Chapter 634: A Story Within a Story

The wind blew around the snow, blowing down a cold, empty curtain in the night.

It spun in the air, and when it had enough of the wind it fell back down.

Holding a piece of wood that heats up but doesn't speak, Lin Yiyi put herself in an awkward situation.

The monologue lasted for a long time, but the man remained indifferent.

There was no word of comfort, no words of consolation.

Lin Yiyi was a little tired of pretending to cry.

At night, she looked at her face in the mirror in the bathhouse. The red marks on her face had mostly disappeared, and it was no longer so ugly that it was unbearable.

Time is passing by, and I can no longer continue the act of throwing myself into someone's arms and pretending to be pitiful.

Lin Yiyi slowly stopped crying, but did not forget to shake her shoulders twice as if pretending to be dramatic.

“…Brother Zhao, I’m so sorry.”

The man didn't fall for her trick, so Lin Yiyi changed her address, distanced herself from the words, and forced herself to back down, "Thank you for letting me lean on you for a while, I'm fine now."

Fortunately, it was not during the day, otherwise she would have been socially dead.

Zhao Sheng tensed his back. The sensitive touch made him clench his hands. He clenched and unclenched his hands with bulging veins. He let her cry without raising his hands to hug her.

For a moment, he wanted to pounce on her, press her down and fuck her hard...

But before he figured out her mysterious identity, he could only suppress his urge.

…

The atmosphere returned to calm. Lin Yiyi moved away and gently rubbed the corners of her eyes with her fingertips, which were tearless. She felt a little disappointed. She was destined not to get the answers she wanted tonight.

She turned her back and immersed herself in a dream.

The closeness just now seemed like an illusion. Before Zhao Sheng had time to experience it, she pulled away without any hesitation.

A wall was erected against him, just like last night.

All in all, he and her had only been together for one day.

The next day, Lin Yiyi was woken up before dawn. She knew that she couldn't be seen climbing through the window, so she was confused for a moment, then she quickly put on her cotton jacket, put on her dirty sneakers, stepped on a stool and jumped out.

She did not forget her situation and could not treat Zhao Sheng coldly. She stood in the snow and turned back to smile at him who was folding the quilt beside the bed.

"Comrade Zhao Sheng, I'll wait for you at the gate."

The change of address seemed to make the distance between them even greater.

Zhao Sheng turned his head to glance at her, his eyes did not change, and he did not say anything, just nodded his chin.

Then he continued to pack his bedding.

We had noodle soup at a restaurant for breakfast.

Lin Yiyi was penniless, so naturally she shamelessly followed along to eat for free.

Holding a bowl that was almost as big as her face, she couldn't finish it, so she smiled and talked to him again.

"Comrade Zhao Sheng, there are too many noodles for me to finish. To avoid waste, I'll use a small bowl to divide some of them and give you the rest, okay?"

Zhao Sheng glanced at her and said indifferently, "It's up to you."

I don't know why, but I felt inexplicably angry about what she said.

But she didn't do anything wrong, she just changed the name to a more appropriate one.

His hand holding the chopsticks paused, and he saw her staring at the sky in a daze from the corner of his eye. He didn't bother to do anything and continued to eat the noodles in the bowl.

After Lin Yiyi divided the noodles into portions, she pushed the big bowl with soup towards him and ate the divided noodles in small bites.

The noodles were a bit yellowish, not the white noodles of later generations.

Mixed with other grains, the taste is a little off.

Looking at the otherworldly snow scene outside the glass window and eating a bowl of steaming noodles, Lin Yiyi's stomach did not feel much warmer.

On the contrary, because of the rising white mist, I felt inexplicably lost.

After breakfast, Zhao Sheng packed his lunch and only paused for a moment when choosing steamed buns and corn bread, but the hesitation was only two seconds.

Then I decisively chose ten steamed buns.

She is not his, so there is no need to provide her with good food and drink.

When a truck sets out on a journey, no matter whether the road conditions are good or bad, it always has a clear destination.

The wind was cold, but it couldn't blow away the snow that covered the glass windows.

I don’t know if it’s because she didn’t get enough rest or because she overacted yesterday, but Lin Yiyi didn’t try to get close to him the whole morning.

She huddled in the back seat, constantly touching her sportswear that had frozen into a block by the drying rack nearby.

I want to change into my own clothes to separate myself from the world.

Lin Yiyi regretted that she had acted rashly without a plan last night. She didn't get any useful information and instead ended up in the current embarrassing situation.

She didn't have the confidence to get any more clues from him, but there was no one else she could ask.

After going around in circles, we can only rely on Zhao Sheng.

In the era without mobile phones and electronic communications, information was blocked and it was impossible for her to meet someone on the street and ask him or her.

Looking at him in the rearview mirror, the man seemed to be sure of this. His tightly pursed thin lips and sharp eyebrows revealed arrogance and a sense of rejection.

Lin Yiyi was waiting for the opportunity to find another topic. What should she do to find out the name of the small fishing village or the name of the county town?

The truck drove onto the provincial road and drove a little faster. By noon, the snow had subsided.

Zhao Sheng slowly slowed down and pulled over. He opened the door, got out and went to the side of the road to urinate, then smoked a cigarette before returning to the car.

He didn't look at her or speak to her.

Without looking away, he took out the lunch box from the net bag on the passenger seat, then picked up the kettle and poured out half the hot water for the lunch box.

Then break the cold steamed bread into small pieces and soak them in hot water.

After everything was softened and heated, I took out a pair of chopsticks and started eating with the pickles in the glass bottle.

Lin Yiyi deliberately didn't look at his expression in the rearview mirror, and tried her best to pretend that she didn't exist, hiding behind the back of his driver's seat.

She wasn't really hungry, just a little hungry, and more thirsty.

She put her hand into her cotton-padded jacket pocket, holding the last bottle of glucose, but she resisted the urge to take it out and drink it.

It was not until he was about to finish lunch that Lin Yiyi licked her cracked lips and asked in a low voice, "Comrade Zhao Sheng, can I use your lunch box lid to get some water to drink?"

Zhao Sheng raised his eyelids, and the inexplicable unhappiness in his heart came up again. He glanced at her coldly and his words were also cold.

"Did I stop you from drinking?"

Lin Yiyi was so offended by his words that she almost couldn't keep the smile on her face. She felt embarrassed for a moment.

Fortunately, a gust of cold wind blew in through the rolled-down car window, lifting the hair on her cheeks. She raised her hands to cover her eyes, and while fixing her hair, she hid the discomfort in her eyes.

Her hair was tucked behind her ears, and Lin Yiyi smiled as if she didn't notice anything. "...Sorry, I was talking too much."

She was afraid of embarrassing herself further, so she didn't reach out to touch his things. She just turned around, got out of the car and went to the weeds piled with snow on the side of the road.

Lin Yiyi picked a corner that looked clean, picked up a small ball of snow and put it in her mouth. She waited until the temperature in her mouth became the same as the melted snow water before she slowly swallowed it.

The coldness sobered her up.

If you want to get more benefits, your self-esteem must always be lower than others.

She was a person who never cared much about her self-esteem, so I didn't know why she had to pick it up again.

After swallowing a few balls of snow, Lin Yiyi turned back to the roadside. Meeting the cold gaze of the man sitting by the driver's window, she smiled gently without dodging.

Zhao Sheng looked indifferent, secretly mocking her actions. When she asked him for steamed buns yesterday, she was not as unable to open her mouth as she was today.

I don't know what the point of pretending is.

He suddenly felt a little annoyed with her. It was she who ran into his car late at night.

It was she who took the initiative to get close to him.

It was she who threw herself into his arms and called him brother.

She can go anywhere she wants, whether close or far. Is she trying to cheat people out of money or goods?

Or do you want to lie to him?

He was not afraid of being cheated out of money, and he would not give it to her even if she made a flower.

If the goods are counterfeit, you can only send them to the police station.

As for deceiving him, she could just try to see how capable she is. No one can fool him!