Chapter 007

Hearing Chu Xia's words, Han Ting frowned even deeper.

He looked at Chu Xia and she hadn't said anything yet. As Lin Xiaohan put the snakeskin bag on the table next to him, he suddenly said with a sneer on his face, "Oh, the fool has finally come to his senses."

The anger that was pent up in Han Ting's heart was instantly ignited.

He clenched his fists and couldn't help but kicked the bench away. He stood up, walked to Lin Xiaohan, grabbed his collar, and said with fire in his eyes: "What does this have to do with you?"

Lin Xiaohan still had a smile on his face.

He looked at Han Ting and tilted his head provocatively, and called him: "Come on, hit the solar plexus."

Han Ting pulled his collar tighter: "You think I don't dare, right?"

Lin Xiaohan still smiled and said, "I don't dare to think that there is anything that you dare not do, Brother Ting? When you were in the old city, the Public Security Bureau was like your home. Now that you are in the countryside, the commune's human security group must be your new home. You can't be without a home."

These words made Han Ting even more furious.

Han Ting clenched his fist and swung it towards Lin Xiaohan's face.

But before he raised his fist, someone grabbed his arm.

Han Ting turned around and saw that the person pulling him was Chu Xia.

Chu Xia held his arm tightly and said, "Although his words are harsh, they are indeed true. I was a fool before, but now I have come to my senses."

Han Ting looked at Chu Xia and frowned even more tightly.

After a moment, he pushed Chu Xia away, "I think you are the one who has gone crazy now!"

After saying that, he looked at Lin Xiaohan again, but in the end he didn't punch him again. Instead, he loosened his collar with his hands, and walked out with a gloomy face and suppressed anger.

Boys dormitory.

Others are still having fun.

Su Yun turned around and happened to see Han Ting leaving the yard, so she quickly got up and went out quietly.

Su Yun ran out of the yard and ran to Han Ting in the faint moonlight. She reached out and pulled his arm, then stopped and asked him, panting slightly, "What's wrong with you?"

Han Ting didn't answer and continued walking forward.

Su Yun stood there for a while, took a breath, and followed him, walking forward with him without asking any more questions.

Han Ting walked to the river, bent down and sat down, and Su Yun also sat down beside him.

He took out a pack of Daqianmen from his pocket, took out the last cigarette, threw the empty cigarette box aside, put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it.

Su Yun turned around and watched Han Ting smoking, still without saying anything.

Han Ting took two puffs and said, "I just talked to Chu Xia. I asked her what happened in the past two days, but she wouldn't tell me. I asked her to give up the opportunity to be a teacher, but she wouldn't let me."

Su Yun instantly felt as if a basin of water was poured down on her, extinguishing the small fire in her heart.

She lowered her head, was silent for a moment and said, "I am sorry for causing you trouble."

Han Ting flicked the ash off his cigarette. "It's none of your business. It's that Chu Xia who has the problem. She has always been kind and righteous. I don't know why she suddenly became so selfish and stingy. She even complained to me for a long time because I ate her steamed bun just now."

Su Yun looked at Han Ting. "She is a simple person with no ideas. She is easy to believe what others say and is the easiest to fool. Is someone deliberately using her to target you?"

Han Ting knew that the person Su Yun was referring to was Lin Xiaohan.

Thinking about how Chu Xia had just spoken up for Lin Xiaohan, he couldn't help but feel suffocated.

He took a long puff of his cigarette and was silent for a moment before continuing: "I don't know."

Su Yun sighed again, "Chu Xia usually listens to you the most. If she doesn't even listen to you now, then it's even more useless for the rest of us to speak. Everything else is fine, but she is too naive and easily learns bad things from bad people. It makes people worry."

Han Ting continued to smoke and exhale, and then he was silent for a while before saying, "She seems to have thorns all over her body now, stabbing everyone she sees. Wait a couple of days, maybe she'll be normal in a couple of days."

Su Yun pinched her fingers and pursed her lips, "Hmm."

She wanted to talk a little more about when the school would officially start, but she was afraid that her thoughts would appear too obvious, so after thinking about it, she didn't bring it up again.

***

In the kitchen.

After Han Ting left, Chu Xia relaxed and naturally went back to the table to sit down and eat.

Lin Xiaohan was not idle either. He took a basin, scooped water and started kneading the dough.

There are three tables in the kitchen. He used the table next to Chuxia, not the same table as Chuxia.

While kneading the dough, he raised his eyes to glance at Chu Xia, and he also felt that her behavior in the past two days was very strange, so he asked aloud: "Are you really imitating me?"

Chu Xia didn't think Lin Xiaohan would talk to her, so she didn't look up or respond.

Seeing that she didn't respond, Lin Xiaohan stopped what he was doing, looked at her and said, "I'm asking you."

Chuxia felt his gaze this time.

She raised her head and looked at Lin Xiaohan, blinked and asked, "Me?"

Lin Xiaohan chuckled silently, "Is there anyone else in this room?"

Chu Xia then thought about the question he had just asked, then looked at him and replied, "Oh, you're overthinking it. You're so unpopular, I definitely won't learn from you."

Lin Xiaohan: “…”

The silent smile on his face gradually disappeared.

After a moment, he retracted his slightly gloomy gaze and continued to say, "It's better. I don't want to be dragged into the love affairs between you two."

Chu Xia immediately denied it: "Han Ting and I are childhood friends and we are siblings."

Lin Xiaohan sneered again, "If Han Ting is not pretending to be stupid, then he is a real fool with blind eyes and heart." Then he looked at Chu Xia, "But do you think I am a fool?"

Chuxia wanted to deny it again, but she opened her mouth but no words came out.

She didn't want to deny the fact that she had blindly liked Han Ting for more than ten years, but since this matter was her own business so far, no one else knew about it, and she had never told anyone about it, she might as well just pretend that it never happened.

As a result, Lin Xiaohan actually saw through something that Han Ting, Chaozi and Guogai didn’t see through?

Seeing that she didn't say anything, Lin Xiaohan retracted his gaze and continued, "If you don't like Han Ting, but just follow him around like a shadow for more than ten years because of your childhood sweetheart, not only following him in school, but also following him to the countryside to take care of him, then you have something wrong with your brain."

Chu Xia: “…”

As expected, he doesn’t know how to speak unless he is mean. He should have let Han Ting beat him up just now.

Before Chu Xia could figure out how to reply to him, she suddenly heard a voice from the yard: "Comrade Xiao Lin!"

The voice was quite loud, so Lin Xiaohan naturally heard it.

He quickly stopped what he was doing and went to the window to look out.

He could vaguely tell that the people coming out were Aunt Liu and Aunt Li from the village. He immediately performed his unique skills of changing face and voice, and politely responded to the window: "Aunt, Aunt, I'm in the kitchen."

Aunt Liu and Aunt Li then came into the kitchen.

Lin Xiaohan smiled politely and said, "Auntie, auntie, I'm kneading dough, and my hands are sticky with dough. It's not convenient for me to open the curtain and go out. What do you want from me?"

Aunt Liu held a small jar of pickled radishes in her hand.

Aunt Li was holding a small jar of pickled soybeans.

Aunt Liu smiled and said, "Thank you for grinding the mill for us just now. We thought you would have no vegetables to eat since you just started cooking, so each family contributed some pickled radish and soybeans to bring to you."

After saying that, he turned around and greeted Chu Xia: "Comrade Xiao Xia is here too."

Chuxia smiled and greeted them briefly without getting involved in their affairs. She just thought to herself, no wonder Lin Xiaohan came back so late, it turned out that he was helping people grind the mill.

Lin Xiaohan continued, "Auntie, auntie, no need. I didn't do much. I just happened to meet you and give you a hand. It's just a small matter. You are too polite."

Aunt Liu put the cans on the table and said, "You have done more than just this for us these days. You have contributed a lot. How can you be polite to us for the little things we pickled at home?"

In order to prevent Lin Xiaohan from politely declining again, Aunt Li quickly changed the subject and continued, "Are you going to make steamed buns with this dough? You are a grown man, can you make steamed buns? If not, I will take it home and bring it back to you after it is steamed."

Lin Xiaohan said: "Aunt, don't look at me like this, I am good at making a living."

Aunt Li smiled so much that her eyebrows curved. "Really? Oh, a young man like you, who is educated, knowledgeable, tall, handsome, and knows how to live, is hard to find in our entire Qinghe Commune. Any girl who marries you in the future will be blessed!"

Speaking of this, Aunt Liu also became interested.

She looked at Lin Xiaohan with shining eyes and asked, "Comrade Xiaolin, you don't have a partner yet, right?"

Lin Xiaohan smiled and replied, "Not yet, but I think I'm still young, so I haven't considered this aspect for now. I'll wait two years and see."

Aunt Li continued, "Whenever you consider it, tell the aunts and sisters, and we will definitely introduce you to the most beautiful and capable girl in our area!"

Lin Xiaohan nodded and said, "Okay, Auntie, I will definitely look for you when the time comes."

It was getting late, so Aunt Liu, Aunt Li and Lin Xiaohan chatted for a few minutes and then stopped talking.

They asked Lin Xiaohan to steam the buns quickly, and greeted Chuxia with a smile before leaving.

Chuxia stood up from the table and watched them leave.

After they lifted the door curtain and left, Lin Xiaohan changed his expression and turned back, and Chu Xia sat down again to continue eating.

As she took the last bite of her steamed bun, she looked at Lin Xiaohan and thought - with his speed of changing faces and his acting skills, he would definitely become a household name if he acted in a movie.

Just play the villain in your true colors, such as Ma Wencai in "Liang Zhu".

He works hard and enthusiastically in front of his fellow villagers every day to show off his performance, not for the purpose of finding a beautiful and capable wife in the countryside and settling down here.

A heartless and loveless person like him would never let such a thing bother him.

Although he was the one who shouted the slogan "Rooted in the countryside and devoted his life to revolution" the loudest among the dozen or so educated youth on the day he first arrived at the Tanxi Brigade, he had actually already made up his mind.

Whenever the village gets a quota for recruiting workers back to the city, he must be the first to get the spot.

Of course, there are very few indicators for recruiting workers back to the city.

Other people will not put such a slim chance of success on themselves and force themselves to work hard to perform.

Moreover, everyone is still rebellious at this age, and most of them don't bother to show off in this way.

Chuxia spent a little too long looking at Lin Xiaohan.

Lin Xiaohan raised his eyes and looked back at her, "What are you looking at? Are you jealous that others gave me pickled vegetables?"

“…”

Chuxia came back to her senses, quickly looked away, picked up the bowl and drank up the lukewarm water.

Then she quickly put away the uneaten cans and other steamed buns, washed the dishes and put them away, picked up the thermos filled with hot water, and went back to the dormitory.