These words were meant for Xu Yan, but to Li Xian, they felt like a tiny needle pricking his heart.
He kept his eyes downcast and his lips tightly pursed.
When Nie Wenkai saw Xu Nuo call Xu Yan "Sister", he introduced himself very politely: "Hello, comrade, I am Xu Nuo's friend, my name is Nie Wenkai."
"Hello, Comrade Nie Wenkai, I am Xu Nuo's older sister, my name is Xu Yan."
After exchanging greetings, Xu Nuo asked Xu Yan in a low voice, "What are you two doing here?"
Although the sound was soft, it did not escape Li Xian's ears. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Xu Nuo.
Seeing that she wasn't looking at him, his slightly pale lips moved slightly.
He didn't say anything in the end.
She once said that the two of them should pretend not to know each other in front of outsiders.
His gaze fell heavily as he lowered his eyes.
With Nie Wenkai present, Xu Yan didn't say much, only saying, "I have some business to attend to in the city, so I asked Brother Li to come with me."
Xu Nuo knew it must be related to the black market, so she wanted to end the conversation as soon as possible.
Nie Wenkai is a policeman; let's not cause any unnecessary trouble.
She shook Xu Yan's arm, her voice soft and tired: "Sister, let's talk another day. I walked so much today, I'm so tired."
Li Xian's fingertips twitched.
Xu Yan also had things to do, so he nodded and said, "Then Nuonuo, you should go back quickly, it's getting dark."
Xu Nuo nodded, about to tell Nie Wenkai to leave, when a deep voice sounded, addressed to Xu Yan, but the gaze seemed to be directed at Xu Nuo: "See him off..."
Li Xian choked for a moment, then changed his words: "Send Comrade Xu Nuo back."
Wouldn't that lead to another conversation with Nie Wenkai?
Xu Nuo waved her hands repeatedly, winking at Li Xian from an angle where the two couldn't see her, and said with a smile, "No need, Comrade Li Xian, Nie Wenkai can take me back. You guys should go quickly, otherwise it won't be safe to go back to the village later."
Nie Wenkai also said, "Yes, comrades, you should go now. I will take Comrade Xu Nuo back."
Li Xian gritted his teeth, his face darkening, his eyes seemingly suppressing anger: "It's getting late."
Perhaps afraid of startling her, he softened his voice and sighed, "It's too late."
Xu Yan thought about it and agreed.
How could she let Nuonuo go back alone with a strange man? She pulled Xu Nuo over: "Nuonuo, we haven't seen each other in a long time. I want to talk to you and take you home."
"All right."
Nie Wenkai, being a carefree person, didn't notice Xu Nuo and Li Xian's strange behavior at all, and cheerfully chimed in, "You two sisters have a good chat."
Li Xian glanced at him expressionlessly: "Comrade Nie, you should go back first, it's getting late."
Nie Wenkai shook his head and laughed, "No need, no need. I was just about to go to Xu Nuo's house to get acquainted with the place."
Upon hearing this, Li Xian paused, his eyes flashing with even more hostility.
In the June weather, Nie Wenkai felt a strange chill down his spine.
The two walked ahead, and Xu Nuo lowered her voice to ask, "Sister, how did you and Li Xian end up together?"
Xu Yan's eyelashes trembled slightly, and she bit her lip hesitantly.
Seeing this hesitant look on her face, Xu Nuo's normally calm heart skipped a beat.
Xu Yan gritted his teeth, thinking it best not to let Nuonuo know about what happened today, and said, "Something happened at the black market, let's go take a look together."
Seeing that she was unwilling to say more, Xu Nuo stopped asking and simply said "Oh" softly without saying anything more.
Her smile, however, was not as bright as it had been before.
The atmosphere was slightly strange, but we soon arrived at Xu Nuo's apartment building.
"Sis, aren't you sure you want to go home and sit for a while?"
Xu Yan shook his head and patted the back of her hand: "No, it's getting late, we have to go back to the village."
"Then be careful on your way."
"Okay, you can go up now."
Xu Nuo's gaze passed over Nie Wenkai and landed on Li Xian, who was standing at the very back, staring intently at her.
The person he longed for was right in front of him, yet he could only act like a stranger. Li Xian's face was somewhat gloomy.
Xu Nuo quickly turned to look at Nie Wenkai, pointed her slender white finger at the stairs: "Come up with me, I'll tell you my house number."
Nie Wenkai nodded: "Okay."
Li Xian, who had already lowered his eyes, was startled. He looked up at her, only to see that she hadn't even glanced at him and had taken Nie Wenkai upstairs.
"Brother Li, what's wrong?"
Li Xian coldly looked away: "It's nothing."
Seeing his unpleasant expression, Xu Yan felt a little puzzled.
But then he thought about it, and realized that Li Xian was just naturally aloof, so he asked in a low voice, "Should we go back and get our things now?"
Although the place was safe, she was still somewhat uneasy.
Li Xian stared at the empty stairwell, his voice cold and sharp: "I'll go get it. You can go back."
"ah?"
Xu Yan was taken aback. Did Li Xian expect her to walk back to the village alone?
It was already late, and the countryside was not like the city. Not to mention Xu Yan, a weak woman, even ordinary strong men would not dare to walk alone at night.
She was supposed to return to the village around 4 PM, but she unexpectedly saw Li Xian, who was being watched by the police, near the supply and marketing cooperative, which delayed her until now.
Seeing Li Xian standing there, Xu Yan hesitated, "Brother Li, let me go with you to get it. Those three girls had an accident while walking alone at night the other day. I... I can't go alone..."
Li Xian belatedly opened his eyes, glanced at the sky, and nodded in understanding: "I understand, sorry."
Xu Yan breathed a sigh of relief, but seeing that he was still standing there, she asked curiously, "Aren't we leaving?"
He glanced at the quiet stairwell, just as Nie Wenkai came downstairs. Seeing the two of them still there, he nodded.
"Comrade Xu Yan, you haven't left yet?"
Xu Yan smiled and said, "I'm leaving now."
Upon closer inspection, Li Xian had already turned and left.
Xu Yan quickly followed.
The two walked all the way to the back gate of the fertilizer plant, then followed one of the alleyways to the very end.
Li Xian looked around warily, squatted down, felt around in the broken ground, and picked up a square stone from the tightly sealed floor.
There was a small, square package at the bottom.
He expressionlessly put it back in his pocket, stood up, and walked out.
Xu Yan followed and asked in a low voice, "Brother Li, aren't you going to take your clothes?"
He shook his head.
Having obtained the item, Xu Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He looked up at Li Xian and boldly asked, "Brother Li, can I tell my sister about this?"
When Nuonuo asked her earlier, she lied.
Li Xian's eyes turned cold as he turned to look at her, his gaze icy: "Don't tell her."
Xu Yan nodded, and Li Xian added, "You'd better persuade Luo Chen to stop immediately as well."
Xu Yan has considered this matter.
In her mind, dealing in pornography and selling grain on the black market were the same thing, except that the cops seemed to be keeping a close eye on pornography lately.
Seeing that she didn't speak, Li Xian didn't say anything more. Whether Luo Chen was in trouble or not had nothing to do with him. He only ever cared about Xu Nuo.
Thinking about their meeting today, Li Xian felt a surge of resentment.
Noticing his change, Xu Yan didn't say anything more.
She thought Li Xian was troubled by today's events.
After all, today was indeed extremely dangerous.
As the delivery date approached, Li Xian keenly sensed something was amiss and hastily walked out from the back street of Chunxi Road, only to find that a spy had been hidden there as well.
Li Xian deliberately ran towards crowded places, bypassed the fertilizer plant, and changed his clothes in that dilapidated alley.
Fortunately, Xu Yan was careful and followed along, which allowed him and Li Xian to pretend to be country folk who came to buy fertilizer.
As if by divine intervention, Wang Zhaodi happened to come out at that moment, saw Li Xian, and said, "Brother Li, you've come?"
Only then did they successfully pass the police's check.
Thinking about the dangers of today, Xu Yan felt a little uneasy.
Although selling sex work is a quick way to make money, it's ultimately dangerous. Maybe we should go back and discuss it with Luo Chen.
Just don't touch this stuff.
Xu Yan pondered, while Li Xian remained silent. Aside from the chirping of insects and the sounds of animals, the only other sound along the way was the rustling of the wind.
Li Xian walked ahead, as quiet as a wooden sculpture.
If it weren't for the flashlight beam in Xu Yan's hand occasionally flickering, he probably would have forgotten that there was someone next to him.
Xu Yan, panting heavily, finally spoke up: "Brother Li, could you slow down a bit?"
"Feel sorry."
Li Xian pursed his lips and slowed his pace. Perhaps because Xu Nuo wasn't around, he reverted to his old ways, constantly on edge, and forgot that Xu Yan was a girl.
Slowing down, Xu Yan was finally relieved that she didn't have to chase after them with big strides. She breathed a sigh of relief and walked slowly.
In the dead of night, something was a little eerie. Xu Yan tried to start a conversation: "Brother Li, you're acting strange today. You seem absent-minded."
Li Xian shook his head: "It's nothing."
The flashlight beam fell directly on his face, revealing his furrowed brows and a somber expression.
Xu Yan didn't dare to say anything more.
Before long, Li Xian had outpaced Xu Yan's pace.
"Brother Li."
Li Xian snapped out of his daze upon hearing the voice and said faintly, "Sorry."
…
When Xu Nuo returned home, Xue Ping and Xu Jin'an were already there. They were naturally quite frightened when they saw Xu Jinhong in this state.
Fortunately, Xu Jinhong drank the porridge and slowly regained some consciousness.
Xu Jinan asked, "What exactly happened?"
Recalling that terrifying man, Xu Jinhong shuddered and simply said, "He was a debt collector."
Xu Guihua had already guessed it, and with red eyes, she said, "I'm going to find them. How dare they treat you like this? I'm going to the police station to report them."
"No." Xu Jinhong shrank back in fear, his face, which was no longer recognizable, was contorted in pain, and his voice trembled: "Don't call the police, they will kill me, no, no."
Seeing Xu Jinhong so terrified, Xu Guihua felt heartbroken, realizing that he must have been subjected to inhuman torture.
"Is this outrageous? My God... my Jin Hong..."
Xu Guihua's crying was unsettling, and Xu Jin'an frowned and said, "Let's call the police. These people are so arrogant, the police will handle it."
“No…” Xu Jinhong arched his body, as if trying to stand up, his missing finger trembling: “Don’t call the police, we have to go back to Baici Village immediately, then they will let me go, go back to Baici Village immediately.”
Xu Guihua cried, "You're injured like this, why are you going back to Baici Village?"
Guo Ailian also looked troubled and chimed in, "That's right, Jin Hong, you're so badly injured, you need to heal your wounds first."
She didn't want to go back to Baici Village. Why leave this nice house and go back to that dilapidated countryside? How would her family survive then?
Besides, Jin Hong is so badly injured. If he stays at Xu Jin'an's house, he definitely won't have to worry about food and supplies.
Thinking this, Guo Ailian tried to persuade Xu Jinhong to stay, but Xu Jinhong reacted extremely strongly, crying and shouting that he wanted to go back to Baici Village. During this time, he was so excited that his eyes rolled back and he almost fainted, which frightened Xu Guihua and the others.
Xu Guihua could only comfort him: "Let's go back, let's go back."
Guo Ailian was unwilling, but dared not say anything at this moment. Xu Yunyun, on the other hand, suddenly burst into tears. For some reason, she threw herself at Xu Jinan and Xue Ping's feet.
Xue Ping was so frightened that she pulled her legs up onto the sofa: "What are you doing?"
"Waaah, Uncle and Aunt, please have mercy on me! I don't want to go back to Baici Village. I want to stay with you. Uncle, don't you love your daughter? I'm willing to be your daughter. Please don't make me go back to Baici Village."
Xue Ping and Xu Jin'an were shocked, not expecting Xu Yunyun to say such a thing. Xue Ping felt contempt for her, but seeing how pitifully she was crying, she softened her voice and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? You have to go back to your parents."
Seeing that Xue Ping refused, Xu Yunyun looked at Xu Jin'an with a wronged expression. Her second uncle had always doted on her and would definitely not abandon her. After staying at the Xu family for the past few days, she finally understood how biased her grandmother and mother were. Look how good her second uncle was to her cousin. Not to mention beating or scolding her, he never let her do any housework.
What Xu Yunyun envied most was that Xu Jin'an would heat bath water for Xu Nuo every night, carefully preparing it before calling Xu Nuo out.
That was a treatment Xu Yunyun had never received before.
She grabbed Xu Jin'an's trouser leg, crying, "Second Uncle, Second Uncle, save me! My dad always beats me and makes me do so much work. I don't want to go back with them! I don't want to!"
Xu Guihua grabbed her hair and slapped her face mercilessly twice, making Xu Yunyun's head spin.
Xu Guihua said fiercely, "You wicked thing, you dare to despise your father! Let me tell you, you have this worthless fate, you're destined to work for the Xu family your whole life. Cry, I'll make you cry."
Xu Jinan couldn't bear it, so he stood up and said, "Alright, stop fighting. Let's go see our older brother first."
Upon hearing this, Xu Guihua pinched Xu Yunyun hard, spat, and turned to look at Xu Jinhong.
Xu Yunyun lay on the ground, sobbing softly. Through her teary eyes, she saw Xu Nuo approaching. Afraid of being beaten again, she instinctively curled up into a ball.
Although Xu Nuo didn't particularly like this cousin, she did feel sorry for her. She helped her sit up, her brows furrowing slightly: "Go wash your face first."
Xu Yunyun couldn't get up, so Xu Nuo helped her walk to the bathroom.
Once inside the bathroom, Xu Yunyun suddenly grabbed Xu Nuo's hand, her eyes brimming with tears, and pleaded softly, "Cousin, please save me. Please let me stay at your house. I don't want to go back to Baici Village."
Xu Nuo's hands were delicate, but they turned slightly red from being rubbed against her rough palms, so she pulled her hands away.
He shook his head.
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