"No! I'm not threatening you!" Chen Yifan quickly waved his hand, eager to explain, "I really like you, I just... I just hope you can give me a chance, let's date and get to know each other. If it's not right, we can break up then, I won't bother you."

"What do you like about me?" Xu Xinghe interrupted him, looking at him sharply. "You say you like my resilience and intelligence, but that's only part of me. You don't even know my other personality traits, yet you dare to say you like me? What do you like about me, me as a person, or something else?"

Chen Yifan was speechless when asked the question. He opened his mouth, "Anyway, I like everything! As long as you date me, I will never tell anyone about this."

"Since you like me so much, even if we're not dating, you wouldn't just stand by and watch Zhang Qiang cause me trouble, would you?" Xu Xinghe retorted, her tone laced with sarcasm.

True affection cannot be coerced.

What's the difference between this and Chen Hu?

Chen Hu was wicked in a blatant way, but he was also wicked in a sneaky way.

It's fair to say they're evenly matched.

Chen Yifan wiped his face. "Any help comes at a price. I'm helping you keep this a secret, so you'll definitely have to pay something. Right now, your only price is dating me. If it doesn't work out, we can break up. Otherwise, if Captain Zhang finds out you stole money, he definitely won't let you off the hook, and the consequences will be much worse than this."

Xu Xinghe looked at Chen Yifan's flushed face and said, "If I really agree to date you, can we just break up? What will people say about me? That I dated you and then broke up with you so easily? Have you thought about these things? Or do you not care about these things at all, and only care about whether you can hold me in your hands?"

Xu Xinghe finally saw Chen Yifan's true colors.

I thought he was an honest person, but it turns out he's not a good person at all!

She remembered that Jiang Linchuan had helped Chen Yifan before. "My cousin helped you before, right? Last time some old educated youths tried to bully you, he stood up for you and prevented you from being bullied. And now, you're using this to threaten me?"

Chen Yifan's face turned deathly pale instantly. He was rendered speechless by Xu Xinghe's words and lost all his previous confidence.

He remained silent for a long while before gritting his teeth and hardening his tone, "I don't care what you say, you have to give me an answer. I'll give you one day. Come back here at this time tomorrow and tell me your answer. If you don't agree, I'll tell the brigade leader, and then neither you nor your cousin will have an easy time!"

After saying that, he dared not look Xu Xinghe in the eye again, turned around and ran away quickly, leaving Xu Xinghe alone standing under the elm tree with a cold face.

Xu Xinghe stood there for a while before suppressing her anger, straightening her clothes, and walking towards the work area.

When several female educated youths saw her return, they greeted her with smiles, "Have you rested enough? Come over here, the soil here has almost been turned over, we've been waiting for you."

Xu Xinghe responded and picked up a hoe to join them. Her hands kept moving, but her mind was preoccupied with how to deal with Chen Yifan's situation.

She glanced at the male educated youth not far away from time to time. Jiang Linchuan was moving wood with several villagers. They were so far apart that they didn't even have a chance to exchange glances.

Finally, lunchtime arrived, and the forest farm's loudspeaker came on, informing everyone to go to the canteen to collect their lunch.

As soon as Xu Xinghe reached the entrance of the canteen, he saw a group of educated youth returning from the direction of the village entrance, chatting and laughing.

They were the same group of people who went to town that morning, carrying large and small bags of snacks and daily necessities.

Before they could even enter the canteen, Zhang Qiang strode out of the brigade headquarters, his face still grim. "You guys, come with me to the brigade headquarters. I have something to ask you."

The smiles on the faces of the educated youth going to town instantly froze. They looked at each other, and finally reluctantly followed Zhang Qiang.

The area in front of the cafeteria became much quieter instantly.

Xu Xinghe's heart stirred, and taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, she quietly went around to the woodshed behind the canteen.

This place is rarely visited; it was one of the temporary meeting places she and Jiang Linchuan had arranged beforehand.

She had only been standing at the door of the woodshed for a short while when Jiang Linchuan came over, clearly having also noticed the opportunity.

"Is the item still there?"

Xu Xinghe nodded, reached under her clothes, took out the roll of paper, and handed it to Jiang Linchuan, saying, "I've kept it close to my body the whole time; I haven't dared to leave it behind."

Jiang Linchuan took the roll of paper, carefully unfolded it, made sure the contents were undamaged, then wrapped it up again, tucked it into his belt, and covered it with his coat. "Thank you for your hard work."

“There’s something else I have to tell you.” Xu Xinghe pulled him to the depths of the woodshed, lowered her voice, and told him in detail about how Chen Yifan had seen her go to the tent and then used the opportunity to threaten her about dating him. “He only gave me one day to give him an answer by this time tomorrow, or he would tell Zhang Qiang.”

Jiang Linchuan's face instantly turned cold.

I never expected that Chen Yifan, who is usually so quiet, would actually be thinking about his wife!

But he couldn't really do anything to Chen Yifan. If he pushed him too far, Chen Yifan might expose everything, and all their previous efforts would be in vain.

"The next bus to town won't be until a week later," Xu Xinghe added, his tone full of helplessness. "We can't leave the forest farm this week, and we won't have a chance to send intelligence. Chen Yifan is pressing us hard; he needs a reply by tomorrow. What are we going to do?"

Jiang Linchuan frowned, deep in thought.

Should we directly cause trouble for Chen Yifan?

This incident confirms that Chen Yifan, though seemingly honest, is actually cunning and wicked, and might do something drastic.

If they ignore him, they're afraid he'll actually tell Zhang Qiang, and then not only will the intelligence fail to get out, but they'll both be stuck here.

They are no match for the entire forest farm.

“The only way is to keep him calm.” Jiang Linchuan stopped and said in a heavy tone, “But I can’t let you agree to date him, not even if it’s fake.”

He looked at Xu Xinghe and said, "He just wants to control you. Once you give in, he will definitely take advantage of you."

“I know, but there’s no other way now.” Xu Xinghe sighed. She had been thinking about this problem all morning but hadn’t come up with a solution. “I’ve thought about it. Why don’t we tell him that we’re willing to date secretly, but we can’t tell anyone? After we deliver the intelligence to town next week, we don’t need to come back. Then we can cut off contact with him.”

“No way.” Jiang Linchuan objected again. “Even if we can send the intelligence out next week, the higher-ups will have to verify the situation first and then arrange for people to arrest Zhang Qiang. This process will take at least three days. In other words, after sending the intelligence out, we will have to go back to the forest farm for at least three more days. We can’t leave immediately.”