The sky was just getting light, and the mountain air was chilly and refreshing.

An Caicai wrapped herself in Chen Changyuan's coat, huddled together, and watched Chen Changyuan pack his things.

She did not sleep well that night. Her dreams were full of strange scenes, which made her feel uneasy even after waking up.

"Let's go." Chen Changyuan put on his backpack and said to An Caicai.

An Caicai nodded and tried to stand up. She felt a sharp pain in her ankle, which made her gasp.

Seeing this, Chen Changyuan squatted down in front of her without saying a word and said, "Come up."

An Caicai was stunned for a moment and hesitated.

Chen Changyuan urged impatiently, "Hurry up! If you keep dawdling, it will be hard to leave when daybreak comes."

An Caicai then carefully lay on Chen Changyuan's back and put her arms around his neck.

Chen Changyuan carried her on his back and walked steadily down the mountain.

The mountain road was rugged and the two of them were bumpy all the way. An Caicai almost fell down several times, but was held firmly by Chen Changyuan every time.

When they arrived in town, Chen Changyuan put An Caicai down and asked, "What should we do next?"

An Caicai rubbed her numb legs and said, "Please hire a car for me and take me to the county. Someone will contact me when we get there."

Chen Changyuan nodded and turned to look for a car.

An Caicai looked at his back, feeling mixed emotions.

Although this man appears cold on the surface, he is surprisingly considerate.

Soon, Chen Changyuan found a donkey cart.

He talked to the driver for a few words, then turned to An Caicai and said, "Let's go."

An Caicai noticed that Chen Changyuan deliberately found a deaf and mute driver.

She knew in her heart that Chen Changyuan was doing this for her safety. After all, her current identity was special, so it was better to be careful.

Before getting in the car, Chen Changyuan got some dust from somewhere and smeared it on An Caicai's face without saying a word, making her originally pretty face dirty.

"What are you doing?" An Caicai was a little amused.

Chen Changyuan explained calmly, "It's safer this way."

An Caicai sighed helplessly and let him fiddle with her.

Along the way, the donkey cart moved slowly and bumpily, and An Caicai felt like her internal organs were about to be shaken out.

She secretly looked at Chen Changyuan beside her. He remained expressionless, but his eyes drifted out the window from time to time, as if he was wary of something.

Finally, they arrived at the county town. Chen Changyuan paid the taxi fare and took An Caicai straight to the county government.

There were several black cars parked in front of the county government office, and a group of people were gathered there, seemingly arguing about something.

An Caicai immediately saw Feng Changhong, her father's secretary, in the crowd.

"Uncle Feng!" An Caicai limped over, tears streaming down her face. "Uncle Feng, I finally see you!"

Feng Changhong was stunned when he saw An Caicai. He never expected that the young lady who had been missing for many days would appear here in this state.

He walked quickly to An Caicai, looked her up and down, his eyes full of heartache and self-blame, "Miss, you... you have suffered!"

An Caicai threw herself into Feng Changhong's arms and cried like a baby.

When several officials from the county government saw An Caicai return safely, they put on flattering smiles on their faces and rubbed their hands and said:

"Oh, Miss An is finally back. These past few days have been nothing but close calls! Secretary Feng, thank you for your hard work!"

Feng Changhong glanced at them coldly, ignored these insincere greetings, and reached out to help An Caicai leave.

Just then, a hand came across and blocked their way.

Feng Changhong then noticed Chen Changyuan who had been standing behind An Caicai. He frowned and asked in a bad tone:

"Who are you?"

Chen Changyuan replied with a forced smile:

"My dear brother, I am here to escort this young lady back. I have been so kind to her all the way here. Even if I have not done any great work, I have certainly worked hard. The young lady said she would repay me well."

Feng Changhong looked at An Caicai suspiciously, and An Caicai nodded slightly, agreeing with Chen Changyuan's statement.

Feng Changhong pondered for a moment and said:

"This is not the place to talk. Little brother, please come in with us."

He turned sideways and made a "please" gesture, leading An Caicai and Chen Changyuan into the county government building.

Along the way, Feng Changhong looked at Chen Changyuan calmly.

The boy looked to be in his early twenties, with a thin build, wearing old clothes that had been washed white, and his hair was messy like a bird's nest.

His face was clean, but his eyes were too shrewd, as if he could see through people.

Feng Changhong was secretly alert in his heart. Such a person was either really stupid or pretending to be stupid, and he was more inclined to the latter.

After entering the office, Feng Changhong asked An Caicai to sit down and rest first, then turned to look at Chen Changyuan and asked directly:

"Tell me, what do you want in return?"

Chen Changyuan was not polite and directly stretched out five fingers: "Twelve thousand yuan."

When Feng Changhong heard the offer of 12,000, he didn't even raise an eyebrow. He readily took out a thick stack of bills from his briefcase and handed it over without counting.

"You saved our young lady, this amount of money is not much."

He paused, then took out a bag of imported milk powder and a bottle of malted milk from his bag. "Take these and use them to replenish your body."

Chen Changyuan took the money and things, weighed the milk powder, and looked at the foreign words on the malted milk, knowing that these were all good things.

These days, ordinary people can’t get these. He grinned and said, “Thank you, Brother Feng.”

"You're welcome." Feng Changhong responded with a forced smile, but in his heart he was thinking about how to make this kid shut up.

An Caicai's identity is special, so the fewer people who know about this incident, the better.

The boy in front of her has seen her true face, so she needs to be taught some advice.

"Then I'll take my leave."

Chen Changyuan put the money in his pocket, picked up his things and turned to leave.

"etc!"

Feng Changhong called him, "Little brother, you are a smart man. You understand some things without me saying them. Miss An's matter this time..."

Chen Changyuan turned around and looked at him with a half-smile, "Don't worry, Brother Feng. I'm a very tight-lipped person. I won't say a single word that I shouldn't."

Feng Changhong nodded with satisfaction. "That's good, that's good. For your safety, I'll arrange for you to go out the back door. There's a car there to take you back to town."

Chen Changyuan did not refuse and followed Feng Changhong to the back door.

A black car was already waiting there, the driver was an expressionless middle-aged man.

"Once you're in town, you can go wherever you want. No one will bother you along the way."

Feng Changhong patted Chen Changyuan on the shoulder with a hint of warning in his tone.

Chen Changyuan nodded, opened the car door and was about to get in when suddenly a clear female voice came from not far away:

"Chen Changyuan!"