Chapter 26

Autumn has arrived in the mountain city.

A well-dressed couple held hands as they walked up the steps, looking at the vines extending up from downstairs. The leaves were pale yellow around the edges and tender green in the center, making them extremely beautiful.

Ascending the steps, the bustling square and market caught Chu Ci's eye, which was drawn to a fish cake stall.

Huo Junyan paid for one directly.

Chu Ci took the fish cake handed to him by the shopkeeper, took a bite, and his eyes lit up. "Is one serving enough?" he asked as he used a bamboo skewer to feed him a piece.

Without thinking, he opened his mouth, put the food in, hissed, turned his face away and swallowed it, his mouth slightly open as he inhaled the cold air.

"Oh dear, I forgot you can't handle this much spice," Chu Ci said, her teasing having worked. She ate even more happily, then moved in front of him, stood on tiptoe, and lightly pecked his lips. "Is this much spice enough?"

Huo Junyan licked his lips, feeling a tingling sensation. He continued to inhale cold air to relieve the discomfort on the tip of his tongue.

"Want to rest?" He glanced at the hotel not far away.

Chu Ci followed his gaze and glanced at him, her face slightly flushed. "We agreed on a time. It's still a two-hour drive. It wouldn't be good to be late."

She called Xu Yunhua in advance.

There was no other meaning behind it; it's just that we haven't seen each other for many years, and we hope that we can both be mentally prepared and maintain a dignified appearance.

Fortunately, the call this morning went smoothly.

Last time they took the high-speed rail to the county town, but the high-speed rail station was far from the city center. There were direct buses and public buses available, but this time they took a plane directly to the mountain town.

Chu Ci was wondering whether she should buy some gifts. She hadn't been home for many years, and it wouldn't be good for Huo Junyan to come empty-handed on his first visit.

As they passed a large gift shop, she stopped and glanced at him. Huo Junyan also looked inside. "Let's bring Xingxing some local specialties when we go back."

Chu Ci: "..."

She suddenly found herself unable to say it. Last night, she had only mentioned marriage in a moment of passion, but in reality, they could never get married, so he was not a proper son-in-law.

"Wait a moment, I need to withdraw some money." Chu Ci entered a bank in the square.

Even if you don't buy gifts, you should still give a few red envelopes. Although it's all done by mobile transfer now, it's a Chinese tradition to bring money when you visit someone's home.

She herself didn't realize that subconsciously she wasn't going home, but rather visiting someone's home.

I withdrew 100,000 yuan and stuffed it into my small bag, which was bulging. I should have brought a bigger backpack when I went out.

After leaving the bank, I went straight into a jewelry store, but they didn't sell red envelopes. I went to another store, but they didn't have any either.

Hesitating about whether to go to the supermarket to look for it, Huo Junyan took her hand and led her into a maternity and baby store.

What are you doing here? Chu Ci had only checked her own family information and didn't know if her sister and brother were married.

Huo Junyan will definitely be able to find out these things.

Are they all married with children, and they're here buying toys?

Looking up, she saw several nice strollers, catering to children from 0 to four or five years old. She asked, "Do you know how old my nephew and niece are?"

Xingxing has loved cars since she was little, and she's quite the expert at choosing toddler cars and strollers.

The saleswoman had already come forward, and after hearing what she said, she reacted for a moment.

Huo Junyan turned around and said, "I don't know." Then he went to look at the shelves.

Chu Ci: ?

The saleswoman glanced at Chu Ci, and seeing that she had no intention of buying anything, she quickly followed Huo Junyan, unable to resist stealing several glances at him. So tall and handsome, he seemed to smell of ebony and sandalwood, like a young master from a wealthy and powerful family. Seeing him pick up something, she blurted out the usual question, "Is this for your own use, or…?"

The air was still for a few seconds.

The saleswoman looked up in alarm, staring blankly at the sanitary napkin in his hand. When she realized what was happening, she apologized repeatedly.

Huo Junyan, oblivious to the situation, picked up another bag, compared the two for a long time, his brows furrowing slightly as if he were making some important decision. Chu Ci covered her mouth and walked over, saying, "Just for daily use."

He thought she was going in and out of several stores looking for sanitary napkins.

Huo Junyan looked at the two packs of sanitary napkins with different packaging. "What is 'daily use'?" The saleswoman pointed to one of the packs, and he thanked her and paid in a low voice.

"Do you have a restroom?" he asked.

The saleswoman shook her head and pointed to the back of the shelf, "Over there." Oh dear! The store's restrooms aren't open to the public.

Chu Ci suppressed a laugh, picked up the bag, and walked out of the maternity and baby store with both arms linked with Huo Junyan's. Only then did she laugh out loud, "I haven't had my period yet."

"Then what are you looking for?"

"Let's stop looking. I'll see where we can get a taxi." Not wanting to keep them waiting for lunch, Huo Junyan gestured towards the plaza parking lot, "The car is over there."

Chu Ci looked at him suspiciously, "You rented a car?"

As they spoke, they arrived at the parking lot. Huo Junyan took the car keys from a middle-aged man and personally opened the passenger door. "This is my car."

Okay, a young master from a wealthy family, always traveling in luxury cars—that's just her imagination running wild.

Chu Ci is 169 cm tall, which is not short. Without using the pedals, he had to use both his hands and feet to get on the Wrangler.

It's still a lot of work.

Just as she was about to crawl onto the bus, two hands suddenly appeared around her waist, gently lifting her into a seat, and the bus door closed immediately.

He walked around to the driver's seat from the front, got in, closed the door, and started the car. His hand was on the handbrake. "Seatbelt," he said, leaning closer to her earlobe, "didn't you bring a long coat?"

This morning, Chu Ci chose a pair of long, wide-leg jeans, retro German boots, a brown soft leather short jacket, and a thin turtleneck top.

"No." In this kind of weather, she wouldn't be wearing a turtleneck if the hickeys on her collarbone and neck weren't so obvious.

He held her lower back with one hand. "Then don't lift your hand today."

As his large hand caressed her smooth skin, she suddenly realized that when she got on the bus, she had reached for the handrail, revealing her waistline, and he had said last night that he would draw a circle around her waist.

The scene was too painful to recall.

Chu Ci turned her face to look out the window, but there was nowhere to hide. "How about I drive and you rest?"

He gave a soft "hmm," releasing his lips from her earlobe. "You're worried about me? I'm in great shape. You can check tonight; I guarantee it'll be better than last night."

"Ahhh!" Chu Ci could no longer bear it. She scratched and clawed with both hands and threatened with her voice. Finally, she broke free, opened the car door, and jumped out.

How could he say such shameless things?

Even Chu Ci, who prides himself on being thick-skinned, is finding it a bit too much to handle.

He strode around to the driver's seat. A passerby glanced at his car a few more times. Huo Junyan got out of the car, all his previous lewdness gone. He stood to the side like a gentleman and reached out to help her.

"I can get up by myself, just move aside."

Huo Junyan stepped back two paces and looked at her with a smile.

Chu Ci also took a step back to run up, jumped onto the car, and gave him a small, provocative look as she closed the door.

Once Huo Junyan got into the car, Chu Ci raised an eyebrow and said, "Seatbelt."

As he spoke, he glanced at the rearview mirror, turned around abruptly, and saw cigarettes, alcohol, candy, tea, red dates, longan, and persimmon cakes on the back seat—all in even numbers, as if it were the six gifts a prospective son-in-law would bring to propose marriage.

Other gift boxes include supplements and jewelry.

“You,” she stammered for a moment, then hesitated for a long time, “when did you prepare these things? I thought you hadn’t prepared them.”

Huo Junyan looked surprised. "I asked you this morning, and you thought it was too heavy, so I had my assistant prepare it here."

Chu Ci blinked and suddenly remembered that in the dressing room that morning, he seemed to be on the phone, but her attention was on Xu Yunhua's call that was about to go through. She took the bag he handed her and casually said something like, "It's too heavy to carry."

“I was talking about the bag,” Chu Ci said, taking off her small backpack. “The bag you gave me this morning isn’t suitable for long trips.”

Huo Junyan pursed his lips. He simply handed her the new bag the butler had brought, taking the small bag that was already stretched out of shape and whose zipper couldn't be fully closed. "You still have money?"

"Who do you think you are?" Chu Ci glared at him and said deliberately, "My software can sell for a hundred million."

Huo Junyan scoffed, "Then how much did you give Du Zhiguo?"

She pursed her lips and remained silent.

She spent four years at Zhou's company, and even though she had some dirt on the higher-ups, she couldn't use it all for her own benefit and had to endure it.

Upon receiving news that Du Zhiguo's son had incurred huge gambling debts at a foreign casino and was nearly beaten to death, Chu Ci decisively paid the ransom.

To her surprise, Du Zhiguo contacted her first, and the two reached an agreement that he would help her this time.

"Your team has a total of six people. How much do you pay each of them?"

Chu Ci glanced sideways, "I can afford it."

"They've been laid off, but they quickly started a software development company, and you invested your own money in it?"

How did you know? Did you investigate me?

Seeing her get flustered, Huo Junyan patted her head. "I heard there's a math whiz in your team, and I thought..."

"You want to steal my man?" Chu Ci laughed in anger.

Huo Junyan didn't take it to heart. "Who isn't?"

She stopped talking in anger, fastened her seatbelt, and stepped on the gas to drive out of the parking lot. The mountain city had many winding roads and intersections, but Chu Ci seemed to have a built-in navigation system and quickly got onto the highway leading to the county town.

The road winds along, with some narrow bends covered in lush vegetation, the branches of which extend onto the road.

Ahead, there was a sharp right turn, a sloping path, and a stone-paved open space. Suddenly, a girl in a blue and white school uniform rushed down the path. "Ah!" she cried, slamming on the brakes.

Chu Ci trembled all over, pulled the handbrake, jumped out of the car, and ran to the front of the car, but there were no children.

She hurriedly knelt down to look under the car, but there was nothing there.

There was nothing there.

After turning the corner, the road continued to extend, and the town could already be seen. It was a stone archway with no paths or open spaces made of stones.

“Chu Ci,” Huo Junyan pulled her up, “this place is different from ten years ago.”

Ten years ago?

A blurry image suddenly flashed into my mind, as if I were standing on a stone-built open space. An SUV roared by, startling a spotted dog that rolled down a hillside. Suddenly, the view swooped down, stopping the SUV. The window rolled down, and a hand with well-proportioned knuckles reached out towards my chest.

"Was there a sloping path here before?" she asked, pointing to the right.

Huo Junyan's eyes instantly lit up with joy. "You remembered?"

She shook her head. "When I came here last time, the shop owner over there said that the village had been relocated due to tourism development. You came here ten years ago? Tell me about it."

His smile froze for a moment. He pulled her into the passenger seat, got into the driver's seat himself, and restarted the car.

As the vehicle passed through the stone arch, the scenes from my memory gradually became clearer.

To be precise, it was nine years and ten months ago that Huo Junyan came to the mountain city for the first time. Because of his different ideas about opening a processing plant from his father, he was young and impetuous and drove an off-road vehicle to test the mountain roads.

Being unfamiliar with the area, they took the wrong turn and drove into a village.

He just wanted to leave as quickly as possible, so he didn't slow down and almost bumped into a girl who was running down a side road.

That girl was so arrogant!

He rolled down his window to ask her to move aside, but the girl started swearing and called him a dog. Enraged, he reached out and grabbed the badge of Chu Ci from Class 1, Grade 12 of a certain middle school that she was wearing on her school uniform, and threatened to tell her teacher.

As a result, he received a solid slap in the face.

Huo Junyan had lived to be twenty years old and no one had ever scared him, let alone beaten him. He was so angry that he had to climb halfway out of the car window to grab the girl, and then the girl bit his wrist hard.

The girl broke free and shouted at the top of her lungs, "The human traffickers are here! The human traffickers are here!"

Hearing the commotion, the elderly, men, and women of the village rushed out with their farm tools. Even though Huo Junyan was still angry, he knew that a wise man doesn't fight a losing battle.

Chu Ci was stunned. "You're talking nonsense. I'm not that kind of person."