lu Kai's parents were holding their son's hands, reluctant to part.

Lu's mother wiped away her tears: "Eat well over there, don't cause trouble, and remember to write back often."

Lu Kai's eyes also reddened.

The atmosphere of parting was somewhat heavy, and Shen Yi and Xu Zhigang stood aside, feeling uneasy.

Just then, Shen Yi looked up and saw Liu Zhixia and her brother walking towards them.

"I thought you weren't coming!"

Xu Zhigang didn't want to see the scene of parting on the side, so he pulled Shen Yi and quickly went to meet them.

Liu Zhixia said apologetically, "Sorry, I was delayed on the way."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yi's heart tightened, and he blurted out, "Are you in trouble?"

His sudden tension startled Liu Zhixia for a moment, then she shook her head: "No. My child at home insisted on coming with me, and it took a while to get him back."

Shen Yi breathed a sigh of relief: "It's good that you're alright."

Looking at Shen Yi's appearance, Liu Xuejun couldn't help but smile.

There's hope!

He shoved the basket into Chen Yi's arms: "Here! My sister made these early this morning, eat them on the way!"

Shen Yi didn't refuse and accepted it directly: "Thank you."

Seeing that no one was around, Xu Zhigang immediately nudged Shen Yi: "Speak quickly!"

Shen Yi nodded, lowered his voice, and told the siblings everything he had heard about the conspiracy last night.

Before he could finish speaking, Liu Xuejun's face darkened, and he was about to explode: "Damn it! What does this bastard take my sister for? I'll cripple him!"

He had only taken two steps when Liu Zhixia pulled him back.

"Sis! What are you doing! You didn't hear him say he wanted to marry you, and now you're tempted again, did you?"

Liu Zhixia slapped him on the back of the head in anger: "Can't you use your brain before you act? The two comrades didn't alert the enemy, just to remind me! Now you rush over and yell, and before they even make a move, they'll accuse you of slander!"

Liu Xuejun finally calmed down, but he was still furious: "What do we do? This is disgusting!"

A cold glint flashed in Liu Zhixia's eyes as she said in a cold voice, "What's the rush? Doesn't he want to marry me and be his slave? Let him marry Gu Mansheng first, and then let's see how he can still have this idea."

Xu Zhigang asked, puzzled, "But it's obvious that he wants to marry one woman at home and another outside. This guy is very shrewd; capitalist ladies won't marry into the family openly."

Shen Yi smiled and looked at Liu Zhixia: "It seems you know what you're doing. Then we can rest assured."

Liu Zhixia snapped out of her daze and nodded to the two of them, saying, "Thank you both for reminding me."

Just then, the people from the educated youth settlement arrived.

They were also there to see him off.

Lu Kai was already familiar with several educated youths, and Shen Yi and the others had also helped a lot in the past few days, so the young people quickly became close friends.

The group immediately stopped talking about the previous topic.

The educated youth brought some local products with them, and Xu Zhigang, being a lively person, was pushing and shoving them around.

Shen Yi was aloof, and no one dared to approach him, which made him quite free.

He walked over to Liu Zhixia and whispered a reminder: "That educated youth in red from yesterday was also here. She must have come with Lu Kai, and probably overheard Lu Huaiyuan and the others' plan."

Liu Zhixia followed his gaze.

The girl in red is Zhao Dongmei.

She seemed to have the best background among the educated youth, and she always put on airs, with a cold and arrogant demeanor.

In her past life, she didn't like dealing with this person.

Later, it seems her family pulled some strings and arranged for her to go back home. She cried her heart out when she left.

Seeing the way she kept glancing at Lu Kai, Liu Zhixia instantly understood everything.

Liu Zhixia said calmly, "She won't interfere."

Based on her understanding of Zhao Dongmei from her previous life, she knew that this person would never meddle in other people's business.

Shen Yi nodded: "It's good that you know what's going on."

He glanced at Liu Zhixia, hesitated, and ultimately swallowed his words.

We meet by chance, and we will eventually part ways, so let's not get too involved.

Over there, Lu Kai finally finished saying goodbye to his parents and walked over.

His gaze swept between Liu Zhixia and Shen Yi, and he asked Shen Yi in a low voice, "Did you say it?"

Shen Yi: "Mm."

Lu Kai felt a pang of unease.

—This opportunity to be a hero and save the damsel in distress should have been his.

He pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and handed it directly to Liu Zhixia.

"Xia, this is our unit's phone number. Call me anytime if anything happens."

He lowered his voice, speaking in a volume only a few people could hear: "We're not afraid of that grandson Lu Huaiyuan, but his father, who's the brigade leader, is not easy to deal with."

That made sense, so Liu Zhixia accepted it without hesitation.

"Okay, I understand. Thank you, Kai."

Hearing "Brother Kai," Lu Kai felt a little embarrassed and scratched his head: "I'll definitely help if I can! Be careful yourself! ...Well then, we're leaving."

The three of them left on a tractor in the village.

As soon as Liu Zhixia turned around, she met Zhao Dongmei's hostile gaze.

She glanced down at the note in her hand and instantly understood.

However, it didn't matter. She had never been interested in Lu Kai.

"Let's go, back to work," she said to Liu Xuejun.

The two turned and left, decisively and cleanly.

Not far away, Zhao Dongmei was tightly gripping the hem of her clothes.

Was Liu Zhixia's glance just now a provocation?!

But when she thought about the disgusting things she had heard last night, Zhao Dongmei's anger subsided.

Since this has nothing to do with her, she won't get involved.

Just as Liu Zhixia and her brother reached the intersection, Lu Huaiyuan appeared again, blocking their way.

He glanced at Liu Zhixia sideways, his tone full of schadenfreude: "Liu Zhixia, your sweetheart is gone. He'll never come back."

Upon seeing that it was Lu Huaiyuan, Liu Xuejun's anger flared up instantly.

"What do you want to do? Stay away from my sister!"

Lu Huaiyuan, however, was fearless and even arrogantly pointed to his face and moved closer to Liu Xuejun.

"Come on, hit me here! Aren't you hoping the college entrance exam will be reinstated next year and want to take it? The quota for the exam will definitely be submitted by the village committee. Unless my dad agrees, you can forget about taking the college entrance exam!"